Snow is cold and it melts quickly.
It's transient...
...worthless.
They came from out of nowhere, to save my worthless life.
And I don't deserve it.
Chapter 2: Snow
I don’t know what I was thinking at the time. That night, Barry had convinced me to go out to the field area where the “barrier” bubble was. Heh, maybe I thought that touching it again would reinforce the sad reminder that I would never be let into the Equestrian Eden. I reached out to it expecting the physical resistance I had felt the last time I touched the barrier.
“Wha…? What the heck?” I stared not understanding what was going on. My hand was somehow going through the barrier. I didn’t feel like anything was blocking it and I could still feel the wiggling of my fingers from that hand. I pulled my arm back to confirm I still had that hand. All five fingers came back unharmed and still in the same condition they were in before.
“H…How did you…?” asked Barry. His voice was shaking.
“I… I don’t know,” I answered honestly. My voice was shaking too. Slowly, Barry tried imitating what I had just done. His hand met the barrier with solid resistance. He had his eyebrow raised in confusion.
“I wonder if you can do that with the rest of your body,” he suddenly assumed a pondering pose.
“What?! Barry!” I looked at him with shock and disbelief.
“Well, why not?” he continued.
“Because,” I started, “Uh… hm… give me a minute.”
“Yukki-chan!” he shouted.
“Augh! Fine, I’ll do it,” I conceded, “but if I die, I swear my soul will find a way to strangle you in your sleep.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Barry deadpanned.
I gulped as I started walking toward the barrier. This was absolutely insane. I didn’t want to do this.
Why am I doing this? I thought.
I just walked right on through the visible wall. Upon passing through, I initially couldn’t see anything. But then, my eyes adjusted to the dimly lit field. The moon and stars were the only things lighting the night sky.
“My gosh,” I gasped, “It’s clearer than the sky I just left.” It was true. The almost craterless face of the Equestrian moon revealed the field of grass and almost cartoonish flowers. I was so entranced with the scene that I just started walking deeper in. In the distance I saw a slightly more mountainous region and the castle of the kingdom Equestria.
“Is that… Canterlot?” I wondered. Although at that point, my mind decided to do a double-take. What was I doing? I needed to get back to assure Barry that I wouldn’t be haunting him in his sleep. But when I went back to where I thought I had entered the barrier, I found that I was still walking through the field. A little worried, I started running in that direction. I still wasn’t passing the barrier.
“Well, crud,” I said as I slowed down to a stop, “I’m stuck in here.” I wasn’t as terrified as I thought I would be. Oddly, I was kind of relieved at my inability to return. I was the first non-ponified human to ever step on Equestrian soil.
There was a catch to such wondrous news, however. The fact that I was here could cause a panic and several interrogations that I wouldn’t be able to answer. The serum doesn’t work on me and neither does the barrier. Who would believe my story? I didn’t believe it.
“Well,” I tried to reason, “according to the majority of either species, Princess Celestia is the most all-knowing in Equestria. Maybe she can help me figure out what I should do.”
It was settled then. I started what would most likely be a long trek to Canterlot.
---
“Erica Denise,” I breathed to myself, “that was the worst idea you’ve ever had.” I was tired and sweaty by the time I was within a street block’s distance from the city gates. It was good thing I had already eaten dinner earlier or I might’ve had to add hungry to the list.
Then another thought hit me, Oh, darn it. That’s right! Any princess is sure to have guards of some sort. Sure enough, two gray unicorns in royal armor stood on either side of the gates.
I suppose I could just walk up to them and ask nicely, my mind sarcastically thought. This was not going to be easy. Improvising ideas was not my forte. In fact, I wasn’t very strong with taking initiative in general. For what seemed like hours, I just stood there in a stupor clearly in the guards’ view but they either didn’t notice me or didn’t care.
After that awkward silence, I thought, Oh well. What the heck, in an almost uncaring mood. I literally decided to just walk up and politely ask them to open the gates.
“Ah, yes. Ms. Denise, was it? The Princess is expecting you,” one of the guards said as they moved slightly farther apart to allow room to pass.
Well that caught me off guard (no pun intended). She was expecting me? The Princess was expecting me? That didn’t make sense. She already knew I was coming. I decided not to ponder this for too much longer and entered the open gates. Slowly, they shut behind me as I looked at the castle in all its glory.
It was shimmering in colors that were only available to a nighttime viewing. The most prominent color was a faded pearl-white. A white Pegasus guard was waiting at the front entrance of the castle.
“Follow me, please,” he ordered, only turning back toward me once before resuming his trot down the halls to I-didn’t-know-where. I hastily walked to catch up and maintain a position just behind and to the right of him.
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Next time:
I am thou and thou art I.