Twilight awoke in the library, up much too early to be up and about. She attempted going back to sleep, but it was as if a wall had been put up and sleep was no longer attainable. It was then, as she rolled over and gave a huff as she denied the fact she was ready to get up, that she realised there was a yellow Pegasus at her window, considering if she should bother Twilight. When Fluttershy, for of course it was her, saw Twilight was awake she gave a kind smile and pointed downstairs, indicating she would wait at the door before fluttering out of sight. Yawning, she stood up and glanced toward Spike’s bed, shocked to see Spike was not asleep. She trotted downstairs and glanced around for him, frowning before walking toward the door to greet Fluttershy. As she opened the door she smiled.
“Fluttershy, it’s great to see you” she spoke, before blinking in surprise to see a green earth pony standing before her. She paused and rubbed her eyes before opening them again to confirm, and she awoke in a small nest of leaves with a dull pain down her back. She groaned, and flinched as a slight movement to her side caused her to be racked with pain. She paused long enough for the pain to ebb, and then carefully turned her head and blinked as her memories returned upon seeing the red Pegasus. Rosé Pie was sleeping next to Twilight, hunched in an awkward position. It took Twilight a few moments to realise the Pegasus had a broken wing and was curled up in pain. Carefully standing up, wincing slightly as she finally locate the main source of pain. There was a large gash on the side of her back; luckily it didn’t look too deep. Turning back to Rosé she gently looked over the Pegasus, and then turned her gaze to her surroundings.
“Smarty Pants” she spoke with worry. The forest was dark, forbidding, and was much darker then the Everfree forest somehow. There was a dim light flittering through the dense foliage, and a sky chariot crashed into a tree above her head. But as she gazed around, she knew two things; she was lost, and had no idea how to find Smarty Pants.
“Twilight, is that you?” spoke Rosé, her eyes blinking opening. Turning to face Rosé, her eyes filled with concern as she thought frantically of how she could be of any help. She didn’t know how to treat injuries, she had to magic so she couldn’t get them out of here, and she was utterly absolutely-
“Don’t you worry Twilight, it’s just a scratch” Rosé smiled, standing up and shaking vigorously before examining her wing.
“Jeez, talk about a big huge problem how are we supposed to fly outta here now?” Rosé sighed, folded her one good wing, and turned back to Twilight.
“So, what do you think we should do?” Twilight blinked in shock for a moment.
“W-You’re asking me? But I’m just a total stranger!” Rosé giggled and shook her head, jumping once, twice, three times before answering.
“That’s easy silly~ I feel as if I know you well even though we just met and I just know you will help us get outta here if my names not Rosé Pie!” Rosé then started jumping again, and Twilight couldn’t help but smile that the confidence in her abilities this pony had for her. So, overriding her sense of uselessness, she took quick stock of her surroundings and concluded that they had come from a certain direction, and tried to find the sun to figure out which way they had crashed. Sadly both the foliage and clouds worked against her, so she returned to her original action.
“Well, the chariot crashed in that direction, so if we backtrack maybe we can-“Twilight somehow wasn’t surprised to be interrupted by Rosé.
“Totally walk all the way back to Unicornia!” She giggled, happy to have something to follow. Twilight sighed and opened her mouth to speak when once again she was interrupted by Rosé.
“Oh! Great idea I just had, we can look for Smartie Party Marty Artie while we’re at it” she grinned at twilight, and began jumping off in the direction Twilight had suggested they go. Twilight rolled her eyes, almost forgetting her current situation due to Rosé. But as they walked, a strange feeling passed over her, and this time she immediately recognised it as the sensation from before she had come to this world. As they walked, the feeling got stronger and suddenly they appeared in an open field of pink flowers in the shape of hearts.
“Lookie there Twilight, a whole field of Hearts desire, that plan that pony brings into towns every so often. This must be where she harvests the flowers.” Twilight was actually more interested in the black and white form that looked as if it had crashed landed in the flowers head first.
“Smartie Pants!” she exclaimed, jolting over and quickly checking Smarties body for any signs of injury. Twilight sighed in relief, it seemed somehow she was more or less uninjured, however unconscious she was.
“This reminds me of the tale of this pony who took too much heart’s desire and became infused with its power so gained the ability to grant people their heart’s desire, but never actually got his own desire.” Twilight tuned Rosé out once again, slowly managing to pull Smarty onto her back, as heavy and painful as it was. It was then, that the form of something green slowly approaching appeared. It took her a few moments, to realise it was an earth pony with a dark green body, brown hair, and all caked in mud. It was almost like natural camouflage.
“Hi! I’m Rosé Pie and this is Twilight sorry if we were on your property we crash landed not far from here and we were just wondering if you would be so kind as to help us with some directions and possibly some first aid but we won’t be fussy because if you don’t want to we can continue on our path we don’t want to be really intrusive or anything. That reminds me of the time I was on a job and the guy I was driving wouldn’t shut up, I mean I couldn’t get a word in edgewise, it was really surprising. And when he got off he laughed as he said he was just practicing his impersonation of me which isn’t funny in the-“
“Rosé” Twilight spoke, managing to cut off the pony before she got into full swing. The green pony had started cowering and backing away with every word Rosé had spoken, but she stopped as Rosé shut her mouth, and slowly began approaching again.
“I’m, um, St-Stuttershy” the pony spoke, her voice almost too faint to be heard. Twilight blinked, feeling a strange sense of déjà vu. She opened her mouth to speak when Rosé began talking.
“Hello Stuttershy, do you stutter often or are you just named after that I mean-“Twilight stamped her hoof, crushing one of the flowers and releasing the pollen, shaped like hearts funnily enough, into the air. She ignored it.
“Rosé, focus! We have to get Smarty Pants checked and get our own injuries looked at.” It was then that she saw Stuttershy gently touching Smartie, who was on Twilight’s back.. She glanced to them and gave a concerned smile.
“Um, your f-friend is only mildly h-hurt. B-but she has swallowed a few of the flowers so um…” she trailed off, and Rosé gazed in a way that Twilight could deduce that was not good news.
“What does that mean?” she asked, her concern growing for the pony she had awoken with, and the only one with the answers she wanted.
“W-well there is only one known r-report of someone completely s-swallowing a flower and s-she fell into a coma. A-apparently when they awake they lose all m-memory of their past l-life.” Twilight felt herself shuddering, thinking of what she knew about her lace in this world. Was that what…Was that what happened to her? She shook her head, time to think about that later.
“Well now that that’s done can we totally get to somewhere safe it is starting to get dark and I do not want to be a grounded Pegasus on a dark night with storm clouds around while in the depths of a forest.” Rosé shivered, and Twilight gave a small nod in agreement and turned to Stuttershy, who flinched at their gaze.
“U-um well, you could stay with me for the n-night. It is fairly safe there. It’s o-only a few miles from here.” She cast her gaze downward, and Twilight felt a little worried she had scared the poor pony before her.
“If it’s not too much trouble, we would be delighted to spend the night with you” as Twilight spoke, she crouched low and gently smiled into Stuttershy’s downcast gaze. The pony returned with a hesitant smile, and gently took a few steps in the direction she had come.
“Ohmygosh we’re like having a sleepover, is this a party? I want a party can we have a arty oooh will there be punch and cake and-“
“It’s not the right time for a party Rosé” Twilight sighed, rolling her eyes slightly but giving a small smile. As they began to follow Stuttershy, who had paused once a few steps away, she slowly turned and began leading the way into the forest.
“You’ll love it at my house, it’s very quiet and I managed to make some fluffy down beds so you should sleep soundly.” Twilight sighed, Smarty Pants beginning to make her tire. She was surprised slightly that she could handle her weight, but she guessed it was something to do with being an earth pony now. If she was stronger, it would probably be easier. As they left the clearing, Stuttershy picked up a basket of the flowers, and led the way into the dense dark and desolate forest with only the briefest hesitation at the unknown.