Me and Ace both flap vigorously towards the floating cottage in the swirling blue void with the mysterious silver staff with its blue sapphire crystal held in my golden magic at my left while the dragon is on my right. I stare out at all the nothing and empty space out there on the other side of the dragon and wonder exactly what this place is and why it’s here?
Ace picks up his pace and makes it to the door a few seconds before I and he has the courtesy to open it for me! I smile and say, “Thanks Ace!” as I fly into the cottage for a slightly skidding landing on my hooves on the wooden floor, when suddenly, the staff glows bright blue and breaks from my yellow magic as it flies towards the teal green unicorn filly standing in the center of the living room!
She looks up with startled orange eyes as she exclaims, “What the?” while the pegasus standing to her right stares at her with enlarged brown pupils of her own! The staff floats silently by her right side, while continuing to glow a distinct blue color.
I widen my eyes in shock as I wasn’t aware that my magical grasp could be broken so easily, and the green filly began to sparkle with the white energy now surrounding her body!
“What’s happening?” The wide-eyed terrified filly asks.
“I don’t know!” I reply.
Suddenly, Jessi’s small body is lifted in the air about 2 feet and her eyes turn a bright white as her mouth goes agape… She quickly looks at Twinkle and says, “You’ve lied to other ponies your entire life and it eventually got to the point where you even lied to yourself and you believed those lies for a very long time. Because of that, you have an enormous amount of damage and trouble trusting yourself!” and she turns her head back to me and says, “You’re unsure about what role you’re meant to play in the new Equestria with all of your newfound power and because of this, you’re hesitant to do any real work or make any change as you don’t know what you should be doing…” Then, Jessi turns her head to Izzy, currently standing motionless and wide-eyed on her left and says, “And you! You’re just a goofball!”
Izzy frowns at the other unicorn, “Whoa! She’s got me!”
I can only stammer out, “Uh, what just happened?”
Jessi turns her head back to me and lowers her gaze with those same freaky bright eyes as her body continues to float in the air, now surrounded by powerful looking white sparkles. “I understand so much more now! I feel like sections of me have been unlocked!”
Izzy turns her head left towards me and asks, “Any idea what that staff is, Sunny?”
I frown at the unicorn, “I have no idea? I don’t recognize the script, but I think one of the symbols means opening?”
Izzy raises her gaze, “So, you brought a mysterious artifact into the house without knowing what it is or what it does?”
My eyes widen, “Well, yeah!”
Izzy responds, “Apparently, we need to have a talk about strange magical items!”
Jessi says, “I understand so much now… This all suddenly makes sense to me…”
I turn to the green filly, “What do you mean?”
Jessi stares up at me with a strange sparkle in her orange eyes now after the whiteness dissipates, “Why we’re here, I mean! You see, we were taken out of our environment, because Discord believes we need to be more open and honest with each other!”
Suddenly, a familiar smarmy masculine voice resonates within the room, “Congratulations little Jessi! The curse you bear has been reunited with the Staff of Opening! Untold power will be yours soon, but not without a price!”
Jessi’s eyes widen, “What are you talking about? I don’t want power!”
“We shall see!” the voice replies.
<*****>
I widen my eyes as the strange silver staff glows azure blue at my right and I feel raw power surging through my little unicorn body and my mind races with new understanding and awareness.
The orange alicorn stares at me with wide-open concern in her cerulean eyes, “Uh, are you okay Jessi?”
Suddenly, I feel a surge of power go through me anda lightning bolt zaps from across my horn down to the floor at a seemingly random spot in front of Sunny, “Uh, I think so? I just feel this rush of so much energy now!”
“Okay, now Jessi! Relax! Take it easy, and we’ll get this sorted out, okay?”
I frown and stare at her blankly as her words only made me more tense, “Uh, right! Of course!”
Izzy eyes me from her position on my left, “Uh, her sparkle seems hazy and disoriented, right now!”
I turn my head to the other unicorn, “What? No! My sparkle is perfectly fine! How do you know about my sparkle, anyway?”
“I can see it right there!”
Sunny glances Izzy’s way before back at me, “Okay, our first goal should be to escape this awful parallel universe!”
Suddenly, the familiar masculine voice resonates within the room again, “Well, why didn’t you just ask?”
And then, all of the windows in the house suddenly show a bright white light outside the cottage, before the familiar forested area of Bridlewood Forest.
“Uh, what just happened?” I ask out loud.
Izzy is staring out the window that was behind her as she widens her eyes and says, “We’re back home! We’re back in Bridlewood!”
Ace says from behind Sunny, “And you got me now, dude!” before walking to the door behind her and finally shutting it.
I look at the silver staff, continuing to glow next to me and calmly say, “And the Staff of Opening as well.” I scrunch my brow and mentally try to shift its position in the air, to find that it magically floats to wherever I want it, now! “Uh, this thing is attached to me now!”
Sunny looks at me with wide eyes once more, “Okay, now stay calm, Jessi!”
I adjust my gaze back to the orange pony, “I’m calmer than you!”
Izzy turns her body around at the alicorn and lowers her neck slightly, “She’s not wrong?”
Sunny raises her head, “Alright everypony, now just relax!”
I scrunch my brows and force a white bubble to encase the alicorn and lift her a foot and a half off the floor. “You stay in there, until you’re settled down now!”
Sunny stares at me with enlarged eyes, yet again, “What are you doing, Jessi?”
I raise my neck, “Well, you were freaking out, so I encased you for a bit! I’ll let you out, once I know you won’t hurt me or anypony else!” I lower it as my eyes narrow. “And I know for a fact that your meager alicorn powers cannot break that shield!”
Sunny frowns while keeping her eyes wide, “Do you really believe I could be a danger to you, Jessi?”
I raise my neck, “Everypony is a potential enemy! I won’t ever forget that, Sunny!”
She blinks and lowers her head slightly, “I uh, wow! Jessi, we need to have a talk!”
I shrug and frown, “What’s there to talk about? You were freaking out and I contained you!”
Suddenly, the little pink pegasus filly on my right chimes in while she turns her head to me to stare with wide open brown eyes, “Golly gee, I think she means how you view other ponies, Jessi! You have a very negative opinion of them! You know, it’s way more negative than even me, and that’s saying something!”
I turn my head to Twinkle, “Is that a problem?”
She blinks and frowns, “Well, probably? I mean, I’m not gonna turn on you!”
“Can I really be sure of that, though?”
She sighs before frowning and staring longingly to the right, “Well, no! I guess you can’t, huh?” She looks at me seriously. “But, I say that with all the sincerity I can muster!”
I then wanted to say that I believed her… I wanted to do that, but instead, I can’t help but say, “I wish I could believe you!” before widening my eyes in shock at what I had just admitted!
I gaze into the eyes of this other filly as her own eyes narrow, and I can already tell that she’s assessing me once more, before she finally replies, “Oh golly, the truth telling thing is still on, huh? But evidently, there’s other issues we need to work on!”
At this point, I can’t help but frown and narrow my eyes as I think about how much I hate that interfering draconequus!
She smiles at me with an apologetic look in her eyes, “It’s okay, Jessi! Work in progress, alright? I’m here to hold your hoof!”
And like a thunderbolt, that same realization from earlier comes crashing into my mind as I widen my eyes with sudden vulnerability… “You care about me, don’t you?”
She frowns, “Haven’t I already proven that, to you?”
I sigh, “Well yeah! I mean,” I blink as I stumble to find the words in my mind and shake my head in confusion. “But I still just don’t think it’s a very good idea to let anypony get too close to me, you know?”
“Well, why not?”
“Um,” I clear my throat, “that is to say, I uh…” I blink again. “just never really saw the advantage in it? I mean, you’ll all eventually just leave me, or hurt me, or worse, you know? Why even bother?”
“Jessi, I have no intention of doing any of those things…”
At that point, I really wanted to say that I finally believed her and hug her, so that this awful awkward conversation could end… But instead, I replied, “But how do I know that?”
She stares at me intently, before retorting, “Well, the truth is, you don’t… But, how do I know you won’t turn on me later?”
Sunny suddenly chimes in from her white forcefield in front of me, “Uh, can I come out now?”
I turn my head to her, “Hush Sunny! Fillies are talking!” before turning it back to the pegasus. “Uh, I guess you don’t? I guess I need to trust you, then?”
She suddenly smiles jubilantly at me, “Two-way street, okay?”
I finally crack a grin at Twinkle, “Deal!”
Sunny timidly says, “Um, hello?”
I stare back at the alicorn while continuing to smile and then release her from the bubble.
It pops and she lands on the floor with a resounding clack as her hooves hit the wood, “Uh, thanks Jessi! Look, I promise that we won’t hurt you, okay?”
I normalize my mouth, “This is hard for me, okay? Uh, baby steps, alright?”
She smiles back at me, “Alright, Jessi! Baby steps! Now why don’t you two fillies go to Twinkle’s room while me and Izzy talk?”
I frown, “You’re gonna talk about me, aren’t you?”
Her eyes widen, “Well um, yeah…” she sighs. “Look! We do care about you and we need to figure out the best way to help you, alright?”
I widen my eyes, “What makes you think I want your help?”
Her neck raises slightly, “Jessi, you can’t just go through life never trusting anypony! It’s not healthy!”
“Who are you to make that assessment?”
“Well, how will you ever make any new friends?”
“I have all the friends I need…”
“Don’t you want new ones, though?”
Ace suddenly points at me with his right claw from the back right of Sunny, “Hey man, you did just meet me and we’re cool, right?”
I turn my head left to him, “Of course, Ace! Why wouldn’t we be?”
“Well, you said a moment ago that everyone is a potential enemy, right?” he inverts his claw so the palm faces upward. “Well, what about me? Do you think I might turn on you?” He says, before lowering his claw.
I blink and frown at the dragon, “Um, I don’t know? Maybe?”
His slitted green eyes widen, “Whoa! Harsh!”
I sigh and close my eyes, “This is hard for me, okay? I-I’ve been through a lot!”
Twinkle glances at Sunny, “You know, she’s still forced to tell the truth, so she’s really not lying!”
I adjust my gaze right to the other filly, “Yeah! And now, with the staff attached to me, the circuit is complete and so, I’ll be bearing this curse unless I’m able to get it removed!”
Her eyes widen, “Oh, golly!”
I nod before frantically explaining, “Yes, Twinkle! You see, once the staff was united with me, I gained new knowledge and understanding of this and how it works. But I’m also forced to be open and honest with everypony I talk to!”
“I see… Well, hey Jessi! Let's go to my room and chill, okay? I think this whole ordeal has been stressful for everypony!”
I smile back at her, “Okay, sounds good!”
Ace says, “I’ll accompany you two! To keep you from uh, roughhousing! Yeah! You fillies need to behave!” *
<*****>
And so, I stood there on all of my four hooves in the center of the room with a burning king joint in my mouth, while Jessi is near the wall with the door and staring at me wide-eyed as she says, “How did I know you wanted to smoke?”
I look at her sternly and say out the right side of my mouth as the left remains clamped on the cardboard filter, “Hey, it’s been a messed up day!”
She smiles and snickers, “Yeah! Well, hey! At least you got a new smoking buddy!”
“Mos def!” Ace chimes in from my left. “Yo, Twinks! You done with the stoge?”
I smile and turn my head to the dragon, “Yeah, sure thing buddy!” before taking out the joint with my left forehoof and moving it in his direction.
Jessi continues, “Well, so now, I gotta tell the truth!” as Ace grabs the joint from my hoof with his right claw.
I turn my neck back to Jessi and see Ace lowering his dragon beak in my periphery as the cherry glows as I say, “Golly, yeah! But now, you also get this new understanding of things and the world around you! Uh, what’s that like anyway?”
Ace breaths smoke onto the unicorn as she widens her eyes and says, “Well, it’s both weird and frightening! I realized that stuff about you earlier and well…”
I smile, “Yeah, I have lied a lot in the past, huh?”
“Probably more than you realize!” The unicorn replies as another cloud of smoke envelopes her.
I glance over at Ace and extend my left forehoof before he deposits the burning joint there and I bring it to my mouth with that hoof while the other three remain planted on the ground and look at the unicorn and say out the right side of my mouth, “Well, there are lots of things I’ll never remember now?” before pursuing on the cardboard to inhale for another drag and feel the warm earthy smoke entering my mouth.
Jessi frowns, “Well, right! This has been an ordeal for everypony between the truth telling and the freaky alternate dimension!”
I breathe smoke on the teal unicorn again and watch her close her eyes to lift her snout and inhale as Ace says from my left, “Well uh, thanks for rescuing me little filly dudes! I’ll bring some of my stash out here later on, and then we can blend it! Sound good Twinks?”
I turn my neck left to the dragon and nod, “Sounds good, Ace!” before pursing my lips to inhale again.
Jessi raises her neck, “Well, now I have the staff and untold power surging through my body! Discord obviously intended for us to retrieve it, but now I’d like to know why!”
I breathe smoke out onto the teal unicorn filly before coughing slightly and replying, “Well, we have no way of knowing that right now, Jessi! Like I told you earlier, we can only remain passive right now to see what he does, before making any assessments or moves of our own!” before removing the joint with my left forehoof and passing it to the blue dragon.
He grabs it with his right claw while saying, “Well, that makes sense! Regardless of what he’s planning, there’s buck all you can do about it right now, right?”
I smile while glancing sideways at my new reptilian friend, “Exactly! But we could still outmaneuver him if he makes a wrong step! The assumption is that this creature is not perfect, after all!”
Suddenly, a booming manly voice resonates within Twinkle’s little wooden room! “Oh, I’ve had plenty of reminders of that over the years!”
Ace widens his slitted eyes while bringing the joint to his mouth for another drag as I smile and reply, “Oh, golly! Check it out, everypony! It’s Captain Douche-Ball again!”
Ace chuckles as he exhales a stuttering cloud of smoke onto Jessi! “Whoa! She said it again!”
(To be continued...)