//------------------------------// // Why? // Story: Equestruins // by GunfStep //------------------------------// Twilight was halfway finished putting her book back gently in her bag when she heard Spike call out. “Twilight, QUICK, get over here!” Stuffing the book quickly into her bag she rushed to the sound of his voice, worried for Spike's safety. Focusing herself, her horn shimmered as her staff slipped through its ring and floated next to her, encased in a light mimicking her horn's soft glow. Whatever had happened, she was going to be ready for it. “Spike!” “Over here Twi!” His voice drew near as she reached a clearing in the trees, she brought the staff in front of her as spells began rushing to the forefront of her mind. She began to prepare a shield spell, but stopped suddenly as the trees opened themselves up to reveal a wide hole in the ground. Stopping at the lip, she stood amazed at the sight, this must have been where the crash had happened, which meant- “Hold on! I don’t want any trouble, I’m not here to hurt anyone!” Twilight looked downward, scouring the hole in the ground she finally spotted the two figures. The first was Spike, a line from the tip of the crater downwards betrayed his actions, he had tripped and fallen down to the bottom. Dust had begun settling behind him, but he had quickly risen to his feet to face his adversary. Twilight was glad he was unharmed but quickly realized that his lance was drawn, and pointed directly towards the second figure. A figure Twilight had a hard time believing was truly in front of her. “A likely story, you're just waiting for us to lower our guard so you can do us in, admit it!” Spike shouted towards the newcomer, his voice was firm as he brought his shield up to cover himself. His front was now completely covered by the massive shield. He brought the tip of his lance forward and pulled it in, ready to lunge at any second. His stance lowered and his tail batted at the ground, twitching left and right as dust clouds filled the space behind him, he was ready for a fight. “No, you don’t understand! I have no idea where am I, or whats going on! Hell I don’t even know who I am! I swear to you, I'm not looking to do anything!” Twilight watched as Spikes adversary lifted his hands in the air, he had no weapons, his clothes were torn, his body was covered in cuts and scraps. And to make matters more interesting, he was here, in this crater, with them. Her head spun circles as she began to piece things together, and as she did, the more she realized, this being wasn't here for a fight. He was here because she had brought him here. “Spike, wait!” Twilight jumped towards the crater, her hooves angled against the ground as she slid downwards towards the center of the crater, she hopped forward near the bottom of the hole and landed softly behind her faithful guardian. Taking a few steps forward she slid her staff gently back into its holster and moved towards the being in front of them, towards her new discovery. “Stand back Twi, this guys gotta be trouble!” Spike jumped in front of her, his Lance still pointed firmly towards the being. His words were sharp and quick and his breath was becoming more rapid. Twilight viewed her dragon friend with admiration and love, she knew he would fight to the death for her, and she was grateful for it. But neither of them needed worry. And she placed a hoof on his shoulder to comfort him of this fact. “Its OK Spike this is the one we were looking for, its him.” Spike kept his lance trained on his adversary but his gaze turned towards Twilight. He looked at her, and in her eyes he saw a shimmer he had seen before. Whenever she had things under control, whenever she knew exactly what was going on, knew exactly what to do, that glint in her eyes was always there. Sighing, he lowered his guard, his lance still gripped tight in his hand, but it was no longer aimed towards the newcomer, instead pointed downwards, resting on the soft soil at his feet. He would trust her, as he always has, but would still be safe, rather than sorry. “Are you sure Twi? Just look at him! I mean, what IS he?” Twilight turned to face the man in front of them. She knew what he was, but couldn't believe she was actually seeing him. Twilight had known the spell would be powerful, and the outcome would be unexpected, but to summon a being only heard of in fairy tales and myths was something she had not anticipated. Slowly she looked him over, everything matched what she had ever read about this kind of creature. The face was flat, its nose small and its mouth firmly carved below that. Its body stood straight and tall, the arms jointed at one point with hands that she had seen with Spike, but still intrigued her nonetheless. Its waist was thin, and host to two legs that were connected to feet that stood firm in the ground as they balanced the rest of the body with ease. Her eyes wandered all over his body, taking his appearance fully in, before she finally met his gaze. He looked at her much the same as she was with him, with wonder and amazement. She knew then, that this was the one, summoned from another time or place, and this must be as new to him as it was to her. She smiled at him then, glad she had found him, and happy that he was unhurt. Noticing her smile his gaze softened, and he relaxed slightly. His face broke away from the tired and scared features it bore as he began to realize he wasn't in danger. “This person, Spike,” Twilight began, nodding towards the man in front of them. “Is a-” “Human” The man spoke softly “I'm Human.” He brought his arm up, scratching the back of his head. “And I have no idea whats going on anymore. At first I thought maybe this was a dream, but after wandering around lost for hours on end I was starting to realize that wasn't the case. But now...” He pointed towards the two with a finger, motioning back and forth between them several times. “Here I am talking to a horse and a... a dragon? I'm starting to give more credit to me still dreaming.” He sighed, and a smile crossed his lips. His hands came up in front of him again, attempting to show once more that he meant no harm “At least I can assume I'm not in any real danger then? Seeing as how that isn't lodged into me right now?” He motioned towards Spike and his lance, still lowered. Shrugging, Spike lifted it over his shoulder and pointed a claw towards the man. “Twilight says you're alright, but don't think I don’t have my eye on you.” He puffed out his chest, and banged his chest plate to confirm how serious he was. Quickly, the man stood straight, raising his hand to his forehead in salute, and smiled towards the stalwart dragon. Spike eyed him incredulously, his tail twitched, batting the ground before he returned the smile with a grin of his own as he chuckled, maybe this human wasn't so bad after all. “So I assume you would be Twilight?” The man took a step forward toward her, and held his hand out in front of him. Twilight moved closer, raising her hoof to meet him, the two stopped as they attempted to convey a proper greeting, hand and hoof shifting left and right. Finally, the man held his hand flat and Twilight's hoof fell upon it gently. “Sparkle, Twilight Sparkle... Pony.” She corrected him from his earlier mistake. Clasping his hands together he began to form an apology but she stopped him quickly and began to giggle at his quick remorse from such a small mistake. She lowered her backside to the ground, tired from the walk. She would never mention it to Spike, but her haunches could use a rest. “It's alright, not a big deal, I'm just glad we were able to find you OK. We had been looking for quite some time and were starting to get worried. I daresay we've been searching almost as long as you've been wandering.” “Looking for me?” His brow furrowed. “So, do you know whats going on? Can you tell me how I got here? who I am? I cant remember anything, just waking up alone in this hole.” He knelt in front of her tired of having to wonder what was happening to him, if she was looking for him, surely she had answers that could ease his mind. “I... I'm afraid I cant answer all your questions, but I can tell you why you're here...” Her voice trailed off, this was not what she had expected, she had thought the spell would summon the person here with understanding of why they had come, or at least knew who they were. But this was different, a person who knew nothing? She was the one who had summoned help, but now here she was, attempting to give aid to the one she needed it from. Had the spell failed? Did she make a mistake during the incantation? She shook the thoughts from her mind, this was no time to question herself, or her abilities. Weather or not this man would be able to help them would be up to how well she could explain what was happening to him, and she began to realize how challenging of a task that would be. Breathing deeply, she collected herself and began to speak. “Twilight summoned you here! She cast some wonky spell from a new book she got that made you fall out of the sky and crash land out here in the forest! I don't think she really meant for you to fall out this far, but hey, at least we found you right? And you're not hurt! I'd say that’s a bonus for everyone, right?” Twilight’s mouth dropped, had that really happened? Together, her and the man turned to look at the source of this sudden outburst of information. Spike sat cross-legged on the ground, flicking at rocks around him. It wasn't until he looked up to see a horrified and bewildered pair staring at him that he realized he may have said something he shouldn't have. Silence filled the air, uncomfortable and overpowering. Twilight raced to find something to say, anything to break this dread air. How could she explain things now? There was no way to make that sound better, what would she do? It wasn't until the man spoke that she snapped back to reality. “Why?” She looked up at him, his face showed not anger, as she had expected, but instead genuine curiosity. Staring at him, she wondered if he had really meant that as a question, or, like her, simply wanted to break the silence. Regardless, it had been asked. And whether he was angry or not mattered little, it needed to be answered. It was a simple question, but its response would not be. How could it be? She had summoned him to them. A being, a man, who had quite possibly lost everything, because of her. “I... you...” She struggled to find words, and it was at that moment that she realized why it was so hard. Tears welled up in her eyes, and fell freely towards the ground. How would she explain any of this to him? She wanted to tell him everything. About her world, her travels, her fears and doubts, hopes and dreams, Spike and her friends, why she summoned him and what he was here for. She wanted to tell him she expected a hero to help save this world from destruction, something she and Spike had been doing for several years. She wanted to tell him every last thing that had happened over these long years. She knew though, that she had to first find a way to explain why any of it even mattered to him, a man that knew nothing, and she wasn't sure she could. “I'm not angry, or worried, or even scared so don't worry about that.” A hand placed itself on twilight's head, and she looked up to find him smiling, his eyes understanding. “Heck with my head the way it is right now, I'm not even sure I remember what any of those feelings are!” He laughed loudly, and another chuckle filled the air as they both turned to find Spike holding a hand to his mouth trying cover a smile from the horribly placed joke. The man grinned before turning to face Twilight again “I just want to know how I got here. I don’t blame you or Spike here for anything, I'm guessing there has to be a fairly good reason for me to be here, otherwise whatever spell you cast wouldn't have even happened in the first place right?” Twilight nodded her agreement. Was she really the one being comforted? He stood up, dusting himself off. “So here I am. Wherever here is! At least I know I'm not alone anymore and whats better I think I may even have a coupl'a friends, or at least someone who wants me around, and that’s the best feeling I've had since I woke up!” He crouched down again to look at her once more. “So please, don’t think I'm holding anyone responsible. I just want to know whats going on. And from there we can try and figure out what I’m going to do. But seeing as how I was called here, I'm guessing you have something already planned for me right?” Twilight sat dumbstruck on the ground, she couldn't believe how quickly he had come to terms with what had happened. Her worries dwindled as she continued to gaze at him, was explaining everything else to him all going to go this well? She knew that he had no understanding of his purpose here, but maybe he would be able to help them after all. No normal person would have taken news like this so easily. It would take a truly courageous person to take such a loss as his with stride. She rose from the ground and adjusted her robes, the man rose with her, hands at his hips. She turned to look at Spike who had risen as well, his lance hefted over his shoulder and and shield tightly bound across his arm. He winked at her, clearly he was now OK with their newly made friend. “Well,” The man continued once more, nodding to himself. “Now that we're all set, how about telling me where we are?” Twilight realized this was the best place to start, not just for him, but for them as well. After all, this was why he was here, to save the place he knew nothing about. The place Spike and herself called home. Her horn glowed softly and the man gazed at her in wonder. He said nothing as she used her power to pull a book from her pack. It levitated towards the center of the trio and they gathered around it as she opened it to a page she had grown familiar with over her travels. A map. A map that had helped her discover the spell that brought this person to her, and a map that would show him what he was here for, and what she and spike had been fighting for. “You're in Equestria.” Twilight looked at him, her eyes soft and gentle as she continued slowly, “A land that we have been fighting to restore for years. A land that has fallen from grace and is now ruled by a tyrant bent on bringing chaos and ruin to everyone. A land, that needs your help, Hero.”