//------------------------------//
// Chapter 10: Part One 
// Story: The Legend of the 'Mon: The Three Forces 
// by NeotheTwilitUnicorn 
//------------------------------//


Chapter Ten: The Portal


(Alex's POV)

She eventually breaks the embrace, smiling.
"So, what do we do now?"
"Well, we have a portal to make, yes?"
"Indeed we do."
"What do you need?"
"Well, I need darkness, moonlight, a few mushrooms, and some sort of apple...oh wait, the apple is for me. But yes, darkness, moonlight, and a few mushrooms, as well as the proper spellcast glyph."
"Okay. The darkness and moonlight are easy enough, but the mushrooms will be harder to do. The apple, piece of cake, and as for the glyph, eh, I'll make one."
"You can formulate glyphs based on the complex magical formula on which all spell glyphs are based, all while retaining a measure of creativity?!"
"....Uh, no. I just make them on a whim, and the Wand accepts them."
She blinks, crestfallen. "You mean here, magic is common there is no formula needed?"
"Wrong. I think I am the only magic user of this realm...It is just a coincidence that the Wand is so adaptable."
"You keep using a capital letter-like emphasis when you refer to this 'Wand'. Why?"
"Because its full name is the Elemental Wand, though I have since renamed it 'The Wand of the Mages' as it just sounded right. To keep it short, I just call it the Wand."
"I see...so what all can it do?"
I pull out the spell-screen-glasses, and put them on her face, and then walk her outside, facing an open path.
"As you can see, it can make all sorts of glyphs. You can see a small selection of them there on screen."
I hold her hand out, so she can see the glyph-light that covers it.
"This glyph-light glove allows you to interact with the glyphs and cast them straight from the screen, as if they were already there. It is quite useful."
She blinks, extremely surprised.
"Woah...this impressive."
"I know. Now, do you see the glyph that looks like a hexagon, with a flame symbol of sorts inscribed in it, with lines connecting the opposite vertices of the hexagon, crossing through the flame symbol?"
She looks around, and nods. "I do."
"Now raise your hand to where it appears to be just under the glyph."
I watch her hand move to a point about level with her nose.
"Okay, now, close your hand around the glyph."
She does, and light flares from inside her closed hand.
"Now face your hand away from us, and open it."
She does so, and the glyph flares in to life in front of us, and I pull the glasses from her face, showing her that the glyph is real now.
"See it's power?"
"Eeyup."
I put the glasses back on her.
"Now swipe your hand across it."
I watch her swipe at it, and then I pull the glasses off again just as it activates, so she sees the icefyre spring forth.
"Tah dah."
Her jaw hangs open. "Wow...I never knew it had such power."
"Heh. Neither did I. The glasses are actually the result of a newer glyph I put in, one that let me see all of the glyphs at once without having to remember them and draw them. It lists the glyph, the effect, an incantation if it is needed, and an animation of the supposed effects."
"Interesting...very interesting..."
She then staggers a bit.
"Ah yes, I forgot to mention the spell casting does drain the caster's energy."
"Yeah, you did."
I pluck the glasses from her face, and then fold them, putting them in my pocket.
She then stumbles again, landing on top of me, and we fall as a jumbled heap of human on to the grass. She laughs, and then surprises me when she manages to roll on top, pinning me to the ground.
"Oh my...aren't you the strong one?"
She giggles. "Well, I guess I've progressed further than I thought."
"Must have...must have. Well, you've pinned me, but now what are you going to do?"
She smiles. "This."
She leans down and kisses me. My eyes flare open, and then close as I return the kiss some, beginning to like this. She then clambers off of me rather awkwardly, as if she is partially paralyzed, given the fact that she doesn't really lift herself off of me, more like rolls off of me, somehow still hanging on to me, and I get flipped over with her, ending up on top of her. I laugh, and then I look down at her, and she looks at me with a sort of want in her eyes.
"Twilight, no. I have things to do, things to get for the portal, and for you, remember?"
She sighs, and then looks at me. "Fine...I'll be waiting though..."
I climb off of her, dust myself off, and then help her up as she dusts herself off and then she walks back inside, sitting down on the couch.
"I'll be back in a while Twilight."
I then turn, and walk down the nearby path to the adjacent town.
*********************************
After a good ten minutes of walking, I reach the adjacent town, and laugh. "Farmer's Market...interesting. I did not know these even existed in Hoenn, and I would think I would, as I've been here a long time...But hey, why argue?"
I walk over to the Farmer's Market, and go to talk to the guy at the register.
He looks at me, bored. "Welcome to the Farmer's Market, where we have all of your dietary needs. What can I help you with?"
"Do you have any mushrooms or apples?"
He sighs. "Yeah, we do."
"Okay then. I'd like, uh, four apples and four mushrooms please."
He turns to an assistant in the back. "Four 'shrooms, four apples!"
He turns back to me. "That'll be six dollars."
I hand him the money, and he hands me the bags with the apples and mushrooms in it.
"Thank you for shopping at the Farmer's Market, and have a nice day."
I nod, and then he sighs as I walk back towards the path that leads home.
********************************
Another ten minutes of walking passes in an instant, and I arrive back at my house. I walk inside, and look over at Twilight, who does not seem to have moved an inch.
"I'm home."
She smiles at me from the couch and laughs. "I can tell."
I walk in to my kitchen, and set the bags down on one counter, putting the mushrooms in the fridge and the apples on another counter. I then pull down various things I'll need to make the pancakes, and then I dice up two of the apples. I put the diced apple bits on top of the cooking pancakes, and then flip them when the time comes, letting the apple pieces cook and soften and sweeten as they are exposed to the heat of the griddle. When they are done, I place two on each of the two plates I have pulled down, and I grab two forks as well, setting them on the plates. I set one of the whole apples on top of the pancakes on each plate, and I turn, walking slowly into the living room so as to not spill anything. I sit down on the couch, having set the plates on the table in front of us, and I look over at Twilight, who has a hunger in her eyes...one that kind of scares me.
"Uh, Twilight, are you okay?"
"Yes yes yes. I'm fine, just hungry."
"Okay then..."
I smile. "Well then, dig in!"
I blink and watch in horror as Twilight grabs the apple, trying to eat the whole thing at once, and then she realizes she cannot.
"Twilight, remember, you have a human mouth. As such, you can't eat as if you were a pony."
"I guess that's one more thing to add to the list of things to learn."
I laugh. "Yeah, maybe it is...maybe it isn't."
She raises an eyebrow, confused.
"Oh, nothing...just ignore what I said."
She shrugs and goes back to eating as I watch in utter surprise at just how ravenous she is.
"Are you sure you ate at all back at the library?"
She shrugs, still eating. By the time I've finished my first pancake, she's already done.
"Uh...yeah, about that..."
"You don't eat all that much do you?"
"Quite correct..."
"Why?"
"It's just one of those things."
"Come on, you can tell me."
She sighs. "Well, it's just that back home, a few of the ruder ponies called me fat."
I facepalm, and think back to when I met her.
"Well then, they need to have their eyes checked. Both in pony and human form, you are not fat at all."
She smiles. "Really?"
I nod. "Eeyup."
She then looks at me, waiting for something. I set down my plate and look back at her.
"Are you waiting for-AH!"
I yelp in surprise as she suddenly hugs me. I return the hug after getting over the shock, but I do wait for her to get off of me.
"What was that for Twilight?"
She blushes a bit. "Oh...nothing."
I sigh. "Suit yourself."
I then go back to eating and I instinctively curl up a little because she is just staring at me...it's kinda creepy. I do my best to ignore it, but I find myself unable to ignore it.
"Uh...can I do something for you Twilight?"
She blinks for the first time in five minutes.
"Huh? Oh, sorry, just that food was really good and I was wondering....are you gonna finish that?"
I facepalm twice over. "You're serious aren't you?"
She nods quickly.
I look down at my plate, having eaten a full pancake, and a good chunk of the apple.  I then roll my eyes and hold out the plate.
"You can have it."
She smiles, and I hear a random squeak, but I ignore it. Then, she takes the plate, and starts nomming on that too. I shake my head slowly, rather amused by her lack of etiquette. She looks at me once she has practically inhaled the food that was left on it.
"Did I do something wrong?"
"Well, kind of, but it just amused me more."
She lowers her head. "Oh...sorry."
"Don't be. As I said, I found it amusing to me more than offensive."
"Oh...okay then."
I get up, and take care of the dishes, and then I look out a window, seeing that it is midday.
"Time seems so much slower here...like someone slowed it down with magic. Or maybe it is that Equestria has a shorter day...I don't know, but whatever it is, and it might just be my perception of reality, but again, whatever it is, it feels different."
"Well, as a matter of fact, Equestria and your world seem to be lined up, as the days are the same length, but I think that the connection between the two is actually distorting time. As it turns out, a couple of days in this world is equivalent to about a week in Equestria."
"Interesting...very interesting. And you've been here for coming up on a whole day. Do you think Spike and the others are getting worried?"
"I don't think so, or at least Spike isn't...If I know him, he informed the girls, so they aren't either."

(Meanwhile, in Equestria)

(Fluttershy's POV)

"Uh...Spike...would you mind telling me where Twi is? I'm kind of worried, as I have not seen her in days."
"Oh, she's, uh, busy."
"Busy doing what?"
"Uh...doing...um, things."
I sigh.
"If you don't want to tell me Spike, you don't have to."
He breathes a sigh of relief. "Oh good to hear."
"Now I'll go ask somepony else...maybe they know."
I trot off, looking for Rarity.

(Back to Hoenn)

(Alex's POV)

I nod. "Okay, if you trust Spike, then I guess I do as well. I still don't want to cause a panic."
I look outside, and see the sun is setting already. "Okay...and now time seems to have sped up... I swear not half an hour earlier it was midday, but now it is sunset...time flies when the talking gets interesting I guess."
She shrugs and looks at me again. "I guess so...will you be able to do the spell tonight?"
I shake my head. "Sorry, but no. There are two reasons...one, I don't have the energy to tear a hole in space-time to reach Equestria, and two, I have not prepared the glyph. Even though the glyph addition is relatively easy, it's the crafting of the glyph that is harder."
She facepalms. "I...I see. Very well."
I move around some, and then get up, moving to my recliner, where I stretch out. "Ah...that's better."
I look at her again, and she has that same...need...in her eyes as earlier in the day. "There's another recliner over there Twilight." I motion to the recliner on the other side of the long end of the table in the middle of the living room.
She sighs. "Fine..." She climbs in to the recliner, still confused as to how it works. I get up from mine, and show her how it works, and she smiles. "Thanks."
"You're welcome Twilight."
"Please, for the love of everything, call me Twi...I find it annoying when friends use my full first name....it just gives me shivers, like they're trying to exert some form of control over me."
I nod. "Okay then Twi."
"Thank you."
I go back to my recliner and get comfortable again. "So, what now? Just sleep?"
"I guess....wake me up in the morning."
"Okay. Good night Twilight Sparkle."
I duck as she throws a small foam ball at my head. "I told you not to use my full Name."
"Okay okay...sorry. Good night Twi."
"Night Alex."


End of Chapter 10: Part One