Twilight opened her eyes slowly and was met by a blinding light. Her bed didn’t feel right, and she could feel a soft breeze send a chill through her. She let out a groan and turned to her side. It didn’t help with how uncomfortable she was.
“Spikeeeeeeeeee,” Twilight yelled, her eyes still closed. Her voice seemed to disperse in the air, not echoing off her castle’s wall. “Spikeeeeee, can you close the window?” There was no response, besides the shuffling of trees in a breeze. Trees?
Twilight’s eyes snapped open, revealing the world outside—a forest. The trees were tall, swaying in that breeze. Even higher above them, she could see clouds march across the sky. Above all of them, an unfamiliar sun cast rays of light downwards, but they did little to warm her. Adrenaline surged through her veins, and Twilight could already feel a panic attack coming on. She took a deep breath and raised a hoof to brush some of her mane out her eyes.
It was then that Twilight realized why things felt so wrong. Twilight tried to keep calm; she really did. However, the realization that her hoof had been replaced by a human hand was too much for her. Twilight’s scream echoed across the forest.
Slowly, so slowly, the panic attack began to fade. Her desperate gasps for air leveled out into long, deep breaths. The nausea that had threatened to cause her to puke had become a small discomfort in her stomach, one that she should be able to overpower. The worst thing was that depressive feeling of exhaustion that seemed to plague her, but she had endured worse before. She would never tell Princess Celestia(even if she probably knew), but Twilight had pulled all-nighters before. Sometimes the books– especially history books– were too good.
With some effort, Twilight pulled herself to her hooves–feet. To her feet. Using the tree she had woken up by, she managed to get fully upright. As she overcame the last of symptoms of her panic attack, she did something that always made her feel better. She made a checklist.
Get bearings-Check. She was in a strange forest, and while she could see some movement around her, nothing was jumping out to get her. Examine Body-Check. She was mostly definitely a human, even though she was quite sure that she had not traveled through the mirror. Her skin was different from her time in the other world, as instead of light purple it was pale-ish tan. She was wearing the same clothes she had before. That was convenient. Magic-It was gone. Twilight tried to cast a dozen different spells, but like the two other times she had been across the mirror, she couldn’t access her magic. She put that up to a lack of a horn. And finally, Spike. It was then that Twilight realized that she was alone. Her number 1 assistant was gone, or rather, had not traveled with her. Spike had always been her, even in the mirror world.
She was alone. Twilight could feel tears begin to well up in her eyes, but she furiously wiped them away. This was no time to cry. Later, but not now. She was a Princess, she could handle this. She would overcome this.
Twilight carefully pushed herself off the tree, making sure to keep her balance. Even though she had only been a human twice, she was quickly able to adjust to walking like one. Left forward, then right, then left again. Pretty soon, she was able to walk upright and straight. Despite her questions, such as how or why she was here, Twilight knew the basics. She needed to survive, stranded as she was. She needed to secure a couple of things. Water, Food, and Shelter. Twilight had read a lot of books, including survival guides. While none explicitly pertained to her situation, the general concepts would be quite useful.
“You got this, Twilight. All you have to do is remember what you have read, and apply it. It's just like one of Princess Celestia’s tests…” Great. She was already talking to herself.
The number one thing she needed to secure was water. Water collected at the lowest points, so she needed to head wherever it sloped downwards. She hadn’t walked very far when she heard the distant sounds of rushing water, and a smile erupted on her face. That was when she heard the second sound.
Off a few feet to her right, she heard a strange noise. It was the rustling of a bush–but it sounded oddly wet. Twilight took a few steps back as the noise got louder, and closer. Holding her breath, she waited for whatever it was to jump out at her.
And Jump it did. A weird, slimy blue orb leapt out the bush, easily reaching 10 feet. Huh. Her mind had automatically corrected for human measurements. Odd. It landed directly in front of her, and simply sat there. Twilight’s innate curiosity got the better of her, and she slowly approached to investigate.
It was shaped like an ovalish sphere, made of an odd blue gel. It had no face, nothing to indicate that it was alive, yet it quivered and shifted like a living creature. Twilight reached out a hand to touch the strange living slime, and immediately regretted the action. As soon as her hand made contact with the slime, a sharp pain raced through her hand and arm.With a yelp, she yanked her hand back, causing her to stumble backwards.
Twilight looked at her hand, and her eyes widened. There were burn marks along some of her fingers, which she quickly deduced as acid burns. The slime was acidic. She turned to look at the blue orb, and barely managed to dodge its leap. It was trying to hit her. And judging by her fingers, which she was currently cradling with her other hand, letting it touch her would end very, very badly.
That left Twilight with only one option. She ran. She booked it away from the orb of acidic pain, running towards the sound of water. She didn’t stop running until she had reached the river. Then, and only then, did Twilight allow herself to stop.
Twilight guessed that she had rested for only a couple of minutes, but that was all the time she had allowed herself to rest. She still needed to get the basic necessities, and now also avoid acidic slimes. What was this place? She took a look at the burns on her fingers, and was amazed at what she saw. They weren’t red anymore. Infact, Twilight could see new layers of skin had already formed over the burn marks. She was quite sure that Humans nor ponies healed this quickly. Shaking her head, she once more tried to get her bearings.
Twilight nearly gasped in shock. Just up the river was the best possible thing she could find. A town. Granted, it didn’t look like it was in very good shape, but it was still a sign of civilization regardless.
She immediately began to head to the town. The town was on the opposite side of the river, but fortunately, there appeared to be an extremely rundown bridge crossing the water. Carefully, Twilight made her way over the bridge and onto the otherside. Then, she was finally in the town.
The Town was abandoned. Doors were missing, roofs had caved in, and more than few foundations had begun to crack and fall apart. Cobwebs and vines covered some of the houses, causing Twilight to wonder what had happened here. In the center of the decayed town was a large well, even though the town was situated directly next to a river. Twilight took a glance into the well, and while she saw no water, she did see a rope descend into the darkness.
As Twilight explored, she found a couple ruins of note. One was definitely the main hall, but it was ruined and she didn’t even want to get near it. Another was a blacksmith, where she found a dull copper pickaxe, a damaged copper axe, and surprisingly, a sharp tin broadsword. There was an abandoned cart, one that reminded her of Trixie’s cart. A longing for more familiar times echoed painfully in her heart, but she pushed it aside. In it, she found a tin staff topped with topaz, a couple of potions, and an odd Crescent-shaped statue. She took the staff, using a makeshift walking staff, but left the other items.
She finally made it to the last building of note, one that called to her and caused her pain simultaneously. It was an abandoned library, with bookshelves full of cobwebs only. But the roof hadn’t fallen apart, the door was still there, and besides a couple of vines, the foundation was secure. She had found a home.
She pulled a chair from another house into the library, along with a raggedy blanket she had found in one of the ruins. She pushed the chair so that it was next to the table that was in the center of the library, and all but fell into it. She had secured water, and shelter. She had also managed to find a small cellar by one the ruins, which miraculously was still intact. When she had ventured into it, she found old bread, some unlit torches, a bunch of bricks, a couple of objects that looked suspiciously like bombs, and a broken tin hammer. Fortunately, that secured food. Now, all Twilight needed was fire.
She took some of the torches, and headed over to the ruined smithery. There, she found what she had been searching for. In one of the chests she found a rock and piece of metal, along with some dry fiber. Carefully, she struck the metal with the rock, causing a bunch of sparks. They fell into the fiber, which quickly caused a small flame. Using that flame, she lit one of her torches and headed back to the library.
On the table was an old candle, but it still looked usable. Using the burning torch, she lit the tip of the wick, which cast light across the abandoned library. She placed the torch in an iron sconce on the wall, and finally, she was able to relax.
Twilight awoke to the sound of whistling. There was someone else here. Her first thought was that they might be able to help her, but it was tempered by a feeling unfamiliar to the Princess of Friendship. After her encounter with the slime, which had looked safe and friendly, she needed to take this carefully. She grabbed the topaz staff, and quickly snuck over to the door. She peered through the crack between the door and the wall. She saw a human, a man, with a gray shirt and blue jeans, standing outside. He had long brown hair, which seemed to hang over his face. There was a book strapped to his side, along with a bow and some arrows strapped to his back.
The man seemed to be investigating the town, peering into ruins and occasionally checking the book on his hip. Then he turned, and looked at the library. Twilight saw his eyes narrow at the light coming from the windows, and then his gaze met hers. With quiet “Eep!” Twilight scrambled backwards. He had still seen her.
“Hello?” The man called out. “Who are you?” When Twilight didn’t answer, he spoke again. “My name is Andrew, I mean you no harm. I’m, well,... just a librarian, passing through.” A librarian? Twilight snuck a glance through the crack in the door, and saw that Andrew was standing a dozen or so feet away from her. He had his arms out in front of him, away from the bow on his back.
Twilight took a deep breath, and spoke. “What do you want?” She tried to channel her inner princess, and managed to get a semi-regal tone in it.
“I originally planned on camping out here, as night is fast approaching, but instead I have found you. Did you use to live here?”
Twilight thought for a moment before responding. “No. I woke up in the forest, without a clue of how I got here.” Honesty was best after all, just look at Applejack.
Andrew nodded, mulling over what she had just said. “Then it would seem that you might need some help. This world can be very unforgiving, after all.”
“Help? How would you help me?”
“I am a librarian, I have learned many things about this land. I could be a sort-of guide, I guess.” A guide…Twilight nodded to herself. A Guide would be very useful, especially when she knew next to nothing about this world. A considering how that slime burned her, she wouldn’t get very many second chances. Twilight stood up fully, and opened the door.
“Very well, Andrew.” Twilight said, trying to channel her inner-Celestia. “Your help would be greatly appreciated. Welcome to my–slightly ruined– abode.” Andrew grinned, and walked inside to inspect the library.
“You decided to live in a library?” He questioned, but saw a flicker of a scowl in her eyes. Quickly backtracking, Andrew tried to placate her. “Not that there's anything wrong with living in a library, of course. Just an interesting choice, that's all.”
Now that the slight against her honor as a librarian and avid book reader had been amended, Twilight let out a little smile. “Well then, Guide.” Andrew looked at her with a raised eyebrow and smile. “What’s the first piece of guidance you have for me?”
Andrew’s smile faded as he looked past her, and out a cracked window. Twilight could see that the sun had begun to set, which raised a whole lot more questions about the nature of this world. It may have been her imagination, but she could have sworn she saw something streak across the sky. “We should stay indoors at night. It is very dangerous to be wandering around in the dark. Especially for someone who is unfamiliar with this world.” Andrew said, causing Twilight to wonder what could make the night so dangerous.
“The tombs of the Dragons stir. My eyes lift to see ancient dust dancing from high ledges.
These grand wings… How long has it been since I was a hero worthy of their name?
It feels like centuries have passed, yet all I've done is blink.
Look upon my works, as they are… Ruined. None would dare seek me out; tread my path.
Naught awaits them in this cruel world.” – Awakening.