The next morning, I was woken up by a steady tapping noise on my bedroom window. Groggily coming to, I threw off the covers and staggered to the window. Opening the curtains, I was confronted with the searing light of the sun and a hovering Rainbow Dash.
I may have screamed.
Rolling in mid-air laughing madly, Dash was overcome with the effect her arrival caused. I’d forgotten until that point that she’d promised to come and catch a few fish for me, possibly resolving the current conflict between my human and pony halves. In an effort to salvage some of my ego, I chastised Dash.
“Yeah, yeah laugh it up Rainbow Crash,” I said jokingly. At that point her laughter began to die down.
“Sorry, Blade Star. Your face was just so brilliant. It was like.” She made a face similar to ‘The Scream’. “C’mon, I’ve got a few weather jobs to do today. If you want to go fishing, you better get a move on.” I nodded.
“Okay, be there in a minute or two, Dash.” Rainbow then pitched up out of her hover, briefly stalled, before recovering and dropping down to near the front door of the house. I quickly made myself presentable and brushed my teeth. Then I trotted downstairs, being careful not to wake anypony else. Opening the front door, Rainbow was waiting impatiently for me.
“Jeez Blade Star, you take more time than Rarity to get ready,” she jibbed.
“Do not,” I countered. “Nopony takes longer than Rarity, nopony.”
On the walk to the lake, I asked Rainbow what she had on her plate today. She’d just come from her morning workout to pick me up here, and she had a bunch of weather jobs to do as well.
“Yeah.” Dash said. “We’re starting to build up the first big snowstorm. It’s pretty much the busiest time for weather work, except maybe Winter Wrap Up. We’ve got to form a storm that’ll lay down a thick blanket of snow in one night. Then we can use smaller snowfalls to top it up. It's easy enough to keep it up once it’s started, but that first storm’s a real chump.” She ruffled her wings irritably.
“Ah doubt our weather team’s gonna have any problems,” I replied. “Certainly not with you at the helm. Y’all managed okay with the tornado last year, ah can’t see your folks bein’ stopped by snow.” We approached the lake.
The lake, just to clarify, was not the large body of water found in the park in Ponyville. Sweet Apple Acres had a large one as well, mainly due to beavers, well within its borders. That made it Apple family property and therefore our own private swimming and fishing hole. The surface was calm and clear, but just below the surface, it was possible to see a few fish darting about. From what I could see, I figured they were trout.
“You know, I’ve never been up here Blade Star,” Rainbow said. “There’s loads of fish here too. You could probably turn it into one of those fish farm deals like they have in Trottingham.”
“Fish farms?” I asked. I knew of the concept, but it never occurred to that Equestria had any.
“Sure, they supply places like Cloudsdale with fresh fish. Easier than everypony fishing for themselves,” she clarified. I stored this for later; AJ might be interested in expanding her business away from apples and other fruits.
“So how do we do this?” I asked Rainbow. The Pegasus had brought neither bait nor pole with her. She didn’t even have any saddlebags with her. She did however, have a smug look on her face.
“Easy, just watch.” And with that, she took off.
Watching her climb, I saw Dash grab a large tuft of cloud that was just about large enough for her to stand on. Even though I’ve seen such a feat several times since I got here, the ability of the pegasi to manipulate gaseous objects still amazes me. Dash brought the cloud down to just a foot or so above the surface of the water and settled herself on it.
She then began to peer down into the lake, evidently watching the many fish that were deep within. Her head began to dart about, left, right, up down, in a very bird like fashion. She was partially avian anyway. The whole spectacle was similar to a heron looking for food in streams. And just like a heron, her head suddenly lunged forward into the water, and a moment later, she produced a large fish.
With a flick of her head, she sent the hapless creature flying toward the bank. Dash then returned to her vigil and repeated the process a few more times. By the time she kicked her cloud out of existence, she had piled a good half dozen fish on the shore. A quick glide brought her over to me.
“See, nothin’ to it,” she said proudly. I was too stunned to reply. In less than five minutes, Rainbow had caught more fish than I could hope to catch in a day. I quickly began to wrap the catch in foil, before placing them in my saddlebags.
“Right, let’s get these cooked and see what happens.”
Neither myself nor Dash were overly talented as cooks. Personally, I had never cooked fish in my life. So we decided to call upon one of Ponyville’s premier chefs. If I was going to eat fish for lunch, I was going to eat fish that was properly prepared and cooked to perfection.
“Spike?” I called “Are you in here?” The pair of us trotted into the Golden Oaks Library in search of the elusive purple dragon. Twilight, who had evidently been working in her basement/laboratory, came up to see what the commotion was about.
“Blade Star? Rainbow Dash? What are you two…” she stopped, briefly sniffing the air. “Oh, eeww! What in the name of Celestia is that stench?” She quickly made to cover her nose.
“Jeez Twilight, it’s just fish,” Dash replied. “We figured Spike could cook it for us; see if Blade Star’s stomach can handle it.”
“He’s downstairs with me,” Twilight replied, her voice nasally from holding her nose. “Spike!”
“Coming Twilight!” Spike called. He quickly appeared from the basement. He quickly picked up the smell of fish. “Hey is that fish?”
“Sure is, Spike,” I said. “Think you could cook it up for us?” The drake’s eyes lit up.
“You bet! It’s been ages since I’ve had a chance to cook fish, Twilight won’t even try the stuff after last time.” Twilight promptly gave Spike the stink eye; the universal signal for ‘shut the hay up’. Spike quickly took the fish from my saddlebags, placing some in the freezer and a couple on the worktop.
“You can breathe now, Twilight,” I said snarkily. She released her hold on her nose.
“Thanks, Blade Star,” she replied.
“What are you working on down there anyway?” I asked. Twilight immediately switched to her ‘Doc Brown’ mode.
“It’s so fascinating, Blade Star. I think I’m actually closing in on how you arrived here.” This sounded interesting all of a sudden. “I was finally able to isolate some of the residual energy. Turns out its not magic at all, its rift energy.”
Since the incident a few weeks ago where half of the basement was damaged in a large explosion, Twilight had continued to research and attempt to work out precisely what had transpired to send me and my family to the Everfree Forest, and turn me into a unicorn in the process.
“Twilight, pretend I skipped quantum physics 101,” I deadpanned. Twilight splayed her ears.
“Oh, right. Well, basically, it means that it wasn’t random magic that brought you here, but a tear in the fabric of space/time. My guess is that when you passed through, you destabilised it forcing it to close again. It may be possible to re-open it in the future from this side.” Okay, this was sounding really good. “The only problem though, is that we don’t know exactly how to re-open the rift. It could quite easily, from what I’ve read, dissipate or shrink to the size of a pinprick.” My heart sank.
“That’s a pretty big problem, Twi,” I said.
“But every problem has a solution, Blade Star,” she countered encouragingly. “Besides, now that I’ve narrowed it down somewhat, the various other ponies Celestia assigned to help will be able to concentrate their efforts too. We’re bound to find a way to open it eventually.” My spirits lifted a little. We were then interrupted by Dash, who had followed Spike into the kitchen pretty much as soon as Twilight began to talk.
“Hey, guys! Spike says the fish is done.” We quickly headed to Twilight’s kitchen.
Spike was perched on a stool hovering over the stove. Two of the fish Dash had caught were frying in a pan on the flame. They both looked done to a turn. Using a spatula, Spike put one on each plate. Twilight defiantly refused to go near the dish. Dash placed hers on her back, whilst I encased mine in magic, and we both went to one of the tables in the library. Twilight quickly began to protest.
“Hey, these are reading tables, not dining tables you two!” She complained.
“Oh come on, Twilight,” I replied teasingly. “Think of this as one of your experiments. ‘Can Blade Star eat fish?’.” The librarian sighed in irritation. With that, me and Dash settled down. Spike kindly brought cutlery for us, though Dash seemed more than content to dive in.
It had been over a month since I had last eaten any kind of meat product. While there had been no physical side effects, I had been going through some kind of mental withdrawal process. If this came off, I wouldn’t have to worry about that any more.
I cut a small piece of the fish with my cutlery and brought it to my mouth. The smell reminded me of home, of fish and chip shops and Friday nights. Hay, if this worked I could introduce Dash to the traditional British fish and chips. I took a bite.
The taste was just as I remembered. Unlike with other meats, I did not feel any real sense of revulsion, though perhaps a little unease at eating such unusual cuisine in terms of a unicorn’s palate. Dash and Spike leaned forward expectantly, Dash even paused in her gorging. My gut began to rumble ominously, I began to feel unsteady. Was my body saying no? My compatriots had all left the table and taken shelter behind various book cases. Then, it happened.
I burped.
It came out like something Homer would do after drinking a pack of Duff beer. The slight queasiness went away and I felt completely normal again. I could eat fish. Off to the side I heard a sigh of relief from somepony.
“Well, mystery solved. I can eat fish,” I said happily. “Spike, think you can batter the other fish with breadcrumbs? I’ll introduce you to a great dish from my old world.” The dragon nodded eagerly. Dash on the other hand merely sniggered, probably at the sheer volume of my bodily function.
“Right, well, if you’re done with your ‘experimenting’, I need to head out now,” Twilight said, grabbing a pair of stuffed saddlebags.
“Oh, where to, Twilight?” I asked curiously as I finished the rest of my fish.
“I’m heading into the Everfree Forest. I need to go to where you and the others first arrived to take some readings. And I need to visit Zecora; I need to borrow something from her for our next lesson.” I remembered Discord’s botched riddle that suggested we do just that. I hadn’t really acted on it, as we had no idea at the time as to how we got here.
“Mind if I tag along? I might be able to help.” She nodded in approval, while Dash quickly excused herself, stating she had weather jobs to do. So, leaving Spike in charge of the library, the pair of us headed into the Everfree.
It had been a long time since I had been anywhere near the Everfree Forest. While the castle and its many artifacts were of interest to me, I was somewhat deterred by the constant threat of an untimely death on the journey. The nearest I had been was Fluttershy’s cottage to drop in on her and Lizzie. I certainly didn’t plan on going in there alone. Luckily though, I had Equestria's newest princess and one of the most magically powerful beings on the planet as a travelling companion. Said companion was currently doing what she did best.
“Okay, saddlebags, check. Scrolls, quills and ink, check. Magical dampeners, check. Supplies for Zecora, check. Copy of ‘A Guide to the Everfree’, check.” This continued for some time, still I was no better, so I could hardly complain. Finally, Twilight concluded her checklist, for the third time. “There we go, okay, let’s go, Blade Star.”
We crossed from the bright Equestrian day into the darkness created by the forest’s unusually thick canopy. The place, for all its dangers, was nonetheless remarkable. The various species of trees here could not be found anywhere else in Equestria, and unlike other varieties, did not share any real similarities with any trees found on Earth. I mean, I’ve never encountered a plant on Earth that could swallow a manticore whole.
Then of course, there were the many animals that called this forest home. I decided not to jab Twilight on the subject of Cockatrices. The biggest risk really was Timberwolves. Manticores and other larger beasts tended to stay much further inside the forest. Timberwolves however, would be attracted to us due to our small number, and they were known to frequently come right to the border, if not leave the Everfree on occasion to hunt. The trick would be knowing if we were being followed.
Still, if worst came to the worst, each of us had the magical equivalent of a high powered rifle strapped to our foreheads. Timberwolves in particular could be driven off by a show of force. If they felt you would take too much effort to kill, they’d slink off and leave you be.
“So, aside from going back to where you think this ‘rift’ may be, what else are we doing?” I asked Twilight.
“Well,” Twilight replied, “I need to quickly visit Celestia and Luna’s old castle to collect a few books. Then on the way back, I need to go see Zecora; I promised to pick up some supplies for her in Ponyville, and I need to borrow something from her too.” She gestured to her bulging saddlebags, they contained what looked like a number of plant extracts, bone fragments and other things a shaman may find useful.
The walk to the castle proved far easier than I expected. I certainly didn’t feel as spooked as I had the last time. Though to be fair, the last time, I had been getting to grips with a new body and explaining to my family that we were in what I thought to be a fictional world. Now, I was more than capable of protecting myself, and I had a good friend with me.
“So how’s the Apple family?” Twilight asked as we continued on.
“As good as can be expected I suppose,” I replied. “AJ’s got everything set up for winterising next week, Big Macintosh has hauled all the equipment back into the barns and Apple Bloom’s finally got tired of playing archery with the Crusaders. Ah think that arrow into the Zap Apple Jam storage was the straw that broke the pony’s back as far as Granny Smith was concerned.” The two of us sniggered to ourselves. “How about you? How’s the life of a royal and her dragon assistant?”
“I don’t know how Celestia and Luna cope. I don’t have that many duties to perform, but sometimes it feels like I’m back in school again. Plus, everypony doesn’t exactly agree with my informal approach to being a princess. Spike has been doing his best to help me adjust, and I’m certainly grateful for all the work he does at the library. These days, it’s almost as if he’s the librarian and I just live there.”
“So what, you want to abdicate then?” I asked half seriously.
“Oh, no, I’d never give up my responsibilities like that!” Twilight countered earnestly. “It’s just I’m still settling into the whole idea.”
With that, we came to the castle at last. I hadn’t had a chance to look inside here the last time, and this was one place I certainly wanted to visit. As we approached, I began to feel the uncomfortable side effects of the background dark magic. It was not as bad as before, but still noticeable. Like a haunted house, the place gave me the creeps. Twilight too was noticeably on edge. As we approached, I noticed our breath was forming vapour; the temperature was dropping. I began to fall back on old traditions.
“De profundis clamo ad te, domine. De profundis clamo ad te, domine.” I muttered in an effort to dispel whatever was around us and my own fears. I resisted the urge to screw my eyes shut in an effort to hide from whatever was here.
Then, just as suddenly as it had dropped, the temperature rose again. The uneasiness left us both and we began to relax. Whatever presence we had felt had decided to let us pass, or at least leave us alone. We walked through the huge doors into the throne room of the castle. Before us were the two ancient thrones from which Celestia and Luna once governed. And hanging above them were their banners; a blazing sun on an orange background for Celestia, and a crescent moon on a deep blue background for Luna. Rarity had tried to remove one of those before, and while I would love to get Luna’s banner (with her permission of course) I did not wish to get into a fight with this haunted house. Twilight led me up a side staircase toward the sisters’ private library.
“What was that, Blade Star?” Twilight asked with a sort of quiet awe.
“Not sure, Twilight. Ghosts maybe. Back on Earth that’s what they used to say if the temperature dropped suddenly. You notice how cold it got?” She shook her head.
“No, not the dark magic, I mean what you did; you dispelled it. I was about to use a light spell and you chanted something.”
“It’s Latin; supposedly it could drive off dark spirits,” I replied. Again Twilight shook her head.
“Anyway, we’re here now. Just give me five minutes to find these books. And don’t touch anything, Blade Star. The books in this library go straight from me to Canterlot, where they go to the Starswirl the Bearded Wing; the knowledge they hold is extremely dangerous.” In light of what happened the last time somepony ‘borrowed’ a book from here, I was not about to argue.
A short while later, Twilight had collected about half a dozen different tomes. A couple of them were too large to fit in her saddlebags, so she asked me to carry them. They were quite heavy and made their presence known when I placed them on my back. Much to my alarm, I noticed several of the books were sealed with a magic lock. According to Twilight only alicorn magic would release it.
We then headed out that same way we came in. Luckily we were not accosted by whatever dark spirits continued to haunt the castle’s halls and passageways. It was a remarkable building, if nothing else a testament to the construction abilities of the time, it was just such a shame that it remained contaminated after so long.
We then took a short walk to the place where me and my family had first arrived. I remembered the place well. It was easy enough to locate the right clearing; the whole area I noticed was covered with scorch marks, as if there had been some terrific heat. Twilight cast her horn aglow and began pacing around the area. It was almost like she was using a living metal detector, her horn seemed to glow brighter as she approached the spot I woke up in and where my family had been. She then took out a scroll and jotted down a few notes. Unfortunately, she could not pick up any trace of an active rift, just its dissipated energy. In other words, it was here, but if it still was, was anypony's guess.
The route we took back to Ponyville was a slight variation from our journey from it. We had to call upon Zecora for reasons Twilight did not make very clear. Other than the fact that she was dropping off supplies for the zebra shaman, I gleaned very little information from her. It was unlike her to be so tight lipped.
When we got to the small hut, which was adorned with various African style masks and other slightly ominous looking objects, Twilight asked me to remain outside. As you might expect, this only increased my confusions. I had been hoping to meet the enigmatic rhyming zebra too. Twilight then emerged with a small box, similar to something you might store precious jewellery in. Like the tomes, it was sealed with a magic lock.
We then began our trek back home. We actually came out not too far from Fluttershy’s. Twilight then said she was heading back to the library and that she would see me tomorrow for my first magic lesson since I had got back. I however, was still thinking about two things; one, why was she being so secretive all of a sudden. And two, I could eat fish, next Friday was fish and chips.