[Numb]
“Twilight?”
“Hmm?”
“Who's that?”
Twilight Sparkle looked up from having her head rested near Cadence's chest for the past few minutes. She didn't hear any doors open, so who else is in the room?
“Where?” she asked.
Rainbow Dash pointed at the other sofa across the glass table in the middle of the room. She saw a face of another giant. Most of its body was covered with a blanket, which was why she didn't notice it until Rainbow pointed it out. It had a longer mane than the other giants, thus giving the impression that it was female. If Twilight wasn't mistaken, the giant appeared to be in a deep sleep.
With Cadence safe and secure in a warm and comfortable position, she got to her hooves and slowly walked over to the sleeping female giant. Twilight was half expecting the creature to wake up before she got close enough to inspect it. The unicorn prepared herself for anything.
As Twilight neared the creature's head, she examined her more closely. The light in the room was far brighter and more defined than the single floating lantern in the boat house. The giant's face had no fur or snout to speak of. Only tan skin. Pinkish even. A color that closely resembled her friend Pinkie Pie gone pale after seeing a sad pony. Its narrow nose pointed downward while pink lips protruded out of the mouth as if swollen from a tumor. Although, she couldn't conclude it puffy lips were normal for their species, it certainly wasn't normal for ponies. She couldn't see any ears on top of her head. Either that meant that they hid behind the long black mane, or the creature lacked ears entirely.
The one thing that nagged at Twilight were the creature's eyes. Even though the eyelids were closed, they were unusually small compared to the rest of its face. She could only assume the spherical membranes were no larger than marbles. Upon closer inspection, the eyelids lacked the common involuntary motion found while in REM sleep. They were completely still, like the brain was devoid of any cognitive function, carrying out information in the receptors and mixing them up into warped visions, therefore translating the information into dreams.
Setting aside her mystifying understanding of dreams—which was more of an educated guess—she moved on with her observations.
Dangling out from underneath the blanket was one of its forelimbs. Twilight examined the long and slender claws on the end of the limb, only to find that they didn't look anything like the claws her draconian assistant, Spike, had. It appeared to be more of a paw, with multi-jointed digits and thumbs. The thumbs and “fingers” were interesting, to say the least. This being could do so many things with careful precision that even magic has trouble preforming. The scientific term that most accurately described the paw was hand. A term that a certain mint-green unicorn mare had told her once before.
Sifting through her thoughts of what she knew of species classification from her brief studies of biology, it looked very much like a primate, or somewhere within the ape family. There were some apes in Equestria, but none were quite as evolved as the one right in front of her. This thought both fascinated and frightened her at the same time. Just where on earth were these things and why haven't she heard of them before? She didn't even know the proper name of the creature. If only Fluttershy were here.
Twilight was unsure whether to wake the giant or wait till she woke up on her own, but either way, the giant would not be happy with Twilight standing mere inches away from her face. It would be frightening for both of them. Twilight back away slowly and moved closer to Cadence.
“So what are they, Twilight?” Rainbow whispered.
“They look like very advanced or evolved forms of primates,” she answered with the same volume. Rainbow gave a confused look.
“What's a primate?”
“Sort of like an ape, or monkey. They stand on two legs and have hands to grab things. Though I don't know how intelligent they are. They might be smarter than they look.”
“Are they dangerous?”
“I would like to say no.” Twilight sheepishly grinned. Even she knew the implications of the giants' size, which brought her at odds with her certainty.
“What if they decide to attack again?” Rainbow asked. Her concern was reflected through the serious tone in her voice.
“I don't think they will. But remember what I said, don't give them a reason to. I will tell them we mean no harm and we just want to get back to Equestria, but we need their cooperation and we can't do that without more information.”
“Can we wait till Cadence wakes up?” Rainbow looked about the room. “This place give me the creeps.”
“She should wake up soon,” Twilight said. She knew little of the status of her health, hoping that she was right. “But if you're so scared, I can do all the talking.”
Rainbow blinked rapidly and quickly inhaled.
“I'm not scared!” she growled with more volume than intended.
“AGHH!” a muffled, yet loud cry echoed through the far door. “God damn! Aggh!”
A few seconds later, one of the giants fiercely opened the door. He quickly closed the door behind him and took a deep breath while looking at the floor.
“I'm so gonna regret that later,” he said to himself.
He raised his head and scanned the room. When his gaze met those of two ponies, he sighed. He slowly walked off to the side, stepping closer towards the couch all without taking his eyes off of the miniature mythological manifestations.
He came to a stop directly behind the sofa and casually leaned his arms on the long headrest. He appeared to be studying them with indifference. His bittersweet expression only served to reinforce the silence that clawed at the air. The awkward and emotionless stare had never been so formidable.
Twilight finally cleared her throat.
“Hel-”
*thud*
Before Twilight could even finish the first word in her sentence, the loud thump bumped the far door. A second later, the second giant forced it open and stumbled through. Twilight's eyes went wide when she saw blood trickling down his face
“You broke my nose you little prick!”
His silent friend looked unamused as he turned his head to address him.
“You deserved it,” he said, much to Twilight's disgust.
The injured giant looked furious, that much Twilight could tell. She had to do something before it went too far. She didn't know what was going on between the two of them, but the one with the broken nose looked as if he was about to attack his associate.
“Let's see how you like it!”
She was right. He started to charge. His friend reacted by bracing himself.
Before the man could reach his target, Twilight instantly lit up her horn and teleported right between the two giants in less than a second. The resulting pulse wave that warped the space around her managed to send both of them away from each other. They fought to maintain their center of gravity and were forced to tumble away to opposite sides of the room.
“STOP!” she shouted. She hoped she didn't have to, but the fighting left her no other choice. “Please don't do this! This is not the way.”
If there was an award for diplomatic prowess, Twilight would win gold. She devised a plan in her head that would settle the dispute between the two beings and hopefully solve the problem.
“What is going on? This is not how friends should treat each other. Friends don't fight.”
“We're not friends,” one of them muttered.
Twilight's heart skipped a beat. Those three words nearly ripped all the air out of her lungs as she face went cold. She thought for sure these creatures were friends, but had some issue to sort out first.
“You're not... friends?” Twilight said with a deflated voice. “I'm so sorry.”
Both of them fell silent, looking at her. She was now the center of attention, which was the last place she wanted to be. In trying to be cooperative, she was at great risk of becoming their enemy. Her very intrusion upon their property earlier that evening and putting herself between their social interactions in their own house was not making the situation any better.
Twilight let her head drop after her apology. She lit up her horn and teleported across the room to her original spot. She didn't feel like doing it the old-fashioned way.
Stanley and Lucas blinked at each other with wide eyes. The purple unicorn just suddenly appeared out of nowhere to break up their fight and disappeared in a flash of white light. One moment she was there, then she was gone. It only took a minute to form for them to realize what happened.
“Uh...” Stanley muttered.
He and his cousin half-expected to enter a world of hurt with another pummeling from the blue creature as a result of their fierce actions. They slowly turned their heads towards the latter half of the room where the three creatures were located. The blue and purple creatures were living breathing Pegasus and Unicorn respectively. The pink one on the sofa was a combination of both. To their relief, the blue one was looking at them amused while leaning against the armrest of the sofa. She didn't seem to care that he and Lucas were fighting. The pink one was still sleeping, no surprise there, but the purple one that interrupted their brawl was quietly waiting for something to happen.
Lucas was still angry at Stanley for breaking his nose, but because they had more important things to think about, like the fact that the little unicorn possessed some super powers, his anger started to fade. Their ordeal would never truly end until they could figure out what to do with the strange ponies in their house. For once, he hoped Kate would just wake up and solve everything.
He and Stanley remained apart, separated by several meters of floating dust and humiliation. Lucas slowly regained his movement after snapping back to reality. He grabbed one of the old cushioned chairs from the corner next to the employee door and cautiously set it next to the sofa. All the while with a broken skip in his step.
Stanley simply stepped towards the chair that he already placed on the opposite end of the sofa a half hour earlier and sat down. They were on opposite ends of the couch while Kate slept silently in the middle, blissfully unaware of the schism between her colleagues.
What did I get myself into? Lucas thought.
For a few seconds, it was quiet. Lucas and Stanley exchanged looks between the pony creatures and each other. The ponies did the same. They could hear the wind blowing much more violently outside the windows, and feel the warmth of the electric heaters that stimulated their senses.
It was then that Stanley noticed just how bizarre the immediate scene looked. Across the glass table at the center, the sofa and the creatures were pretty much the position as them. More like a mirror image or a metaphysical reflection of themselves, which were silly—yet wildly disturbing—thoughts formed in his unstable mind. With the pink creature laying on the sofa and the smaller two ponies standing on opposite sides of the couch, it was like someone took a picture and replaced them with mythical pon-
Stanley chuckled to himself, hoping he wasn't the only one who saw it.
“What's so funny?” Lucas asked him.
“Oh nothing,” he replied, scratching the back of his neck. “So should we ask them what they are?”
“We're not deaf ya know,” uttered the blue Pegasus.
Stanley looked at her and cleared his throat.
“Well... what are you?” he asked, trying his best at being formal.
“What are YOU?” the Pegasus repeated.
“I asked you first.” His attempt at formalities left him faster than they came. So much for that idea.
“I think can answer that,” said the Unicorn.
“Hello. My name is Twilight Sparkle.”
Twilight Sparkle? Seriously? Stanley nearly choked on air upon hearing that name. He thought of it as more of a collection of words that sounded cool when put together. It also reminded him of a certain bestselling book that was recently published a couple week ago.
“I am the faithful student of her majesty, Princess Celestia, keeper of the Sun and co-ruler of the Kingdom of Equestria. I am also steward of the Ponyville Public Library and the Element of Magic,” she continued with pride. Both men simply nodded without a single clue of what she said. Their stack of questions just tripled. “Over there is my friend Rainbow Dash.”
“The fastest flier in all of Equestria,” Rainbow added with more pride than her friend.
“Uh hu,” Stanley murmured. The blue pony's name was already given from the look of her hair, but now it was official. The rest of Twilight's explanation came out as coherent gibberish. The word magic caught his attention for a second, but didn't think too much of it. “So you're a...”
“Unicorn. Rainbow Dash is a pegasus.”
“That's what I thought.” Stanley rolled his eyes where his gaze landed back on Lucas, who was sitting silently, thinking to himself and carefully rubbing his nose. Trickles of crimson continued to flow from his nostrils as he tried to wipe it off on the sleeve of his coat. He could care less about his clothes at that point.
“Wait, you know what I am?” Twilight asked. The glint in her eyes and surprised tone was a clear indication that she was not expecting to hear that answer.
“Yeah. You're not supposed to be real.”
“Neither are you,” Rainbow contended. “What are you anyways? A giant monster disguised as a monkey or something?”
Stanley couldn't help but bring his hand to his face and laugh. It was the only way he could illustrate his vexation. She just called him a monkey. Unbelievable. He sighed and looked directly into her magenta eyes.
“I'm a human. And so is my stupid cousin over there, though I'm not too sure what he is.”
Lucas perked up at the remark and shot Stanley an annoyed glare.
“What's that supposed to mean?” he argued, wincing at the pain of his facial muscles. Stanley snorted and turned back to Twilight, leaving the question unanswered.
“Anyways, what did you just do?” Stanley looked at Twilight straight in the eye.
“Do what?”
“You just appeared out of thin air. Is that some sort of mind trick or something?”
“I used a teleportation spell. Very advanced magic. I am just a handful of unicorns who have mastered the spell completely. I'm sorry for startling you like that. I really am.”
Lucas and Stanley glanced at each other in disbelief. Shortly after communicating with the skeptical squints in their eyes, they finally came to an agreement.
They both started laughing. Twilight's brow furrowed at the reaction.
“Did I say something wrong?” she curiously asked, clearly no sharing their sense of humor.
“Either you're playing tricks on us, or you're lying,” Stanley proclaimed. “Magic isn't real.”
With those three last words came a grievous battle that had begun to eat away at her mind. Those words were like poison to her ears, slowly turning her brain into goop and slowly oozing its way out of every pore in her skull. She didn't believe him. Magic has to exist. There's no way it can't.
“Who are you calling a liar!?” barked Rainbow Dash. She stared at Stanley dead in the eyes. She looked like she was ready to charge at any moment. He took notice and stopped laughing. Lucas held up his hands in response to the outburst.
Twilight blinked uncontrollably for a second in concurrence with her pegasus friend. She quickly came back to her senses and shook her head.
“N-not real?” she stuttered. “But that's impossible!”
“No, MAGIC is impossible.” Stanley solemnly stated. “I know that from twenty-five years of my experience as an atheist. There's always a scientific explanation for everything... well most things, but I'm not gonna bother telling you about the things I know nothing about. So do us a favor and don't to it again. Got it!” He rose his voice slightly to seal his request.
“O-okay,” the unicorn answered in a hushed voice, clearly dejected after the statement. She knew magic existed, but would wait to prove it again. She had teleported quite easily and used an illumination spell earlier, so that should be proof enough. Why weren't they convinced? She wondered if humans explained nature from a scientific perspective, but that's still only half of the bigger picture. How else do they explain Celestia and Luna raising the sun and moon respectively? How do they explain the weather? How do they explain the seasons? Surely they have something similar to Earth pony magic.
Though none of those queries answered some of the more vital questions she wanted to ask.
“Now,” Stanley began again. “Since you asked, my name is Stanley. That's my cousin, Lucas.” Stanley made up for his rude comment speaking in a more modest tone.
“Hi.” Lucas waved by plainly raising his right hand and putting it back down. He wore a nervous expression with his left hand covering his nose to put pressure on his injury. The longer thought about what Stanley did to him, the less cared. Besides, Stanley was right. He deserved it. He knew he couldn't stay mad at his cousin forever.
“Who's your other friend there?” Stanley pointed at the pink mare on the sofa. “Is she a queen or something?”
“Her name is Princess Cadence, ruler of the Crystal Empire and my childhood foalsitter.” Twilight answered. “Equestria has no queens.”
“Princess huh?”
“What about your friend there?” Twilight flipped the question on them, pointing at the sofa next to Stanley. “Is everything alright with her?”
“You mean Kate? She's fine. She just hit her head. Don't worry about her.” Stanley waved a hand in the air. “So why are you here? Or better yet, why were hiding in our boat house?”
“We got lost,” Rainbow finally spoke. “We needed a place to crash.”
“Okay,” Lucas mumbled. “And how did you get here?”
“We flew.”
It wasn't hard for the sailors to figure what she meant by that. They obviously had wings, but it still begged the question.
“From where?”
“Er...” Rainbow trailed off. “Twilight?”
“I'm not sure. The last thing I remember was writing a letter to Princess Celestia before going to bed in the library yesterday. I hardly remember what I wrote in the letter. Something about my daily report on friendship by helping Pinkie Pie with a party.”
“Wait, then how did you know that Cadence was with us when I caught you from falling?” Rainbow Dash asked. Twilight was surprised her friend even remembered that little detail.
“That, I don't know. My memory is fuzzy from anything else but who I was with.”
“Falling?” Stanley questioned after snapping out of that short and confusing conversation between the two ponies. “From where?”
“I believe we teleported high above the ocean and I started to fall. I don't know where I was before that. We got lost trying to find land for about three hours, but we managed to find it before...”
The image of falling into the freezing cold water and the thought of Cadence's potential grave condition gave her shivers. Even though the hospitality of these humans was more than enough nurse her back to health, she was still worried of the potential threats of disease or injury that she might have overlooked.
“Before what?” Stanley leaned in, breaking her unblinking stare.
“Before we found the boat house to take shelter for night. That's how we got here. I'm sorry I can't tell you more. I don't know exactly what happened, but I want to find out.” Twilight paused. “That reminds me, where are we?”
Stanley shrugged. “About five kilometers from Tolaga Bay?”
“Where's that?”
“North.”
Twilight was getting a little impatient.
“What I mean is, what country are we in?”
“New Zealand,” Lucas replied.
“Where's that?” Rainbow asked.
“Do you want all the details?” Lucas said with obvious sarcasm. Twilight nodded, apparently ignoring the sarcasm.
“South Pacific, west of Australia, the only place on Earth I'd rather live,” was all the detail Lucas cared to provide.
“I've never heard of New Zealand before.” Twilight tapped her front hooves together. “Where is it relative to Equestria?”
“There's no such place as Equestria.” This time it was Lucas' turn to lay down the bad news.
“That can't be right. We were just there yesterday.”
“Well I don't know it you know this, but this ain't no fantasy land full dragons and elves,” Stanley chuckled at his reference. “Your... kind—unicorns and pegasus and all—are not supposed to be real. Ponies can't talk, nor are they purple or blue. Come to think of it, I don't know how you're talking in perfect English either.”
Stanley leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. Their predicament—at least, that's what she made it sound like—would take some time to sink in (assuming they would accept everything he said). He knew they weren't going to believe everything she was on the fly.
On the other hand, he wanted a little more proof that they were really from some magical land that didn't exist. The colored ponies were anything but ordinary. The perpetual conveyor that pulled him through the universe in a linear path mocked him with every second as the colored ponies in the room refused to disappear. In all his year of being alive, nothing had been more out-of-this-world than what happened in the last hour.
The search for the truth would have to start somewhere. Just not today. He really wanted to get some sleep, but until he could trust the ponies, that was a bad idea. A slight caffeine filled inhibitor should take care of that.
“Just one more question?” Twilight began, returning to her normal senses after staring at the humans for several seconds.
“Yeah?”
“What's the date today?” Twilight hoped that she could prove her credibility if the years were still the same among countries.
“October 14th,” Stanley quickly answered.
“And the year?”
“2005.”
Twilight put a hoof to her face and sighed. She was lost and defeated. This place was far more alien than she thought. Not only was the year off by a significant amount, the number suggested their civilization to only be two thousand years old. Ponies have been around twice that long.
“Why is that relevant?” Stanley continued.
“Oh, uh... no reason.” Twilight looked around, trying to draw attention away from her lie.
Stanley accepted the answer. He stood up and brushed his coat with his hands.
“Alright, I'm gonna go get that coffee Lucas promised.” He began to walk toward the employee door on his way to the kitchen. Before he got halfway he turned to address Lucas. “It's the least I can do for... you know...”
Lucas crossed his arms and leaned back to give his cousin a sour look.
After Stanley hurried out of the room, Lucas sighed and buried his head in his hands. He finally had some time to think. He was no longer infuriated with Stanley, only retaining some aspects of anger that would eventually evaporate. He mused on his ambivalence of their crumbling relations, so he hoped their new guests would help them with their slight problem. They seemed pretty intelligent and reasonable for mythological ponies that could talk.
His nose continued to pound at his face. It hurt like hell when he touched the bridge of his nose where skin was bruised. It's not like he didn't see this coming. He'll admit that his overreaction to Stanley's justified assault was a bit off the wall, but adrenalin was too much to overcome. His carelessness had dragged the ponies further into their conflict. Speaking of which...
Lucas slid his palms to his cheeks and moved his finger away from his eyes. They never continued to stare at him, keeping a watchful and curious eye on his every move. A curious bunch they must be.
There was only one thing he wanted to ask of them.
“Can you show some of your magic powers?”