There was a knock at the door: three taps, polite and methodical. With a small sigh Msaidizi marked his place in the book he was reading then got up to answer it. When he opened the he saw that it was Twilight, wearing a pair of large, bulging saddlebags and a look of nervous optimism.
“Good morning, Helper! Are you busy at the moment?”
He didn’t answer immediately, choosing to mull it over. To be honest, he didn’t actually have anything planned for the day, but he wasn’t sure if he would like the sound of whatever it was Twilight wanted. Plus, he didn’t quite feel like talking to any ponies.
”On the other hand—err hoof... hand (oh dear, headache), she’s been nothing but friendly to me. And Zecora seems to like her.” Making the decision to at least hear her out, he asked bluntly, “Why? What is it?”
For a moment, Twilight’s smile flickered at his tone, but she was quick to recover. “Oh, well, there was this large explosion here in the Everfree forest last night, and I wanted investigate it. Normally I’d take Spike with me, but he had to stay behind and watch the library today. So, I was wondering if maybe you’d like to come with me?” She gave a nervous chuckle and added, “You know, because you know so much about the area and everything...”
Flattery aside, Msaidizi was now certain he did not, in fact, like the sound of Twilight’s proposition. “I don’t know,” he said. “Let me just check.”
He turned his head to where Zecora was sitting, just out of sight of the front door, and asked her, “What do you think, miss?” He closed the door slightly so Twilight couldn’t see him silently mouth “please say no”.
Zecora raised an eyebrow, grinned a mischievous grin and—just loud enough for Twilight to hear—said, “The idea sounds fine, assistant of mine!”
Msaidizi popped his head back out the door to Twilight’s smiling face, gave her a faux smile, then looked again to Zecora and mouthed “I’m really not happy about this”.
Zecora continued grinning. ”I know.”
He sighed and stuck his head out the door once again. “Okay, then, one moment,” he uttered before closing the door.
“I can’t believe you!” he hissed at Zecora.
She chuckled, waving away his annoyance. “Oh, hush. A friend gained, will not cause you pain.”
“But that’s not the poi—“
“Certainly then you will adore, an evening filled with many chores?”
“Well, not really, but—“
“No more ‘buts’, not one more retort. I think you’ll get along with Miss Sparkle’s sort.”
Before Msaidizi quite knew what was happening, Zecora was up on her hind legs, tying his cloak around his neck, and brushing imaginary lint off his shirt with a hoof.
“To see you get along well, would truly make my heart swell,” she added with an affectionate nuzzle.
Msaidizi sighed. He could tell when he’d been defeated; although, he felt the extortionate tugging on his heartstrings had been a bit much. “Yes, miss,” he droned.
“Now, do you remember the rhyme—the one I taught to you last time? ‘Leaves of three, let it be—’”
“’—Leaves of four, eat some more’. Yes, I know.” He hesitated for a second but then wrapped his arms around her in a hug. “I’ll see you later, then.”
“Oh, and take some repellent, do not forget,” she added, dropping back to all fours and returning to her potions, “or mosquito bites you will regret.”
Msaidizi grabbed a bottle of yellow, oily fluid from a shelf and made sure it was secure in one of the pockets he’d sewn on the inside of his cloak. He then took a deep breath, opened the door and walked outside.
“Lead on,” he said to Twilight with a forced smile.
For five minutes or so they walked in an increasingly uncomfortable silence. Twilight had asked Msaidizi a few questions—how he was, how Zecora was doing, the standard affair—only to receive curt, single word answers. And sometimes not even that, but merely a noncommittal grunt.
Twilight didn’t like this. Not only because her friend was upset and standoffish about something (well, she’d liked to think he was a friend, an acquaintance at least) but also because she had so many questions to ask him. She considered herself rather well-read, but he was unlike any species she had ever heard of before. The party held a few days earlier had presented an opportunity, but Msaidizi had left in a huff before she’d gotten a chance; Zecora too had been evasive on the subject, stating that it was not her story to tell.
She hadn’t lied about wanting his knowledge of the local area though, even if it wasn’t the main reason she’d asked him to accompany her. She really wanted to investigate the explosion that happened the previous night. She just couldn’t intend on taking Spike in the slightest; the Everfree Forest was far too dangerous for him. He was still a baby after all.
After a few more minutes of walking in silence, Twilight had had enough. “Okay, that’s it,” she said, stopping and turning to face her new companion. “What’s wrong?”
Msaidizi recoiled away from her, frowning slightly. “Wrong? Nothing’s wrong.”
Twilight shook her head. “Helper, I may not know much when it comes to friendship, but even I can tell when something’s bothering somepony.” She took a step towards him, looking concerned. “Do you want to talk about it?”
His frown turned into mild surprise. “I didn’t know we were friends,” he admitted.
“Do you not want to be?”
The question threw him a little, because if he be honest he wasn’t sure. A moment’s thought later he made a non-committed gesture and muttered “No, no, that’s fine. It’s just...”
He sighed. “I am conflicted, Miss Sparkle.”
Twilight tilted her head slightly. “Oh? What about?”
He hesitated and clenched his fists, struggling to let the words out. “Because,” he finally said, “you hurt Zecora. You ponies, I mean. Maybe not you personally, and perhaps not in the physical sense, but you still did.”
Pausing to collect himself, he continued, “I owe a lot to her, Miss Sparkle. A lot. So I’m pretty upset about the way she was treated.”
Twilight’s ears flattened against her head in sympathy. “Yes, I can imagine that you would be. And for what’s it worth... I’m sorry for what you’ve both had to go through.” Her brow furrowed. “But I don’t see what the problem is.”
“The problem is that... is that Zecora seems to have forgiven you all. She’s—“ He waved an arm in vague gesture while he searched for the right thing to say. “She seems to have moved on. But I can’t seem to.”
Realisation dawned on Twilight’s face. “You feel guilty for still being angry?” she asked.
Msaidizi nodded.
This led to another awkward silence, with Twilight mulling this new information over and Msaidizi looking everywhere except at her, feeling rather foolish.
Finally, she said, “That’s... okay. That’s okay. It wouldn’t be fair to force you to feel something you don’t, and you’re allowed to be upset.” She gave him a warm smile and took a few steps closer. “But could you at least give us another chance? I know ponies can seem pretty crazy, but most are nice once you get to know them.”
Msaidizi looked at the sky and huffed, drumming his hands on the tops of his thighs as he fought with himself internally. He looked at the trees, then the ground, then finally at Twilight. He sighed and muttered, “Okay, then. I’ll try.”
With grievances now aired and settled, the walk became far more pleasant as they went. For a while they just drew in the sounds of the forest, occasionally pointing out something of interest to one another—a flower in bloom, a passing insect or bird, that sort of thing. Msaidizi had learned to pick up on the little snippets of forest news: mushrooms seemed to be only growing under logs pointing west to east that week, and the wasps and bees were currently at war, for the wasps desired the honey they could not make themselves.
They also met a manticore lounging on its back in the middle of the path, bathing in a patch of sunlight. Once it realised it had company and lurched to its feet, its posture upright and its gaze attentive.
Msaidizi tensed, ready to fight, and Twilight gave a low bow. The beast regarded them for a second or two, blinked slowly at them a few times, and then loped off into the bushes and out of sight.
“Where did you learn to do that?” Msaidizi asked Twilight, impressed. “How did you come to learn that manticores like respect? I didn’t think they would be that common in Ponyville”.
“They’re not, but my friend Fluttershy taught me,” she proudly replied. “It was quite a while ago. Right after I first came here from Canterlot, in fact.”
“What’s Canterlot?”
Twilight looked at him as if he’d sprouted a second head. “Canterlot. You know, capital city of Equestria?”
Msaidizi shook his head slightly.
“Shining marble city of the mountainside?”
“Again, no.”
“Home of Princess Celestia? Ringing any bells?”
He gave an apologetic shrug. “Sorry, no.” He then frowned slightly, a thought occurring to him, and asked, “Who’s Princess Celestia?”
At this Twilight actually gasped. “How can you not know who Princess Celestia is!?” she exclaimed. “Everypony knows who Princess Celestia is! She’s ruled Equestria for over a thousand years! She raises the sun!”
Her manic expression froze, only to be replaced by a shrewd squint. “Helper... where exactly are you from?”
Msaidizi didn’t hear her, his mind working overtime. The “ruling for a thousand years” and “raising the sun” parts were obviously nonsense and could be safely ignored, but it was the “princess” bit that got his attention. He already knew of one princess from the visitations in his dreams, after all. Could she and this Celestia be one and the same?
Not to be ignored, Twilight poked him in the leg to get his attention. “Helper!”
“Sorry, I was just... thinking,” he said, ignoring her question (and the brief twinge of headache it brought). “Tell me though, this Princess Celestia... What does she look like?”
Twilight gave him another of look of utter disbelief and stated, “Well, she’s about as tall as you, maybe a little taller. She’s an alicorn—she has both wings and a horn. Her coat is a gorgeous white and her mane shimmers like the northern lights: pink and blue and—“
”That’s a no, then,” Msaidizi thought with some disappointment. To be honest he had initially hoped that the royalty lurking in his dreams was just some figment of his imagination, but the consistency of their meetings and the ease with which he remembered them led him to believe otherwise. It would be worrying indeed to discover that she didn’t actually exist.
“I don’t suppose there are any other princesses?” he tentatively asked.
Twilight tapped her chin a few times with her hoof. “Hmm... oh! There’s also Princess Cadence! She was my foalsitter, as it turns out. She’s tall but not quite as tall as Celestia. She’s only a little taller than me, I think. Her coat is sort of pale-pink, and her mane is purple with—“
The idea that this princess was just something he made up was seeming more and more likely to Msaidizi. He supposed that if it was true, he’d have to tell someone about it. But who? There apparently was a hospital in Ponyville, but he doubted they’d want to see him around there. And just how would Zecora react if he just went up to her and said, “Oh by the way, I think I’m crazy?”
He realised that Twilight was still talking. “—And of course, there’s Princess Luna. She only returned to Equestria a couple of months ago—“
The name struck a chord.
He interrupted Twilight, “Dark blue coat? Hair like the night sky? Has a picture of the moon on both flanks of her backside?
Twilight blinked. “Well, her coat isn’t all that dark, and her hair was actually just a light blue, but...“
She did a double take as she realised what Msaidizi had just said. “Hang on, how do you know that?! Princess Luna has only been back a few months, and she hasn’t left Canterlot Castle for almost all of that. How do you know who she is, but you’ve never heard of Princess Celestia?”
Msaidizi rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “Um, I sort of, well, meet her now and again.” With a wince from the look Twilight was giving him, he closed his eyes and said, “She visits me in my dreams, okay.”
He was expecting a refusal from her. Perhaps a sound of incredulity with some laughter and maybe worry for his sanity on top. What he didn’t expect was for Twilight to say, “Oh! Well, that makes sense.”
Msaidizi opened his eyes again and stared at her in surprise. “Wait, it does?”
Twilight nodded. “One of Princess Luna’s responsibilities is safe-guarding dreams. It’s sort of her thing.” She chuckled and added, “Other than raising the moon, of course.”
“...Of course.”
“So, what’s she like?” Twilight asked. “I’ve only met her once so far, and it wasn’t for very long.”
“She’s...” Msaidizi looked for a word that was suitable. He felt that “vaguely terrifying” wasn’t going to be taken well.
“Different.” He hurriedly added, “But in a nice way!”
With that said, he made a gesture towards the path ahead. “Shouldn’t we be going? We’ve been standing here talking for quite a while.”
Twilight nodded in agreement, and continue they did. “You still haven’t told me where you’re from, you know,” she pointed out.
Msaidizi rolled his eyes, her question causing a twinge in his head. The headaches that happened whenever he tried to think from before he met Zecora had gradually been waning in strength for months, but if that was any indication, he still had a way to go. “Later, Twilight,” he said.
“But—“
To placate Twilight, he held up a hand and said, “Later. I promise. Just, not right now.”
“Oh my gosh...” Twilight muttered.
Given how she had described an explosion, Msaidizi had expected a crater of some kind. Perhaps one filled with the scorched remains of whatever foliage had been in the way. Something filled with some kind of destruction, certainly.
Instead it was a circular clearing, a couple dozen or so metres across, completely flat and utterly barren. Not barren as in inhabited by weeds, bracken, or garbage; but rather barren as in completely devoid of any form of life. There wasn’t a single weed or sapling or even a blade of grass within it.
Stranger still, the foliage surrounding it was thick and hearty both on the ground and from the trees, but it didn’t taper off at the clearing’s edge in the slightest. It just... ended.
Twilight’s horn lit up with a lavender glow, and out of her saddlebags floated an array of scientific instruments, each more esoteric than the last.
“I’m going to take some readings” she said. “Why don’t you have a look around?”
Msaidizi gave a lazy salute and began to walk at the clearing’s edge, thinking all the while. Just what could have caused this? If it were something like a meteorite slamming into the earth or some other explosion, then there would have been a crater.
”Perhaps it didn’t hit the ground at all, but exploded midair?”
While that would explain the flatness of the clearing, it still didn’t make the answer any clearer to him. If there had been an explosion, wouldn’t it have scorched the earth and burnt the surroundings? Wouldn’t the trees and shrubs be flattened away from its source?
”So it wasn’t a great heat, then,” he concluded. ”What else could have killed all these plants off? Maybe... some kind of poison?”
The idea had some merit, but wouldn’t the clearing then be full of dead and rotting vegetation, rather than being wiped clean? He didn’t know of any poison that killed things and then made them disappear.
Unless it was very slow acting and thus undetectable, of course. The wild idea made Msaidizi uncomfortable given where he was standing, but he dismissed it.
Something glittering in the sunlight a little further along the edge caught his attention. He walked towards it and discovered another wooden wolf statue. This one was splayed out, like a real dog would if it were to fall over while running, and was beginning to fall apart. Cracks had formed all over the surface, and several pieces (including a forelimb) had broken off altogether. Curiously, the back legs seemed rather stunted compared to the other statue Msaidizi had seen.
There was also something sticking out of the top of its head. Squatting down for closer look, he saw what resembled a silver-caged thermometer.
”Someone else is here.” Msaidizi’s senses made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Slowly rising, he turned a full circle, his eyes darting to and fro.
Twilight noticed what he was doing and trotted over. “Helper? What are you doing?”
Msaidizi hissed, doing another rotation as he strained his ears. “I think there might be someone here.”
Twilight noticed the wolf statue and took a startled leap back with a yelp. “Aah! Get away from that!”
“Calm down, it’s just a statue. What’s that thing poking out its head?”
Twilight gave the statue an apprehensive look, before moving closer and pulling the object out and towards her. “It’s a thaumometer,” she said. “It measures magic levels. But what’s it doing here? Where did it come from?”
Msaidizi didn’t answer but waved for her to be quiet again. For a minute they just stood there in silence, the clearing filled with no sound aside from the chirping of birds and the wind lightly blowing through the trees. Then, just a little further away from them, was the sound of cracking branches. A thin branch and some sticks fell out of a tree and hit the ground with a clatter. Following them was something shiny that bounced off them with a ting.
Running over to the tree, Msaidizi bent down and picked it up. It was another thaumometer.
“Hello?” he called up into the tree, standing up. “Is there somebody up there?”
There was a long pause, and then a hesitant voice called down, feminine and cultured.
“...No...”
Msaidizi gave Twilight a questioning look, to which she returned a shrug. It sounded like a pony, a mare at that, but neither of them recognised it.
“Are you quite alright?” Msaidizi called out again. “It doesn’t seem very safe up there!” He paused for a moment and then added, “We mean you no harm, I assure you!”
There was another cracking of branches and a light shower of twigs. “No, no. I’m quite comfortable, thank you,” the voice called down. “Let me just...”
A third sound of cracking wood sounded out like a thunderclap, and the voice above screamed. with the rushing of yet more breaking branches and a showering of leaves. Whoever the voice belonged to began to fall out of the tree.
Msaidizi moved immediately, throwing his arms out and preparing to catch them. Whoever it was appeared from the canopy in a blur and landed square on his chest, knocking him onto his back and driving the air from his lungs.
“Phew, that was close!” the voice said.
If Msaidizi had the breath to join Twilight in gasping, he would have done so. The pony he had been talking to wasn’t a pony at all (or at least, none he’d ever seen before). Instead of fur she was covered in pockmarked black chitin. Instead of feathery pegasus wings, they were iridescent and insectoid, and easily seen poking out of her mouth were a small set of fangs. She also had a look of acute embarrassment at her landing.
“Um... hello,” she said. “Sorry about that.”