I looked around, and I saw Luna descend again. I saw her hold up the card, and I gave a nod. I snapped my fingers, and we were back at the portion where we last left off. I turned to where I felt the source of the power coming from, and cautioned Luna. “It’s feeling more violent than usual today… Maybe that’s because It can’t torment me as long as you’re here. Come on.”
I led her through the twisting walls of the maze, and she kept up decently enough. She then asked me another question. “Nathan… How long has this apparition haunted your dreams?”
I paused as I kept moving. I let out a sigh as I decided to answer. “This started on the third day of Ophi and myself being here in Equestria. I’ve always had a bit of trouble with nightmares, but nothing compared to having this thing bothering me.”
Luna fell silent in shock as I turned to see that she had stopped following. I raised an eyebrow. She gathered herself, and replied. “Sorry. It’s just… To know that you’ve been suffering like this without me being able to help you… I feel terrible.”
I shook my head. “Don’t. I’m not a resident of your world, so getting into my dreams was always going to take a bit of effort. I can handle the normal nightmares easily enough. It’s the ones with the apparition that bother me.” I jerked my head. “Come on. We can get a bit further before I wake.”
She nodded, and followed me until the rumbling began. She sighed. “I’ll have to be off…”
I took her card that I gave her, and passed my hand over it. It shimmered, and it took on a turquoise hue. I handed it back. “There you go. Nice and updated.I’ll be seeing you again.”
She nodded, and disappeared as I felt my conscious wake up.
I sat up, and looked out of the window. I was up at dawn, just like normal. I stretched as I heard the rooster crow. It was going to be a long day, I could feel it. I went over to my backpack and pulled out my scriptures. I read a few chapters as I felt myself wake up the rest of the way. After I felt it sufficient, I marked my new place and put them away. I then went over to my wardrobe and considered what I should wear today. I chose the shirt that I had worn when we had first arrived and the blue jeans. I left the barn and went towards the house. I entered and went up the stairs to the bathroom. I knocked first, just in case somebody was inside. I heard no reply, so I opened the door and went in. Nobody was in the bathroom, thank goodness. I locked the door and got ready for my morning shower. I made quick work of it, and stepped out to dry off. I put on my chosen outfit for the day and rolled up my pajamas. I left the bathroom and went downstairs. I grabbed a quick breakfast and then made my way out the door.
I made my way over to Applejack’s stall easily enough, and made my way behind the counter. I noticed that quite a line was starting to queue up, and I turned to Applejack. “So, why are so many ponies here today? I mean, we have had good business for the past while, but…”
Applejack sighed. “They’re all a bit anxious, Ah reckon. We’ll be startin’ ta sell Zap Apple Jam next Monday, so the excitement from that is drawing quite a crowd. Almost as much as cider season usually draws…”
I looked at the crowd incredulously. “So we’re going to have to inform them all to wait a little longer for what they’re here for, huh? You sure that they’re all here for that, though? I mean, we are selling quite a variety of apple snacks, so…”
Applejack gave a small chuckle. “Ah suppose you could be raght. Still, best be ready ta let quite a few down easy. Gonna be a long shift, that’s for sure.”
We then opened up for business, and just like Applejack said, quite a lot of ponies were anxious for the Zap Apple Jam. I did manage to sway most of them to buy some of our snacks, but some of them just left in a huff. The customers kept coming, and it was rather fortunate that they did, too. It gave a nice distraction from the problems that plagued my mind. A few familiar customers came by too, but that was to be expected. After a few hours of sales, the numbers of customers finally started to dwindle. Near the end of the first part of my shift, Twilight came by. She looked at the product, and then to me with a curious look. “Your methods certainly are something, Nathan. AJ’s business has boomed ever since you started working for her. I’m curious to know if it’s your special talent…”
I blinked for a minute and then proceeded to laugh. “Oh heavens, no! I might have a head for business, but I learned that. My true talent lies elsewhere.” I then diverted the topic. “So, can I interest you in one of our many snacks?”
Twilight considered for a moment before making her choice. “Hm. I’ll have a caramel apple, thanks.”
I raised an eyebrow, but thought not much of it. I picked up one of the pre-prepared ones, and spoke. “That’ll be 12 bits.” Twilight levitated the bits out of her purse and took the camel apple out of my grip. I shook my hand to get out the odd feeling from the magic out. “You have a good day.”
After Twilight wandered off, Applejack stretched. “Hey, Nathan? D’ya mind holdin’ down the fort fer a bit? Ah gotta take care of a little somethin’.”
I nodded firmly. “No problem, Applejack. I’ll keep an eye on the stall for you. Don’t be too long now.” She nodded as she walked off for a break. It was the first time that I’d seen her take one. I wasn’t too worried, though. Business was cooling off a bit now. I kept myself busy while waiting for customers by keeping the apples nice and clean. It was quite the convenience that we had a bucket and towel to do that with aack behind the stall.
After a few minutes of cleaning, I noticed that “Pinkie” was approaching. I refused to believe that it was her real name, but I hardly had any good lead on that front. She came up to the stall with a smile. “Hiya Natey!”
My eyes twitched as I glared at her. “Don’t call me that! You call me Nathan- Just like everyone else aside from Ophi. I despise the nickname ‘Natey’! It feels so…. Childish. Now, what did you come here for?”
I could’ve sworn I saw her mane deflate slightly. But it was soon back to its usual bouncy self, and she soon had a smile on her face again. “Geez, no need to be so abrasive! I just came to check on AJ! But she’s not here, so… I thought I’d try to light up your sour mood!”
I pinched my brows together. Was this pony always like this? Her cheerful demeanor was starting to make me nauseous. I took a deep breath and shook my head. “Listen. I’m not interested in whatever it is you’re trying. It’s not going to work. Now if you’re not here to buy anything, just leave.”
Pinkie seemed slighted for a moment there, but she quickly regained her composure. “Well, in that case… I’ll have a slice of apple pie!”
I gave a silent sigh as I carefully cut a slice. I placed it on a paper plate, and spoke. “That’ll be 4 bits.”
Pinkie placed the bits on the counter, and took the plate on one of her forehooves. She smiled and walked off, but I just shook my head. It was no wonder why I didn’t like being around her. She felt so exhausting to be around. I pushed the thought aside as I went about making sure that the stall was in tip-top shape. After a few more minutes, I saw another customer approach me. It was Vinyl, and I raised an eyebrow. She chuckled slightly. “Hey Nathan. Didn’t quite expect me to show up here today, did you?”
I blinked and then gave a nod. “Yeah. It certainly is a surprise…” I shook away the surprise as I gathered my wits. “So, what do you want, hm?”
Vinyl thought about it for a while before giving a small grin. “I’ll have a fuji apple, thanks.”
I placed the bits she had levitated to the counter into the register and then placed a fuji into a paper bag for her and pushed it towards her. “There you go. Enjoy.” She picked it up with her magic, and turned to leave.
However, after a few steps, she faced me again. She had a strange unreadable look on her face. Her tone when she spoke was a bit hard to place, too. “I noticed that you’ve been avoiding talking with Ophelia lately. IF you two had a fight, you should sort it out as soon as possible. I know that Tavi and I always reconcile after talking things out…”
I huffed irritably. “No, it’s nothing like that. It’s…” I shook my head. “It’s not your business, that’s what it is. Ophi and I will move past this at our own pace, thank you very much.” I sighed as I saw her walk off. “Why do all of the ponies feel like they have to put their muzzles in our business? They should just leave well enough alone.”
It was then that I saw another pony approach the stall. It was a red stallion with purple mane and tail. He seemed… out of sorts, one might say. He sighed as he sat at the stall. “I’ll have some mixed apple juice, tall glass. Spike it.”
I was slightly alarmed. It really wasn’t my place to judge if somebody wanted some strong drink, but… I was a bit curious. I started to prepare the drink and decided to pry. “What’s got you so down?”
His amber eyes were full of defeat as he sighed. “It’s this girl that works for Rarity…”
That phrase alone raised a red flag in my head. He was most definitely talking about Ophi. My anger started to boil, but I decided to reign it in as I confirmed. “Girl? So she’s human, then?” After he nodded, I sighed. “That’s your problem, then. We humans tend to only fall in love with other humans. After all, what would you expect from a race that is the only sapience on their home world? She’ll never return your affections. You’d best move on.”
He looked at me for the first time, and blinked. “Wait. You’re her friend, right? Couldn’t you-?”
I cut him off there as I placed the finished drink on the counter. “Not on your life. I won’t interfere with her choice like that. If she has been pushing you away this hard, it’s clear that no interference would change that.”
He sighed, and took a sip of the drink. He nodded, and spoke. “How much do I owe you?”
I did a few calculations in my head, and gave him the total. “20 bits.” He put a 20-bit coin on the counter, and I checked it thoroughly before putting it in the register. I nodded. “Enjoy your… drink. And remember-!”
He scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. No hard labour while plastered. I’m not stupid, you know. See you ‘round.” He then walked off.
I let out a breath that I wasn’t aware that I’d been holding. That was quite the unexpected turn...
Ophi couldn’t believe her eyes or ears. She’d popped out during the lull of business for some fresh air. When she saw Brick approach Nate at the apple stand, she couldn’t help but feel a bit anxious, subconsciously wringing the bottom of her light lavender blouse. She had shot him down pretty hard that morning, but she hadn’t expected him to drink on it. The more surprising thing was how Nate responded to it all. It was comforting to know that he was in her corner about this. She had to duck out of sight before he noticed her, though. It was still a bit awkward between them, and her eavesdropping certainly wasn’t helping matters.
She brushed off some dust that had found its way onto her blue jeans and made her way back to the boutique just in case they were getting more work that day. It turned out that she had made a pretty good call, because for the next while she was a bit swamped filling out orders for certain occasions coming up. Apparently there were many that were eager for this “Grand Galloping Gala” that she’d heard some of them mention.
The designs of Rarity’s dresses for her friends at the last one apparently garnered quite the buzz, so many wanted her personal touch for their attire this year. Ophi had some difficulty keeping up with all the differing orders, but at least her mind was occupied. It was after quite a few orders that a familiar face came into the shop. “Octavia! What brings you here today? Are you making an order for the Gala as well?”
After a small nod, Octavia explained. “My attire from the last one is unfortunately too worse for wear, now. Besides, it might be nice to wear some of her work.” She looked around before seeing a dress that struck her fancy. It was the one being worked on for that rude mare that came in yesterday. She pointed at it, and nodded. “Something like that, just a bit more… simple. Do you think that you could have Rarity do that for me?”
Ophi scratched her head. “I don’t know. She really doesn’t like making too many similar pieces. Maybe if you wanted a different style or color…”
After a bit of consideration, Octavia relented. “I can understand that. Besides, I’m sure red wouldn’t look all that good on me anyway. Maybe if it was black…”
A smile graced Ophi’s face as she wrote that down. “Gotcha. I’ll let Rarity know. Now, did you want to pay for it all now, or put a down payment on it?”
Octavia placed ten bits on the counter. “This is all I can afford with my budget at the given moment. I’ll be back to finish paying for it some other time.” As Ophi was putting the bits into the register, Octavia asked a question. “Ophelia… You seem awfully distracted lately. Is there something going on between you and Nathan that’s bothering you?”
Ophi stopped suddenly for a moment, a strange look on her face. She shook it away, and finished putting away the bits. “It’ll pass soon enough. By this time next week, we’ll be chatting up like we used to. You’ll see.”
A skeptical look graced Octavia’s face, but she decided to not push her luck. “If that’s what you believe, then I hope it works out for the best. I’ll see you later.” She then wandered off, and Ophi let out a sigh.
It had to work out like that. She couldn’t take these thoughts plaguing her much longer. She wanted to go back to when she could talk with Nate without these troubling thoughts in her head. She noticed that Rarity had come in from the back room, and she seemed stressed. She picked up the most recent order, and changed the sign on her shop to “Closed”. She looked at Ophi with a strained smirk. “I’ve got a lot of catching up to do with the orders.” She levitated over a small bag full of bits to Ophi. “Here’s the rest of your pay for the week. Now, I must get back to work. Go enjoy the rest of the day.”
Ophi was about to call out when Rarity went behind the curtain leading to the back room, but thought better of it. Now what was she to do? She thought for a while before getting up and going to the door. Maybe she could walk through the Everfree for a bit. She’d never been inside, so she was rather curious. Nodding to herself, she adjusted her gray sneakers and went outside, starting on her way towards the forest. It wasn’t long before she once more came within sight of the Apple stall. Applejack was working it alone, much to her relief. She approached, and Applejack smiled. “Heya Ophelia! Rarity let you off work already?”
Ophi picked up a red delicious and set two bits on the counter. “Yeah. She’s pretty swamped with orders right now. Quite a few ponies are getting ready for this… Grand Galloping Gala, or whatever.”
At the mention of that, Applejack chuckled. “Heh. The seven of us went last year. Wasn’t quite what we expected, that’s fer sure. Ah don’t know if Ah’ll go this year, given the choice. Once maght be enough fer me…”
After swallowing a bite from the apple, Ophi asked the question on her mind. “So what exactly is this Gala, anyway?”
Applejack searched for the best way to describe it before speaking. “Well, it’s a rather fancy party. Full of nobles and stuffy music… We kinda made a mess of it last year, though. It’s coming up in two weeks, so not too far from now. Maybe Celestia will send you and Nate some tickets.”
At the mention of Nate, that strange feeling came back. Ophi shook it away and chuckled. “No, I don’t think Nate would attend. He’s against connecting with you ponies, after all. As for myself… I’m not much for stuffy atmospheres. I think that both of us would rather sit out.”
Applejack nodded with understanding. “Well, if you do get those tickets, you could always send them back to Celestia if you don’t want to go. She’d understand, Ah’m sure.”
Ophelia gave a wry smile. “Good to know. I’ll be off now.” She waved, and walked off. As she made her way to the forest, her thoughts started to drift. This whole situation was looking less and less like coincidence the more people they found. Most of the people that they had come across were from Utah, which was quite unsettling. The more she thought about it, the more Ophi was convinced that it couldn’t be pure chance.
She put the thought out of her head as she reached the edge of the Everfree. This forest looked different from the other nearby woods. This one looked far more frenzied than Whitetail. Ophi went inside the forest, taking care on her walk across the path. She knew that the ponies were scared of this place, but if Nate had been in here and was no worse for wear, surely she could handle it.
She shook her head. She had to stop thinking about him. That only made it worse. She took a deep breath, and made her way through the forest, thinking that maybe she could see how Zecora was doing. However, she must’ve made a wrong turn somewhere, for she stumbled upon a den of wooden wolves. She held her breath as best she could as she slowly backed away.
However, her luck didn’t last long as she accidentally stepped on a twig, snapping it. The wolves perked, soon divining her location. They turned to find her, and Ophi backed away as they encroached. She tried to keep calm as they growled. “Nice doggies…. I’ll just be on my way, now…” She unfortunately found herself surrounded as she backed up against a tree. This certainly wasn’t going the way that she had anticipated. She had no way to fight past them, so her chances weren’t looking good.
Just as she was about to concede, she heard the busting of wood into splinters, and her attention was drawn to the source as were the wolves’. Standing with anger in his eyes was Nate. One of the wolves lay motionless in front of him. He spoke with violence in his voice. “Step off. If you don’t want a broken leg like your friend here, you’ll know what’s good for you and run!”
The wolves didn’t listen, however. Some of them broke away from the pack that were surrounding Ophi to attack Nate. Ophi watched on as with fluid movements Nate brought each one down. He never went for anything vital, instead deigning to impair his foes. This was a side of his that Ophi had never seen before… and her heart was beating like mad. None of the boys she had interest in before had shown this kind of prowess. Maybe… it wouldn’t be so bad to… before her thought could really settle in, she saw that the wolves were running away.
Nate made his way to where Ophi was, his demeanor calming down immensely. “Are you alright?”
The concern in his eyes made it hard to concentrate. She looked away with a nod, so she didn’t have to think about it much. “I’m fine. Thanks for getting me out of that mess. But how…”
He gave a chuckle and smiled. “Our psychic connection, remember? You sent out a distress call subconsciously, and I came running. I’m just glad you’re okay. If something happened to you…” He shook his head. “I don’t like to think about it.”
Silence prevailed as Ophi gathered the courage to look him in the eye. He seemed his usual self, so… maybe things could go back to the way they were before. She still felt weird around him, but… maybe she didn’t have to avoid him so completely to deal with it. She tried her best to contain it, and gave a small smile as she separated herself from the tree. “Come on. Let’s get back to town.”
However, as she was about to leave, she noticed that Nate wasn’t following. She turned, confusion clear on her face. His next words took her by surprise. “Ophi, before we go… I’d like to ask you something.” She seemed nervous, but she allowed him to continue. “It’s clear that all of us found our way to Equestria because somebody wanted us to find it. Why else would all of us so far be from the same portion of the world? The question now is… why were we sent here? Do you have any ideas?”
Ophi shook her head. “I don’t have a darned clue. But maybe… we weren’t sent. Maybe… we were invited. Somebody over here could have brought us here for something. It’s entirely possible.”
A thoughtful nod came from Nate. “True. But who aside from the pony’s Princesses would have that kind of power? It doesn’t quite add up.” He rubbed his forehead a bit. “I think that’s quite enough speculation for now. Let’s get out of here.”
The two walked through the brush of the forest, a still silence between them. It still was a little odd between the two of them, that much was sure. But now, it seemed to be not so suffocating. Neither of them felt ready to admit to the other what they felt, but at least now they could talk normally around each other now. After a few minutes, they made their way out of the forest. The sun was still up, so they had not been in there long.
Just as they were about to part ways again, they saw Spike come up to them. Nate seemed confused. “What’s the matter, little guy?”
Spike jerked a thumb claw towards the library. “Twilight needs to see you two about something. It sounded rather important.”