Chapter Four. What is Friendship Worth?
Kai lay there, his eyes shut, hoping to block out the sunlight streaming in through his bedroom window.
…
Wait a minute? Why was he in his room? He should have been on the couch.
…
And why was he so warm?
He opened his eyes and blinked a few times until a certain sight took that ability from him. He stared at a lavender alicorn sleeping soundly next to him, her wing draped over him like a blanket.
“Not the worst way to wake up I suppose.” Kai stretched until he heard a satisfying ‘crick’ in several places. He gently lifted her wing, taking note on how soft her feathers were. Twilight mumbled incoherently and sighed contently, tucking her wing into her side. Kai slid slowly out of bed and made his way to the kitchen.
~~~
Twilight Sparkle stirred and as she began to stretch, her wings snapped open, flinging her out of bed and onto the floor.
“Stupid, blasted…” She cursed a few more words that a Princess really shouldn’t say, until the sound of a sizzling frypan caught her attention.
Walking out into the living room she saw her friend hard at work in the kitchen. “Mmm, that smells great,” she said, taking a whiff of the scent wafting in.
“Morning,” he simply replied. He soon brought out a plate of pancakes with butter and maple syrup.
“No bacon today?” Twilight said with a teasing tone, poking her tongue out.
Kai shook his head and placed the plates onto the table. “No, I just don’t feel like it today.”
Twilight tilted her head and blinked. That was certainly unexpected. Lighting up her horn, she levitated a fork over and began to eat some of her pancakes. It took a full minute for her to realise that Kai wasn’t eating and was instead staring at her.
She looked up at him, then back to her food before looking back to him again. “That’s making me rather uncomfortable you know.”
“Sorry,” he looked away, but only for a moment. “I was just watching your magic, that’s all.”
“Magic?” Twilight paused before she realised that she was using her magic. Then she realised that the drained feeling that she had been feeling for the last few days were gone. Her magic had returned.
“My magic’s back!” She cheered, hopping around the room with a wide smile on her face. Kai watched for a moment, finding the alicorn’s smile to be rather infectious.
“So what now?” he asked. “Are you able to go home?”
That comment caused Twilight to cease her bouncing. “No, I still have to figure out how I got here in the first place.” She looked at the human who had taken her in. “If you’re still okay with having me here that it is?”
Kai nodded as he cleaned up the table. “I said that I’d protect you and I will. I promise.”
Twilight flushed red and looked at her hooves. He was really sweet, but she still wasn’t sure what he was protecting her from. He had said that all humans weren’t as nice as him, but she hadn’t met any other humans…
“Kai? Is there any way for me to meet other humans? Or at least find out how this world works?”
Kai figured this would come up. This world wasn’t safe for something like her, but he had no real proof and Twilight seemed like the kind that required hard evidence. “I know… I know that simply taking my word for it is difficult, but this world is so much different from yours.”
“H-how do you know what Equestria is like?” There was no way he could know about Equestria. She had told him the name once when she explained where she was from. Then an idea dawned on her and Kai voiced it.
“I kinda learned a few things when we did that Vulcan mind-meld thingie.” When Twilight had used her magic to learn how to read human language, he had seen things that he had no idea how to explain. Especially that pink one…
“I see, well I guess it’s only fair. I saw some of your memories by accident.” Twilight was rather curious as to what he saw though. But what the hay was a Vulcan mind-meld? But she was getting distracted from the topic at hand. “So is there no other way for me to meet other humans?”
Kai didn’t know what to do. He didn’t really have any friends and he certainly didn’t know anyone that he could trust with this secret. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “I really wish that I could fulfill that request, but as it stands, I don’t know any people that I could trust to know about you.”
This realisation left a sick feeling in his stomach. He felt like he was keeping her prisoner here. “Look, you can leave anytime you want.” Kai was getting annoyed with himself. “I’m only trying to help so…” He clenched his fist and sat down roughly on his couch. “Dammit all…”
Twilight didn’t mean to upset him. An idea dawned on her and her eyes sparkled. “Hey Kai, do you have any books on human anatomy?”
The human looked at the princess, wondering why she’d want something like that. “In the shelf over there, bottom row, there are a few medical reference books.”
Twilight nodded and levitated them over. After flicking through the first one, she eventually found what she was looking for, a detailed picture on human anatomy, namely, human female anatomy.
“I have to study these for a bit, but I think that I can make this work.” Twilight smiled to herself and headed off towards the bedroom. “Just you wait and see!”
Kai just blinked and stared at the now closed door. Just what on earth was that pony up to?
***
It took longer that Kai thought and after an hour, he decided to just play some games while he waited. Halfway through a Legendary mission on Halo 4, a bright flash of magenta light coming from behind his bedroom door caught his attention. He paused the game and turned his head as the door swung open, revealing sight that he certainly didn’t expect appeared.
“I did it!” Twilight cried triumphantly. “I managed to successfully transmogrify myself into a human!”
Kai had no words as he continued to stare.
“What is it?” Twilight asked. “Did I mess something up?”
It took a moment, but Kai finally found his voice. “Well… I’d have to say that there are at least three things wrong with this picture.”
“Three!? What happened?” Twilight panicked as she looked at her new form.
“Well first, and most noticeably… You’re completely naked.” Kai figured that was the most important one to point out. “Two, you still have your tail, wings and your horn.”
Twilight looked behind her and saw her usual three-toned tail protruding from where her tail bone should normally end.
“And the third,” Kai continued. “Is that you look like a twelve year old child!”
“Huh?” Twilight blinked and Kai showed her a mirror the bathroom. She did indeed look like a human child, roughly about eleven or twelve years of age. Kai draped a long towel over her and sighed.
“So this was your big plan?”
Twilight looked a bit panicked. “What in the hay happened? I thought that I got everything perfect.”
“Well the age thing, I have no idea.” Kai looked at the tail swishing about as the now (mostly) human Twilight fretted. “But humans sure as hell don’t have tails, or horns and wings for that matter.”
“Then why did the book call it a tail bone?” Twilight figured that Kai had his tail hidden or something. How else did these humans keep their balance standing upright, without a tail to counter balance? “And I have my horn because I can’t cast magic without it.”
“I don’t know, I never really read those books.” Kai thought the idea of it being called a tail bone was stupid. “But regardless, we don’t have one.”
“Well I can’t fix the spell.” Twilight protested. “My magic, though recovered, seems to take longer to recharge here.” The thought of being stuck in a defective form for the next few hours was not pleasant. She really should have asked Kai for help before hoof. Hindsight really sucked sometimes.
Kai sighed again and shrugged. “Well it can’t be helped, but we also need to sort out that clothing problem.”
“That too, why do humans need to wear clothes?” Twilight asked. Sure, ponies wore clothes sometimes, but for purely aesthetic reasons.
“Several reasons, for one it protects our bodies from the elements.” Kai motioned towards a window. “Our bodies don’t have fur or whatnot and second, it’s indecent, not to mention illegal, to walk around naked.”
Twilight didn’t get it, but she did feel colder in this form. “Then do you have anything that I could borrow?”
Kai shook his head. “Why the heck would I have clothes for a little girl?” He would have to go out and buy some for her. “You should wait here; you can’t go anywhere like that.” Luckily for him, clothing stores were pretty abundant.
“Well alright, but hurry back okay?” Kai took a moment to look her over, taking a guess what size she would be. “Great, I’m staring at the naked body of a kid who used to be a pony princess.” Kai groaned and grabbed his keys and wallet. “This day cannot get any weirder.”
***
Another problem arose though; if Twilight wanted to go out in public then Kai would need an outfit that covered her ‘extra bits’.
“The wings will be the most problematic,” Kai thought on how he could make this work and as he walked past a clothing store named ‘Shibuya’, a small smile crept its way onto his face.
“I think I have an idea…”
Twilight decided to amuse herself until Kai returned, and had spent the whole time practicing how to move in her new form. She was certainly glad that Kai wasn’t there to see her constantly fall over.
A little over an hour passed before the door opened and Kai walked in carrying several shopping bags under his arms.
“You’re back! And you bought a lot.” Kai nodded and he put at let eight bags onto the couch and sighed.
“Yeah… I think I may have gotten a tad carried away.”
Twilight picked up one of the bags and after Kai gave her a nod, she opened it and pulled out the first garment. It was a midnight blue dress, trimmed with white lace and ribbons, the sleeves were long and ended with a white lace ruffle.
“It’s so cute~” Twilight gave a girlish little squeal. The other bags held similarly designed dresses and an assortment of accessories, including a large beret with several different-coloured ribbons to attach to it. The hat would easily hide her horn and the dresses were full-length, so her tail would be concealed underneath. There was also a coat that matched the colour of her fur and it was large enough the cover her wings.
“Well, if you think it will work…” Twilight dropped her towel and Kai covered is eyes.
“GAH! Would you go into the bedroom or bathroom to do that?!”
Twilight smiled sheepishly and disappeared into the bedroom to change. It took a while, but she eventually came back out wearing the dark blue-coloured one he had bought her. He handed her a coat that was a light purple colour with dark blue lace and a cream fur ruffle around the hem.
Kai had bought it as it matched Twilight’s mane and coat perfectly, and by god did she look cute in it.
“I like this outfit a lot!” Twilight smiled
“I’m glad,” Kai smiled back. “It looks really good on you!”
One thing didn’t escape Twilights’ notice however, spending ample time with Rarity had taught her a thing or two about dressmaking and the alicorn could tell that this was a very well-made outfit.
And well-made usually meant expensive.
“This cost you a lot of money, didn’t it?” He had offered up his home, kept her fed and safe. And now he was buying her expensive clothes…
“It’s alright, they were on sale so don’t worry about it.” Kai meant that, he had a large inheritance and had never really spent much of it. That said, those clothes had cost him close to eight hundred bucks.
“But I will worry about it!” Twilight protested. “I will find a way to make this up to you!”
Kai just waved his hand and shook his head. “I said don’t worry about it. You’ve made my life pretty interesting ever since you showed up. Being my friend is good enough, don’t you think?”
“Your friend?” She hadn’t really thought about that, she had been so preoccupied with all the new knowledge that this world was filled with. Twilight had forgotten the one lesson that had been one of the biggest parts of her life.
Twilight’s eyes watered and she suddenly hugged Kai, causing him to flinch in surprise. “Of course I’ll be your friend, no matter what!”
“Okay, okay,” Kai peeled the small girl off of him and petted her head. “Shall we go for a little walk then?”
Twilight nodded and the two friends headed out into the city to explore.
***
“So what are those?” Twilight pointed to the various motor vehicles that roared down the main street.
“Cars, mostly,” Kai replied. “That’s a bus and that one is called a truck. They are used for carrying all sorts of things, from just people to furniture, goods and even entire houses!”
“So they’re like a self-propelled carriage then?” Twilight watched them race by and noted that almost all of them spewed a smoke trail. “Are they on fire or something?”
“No that’s the exhaust, caused by the petroleum fuelled engine that makes them go.” Kai didn’t really know how the mechanical side of cars worked. He didn’t own one, so he never bothered to learn.
“The buildings are so tall as well!” Twilight craned her neck up to look at a nearby skyscraper… only to nearly fall backwards, but Kai caught her in time.
Twilight took out a notepad and scribbled down some more notes, and held the pen in her mouth. Some people stared at the little goth-loli girl writing with her mouth, but didn’t do much else. Weirder things happened in the city all the time.
“Maybe you should practice writing with your hands,” Kai mentioned with an exasperated sigh. “I have an idea, would you like to see where I work?”
Twilight looked up from her notebook and nodded, she was curious to see what he did for a living. They headed further into the central business district and into a multi-story shopping centre. Twilight’s eyes could not stay still as she looked left and right at all the stores and people.
They eventually came to a stop outside one store in particular. Twilight looked up at the glowing sign and read it aloud.
“EB Games? Is that right?”
Kai nodded and led her inside. “That’s right, we sell video games here. Like the ones you’ve seen me play at home.”
“We have them in Equestria as well,” Twilight explained as she picked up the case of Pokémon X. “But I never really got into them. Though I keep hearing rumours that Princess Luna likes them…”
Kai was about to ask who that was when someone called out his name. “HEY KAI!”
“Ah crap.” He turned towards the counter to see his ‘favourite’ co-worker there, the manager’s idiot son, Mike.
“I thought you were out sick?” he asked. “We’ve been pretty damned busy today.”
Kai sighed and nodded, “Still not feeling that great.” Then he remembered what day it was. “I just came by to pick up ‘A Link between Worlds’.”
Mike nodded and pulled his pre-ordered game out from the counter. “Figured this’d be the reason… though I don’t know why these Zelda games are so popular.”
Kai wanted to point out a few things, unless it was Call of Duty or Battlefield, Mike wouldn’t know a good game if it came up and sodomised him. “Yeah, well…” He’d paid for his game and was about to leave when Mike noticed Twilight.
“Who’s the kid, your sister of sumthin?” Neither Mike nor the manager knew that Kai had no relatives. It wasn’t like it was any of their business.
“Uh, yeah… my little sister.” He put an arm round Twilight and pulled her a little closer. “She’s visiting from overseas for a while. Twilight, this is Mike, Mike, this is Twilight.”
Twilight gave a polite courtesy. “A pleasure to meet you Mr. Mike.”
“Sure, same here.” Mike scratched his head, what kinda parents named their kid Twilight?
“Okay, that’s done, let’s go Twi.” She pulled the girl out of the store and around the corner before she could say otherwise.
“Hey! What was that for?” She pulled her arm loose and nearly fell over in the process. “That was rude.”
Kai stopped, maybe it was a little. “Sorry, just don’t like that guy much.”
“He seemed nice enough to me,” Twilight replied. “I’m worried about you though, doesn’t friendship mean anything to you?”
Kai scowled and looked away. “I don’t need friends, and people don’t want me as a friend alright!”
Twilight opened her mouth and closed it again. That feeling was somewhat familiar, but that was a long time ago. Did he always feel like this? Did he really mean it when he said that they were friends?
Twilight looked back at Kai. “We’re gonna talk about this later okay? But for now…” Her stomach gave a loud rumble and she smiled sheepishly. “Can we get something to eat?”
Kai’s mood lifted and he chuckled. “Sure thing, Princess.”
***
Kai took Twilight to some of the usual tourist spots as well, like the Great Harbour Bridge, Centerpoint Tower, Chinatown and more. The two were thoroughly exhausted by the time they got home.
“Your city is amazing!” Twilight panted, her arms loaded with shopping bags filled with gifts for her friends back home. “Humans are capable of so much, my head is spinning.”
Actually, now that she thought of it, the room was spinning a little.
“I think the spell’s about to wear off,” she dashed into the bathroom and began to strip off her clothes before they tore. There was a flash of light from under the door and alicorn Twilight emerged a few seconds later. “That was close,” she breathed a sigh of relief. “I didn’t realise that the spell would give me so little warning.”
“At least we got here before it did,” Kai replied, not wanting to think what would happen if that had happened in the middle of the city. “Are you alright?”
“Just a little light-headed,” Twilight smiled softly. “Could I have some water please?”
Kai nodded and fetched her a glass with a straw, “So you enjoyed your little tour of the city then?”
Twilight’s smile grew a little wider, “Yes, I can’t believe who amazing it was. The buildings are so tall, similar to the ones in Manehatten.”
Kai walked back into the living room. “Did you just say ‘Manehatten’?”
“Yes…?” Twilight was curious about the tone of his voice. “Do you know of it?”
“Sort of,” Kai pulled out a chair and sat next to the couch Twilight was lying on. “There’s a city in another country called ‘Manhatten’.”
“That is so weird,” Twilight replied, but Kai wasn’t done yet.
“And this Canterlot place you mention, one of the kingdoms from the Middle Ages was called Camelot.”
“Another coincidence?” Twilight asked. “What about… Las Pegasus?”
“Las Vegas.”
“Yanhoover?”
“Vancouver.”
“Fillydelphia?
"Philadelphia.”
“Baltimare?”
"Baltimore.”
Twilight was astounded, did every town and city in Equestria have an Earth counterpart?
“The main difference,” Kai groaned. “Is that all your cities have really bad puns…”
The two stared at each other for a moment and then burst out into a fit of giggles.
“Our worlds are weird huh?” Kai said in between laughs and Twilight nodded in agreement.
A loud rumble interrupted the merriment and Twilight giggled again. “Seems like somepony is hungry.”
“Well after dragging you all over the place today…” he thought for a moment. “You wanna get something delivered? I don’t really feel like cooking.”
“Sure!” Twilight nodded and after a brief deliberation, it was decided that they would get some Chinese food. Noodles and vegetables for Twilight, roast duck and rice for Kai.
“Kai, can we talk about something?” Twilight asked once he got off the phone. “I think it’s important.”
“Okay,” he replied.
“It’s… about your friends… or lack thereof.”
Kai sat back down and sighed. “Look, I’m not a sociable person and I just don’t really need any friends.”
“So we’re not friends then?” Twilight put a hoof top her mouth in surprise. She didn’t mean to say that.
“We are friends, you’re probably my first friend actually… at least you’re someone ‘I’d’ consider a friend.” Kai knew lots of people, like the head librarian that let him have a key to the building. The manager and Mike and EB, the lady at the ramen restaurant he’d often visit… but none of them he met on a regular basis, nor did he spend much time with them.
“I used to be like that,” Twilight murmured. “I’d stay cooped up inside and study all day. If anypony wanted to spend time with me, I’d always make some excuse to not go.” She smiled fondly as she recalled the time she first went to Ponyville. “And now I have so many wonderful friends, ones I could never live…without…” Tears began to form as she realised just how much she missed all of her friends back home. “I wish you could meet them Kai, I bet everypony would want to be your friend.”
Kai knew the ponies she was probably referring to, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, rarity, Pinkie Pie and Applejack, the five mares that he met inside the mindscape.
“Maybe…” he simply replied.
Twilight then got an idea, a dangerous idea. “You… you could always come with me?”
Kai paused and looked at the princess. “Come again?”
Twilight nodded with a nervous smile on her face. “Y-yeah, you come to Equestria with me. You can meet my friends, we’ll have parties and hang out and-“
“But is that even possible?” Kai cut her off.
Twilight’s little rant was stopped and she started at him. “Well I managed to come here, so the opposite should be true.”
“But would I even fit in there? I’m sure that not all ponies are nice like you and your friends. What about my job? What about my life here? Would I even be able to return? We still don’t even know if you can get back…” He stopped when he realised what he had just said, and the tears in Twilight’s eyes confirmed that it was a poor choice of words.
“Twilight, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean-” Twilight got up and bolted into his room, locking the door magically behind her.
Kai just put his face in his hands and sighed. “Yeah, great. Real smooth moron.”
***
Night had fallen in Canterlot by the time Twilight’s friends arrived. They had received a letter saying that they were urgently needed and to come right away.
“So whut do ya think all of this is about?” Applejack asked.
“I guess that the Princess will tell us when we get there,” Rainbow Dash replied.
Once they reached the throne room, not only were all three Princesses waiting for them, but Shining Armour and Twilight’s parents were there too. The absence of one particular pony did not go unnoticed however.
“Princess Celestia, what’s going on?” Dash was the first to ask. “And where’s Twilight?”
That question caused everypony to look away. “That is the reason I have summoned you all here tonight.” Celestia descended from her throne, her face had lost it usual grace and was filled with concern. “As of 1:56am, three nights ago, Princess Twilight Sparkle went missing.”
A collective gasp echoed throughout the room and Twilight Velvet was the first to find her voice. “What do you mean missing? Was she abducted? Is there a ransom?”
“Nothing quite like that, we think.” Celestia replied. “I have spent the last few nights investigating this and I have come to the conclusion that Twilight was attempting experimental magic.”
“Sounds like our egghead,” Rainbow chuckled nervously.
Luna took over from here. “It would seem that Princess Twilight was attempting mass teleportation. Even we cannot make heads or tails from her notes, but she seems to have tried the experiment on herself, teleporting to an unknown location.”
“Somewhere here in Equestria?” Shining asked. “Because I’ll search every corner of the kingdom if I have to!”
“We are unsure,” Luna replied. “Only that the spell was designed for long distance transport. It appears that she incorporated some Crystal Empire technology as well, which is why we have called the two of you.”
“I’ll contact my sister, Star Sparkle,” Velvet said. “Perhaps Twilight contacted her for advice?”
“What about us, your majesty?” Rarity asked. “What can we do to help?”
“Did you girls bring the Elements of Harmony like I asked?” Celestia said and the five mares nodded, producing the artefacts.
“It seems that Twilight may still have her Element with her, so we might be able to use yours to make a beacon of sorts, to help find her.”
Everypony nodded, was Twilight in danger? Could they rescue her in time?
If only they knew…