Afterlife

by Star Sparkle


Waking up:

I woke with a start, unsure of how much time had passed since I passed out. A quick look to the sky told me it was nearly sunset, but I felt like I was forgetting something... The dragon! I now saw that the talking dragon and his horse had gone, and thankfully they hadn’t kidnapped me as they went. 

I dragged myself out of my hiding spot, and stood up slowly. Something was off. Their game had been left out on the table, and as I looked to where I lay before, there were hoofprints, and a set of smaller, non-human footprints. 

Were they afraid of me?” 

I looked to where the tracks went; both led away from me and towards the boulder, around it and back in the direction of the odd town.

I stood in silence for a couple of minutes before saying to myself, Where the hell am I?

All of these questions, it was hurting my head just thinking about it. I frowned, and touched my left hand to the back of my head, wincing and drawing away the hand. I looked down, and my hand had a few specks of blood on it. But I didn’t see dots everywhere or feel sick, so I guess I was alright for now. 

But now to the big decision. Do I run away and spy a bit more on the town before I do anything else? Do I wait here and see what happens, or should I walk into the town I know nothing about and hope for the best?

Mind racing through doom-scenarios and possibilities, I decided to stay and wait, I had no more energy left to run, or do much else and if the dragon was afraid of me, I didn’t think it would be a good idea to go to his town.

As I waited for something, anything to happen, I looked over at the game left out on the table. I didn’t recognize it, but it kinda looked like a D&D game from what I knew.

If they had planned on playing, they must have brought some food or water. 

I rummaged through their bags, but there was nothing, no food, and no water.

The search only made me dizzier, so I walked over to the boulder and leaned my back against it, sliding down to rest myself on the ground. I looked over the top of the trees and saw the fading orange glow as the sun set over the horizon. Even as bad as my view was, I appreciated the sight, seeing the soft colors bleed away, leaving behind the beautiful night sky- an image that was at once horrifying and stunning, and one that could be my last.

As I sat with my back on the rock, I clutched at my stomach and tried not to throw up. I could feel my consciousness slip away, but I knew I had to stay awake, or else I feared that I might not wake up again.

If this is my last day, has it been worth it?

I closed my eyes and focused on my heartbeat; I would stretch it as long as possible.

Something jolted me to my senses, and I forced open my eyes. Some time had passed since I had last been paying attention, and a pale moonlight shone through the trees. I cursed, realising that I had nearly dazed off. Close one. What had startled me was a sound nearby, the clip-clop of a horse, or horses. Fully spent and out of energy, I tried in vain to move, but found I had no choice but to sit and wait for the source of the noise; the rock was the only thing that was holding me upright.

The sound was closer now, and I froze as I saw a long shadow cast to the right of the boulder. I was busy looking over its horrifying mix of sharp edges and soft curving lines when I heard a female voice ask aloud:

Are we close?

A nervous response came quickly. 

“Not much further, just behind that rock.”

I felt like I had heard it before, but I couldn’t place it.

After seconds that felt longer than they should have, from around the rock came a small purple horse. Immediately I noticed some weird things: it had no saddle, no rider, and it had a horn on its skull. It locked eyes with me, and bowed its head. Agh! Was it horses you weren’t meant to lock eyes with? Was she going to charge me?! What a way to die that would be.

Thankfully though, it raised its head, and opened its mouth in a wide grin.

“Hello! Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Twilight Sparkle, I am a unicorn, and number one student of the Princess! What’s your name? Do you have a name? Can you understand me?”

It blurted out enthusiastically, not even pausing for breath.

Not quite being able to process what I had just heard, there was an awkward silence. I just sat, mouth agape at the fact that yes, this horse was talking to me. I was just trying to replay her rambling introduction in my head before the horse repeated itself more slowly.

“Can... You... Understand... Me?”

Still in shock, I slowly nodded and responded, “Yes, hello, I’m Stef.” 

Not a great first impression on my would-be savior, she must’ve thought I was incredibly stupid. The horse- or unicorn, I supposed, perked up when I answered her though, and spoke almost immediately, with another of her energetic questions. 

“Hello Stef! If you don’t mind me asking, um, What species are you?” 

What sort of question was that?

“I’m a Human.” 

I replied incredulously, but remembering my situation, added.

“B-but where am I?”

She looked a bit puzzled. Did the creatures in this town not know about the world, were they some lost town of fairytale creatures secluded in the mountains? I frowned. No, they were quite easy to find, that couldn’t be it. The creature in front of me sighed deeply, and I focused back in on her to hear her answer.

“You’re in the Kingdom of Equestria,” 

She replied in a patient tone. I had heard it many times in my life before, it was the tone someone used when speaking to a child, or a person who really should know the answer themselves. Her face scrunched up a bit and she looked to be wracking her brains for some obscure knowledge.

“Though I haven’t ever heard of a Hyoomann before- is your Kingdom south of the Badlands by any chance?”

“Eq-Equestria? Badlands?” I wondered aloud, even more confused. “Where the hell in Denmark even am I? How did I get here?” 

She did a double take. There was a pit of dread in my stomach, I felt like I wasn’t gonna like what she had to say next.

“What’s a Den-mark?” she asked, sounding the word out as if she’d never heard it before in her life.

Shit.

Had I been spirited away to some fairytale world? Was this all just a bad dream? Was there a way home? The pain in my arm wouldn’t let me dwindle on thoughts like that for now though.

“I don’t think I’m from your world,” I murmured, before continuing with more conviction. “Will you help me?”

She was surprised for a second, before pausing, deep in thought.

I’ll try, but I can’t do much here.” 

Came her reply, with a sad smile.

“We will need the help of the Princess. Spike, take a letter. The purple dragon from earlier came out from behind the rock, and took out a piece of parchment and quill. Looking over to see that the dragon was ready, she dictated to him.

Dear Princess Celestia,

Tonight, Spike and I found a creature with intelligence that calls himself a ‘human’ out in the woods. He requires our help, as he told me that he is not from our world, which I am inclined to believe. So with your permission, I would like to take him on the night-train to Canterlot in the hopes that we can help him to go back home.

Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.

As the dragon stopped writing, he rolled up the parchment and breathed some green fire onto it, causing it to vanish. Had he not just immediately destroyed the letter as he wrote it? The unicorn didn’t seem concerned, though. Maybe there was some strange method of transportation at work?

Twilight looked towards me and said, Now we wait until I get a response.

I was confused by what I’d seen, but she seemed to know what she was doing. I shrugged, but moving my arm even that little filled me with pain. I shut my eyes as I tried to get it to go away. Once I felt better, I opened my eyes, and Twilight was a lot closer to me. 

I’m sorry, I never thought to check... Are you alright?She asked, with a twinge of guilt in her voice as she spoke. 

“I got caught in an avalanche, and I’m pretty sure my arm is broken,” I said.

She looked concerned, but she closed her eyes and her horn glowed purple-ish. I looked down at my arm, and it glowed the same color, sending a few gentle tingles along my skin. I decided not to dwell on what I assumed was magic for now, but knowing it was a part of this world was certainly good to know. After a few seconds, the glow stopped, and she spoke.

There is a small fracture, but at least it wasn’t a more serious injury.

Relief more than evident on her face, she looked at me as her horn began to glow again, and two vines and two thick branches came out of the forest before she said, This will hurt, but I’ll try to be careful.

I nodded as I clenched my left fist.

The floating branches and vines secured themselves around my broken arm, forming a makeshift splint. The purple glow returned to my right arm, and I started to prepare myself  for this when-

Crack!

I heard the awful sound of bone on bone, and as the pain that accompanied the startling sound got to me, I raised my left fist, pulling it back to punch the ground.

Noticing me, the dragon yelped in fear, Twilight! Look out!he cried.

She had no time to react before I slammed my good hand onto the ground as hard as I could. It hurt, but it definitely wasn’t broken. 

Why did you do that?!

Twilight yelled, my right arm now in nature's splint. She sounded angry, but surprise was also evident in her voice.

She used her magic to practically drag me over to her by my left hand, and I didn’t resist, or I felt like my good arm might have broken as well. In response, still not over the pain, I chuckled.

Heh... It helped to take the pain?

The unicorn didn’t look happy or at all amused, and her angry tone didn’t falter.

Maybe, but don’t do it again. 

Her features softened a little as she released her magical hold of my hand.

Well, at least you didn’t hurt yourself, but still! You scared poor Spike half to death!

Right on queue, the dragon burped up a scroll emblazoned with a golden seal, which Twilight opened and read to herself before hurriedly speaking.

We’ve gotta go now, or we’ll miss the train to Canterlot.” 

She looked at me, then the back at the letter before adding, “And I’m going to have to cast a spell on you, it will tickle a little bit, but don’t worry.

I nodded weakly. I wasn’t even sure why, maybe because I didn’t have a choice.

Her horn glowed its purple once more, and as I looked down at my body, I saw I glowed the same color. I felt a strange tingle spread quickly across my body, as I became lighter by the second, until after a few seconds I found myself to be very, very small, and now suspended in the air. Before I had time to react, I was floated over to her and into one of her bags. It was very soft inside there, and after a moment it became dark, and I felt Twilight start to move.

Where were we going exactly? She said something about Canterlot, and some ‘Princess’, but what that meant, I had no idea. It wasn’t long until she began to pick up the pace and ran.

Chatter quickly came within earshot, and though it was muffled, I could hear Twilight exchange pleasantries with various people as she sped by. I then felt us skid to an abrupt stop.

What’s the rush darling? A new voice asked in quite a distinct tone.

“Sorry Rarity, I’m late for a train to Canterlot, umm…” 

As Twilight paused I realized that she was a really bad liar. I facepalmed, and prayed that she could think of something to get us to the train in time.

Oh! right, I’m going on a small trip to study.

Thankfully for us, Twilight’s friend seemed completely oblivious to her lie.

Canterlot, you say? You needn’t ask me twice darling, I’ll get home and pack right away!

Her voice became more muffled before Twilight cut in, I’m really sorry, Rarity, only I’m going... Maybe another time? Sorry again, but I really gotta go!

She galloped again, probably leaving an incredibly confused friend in her tracks.

Some time passed at that speed before she slowed back to a walking pace. From the sound of it, she was walking on wood now, perhaps we were at the station? It wasn’t long until I heard what I assumed to be a train and we began to move again, before at last coming to a stop.

After a short time, I glowed again, and within a few seconds, I was levitated back out of her bag, and returned to normal size again. I was now in a train cart, and not one designed for humans, of course. I was gently put down on what I assumed to be a normal size for a horse’s seat, and as Twilight sat down in front of me, the glow disappeared.

I stared at her for a few moments, neither of us saying anything. Before I could think of something to say, a whistle cut through the silence, and I heard a male voice yell out.

All aboaaaaaaaaard!”