//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: Equestria's New River Spirit // by Autum Breeze //------------------------------// Chapter 2 ___________________________________________________________ “You… are such an idiot!” I berate myself, smacking myself in the forehead. I’m sitting in a small clearing in the woods. Which woods? The heck if I know! I was so wrapped up in the idea of helping Equestria fix a heap of its problems before they happen, it was only as I’d spent an hour wandering around in these woods that I realized I don’t know where I’m going on what I’m doing. Not to mention, I’m kicking myself for jumping in as fast as I did regarding stopping Queen Cheese Legs. There were so many other ways I could’ve handled that. I could’ve gotten Cadance out on my own and we could’ve gone to ground. I could’ve simply hidden in the shadows and directed Shining to a path that would’ve led him to find Cadance and her tell him. Instead, like a dumbass, I went head on and brought everything into the spotlight right away. I could seriously have screwed up the timeline now. I mean, without the Canterlot Invasion, Cadance and Shining Armour don’t display their love with that big explosion. How’re they gonna do that now? “Wow. You were right. You are here.” At once I leap up, getting into a defensive stance, looking around. From within the shadows of several nearby trees, a unicorn steps out. A unicorn I know very well. I blink, easing slightly as I notice the season six mane style… though feeling just as worried and confused at the same time. “Starlight Glimmer? But… how?” “Okay. Kinda getting weirded out you even were right about your past self knowing me on sight,” she says, looking a little uncertain. I blink, her choice of words causing me to frown slightly. “My… past self?” She smiles, nodding. “Yep. I’m from your future, Haku. I’m here because you wanted me to give you some advice… that you only give yourself because the you of the future’s future self told his past self which was himself that advice which he got from his future self and…” her eyes look like Derpy’s. “I think I just broke my brain for a second there.” I try to sift through her words, before it clicks and I shake my head, waving my arms. “That’s clearly a Bootstrap Paradox, Starlight. Don’t try to look too deep into it. Thinking too hard about it will just give you a headache.” She blinks a few times, before shaking her head, her eyes returning to normal. She takes a deep breath and nods, smiling. “Right. Okay, then. I’ll just give you the message then.” “Is that wise, though?” I ask, now focusing more and becoming fully aware what a future version of Starlight coming to talk to a past version of myself would mean. Well, aside from the obvious fact this means I’m going to be stuck in Equestria til at least the end of season five. Joy. Starlight nods, takes a deep breath and smiles. “Don’t worry about Cadance and Shining Armour. Canterlot still gets invaded by the Changelings.” I blink, before my eyes widen. “What?! How is that supposed to stop my worrying?! My interfering did nothing to the timeline?!” “Well, from what you knew of the original timeline, yes,’ Starlight says, frowning, as if trying to remember something. “You do stop Cadance from being impersonated and held captive under Canterlot for months… but the invasion still happens. Shining Armour gets knocked out, which is how the Changelings get in. But, the two beat them, so you don’t need to worry about that.” I blink for several moments, before sighing. “That’s a relief.” I frown, folding my arms. “Though I am a little annoyed the invasion still happens. Or, will?” My frown becomes uncertain. “I hate time travel. It makes speaking in context really frustrating.” “I hear that,” the unicorn agrees, nodding, giving me an understanding look. I frown. “Wait. Does that mean you still try to stop Twilight and the others from forming their Cutie Mark bond?” Starlight opens her mouth, before freezing and shakes her head. “I can’t explain what happens. You told me only to tell you what the future me from your past told you. I…” She goes cross-eyed again, before shaking her head. “Yeah. Talking time travel really is a pain in the flank.” I sigh, rubbing my temples. This is getting us nowhere. “Okay, so, is that all you needed to tell me? I’ll only ask you tell me what… I tell you in the future to tell me in the past?” I think I’m getting a massive headache. She nods. “That’s a good idea. Okay, aside from that, you’ll want to explore the outer areas of the Everfree Forest.” I blink. “Why?” “You told me not to tell you that,” she says, seeming a little depressed she can’t explain further. “Just look around there before you go to the hippogriffs.” I nod. “Okay then. Was that all?” She looks away. “Well… be careful.” I cock an eyebrow. “Starlight, is there something I should be worried about?” “I-I’ve said enough!” She looks worried, before lighting her horn. “See you in the future. Or, the past? It’s your future, but my past and… GARH!” A massive flash follows her frustrated scream. When it fades, she’s gone. I just blink, staring at where the pinkish-purple unicorn had been. “Um… okay then,” I scratch my head. “And I thought turning into Haku and finding myself in Equestria was gonna be the weirdest thing that’s ever happened to me. I’ve been proven wrong.” I fold my arms, frowning up at the sky. So, I need to put meeting with the hippogriffs on hold until I’ve explored the outer areas of the Everfree Forest? Wonder why. I shrug. Well, I won’t find out just standing around here. ___________________________________________________________ I put my hands behind my head, glancing around. I’ve been walking around outer edges of Everfree Forest for the last ten minutes, enjoying the peace and quiet of the place. I mean, it is the Everfree, season two Everfree at that, but, the outer rim does seem peaceful. I can see why Fluttershy built her cottage so close to the edge. I can faintly hear the daily life of Ponyville off in the distance, but it’s like when you live in the hills and you hear the traffic. It’s there, but it’s so faint it’s somehow soothing. “Wondering why Starlight said my future self told her to tell me to come here,” I say aloud, passing my gaze over the area again. “Doesn’t seem like anything’s going on? Am I supposed to find a place to hide out where I stay until the end of season five or…?” “Help!” a pair of voices yell. My head whips in the direction of the voices and I start running. Within seconds, I whirl around some trees to find a pair of ponies, a mare and a stallion, backed against a large tree trunk, a trio of Timberwolves surrounding them. The stallion is an Earth Pony stallion with a brownish coat and a deep-purple mane and tail. His Cutie Mark is a camera with a slightly folded map behind it. Oddly enough, he’s dressed like Crocodile Dundee. The mare is an orange, slightly lanky looking Pegasus with a blonde mane and tail, the former looking a bit ragged, as is the green kaki shirt she’s wearing and a Cutie Mark that’s a compass with what probably is meant to look like a small gust of wind blowing underneath it. I shake my head to clear it, before shouting, “Hey, ya pile o’ toothpicks!” The trio of Timberwolves turn around, before growling and charging at me. Smirking, I quickly shift into my dragon form, grabbing the lead one with my tail and tossing it to the ground, where it smashes into splinters. The other two halt in their place, cartoonishly skidding until they stop, right in front of my snout. I snort. They whimper and hightail it away. “And tell every other Timberwolf ponies are off the menu!” I shout after them. “Crikey! What in the blazes are you?” I turn at the clearly male and somehow Australian accented voice, to see the two ponies getting up clumsily. Blinking, I shift back to human form, though that only seems to make them look more confused. “No need to worry,” I hold my hands up in a reassuring manner. “I’m a friend. Name’s Haku. Who’re you two and… why’re you out here?” I’ve only now noticed just how ragged the two of them look. Both of their clothes are pretty torn up, as if they haven’t been able to change them in days, if not weeks. Their manes are pretty matted too. Man, what have these two been through? “We… where are we?” the stallion asks, glancing around as he holds the mare in a way that tell me they’re either dating or already married. “And... and why are we horses?” I blink. Okay, that last one is not a question I expected. I blink again, before pointing at them. “Wait. Were you two humans?” It’s a wild stab in the dark, but if they were ponies, they wouldn’t think they were horses. Plus, if they’re humans, maybe I’m not the only person who got sent to Equestria. Though, even so, who have these two turned into, if that’s the case? “Name’s Snap Shutter,” the stallion says, before nodding to the mare. “And this here lovely sheila is my amazing wife, Mane Allgood.” At once, I deadpan. Those names are not human names, so they’re not from the real world. Also, it did not escape my notice that Mane Allgood sounds a lot like Jane Goodall. Whelp, there go those hopes. I frown in confusion, folding my arms. “Wait, so if you’re not from my world and you don’t know you’re ponies… you come from Sunset’s world, don’t you?” “Huh?” the two look to each other, confused. “What’s Sunset’s world?” I sigh, putting one hand on my hip and the other to my head. “Whelp, that’s both easier and more difficult at the same time. So, how’d you both get here?” “We… we don’t know,” Mane says, shaking her head. “Our plane was going to crash, so we had to bail and landed in the water a little away form some deserted island.” “We swam there and went exploring then, next thing we knew, we were attacked by some giant Venus flytrap!” Snap says. I blink. “Giant Venus flytrap…?” Wait, like the one from Friendship Games? But, that was from the Everfree Forest and spilled in from the portal Sci-Twi accidentally opened. How in the world was it on some random deserted island. “So, what happened after it attacked you?” “We ran, of course,” Mane shakes her head. “But I didn’t see where I was going and I fell off a small incline and fell into quicksand.” “I went to jump in to save her,” Snap continues on, “but I tripped and fell on top of her. Next thing we know, we’re in some underground cavern and like this,” he indicates to their pony bodies. “We had no idea how we’d gotten there or like this, so we tried to find a way out and ended up wandering around in these here woods for the last three days,” Mane motions around us. I frown, rubbing my chin. “But… that doesn’t make sense. That sounds like… there’s a second portal from that world to Equestria and has been all this time! And it was active! Could it be a naturally forming portal? Maybe those kinds remain open all the time.” I blink. “That would be a better explanation as to how Equestrian Magic was seeping into that world to the point that world gained its own Elements of Harmony.” “What?” Mane looks from her husband back to me. I blink, shaking my head. “Never mind. Not important. Can you show me where this cavern is? If we find it, we might be able to get the two of you home.” “Um,” they both look to each other in uncertainty. “We… don’t exactly know our way around here,’ Snap says. I frown, folding my arms, thinking, before opening my eyes. “Okay. I’m gonna try something. I just hope it works. Stand still, okay?” They do and I hold my hands out, a blue aura glowing faintly around them. This should work. It’s essentially the same principle as the spell I used to broadcast Cheese Legs blabbing her plans to invade Canterlot all over Canterlot. Yeah, I told her it was broadcasting all over Equestria, but she didn’t know I was bluffing. Anyway, the spell should allowing me to broadcast their memories on a magical-holographic screen in front of me. This is smaller scale, since I’m not going to be sending the signal over a wide a range as Canterlot, just in front of me, “Try to remember everything that happened up until you left the cavern,” I tell them, casting the spell. “Don’t try to describe anything, just think.” The two nodded uncertainly, but close their eyes, clearly thinking hard, doing their best to remember. After a few minutes, the screen shows how they came out of a small cave that had Canterlot in the distance. “Hmm,” I frown, ending the spell as I rub my chin. “That at least gives me an idea where it is, but finding it with this isn’t going to work. Lemme try something else.” I sit down in a lotus position and hold my hands against each other in front of me, focusing. Before I figured out how to use any spells, I’d been trying to feel the magic within me. I’d gone into this position at one point, thinking of movie’s where meditation worked and it ironically had. After a few moments, I can sense Mane and Snap’s enegeires and I follow a trail that seems to stretch back into the forest. I smile, standing up. “Okay. I know where to go. Let’s get you too home.” The two looked beyond relieved and I start leading them into the forest. However, I pause as I suddenly feel a massive wave of magical energy pass over me, I shudder, almost falling to the ground. Having my senses open to find the portal’s magical residue, I’d really felt that. Whatever that magic was, it was huge. I don’t even know what scale it was, it was just that big. “What’s wrong?” Snap asks, getting defensive. “I… dunno,” I say, holding my head, before shaking it and standing up. “I just sense a massively powerful spell. I’m not even sure what it was, but it was huge. I wouldn’t be surprised if every unicorn in Equestria felt that.” “Unicorn?” the pair ask. I shake my head. “I’ll worry about it later. For now, let’s get the two of you back home.” “Thank goodness,” Mane sighs as we continue on our way. “I’m so worried for Scootaloo. I can only imagine how much she’s been wondering where we’ve been all this time.” I pause, glancing back. “Wait. You two know Scootaloo?” They give me a confused look. “Well, of course we know her,” Snap says as if I just asked the stupidest question in the world. “She’s our daughter, how could we not know her?” I just blink. Scootaloo isn’t an orphan?! These are her parents?! ___________________________________________________________ “I… almost feel kinda bad for that plant,” Snap says as we walk out of the trees onto a beach. “Serves that thing right,” I scoff. We found the portal and, after climbing up through some dirt, we found ourselves climbing out of what looked like quicksand, Mane and Snap now having human forms, Snap know wearing a pair of brown jeans and Mane a pair of kaki shorts. The portal had still been open, despite it definitely having been well over three days since Snap and Mane had gone through it, meaning I’d been right. It was a natural portal that is always open. The plant they mentioned had attacked several moments after we crawled out, but I’d barely thought as I sliced my arm through the air, causing it to crumble to the ground. “So… how exactly are we going to get off the island?” Mane asks as we look over the water. I scan the horizon, before noticing what looks like a cruise liner off in the distance. I turn, holding out my right hand. It glows with my aura, it only now occurring to me I seem to be able to use my magic despite being in this world now, and tree branches and leafs fly out from the forest, all piling up on the beach. I grab some rocks and encircle the wood and leafs, before frowning. Can I even use fire spells, being a River Spirit? Did Haku ever use one in the movie? Dammit, I can’t remember. Before I can do anything more than, Snap pushing me aside, holding a small bit of something in his hands that’s burning. Wait, when did he…? “I can tell what you’re planning,” he says, putting the firing brush into the tinder. “Guessing you never used fire spells before?” I nod. “You’re talking pretty calmly about magic for someone who didn’t know about it til recently.” “We’re good at adapting,” Mane, squinting at the horizon, likely trying to gauge the distance of the boat. “Do you know anything that could make the flames bigger?” I smirk. “Now, that I can do.” I clap my hands together, pooling raw magically energy around them, before unleashing it on the flames that Snap has just gotten to start. At once, the flames shoot up high into the air, becoming as tall as Snap himself. We wait several moments, myself keeping the pressure on the flames to ensure they keep burning as hard and hot as before, Snap running back and forth, grabbing all the kindling he can find and tossing it on the fire. “They’re turning!” Mane calls after a few moments, waving both arms in the air. “Someone must’ve seen the flames and told the crew.” “Well, in that case, my job here is done,” I say, easing the spell and letting the flames burning naturally. “Have a safe trip back home, you two.” “Wait. You’re not coming with us?” Snap asks as I turn and start heading back towards the trees. I stop and look back at him, smiling. “Oh, I’ll be back. Now I know there’s another portal to this world aside from the mirror, and that it’s always open, I’ll come as often as I can. I know a certain Equestrian who’s living in your world I’ll want to keep an eye on.” And three sirens, but that’s for later. The two look to each other, before Mane comes over. It takes a moment for me to realize what she’s about to do, before she pulls me into a tight hug. “Thank you for helping us get back, Haku,” she says, holding me close. “Know that you’re welcome any time.” “Um… s-sure,” I say, not really sure how to feel about this. When she lets me go, I look between her and Snap. “Don’t tell them about me. Better they think you two made that fire all on your own. If you talk about me or Equestria, they’ll likely think you’ve gone crazy.” They nod and I head off into the trees. I have a feeling this is what Starlight meant. I was supposed to help EQG’s Scootaloo’s parent get back to their world and learn about that portal. Once Sunset steals the crown, things are going to go very differently than the movie. For now, though, I’ve got a meeting with the hippogriffs and dragons to worry about. Not to mention, I should probably look into whatever that magical wave was. Discord’s already been sealed back in stone by the Mane Six and he doesn’t get released again until season three, so it wasn’t him. I hope it wasn’t whatever Starlight was worried about when I asked if I needed to worry about something else.