Chapter 13
Set In Stone.
I lift a hoof in front of me and inspect it. What a useless appendage. It can’t grasp, nothing sticks to it, nothing that could even remotely be called a thumb. I can’t even pick up something as simple as a muffin. As my head hangs down a bit of my mane gets in my eyes. I brush it aside and then stomp my hoof.
In front of me is almost a metaphor for my life. A crushed muffin.
I don’t know what I want to do. Get angry, cry or just give up and accept what has happened to me. Then my stomach growls at me. “Get over yourself and feed me. You’ll feel better.” It seems to be trying to say. After a moment of burning thought, I cave to bending my neck down to eat the stupid muffin.
“If you need some help, you can just ask.” Twilight says, she is levitating the plate of hash browns and eggs over to the dinner cart.
I chew on what has to be the most delicious muffin I have ever tasted. Particularly for a banana-nut-bran muffin. But even after swallowing there is still that gnawing knot in my stomach. I walk over to the eggs and hash browns. Twilight is pouring me a glass of what might be apple juice. It floats in a sparkling cloud to the dinner tray. No forks, or spoons or knifes. Not that I could use them anyhow. Leaning over I use my lips to pick and eat the breakfast items. It feels good to have something in my belly. My mouth reminds me that I am thirsty and I look at the glass of apple juice. Alright, time to attempt the wrist grabbing action again.
Placing both ‘wrists’ on either side of the cup, I squeeze it between them. Then I lift it. So far so good. Bring it to my mouth and gingerly lift. The liquid feels good running down my throat. I lift it a little more only to realize little to late that doing this would allow the juice access to my nostrils.
Gagging, I snort out apple juice from my mouth and nose. Then I proceed to have a coughing fit. The glass tumbles down spilling the remaining juice across my chest and some of my belly.
“Gah!” Twilight yelps. “Don’t Choke!” I look down at the juice that is now dripping off my thin coat.
“AAAARGH!” I scream. “This. Shouldn’t. Be. This. Hard!” My head droops down again. “I look like a klutz!” I fumble my words.
“Yes, yes you do.” Rainbow Dash says tiredly as she turns over in her bed.
“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight exclaims scolding her.
“What?” Rainbow Dash said rolling her eyes. “She kinda does.”
“Rainbow-” Twillight begins.
“No Twilight. She’s right.” I run my hooves through my mane in a frustrated manner before looking at them angrily again. “AARGH! Perfect Punishment. How the h-h-h-hay am I sposta adapt when I can’t figure out how to use hooves for anything!”
“Use your lips?” Rainbow Dash says in a simple manner. Such an answer elicits a near deathly glare to Dashs’ direction. She looks a bit surprised and then frowns.
“Hey! Calm down, I’m just trying to help here!”
“I am not going to use my lips!” I shout. “If I do that then I am giving up and giving into their punishment! And Like H-h-hay am I going to let them have that satisfaction! Not with all that’s happened! Not with all they’ve taken enough from me as it is!”
Rainbow Dash turns over and puts a pillow of her head. “Fine. Don’t use your lips, however, whatever you decide to do.. Could you please do it a little quieter? Cause of you, I spent hours that I could have been sleeping doing paperwork.” I want to scream, I want to shout but before I can Twilight interrupts me.
“Who are ‘they’?” She asks getting in between Rainbow Dash and me. “What have they done to you and why are you being punished?” I sit there on the floor shaking my hooves in frustration.
“Please.” Twilight says. “If I am going to help you get home, I need to know things. And right now you are the only pony that can tell me.”
I look at her. It dawns on me that I am not angry at any of these ponies, but I must sound like it. I am most likely hurting myself or any chance I could get to get home by misdirecting my anger at others who haven’t wronged me. I attempt to calm myself down.
“That.” I say through a great deal of bitterness. “Is going to be hard to explain.”
“Why?” Twilight asks.
“Because I barely understand what happened.” I tell her.
“Just tell us what you know then, and start from the beginning.” She says. I take a deep breath.
“I remember telling you that I am not from this universe.” I begin. “Where I am from.. it’s different. Least on the surface it is.” I try pacing. At least it is better than walking. “There isn’t any ‘magic’ like you know it. Ffffff...” I grimace as my vocabulary is restricted. “Ugh! As far as I knew before I crashed into your window, magic didn’t exist at all, let alone the creatures that could preform magic..” That food must have done me some good. I am sounding a bit more rational. I lead my pacing back to the food cart. I eye the waffles and then decide to take a bite.
Twilight blinks. “A world without magic?” The thought alone makes her look at me questioningly. “How would that even work?”
“With lots of machines.” I reply curtly and through a mouth full of waffle. I then swallow. “If there is ‘magic’ in the world I am from, the beings who have it don’t want to be found. Least that is what makes sense. Who they are is difficult to understand, because as far as I knew they were my exes.”
“Exes?” Twilight asks.
I frown. “Really? There aren’t any relationships in Equestria that sour or fizzle out?”
“Oh you mean bitter ends..” She explains.
“Sure, whatever, I am not especially in the mood to care about what they are called here in the ever so magical world of Equestria, just that I had quite a few of them. And it turns out that all of them were creatures that possessed such powers.” I nab a bit more waffle and chew it quickly. “The last relationship I was in must have been the straw that broke their backs. So they decided that a fitting punishment would be to send me here.”
“Why here?” Twilight asks. I pause. Something inside of me feels like it is tugging on my ear and telling me that I can’t be fully honest with her.
“I-I don’t know. The Fae are like that.” I say.
“The Fae?” Twilight asks.
“Geeez for being book smart Twilight, you ask a lot of questions.” I finish off the last bit of waffle and nab an orange slice. “The Fae on my ...on the world I am from where... are nature spirits of great and terrible power. They were used as ways of keeping any... out of places they shouldn’t be. Places that were dangerous to go wondering around mostly. They would trick ‘mortals’ and steal things from them. Particularly names.”
“Why names?” Twilight says cocking her head questioningly.
“I don’t know the full mythology behind it all! I told you, magic is practically non-existent in the world I am from! However names are very important to the Fae. Getting a Fae name means that you can get three favors from them. Least that’s what it said in one book I read..” I pace over the food cart. I lean down to the snack section and see a tray of cookies. “Om! But if one of the Fae gets your name... well.. I guess things like being booted out of the universe happen to you.” I sigh and claim another cookie, I chew on it thoughtfully.
“And?” Twilight asks.
“And what?” I ask through some cookie.
“You said that you were being punished and I get the impression that they did more to you than just take your name.” Twilight says. “If I am going to help you then I am going to need any detail I can get, no matter how small. What else did they do to you?” I roll my eyes and sit down.
“I really don’t feel comfortable explaining all the details of my relationships Twilight. Just that they ended sourly and with broken hearts.” I look up sighing. “Hence the name that’s been flung around here.”
“Heartbreak?” Dash asks.
I glower at her. “Yes. That. Name.” Sighing I go back to the food cart’s snack tray, I spy a brownie. “What else they did is...turn me into …” point to myself. “Into this!”
A look of confusion hangs on Twilights’ face before she gets something.
“You’re not meant to be a pony?” She asks me.
“No.” I reply sticking my head into the cart and nabbing the brownie in one bite.
“Then … what are you meant to be?” She asks me. I pull my head out of the cart. Chew brownie and swallow.
“I am again not comfortable telling you that Twilight.” I reply.
“But if I-” She begins.
“Twilight Sparkle. Please understand that I am not sure how much I am sposta tell you about anything. I have told you most likely enough about where I am from. And if you continue to ask it will lead to a dark pit of insanity from which there is no return. I know you really want to know, but the short end of it all is that I am not telling you that. Ok?” I hope that works. I don’t want to tell Twilight and her friends that they are nothing but the figments of the imaginations of humans. Anytime that happens, bad things are sure to follow. I am thirsty again, but don’t want to ask Twilight to give me another glass of juice. I suck down any of the orange slices I see.
“Alright... Then...” She replies. “We’ll just have to figure out the rest when we get to Canterlot.”
I blink and suddenly realize that we are on a train. A moving train, I do my best to rush over to a window. Outside that window are the snowy peaks of a mountain range I have seen a few times. My eye twitches.
“Right... Twilight... I have been answering your questions to the best of my ability.. Now answer some of mine..” I say in a worried but detached manner.
“Alright..” She says.
“Why are we on a train?” I ask.
“Well, like I said, we are going to Canterlot. And the only real way to get to there is by train.” She explains.
“Right..Of course, silly me. Why are we going to Canterlot?” I ask.
“Well, when Rainbow Dash and I discovered the source of where you were ejected into our world. I did a scan of the magic that was used, it was like no other magic I have encountered before. But before I could really get good look or understand it better it cut out on us and caused the rainbow tank to fry.” She continues.
“And the information you are looking for is in the the Canterlot archives. Of course.” I sigh a bit in relief.
“Well, that I am not sure of, however I am sure the Princess will know when we take you to her.” Twilight says this in a smiling happy manner.
I turn my head slowly towards her. “What?”
“I said that-” I put a hoof in front of her mouth.
“I know what you said..” Comes my nervous voice. “Part of which is that I am being taken to the Princess. And By Princess, I think you mean Celestia.” I am hoping that she doesn’t mean Celestia. I really hope that isn’t the case.
Twilight smashes my hopes by smiling and nodding her head. “Yup!” I feel panic start to rear its’ ugly little head again, my hooves start to prance a little.
“And by Princess Celestia, you mean the Ruler of All of Equestria?” She nods her head smiling. “The one who raises the sun every morning?” She nods her head again not noticing that I am starting to pace. “The All powerful Alicorn of Royal linage?” She continues to nod her head like a little bobble-head. “Who lives high in Canterlot and has a near god-like eye watching everything that goes on!?”
“Yup!” She says still smiling away. Rainbow Dash isn’t so oblivious it would appear.
“Uh Twi-” She tries to interject.
“She’s white with a sun as her cutie mark, has a flowing mane, big wings and really big horn Princess Celestia?!” I squeak out.
“Well there isn’t any other Princess Celestia that I know of..” Twilight responds.
“Hey! Twilight!” Rainbow Dash shouts pointing at me.
“What Rai-” I continue to pace back and forth. It feels like there is something sickly and sinking in my veins. “Um are you alright there?”
“Oh Yes! Fine! Dandy! All from my world pace around when we’re just thrilled.” I say my words dripping with sarcasm. “Why wouldn’t I be?!”
“Well... you don’t seem fine..” She stops me from pacing by placing her hooves on my shoulders. “Princess Celestia is the most powerful being in all of Equestria, if anypony has the magic to help send you home then it would be her. Isn’t that what you wanted?”
“Yeah!” Rainbow Dash asks looking like she is giving up on getting any sleep. “Isn’t that a good thing?” I back out of Twilight touching my shoulders.
“What?! No! No, no, no, no, no!” My hooves wobble and waggle nervously on the floor. “That’s not a good thing, that’s a bad thing, that’s so far away from a good thing that it’s in another zip code! That’s a bad, bad, bad thing!”
Rainbow Dash looks at me aghast. “I give up Twi’ You’re on your own here. This feather head just doesn’t make any sense whatsoever.” And with that she turns back over.
“How could that possibly be a bad thing?” Twilight asks me.
I stop my movement and give her a look. “Are you Serious? How could that be a bad thing?” I twitch. “Wait. Does she even know we’re coming?!”
“Well yes... I sent her a letter just before we left explaining the details of the situation.” Twilight explains.
I can feel my left eye twitching so hard that it hurts. The blood feels as if it is draining from my face. The lights start to flicker on the train. We’re going through a tunnel..
“Is... is this the tunnel right before we get to Canterlot?” I ask, the lights almost strobing.
“Uh yeah. Goes right through the mountain. I hate this part of getting to Canterlot, but please continue with your panicking.” Rainbow Dash comments. “Some pony needs to out panic Fluttershy...”
“I still don’t understand how this is a-” Twilight begins.
“Twilight. This is going to be hard for you to hear.” This time it is my turn to put my hooves on Twilights’ shoulders. “Cause you have a bit of what we call back home ‘Hero-Worship’ for Celestia. But I want you to listen very carefully.” I say as the lights flicker on and off.
“Alright..” She responds.
“Princess Celestia is the most powerful being in all of Equestria, Her job is to rule over this magical land, protecting all ponies and most manner of creatures that call it home. She is well over a thousand years old, commands a great deal of magical power and Her Word is Law. You following me thus far?” I ask her. She nods her head looking at me concerned. Apparently I don’t have a love-able face when I am freaking out.
“That means that if there is a threat to Equestria, be it in or out of its borders, most of the time I am going to assume the former, she is going to deal with it. Right?” I pull away as I think I might be hurting Twilights’ shoulders. Her rubbing them confirms this.
“Right...so?” She replies.
“So?! Soo!?” I zip up into Twilights’ face. “So, I am a random element in your happy magical land! I have been cast out of my universe by the Queen of the Fae. The Queen!”
“You didn’t say that the Fae Queen was involved...” Twilight says putting a hoof to her chin.
“That doesn’t matter! By definition I could be a fugitive!” I blink and a non-sequitur thought pops into my head. “Or my interjection into your universe could cause it to have way too much matter and eventually cause it to collapse in on itself...”
“Huh?” She asks.
The flashing light of this tunnel is starting to get to me. It makes everything seem disjointed and rather off putting.
“Nothing. The important thing is that something Bad will happen to me if you bring me to Princess Celestia!” I shout seeming to blink in and out of darkness as I walk.
“I’m still not following you Heart-”
I put a hoof on her mouth. “One Don’t call me that. Please. With me as unstable and agitated as I am now, hearing that name could set me off.” I take my hoof off her face. “And Two. Celestia might seem like the perfect, wonderful, benevolent leader that you all love, but she has a rather hard flaw, and that’s how she deals with problems that threaten her territory and the ponies with in it.”
I can’t tell if Twilight is blinking or not but she looks confused. “And how is that?” She asks.
“With Extreme Measures.” Comes my worried Drenched Words.