//------------------------------// // Spritelight 1, Chapter 6 // Story: Spritelight // by Makitk //------------------------------// The light of the early dawn shone through the windows above while the sound of our hoofsteps reverberated in the empty mall. Turkey was leading me to something called a "drugstore", to get some "asprin". "Aspirin," Turkey corrected me again. "That's what I'm saying; asprin," I threw back at her. "Besides, I don't care what it's called, as long as it gets rid of this headache I've been having." "It should," Turkey mused, "unless pony physiology differs too much from that of humans. We're here." I looked up at the metal shutters of the store and then back at Turkey. "Really? More of these things?" Turkey shrugged helplessly. "It's to keep thieves out. And, considering I don't have my wallet on me, we kind of count as thieves ourselves." "It's a necessity in our case," I returned with a smirk. "Ok, same as before; you go first and I'll follow behind." Turkey nodded and I sent my magic out to help her through the shutters, then followed behind immediately after. Turkey continued into the store, nodding at some weird gates. "Make sure to levitate the package I'm giving you over those gates or the alarm will go off," she warned. "All of the stuff in the store is electronically tagged." "Er, sure.. whatever," I shrugged, following behind. Turkey turned into an aisle and looked around herself, then pointed a wing at one particular section of it. "There it is. Do you know if you get side effects from caffeine?" I just stared at her. "Yeah, let's play it safe. Take the white box there," she pointed. "Second from the left next to the one with the yellow stripe on it. That's without caffeine and should be strong enough for any headache." I stared at the box, a few shelves above us, and rose up on my hind legs to take the package between my teeth. "Fwish one?" "Yeah, that's it," Turkey giggled as I fell down on all fours again. A sudden noise startled us, and all four of our ears turned to the back of the store. "That sounds like a store employee arriving early," Turkey offered with a wince. "We got to get out of here, now!" We both ran for the front of the store, and I started to prepare my spell to let Turkey through - completely forgetting about the alarm. The high-pitched sound made my headache only grow worse, and I heard the sound of something falling further back in the store. Knowing we had little time before whomever was there would come rushing to the front, I continued with my spell and Turkey quickly passed through the shutters. I looked back at the store employee rushing into the front and fired off my transformation spell at them before passing through the shutters myself, gallopping after Turkey - back towards the safety of our store shelter! As we passed the other stores along the way, some of the shutters started to slide up, adding to our sense of urgency. We galloped up the stairs to the upper floor, down the gallery, and skidded to a stop in front of the store we chose as a shelter. Turkey waited for me to unlock the door, then bolted through it, and straight into the employee lounge. I closed the door behind us, followed behind, and spat out the box to the floor of the lounge once I had closed that door as well. "That was close," Turkey panted, and I nodded at her. "But I have a new ambassador because of it," I chuckled. "A new ambassador?" Turkey wondered, nudging the box on the floor with her right hoof. "That employee will be a pony like yourself in a few days' time," I revealed, and Turkey's eyes went wide. "Call it an extra safety measure. She won't cause a scene once she realizes she's growing a tail. You said it yourself; humans dissect people who look funny." "I didn't say that!" Turkey protested, shaking her head. "But even so, you shouldn't turn random people into ponies!" "And why not?" I asked of her, raising an eyebrow. "Everyone on this planet will be transformed into a pony before the worlds merge anyway, what does it matter who gets transformed first?" I didn't wait for her to answer, but levitated the box of 'aspirin' in front of her face. "Now can you please tell me how to use this stuff so I can get rid of my headache?" Turkey walked me through the steps of using the medicine, but the small package meant I had to use my magic to get the pills out. She said I had to drink water with it, so we looked around for something to pour the water in. One of the cabinets had a package of plastic cups, and I pulled some from it to give both of us a cup of water from the faucet. I left the knob turned loose enough when I closed the tap to allow Turkey to open the faucet with her teeth if needed, and lay down on the ground while the aspirin did its work. "So all I had needed to look for was a box with these symbols on it?" I asked, but Turkey immediately shook her head. "No. Unless you actually know how to read what's in the package, you shouldn't open what you find," she answered. "There's some dangerous stuff in this world, which could cause you to feel really sick, or even cause you to die if you ingest it." "Why would humans store something that could kill them?" I wondered. "Because it's not for them. It's mostly pesticides to keep unwanted insects and animals out of their homes, stores, farms..." "Oh. And they store that in with their medicines?" I asked, taking a sip of my water. "Not usually, no. But out of the way of children and pets where possible," Turkey stated, taking a sip of her own cup of water but spilling most of it. "Don't worry about that. You get used to it eventually," I told her, smiling gently in her direction. "And you turned me into this because the worlds of Earth and Equestria are supposedly merging together?" she asked, wiping some droplets from the fur on her chin. "Well, more to let them merge together again. They were once the same place, you know?" I offered. "No, I don't know. That's why I'm asking," Turkey said. "What if this doesn't work out? What if you only end up with a bunch of ponies here on Earth and a bunch of ponies there in Equestria, and these worlds just stay apart?" I stared down at my cup and shrugged softly. "You don't know, do you?" Turkey mused. "I don't, no. I only know what I've managed to put together from the information in the Canterlot archives, the Crystal Empire's library, and other lost tomes," I explained. "There's every evidence that these two worlds are supposed to be the same single world, but I don't know how they split, or if this is even going to work. But it's the best bet I've got," I told her. "So what if you transform some humans into ponies and they feel absolutely miserable about it?" Turkey asked. "Do you?" I returned. Turkey looked down at herself but shook her head. "Not me. I actually feel liberated." I chuckled at that and rested my head on the floor, falling sideways. "It's been a long night, Turkey. I need to get a few hours of rest in. We can talk about this after I wake up again, if you want?" Turkey nodded and stifled a yawn. "Good idea." "I'm full of good ideas," I chuckled, closing my eyes to rest.