Through the Well of Pirene

by Ether Echoes


Chapter 3: Over the River

Chapter 3: Over the River

"A whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey, and a rod for the fool's back.” Proverbs 26:3

Amelia

I couldn’t bear it any more.

It was awful. Darkness was everywhere. My skin felt covered in pins and needles. Aches shot up my muscles from being held so still. My head throbbed. There was no worse agony than what I was going through right now.

“Can I look now?” I begged, still holding my eyes shut.

“In just a moment more, wee bairn,” the Morgwyn’s sandy voice breathed my way, as patient as the stars. “Keep the eyes shut and abide.”

If there was anything worse in the whole world than having to wait and do nothing, I didn’t want to know about it. Before, I had been certain that waiting for the dentist was the worst torment anyone could come up with, but I had to come down on this new torture now. Waiting for someone to do real magic was way, way harder. Worse, the Morgwyn was right in front of me every time I tried to peek, so there was no relief there.

I twisted and started to hum the theme to my favorite show, hoping that would speed things up as I rocked back and forth on my feet. Little bangs and irritated voices were audible at the edge of my hearing, and I was getting frustrated. I opened my mouth, setting myself. “Okay, I’m going to open my eyes whether you like it or not!”

“Oh? Why did you not do so before, bairn?” it asked in that infuriatingly calm voice. “The Morgwyn only asked it of you. Do you do all that is merely asked of you?”

Stamping my foot, I opened my mouth to give the cat-thing a good tongue lashing. Once my eyes were open, however, whatever bitter comment I had prepared died on my lips as they widened into an astonished and soundless “oh.”

Laying like a glittering river of gold, a path of shiny yellow bricks stretched into the distance. Lamps placed to either side, much like the curved and twisty one back in the woods, curled over the path and lent the whole thing a gentle glow that made it seem so unearthly in the night. Without my realizing it, an entire stagecoach had materialized beside me, as well. It made me jump back in surprise upon discovering it, having nearly bumped my nose into the thing as I turned about, taking in the golden road. The coach had arrived so stealthily that I hadn’t heard its approach, or else it had simply appeared there out of thin air.

There were no horses or engines mounted to the front. One of the strange men from before was sitting anxiously on the driver’s step. I frowned at this, somewhat concerned. He looked different this time, wearing a rich, thick suit of black, embroidered in gold. With his bowler hat, the effect was more charming than his raggedy old garb from before had allowed. Perhaps I had been unfair when I thought he and the others like him looked dangerous—what if they had been protecting me from that strange, screaming creature? Flashes of that barely seen attacker came to mind. Before anything had really happened, the Morgwyn had snatched me up by my satchel’s strap and hauled me away to safety, but the sounds of the fight had been pretty brutal.

With a smile, I looked around, brushing at some fireflies that tried to settle in my hair. “It’s like a page from a storybook.”

“‘Tis your story, lass,” another of the men said, opening the door to the inside of the coach. He had on the same outfit as the other one before him, though his head had a bandage wrapped about it.

“Oh, your poor head!” I exclaimed in mock concern. “Did that horrible monster hurt you badly?” Without giving any warning, I tugged his big head lower and pecked the fresh bandages, giggling. “You must have been very brave getting that wound! You should be proud.”

He blushed, as I knew he would, and doffed his cap to scratch at his mud-colored hair. “Well, er... it was nothin’,” he mumbled. I grinned wider. A little flattery butters any adult up.

Another hand hauled him aside, the third of the large men appearing and giving the injured one a sour look. My eyes were instantly drawn to the length of gnarled wood he had left inside the carriage, leaning against the back wall, but it wasn’t glowing or doing anything special at the moment. It seemed deceptively innocent as it lay there, though I distinctly remembered its owner lighting up the entire woods with it before. After the Morgwyn, it was the first real magic I had seen.

“My lady,” he offered, trying to smooth his rough voice out and touching the tip of a top hat atop his head. “If you will join us, your castle awaits. We can carry you to it forthwith.”

That blanked out everything else, my attention snapping to him. “A castle?” I asked breathlessly. “With murder holes and crenellations and everything? I want to see the murder holes first!”

The man blinked at that, apparently surprised, and pulled his friend aside for a quick, whispered conference. The Morgwyn chortled and stretched its wide shoulders, before reaching up to snap a firefly out of the air with one gleaming claw, snuffing the insect’s light. Each of the three men murmured amongst themselves in hushed tones, the man with the head wound blinking rapidly, the man with the fancy cloak grumbling in a gravelly voice, the man with the wand gesticulating wildly, and each of them glancing at me now and then. “Yes,” the wand-wielder agreed after his discussion, turning to me, “lots of those things. It’s powerful enchanted, too. Loads of magical creatures, proper tidy it is.”

“Is there a magical ice queen who turns people to stone?”

“We got a king,” the man with the head wound informed me proudly, his broad, flat-toothed grin excited. “He’s mighty powerful.” The other man cuffed him, and he yelped, looking miffed.

“Yes, well, you’ll meet him in good time. If’n you play your cards right, y’might get to meet a princess or two,” Wand-wielder informed me, and that was good enough for me. I hopped in and started bouncing on the seats. They were soft leather, but just firm enough to be satisfyingly springy.

The injured one went to stand on the step. The Morgwyn, on its way in, gave him a very sharp looking smile before sitting at my feet, between me and Wand-wielder. He prudently lifted his feet to keep them out of the cat’s way, while I stuck my head out the window like a dog.

As Driver flicked his riding crop, the carriage jolted and moved of its own accord, forcing me to grip the window frame to stay steady. “Doesn’t even pause to admire the scrollwork in here,” Wand-wielder muttered under his breath, low enough that I didn’t think I was supposed to hear, but I ignored him. I was admiring the scenery and trying to find out how the cart worked. There was no engine noise and no clopping of invisible hooves, and it felt as if the wheels were moving of their own accord.

As the carriage began to clatter along the stones, I heard the creaking and groaning of wood and whipped my head to peer the way we had come. Though it was hard to see, I swear the trees along the path were getting up and moving. It was as if they had come apart into blocks, then reassembled to bar the path, forming a thick line of foliage. “Hey, what’s going on back there? Why did they block the path?”

“So the monster can’t find us again,” Wand-wielder assured me, touching the narrow length of wood I had named him after as if for his own peace of mind. He shifted in his seat and leaned against the frame, which was, in fact, inlaid with some pretty intricate scroll work. Pretty carvings weren’t that interesting, though.

“Oh! That makes sense,” I said, and went back to staring out at the path. Fireflies flew up in great clouds of light in our wake and the trees grew closer together, more tightly knit. The coach picked up speed, and I felt the wind of its passage blow my hair back, moving faster and faster. It wasn’t a car ride, certainly, but it was pretty fast.

Back inside, Wand-wielder was watching me with his lidded eyes in a curious gaze. “What’s up?” I asked him, turning back inside the carriage. Smoothing my hair back from my forehead, I tucked it into my hoodie.

He glanced up at the ceiling, answering, “Mahogany, by the look of it.”

 That earned him an eyeroll. “No, no, I wanted to know what was on your mind!”

“Seems I recalled human girls being a little more retiring than you, lass.” He frowned at me.

Retiring? I didn’t know whether to be offended or baffled. I settled for distracted instead. “Amelia, not ‘lass.’”

“Err, okay?” That made him lean back, giving me a steady look. Really, you’d think he’d be easier to catch off guard.

Actually, now that I paid attention to him, he seemed to be extremely nervous. Not only was he clutching his wand like it was a live hand grenade, he was also fiddling with his coat in a way that suggested he wasn’t used to the fit. Something that lay ahead was leaving him unsettled.

“So,” I began to ask, plopping back down into my seat, “what do you mean by ‘human’ girl? If you aren’t a human, what are you? Or is it just a funny way of saying you’re a guy and I’m a girl?”

“Why, I’m a goblin, ‘course. Isn’t it obvious?” he exclaimed. The look he gave me was not very flattering.

“Like from The Hobbit?

“What? What’s a—no, never mind. We’re goblins, us three,” he informed me proudly, thumping his chest. “A proud and noble kind!” He settled back, apparently intending to leave it at that, but I gave him my best wide-eyed look of interest. After a moment, his resistance faltered, and he continued. “We serve the great kings. We’re the best minions anyone could ask for.”

“Great kings?” I asked, wide-eyed.

Wand-wielder coughed, as if he had something in his throat. He banged on the wall behind him, the one with the driver’s seat, and the carriage picked up in speed, rocking hard on the rough road. We took a turn fast enough to smoosh me against the wall, and I could see a river running alongside us. I had to grip the frame hard not to fly forward when the carriage stopped. The door opened, and I sprang out, excited, looking for the castle.

“Hey!” I protested. “What gives?”

The river spread out before us, reflecting the moon’s glow in gleaming silver sparks. There was no castle in sight, the road simply ending at the water. The forest on the other side was different, with leafy fronds and no pines to be seen. Above all, however, there were no castles, kings, nor princesses of any stripe.

“The castle lies just down that road, but you can’t go just yet,” the injured one told me, hopping down off the cab step.

“Why?” I queried, looking down to the river. “It doesn’t look that swift.” I took a step towards it, preparing to make a leap.

The goblin yelped and grabbed my arm, shouting, “No!” He hauled me back a step, panting. “Be more than my head’s worth to let you do that. It looks calm now, but it’ll sweep ya away in an instant if’n you go as you are.”

“As I am?” I asked, miffed. What, was I too dirty? I surreptitiously sniffed at my armpit.

“No son nor daughter of mortal man may cross the threshold of sanctum land,” the Morgwyn purred, slinking up along a fallen log over the river. It trailed a paw in the water, bringing up sparkling droplets. Each looked as though they had a tiny moon contained within them. I reached for the water myself in curiosity, but then stopped, the cryptic warning making me hesitate.

“Whatever that means, how am I supposed to get across to see the castle?” I asked, “and why can’t, uh, humans go across?” Rising, I turned to look at the goblins. The stage coach had been pulled up to the end of the road and all three goblins were together. The tallest, Wand-wielder, held his namesake in hand. The gnarled wood hummed softly.

“Got that covered. Rules laid down in the old times are funny in a way. They don’t brook disagreement, but they’re very particular about wording.” Electric blue fire curled up the wand as he spoke, and, before I could really frame an objection, he had pointed the end at me. That fire filled my vision.

The blast had tossed me aside like a rag doll. Stars danced around me as I came to, trying to pick myself up off the ground, but my legs weren’t working properly. Somehow, I rolled onto my back and managed to sit myself upright, but my struggles were largely useless; it felt as though I was being squeezed, like a bunch of giant rubber bands had been wrapped around me and were pulling in every direction. There was an incredible feeling of heat, a baking sensation that started in my bones and radiated outwards. It felt as though there should have been incredible pain, that my blood should have been sizzling under my skin like a pork sausage.

Pressure built. My head felt swollen, and I flopped my hands at my face, trying to feel what was wrong. I stared in shock, realizing at once why I had had trouble standing up. My fingers weren’t coming apart. They were squished together so tightly they were trembling and white, and I felt them squeezing tighter still, in defiance of biological possibility. The flesh there bulked up, starting to swell alarmingly, red and angry with inflammation. Tiny hairs sprouted rapidly, covering my mutating hands in a soft fuzz that turned a creamy beige. It failed to cover my nails, which were turning a similar shade of beige, as well, and melting together like wax.

There was a twisting in my gut, and I keeled over. My spine buckled, deciding that it didn’t really like sitting up. Bones cracked noisily, sending weirdly painless jolts throughout my body. Sick gurgling noises and an alien sensation of pressure signaled my guts shoving themselves around. An attempt to stand up again on my numb legs was cut short when a totally wicked snap echoed up from my hips, making my legs flop uselessly behind me as I lay on my belly. Shoulders popped and rotated forcibly, pushing my arms under me even as they grew shorter and stubbier. Somewhere at my backside, I could feel a cramping at my rear, followed by what could only be described as a peculiar tingling, itching sensation, like someone was drawing a needle out.

Next came an awful sense of compression. The invisible bands around me tightened and pulled harder, hauling until I felt as though blood should have squirted out over the road, eliciting a plaintive groan that echoed up from my burning lungs. All around me, the world seemed to grow, as if the goblins and the carriage were growing taller rather than me growing shorter. The clothes on my body swallowed me up and tangled my shortened limbs as my neck inched forward, pushing my head out from my body.

Pressure built up around my nose and mouth, changing up the tenor of my whimpers. With my sinuses swollen and impassable, I had to breathe noisily through my mouth, even as it changed. Hot, steamy breath poured out with each uncomfortable gasp. Rolling my eyes down, I found a snout where my mouth should have been, my nostrils pushed to either side as the little hairs grew into a thick coat. My ears twitched of their own accord, and I realized that they had moved without my notice. They flopped this way and that before going uncomfortably erect, straining.

Even as my body cooled and hope rose that it might be the end of the ordeal, there was one final step. It was as if someone had taken a bore to my skull, grinding away skin, muscle, and bone to find the juicy brains beneath. There the sensation settled, swirling around and thickening until it formed a tight knot. That lump then began to grow, pushing out. For once, there was a spike of pain, but not in the same sense that someone might describe a cut or a prick. It was like listening to an audio spike, so loud it stings, a burst of static so powerful you just want to cover your ears and hide. This noiseless not-sound built up around my forehead, rising in pitch until it mercifully passed out of my perception entirely, the throbbing ache fading with it.

When the power that had gripped me faded at last, I lay on my belly and gasped for air for a few moments. There should have been sweat puddling underneath me from all the heat, but the air stirred hair that was cool and dry. The aches went away with the stiffness, the angry swelling fading as if it had never been.

Squirming, I freed myself from my clothing and found my footing. All four legs—yes, four—were as wobbly as a newborn foal’s. My braid hung down one side, riding over my shoulder and dangling to my new knees.

“Whoa,” I breathed, my eyes huge.

With little clopping noises accompanying my new hooves as I turned a circle, I got a good look at myself. Soft, beige hair covered nearly every inch of me, and behind me swished a long, fluffy, blond tail that arched high and then fell to the earth, nearly touching it. Stubby legs ended in hard hooves I could feel tapping against the golden bricks. I peeked up between my bangs to see a short, pale horn sticking through them.

“Now, try not to be angry, we—” Bandages began, raising his hands apologetically.

“Sweet flaming asteroids! 

“Uh—”

“This is so cool!” I shouted. I bounded excitedly, hopping along on all fours around the increasingly befuddled goblins. “And Mom told me magic wasn’t real. Eat it, Mom! I told you wishing on stars would work eventually!”

The Morgwyn barked a coughing laugh while the goblins exchanged glances. Wand-wielder jerked his head to the stage coach, and Driver and Bandages returned to their places, with the latter holding the door open. I hopped back in and settled on the seat, laying on it like a cat might, a grin nearly splitting my face. Getting used to four legs wasn’t difficult at all. Outside, spray shot up from the wheels as the coach shot across the river, carrying me forward to whatever may lay beyond.

“So what other things can you do with that wand?” I asked, tucking my tail around me and running a hoof through it, reveling in the sensation of an alien limb. The hairs were soft, but stiffer than my mane, giving them a curiously silky smooth texture. “Can you turn big sisters into bugs? Because I know someone who would be improved immensely by that. I would also accept snakes, crocodiles, or arachnids, but not daddy long legs. That would be weird.”

“Why would—”

“Because it has daddy in the name, duh. Can you do dragons? No, wait, that would be way too cool for her...” I trailed off, trying to think of a good species of serpent.

Trees blurred by in our passage, replaced by views of a dark sky with low, mobile clouds. Far away, catching silvery moonlight, stood the thick, squat towers of a castle keep. We raced towards it, taking a winding road through misty woods.

This, I told myself, is going to be awesome.

* * *

The moon hung fat and yellow behind the castle towers as I strode towards the gates, my head held high and my hooves striking the paving stones proudly. Silhouettes of windmill blades, protruding from the castle turrets and all around us upon towers and rooftops of dimly lit homes, rotated lazily against the night sky. A stone bridge spanned a great canyon, and an enormous water wheel turned at the cliffside where a waterfall washed down into the depths.

A crooked arch held the great gates, and the Morgwyn waited by the ugly, bird-headed gargoyles overlooking the bridge, the cat-monster’s blue eyes gleaming in the dark. Wand-wielder pounded on the door while I looked around curiously. I glanced up when a little dust fell near me, and could have sworn the gargoyles had shifted to stare down at me.

A slot in the gates slammed open, allowing a pair of jaundiced eyes to glare out at my escort. “What?” an older woman’s voice demanded, raspy and annoyed, “Who is it? Fetter, is that you? What hour do you call this?”

“We’re here with the girl, Dooris,” Fetter announced, with a note of pride. It had never occurred to me that Wand-wielder might have had a name, but I supposed if an awesome cat monster had one it only stood to reason. I sat on my haunches and watched this exchange curiously. It was becoming increasingly obvious that something odd was going on, though they all seemed friendly enough.

The eyes swiveled to look at me, and then back to Fetter. “A little late, aren’t we? I seem to recall the King telling you not to come back. Lot of fireworks involved with it.” Her raw voice chuckled.

“Unless I had the girl,” he hissed in return, glancing at me. “You know, the ‘special guest.’”

I beamed back.

“It’s more than my head is worth to let you in here on a false positive, Fetter. That could be any pony foal,” Dooris answered.

“Swear it, she’s a human, fits it to every possible measure.” He gestured my way, sweeping his hand. “Just look at her closely, it all fits!”

The yellow eyes turned towards me again, narrowing slightly. “Well,” the dry voice conceded, grudgingly, “the hair’s the right color. So’s the eyes.”

“Right smell, too.”

“I do not smell!” I objected, stamping a hoof, but they ignored me.

“I don’t know, Fetter. It all looks like her, nice’n’tidy, but it’s been a while. How fast do humans grow?”

“Not sure, honestly,” he admitted, arching a brow. “It hasn’t been all that long.”

“Hey!” I shouted, this time getting their attention as I stood up. “I’ll have you know I have a tenth grade reading level!”

They chewed over that one, pulling back into a huddled conference by the door. I perked one of my ears, listening in as well as I could. “Can you read?” “No.” “...a little, I mean...” “What’s a...?” “...get the foreman...” “...can’t... just do it!”

They turned back towards me, and I feigned innocence, inspecting my forehoof for scratches. A heavy sigh emitted from the door, and Dooris spoke. “All right, all right. Mark me, though, Fetter, this ain’ my fault if it goes pear-shaped.”

“Just tell everyone to get ready,” he hissed at her. The slot slammed shut, and I waited. The night had, so far, been a jerky mixture of surprises and odd, confused pauses. On the one hand—or hoof—it was pretty clear by now that these goblins didn’t entirely have it together. On the other hoof, though, it was still a magical land of wonder. Dad always warned never to let your expectations get in the way of your enjoyment. Still, on yet another hoof, I was getting tired, and it would be nice to take a break and stretch out for a bit.

Shoving a hoof into my mouth to stifle a yawn, I began to lay myself out to take a quick nap, but a loud banging from within the keep startled me. It sounded like nothing I’d ever heard before, so much as every single possible tool being used at once. All banging and saws and odd whirring whizzes.

“This better be good.” I sniffed disdainfully. “You guys have been a little disappointing so far! Except you, Morg. Can I call you Morg?”

“The Morgwyn is what it is, bairn,” it said, dropping down beside me. “No name given by your tongue changes that.”

I closed my mouth, realizing I had been yawning again. I lay my head down between my hooves and curled my tail up beside me, getting comfortable. I was just going to lay down for a little while longer. It had been such a long night. The Morgwyn’s body radiated heat into the night, warming my side.

When my eyes shut, it felt as though the ground fell out beneath me. Sleep waited below.


Daphne

A swollen moon watched the quiet earth as we trotted into the trailhead. The distance was finally starting to catch up to me, but a lot less than I had feared it would. I waved a hoof in the air, slumping on a bench by the trail sign and post board overlooking the western parking lot. My breath steamed in the air, and I was grateful for the scarf and hat keeping at least a little warmth in.

Hector was eager to continue, but Naomi hopped off anyway, clipping lights to his harness and taking another, a heavier floodlight, out for herself. I got up to continue, but she waved me off, chiding, “You rest, for at least a few minutes.”

Acquiescing, I settled back down, letting my breathing ease and shutting my eyes. It would only be for a moment.

The sudden bark of an engine jerked me back awake, though my limbs were sore and slow to respond. Groggily, I realized I had fallen asleep, the cough of a motorcycle rousing me. My ears twitched, and I lifted my head sleepily, glancing about. I frowned and squinted at the light as it approached. Stiff and panicky, I got up quakily to hide and stumbled behind the trail sign.

Peeking under the sign, I drew in a breath with a hiss as recognition flared. “Naomi!” I snapped at her. “What is he doing here?”

“We need help, Daphne!” she implored me, confirming her guilt. “I called him before leaving my place.”

“What did you say? Tell him to go away! I don’t need his help.” My ears lay back.

Naomi shook her head. “We do. He knows how to fight. He can shoot a gun. He likes Em.”

“Which only proves he’s insane!” My hoof stamped the earth. “Your cousins can use guns.”

“None of them are very stable,” Naomi growled. “Look, Daphne, your ex-boyfriend is coming with us whether you like it or not.”

Raising myself up to continue the argument proved fruitless. Naomi ignored me by turning around, smoothing her hair back, and fixing her hat as the young man on the motorcycle came to a stop nearby. I am absolutely not vindictive, which is why it was honest when I thought he looked like an ugly, good-for-nothing, too tall, leather-bound idiot.

“Hey, tall, dark, and handsome.” Naomi smiled winsomely, belying my inner thoughts.

“That’s all right, princess,” he replied as he pulled off his helmet. “You can just call me Marcus.” I narrowed my gaze and glared at him, hoping that I had some sort of unicorn magic that could cook him where he stood. Get a nice bacon scent going, searing him into his stupid black leather jacket. There would be a strong whiff of romano, too, for his damned cheesy lines.

Naomi rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I can only keep up the faux flirting thing for so long.”

“So what’s the emergency?” He tucked his helmet under his arm. “I can count on one hand the number of times a beautiful girl has asked me to come somewhere in the middle of the night with all the guns I could borrow or steal.”

“Oh, really? How many other times?” Naomi tilted her head.

“Once, but it was a misunderstanding.” Marcus walked the bike forward towards the trees.

“It definitely isn’t this time,” she said. “There’s a problem, a big problem.” She put her hands behind her back, rocking a bit on her heels. “We—I need your help.”

“I gathered.” His jaw tensed, and his eyes narrowed slightly. “Look, Nay, you’re drawing this out a lot and making me nervous. What’s the big deal?”

“Amelia is in trouble.”

“Lil’ Anteater? What, did she get stuck in a tree chasing a butterfly?” He grinned tightly. Naomi looked at him, silent. He went on, trying to save the stupid joke. “And you need me to... shoot the butterfly?” Oh, I hated him and his stupid, lame jokes! Why did I ever think he was charming? I must have been drugged or ensorcelled.

“No. That was terrible by the way, but no.” Naomi sucked in her breath, bracing. “Em was kidnapped.”

Marcus swore and nearly ran over his own foot with the bike. “Do the police know? What does us being out here have to do with anything? Wait, did Daphne put you up to this? Is she here right now with a camera or something?”

“By monsters.”

“Yeah, okay.” His tone was heated. Shouting, he called into the nearby woods. “Okay, Daphne, you can come out now! I’m not playing along with any sick games, so just give up and show yourself.”

“Well,” I said with an airy tone myself. “Sure. You win.”

I stepped out into the light.

Marcus said nothing. The silence went on. I spread my smile into a slow, smug grin. Maybe this whole transformation thing was worth it to see this. Naomi and Hector began to scuff their feet at the scene.

“Naomi,” Marcus asked, not taking his eyes off of me, “did you slip me some LSD? Is this some sort of contact high?”

“Just say no to drugs,” she sang. Hector nickered in agreement.

“So uh,” Marcus said, “nice horn.”

“Thanks!” I tossed my mane and pointed the tip of the horn at him. “It’s sharper than it looks.”

Marcus quirked a grin. “Always knew you were a bit pent up, but I never knew you were secretly a furry.”

“I will cut you—”

“Guys!” Naomi shouted, cutting into the fight just as it was getting good. “Amelia. Kidnapped by horrible monsters.”

My cheeks reddened—which surprised me; it hadn’t occurred that I was still capable of that—as I scraped the ground hard, staring at Marcus’ shoes. The memory of those strange men flashed into my mind. Each of them was far stronger than I was. Even getting the drop on them, I had been unable to wrest so much as a stick free from them. Then there was that cat. There was no telling what it might have been able to do if it had tried to stop me, as well.

For his part, Marcus was glancing off into the woods. Without a doubt, he was trying to process the giant bomb we had just dropped on him; unless he thought I was wearing a very convincing costume, he knew that his entire world had just been upturned.

“Marcus—”

“Daphne—”

We paused, having spoken over one another. I spoke up again, quickly, to get the first word in. “I know we aren’t going to get along, and I hate to say it, but Naomi is right. These things... we can’t fight them without weapons. The police can’t help us, before you ask again, because I think—I know—that they’ve gone to another world entirely.”

“How do you know that?” Marcus asked. There were many questions in his eyes, but he had to start somewhere.

“Because I think I was in one already. I wasn’t really paying attention at first, but the moon was wrong. It was a full moon, even. There was a creature with them, something that wasn’t natural, with glowing eyes that these men were utterly terrified about. The men...” I licked my dry lips, remembering that it had been a while since my last drink of water. “I don’t think they were human, either. Shorter, thicker, with rough skin. They wore clothing that belonged in the nineteenth century and carried old weapons. They aren’t from Earth.”

I lifted a hoof, looking at it with pursed lips. “Neither are the things... the people that look like me. I met a unicorn, just like I am now, eight years ago.”

“And you never mentioned this fact, why?”

I spoke to my hoof, still unused to the sight. “I did. I landed in therapy because of it. They told me that everything I had thought real was a lie. They did it because they cared about me, and were concerned about me, and I believed them.” The way my voice throbbed left me feeling disturbingly vulnerable.

Leaving that landmine undisturbed, Marcus leaned against his bike. “Okay, so. Assuming this isn’t the best prank ever played in the history of mankind, you want me to go with you into a dark forest in the middle of the night to chase down monsters no one has ever seen before to a world you believe in because you had a friend you were told is imaginary to rescue your kidnapped baby sister?”

“Yes.” My gaze shifted to the ground in front of his feet, my head lowered and ears drooping. “Yes, that is what I am asking.”

Marcus kicked the stand for his bike and paced away. He stared off into the woods, running a hand through his dark hair. I watched, tugging at my scarf for lack of anything better to do. It was hard to fidget without actual hands. I even took a step forward, my hooves clicking on the pavement, but thought better of approaching him.

When he turned back, he fixed me with a finger. “If this is a trick, I am going to skin you and make a horsehide jacket. Do you get me?”

“Yeah, classy like—” I snapped my jaws shut, nearly biting my tongue. After a pause, I went on. “Fine, whatever. Are you helping us or not?”

“I’m doing this because your sister is a great kid. Not because of you,” he insisted.

Lifting my head, I looked right at him. “That’s great. So am I.”

We met gazes for a moment before he turned his face and nodded. “Let me stash my bike somewhere. Meet down the trail?”

“Sure.” I sighed. After a beat, I added, “Thank you.”

“Yeah, well. Thank me when this is over,” he muttered as he fired his bike up again. He turned it and rode back away from the park, calling as he rode off. “And if someone steals my bike, it’s coming out of your hide!”

“I want it to be stated for the record, Naomi; I hate you,” I said, though my tone held no real malice.

“Noted!”

That settled, I turned and walked along the trail. Hector and Naomi followed a moment later, the latter leading the former rather than riding him, to preserve his strength no doubt.

As we waited, my tension had grown to the point where the familiar night cry of a loon nearly made me dive under a park bench. I settled for pacing, trotting in a circle around the gazebo. Naomi watched me for a while before groaning and throwing her hands up in disgust.

When he came, he was easy to spot at least. Though I knew he had been camping, he wasn’t a big outdoor person like Naomi was. A case for a hunting rifle was slung over one shoulder, and he was openly carrying a nine millimeter handgun on one hip. He had another case under one arm, which I assumed was another rifle, a shotgun, ammunition, or a combination thereof. It was a bit of a risk for him to carry all of that in plain view—if a park official saw him, he could be in fantastic trouble.

“I’m here, we can start the party,” he called, not making it any harder for said officials to find him.

“Why am I suddenly hungry for cheese again?” I asked no one in particular, and made a gagging gesture with my hoof in my mouth when Naomi looked my way.

“Let’s get going.” Naomi rolled her eyes. She was going to end up doing a lot of that before this journey was done if that was enough to set her off. “Daphne, you lead. Fill us in on the way, all right? All the details you know and think might be the slightest bit relevant.”

A snort told her what I thought of her attempts, but I obliged. The trip back to the grove was a long way, and talking would help settle my nerves. I began heading west and north, keeping to a walk for now. Without riding a horse, Marcus couldn’t keep up, and it would be petty to leave him behind. Though it was very tempting to make him run.

“There’s not a lot I haven’t already told you,” I grumbled as we crossed the bridge into the woods, my and Hector’s hooves clacking noisily against the wood, “but all right.” For the third time that night, I would have to unbury and relive my past, and it wasn’t getting any easier. “When I was eight, I met a unicorn out here in the park. Her name was Leit Motif...”

* * *

As the trip progressed, the four of us heading deeper into the woods, I told Naomi and Marcus everything—what little I had the presence of mind as a child to inquire about, anyway. There were unicorn and pegasus ponies that lived in the magical land of Equestria. The name made Marcus snicker, which I felt oddly defensive about, as though they were indeed my people and my home. Next came everything I could remember of the conversation between the thugs, and I described that demon cat in detail—something the thugs had called a “Morgwyn.”

Their questions, in return, were not very helpful. “Did they say where they were taking Em?” Naomi asked. Almost directly on top of her, Marcus asked, “What did they say they were going to do to her?” “How far is it to Equestria?” “Can anyone help us over there?” I wracked my brains, but couldn’t think of anything particularly useful to fill in those blanks with. Naomi could sense my frustration, at least, and laid off, letting us continue in silence. So far this little adventuring party was getting off to a great start.

Every so often, I would gaze up to the sky to check our progress. Father and Amelia were more familiar with the stars than I was, but a changed moon was something even I could spot at a glance. It happened, appropriately enough, when I wasn’t paying attention, of course. Taking a low path through a ravine, we had hopped over the stream and started up the other side when Naomi gasped, staring up at the sky. I tilted my head up, and, sure enough, there was a completely full moon, as if we had just jumped half a week back in time.

“Okay, someone explain to me how no one noticed this before in this park,” Marcus demanded, and I was pleased to see that he was looking a little wild-eyed. He looked around as if expecting to see a cat-monster come tearing out of the deep shadows.

“Can’t help you there,” I admitted. “Not many people come this way, however. I mean, you saw how much trouble Hector was having back there.” I nodded towards the racing stallion, who was looking restless at his inability to tear loose and run. He wasn’t built for this rough terrain, but it barely seemed to affect me, hopping from one rock to the next with greater surety than I had ever had as a young woman. Maybe unicorns were part mountain goat.

“It’s still a state park in Massachusetts,” he insisted. “Are you telling me the park rangers never come out this way?”

“Well,” Naomi chimed in, coming to my aid, “sometimes hikers really are the first ones to stumble across places, especially in places with really wild geography. What we’ve seen isn’t really that harsh, no, but there’s always been something kind of weird about this park. There’s old tales about it that the natives used to tell, and the colonials picked up on them.”

“There are?” My eyes widened. “I never knew that!”

“Oh sure.” Naomi nodded. “Crazy things like three-headed monsters or bear-men or strange lights. There’s a whole website devoted to the mysteries of the Everfree Park. Like how it’s really easy to get lost here, even if you have a good map and a compass.”

I glowered at her. “You’re only telling me this now because—?”

“I thought you knew! I mean, it’s the first thing I would have done: looked the place up online.”

Chewing over that, I looked up at the full moon. Speculation wouldn’t bring me any closer to an answer, though. A forest that misled people and held the secret of another world was a mystery I wasn’t going to unravel in a few minutes. How I was able to get through it and why me instead of another were questions for another time. Leit Motif crossed my mind, and an uncomfortable writhing stirred inside my chest.

I touched a hoof there and closed my eyes, whispering, “You always talked about the bonds of friendship, Leit. If there’s any truth to all of this, please, please be there for me, in any small way.”

A delicate hand touched against my back. Looking up to Naomi, I gave her a weak smile. “Almost there,” I promised.

“Who the hell put that there?” Marcus yelled from up ahead. Like always, he had been utterly disinterested in our touching, sentimental moment and had gone off to explore. Rolling my eyes, I joined him, Naomi close behind, and we looked down over the ridge.

I frowned. Off in the distance, there was a light among the trees, casting a warm glow through the night shadows. “Dunno,” I admitted. “I don’t remember seeing this, but keep an eye out and stay quiet. We might be running into trouble.” We fit actions to words and approached the light slowly, picking our way carefully through the thickening woods. The light, I discovered as we drew close, was a wrought-iron lantern hanging from a curved post, swinging softly in the the gentle breeze. I looked back to the others, the sight giving me pause. “I don’t remember going this way. Let’s turn back and keep going the way we were; if we need to, we’ll mark our passage somehow, so we can find this place again if we need to.”

Though curious, we all returned to the ravine and took the other way up, the one I recalled taking originally. The going here was rougher, and Naomi had to watch the ground with her flashlight for potholes while Hector complained. It was easy to mark trunks to keep track of our route by scraping bark away with my hooves. Sure, I knew Naomi had a knife or a hatchet stashed on Hector, and Marcus had probably brought a machete along with him. With everything that had been going on, though, with all the trouble I had caused, I wanted desperately to feel useful. We made good time for all that, regardless. The grove, I knew, lay just ahead.

Naomi wisely shut off her flashlight and Hector’s harness lights as we neared the clearing. The fire from earlier had long since gone out—those thugs from before were long gone, and Amelia along with them. It was quiet, as well, but I still wanted to approach cautiously.

Rather than crawling over the hill that overlooked the grove, I led Naomi and Marcus around it, trying to keep low and out of sight. When we arrived, we crouched in the brush, watching and waiting for a few moments before pressing in.

Close up, the grove looked like a cross between a war zone and a lumber yard. Holes were gouged out of the ground, planks of perfectly sawn timber lay strewn at crazy angles, and the earth was nearly bare anywhere my struggle with the wand-wielding thug had taken place—or anywhere his wand had blasted the earth, transfiguring the fallen leaves littering the ground into a shower of white doves, but I didn’t feel a pressing need to mention that.

“Damn,” Marcus muttered. He had taken out his hunting rifle and held it low. Strangely, I felt as comforted by its presence as he apparently did.

“‘Damn’ is right.” I felt uncertain, standing there among the trees and staring at the blasted earth. “I thought I’d died out there. I hope Amelia ran off, but I don’t honestly know. I didn’t see anything.”

To his credit, Marcus didn’t say anything. He opted instead to look the grove over and, to my astonishment, actually found something that might be of use. Bending down, he picked up a leather bag from near one of the holes. Faintly, I recalled where last I had seen it.

“Hey! That’s the bag one of the thugs had!” I trotted over to the bag and examined it eagerly as he slipped the strap, opening it up. A couple moldy bits of cheese, needle and thread, a rusty knife, and a sheaf of papers exposed themselves to the light. Glancing at one another, we pulled the papers out and examined them with growing anticipation, then mild defeat.

Scrawled by hand, the script was in no language either of us recognized, let alone read. Squiggly lines and pictograms stared up from the page. There were pictures, but I had no real frame of reference to put them in. I kept looking for a theme or a message of some sort, but Naomi’s triumphant cry of “Good news!” caught our attention.

My ears perked up. “You found Amelia?”

“Her feet, anyway. More properly, I found tracks!” She pointed towards the earth with her flashlight, and I glared at the ground, unable to prise loose its secrets. Rolling her eyes—again—Naomi flickered her light around, adding, in a tone that suggested we were both idiots, “The ground’s been swept clean of leaves in lines heading parallel to one another. Duh.” Her flashlight focused on an area near the side, where half a print was visible in the mud. “And unless one of them is a Nike fan with really tiny feet, Em is with them.”

There was a trail leading to Amelia. A bolt of lightning struck my brain.

Tension sawed inside me as I stared at the earth. My inner eye flowed along it in a great rush, to imagine what lay ahead for Amelia at the end of that line. It didn’t bear contemplating. I flinched away from my own inner imaginings. It changed nothing about the danger she was in. Bile rose in my throat and seared only half as badly as the acidic guilt pouring into my veins. I looked at Naomi and Marcus to either side of me. They were just standing there, planning our next move. It was unbelievable. How could they be so calm about it?

“What is wrong with you two?” I stamped my hoof to get their attention, though it seemed my tone had already done that. They both looked at me, wide-eyed, as though my sudden sharpness had caught them off guard. “Somewhere at the end of this, some things are doing horrible… things to my sister, and you two are just sitting here! She could be hurt, or worse!” My voice was raw, as much from the shouting as anything else, but I had to get these idiots moving before things could get any worse.

Naomi spoke slowly. “Daphne, we’re worried, too, but we can’t just—” She was trying to be reasonable, but reason just wasn’t going to cut it.

“Amelia has been kidnapped by monsters!” I snapped, cutting her off. “Blue-eyed, rough-skinned, magic-using monsters!” Each description had me standing a little taller, glaring a little more sharply at Naomi.

She tried to placate me again, but this time I ignored her. With a snarl I lunged for her flashlight, snatching it from her belt with my teeth, and charged off into the night. Both Naomi and Marcus called after me in surprise and confusion as I left them in my dust, but I had the proverbial bit in my teeth now. I was going to take it and run. I was going to find Amelia and save her and be the best sister there ever was forever.

I would correct my mistakes or die trying.

* * *

With adrenaline pumping through my veins, I ran like I never had before. Each stride lifted all four of my hooves found the ground, one after another, before I tensed and almost leapt forward from the last, one bound leading to the other in a powerful expression of equine athleticism. An annoying, whining little voice was telling me that this wasn’t smart, that I was running at a full gallop in the dark with only the moon and a wobbling light to see by. I batted it aside as easily as one might a fly, tucking my head into the cold wind. Every time a worry popped up, it was short-circuited with the memory of Amelia’s face.

The shock of catching my hoof in an unseen hole—my ankle brushing the edge as I rushed past—turned that buzzing little fly into a screaming foghorn. I had nearly stumbled as it was; if that hole had been just another half inch further up the trail, the full weight of my body would have come crashing down on my ankle and likely snapped every bone there like a dry twig. It was a cold dose of reality straight in the face, like a bucket of icy water. I was being an idiot. Even if I did manage to make it through the woods without breaking my neck, charging directly into the unknown would work no better than it had the last time I attempted it.

I tried to stop, desperately fighting against the inertia of my own stupidity. This, too, went horribly awry. My skidding hoof caught on a root, which pitched me forward into the air. There was a brief moment to reflect on how unfair life could be before the ground rose up to meet me, knocking me senseless.

Next thing I knew, I was staring up at the night sky as it spider-webbed through the dark forest canopy. The world was upside down, and I tasted metal on my lips. Immediately, I rolled to the ride, which I regretted instantly as pain lanced through my body. Naomi’s flashlight glared harshly at me. Dazed and definitely bruised, I slumped there for a moment, my forceful charge converted into an equal but opposite defeatism.

Even if I could have, I didn’t want to get up just then. I had very nearly gambled away my one chance to rescue Amelia. If I had broken my neck, I would never have seen her or anyone ever again. If I managed to break something else in the fall, there would be no way for me to continue. Guilt mixed with shame and settled over me, like a smothering blanket, as I struggled to breathe, biting back tears. It would have been so easy just to lay there in self-pity, but I fought myself back enough to try and look at the situation.

Gently, I lifted my head and glanced around. There was a swath of upturned grass, displaced leaves, and mangled bushes about twenty feet long, down the side of a hill behind me. It was all starkly illuminated by Naomi’s flashlight, which was another ten feet down the hill. All but one of my legs were still functional, save the foreleg that had been caught on the root. Its ankle stung and was understandably sore, probably sprained, but I wagered it would still take my weight. I hadn’t gotten off scott free, a fact that was punctuated by a bloodied snout as I rubbed at it with my good foreleg, but it could have been much worse. Escaping complete disaster was a small comfort, though, because I knew it had been dumb luck that had spared me, not any brilliance or quick thinking on my part.

I digested my actions in silence. No one had ever taught me how to deal with situations like this. I didn’t know how to keep a cool head in a crisis. I wasn’t a soldier, nor was I a policewoman, or a firewoman, or a storybook protagonist with a bag full of magical acorns and faerie wishes. All Amelia had to save her was a mixed-up, colorful horse for a sister and her two weird friends. A mixed-up horse who kept getting in over her head and making mistakes that could get herself killed.

If I had been worth a damn, I wouldn’t have let my fears drive me like they had.

Pounding feet alerted me to the return of my friends, and I turned my head to watch them approach. “The hell, Daphne?” Marcus demanded. He was puffing a bit at the hard run to catch up. I couldn’t even take pleasure in that right now.

“Daphne! Are you crazy?” Naomi asked with more concern, keeping a steadier pace and guiding Hector by his lead. “You shouldn’t run in the night like that; you could have been killed!” She embraced my head and then started checking my legs with a horse trainer’s professional eye. It took her no more than a glance to notice that I was favoring one.

“I know.” I let her examine me with little complaint, only wincing as she handled my ankle.

“You’ve sprained it, but it isn’t so bad. There’s no swelling that I can see, and you seem to still have full mobility. Just keep weight off it for a while—we don’t know how well you bounce back from injury, and it could be a big problem if one of us is hurt out there.” She exhaled as she set my leg down, then went about adjusting my scarf and hat with an almost motherly tenderness. For all that she was a year our junior and an aggressive moocher, Naomi could play the big sister pretty well.

I lowered my head again. There was a bitter taste in my mouth. “I know.” I shut my eyes.

“Daphne.”

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” I whispered. I felt so weak. Part of me wanted to bury myself in the earth, and the other part of me wanted to set the forest on fire. Amelia needed me, and I was either charging like an idiot or weeping like a useless sod.

“You fall down, you get back up,” Naomi told me, her tone steady, though her eyes were soft. Marcus held back among the trees, watching each way and not interfering. “You fall off the horse, and then you get back on.”

Involuntarily, I barked a laugh. It was stupid, and it wasn’t even a joke, but it hit me in just the right way. “Heh… horse. I fell off the horse.”

“Yeah, you kinda did,” she agreed, laying a hand on my neck. She felt very close right then, and a warm knot formed inside my gut.

With a weird mixture of chuckles and half-sobs, I pulled her closer with one leg and tucked my head over her shoulder. I must have gotten her clothes muddy and her hair messy with tears, but she didn’t care. We just held each other for what seemed like an eternity, then pulled apart. I wiped my face with the back of a hoof, and she helped me to stand. I carefully put weight down on each leg in turn before getting back on all four.

“Promise you won’t do that again?” She smoothed my mane back from my face.

“I won’t do that again,” I promised, glancing towards the ground. “I don’t know if I can promise not to be stupid again, but I can avoid running through the woods for no good reason.” I breathed a sigh. I was not a hero. None of us were. We were all Amelia had, and we weren’t enough. I smiled at her wanly. “I can promise to try.”

We weren’t enough, but we had to try anyway.

“I’ll take it for now.” Naomi pulled away. “Are you ready to go?”

I flexed my sprained hoof to work out a crick before giving myself a little shake to free my coat of leaves. A flick of my tail rid it of a couple twigs. I looked up to the sky through the branches overhead, each of them almost entirely bare of foliage.

“Come on.” Naomi stood herself up and dusted off her jeans. “We’ve still got a good moon, and we’re all eager to get to Equestria.”

“Speak for yourself,” Marcus groused, but he obliged and started walking.

“Yeah.” I glanced back at the path as I trotted gingerly toward my fallen flashlight, picking it up, before following after them.

With our flashlights out and searching, we were able to keep the path in view. The thugs had crashed through the brush with little care for concealment, and their shuffling feet disturbed the leaves on the ground with wild abandon. Even in the light breeze, it would have taken hours to disturb the trail enough for it not to be obvious, and that was assuming Naomi couldn’t still track it with her impressive skill. I felt my heart flutter every time she pointed out the imprint of a small shoe.

“Eek!” Naomi shrieked, flinging herself back from a sapling she had been examining. Both Marcus and I reacted, he lifting his rifle and I bracing bravely—or quaking in my hooves, either way.

“What? Is it a monster? Where?” Marcus shouted, shining his flashlight around. I felt oddly pleased to see that he looked as freaked out as I was, though I probably would have been more comfortable if he had been responding calmly. I was doing a fine job of fulfilling my promise to be steadier in a crisis.

“A sp-spider!” Naomi wibbled from behind Hector, shielding herself from the little tree with the stallion’s bulk.

Marcus and I paused and exchanged glances, our tension dissipating.

“Seriously?” he asked me.

I sighed, nodding.

“What?” Naomi protested. “It was a big one!”

“Don’t you go camping all the time, Nay?” Marcus said. I swept the sapling with my flashlight, held between my teeth, wondering if I could see the thing.

“Yes, and every time I find a stop for the night, I sweep the campsite meticulously for bugs, spiders, snakes, and whatever other creepy crawly wants to make a nest or snack on me!” she answered, shivering all over and hiding her face with her hat. “You ever read about what a tsetse fly can do to you? I don’t want to be an incubator!”

“A what fly?” Marcus blinked. “Forget it. Haven’t you at least camped out here?”

“What part of ‘mysterious part of the forest no one can get to’ confused you, Marcus? Besides, no one stays in these woods long. I told you; people just don’t feel comfortable staying out here long.” Naomi shuddered. “I always got the willies when I stayed longer than a few hours.”

“You get the willies getting out of bed in the morning from the looks of it!”

I spied the spider with a little searching, and while it was somewhat large, it didn’t seem all that terrifying. Turning the flashlight in my mouth over thoughtfully, I snorted. For a moment I had been worried she had seen some sort of actual monster spider.

Even as I thought that, Hector abruptly brought his hoof down with an angry snort of his own, striking the earth hard. Three flashlight beams focused there, and Naomi nearly passed out on the spot, her face turning alabaster. Eight hairy legs splayed out from a smear of arachnid goo. It was hard to tell in the present state it was in, but the spider that left that corpse had to have been as big as a grown man’s spread hand. To think, a few minutes ago I had been contemplating how life didn’t resemble a story, with irony built in.

“Right!” I said, with false brightness. “Monster spiders; check.”

* * *

The rest of the way blessedly passed without incident, though we were all becoming intimately aware of how strange things could turn at a moment’s notice. Paranoia had us sweeping the darkness with our lights more often than we strictly needed to, and the shapes made therein seemed alert with frightful possibility. Every time, though, within a few minutes, we were back to scanning the ground ahead and following the trail.

As the canopy grew thick with tall evergreen pines and trees that yet had many of their leaves, I realized I could no longer hear any footsteps beside my own. Chilled, I slowed and glanced around. My eyes widened. Towering trunks stood all about me, and the moon hung fat and bright overhead, but there wasn’t a sign of any of my three companions. Worried I had been separated, even though we had been fairly close together, I shouted, “Marcus! Naomi!”

“Here!” Marcus called. I hurried my steps, racing back towards them. They were in a copse of short pines clustered around a little spring-fed pond. Hector was taking a drink with obvious relish, and they both frowned at me as I approached.

“Thank goodness. Where did you two go?” I asked.

“We were about to ask you the same thing,” Naomi said to me in turn. “We lost the trail a little bit ago, and when we looked around you weren’t there.”

“I was definitely on the trail.” I shook my head. “We probably got separated somewhere down there. Come on.” Glancing past them, I frowned at Hector, whose eyes were rolling a bit back and forth. He pawed nervously at the ground. “What’s got his goat?”

“I dunno, he’s been spooked for a bit now,” Naomi answered, peering down at me. “Do you sense anything wrong?”

I gave her a sullen look, my eyes narrow and my lips drawn into a thin line.

“It was worth asking!”

Turning, I flicked my tail at her and started back to the trail. “Let’s keep together this time.”

We did exactly that as we proceeded to follow the track. Our bodies were so close that I even brushed against them with my flanks from time to time. Dark clouds gathering on the horizon promised rain before morning. Hopefully we would be in shelter by then—or else on another world entirely. That is, of course, if we weren’t already on some other world.

Up ahead, a stream stretched across the pathway, its waters rippling in the moonlight. Gathering, I charged to a gallop and leapt across it easily. Ten to twelve foot leaps should have been more concerning, but I had become a great deal more confident in my abilities. Turning, I looked to see how Marcus and Naomi were faring and—

“Oh, damn it,” I swore and stamped a hoof in frustration. “You two would get lost in a McDonald’s playpen!” I shouted, and then immediately thought better of it. The woods around me were taller and denser than they had been only a moment before, and there were night birds calling in the distance now. Some of them I could identify. Some.

I took a running leap again and cleared the river easily, tense as I trotted back. My legs were holding up fine so far, but each of those jumps had elicited a little twinge in my twisted ankle. I had no desire to test it more than I had to, and that little pins-and-needles sensation was making me nervous. The sound of approaching hoof steps gave me pause, and Naomi ducked a branch to pull Hector up next to me. The big horse tried to nose at me, and I shoved him away with a hoof.

“What’s the deal?” I demanded. “Where’s Marcus?”

“I don’t know, but you just disappeared!” she answered at once. “I swear, we were right next to you, and then it got all windy and you were gone and the trail was like twenty feet away! Then Hector started tugging at me, so I got on him and he led me right here.”

Chewing on my lower lip, I considered that. “Lead me back to Marcus,” I suggested, a notion niggling at my brain.

When we found him, he was leaning with his back against a maple trunk, pistol in hand. He nodded at us. “You notice something odd, too?”

“Definitely,” I answered. “We were right next to each other. There’s no way you should have gotten lost. You can’t lose someone that badly in two seconds if they’re just walking like that.”

“Maybe… I have an idea.” He pulled a rolled up paper from his jacket pocket, one of those the thugs had been carrying. “Look at the illustration up top.”

Naomi pointed the flashlight at it and we both crowded in for a look. In the light we could see that there was a hand-drawn image of men in funny helmets and crests riding horses. No, on second thought, those weren’t normal horses—the artist wasn’t exactly a life-drawing expert, but the big eyes and short snouts were rather distinctive. Each was saddled and bridled for riding, and the front few men were charging through the water with them.

“It’s thin, but…” I frowned. “Well, it can’t hurt to try. Naomi didn’t see the river until she had come riding, and we were all so close we should have stayed together if this were natural. Okay, so, Naomi, we’ll go across with you on Hector and I’ll take him back and come for Marcus.”

Naomi frowned. “I don’t like the thought of being out here all alone, but okay.” She turned and started to mount, but hesitated. “Wait, you’ll have trouble getting him to cross a river without a rider. He’s not going to do that sort of thing on his own, not if it makes him nervous.”

“I’ll manage.” I waved a hoof dismissively. “Besides, we don’t have much of a choice here. There’s no way that Hector can hold two people.”

“What, really?” Marcus asked. “He’s a big guy, and Naomi is like eighty pounds soaking wet, most of which is hair.”

“Hector is a racing horse,” Naomi told him primly, “and while he may be able to carry two riders in a pinch, I’m not going to risk him hurting himself. Especially if he has to jump; the landing could go bad, and too much weight can hurt him.”

“Fine, fine!” Marcus lifted his hands placatingly. “Here, let’s just try this. You ride Hector and I’ll tie his reins about my wrist.”

Naomi considered that for a moment, and nodded, tossing the reins down to him. When I started ahead again, I was pressed up against Hector’s side, and Marcus was tied securely about his reins on the other side of the horse.

As a unit we traversed the leaf-strewn earth and beheld the sparkling river stretching across our path. It seemed so peaceful here, now that I stopped to think about it. I put a hoof into the water. It felt pleasant, just cool enough to be soothing to my aching legs. “Leit must have loved splashing through this every day,” I mused aloud.

“It does look nice.” Naomi took her reins back from Marcus and let Hector step delicately across the shallow water. With a deep breath, she inhaled. “So, this is another world?”

“Beats me,” I answer, preparing to join Marcus as he confidently put a foot into the water.

I wasn’t certain what it was at first that warned me. My ears were more sensitive than theirs were, so maybe I was just the first to hear the rumbling. Leaping forward, I bit into Marcus’ jacket collar and hauled backwards. With all four hooves digging into the earth, I managed to unbalance him and drag him onto the Earth side of the shore with me just as the gentle river erupted in violence. Frothing white water rushed down the path with the force of a train, and its passage nearly soaked us with churning foam. As Marcus and I tumbled back in relative safety, I couldn’t help but marvel as the raging waters seethed, then calmed as if nothing had happened. The force of that water could have knocked a tank over, let alone a single squishy human.

“Are you two okay?” Naomi’s voice was frantic. Hector danced nervously, giving her some trouble in controlling him, with his hooves churning up the wet earth.

“We’re fine!” Marcus called back, checking his bags.

Rising to meet Naomi when she dashed across the quiescent river with Hector, we settled back from the bank. Looking over the papers, I planted a hoof on an illustration of waves, rushing up to swallow men. “Ah hah!”

“Congratulations, you discovered that we’re all idiots,” Marcus griped. He paused in wiping down his outfit at the sound of a distant howl.

Naomi shook water from her long hair. “Well, there’s no way we’re getting all three of us across like that. I wouldn’t want to risk Hector on the off-chance it decides that two riders aren’t good enough. I don’t know that we have enough time to figure something out, either.”

“Do you have a better idea?” I quirked an eyebrow.

“Well, actually, yes,” she said, and reached into one of Hector’s bags, pulling a set of leather straps out.

Immediately, I backpedaled, crawling my back up a tree with my forehooves out to either side. “Why did you bring that? When did you bring that? Keep that thing away from me!” I stared at the object in her hands with revulsion—the bridle seemed to me to gleam dangerously in the moonlight.

“I just brought it for Hector, in case his broke!” Her tone was too innocent to be anything but false. She held out the bridle towards me. It might as well have been a live snake for all I cared.

“No way! No how!” I shouted. “We’ll figure out how to get across without it!”

“We don’t really have time to think about it.” Naomi shook her head. “Now get over here and put on the bridle. We’ll make a saddle for you out of blankets, and I’ll ride you. It’s just until we get across!”

“Like you haven’t been preparing for this the whole time!” I pointed a hoof at her. “Not gonna happen. Look, I’ll carry you without one if I have to!”

“Naomi’s right.” Marcus came up on my other side. “Besides, the men in the picture had bridled those ponies, too.”

Suspecting his motives were no more wholesome than Naomi’s, I glared at him.

Naomi pulled back as I flailed my hooves defensively, warning her off. Then she and Marcus exchanged a conspiratorial glance while she reached for her rope.

Half a second later, I was ten feet up the tree. I scrambled with my hooves and scaled it faster than I could have imagined, then wrapped all four legs about the trunk.

“How the hell did you climb that with hooves?” Marcus demanded, shining his flashlight up. The light made me squint.

“I don’t know, and I don’t care. Stay away, you freaks!” I shouted. The tree was wobbling as I shifted here and there. It bowed somewhat under my weight, but held. Then I risked a peek down below and saw Naomi twirling a lasso and groaned. “No way, you can’t be serious. I’ll break my neck if you try to drag me down!”

I, however, was not the target. She swung the line and cinched it hard when it fell above my head—to encircle the upper part of the trunk.

Attaching the other end to Hector, she led him away, and the tree bent inexorably. I saw Marcus laying down his hard case. When he balanced on top of it, he was easily able to get a hold around my middle. I initially refused to let go, but I discovered to my astonishment that ponies were ferociously ticklish—or I still was, at any rate.

“Stop!” I laughed against my will. “You monster, sto-o-op!” There was no help for it. My grip slipped and I tumbled into his arms. Though too heavy to catch, he broke my fall as we toppled and fell to the earth.

“Ow,” Marcus groaned, and struggled under me. Three hundred pounds of alien horse were difficult to dislodge.

“Serves you right,” I muttered, and looked up to find Naomi staring down at me with an unwholesome gleam in her eyes as she held the bridle. “I swear, I will murder both of you in your beds!”

“I know it’s upsetting, Daphne, but we really do need to do this,” she said. “You’re strong enough to carry me, easy, while Hector would get hurt carrying both of us.”

“You should have taken a stronger riding horse, then!”

“If wishes were horses, we’d...” Naomi pursed her lips. “Well, we’d not be in this mess, actually. I took Hector because he’s the fastest we’ve got, and one of the only horses on the ranch who’s been trained around firearms. Any of the others would spook. We really are almost out of moonlight, too, and once it drops below the trees we aren’t going to be able to do any riding, no matter what we want.”

My protests might have continued, but Hector stamped a hoof nervously—one could almost imagine that he was begging us to hurry. Something was spooking the big Arabian, and whether it was being so close to magic, or something else, none of us were in a great hurry to find out. “Fine,” I muttered. “Just... make it quick.”

“Get off.” Marcus groaned. “Your fat rear is crushing my rib cage.”

Glaring at him, I rose and flicked my tail at his face disdainfully. With efficient movements, Naomi fit the bridle around my face, having to cinch it pretty far to get around my nose. A death glare did little to ruffle her.

Naomi was almost beside herself with joy, taking heavy blankets from Hector’s bags and packing them onto my back. I probably could have objected more strongly, but we had to hurry while we still had moonlight. Besides, Hector was still nervous, and something did seem rather threatening about where we were. I didn’t like it, so I could put up with being bridled for a few minutes if it got us all out of here.

I also had no idea how to get the damned thing off on my own. Stupid hooves.

“This is so undignified,” I muttered. I would just have to pay them back later, in spades.

Bracing my hooves, I waited, and my friend settled onto my back as I tensed gingerly. Though I imagined I would have considerable difficulty throwing a skilled rider like Naomi, I knew she wouldn’t stay if I couldn’t bear her weight. Normally, a horse could carry a rider between a fifth and a third of its mass, more if it was particularly stocky or strong, or if the rider was good, but I marveled to see that she might as well have been a child. Evidently, Equestrians had an edge up in raw strength, even if other physical traits were lacking.

“Comfortable?” Naomi pat my neck. She was balanced adroitly, and was careful not to interfere with my poncho.

No,” I snapped.

She giggled, and detached the reins. As I turned my head questioningly, she gave me a raised eyebrow, answering my unspoken question. “You didn’t seriously think I was going to try and control you, did you? Even if I tried, you could just roll on top of me or smash me into a tree.”

Blushing, I stammered but had no answer. I worried at the ground with a hoof.

“Just do this for me.” She lay across me and tucked her head against my mane, her own hair blowing in the gentle wind.

“Fine,” I whined, “but I still am pissed off.”

“Are you two girls done braiding each other’s hair?” Marcus turned in a circle with Hector. He wasn’t a terribly strong rider, and Hector was rolling his eyes back at him in a manner that suggested the horse was seriously considering ignoring him and racing off. Bucking him off might have been entertaining, but there was no way I was letting Marcus put his legs around me in any sense.

There was a sarcastic remark in there somewhere, but I paused, my ear twitching as I detected a noise. It sounded like a dog. Turning my head, my eyes scanned the trees. Hector, too, looked nervous.

“Did you hear that?” Naomi asked, and I nodded. Marcus was about to ask as well, but the odd barking, baying noise was becoming clearly audible to everyone.

“What is that?” He frowned, listening. “A pack of hyenas?” He reached for his gun, but had to grab the reins with both hands to control Hector, sawing at the horse to turn him.

“Not going to find out. Hold on, Naomi.” I lowered my head and started to canter, leading Hector and Marcus. As the baying grew louder behind us, I followed the trail to the river and picked up speed. With a leap, I soared over the barrier, and Naomi, for all that the night was frightful and the darkness deep, threw back her head and squealed in sheer excitement.

With two bridled mounts and two mounted children of men, we charged over the hill, into a new land, into destiny.

Into Equestria.

* * * * * * *