//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 : Nightmares // Story: A Twilight Landing // by MerlosTheMad //------------------------------// Twilight held the fork awkwardly betwixt her newly acquired digits, an act which stung as much as it fascinated her. It truly is fascinating, all of it, except maybe the part where I ate meat that is. The thought made her cringe a little and almost made her lose her appetite. Still, she thought, I wish dearly that this discovery of a new world could have been under better and...less strenuous circumstances. The utensil stirred the goopy mixture of vegetables and bizarre, spaghetti like noodles in front of her. They bore a striking resemblance to food that would have come out of Neighpan, or Neighna; countries she had yet to visit but had studied extensively. It had become apparent that Jo's world seemed to have counter parts for nearly all of her world's countries. Nearly... With the exception of just a few, including Equestria... Their world, Earth, had a great many more countries than her own, but lacked the pony country she called home, as well as the griffon kingdoms and several others. She suspected it was due in part to the varied races of Equestria and the surrounding lands. Earth seemed to only have humans as a dominant species. Literally every other animal—even ponies—were almost exclusively simple minded creatures, incapable of anything but base emotions. Even stranger, none of the land masses correlate in anything but a vague fashion, if our worlds parallel then why are those different...could it have something to do with the different natures in which our worlds were born? Or maybe the functionality of our governing laws of existence? The thoughts only raised further questions. Twilight shook her head, then stared across the table at Jo, who was eating peacefully and looking as thoughtful as she herself probably did. All of this does, however, confirm that our worlds' timelines and history don't directly follow one another. Likely, Twilight decided, due to the fundamental differences between our races themselves. She leaned forward on her hand, which was admittedly more comfy than a hoof. Hm, still, I imagine if I look at human history there will be all sorts of different, interesting cultural events to look into... Assuming I get a chance to. For now, I need to focus on getting home. Twilight forked up and chewed a piece of sauce Or is it technically a gravy? covered broccoli while lost in the procedural thoughts that would hopefully lead to progress. Jo grabbed her attention without warning, "Something wrong?" She asked, catching the human-unicorn off guard. Twilight blinked and felt the broccoli get stuck in her throat as she swallowed too quickly. "Whoa, hey you alright?" Jo asked her from across the table, halfway to standing up. Twilight choked out a response through her fit of coughing. "Ye-yeah! 'm fine, just went down the wrong way." Jo gave Twilight a concerned look and sat back down, then pushed her glass of water closer. "Well alright, you looked like you were a million miles away. Lost in thought?" Twilight raised an eyebrow before remembering what 'miles' were, and pieced together what must be a human saying. "Oh, yeah I was. Just thinking about that stuff you said was "too heavy" for dinner conversation. I can't help it, between how interesting your world...ahem, planet, is to just how different it functions on the most basic of levels...it's entirely distracting." She couldn't help but glance regrettably down at her plate. "Which might be a good thing..." Unfortunately, Jo seemed to pick up on her slip. "A good thing? Why, something wrong with the food?" Her fork prodded the noodles aggressively, as if to encourage they get their act together. "Eh, I'll admit it's not the best take out I've ever had." She shrugged and seemed satisfied with that much alone. Twilight winced when Jo assumed correctly what she'd been thinking. "I didn't mean anything by it, it's good! Uhm, I dunno how to put it, I guess the food might be so different I can't know what to think. It feels like there is something missing though...something important." She settled into frowning openly at her plate. Truthfully it did taste alright, not bad, and it was a new and interesting kind of food. There was something about it though, and she knew it was staring her right in the face. "Hm," Jo spun her fork and leaned onto her own hand nonchalantly while she answered Twilight. "Might be that everything in my world is different on a subatomic level, maybe you're just picking up on yet another kooky difference between our two homes." Jo spoke as though she herself didn't think much of the idea at all, which was probably true. Twilight almost felt as though the other girl was ridiculing her at times. To Twilight though, what she had said rang with substantial truth. "What is 'subatomic'? That word sounds familiar...ah, never mind that for now. I think looking at our worlds as being fundamentally different very well could be it." Twilight's own fork clinked onto the table as she began her pondering the line of thought. "Thus far, I've barely scratched the surface of this place, but already everything makes no sense by Equestrian standards. Physics, evolutionary patterns, the animals themselves, the lack of magic!?" She stared at the table for a moment before looking up and meeting Jo's eyes. "Even the state of being of your sun and moon. They are not a magical force and a distant, pocket world, but instead a ball of super heated gas and a dead rock hovering overhead in a vacuum!? Excuse me, not overhead, but 'orbiting' around your 'planet.'" "Hey, Twi, take it easy, sit back down..." Twilight looked around herself and realized she was standing and had one leg propped onto her chair, her fork pointed at the ceiling towards where that unexplainable human sun hung in the bizarre human sky. "Sorry, got carried away..." She sighed and tried to smile, but it didn't last, fading before she even sat down again entirely. Her eyes looked over the accursed broccoli that had spawned her entire minor tirade of the last five minutes. "I suppose we may never know why your veggies are so strange." A smile was managed that time as she looked over at Jo. The human rolled her eyes in response to the silly remark, but put on her usual bemused smirk as well. Relaxing significantly from the heightened state she'd accidentally put herself in, Twilight shifted in the strangely shaped human seat. Annoyingly enough, it was comfortable in her current shape. She looked at the sardonic human host she was staying with from the corner of her eye. Jo's lucky Pinkie isn't here, if she was, she wouldn't rest until she put a real smile on her face. I have no doubt about which of them would win, either... At having the idea, she put on a rueful smirk, not much unlike the kind Jo used quite often. Even your grumpiness couldn't stand up to a fully charged Pinkie Pie, Jo, sorry. A giggle escaped her lips, which she quieted quickly lest she be asked to explain it. A sigh from Twilight followed the effort. I just need to take things slowly, learn what I can, and pace myself... At least I sort of have a plan. Thus far though, the only thing directly comforting she had found, were her thoughts themselves. Twilight answered back quickly to Jo's quip about her fascination with things like "electricity" and the "microwave". "Uggh, very well, but it is still very clear that your technological advances are equal to or are at least comparative to our own in regards to magic. I believe that-" She paused and held up a hand to her chin, a very thoughtful look on her face while she watched Jo click away at her strange device once more. Jo heard her guest stop talking abruptly, and turned to see what was up. She watched for nearly a minute as Twilight continued to stay silent, the stranger's eyes darting around the room randomly along with her searching expression. Now what? Jo thought, waiting impatiently. "I'm beginning to think that very well may be the one, solitary difference between our worlds Jo. Magic itself." Twilight said suddenly. Jo hummed, "Sounds good to me. Look, Twi, no offense but you could figure out every little difference between where we both come from and still not find anything useful, I think. You should focus on just learning about how things work here if we're your ticket or best bet home. I mean, I don't really know where you'd begin to look for anything useful around Earth or humanity to begin with, but you could start." She laughed ruefully before continuing. "And take it from me, we're pretty good at being useless." Twilight listened to the other girl laugh at the self-deprecating joke. She smiled weakly herself but couldn't laugh at the words the way Jo had. Strange... She thought instead. I wonder why she's so critical of other humans? More tests and study are needed... Jo continued to busy herself by pulling up tabs to let Twilight read through. It wasn't clear to her what exactly would be the best things to teach her about first, so she'd chosen things that were mostly science and tech related. Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself, but she did want to get started right away... When the purple haired girl beside her let out a monstrous yawn, Jo paused her efforts and looked over. "Getting sleepy?" Jo smiled over at Twilight, who stretched her eyelids down with a hand and shook her head. "Oogh, maybe, I'm incredibly tired now for some reason. Was there something in that food?" Twilight fought to suppress another yawn as she spoke. "Doubt it, you've been awake for a while though, if I'm to understand it, you didn't sleep last night." Jo opened up the tab of orbital pictures of Earth with a final click and sat back, pointing at the computer. "You might also be getting sick if that cough was anything to go by, you get tired when you're sick." "I can't believe I could be getting sick from just being in the rain for a little while..." Twilight mumbled, and crossed her arms in defiance of the thought. "Stupid hairlessness, no offense Jo." "Hey no harm done." Jo said back, a little amusement in her voice. "Anyway, Twilight, do you have something called the 'overview effect' in Equestria?" She turned and watched as the strange girl leaned over until her face almost touched the computer's screen. On the screen were pictures taken from the light and dark sides of the moon from orbit, the moon and further. "Are those paintings of your world?" Twilight asked, then paused a moment. "They look so real." She concluded, with awe in her voice. Jo put on a smug look. "That's because they are real, those are actually pictures taken of Earth from a space faring ship we built and piloted off of our planet." She looked over at Twilight, who stared from her and back to the screen in disbelief. "The 'overview effect' is how your perception of home is irreversibly changed once you see your planet from space. It refers to the experience of seeing firsthand the reality of the Earth's relevance. A person understands that Earth is just a tiny, fragile ball of life, hanging in the void, shielded and nourished by a paper-thin atmosphere." "I wonder if...I wonder if Equestria stretches on like that, into an 'outer space.'" Twilight reached out as if to touch the screen. Jo's hand quickly slapped on top of Twilight's own briskly. "Hey, ow." The purple haired girl made a pained face and leaned back. "What was that for?" Jo frowned, "Sorry, the screen's sensitive though, it isn't a touch screen. So, you shouldn't touch it." Twilight didn't answer and frowned back, then nodded with a murmured apology. The silence in the room stretched on, Jo continued to click through different photographs and even played a few videos. The videos were the first Twilight had seen thus far, and the silence broke as they took some explaining to make it clear they were just photographs essentially, albeit taken by devices capable of full video recording. Twilight professed they did have some simple film, but it was nothing recognizable compared to what Jo had. This, she said, was like magic. "Twilight, I said stop that." Jo warningly held up her hand again over Twilight's. "Right, it's delicate I know, sorry..." Twilight pulled her hand back from being about to try and touch the glowing corona of the human's sun of the screen. "I just can't get over it! A device that can do this," Twilight gestured at the laptop set on the middle of the dining room table. "It's too incredible to fathom. To think you've created little things called 'circuits' that carry short bursts of lightning, so precise that you were actually able to form an advanced language out of it that can carry information itself!" She was panting by the end of her revisit of an earlier topic. Jo rolled her eyes at hearing what she usually took for granted being explained back to her. There was more to it than that, but it did in a pinch for how computers worked, after a fashion. "I suppose that if magic isn't an option as you say Jo...the technology you humans have created for yourselves may indeed be my best bet at getting home. At least, as far as getting home by my own power. I really hope that Princess Celestia or her sister will be able to find me first, instead..." "Hm," Jo hummed thoughtfully. "Yeah, outside of one of the other princesses coming to get you, I would wager technology's your best option, eh?" I mean, now that I know magic is real and ponies live out there, somewhere far, far away, why can't we build a Stargate and send Dorothy here home? Twilight nodded solemnly in agreement, before perking up with a question. "Waitwaitwait, what do you mean by 'other' princesses? That's insinuating that I myself am a princess." Her eyes wore a questioning look. Jo looked over blankly, connecting a couple dots from the earlier "alicorn" argument. "But in the show..." She started, then trailed off under Twilight's gaze. "Ah, whatever, I can't make sense of it, I guess I might know less about ponies than I thought, after all." "Uhm..." Twilight looked like she wanted to say something reinforcing, as if she felt she had hurt Jo's feelings. Jo beat her to the punch, however, waving a hand to make it clear that look wasn't needed. "Don't worry about it Twi', It's my fault for assuming. Anyway, is there anything else at all that could be immediately useful that you know? Besides your cutie mark talent and the affinity for magic thing?" Twilight still looked taken aback, but scrunched her face to think. "I...do indulge in the occasional bout of recreational trigonometry and advanced mathematics. I think you said that a lot of your technology was based primarily off of math theory, so is that a start?" Jo's mouth held open for a second before she responded. "Yeah, yeah I would say that's a start alright." Well, if nothing else at least she could do my taxes for me. Ah, bad Jo, that's shameless. Another abrupt yawn caught Jo's attention. Twilight was stretching and doing a bad job re-straightening her face. "Maybe we should put everything on hold until tomorrow, eh Twilight?" Jo stood up and picked up the two plates on the table. "The internet isn't going anywhere, and I should probably try and think over some of the stuff we've talked about in private, anyway." The way Jo kept having to remind herself of the situation she was in, she imagined she would need at least a day or two of thoughtful introspection to keep her sanity. An early night was just the ticket for that. Twilight stood up herself, a lot less shakily than many earlier attempts, showing clear progress. "Yeah," she answered, "I think I can agree to that. A lot's happened in the last twenty four hours...some sleep would be terrific. Oh, by the way, that bed of yours is amaaaazing." She said the words dreamily in her half daze, already imagining the comfort of the dreamlike mattress. Jo managed to keep from laughing at Twilight's loopiness, then took her arm from where she had remained leaning against her chair. "Well, that's good, I take of lot of this stuff for granted, but it's kind of cool to get the perspective of it from someone that's new to this stuff. Not to mention that someone is Twilight Sparkle..." She made an incredulous face at the floor as she walked Twilight to the back of the house. "Am...am I really famous then? Here on Earth? The way you talk about me and the show, you make me sound as important as the princesses, or as well known as Sapphire Shores." Twilight shifted something in her other arm, Jo saw that it was the box of tissues. "Uh, yeah, I guess you are, at least to fans of that old show." Jo's hand clicked the bedroom's light switch on, bathing the twilight darkened room in yellow lamplight. "I wouldn't worry about it though, I don't intend to tell anyone else. Unless, maybe if they can help us. It wouldn't really be a good idea I think to start making claims like that to other people." Twilight clambered onto the tall bed with the help of Jo. "Claims? Jo, it's the truth! We can prove it the same way that I proved it to you-" Jo shook her head and spoke up. "That isn't the issue Twi', I'm sure a lot of them would believe you without proof. Not sure if that's a good thing... The problem would arise from how obsessed I think some of them would be over the situation. I dunno, I doubt anything would come of it, I think, since you're just like any other human girl right now, no offense..." "It's okay," Twilight looked saddened by the remark from Jo. Jo kicked herself mentally. "Uh, well, if it comes to it, you definitely have an army of people with too much time on their hands that we might be able to turn to for a little help... but that's something we should be really careful about. I'm not worried about say, the government, like I mentioned earlier, but... well, never mind." She thought certain words, rather than say them aloud. I don't want to sound defeatist or get your hopes up, but I don't think there's much help to really be had. Jo frowned and leaned on the bed's side table, trying to find the right words she could say. "Buuut...?" Twilight prompted Jo. "Eh," Jo started, "We'll talk about it tomorrow Twilight. For now, you should rest, your nose looks beet-red." She laughed when Twilight looked around briefly, then crossed her eyes to get a look at the new body part on her face. Twilight blinked, then smiled and joined in as she caught on. After a hefty sigh from Twilight the room quieted again, "I miss my friends..." She wore a somber look after making the sudden remark. Her hands rested on her legs while her eyes stared at the floor. Jo's own cheerful facade faltered and was replaced by a rare sad look. She cleared her throat and watched Twilight, trying to think of something to say. "W-well..." Twilight looked up at her host. "If nothing else Twilight, you're safe. I'm sure that's the most important thing to them, they might not know it, or maybe, they do. Either way, you've got a shot at getting home and I'm sure they're not going anywhere." Jo wore a level look of confidence and raised up a fist to bump Twilight's shoulder lightly. "I'd be stupid to promise you anything, I know better than most about disappointments in life, but we'll sure as hell try." Twilight pursed her lips slightly in thought while listening to Jo. What the other mare said struck her as odd, and a little... dark. It was clear from her expression though that this was a very confident and kind way of trying to cheer her up, so she put on her biggest smile as thanks. "I know we will, Jo. When I get home, I'll make sure Rainbow Dash does a sonic rainboom just for you. A-and Applejack... makes you the best apple pie you've ever had, that Pinkie Pie throws you the biggest, best party of your life! After that, we can visit Fluttershy and all of her animals-s, Rarity can make you some n-n-new clothes..." She hadn't meant to, but Twilight had started crying. "Oh, Spike has to have eaten all the ice cream in the house by now..." Sniffling, she ran the strange, thin and smooth as silk arm she was cursed with over her newly runny nose. Jo wilted and put her hands on her friend's shoulders. "Hey, I'm sorry Twilight I didn't mean to make you cry-" "No, it wasn't you." Twilight coughed twice and reached over to grab one of the thin paper napkins. "It's my own fault, I shouldn't dwell on it, I know. I can't help it, I miss them. Oooh," She groaned angrily and held her head. "Why did I have to try and make a teleport potion. It should have worked perfectly though, in no way was it potent enough to send me to another world, much less farther than Canterlot at all! How does that explain any of this!?" She blew her nose with fervor before wiping it and settling down a little more. "Twilight, you couldn't have known that this would happen, don't blame yourself, no matter..." Jo furrowed her brow and stopped talking to stare at Twilight hard. "Did you say teleport potion?" Twilight looked up with her tear stained eyes, a moment later and they lit up in realization at what she'd said. "Teleport potion! Jo!" The purple haired girl hopped back off the bed and seized the shorter girl's shoulders roughly. "I remember! I remember everything now! I was in the lab with Applejack and Spike! I was testing a new talent potion in an effort to boost my teleporting prowess. I had just drank it and cast my spell and then-" "-and then, you ended up here..." Jo finished for her. Her face was a mixture of seriousness and understanding for the strange girl. Twilight's face sobered up and saddened a little. "Yeah, and then I ended up here in your backyard. Interesting... I don't get it, the spell and mixture was perfect, I remember now. I just... Uggh, we should look into this as soon as we can tomorrow, Jo." She looked away again while she spoke, as though her mind were elsewhere than on her words. "Yeah, we will, I vaguely reca-" Jo noticed that Twilight wasn't listening to her. "Hey Twi, human to Twilight Sparkle, you there?" She tapped a finger against Twilight's head. "Huh? What, wha-!?" Twilight began, then cried out just as quickly. Her look of surprise at someone else being present gave way to the shock of falling. The unicorn's new legs had given out from under her as she turned to look at the human that had regained her attention. "Whoa-!" Jo grunted and awkwardly caught the capsizing Twilight, then steadied her. "I'm putting you through an obstacle course tomorrow until you find your human legs, Twilight. Can't ponies walk fine with four legs? You'd think you could handle just two." Twilight grinned sheepishly. "Sorry, I zoned out there...also, what do you mean? My human legs are right here, unfortunately." She grimaced down at the things as she spoke. "Everyone's a comedian." Jo rolled her eyes, going for a world record. "It was just an expression." Twilight made a look of understand and Jo continued, "Alright well enough revelations, we keep talking and we'll never stop. Hop on up there, Princess." Twilight scowled back at Jo as she returned to her perch on the bedside. "I'm not a princess, Jo, I told you that, there are only t-" "Apapap," Jo chided, waving a finger. "Whatever you're about to say right there you just keep it a secret. I still like that show and I don't want you ruining it for me, okay?" Twilight raised and eyebrow, then doubtfully smiled a little and nodded. "Well, alright..." Jo put on the first ear to ear grin she'd worn that day, or that year for that matter. "Sweet, now, what was that about Rarity making me clothes, what, you don't like the ones I have?" Twilight whistled once and slid further onto the bed away from the other girl. "Oh, I'm suddenly so tired... Ahem, if you'll excuse me, good night Jo." She flashed one last smile before rolling over and hiding a short giggle muffled by a pillow. Jo smiled at Twilight a moment longer while she turned off the light. As soon as the room re-darkened, her face turned to one of surprise. Once out of the room, she came to a startling realization, that she felt genuinely happy at the moment. Oh well, crazier things have happened. The web designer put on a somber look as her feet padded their way slowly back to the dining room. Now for a drink and to hit the haaay... Her thoughts trailed off and a scowl worked its way onto her face as she remembered something else, something important. I forgot I needed to work today. Dammit. Back in the guest bedroom, Twilight was getting comfortable now that she had privacy. She discarded the strange clothes Jo had given her. They were obviously not night attire after all, seeing as she wore them during the day. Laying back on the bed under the cool sheets, Twilight began to drift off to sleep immediately. Even the stuffy, disfigured nose that was so unwelcome on her face barely distracted her. A final thought crossed her mind before she fell soundly asleep. I really hope the Princess doesn't mind that my reports might be a little late... Twilight blinked her eyes and looked around, the air around her was warm and welcoming. From somewhere nearby came the happy sound of laughter. It was immediately obvious that this was what had woken her up. She yawned and stretched, sitting up off of the grassy ground beneath her. "Heya Twi'!" Came a voice from nearby, a familiar voice that contained a country side Equestrian drawl. Twilight looked over across a wheat filled meadow and saw Applejack smiling coolly, waving with one fore-hoof in her direction. She smiled back at her orange coated friend with a fore-hoof of her own. "Hi Applejack!" She greeted simply. "What about us, huh? Don't we get a hello?" The noise of rustling of leaves and feathers came from overhead. This time, Twilight looked up to see Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. The two pegasi were relaxing on separate tree limbs, legs resting or hanging down from their respective perches. "Hello Twilight, it's good to see you." Fluttershy said, in her quiet, but wonderful and friendly voice. Twilight smiled up at her feathered friends as if she hadn't seen them in years. That was odd, she saw them almost every single day. Why am I so happy to see them? The question was interrupted by the frantic screaming that quickly got closer, catching her by complete surprise. "wwweeeeeeEE-YAAAHHOOOOO!" Pinkie Pie careened out of the sky in a red wagon and crash landed right beside Twilight. "I'm here!" The pink pony emerged from the dust wearing her trademark smile, completely unscathed. "Am I late for the picnic?" Twilight grinned and looked around at all of her friends as they laughed. Applejack had sidled up beside her while shaking her head. Above her, Rainbow and Fluttershy both hopped off the tree and floated down. Behind her, came another voice. "Lunch is readyyyy!" Rarity's melodious voice turned Twilight's head around, and she followed it eagerly with her other four friends towards the spread. Laid out on the ground was an impressive assortment of food. There was a cake, daisy sandwiches, tulip turnovers, cupcakes, muffins and all manner of other tasty treats and delicacies. Twilight felt her mouth watering. "Oh, wow guys, you all really outdid yourselves this time!" She looked around at her friends, who were all already digging in. They stopped long enough to look up at her and mutually grin happily. "Well sure Twi', have you ever known us to skimp on a friendly get together?" Applejack chortled out before biting into a sandwich. "Yeah, with a pony like Pinkie Pie to feed, we always have to have everything but the kitchen sink out here with us." Rainbow Dash rolled onto her back and laughed, at least until a certain pink pony stuffed a donut into her mouth. "Hey, are you saying I eat a lot!?" Pinkie Pie promptly picked up the cake plate and took a generous bite out of its side directly. "Because, you're right!" She devolved into a fit of giggling along with the rest of them afterwards. Twilight sighed happily and leaned down to take a bite of her own from a sandwich, which she had obtained with her hands. "Oh, nonono darling, you don't want to eat that. We have something just for you!" Rarity's glowing magical spell had enveloped the sandwich and carried it away from her. Quickly, Twilight tried to use her own magic to grab it back from her friend. When nothing happened, she gasped, and looked around. Her friends were all staring at her intently, with calm, but creepy smiles on their faces. "Here you go Twilight, this is for you." The offering Rarity gave to Twilight was something that made her gag. "You eat this now, remember?" the unicorn went on, smiling all the while. She made to put the plate up under Twilight's nose. "Girls!? What's going on!?" Twilight tried to stand up to get away from the plate, but couldn't, and fell over, unbalanced. Looking down she saw her hooves were gone, her legs' shape had changed, nothing was as it should be. "What's happening!?" Fluttershy's calming voice and wings enveloped Twilight. "Oh dear, Twilight, you don't remember, do you?" She asked calmly. "Just relax, everything will make sense, nothing is out of place." Twilight hugged fiercely at the yellow pegasus, desperate for comfort. "I don't understand, I don't...I don't understand, girls!" The yellow pegasus hugged back at her, while the others merely remained where they were on the checkered picnic cloth, grinning at her. Twilight's breathing increased as her distress did the same, until the sensation that she was floating overtook her. The once-unicorn watched as Fluttershy slowly floated away, as did all of her friends. No, they were staying on the ground. It was in fact she that was floating away, and up into the sky. "GIRLS! STOP! DON'T-!" Her voice caught in her throat, making her unable to call out. "Don't let me go." She croaked. The five ponies on the ground were all smiling cheerily and waving up at her. More and more they became farther and farther from Twilight, until finally, they were just dots. After that, they were gone. The land stretched all the way out to the horizon as Twilight floated away, and wept. "I don't understand!" She managed to say again. Clouds soared past her as she fell higher and higher into the blue sky. "What is to understand, you are where you should be." The voice was flat, it wasn't frightening, not compared to some of the ones Twilight had heard over the years, anyway. It sounded raspy and crinkly though, maybe like crunching snow or leaves. "Who's there!?" Twilight looked around her, but there was nothing, just the shrinking, blue marble below her. Earth. She blinked and looked at it again, it was suddenly incredibly far away, she could now see the curvature of the strange world beneath her. She vaguely recognized the alien world. That's... what Jo's world looks like. Wait, Jo? Who's Jo? She gulped and looked around herself again, her breathing beginning to become panicked and unsteady as she rose still higher. Is she the cause of...of-! Twilight was suddenly aware that she wasn't panicking, it was getting harder to breathe. "N-no!" Her arms rose up and grasped at her chest, ripping at the strange shirt she wore. Nonononono! It felt as though something were wrapped around her head, strangling her breath. She couldn't breathe. One last thought formed before the end. Princess...help me! The sun began to set over the edge of the planet, glowing warmly over Twilight's body, until its glow was gone.