For most, time is both a concept and something sparse. A linear sequence of instants, no two ever existing simultaneously. And people are obsessed with it. You can’t go anywhere without someone checking the time, gushing over their most recent material acquisitions, or even commenting how old something is. Schedules are built around the oppressive stare of the clock face, our fates locked by those three spindly arms. I am not exempt from those shackles. But whereas others see the pendulum swing closer and closer, mine has been obscured.
I did not know when my time would be up.
I could be gone in an instant, unknowing, from whatever task I was doing. Or my mutation could have lengthened my lifespan a considerable amount. Instead of panicking with the knowledge, I took a leisurely pace to life. I had chosen my schedules to be monotonous, repetitive, yet fulfilling. After all, does the mayfly care how long it lives? Does the tortoise?
Time is a finite resource for all. Even Celestia, if she was real. I may be nothing but a mayfly to her, but my actions in my short life are my own. My instants, my moments of life, help create the next instants. What I have done would seem like nothing, but would be among the many keystones of Continuity. Seemingly inane actions can have the biggest consequences. Plant a seed, grow a tree. Tree makes seeds. Seeds spread. Eventually a forest is born.
Or make some jam. Apparently that makes towns sprout up like bad weeds.
I stood on the edge of Ponyville, musing how quickly a small town had sprouted up due to jam. I didn’t need to be in a delusion to be incredulous; when people want to get together, they can get together fast.
Of course, fast is relative, I thought. If it hadn’t been for Val, I would still be wondering how we compared both spatially and temporally to humans. Seeing as her reaction speed is identical to a pony’s, I can assume that we interpret time in the same manner. So days should be nearly identical, barring minor discrepancies in seconds, minutes, and hours. I crossed the bridge into Ponyville, giving a polite wave to Fluttershy. But weeks, months and years could be measured differently. After all, they have a sun demigod regulating the days. And a moon demigod regulating the phases of the moon, so that can’t be trusted. For all I know, the entire calendar is based around menstrual cycles, like the humans of old. I shuddered. Or estrus cycles, considering their similarity to Terran equines. Or they’re nice and civilized and use a metric system.
Having arrived at the bustling market, I went over my mental checklist on what I needed to do. Make Rarity accept my money, get two toothbrushes and toothpaste because apparently cleaning and sharing a used toothbrush is ‘unsanitary’, acquire a hairbrush, and get as many library books as I am allowed. Then see if I can buy a few books. I chuckled. Okay, more than just a few. I began to saunter towards Rarity’s boutique, wary of anything pink. After a thankfully uneventful walk, I stood before the entrance and rapped the door. A few moments later, Rarity opened the door.
“Oh, Windell! You must be here about the request. I think you will be pleased to know that I delivered the outfit to your home, personally, yesterday.” Rarity looked up in thought and tapped her chin. “Though I must say that your minotaur friend has very odd proportions.”
“I already know about that. I’m just wondering how much it would have cost me if you had billed me.”
“Oh, it was nothing, dear.” She waved a hoof. “Just around fifty bits, but the challenge was worth it.” As she talked, I counted fifty-five coins and dropped them in a prepared bag before holding them out to her. She blinked. “I’m sorry dear, but I cannot accept your payment.”
“Why not?” I moved the bag closer to her. “Take it.”
“I insist, this task was nothing more than a generous one. Surely a stallion such as yourself must be frugal?” She moved the purse back to me with a blue glow.
“I am frugal by nature,” I said, ignoring the small barb towards me. “I can afford to be frivolous with my money.” I nudged the purse back to her.
“No.” She nudged it back.
“If it makes you feel any better, consider it a gift to a beautiful lady.” I smiled, holding the money up to her.
“Your kind words are payment enough.” She pushed my foreleg back.
“Please?” I begged, dropping the purse to the ground and pushing it towards her.
“It would be an insult to my benevolence if I took this money.” Rarity huffed as she pushed the purse back to me with her magic.
“Take the money, Marshmallow!” I growled, pushing the bag to her once more.
“Well, if you say it like that…NO!” She pushed the money to me.
“Just let me give you the money!” I exclaimed, practically tossing her the bag. “It’ll make everything easier!”
“NEVER!” Rarity yelled, kicking the purse out the door before slamming it shut. “Now if you excuse me,” I heard her say through the door, “I must prepare for my trip to Canterlot.” Her hoof steps got gradually quieter as she moved away from the door.
Of course, I wouldn’t let a little bit off wood go between getting us even. Spotting an open window, I tossed the bag through. Satisfied, I made my way back towards the market before something landed in front of me. The money. I turned around to see the Boutique’s windows closing with a blue glow. I stormed back to the store, money in hoof before knocking on the door once more.
“LET ME PAY YOU!” I shouted.
“NO!”
Relenting a bit, I walked off for a while before turning around.
“MARK MY WORDS, MARSHMALLOW!” I bellowed, shaking a hoof in the air menacingly. “I WILL PAY FOR THIS, IF IT’S THE LAST THING I DO!”
Noticing my position, I looked about and saw several ponies either looking at me strangely or trying hard not to laugh. I shook my head and made my way to Sugarcube Corner, grumbling all the while. Steeling myself before entering the belly of the beast, I took a deep breath. Pushing through the doors, I found myself staring into two blue eyes.
“Hello Candy. I just came by for a quick bite.”
“Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Windy!” The Pinkie bounced about. “Sorry I wasn’t able to get to you when you came into Ponyville, I was a bit busy because Mrs. Cake is on maternity leave, and ̶ ”
“That’s fine.” I interrupted her oncoming spiel before trying to direct the conversation in my favor. “What do you suggest I eat?” I began to walk inside the shop, noticing the few patrons sitting around, minding their own business.
“Weeeeeelll…” Pinkie scratched her head. Somehow. “We’ve got meringue pie, chocolate cake, chocobolts, vanilla swirls, caramel crunchies, nougat squares, nougat cubes, nougat tesseracts ̶ ”
“I dunno…what do your friends get?” I asked as I sat down at a table.
“Twilight takes the banana split, Dashie really likes to stick to fruity sweets, AJ will only chooses the cinnamon apple pie and ice cream, Fluttershy usually just takes tea, and Rarity just loves all of the chocolate sweets.”
“Marshmallow comes here?” I feigned surprise. “I thought she’d be the type to want to keep in shape.”
“Oh, she tries.” Pinkie giggled. “But Sugarcube Corner’s sweets are stronger than silly things like ‘self-restraint’ and ‘dieting’.”
I let out a sensible chuckle, masking my unease.
“Let me guess: She also insists on paying for everyone?”
“Yupperoni! She’s not the element of generosity for nothing!”
“You know…” I leaned back in my chair, staring at the ceiling. “I wonder what reaction she would have should she discover the meal had already been paid.” Pinkie adopted a pensive expression. “But I bet it’d be funny to watch.” Pinkie froze and a smile began to stretch across her face. I chose that moment to start tossing the bag of bits in the air, catching it with a loud jingle each time.
“Ooooh! That sounds like…a prank! An indubitably, inexplicably, inventively amazing prank!” She bounced around a few moments before coming to a realization. “But how will I pay for it? I can’t spend money I get from the Cakes to give them money to pay myself for treats!” Pinkie came over to my table, muttering about loops, sat down in front of me and leaned on a hoof. “What do I do? It’s not like anypony has a bunch of bits they’d give away for no reason at all.” Her eyes caught the purse I was innocently playing around with. A few moments passed as her eyes followed the bag of bits sail into the air and fall back into my hoof with a corresponding jingle of gold.
“Say…Would you like to be my premier pranking pony partner? Second only to Rainbow Dash, of course.” She gave me one of her wide smiles once more. I turned away.
“I don’t know…Is it going to hurt anyone?” Pretending to be oblivious never worked so well as then.
“Psh, no!” Pinkie waved a hoof dismissively, before patting me on the head. “Don’t you worry! Your cousin Pinkie Pie will only put some money on Rarity’s tab to see her freak out a bit.”
“I’m pretty sure that we’re not related. But if it’s not going to hurt anyone…” I passed the bag of bits to Pinkie. “Have fun, Candy. Just be sure only to tell her whose money it is after she’s spent it all.” Pinkie hummed in confirmation as she took the money to the register and made a note. “And Candy?”
“Hm?”
“I’ll have a chocobolt, please.”
“Oh, right.” She laughed as she smiled sheepishly.
Fifty-eight bits lighter and a chocolate éclair heavier, I trotted out of Sugarcube Corner, happy to have crossed one thing off my list. I ran into a pony selling hairbrushes easily enough, though she tried to sell me a coat-brush as well, despite my insistence that I didn’t need one. Maybe I did. I didn’t really care; the hairbrush would be so Val would stop nagging me about my lack of one for her hair. After having meandered about for a few minutes, I managed to spot my next target, the dentist’s office. Hoping to bum a few toothbrushes and toothpaste, I made my way inside.
I was greeted by the tinkle of a bell and a wave of minty air. Looking around the room, I noticed a platform made purposely so ponies could lay on their bellies comfortably and securely, one of those moving lights dentists used, and a familiar blue mare humming as she looked over a table full of dentist tools, her back turned to me.
“Come on in, Mr. Sentence, you’re a few minutes early for your appointment, but it’s no matter. We’ll get those teeth of yours nice and shiny.” Minuette said, checking over her instruments on the table.
“Well, actually ̶ ”
“Tut, tut, tut! That’s three seconds wasted!” she sang, still not bothering to turn around. “Get on the table so we can brush your teeth clean!”
“But ̶ ”
“Ap!”
“I ̶ ”
“Apap!”
Resigned to my fate, I rolled my eyes and hopped onto the platform. As I got comfortable in my position, there was a steady humming as the seat rose up so Minuette could look into my mouth without leaning down. She turned around, facemask already applied, and her eyes zeroed directly onto my teeth. Instantly, she propped open my mouth and began using a tongue depressor to stick around my mouth. Oh well, unplanned dental cleaning. This beats planning one months in advance, so I might as well get one now.
“Eating before coming here, Long Sentence? I thought I told you not to do that. It’ll make it take longer to make your teeth white and shiny!”
“Vut eh ehairhs oh eel ood.”
“Well, all sweets taste good, but that comes at the price of teeth cleanliness,” Minuette responded, still concentrating on my mouth. “Rinse.” She shoved a tube in my mouth, filling it with water, before sticking the sucky tube in my mouth. “Open.”
I obliged and was rewarded with another tongue depressor exploring my mouth.
“Do you floss?”
“Nuh, uh ai ink histil fwoai waer ewry hen ays.”
“Well, that’s new, but fluoride does do wonders for your teeth. Makes them very white!” Minuette hummed as she concentrated on my teeth. “But you still need to floss every day.” She telekinetically grabbed two strange, handle-less toothbrushes and some toothpaste, before applying the paste carefully…and sending the brushes zooming into my mouth.
I can say a few things about unicorn dental care. Magic makes it efficient, due to the lack of handles getting in the way, and very intense. Those two brushes fought inside my mouth, like two gladiators in a ring, dedicated to making the stage as clean as possible in a most righteous battle of blood, enamel, and toothpaste. And that one blue pony with her tongue sticking out in concentration was the emperor leading the show. I was just hanging on for the cleanest ride of my life. Finally, the hurricane of brushes came to a stop, and the excess was drained out of my mouth.
“Okay Mr. Sentence,” Minuette chirped. “Your cleaning is-” Her eyes met mine. “-you’re not Long Sentence.” Finally able to talk clearly, I seized my chance.
“That’s what I was trying to tell you. I’m just here to buy two toothbrushes and some toothpaste.”
“Oh, sorry.” She chuckled. “I get a bit carried away. On the shiny side, I got your teeth clean.”
“I suppose.” I sighed. “How much for your services and what I need?”
“It was only a minor cleaning-” Minor? Yeah, minor like the crusaders in Constantinople. “-so about thirty bits total. But you don’t need to pay, since it was against your will and all.”
“No, no.” I shook my head. “I needed one anyways. Here.” I emptied some of my coins onto the table and grabbed the dentist baggie. I tossed in another toothbrush and exited the door, ignoring Minuette’s attempts to get me to be put on a schedule with her. Why bother? I’ll be sane again soon enough, right? With a ringing of the bell, I left the building to find an empty street. An empty street, save a small stand with three little fillies and a collapsed stallion. Curious, I approached them.
“Hello, girls. What’s going on here?”
“Well,” Scootaloo began, “Crusading for cutie marks aren’t cheap, so we had to figure out a way to get some bits to make a rocket.”
“And Ah had the idea of makin’ a lemonade stand!” Applebloom piped up.
“So we can try and get our lemonade or our businesspony cutie marks!” Sweetie Belle squeaked.
My eyes drifted from three prepared pitchers to the collapsed stallion. He was still breathing, so for once, I decided to let my curiosity override my sense of self-preservation. Plus, lemonade. Looking back at the pitchers, I noticed the contents were varied in opacity and color. The one closest to the stallion was Scootaloo’s and was the one closest resembling lemonade, whereas Applebloom’s was a murky green and Sweetie Belle’s was a thick brown. Equestrian Russian roulette.
“I’ll have three glasses.” The three fillies cheered, and poured a glass. I warily picked up Sweetie’s glass and slowly brought it up to my lips. Three pairs of eyes looked on eagerly as the concoction oozed into my mouth. Caramel.
“It’s decent caramel, with a hint of lemon.”
“Caramel!?” squeaked Sweetie.
“If I had to guess, you used too much sugar, then…cooked it?” The white filly looked down and kicked dirt. “And this one-” I took a sip of Applebloom’s drink. “-is some sort of herbal liquid. Not my cup of tea, but there’s a few that might like it.”
Now for the moment of truth.
“Is he the only one who had Emu’s drink?” I pointed to the collapsed pony.
Scootaloo shook her head. “Ditzy had a sip first.”
I looked up in the air to find said pony, only to find the mare zipping across the town. In a straight line. I looked back to the mysterious beverage before I tentatively gulped the entire thing down. Shit. Shit. Shit. Bullet-time, save me! I redirected most of my magic to my brain so I could think about this. Alcohol. She somehow made lemon alcohol. How can something so perfect be bastardized into an alcoholic drink? In my eyes, alcohol was my worst enemy. Something that lowered inhibitions, removed me of my control? I had enough trouble with my own condition, so I avoided alcohol like the plague. But I can’t spit this out. I’m trying to help these girls out, not destroy their self-worth. What if…what if I redirected my energy to my liver? I began to shift the energy to my liver to make it work in overdrive. I let time return to its normal pace, and was assaulted by a bit of wooziness before feeling reinvigorated, as if my body was being cleansed of all of its toxins. It probably was.
“That…was an interesting drink. But I highly suggest you don’t make that unless you’re older.”
“He seemed to like it.” Scootaloo pointed to the stallion. “He liked it so much, he fell asleep!”
“That’s not how it works, Emu.” I sighed, rubbing my forehead the best I could with a hoof. “Okay, take a few notes. One part lemon juice, one part sugar, and one part water. Mix the water and sugar together to make syrup. Put in the lemon juice. If you want to make it pink lemonade, add in a half part strawberry juice.” Sweetie Belle had taken out a pencil and began mouth-writing what I said onto a notepad. Applebloom just looked at me, and Scootaloo poked the poor comatose stallion. “Or you could replace the lemons with limes to make limeade.” Aah, limeade. Just like how mom taught Father to make. “Finally, add two to three parts cold water. Don’t deviate, don’t cook, and don’t add anything else. Just what I told you. That should get you three different drinks; limeade, pink lemonade, and classic lemonade. You got that?”
“You…got…that…Oh, right.” The unicorn chuckled the best she could with a pencil in her lips. “Yup. How do you know so much about lemonade? It isn’t your cutie mark.”
“Experience. Now get on that, while I carry this sod to the hospital. Word of advice; offer a few free samples. A few.” I dropped three bits on the counter and threw the pony onto my back. Applebloom and Scootaloo had already started counting ingredients to make lemonade that didn’t run the risk of killing someone. After having dropped the poor guy at the hospital doors, I trotted off towards the library. I opened the door and began browsing the books. There was a pitter-patter of something that was not a pony before it paused right behind me.
“Can I help-You!” a male voice exclaimed. “You’re the stallion that left me to Angel’s rampage when I had to house-sit for Fluttershy!”
“Hello again,” I said without turning around. “I’m just here for a few books. Don’t mind me.”
“Really?” Spike deadpanned. “You’re not going to apologize?”
“You seemed to have it under control.”
“I was literally screaming for help!”
“I guess I must have misheard. Sorry.”
“I-guh-whatever.” Spike frowned and waved a claw. “I’ll take it.”
The door opened, and a purple unicorn trotted in. She stopped when she saw me, but smile and cantered over to me.
“Hello Windell! It’s nice to see you again. And in my library too!”
“Hello again, Smarty.” I gave another practiced smile. “How many books am I allowed to check out?”
“Wow, for once, somepony comes here to check out a book.” Spike raised an eyebrow. Eye ridge? “You must not be from around here.”
“Twenty is the maximum.” Twilight shot a look at Spike, who just shrugged. “But if you want-”
“Can you bring me twenty books you’d recommend?” I interrupted. Twilight frowned, but her horn flashed, and twenty books appeared in a neat pile in front of me. I began scanning the books to see if they were to my standards.
“Fantasy, sci-fi, historical fiction, adventure, romance…? Sure, whatever. Another fantasy book, time travel?” My eyebrows might have barely moved, but I could hardly keep the disdain out of my voice.
“You don’t like them?”
“No, no.” I shook my head and smiled again, continuing to mentally scan the rest of the books. “They all seem very interesting, and I know that I’ll love them. It’s just…stories about time travel are either wrong or a lot more complicated than necessary.”
“I’m sure that you’re exaggerating.” Twilight rolled her eyes.
“You say that now, but once you’ve read a couple dozen of these, you’ll see the pattern.” I managed to stack all of the books on my back, much to Twilight’s surprise. “Thank you, Smarty, Igor.” I nodded to Twilight and Spike respectively before heading back out. Twilight followed me to the door and continued watching me walk away. Too curiously.
I diverted energy to my ears to see if I could better hear her, and swiveled them in her direction. I continued walking towards Roseluck’s stand, my swiveled ears the only indication that I was still aware of them.
“What an odd stallion,” she muttered.
“He’s kind of a jerk,” Spike said, likely frowning and crossing his arms.
“Spike!”
“What? It’s true.” He paused, presumably to watch me walk away. “And I just can’t get rid of the feeling he’s hiding something.”
“Spike…Just let him be. Sure, he’s a bit…prickly, but I guess he’s just a colt who concentrates so much on his current task that he forgets the small things.”
“He’s not like you, Twilight.”
Twilight sighed, but the hoofsteps indicated that she had left the entrance. I turned around and looked at Spike before giving him a smile and a wave. His frown deepened, and he shut the door. I suppressed a chuckle as I came to Roseluck’s stand.
“HI THERE, WHAT WOULD LIKE?” the redheaded mare asked. I winced, remembering to wean off the flow in my ears. Once I had returned the flow to normal, I smiled and pointed behind her.
“Can I have the lotus and Adonis flowers?"
<><><>
Val had been in difficult situations before. You don’t live in New York without experiencing something that would throw you for a loop once in a while. Whether it was sitting between a cokehead and an armed man in a bathrobe in the subway, or staring down a badger back in Alabama, Val had always gotten out of it unscathed, with an interesting story to boot. Maybe that was why she wasn’t afraid to go to New York to further her art career.
Who hasn’t once craved adventure? Who hasn’t wanted to see the world and commit it to memory? But Val had never thought she would end up in this situation. Surrounded by strange, magical, wooden wolves, with nothing more than a hickory staff.
Not that they seemed to care. They milled about, moving around her with the clicking of wood and the odd growl. It was as if they didn’t see her. And Val was all too happy to let them ignore her, doing her best to mimic the trees from whence they came. Unfortunately, she played her role too well. The biggest creature approached her and stuck its nose into her shin. Prodding her a few times, he walked forwards and lifted his leg…
“Ew, ew, ew ew!”
The wolf abruptly stopped the flow of green goo on her cloak and looked around for the source of the noise. The others, sensing the alpha’s apprehension, began scouring around, sticking their snouts this way and that. Val felt her heartbeat skyrocket when the alpha’s green gaze fell upon her. Slowly it approached the closest thing to its jaw…opened its maw…and jumped forwards, growling, clenching onto the hickory stick. Frozen stiff, Val refused to let go of the stick even as she stumbled from the force of the wolf. The wolf, satisfied, let go of the staff and moved on. It growled, and the others stood at attention before following it into the trees.
Val moved her foot forwards an inch before stopping stiff. She closed her eyes and began counting under her breath. The soft sounds of nature accompanied the numbers: the rustling of branches, the calls of grasshoppers, and the soft whistling of far-off birds. Once Val reached one hundred, she briskly walked to a tree and ripped off a few leaves to wipe the goop off her cloak.
“The most disgusting parts of either New York or Alabama couldn’t have prepared me for being gooped on by a wooden wolf. Barking wolf? Timberwolf?” Val tossed away the leaves and smirked. “Timberwolf? God, I’m clever. I should tell Windell that one. That might actually get him to show positive emotion.”
It was already enough that she was trying to prove to Windell that she existed by gathering a few herbs. Maybe if he had physical evidence of her actions, he would get out of his funk.
“It’s the least I could do for him,” she muttered, picking a few springy indigo berries and putting them in the satchel she had nabbed from next to Windell’s hammock. “He stopped me from going down the same rabbit hole he did. And he’s trying to get me prepared for this strange world.”
Val broke through the underbrush to a cliff overlooking the forest, and further in the horizon, a small village with a tower at the center. A rainbow from the recent rains soared over the lush forest, providing a stark contrast to the deep green jungle to the left. The sun shone its munificent light over the land, reflecting back to Val as miniscule daylight stars from the tiny raindrops on the canopy. The young woman smiled and sat down on the cliff, her legs kicking over the side, basking in the sight.
“What wouldn’t I do for some canvas and paint?” she mused, teeth as bright as those tiny lights twinkling in the forest. “An entire world like this one…so many sights to see…” she breathed, “so many things to experience.” She pulled the cloak closer to her. “But so many things that could hate me for being different.” She leaned back and looked into the cyan expanse of the sky. “I could lay here for days.” Val shook her head and got up.
Dusting herself off, she made her way towards the edge of the Everfree, where there would most likely be some interesting herbs. The cloak managed to muffle her footstep, making her nothing more than a shadow walking through the forest. She stopped when a hare ran across her path, followed by a salivating fox. Considering she had seen birds offer worms to one another, and squirrels gesticulating while chittering, Val was a bit put off by meat.
“Where do I draw the line for sapience?” Val wondered aloud. “They speak, but I can’t understand them. Yet the carnivores hunt. They don’t care about lives. So are they born evil?” Val spotted a blue jay on a low branch and gently rose her staff to its talons. It looked at her curiously before hopping on. “Hey, little guy.” She lowered the stick so they could look at one another face to face. Val removed her hood so it could see her face. The bird ruffled its feathers uneasily and looked away, but did not fly off.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” Val said. “I just want to ask a few questions. Is that okay?”
The bird looked at her warily, but nodded.
“That answers my first question.” Val smiled. “My next is: do you feel regret for the insects you’ve killed to eat?”
The bird shook its head.
“Can you come up with your own ideas?”
The bird shook its head, but nodded once.
“It isn’t that simple, huh?”
It cocked its head to the side.
“Of course I wouldn’t get a straight answer.” Val sighed. “Okay, last question. Is it wrong for a predator to eat you?”
The blue jay stared deep into her eyes, unable to give an answer. Val shook her head and pulled the cowl back over her face. She swung the staff upwards, giving the bird ample lift to fly away.
“Well, that didn’t help a lot. What a load of-shit.”
Val stared at the huge pile of brown matter at the edge of the Everfree, giant footsteps leading to and away from the momentous pile. Oddly enough, it did not smell rancid as one would expect from such a monstrosity. Maybe a bit sulfurous, but it didn’t bring tears to Val’s eyes, so it was manageable. Val was about to turn around and head back, taking the prodigious pile of feces as a sign that it was time to go home, when a glint of something golden caught her eye. Near the very top of the pile, covered in crap, was an odd-looking arm covered in golden armor. Even with the three fingers digested down to the bone, the ligaments held strong, holding onto something.
“What could be so important that poor sap had a death grip on it?”
Val approached the pile slowly, using her staff to prod safe spots in the grass. She was just a bit short from the arms, so she just used the hickory stick to try and dislodge the odd device in the skeletal hand. Finally, the fingers relented and the thing started falling into the pile…until Val caught it inches above the filth.
“Close, but…ewwww.” There were still bits of the hand attached. “I’ll just, erm, wash it when I get back. But knowing Windell, it’s probably best if I don’t show this to him until he’s accepting of what he sees.”
Val couldn’t help admire the device, despite what it had been through. And who it had been through. It was a streamlined device that fit perfectly in her hand, with a middle part separating her middle and ring fingers. There were cyan bulbs on each side that seemed to flicker in the light.
It was an easy walk back: even with the stop by the river to wash herself and the object, Val managed to get to the hut before sundown. Upon entering, she saw Windell laying on Steel Fang’s ‘bed’ as said direwolf used his back as a place to rest his head. Every breath Steel took came out as a soft whistle, and Windell’s lips tugged upwards each time he heard the sound. In front of Windell was an open book, a third of the way through. Next to them were piles of books that nearly reached up to Val’s navel. When Val entered, Steel opened one eye, yawned and went back to dozing. It was difficult to wrap her head around how something so big could be so adorable asleep.
Val walked over to Windell and dropped the satchel full of herbs on his book. He looked up to her and frowned ever so slightly.
“Was that really necessary?”
“Yes,” Val said. “You’ve got to learn to accept the facts. You’re in another world. This isn’t your body. You can’t stay in this limbo forever.” She punctuated each statement with a prod to his side with her foot. Windell rolled his eyes but opened the satchel.
“It’s true that you brought me a lot of plants that I could give to Zecora.”
“Does that mean you believe me when I say everything you see is real?” Val asked hopefully.
“Psh, no.” The stallion snorted. “That could have been me who brought those, and my memories of procuring them were lost. I’ve actually logged a few times that happened in my previous delusion. Memory tampering and hallucinations to explain such events were quite common.”
“So how did you break out of it last time?” Val threw her arms in the air.
“I just woke up. I opened my eyes to find myself sitting in an asylum. Not somewhere you’d want to wake up at.” Windell flipped a page.
Val gave up and walked over to her bed before she landed face-first on her mattress.
“Uuuugh.” She groaned. “So that mess was for nothing.”
“Not entirely. I still have some bits leftover from shopping. It’s just enough to cover for what you got me.” Windell reached over and threw a bag of bits, which landed squarely on Val’s back, issuing a muffled groan.
“What am I supposed to do with this?”
“Eventually you’ll want to leave the coziness of my nest-”
Val let out a sharp laugh, both at the unintended pun the pegasus made and at the misuse of the word ‘coziness’.
“-and go live on your own. You’ve gotten good at dodging, and as long as you keep doing your daily exercises, you’ll be fine. Who am I to use free labor?”
“So I can go out into town to buy stuff? Like paint and canvas? And makeup?”
“It’s your money.” Windell shrugged. “You can spend it on whatever frivolous object you desire. Even if there’s no logical reason to buy any of that.”
“Making art is worth the money,” Val huffed. “Speaking of which, did you-”
“Yeah, yeah. A hairbrush and ‘real’ toothbrushes. I even got us some floss.” Windell threw a toothbrush and a hairbrush at Val, managing to land them next to her face. “So did you run into any trouble when you went out?”
“I did run into some wooden wolves-”
“Timberwolves,” Windell put in.
“Damn, I thought I was being clever.”
“Nope,” Windell shook his head. “They really are called that. And you’re just scratching the surface of puns here.”
“Anyways, they didn’t seem to see me. I think they see based on magic.”
“That’s actually quite interesting.” Windell’s ears perked up. “So you must have been invisible to them. Or close to invisible, considering the enchantments in your cloak. How did they act?”
“That makes sense. They could see me, but they didn’t see me as prey, more of a living obstacle. Like a tree.” Val grimaced.
“Or a rock with moss on it,” Windell mused, tapping his chin.
“So what did you do, other than buy a boatload of books?”
“Repaid a debt. Got my teeth cleaned by accident. Helped make lemonade. I only could borrowa few books. Bought some flowers for my neighbor.” Val frowned.
“Why did you get the yellow pegasus flowers?”
“It’s important to keep a healthy relationship with your neighbors. I make a point to visit her every now and then. Unfortunately she lost one of her squirrel friends recently, so I had to cut my visit short.”
Val felt the breath catch in her throat. She opened her mouth to say something when the forest outside fell silent. Windell finally looked up, but continued reading his book after a moment. Steel Fang’s ears swiveled towards the door, his entire body tensing before releasing a nearly imperceptible whine. Soft music began to play, prompting Val to get up and move closer to the door.
“Do you hear that?”
“Yeah, it happens every now and then. I find it somewhat eerie, but it’s nice.” Singing began to pierce the music. “And this is the third time I’ve heard it in a language I understand. The second was a song by Barbara. Amazing French singer.”
“Where does it come from?”
Windell shrugged. “Not a clue. I was safe here, so I never sought out an answer for that.”
There was a moment where only the song danced in the air, uncaring of those that listened.
“I’m going to find it.”
“I think it’s a terrible idea.” Windell turned to look at her. “It’s alluring like the light of an angler fish. Nice and pretty until jaws come out of the darkness to chomp you up.”
“Maybe…” Val bit her lip. “But high risk means high reward. I’m going out.” Val opened the door and left, Windell’s voice following her.
“Just don’t get caught! And if you do, we never knew each other!”
Val rolled her eyes, but made her way towards the north. The light of the moon provided ample light, so Val was able to avoid any missteps. It was when she came upon the lake that her breath was taken away. Near the opposite end of a majestic lake was a congregation of ponies. But they were silent, unmoving. A few even had their eyes closed. What took Val’s breath away was the sight. Creatures of all sorts watched from the cover of darkness, not at the ponies, but at the center of the lake, where the music was inexplicably coming from. There was movement to her left, and Val nearly jumped out of her skin when what she thought was a boulder turned out to be a black bear. It moved over so Val could get a better view. With a small nod and a few cautious steps, Val stepped forwards. The lake was completely flat, save the occasional ripple from the center, distorting the reflection of the starry purple skies overhead. Val gaped as she looked up into the skies through the lake, the perfect mirror of two beautiful worlds, as if something had torn a hole in reality itself to another sky, where the moon shone just as much. The most magical thing Val had ever seen was not Windell flying, Rarity levitating her clothes, or even the Timberwolves.
It was nothing more than the union of night skies and music.