Gallus's Journal : Entry #40
By now, you're probably wondering just how I got myself into this situation.
Well, it wasn't easy.
… It was incredibly stupidly easy...
It was the end of the school year and the beginning summer break (which is where most of my problems tend to begin to start).
We had just the last of our final exams and Sandbar, Yona, Ocellus, Smoulder, Silverstream and I were in the mood for celebrating before returning home to our families.
Except for me—because I have no family—but, whatever...
Anyway, it had been decided that we would go for a much-deserved treat at Sugarcube Corner.
I told my friends to go on ahead. I had a book I had borrowed from Headmare Glimmer and wanted to return it before I forgot—again.
Being the hour that it was, I knew that the headmare was no longer in her office. So, I made my way to the castle of friendship, which, in Princess Twilight's absence, had become the faculty housing.
I entered the mighty hall and looked around in the hopes of finding somecreature who could help me.
As I turned a corner, I heard voices and hoofsteps coming in my direction. One of the voices I recognized quickly has the headmare's.
“You sure you can't stay any longer?” she asked.
“Sorry,” replied her companion, “but I gotta get back to my world and Princess Twilight is anxious to take the portal apart. Just hope she doesn't break anything.”
“She is chomping at the bit, isn't she?” laughed the headmare, “Well, now that we know other portals exist, even if something happens to this one, you're not stuck over there.”
“I'd rather not think of it at all,” the other grumbled. I recognized the voice now. It was Professor Sunset Shimmer's.
Professor Shimmer had been brought on to teach Applications of Friendship Magic. It was an elective which looked at non-magical applications for magic. (Yeah, we didn't fully understand it either...) (And, coincidentally, was the exam my friends and I had just come from).
But, Professor Shimmer talked about using friendship magic in a hypothetical “magic-less world”. Though, the more she talked of it, the more we felt she believed such a place existed.
But, hearing this conversation, I wasn't quite so sure... Especially when Glimmer proposed to walk Shimmer to “the mirror.”
I could hear them, but I yet couldn't see them. Frantic (though I don't know why), I ran in the first unlocked room I could find.
Frankly, I don't know what I was thinking, but something about all this had peaked my curiosity.
Eventually, they did walk past me and I followed them at a wide distance. They seemed so enthralled in their talk, they seemed to not notice me.
Through some doors and up some stairs, we ended in a library with a large mirror and an even larger contraption around it.
I dove behind some shelves from which I could observe the mares.
You can imagine my surprise when, after saying their good-byes, Shimmer walked into the mirror and disappeared in a white light!
Now, please don't ask what I was thinking, but I threw the book I was going to return across the room. It distract Glimmer's attention long enough for her to go investigate and for me to dash to and through the mirror.
Now, before you say anything: Yes, BRILLIANT idea.
I certainly thought of that AFTER the fact.
But, the colors... OH, THE COLORS!!!
When I came through the other side, I did the only sane thing any sensible male in my situation would do.
I threw up.
Gallus retched until his stomach was empty and then some. He had never felt so sick in his life.
Exhausted, he leaned back against the monument from which he had emerged and took in deep breaths.
“What is this place?” he asked, wiping his beak. He stopped when all he got was air. “Wait a minute...” he frowned. He tried again. Finding no beak, he pressed his claws against the front of his face. It was flat and fleshy. That was also when he discovered to have an extra digit.
“What is this?” He opened and closed his claws. They looked like his claws. They were the right color, but something seemed weird about them. They felt like they were in something.
Timidly, he grabbed a hold at the end of one of his claws and pulled. The skin came right off!
Gallus jumped back with a scream.
Regaining his composure, he looked back at the skin he's dropped and at his other claw. It looked strangely familiar to him.
He'd seen other griffons and some dragons wearing something similar.
Gloves! That was it! He was wearing gloves! Thick leather working gloves, by the look of it.
He pulled off the other glove to be sure. It was then he noticed the rest of his body.
“Clothes...” he pulled at some of the fabric, “I'm wearing clothes... I have a strange feeling I'm not a griffon anymore.”
He looked around, hoping to catch a glimpse of the world's inhabitants, but the small plaza was empty. He turned toward a the large building. “They must all be in there,” he reasoned.
Gathering his gumption, he walked through the double glass doors.