Placating Zecora had taken a lot less than you’d thought. You had offered a heartfelt apology, which had cooled her temper. She had also brought Amber’s bag, which still had a few gemstones that had been left over. The zebra agreed that those and the promise of a swift smack to the head were sufficient. She bid you farewell, gave the confused spectators detailed instructions on your care (and maybe a veiled threat or two, it was hard to tell through the rhyming), and left to check on Amber.
You weren’t sure if that was wise of her, but the group seemed to respect her opinion. That, with the way they were acting before, it looked like you were in the clear. For now, at least.
“So, we blasting this thing or not?” Pride bluntly broke the silence.
“No, we are NOT!” Wimpy snapped back.
“Oh come on! It’s evil!” Pride shouted.
“He saved that poor ponies life!” Wimpy retaliated.
“Well, it’s the reason she got hurt in the first place!” Pride countered.
“That’s not fair, Rai-MPHF!” Wimpy tried to continue but was cut off by Purple’s hoof entering her mouth.
“We talked about this, no names.” She warned.
“Why not?” Bouncy asked.
“There’s no telling what could happen if a demon learns your name. We can’t take that risk.” Purple explained.
“So you’re saying it is a demon! HA!” Pride Pony gloated.
Purple glared at her.
“I’m saying we don’t know what it is. It may be a demon, it might not. I’m just saying we should be careful, just in case.”
If Pride Pony had any more arguments to make, she didn’t voice them. She just sat on her haunches with her forelegs crossed.
The violet unicorn turned to you.
“You said you weren’t a demon. If that’s true, then what are you?”
“I’m a human.” You said matter-of-factly.
Silence.
“Yeah, I didn’t think you’d know. No one else has, so I’m not surprised.”
“Now it’s just making things up.” Pride Pony sneered.
“It does sound kinda like pig plops.” Yeehaw remarked.
“Tw-…dearie, have you ever heard of a …” Prissy looked at you for help.
“Human.” You answered.
Purple tapped her chin.
“I…I don’t think so…”
Her magic brought over a quill and piece of parchment and began scribbling something down.
“But I think I know somepony who might…”
She handed (hoofed?) it over to Lizzy, who belched out a gout of green flame, which incinerated the parchment instantly. The smoke flew out the nearest window and quickly vanished from sight.
There were a few minutes of awkward silence.
You were about to say something to break the tension, but you didn’t get the chance.
Suddenly, the room exploded in twin cataclysmic bursts. Once of golden light and fire, the other pure darkness and starlight. The air became ozone and sulfur, and it was hard to breathe. You tried very hard not to soil yourself.
As your retinas burned in the confusing combo of blinding light and suffocating darkness, you made out the figures of two ponies. They were much larger than any other pony you’ve seen and had both wings and a horn each.
“FOUL DEMON!” came twin roars that seemed to shake the very world around you. The figures looked pissed.
Your best guess? You’ve just met royalty.
And they definitely lived up to their reputation.
“YOU SHALL NOT HARM OUR SUBJECTS!” they proclaimed “WE SHALL-“
They stopped mid-sentence. Their respective torture to the eye blinked out, revealing slightly less spectacular yet still impressive-looking princesses.
“Sister…” the larger white princess said to the other “Is that…?”
“I believe so. I did not get too good of a look before I was…interrupted…” The smaller blue one replied with a scowl.
Big White turned to Purple.
“Twilight?”
“Y-yes, Princess.”
“That is a human.”
……
“FINALLY!”
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Life was looking up for once. A week after your name was cleared, and nothing had tried to kill you!
Granted you were still technically a prisoner, but it didn’t seem to matter much. You got three meals a day, even if it was mostly fruits and veggies. They eat eggs, apparently, which raised questions you didn’t feel comfortable raising. You had a nice bed that was still inside a circle, for all the good that did. It made them feel comfortable, so you let them be. It was up in a loft, with a floral privacy curtain. Not your style, but it was nice.
The reason they gave for you not being trusted to walk freely had been something to the effect of, to quote the Princess: “Just because you’re not a demon, doesn’t mean you can’t start shit.” (Not very ‘Princess-y’, but you didn’t feel it wise to point that out.) Given that you were still an interdimensional interloper, that seemed fair. Especially since she actually knew what humans were and may know of your species’…tendencies. You couldn’t fault her for being careful.
After assuring them you could do fuck all with anyone’s name, you had some formal introductions. You had the most contact with Purple and Lizzie, or ‘Twilight’ and ‘Spike’, as they were called. Twilight was cautious at first, but now wouldn’t shut up with questions about you, your species, and your homeworld which you did your best to answer. Spike was a pretty chill dude, for a literal dragon. Wimpy, or Fluttershy, was the nicest thing you had ever met once she came out of her shell. Bouncy (Pinkie Pie) had been bummed she couldn’t throw a ‘Welcome to Our New Not-A-Demon Friend!’ party, but she coped by bringing confetti-covered cupcakes near daily. The confetti tasted like bits of lemon, oddly.
Not all of them were so willing to trust you. Prissy and Yeehaw were cordial enough in person, but you noticed the looks they gave you when they thought you weren’t looking. They weren’t malicious, they were just unsure about you for now. You did your best to remember their names (Rare Tie and Applejock?) when addressing them, but you called them by their nicknames in your head, and likely would for the time being.
You refused to call Pride Pony by her name. It annoyed her, so obviously you kept doing it. She was an ass, so you were one right back. At least, it started that way. As time went on, you noticed there was less hostility between the two of you. It had become more of a…rivalry. She insulted you to your face, you did the same, rinse and repeat. It was a kind of game at this point. Calling her ‘Rainbow Dash’ now would be just as weird as her treating you with respect.
Princesses Celestia and Luna (which were far better names than Big White and Edgy Tween OC) had left to…’talk’ with Father, who had not seen daylight since you’d last seen him, which delighted you do no end. And likely wouldn’t for a long time. Bastard deserved worse. Since he had made the original circle that had brought you here, he was the best chance of getting you home.
Since the residents of ‘Ponyville’ (Seriously, who came up with the names here?) were more prone to panic-driven riots than other areas, you had been kept strictly secret and sequestered in the treehouse. The only new face you had met was one Nurse Redheart, who gave you a once-over a few days ago. She diagnosed our multiple broken ribs and confirmed you hadn’t anything life-threatening as far as she could tell. Considering she had no more idea of your biology than you did theirs, it was better than nothing.
Apparently, she had some kind of beef with Zecora over her use of herbal remedies. Guess the whole ‘Big Pharma vs Homemade Holistics’ debate was a thing here too. Zecora still supplied you with WonderPaste, so you guessed they came to an agreement.
Then there was…
Amber.
You’d been told she woke up about the fourth day and was doing well. When you heard, you’d wanted to run straight there. While you could currently stand on your own more and more, and you hoped to make it to the hospital soon. Apparently, however, the hospital wasn’t allowing visitors. You suspected that wasn’t entirely true. They let in Zecora regularly when she made her regular trips between the two of you exchanging letters after all. You also noticed that teleportation was a thing here, and yet no one had offered to take you to see Amber. You were…a bit pissed but understood that they couldn’t fully trust you yet. As long as you saw Amber soon, you were good.
Judging by her letters, Amber agreed. You’d thought she’d be mad at you, but she wasn’t. If anything, she was more concerned about you. That gave you…mixed feelings. Her not hating you was good, but you would have understood if she did. You had even expected it. Instead, it seemed like she was anxious to see you again. You were becoming worried she was forming some kind of…unhealthy attachment to you. Given her past, it wasn’t too farfetched.
She had started talking about the future. Places to go, things to see, and things to do. Amber was a caged bird who had been set free, and she wanted to take advantage of it. But the thing she wanted most was to be with you. Since you weren’t in major trouble anymore…she was looking to the future. But did you have a future here?
The way things were going, you began to think you could actually build a life here. The one you had before wasn’t all that great, so it wasn’t like you were leaving anything behind. Here you already had more friends than you ever had and connections with goddamn royalty. You could just…not go back. Who knows, maybe you’d finally be able to figure out those confusing feelings you had surrounding Amber, maybe help her heal?
There was a knock on the library’s door. Three taps, a pause, then a final tap. Since the locals were some combination of friendly, curious, and/or ignorant, it had been decided that a special knock would be used to enter by those who already knew about you. Otherwise, you were to draw the curtain and pretend you didn’t exist until they went away. With the special knock, you were free to call them in, provided Twilight and/or Spike weren’t around.
“Come in!” you called.
The door creaked open, and Princess Celestia entered, followed closely by Twilight. Judging by the looks on their faces, they didn’t have good news.
“What’s up? Did Father not give you anything?” you asked.
Celestia shook her head.
“Not yet. He’s adamant that he made no mistake, and refuses to aid in sending you back. It seems he still believes he can still win, despite being in the darkest corner of the dungeon.” She sighed. “My sister stayed behind to… ‘convince’ him to cooperate.”
“Damn, that sucks. But…you didn’t need to come all this way to tell me that.”
“We didn’t.” Twilight replied. “We did manage to find some of his notes in the cult’s base, about the spell Father used.”
“Great, so that means you can send me back. Right?”
Twilight’s frown deepened.
“Maybe with enough study, but there’s a problem.”
“What?”
“The spell he used was incomplete. Sloppy, really.” Celestia explained. “Somehow he got his hooves on the partial notes of my mentor from centuries ago. But the complete spell is something even I couldn’t hope to replicate, let alone a sub-par mage with a fraction of the notes needed for it to work.”
“But…It worked, didn’t it? I mean, I’m here aren’t I?”
“Yes, but…not how you’re supposed to be.” Twilight chimed in. “I’m not an expert on interdimensional travel (yet), but so far I can tell that the way you were summoned causes…problems.”
“How so?”
“Multiversal travel has certain…rules.” Celestia began “Sometimes, a being can travel from one world to another with no issues. Other times, certain… ‘conditions’ must be met. The way you were summoned bypasses those conditions, and so our world reacts.”
“Kind of like the body reacting to a virus.” Twilight added.
Celestia nodded.
“In this case, you are the virus. Whether you are harmful or not doesn’t matter, the ‘body’ sees you as an intruder so it tries to…get rid of you.”
You let that sink in for a moment.
“So…everything that’s happened so far…that was…?”
“Yes. All the troubles you’ve encountered were not mere chance.” Celestia gently placed a hoof on your shoulder. “And we believe there is worse coming.”
“What could possibly happen that hasn’t already?” you lamented.
“Well…we don’t know, exactly.” Twilight said as she produced several charts, graphs, and equations you couldn’t make sense of. “But since you’ve been here, you’ve been subject to an incredible amount of poor luck, even by Ponyville standards. And half the buildings here get leveled every other week! Diamond Dogs, freak storms, an Ursa Minor, then Timberwolves? And all of it happening in such a short timeframe? It keeps getting worse!”
“Trust me, I noticed.” You grumbled.
“What’s concerning is that nothing has happened recently. The driving force trying to eliminate you isn’t simply going to stop.” Celestia said.
“…You think something big is coming.” You finished. “The longer I stay, and the longer nothing happens, the worse the next thing will be.”
Celestia nodded.
“For your sake, and ours, we need to send you back as soon as possible. Do you understand?”
You did, at least on a certain level. But you didn’t want to. You just felt…empty. This would…destroy Amber. She’d formed a reliance on you. The only thing she had left, the only one that had given a damn about her, and you couldn’t stay.
It wasn’t fair.
You found yourself standing up from the bed. After throwing off the curtains, you started down the stairs. Past the circle, a stunned and stuttering Twilight and a slightly amused Celestia. There wasn’t any destination, but you just…couldn’t stay there. Maybe you wanted to try and go see Amber, even if you knew you wouldn’t make it that far. But you just had to move.
You had just reached the bottom of the flight when you felt a gentle hoof on your shoulder. Celestia seemed to look into your eyes with her large violet eyes. They looked like they had seen a lot, and they were filled with compassion and understanding. She seemed to know what you were feeling.
“Do you have…any questions?”
“…Can I see Amber first…?”