“WHAT?! Tell me! Tell me right now!” Alice had jumped up and out of her bed, her voice no longer quiet; her mind now - with an almost painful clarity - cutting through her fatigue.
How could George know how she had arrived here? Was it just some trick? How could George know anything when he was just a voice in her mind? Could she really go home? The girl’s head felt like it was going to explode as the thoughts came flooding in all at once, causing the already unstable human to come tumbling down.
“George! George?” There was no reply. The human stood alone in her room, her arms slowly and unconsciously coming round to hold herself, partly from the cold air that could now reach her skin, and partly not. Had she been dreaming? She didn't feel like she had just woken up and she certainly didn't feel like she had gotten any sleep. A knock came from the door, causing the human to jump slightly. It was followed by a different voice, a very real, female voice, full of concern.
“Alice? Alice are you okay?” That was one of the ponies; from what she could remember it was likely the purple unicorn, Twilight.
“The door is stuck.” Said door glowed purple as it tried to move, but the cabinet prevented it from opening more than a crack. Magic - that was something Alice was still not sure she wanted to get used to, but at least it seemed safe enough, and had limits.
“I'm okay. You don’t need to come in.” The human found her voice again; the last thing she needed was a unicorn talking to her right now. Just the thought of it was almost enough to send her over the edge. Still, at least she could see the unicorn and the other ponies, and that put them a step above her previous talking partners. Carefully sitting back down on the end of her bed, Alice took a deep breath as she ran her hands through her hair and tried to sooth away an oncoming headache.
“I just had a bad dream.” The human was not really sure if she was telling the truth. For a long time now everything had felt like one long, bad dream. “Is it morning yet?”
“The sun is just starting to rise, but it will be a couple more hours before it is high enough to really be called morning. Are you sure you are alright?” Twilight was worried. She really wanted to check on Alice but it was clear that the human was in no mood for visitors. Was there somepony else in there? Twilight was almost certain she had heard another voice just a few moments ago, and Alice had just been shouting to somepony - or something - hadn't she? It could have been a dream, like the human had claimed, but at the moment Twilight Sparkle was willing to bet something else was going on. After all, creatures didn't suddenly find themselves transported to other worlds without some reason, right?
“Other than being stuck here, then sure, I'm okay.” Alice sighed. The purple pony was only trying to be nice - and she had just been shouting to thin air - more than likely causing her guests next door to wake up. It had been a long night for everyone.
“Look, I'm going to try and get some more sleep,” she said, though it was not hard to get more than nothing. “I'm sorry I woke you.” Alice really was genuinely sorry to have woken her, unexpected, guests. It was true that she still wanted them to leave, at least that was what her head was telling her, but being able to talk to ‘people’, even non-humans, was something she hadn't known she had missed so badly.
“That’s okay. I haven't really been able to sleep much to be honest.” The questions; the theories, there was just so much to think on, but Twilight had to remember that Alice was more than just something to study. Despite not really wanting the human to leave them before she had learnt everything there was to know about her race and her world, she did still hope that Celestia might know a way to send her back home. The unicorn looked up at the pictures hung in the hallway. Alice had a family, friends and a life - just like everypony in Equestria. To have all that ripped away from her…
“Twilight?” The word was little more than a whisper.
“Yes, I'm still here.”
“Do you really think your Princess can send me home?” The question hung in the air for a few moments and Twilight Sparkle wished she didn't have to answer it.
“Honestly, I don’t know. As far as I am aware, nothing like this has ever happened before; but if anypony can do it - it will be her.” That was the truth of it. There was still a lot about magic that was unknown, so maybe there was some way. Alice was evidence that it had happened before, so all they needed to do was work out how to make it happen again.
“Get some sleep, then maybe we can have a conversation that doesn't involve a door in-between us.” Twilight cheered up when she heard a laugh filter through the wood. She herself yawned as she walked back to the other room. Today was going to be a very long day so a couple of hours' sleep herself might not be a bad idea.
Alice shivered as she sat on her bed. There was no heating, so her room was pretty much the same temperature as outside. Crawling back under the covers and settling her feet into the warm spot of where she had been sitting, the human tried to let everything go and simply drift off to sleep.
“I'm sure even Twilight Spangle is getting tired of your imitation of a broken record right now.” George’s voice was a whisper at Alice’s ear. “Send me home. Oh please won't you help me?” He was copying her voice now, but gave it much more of a whiny, damsel in distress tone; at least, Alice hoped she didn't really sound like that. Alice stayed silent, hoping that if she paid the voice no attention it would simply just fade away.
“Aww, is the human not talking to me now? And here was me thinking that you might actually want to know how you got here.” The tone had condescended down to an artform.
Alice was determined not to take the bait - he was nothing more than a bad dream.
“I just want to sleep.”
“I guess I was right, then. You have given up and are now happy to spend the rest of your days living in this world. How utterly boring.”
That was it - Alice had had enough; she didn't care if she was just talking to herself, clearly this part needed to learn its place.
“None of this is ‘boring’. I wish for boring. I pray for one more day in my boring, normal life.” The words were kept quiet but the strength behind them held power in the half-light of the room.
“I would do anything to get home; to get back to my own world where everything makes sense, and if that means I have to go along with some magical rainbow ponies, to go see their princess, so she can somehow click her hooves and whisk me home, then fine. Sitting around here has certainly not done me any favours. I am DONE listening to you. Maybe if I had walked down to that village the first day I saw it I would be home by now; instead I listened to you. Your warnings. Your caution about being seen. So that's it - I am through listening to you. Go find whatever psychotic part of my brain you sprung from and crawl back inside.”
Alice was left with silence when she finished and for the first time in months she felt like she was truly in control of her own life.
“Hold out your arm.” The words were spoken with force. This was not a request.
“No. Didn't you just hear... ow.” Alice felt a pins and needles sensation down her right shoulder, and it took her a moment to realise that it only subsided when she stopped talking. No, this was just some sort of mental breakdown. Maybe something that was leftover from when she banged her head earlier.
“Hold out your arm.” With more than a little fear, the human held her right arm in front of her with her palm facing up. As soon as she did so, the tingling lessoned and then worryingly seemed to move along the hidden topside of her outstretched arm. She was too afraid to turn her arm over; the sensation felt real, even if it no longer hurt. Then something dark oozed its way around her arm and into sight on the upturned part of her skin. They were irregular shapes, yet seemed to move together as one on her skin. No, it was worse than that; the black shapes were under her skin, moving beneath the top layer. Alice couldn't move, she couldn't breathe. She was frozen in terror as the shapes arranged themselves into something she recognise yet could not place.
“Hi.” The voice was George’s. His greeting was joined by a wave with what could have abstractly been called a clawed hand, constructed of thick, black lines and interlocking shapes. In fact, the whole thing was just a vague shape contorted into some sort of snake-like dragon.
It was the familiar voice coming from this... thing that broke Alice out of her frozen terror as her left hand lunged out, ignoring the pain from her hurt shoulder, to try and scratch the thing from her skin. She felt sick at the sight of it moving and alive inside her, and this only became worse when it all but swam through her skin and up her arm. Alice could feel it moving like a prickling sensation which rested around her throat, only then realising that, while she was doing everything required to scream, nothing but rushing air was leaving her mouth.
“Now, now, there is no need for those sorts of dramatics. Getting all worked up will do no one any good and I would rather your little guests next door did not come a-knocking.” The voice had changed from its demanding tone to one of a disappointed parent. Alice was shaking and clutching at her throat, desperately trying to call for help or produce any sort of sound.
“Oh, hush. I have paralysed your vocal cords, for the time being. Don’t worry - it will all be in working order as soon as you have calmed down and stopped acting like a fool. I mean really, was all that necessary? You know I'm your friend. Have I not always helped you when you needed it? So what do you do when I finally give you proof that you are not crazy; that I am real? You try and mutilate me! Act as though I am some sort of monster, after all we have been through. I'm hurt, hurt to the very core.”
Alice tried to calm down; she was still shaking and her stomach felt like it was doing back flips, but George - or whatever he was - was right that panicking right now would do her no good. He was not hurting her, and despite her outburst just a few moments ago, he had always kept her safe. Still, right now she felt she would rather be insane listening to voices then now knowing this truth. At least she now knew why George kept himself hidden. Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, the human lowered her hands away from her neck and clutched onto her bed sheets for support.
“Better?” He asked. Alice tried to speak but there was still no sound coming from her voice, so instead opted to nod. She felt the sensation of whatever George was moving from around her throat to drape himself like a necklace just below. The feeling was like the sensation you get on after clapping - it didn't hurt, and was easy to ignore, but if you focused you could clearly feel it.
“What are you?” Her voice was a whisper but that was Alice’s own doing, for there was no pain from whatever had happened to her vocal cords. Honestly, she was not sure whether to feel relieved that he had been true to his word at this point; it was so much easier to be afraid of this thing after seeing what he was but… he had been her only companion for so long that she now found it hard to summon up that fear again with the same intensity.
“Now, where is the fun if I give you all the answers?” George was back to being vague again, which was normal and his usual stance when it came to helping her. Most of the time, Alice was sure he actually enjoyed watching her stumble about.
She sat and tried to remember what she had seen. She thought she had seen him - it - before, but every time she tried to picture the thing on her arm, she was left feeling sick at the recent sight of it moving under her skin. It looked sort of like a… suddenly she had the answer.
“You're that dragon tattoo I got on holiday, two days before all of this; but... how?” Alice’s mind floundered. None of this made any sense; none of this could be real. Tattoos were not alive. Then again, magic was not supposed to be real either - nor unicorns, pegasi or talking ponies for that matter. How was she supposed to make any sense of anything around her. After nine months, this world was still a living cartoon. The human took a deep breath and tried to think things through the tired fog that hung on the edge of her mind and threatened to smother her. After exhaling slowly, she tried to once more put her thoughts straight.
“I can understand that this world works differently to my world, what with magic and everything, but I got the tattoo done in my world.”
“And the artist did a lovely job - why, he even managed to capture my beard perfectly.” George sounded very pleased with himself and Alice imagined, for a brief moment, that he would be stroking said beard.
“I meant how can you be talking and,” Alice fought back some bile. “Moving?”
“Of all the questions you could ask me, that is the one you chose? Oh well. The answer is because I am alive. Next?”
“That’s not... I... you are not helping.” Alice was more frustrated then she had ever been in her life and to top it all off, she now felt sick again at the thought of something living under her skin.
“I beg to differ; I think I have been very helpful. You are the one who keeps asking the stupid questions - don’t blame me.”
“Okay, then, how about this one? How do I get home?” If George wanted better questions, then she was going to go for the big ones. Even so, she was not going to forget that he kept dodging the question as to exactly what he was.
“Ohh, now that is a better one. Let's see - how do I explain this in a way you’ll understand?” The human crossed her arms in frustration, before flinching back as her left shoulder twinged again. At least the brief flash of pain kept her from snapping back at George. As much as she wanted to get back into another argument, she really did want to get some answers - and sleep.
“In this world there are a lot of powerful beings. Some control the seas, others the weather and some the sun and moon. All carefully trying to keep the world in balance, and all extremely boring.”
“I don’t see how-” started Alice, but she was not allowed to finish.
“Don’t interrupt. It’s very rude.” George waited for a moment, but when Alice kept quiet he carried on. “So, lots of dull powerful beings; very little going on. You would think they would be grateful when someone came along to take away all that responsibility and let them get on with leading normal lives. Better yet - he knew how to have fun. After all, who wants to have a sky the same colour everyday, or a day the same length every cycle? Why wait for trees to have ripe fruit when you can simply have them raining from the sky?”
“Sounds like chaos,” added Alice, who was picturing a Doctor Seuss story. Like this world needed to be any weirder than it already was.
“Exactly.” The human gave a slight shiver; George sounded far too happy at her thoughts on the world he described.
“But instead of embracing a world of possibilities and freedom, they chose to imprison their saviour in a statue. I mean, can you imagine the nerve of such a thing.”
“George, as lovely as your bedtime story is, can you please just get to the point?” Alice was tired, and the headache she had so far managed to keep at bay now was taking hold, and seemed to be trying to make up for lost time. She was not sure if it was just her current state of mind that was stopping her from seeing whatever the living tattoo was trying to say but, right now, he didn't seem to be getting anywhere near to answering any of her questions.
“Well, someone is certainly cranky when she don’t get her beddy-byes.”
“George.” Alice warned. Though a small part of herself did have to agree with the frustrating fellow - Alice did not have a very long fuse when she was tired.
“Fine, fine. All powerful being gets locked up in stone; thousands of years pass; powerful being gets out; everything looks set to be put out of balance again and wham - a group of six little ponies shove him back into a statue. Happy now?” There was silence between the two voices as they each waited for the other to speak. The human frowned in the dim light as she closed her eyes and tried to put the pieces of the story together, but she could still not see any sort of answer.
“How does any of that have anything to do with me? I asked how to get home.” Why did she always feel like she at least three steps behind George? He never seemed to make any sense at first, though over the months of coexisting together she had found his answers to be helpful...eventually.
“And I just told you. Weren't you listening? You need to ask the statue.”
“The what? You have got to be kidding me George. You want me to go ask a statue that supposedly contains an all-powerful being who, according to your story, tried to throw this world into complete chaos?”
“Finally. It took you long enough and here I thought humans were meant to be bright.” Alice yanked at her hair and fell back on bed, her head bouncing once on the pillow before coming to rest in the soft - and currently very alluring - surface. This was getting her nowhere.
“Forget it, George. I am not going to start an apocalypse. I will find another way.” Alice spoke with her eyes closed as she pulled her covers up and around her. She just needed to rest her eyes for a few minutes.
“Well, it’s your choice. I can’t make you.” George was sounding tired now. This was the longest Alice had ever spoken to him, ever. Maybe talking tired him out? It certainly tired her out. There was a warm comfort at the thought that whatever he was he was not going to make her do anything she didn't want to. The statue could not be the only way, could it? There was still a chance that this princess could help her after all. She would get back - one way or another. But it would be her choice. Thoughts of home tugged at her and for a brief tired moment she could imagine that she was back in her world, with her bed back in her room.
“Good,” whispered Alice, already feeling her thoughts start to fall away as sleep took her.
“Very.” Was the reply.