//------------------------------// // 5 - A Princess and Her Predicament // Story: Finding Yourself // by ScarletRibbon //------------------------------// In one single lifetime, you would expect the body you’re born in to be the body you stay in - generally, from the day you’re born, until the day you die. For example, if you’re born as a pegasus, you’ll probably die as a pegasus, and your entire life will exist as a pegasus. In fact, this is pretty much the case for almost every creature that has ever lived, with a few key exceptions, like butterflies. Ponies aren’t one of those exceptions. So you would think that it would follow that, because I was born a unicorn pony, I would die a unicorn pony. Yes, I was born a unicorn, which was, all told, not a terrible experience. You might even say it felt pretty natural for me, since I’ve been a unicorn for most of my life. And yet I say most because, for some reason, the ‘staying in one body’ fact of life didn’t seem to apply to me. At all. I became an alicorn - me, an Alicorn Princess - much to the surprise of everypony I knew. Of course, becoming a princess among my peers had some serious effects on my daily routine, and I’ve always been a pony of routine and planning. It threw me off for a little while, but in the long run, alicorn bodies aren’t much different from unicorn bodies. You can still magick like a unicorn, and getting used to flying with my new wings was a fairly straightforward process, if not slightly time consuming, frustrating, and/or humiliating, depending on who was there to observe. And then, once I got used to all of that, my routine had mostly returned to normal, with allowance for my new royal duties as Princess of Friendship. So when I came to in a body that wasn’t even remotely like the pony forms I’d had for my entire life, I realized my routine was going to suffer badly. Then again, it took me some time to even fully process just how big of a change I was going through, because I woke up to an unpleasant mix of yelling, vomiting, and general chaos. ●▬▬๑۩๑▬▬▬▬▬๑۩۩๑▬▬▬▬▬๑۩๑▬▬● Aether Sickness. n. A common side effect of exposure to raw aether during teleportation. A brief but potent ailment characterized by torturous headaches, extreme nausea, and a severely impaired sense of balance. Adept unicorns who actively practice teleportation, such as myself, often build a tolerance for Aether exposure, so it wasn’t a feeling that I’d felt in many years. You might imagine my surprise when, instead of dying in agony as I thought had happened, I instead woke up with what would have been the worst case of Aether Sickness ever recorded - if only anypony had been around to record it. ●▬▬๑۩๑▬▬▬▬▬๑۩۩๑▬▬▬▬▬๑۩๑▬▬● A distantly-familiar agony in my head pulsed in time with my heart as I slowly regained consciousness. “-becca?" The aching in my head intensified as an unfamiliar voice, speaking in what seemed like uncomfortable proximity, cut through the fading haze. It was a deep, mellow baritone, clearly a stallion. “Rebecca?” the voice continued. Rebecca. A word I wasn’t familiar with. Still, it was a strange word. Foreign, perhaps? I made a note to remind myself to look it up later. “Rebecca!” Sweet Celestia, please don’t yell… “Oh man, what now?" he continued, sounding deeply concerned. If I wasn’t feeling miserable, I might consider helping. In my current state, the only thing I wanted to do was relax and try to keep my stomach settled. "Okay,” the voice continued, talking either to himself, or some silent third party. “An unconscious woman on the floor. Call an ambulance? Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do if ...” What is a woman? I wondered. Whatever this ‘woman’ was, I was somewhat jealous it might get medical attention. Unfortunately for myself, Aether Sickness has no effective treatment - not that an ambulance would have time to arrive before the effects fade. Nothing to do but wait. My stomach started to twist and turn, and I groaned softly. “REBECCA?!” I reflexively jerked away from the sudden outburst and my entire body erupted in a tingling pain, like a limb that was recovering from being asleep, but over my entire body. “Please don’t yell,” I mumbled. “Are you okay?” he whispered. *Hbrlkghick* The contents of my stomach suddenly spewed forth with little warning. Though I was concerned for the unfortunate soul who had just been subjected to last night’s supper, I was also keenly aware that if I didn’t move as soon as possible, I’d be lying in the aftermath. Despite my body’s painful protest, I desperately tried to sit up onto my haunches. My balance was off and I fell backwards, head slamming roughly into the floor behind me. A white flash filled my vision. “Oh god, that was disgusting,” the voice muttered. “Are you okay?” Something grabbed me and gently raised me into a hunched position that left my barrel pointed upright. The numb-like burning sensation was starting to fade and I slowly opened my eyes. For a few moments, I stared forward in silent confusion, eyes still unfocused, and only vaguely aware that I drooling all over myself. Historically, I was never one to vomit just once, so I sat there waiting for the next nauseating wave to evacuate my stomach again. Still, even in my disoriented state, I could tell something was extremely wrong, but I couldn't put my hoof on what. I shook my head to clear my clouded thoughts and blinked a few times, willing my eyes to focus. It helped a little, and I could now make out a tall, thin, bipedal creature towering over me. The creature’s gender was masked by loosely fitting clothing covering most of the body. Where the clothing ended, there was a dark-skinned and mostly hairless body. The basic body structure was not entirely unlike a minotaur, though the specific proportions were nowhere near the same; the face was completely different, and it was lacking in both hooved feet and horns. “Rebecca, are you okay?” The creature was staring at me as it spoke, putting a face to the voice I’d been hearing for the last few minutes. I still didn’t know who or what Rebecca was, but at least now it was clear it was addressing me and not some third-party. I groaned in response. “Here, let me help you up.” He - I was going to make an educated guess and continue operating on the assumption it was male for now - bent down to assist me, coming down to eye level and offering his arm. I immediately repaid his efforts with another volley of projectile vomit, doubling over again as heaving spasms struck one after another. He staggered away, muttering in disgust as I made the mistake of looking down to evaluate the mess my oral ejaculate was making. All thoughts about the former contents of my stomach were immediately filed away as unimportant in light of a new discovery. My torso was not the lavender-furred barrel I was used to seeing, nor were my legs the same hooved extremities I had walked on my entire life. Instead, in their place, I had legs just like the odd creature that was probably still wiping my vomit from his face. My tail, normally somewhere in my periphery while sitting up, was nowhere to be found. Sensing a pattern, I brought my forehooves in front of me, fully expecting to see those same minotaur paws that it had. I wasn't disappointed. “I hope you realize how much you owe me now,” the other creature mumbled. I looked over at him. He was staring at me with a look of disgust. “What happened to me?” I wondered aloud. He frowned. "You got really drunk, and I found you passed out on the floor when I woke up." "I did?" I was pretty sure (what I assume was) last night’s portal incident had nothing to do with alcohol; I rarely indulged in alcoholic beverages, and certainly not ones enchanted with transformative properties. I looked around the room, trying to find some clue as to where I was. A large, black dresser with a mirror stood immediately in front of me. Two of the six drawers were ajar, with various articles of clothing draped off the sides. Left of the dresser was a tall lamp in a corner, next to a large window that was letting in the morning light. I was leaning up against the foot of a huge bed, and at the head of the bed on either side was a pair of nightstands, one of which held a strange device that was displaying numbers in red. Judging from the numbers, some sort of clock? Off to my right was modestly large closet, where I could see a few more garments hanging through the partially opened door. “Uh-huh,” I uttered, mostly for my own benefit. Nothing in the room had a distinct enough style to tell me where I might have ended up. "Are you going to be alright?" he asked. A fair question, and one that I couldn’t answer without more information. “I’m a little confused,” I confessed. “Where am I?” The creature looked at me strangely. “Your room?” My room? I wasn’t about to disagree with him openly - minotaurs were notorious for their attitude, often violent and confrontational. Given that this was likely a related species, I wasn’t going to take any chances. But this was most definitely not my room. The only way that could even remotely be true was if this was a guest room, or perhaps a hotel room. “Oh,” I replied, laughing nervously. “How did I miss that?” He looked at me with concern. “Look, Rebecca…” That word again, seeming now very much a name or title of some sort. “We need to talk about last night.” “I don’t know what happened to the portal.” I blurted. “...portal?” he asked, his concern morphing into confusion. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” The strange creature held his paw out to me with a sad expression, bordering on pity. “... Sorry, I was really drunk,” I agreed, reluctantly. His story made more sense than reality anyway - for all that I could tell him right now, being drunk gave me a convenient excuse for not remembering anything clearly. “By the way, I’m not sure where we met,” I continued, “but my name is Twilight Sparkle, from Equestria. I admit I don’t really know who or what you are, though.” I paused. The creature seemed agitated. “What’s your name?” I continued, undeterred. He closed his eyes. "Okay, Twilight,” he grumbled. “My name is Chris, and I definitely need to get you to a doctor as soon as possible." He paused briefly, gesturing at my foreign body. "But you're gonna need to do something about your clothes, first." A doctor? Oh, right, I was throwing up. "Thank you, Chris, but there’s no need for a doctor,” I replied. “It's just Aether Sickness. It goes away quickly, and I'm already feeling a lot better.” I glanced down. While I wasn't too familiar with this body - only having minotaurs to compare it to - I wasn’t sure what even needed to be done about my clothes. I mean, I couldn't recall getting dressed, but I was wearing something Rarity would probably have described as a blue 'polo' shirt, and some lacy, black lingerie. Maybe I was giving the wrong impression here. I blushed slightly at the suggestive cloth, but I could just take it off. Then again, different cultures treated clothing differently, and I certainly wasn’t among ponies - it was probably safer to ask outright instead of making assumptions. “I confess, Chris, I’m not familiar with your society at all. What is wrong with my clothes?" His mouth hung open loosely and I noticed his eyes darting between my face and my legs. "You aren't wearing..." he gestured feverishly at my lower half, "...pants." Clearly flustered, he exploded loudly. "Look, you can't go outside without pants, alright?" What a strange culture. My recently evacuated stomach groaned loudly, causing us both to pause. “Well, at least you’re awake now,” Chris conceded. He stood up and walked to the door. “I’m going to make breakfast; do you want any? Or are you just going to throw that up, too?” My stomach already felt quite a bit better… but now also quite empty. “Oatmeal, please,” I replied with a nod. He left the room, and I could hear him trudge slowly down the hallway, mumbling to himself. Pulling myself unsteadily to my feet, I gazed into the mirror on the dresser. The face staring back at me was clearly much more feminine, but was otherwise similar in features to Chris. I touched the mirror with a paw, hoping that it would respond, whisking me back to somewhere familiar. It was just an ordinary mirror. ●▬▬๑۩๑▬▬▬▬▬๑۩۩๑▬▬▬▬▬๑۩๑▬▬● The stark white surrounding Sweetie Belle suddenly faded to black, and though she had no idea how much time had passed, she was finally able to sense her surroundings again. Birds were twittering back and forth excitedly in the distance, and she could hear the rustling of leaves in the wind. She opened her eyes slowly, only to find herself staring straight into the eyes of a strange, hairless face with piercing green eyes. They were glowing with a soft intensity that was almost hypnotic. After the briefest of moments, the creature smiled and silently backed away out of sight. She tried to follow it with her eyes, but couldn’t crane her neck far enough from her current position. Sweetie Belle was laying on her back. Above her was the top of a ramshackle tent, fashioned primarily from broad leaves she recognized as belonging to a tall species of tree in the Everfree. The tent was roughly square, with each corner secured by a tree trunk which supported the walls. The leaves that comprised the walls were stitched together with some sort of sinewy strands. Despite the primitive material, whoever had made this tent was well-versed in its construction. As for herself, Sweetie Belle seemed to be slung up in a hammock supported on struts fashioned from several branches, and a net made from the same leaves as the sides of the tent. Her entire body was stiff and it was hard to move, but she still tried to roll out of the makeshift cot and onto the floor. Unfortunately, the sling-like nature of the hammock itself made such movement difficult. With her range of motion limited, she only succeeded in rolling onto her side. From this angle, she could see that the strange creature from before had apparently stepped out of the tent - but now a low murmur from outside gave Sweetie Belle pause. “He ambushed Xin?” asked a male voice. “Yes.” There was no mistaking the voice that replied. It was the same as the one Sweetie Belle had heard in her vision - the one that called herself Guidance. “Xin was badly wounded, but Lydian interfered. As we had surmised, the Soul Gems bind us; when Lydian destroyed his gem, he disappeared without a trace.” The strange vision Sweetie Belle had while she was asleep replayed in her mind as Guidance spoke. The fight between the strange zebra-unicorn and the pegasus - and the earth pony that drugged her friends and walked off with them. Her friends were in danger! “Hello?” Sweetie Belle called out. She was determined to get back on her feet. Unable to roll herself any further, she began slowly rocking the hammock, hoping to flip herself over and onto the ground. “It seems she is awake,” Guidance said. “Yes, she woke up just a few moments ago,” replied the male voice. “I have already broken the seal on her Conduit. She has a remarkable amount of latent power. If we can get her to use it...” Sweetie Belle gasped as she made one final push to roll the hammock, and was unceremoniously dumped onto the floor. Moaning in pain, she looked up just in time to see Guidance open the tent flap and step inside, accompanied by a tall, brown earth pony stallion. Though Guidance wasn’t shimmering with golden light as she had in Sweetie Belle’s vision, her coat still stood out in a vibrant gold, and her orange mane was so long and glossy it would probably glow in sunlight. “Good morning,” the stallion offered. Guidance nodded as Sweetie Belle shook her head in confusion. “Where am I?” Sweetie asked. “Do not worry, child,” Guidance replied. “You are still in the forest, but you’re safe with us.” “Us?” “Of course, where are my manners. You’ve already met me in your vision, but that’s hardly proper. As you are aware, my name is Guidance.” She gestured to the stallion beside her. “This is Tiller. We are members of the Guardians of Equestria, and we work directly under Princess Celestia. I will introduce you to the others.” ●▬▬๑۩๑▬▬▬▬▬๑۩۩๑▬▬▬▬▬๑۩๑▬▬● Discovery #1: Using magic without my horn - something I’d never had to do before - was both strange and difficult, and it made my eyes tingle, for reasons I couldn’t even begin to explain. Magic wasn’t impossible by any stretch, but it was as if my magical output had been significantly reduced. I also couldn’t seem to perform any magic more complex than a double-weave. Oddly, this experience led to the epiphany that perhaps my struggles with flying were related to how I used my horn instead of my wings to channel air magic around myself. After all, Pegasi only had wings to rely on, and their wings were evolved to handle air magic. Discovery #2: My magic, no matter the spell I tried, created strange ribbons of colorful light. A quick analysis of the energy revealed that it was everyday aether, but somehow in the visible spectrum. Normally aether was only visible at dense focal points such as unicorn horns, or with certain expressions of magic, as is the case with kinesis fields. The aether seemed to be flowing from a ball on the floor and into my body, and then from me into whatever spell I was casting. After a cursory examination, the ball was very similar to - but not quite exactly like - the Spatial Key that had gotten me into this mess. It was definitely going to be important for getting home. Discovery #3: The orb wouldn’t react with the mirror on the dresser, and no matter what I tried, the mirror didn’t seem to react either, seeming just as ordinary as its appearance. That suggested the portal I was sent through might not have a fixed end-point, which was going to make getting home on my own rather difficult, if not impossible. The Key - or perhaps more accurately, the Non-Key - was still my best chance at getting home. Discovery #4: I couldn’t actually create magic at all without the help of the Non-Key. I couldn’t cast a spell from more than about five feet away from the orb, and then only within about five feet of myself. I needed to do further testing, but it was almost as if this part of the world didn’t have stagnant Aether at all - and the Non-Key was the only source of Aether to be found. In light of this, and because calling it a ‘Non-Key’ was just awkward, I decided to name it an ‘Aether Battery’. Discovery #5: I really have no idea how this species puts on a pair of pants. ●▬▬๑۩๑▬▬▬▬▬๑۩۩๑▬▬▬▬▬๑۩๑▬▬● Chris and I locked eyes. He stood in the doorway with a bowl of what smelled like the oatmeal I requested. My unfamiliarity with my new extremities was showing; while Chris stood with his mouth open, I was laying flat on the ground with my legs straight up in the air, levitating a pair of pants I’d found and trying to get my legs to properly line up with the sleeves. “W-w-what?” he stuttered. The bowl dropped from his paw and oatmeal splattered across the floor as the bowl bounced away. I felt myself flushing with embarrassment, realizing my hindquarters were sticking straight into the air, exposing myself in a way that would be considered indecent among most races of Equestria. With no idea what to do under the circumstances, I froze, waiting for Chris to act first. After some hesitation, he reached out cautiously and touched the pants. “How are you doing that?” he wondered aloud. I’m not sure it’s possible to convey in words just how strange this question was. Kinesis was something every unicorn could do, and many other species as well; it was something anypony in even marginal proximity to Equestrian civilization would see on a routine basis, going back literally as far as they could remember. Just how far from Equestria was I?  I mean, the thought of somepony asking such a question would be akin to being asked how you managed to walk. It’s instinctive! How do you even explain it, beyond putting one hoof in front of the other? … Actually, that might be a question worth asking him. In my limited attempts at moving around the room, standing upright had proven difficult, and walking nearly impossible. “Elementary-level kinesis magic,” I explained, trying not to be patronizing. I lifted the Aether Battery in one of my paws, gesturing to him with it. He didn’t seem to notice, still enraptured by the floating pants. “Magic,” he mumbled, awestruck. He tugged on the pants with his paw, marvelling at the simple levitation. “Real magic!” He looked at me momentarily, and then at the Battery, mouth agape. A creature that has no familiarity with magic? How in Tartarus was that even possible? “You’ve never seen magic before?” I asked, thoroughly confused. “Magic isn’t real,” he answered. “I mean, I thought it wasn’t. No one actually believes in magic.” “Nopony you know,” I corrected. It was obvious he was a reclusive creature. Or perhaps an entire reclusive society of creatures; after all, I’d never even heard of his species before, and I’d spent many hours studying up on all kinds of cultures. Wait, what? I paused, struck by a realization. Nopony believes in magic? “Hold on a moment,” I said. “How can you know what magic is, and in the same breath claim it doesn’t exist? Wouldn’t it have to exist in order to know what it is you are claiming doesn’t exist?” Chris furrowed his brow, finally taking his paws off the levitating pants. “It’s all just fantasy. And I mean that literally; fantastical literature. Or it was, I guess.” He frowned. “You look exactly like Rebecca, but you really aren’t Rebecca, are you?” I could tell just from his intonation that it wasn’t a question so much as an affirmation to himself. "You’re just some other person from some other universe who happens to be in her body.” Up until that moment, it hadn’t occurred to me that this body might not be mine; no transformative magics involved. Was that even possible? Only three schools of magic could interact with one’s consciousness - Enchantment, Dream, and Inspiration. Could any of them cause this? Enchantment was temporary, and tended to alter perceptions and emotions, and while it could certainly influence ponies to do ridiculous things unwittingly, it still had no concrete impact on the physical. It seemed unlikely. Dream magic was something I only dabbled in the most basic applications; as a filly, one experience watching the dreams of my older brother permanently altered my relationship with my foalsitter and had been enough to put me off of advancing in Dream magic forever. Still, I’d studied up on the theoretical applications of Dream magic, and while it didn’t seem completely implausible, to even get between two Dreamspheres in the Dreamscape took a fair amount of time, and required the two minds to have some kind of mutual relationship - and I certainly had none with Rebecca. That didn’t even guarantee that such a manipulation of consciousnesses was possible. Furthermore, the only master of Dream magic I knew was Luna, and if she’d had such a power, she likely wouldn’t have lost to Celestia in the Lunar War. I knew very little about Inspiration, so I couldn’t rule it out entirely, but now that I had pondered the concept of distances in two places that seemed utterly alien from one another, I had my doubts. An icy grip settled over my heart as I realized I didn’t have the capability to do anything on my own. “I’m sorry, Chris.” I replied. “I don’t know who Rebecca is.” ●▬▬๑۩๑▬▬▬▬▬๑۩۩๑▬▬▬▬▬๑۩๑▬▬● I was sitting on a remarkably comfortable couch - in what Chris had repeatedly assured me was Rebecca’s home - and finally dressed to what he deemed to be ‘acceptable’ standards. Chris was watching with rapt attention as I ate a newly made bowl of oatmeal, marvelling at the dexterity with which I could levitate the bowl and spoon. I finished eating and set them aside, his eyes following along until I released my spell. “So, what’s your world like? Is there a lot of magic?” he asked, suddenly. My world? The world was the world; how could there be a ‘my’ world? “What do you mean?” I asked, curious. “You know; your world. I mean, you said you came through a portal, right? And you use magic, so obviously you’re from another world.” I paused. The very idea was preposterous. According to Dimensional Theory, the only thing outside the word were the other four dimensions - the Aetherial Plane, where all the aether in Equestria comes from; the Dreamscape, where dreamers dream; the Luminal Dimension, the world beyond mirrors; and the whirling morass that is The Timeline. But you couldn’t just live in another dimension; they were entirely meta-physical places, interwoven, overlapping, and connected with one another. “Okay. Let’s set aside if I believe you or not,” I replied. “How are you so certain I’m not from a distant part of the world?” “Because there’s no magic anywhere in this world.” Anywhere? He was certainly a rather arrogant creature on top of his ignorance. Obviously, magic existed in Equestria, which was part of the world. Therefore he was wrong. Still, I wanted to know understand what this creature thought, if for no other reason than that I didn’t want to anger it later. “There’s always something out beyond where you’ve explored already.” I shook my head. “Somewhere out there is Equestria - and magic - and I need to get back there.” He laughed - an explosive, loud laugh that would have made Pinkie Pie blush. For a few seconds, I didn’t know what to do or say. After a moment, he stopped laughing and a serious expression crossed his face. “There’s a lot of legends of magic all over our world, but there’s no evidence that it was ever real. Maybe there was plausible doubt in the past, but we’ve already explored everything; there’s nothing like magic here.” “Explored everything? Are you telling me the world isn’t infinite?” It was impossible for anypony to prove the world was infinite, but nopony had ever found any evidence to the contrary. I couldn’t conclusively say he was wrong, but if he didn’t know about magic, he couldn’t fly. And even if he was right, and it was somehow not infinite, how could any one species explore the entire world, without the aid of magic or flight? Obviously, he had to be lying... right? …I had to confess, it made a strange amount of sense, academically speaking. All working theories of the Aetherial Plane made it impossible for any place entirely devoid of Aether to exist. High concentrations of Aether from the Aetherial Plane seeped through the cracks between dimensions, spreading out to fill low Aether concentrations until the world reached an equilibrium. And that means that a place with no Aether at all would be incapable of being in contact with Aether. Yet my magic only worked here where the Battery provided Aether; which meant there was no appreciable Aether here naturally. No Aether, no magic. The only other possibility would be some massive spell consuming the Aether here as it sifted from the Aetherial Plane, and so quickly that no other magic could take hold. But a spell so massive would be impossible to cast. That much Aether consumption would violate the laws of magic as we knew them. Which meant that if more than five dimensions actually did exist, I could, theoretically, have ended up in one that had no contact with the Aetherial Plane. My view of the multiverse was rapidly changing and I didn’t like what it was implying. “I guess you could be right,” I conceded. “To your original question, my world is full of magic, and every creature is affected by it. Every kind of creature has an affinity that enables it to manipulate Aether in specific ways to their benefit.” “Can you elaborate on what you mean by ‘affinity’?” “Absolutely,” I replied, pleased to have a chance to lecture on one of my favorite subjects. ”There are sixteen schools of magic, and every known species has one or two schools of magic that they excel at utilizing. Those schools are the species’ affinity. Of course, that doesn’t completely preclude using other schools; in fact, many are born with a personal knack for other schools, completely independent of their species’ usual talents.” “I think I understand,” Chris replied. ”It’s like how dragons breathe magical fire.” “Exactly! Dragons have an affinity for fire. Serpents have water. Earth ponies have… well… earth.” “Earth ponies,” Chris repeatedly flatly. “Why Earth ponies? What, do you also have sky ponies or something?” “Um, pegasus ponies, with an affinity for air magic, yes.” He seemed to process that for a much longer moment than I’d expected. “You named a species after a Greek myth?” he finally replied. “Greek myth?” I suddenly really wanted to know what kinds of legends a species with no exposure to magic considered to be mythological. “The Greeks have a myth with…” he started to explain, but then halted. “You know what? Nevermind.” I actually wanted to hear whatever he was about to say, but he continued before I could ask. “So, what kind of magic do humans have?” “Humans?” “You know...” He gestured between the two of us. “Us.  What kind of magic do we have?” “Oh! Sorry, you misunderstand me. Humans don’t exist in my world.” I paused, realizing I had fully come around to agreeing with his assertion that this was a totally different place. “At least, I’ve never heard of them,” I added sheepishly. Chris went completely silent for a full minute. For somepony who’d been such an unending fountain of curiosity for the last thirty minutes, I was somewhat concerned. Had my response really stunned him that much? “No humans,” he repeated quietly. “None.” “Then, what are you?” ●▬▬๑۩๑▬▬▬▬▬๑۩۩๑▬▬▬▬▬๑۩๑▬▬● “Where are my friends?” Sweetie Belle demanded impatiently “Oh, she is cute!” The bubbly blue unicorn scooped Sweetie Belle up into a hug, squeezing her tightly. Sweetie Belle sighed. She was really getting tired of all the ponies that Guidance was introducing to her. They all seemed overly friendly, yet utterly unhelpful. And all of her requests had largely been ignored anyway. “Tell me your name!” the new unicorn demanded. Despite the command, her voice was light and flute-like; Sweetie couldn’t even tell if she was being menacing or just bossy. Why couldn’t she have met these ponies all at once instead of having each one come inside individually? “I’m Sweetie Belle,” she grumbled, wishing she had the energy to break out of this pony’s kinesis, but too exhausted to try. “And I want to know where my friends are.” “Well, hello, Little Belle! I’m Sapphire River! You are so cute, I could just hug you to death!" Sweetie Belle blanched as Sapphire attempted to do just that, squishing the air out of her lungs. Guidance smiled. “Sapphire, be nice to our guest.” “Ohmigoddess, I’m so sorry!” Sapphire put Sweetie Belle down gently and then went straight to work trying to fix Sweetie’s tousled mane. “Little Belle, your mane is atrocious. Have you been running through the forest? Can I call you Little Belle?” “Yeah, I guess,” Sweetie conceded. Sweetie really didn’t care what the pony would call her as long as she would actually give some answers. Sapphire pulled a brush out from somewhere, and began masterfully working away at Sweetie’s tangled mess of hair. Sweetie Belle shivered slightly at her touch. She’d never liked Rarity messing with her mane, but right now, the light touch of her sister was all she really wanted, and the gentle strokes of her brushing was mildly comforting. So far, Sapphire was easily the most approachable of the ponies Sweetie Belle had been introduced to - if not a little over-enthusiastic. Sweetie decided that it definitely would be a bad idea for Sapphire River and Pinkie Pie to be in the same room. “Guidance!” a voice shouted from outside. “Report!” “Coming!” Guidance shouted back. “Don’t overwork the poor girl,” she instructed Sapphire. Sapphire nodded. “Tell Aqua that I need to talk to him when you’re done.” “Sure,” Guidance nodded, leaving Sweetie Belle alone with her newest acquaintance. Sweetie Belle sat silently as Sapphire toiled away at her mane, relaxing a little bit as Sapphire began to talk. “I’m sorry about your friends, Little Belle. I promise, nopony here really means to ignore you, but there are a lot of things going on right now,” she said. Sweetie Belle looked up at Sapphire, tears pooling at the corners of her eyes. “You know where they are?” “Cherry Sunrise has been keeping track of their movements as much as possible. The last time he saw them, the foalnappers were heading toward a nearby village.” “But the only place near the Everfree Forest is Ponyville,” Sweetie Belle objected. “That’s my home.” Sapphire paused her work and smiled. “Yes, I think that’s what Cherry called it. Those poor villagers are going to be no match for Xin. Oh, Little Belle, I’m so sorry.” “Why are you sorry?” Sweetie Belle asked. “Your family is there, are they not?” “Sure.” “Well, you see, Xin has a reputation for destroying everything in his path. He’s after the princesses, and he won’t stop until he gets to Canterlot.” Visions of when Guidance first spoke to Sweetie Belle flashed through her mind. The immense fireball Xin conjured, despite grievous injury -- followed immediately by visions of the Elements of Harmony at work, dwarfing any possible threat posed by the rogue Zebra. “But the Elements won’t allow that,” Sweetie Belle replied. “Nothing’s a threat to Ponyville except Twilight herself.” Sapphire River finished with Sweetie Belle’s mane and moved on to her tail, uncertain what to make of the child’s apparent total and utter lack of concern for the health and safety of her friends and family. “Well, you see, Little Belle, Xin is very powerful. I admit, I don’t know what the Elements are, or who Twilight is, but I can assure you, Xin is very powerful, and he will destroy everypony in his way.” “But, how can you not know Twilight Sparkle?” Sweetie Belle replied with genuine confusion. “Have you been living under a rock?” “Well, yes,” Sapphire River smiled wryly, “in a manner of speaking.” “Oh come on! She’s a princess!” “Ah, I do suppose I recall Guidance saying something about another princess.” Sweetie Belle paused. Something wasn’t adding up. If the Guardians worked directly under Princess Celestia, there was no possible way they couldn’t know about Princess Twilight. “Little Belle?” Sapphire asked, noticing Sweetie’s sudden tension. “Are you alright? You seem stressed.” “Yeah, I’m fine,” Sweetie replied, scrambling to think of a way out of this conversation. Something definitely wasn’t right, and the more she thought about it, the more everything seemed off. “Are you sure?” “I just need to go to the bathroom.” ●▬▬๑۩๑▬▬▬▬▬๑۩۩๑▬▬▬▬▬๑۩๑▬▬● “So, let me make sure I have this straight: You’re actually a pony. And not just any pony, but a flying, talking, spell-slinging, unicorn pony.” “Technically, I’m an Alicorn, but otherwise… yes.” “And a princess, on top of all of that? I nodded. Chris put his head in his paws. “So, we’re fucked,” he mumbled. His crude language caught me off guard, but I found myself unable to grasp what he was suggesting. Had I missed some bizarre courtship ritual? “I hope I’m misunderstanding something,” I replied tersely, “because I’m not sure how this relates to copulation at all.” Chris looked up at me in confusion, but then he cracked a small smile. “No, no, it’s just an expression. It means we’re in really deep trouble. We don’t have anything prepared to fight against a real, magic-wielding army - even if they are ponies. I mean, you’re their Princess, and when they come for you - and I’m sure they will - what are we going to do?” I still couldn’t figure out what he was getting at. “Nothing,” I replied. “There wouldn’t be a fight.” “Exactly. We’d be slaughtered.” Slaughtered? How did he even get to that conclusion? Even against the Changelings, Celestia had never been so barbaric. The look on my face must have said everything I was thinking, because Chris quickly tried to explain himself. “I mean, I think we would be. Magic can… I dunno, really. I mean, I assume at the very least you could set stuff on fire, shield yourself, bring the dead back to life. It would be like some four-legged, unstoppable army.” “Well, we definitely can’t bring the dead back to life, but magic is pretty flexible. Setting things on fire and shielding is certainly possible. It’s just a matter of how you weave the schools. And how the magic is channeled.” “Weave the schools?” Chris asked. “Um, the easiest way to explain them is that they are the building blocks from which all spells are made. Every species has their own conduit.” Chris raised an eyebrow, questioningly. “Conduits are cellular structures which can manipulate Aether; like how unicorns use their horns,” I explained. “The act of combining schools in the conduit is called weaving. A specific ordering of schools is willed into the weave to create a magical effect. The conduit itself is an important part of the spell’s final form as well, so only creatures with similar conduits can perform the exact same spells. “So, it’s like cooking,” he mused. “You add ingredients, but the way the ingredients are mixed and how you use the tools you choose to cook with affect the outcome.” “That… is not a terrible analogy, I guess. I’m not really sure how else I would explain it to somepony with literally no magical background.” Chris smiled. “I think I get it. I’m curious about the ‘schools’ of magic, though. You’ve mentioned Earth, Fire, Air, and Water. In many of our own fantasy concepts, those are the four classical elements, but you mentioned sixteen schools.” “Yes! In fact, we call those four schools The Elemental Arts.” I clapped my paws together excitedly. ”Out of all the schools, they are capable of the most change with the least amount of magical focus, making it easy to learn to harness these schools. They’re also wild and unpredictable, making them potentially dangerous and difficult to master.” “You’re enjoying this. Do you always get excited about lecturing people?” I nodded sheepishly. “I’ve been accused of being an egghead before.” Chris burst out laughing. “I can tell just listening to you.” My shoulders slumped. I wasn’t trying to bore him. “No, no,” he suddenly said with a hint of concern. “I don’t mean it in a bad way. I’m actually quite interested. Please, continue.” “Are you sure?” “Yeah.” “...Okay. After the Elemental Arts come the Physical Arts. Without any control, the Elemental Arts can only be used in a very passive fashion before getting quickly out of hoof. In order to harness larger expressions of Elemental Arts safely, they need to be woven with a Physical Art. Physical Arts have a concrete effect on the world around the wielder, thus have the most obvious expression, but they are significantly more difficult to use than Elemental Arts. Very few species have an affinity for a school in the Physical Arts, and those that do tend to use magic in the most obvious ways because they can naturally express Elemental Arts without risk of life and limb.” “So, I have a bucket of red paint,” he mused. “I could dump the paint bucket on the ground and get an unpredictable mess of red splattered everywhere, or I could put the paint on a brush and wield it with precision." I clapped my paws together again. “Exactly!” Chris seemed to have a knack for explaining things in metaphor. “The paintbrush is a good analogy for Kinesis.” “I’m guessing that is one of the Physical Arts?” Chris asked. “Ah, yes. I suppose I didn’t list them, did I? The other three are Transmutation, Conjuration, and Restoration. I can go in-depth on each, if you’d like.” Chris raised his paws up. “No, I’m cool with just an overview for now, but maybe later?” I nodded. “The next is Spiritual Arts. Spiritual Arts are capable of making fundamental changes to how the world works. Enchantment, Divination, Chaos, and Inspiration. I’ve only recently learned about that last one, so I honestly don’t know much about it. “So, Divination,” Chris mused. “Like fortune telling?” “A lot more complicated than that, but sure, that’s a common application.” I waited for a moment to see if he had any other questions, but he just waited patiently. “Then there are the Dimensional Arts, which can interact directly with other planes. Light, Time, Space, and Dream.” “Time? You can time travel?” “Strictly speaking, yes,” I replied. “But it gets messy, and usually causes more problems than it solves.” “Usually does,” Chris agreed with a nod. How was I supposed to respond to that? If his species had no magic, how would he know? I decided not to confuse myself even further with this creature’s strange and inconsistent behavior. “So, what schools do you weave to take over bodies?” “I’m not even sure what schools of magic could be woven into such a spell." “So, you didn’t cast a spell to steal Rebecca’s body?” “No! I just got caught up the portal, and then woke up in this body...” I trailed off. Chris sat back and went silent. I couldn’t blame him. What had happened to the actual Rebecca? Was she still somewhere in my head, unable to control her own self and panicking? Was she aware of what was going on around her? Was she conscious at all? “Was she… your friend?” I asked softly. He scratched his head. “A bit more than just a friend, I guess.” My heart sunk. Magic far beyond my own understanding had taken his friend from him and dumped me in her place. I was one of the most well-studied mages in pony history, and even I was at a complete loss. I couldn’t imagine how confusing it must be for a creature that didn’t even understand magic in the first place. “Chris, I am so, so sorry,” I whispered. “Look, I don’t understand magic,” he said slowly. “But if you didn’t do it on purpose, then I can’t blame you for what happened.” “Thanks, I think.” I smiled softly. “I just hope Princess Celestia can fix this.” “...Who is Princess Celestia?” “She’s the Princess.” “But you said you were the Princess. That was not something I was prepared to answer, and I had to scramble to find a simple explanation. “It’s like… I’m a Princess. And she’s a Princess. We’re both Princesses, but…” Before I could complete the thought, the realization that I might not see Celestia, or Shining Armor, or any of my friends again wormed its way to the forefront of my mind. Tears began blurring my vision as I broke down and sobbed there on Rebecca’s floor. Chris put his arms around me, pulling me close into an embrace. It was a comforting gesture, though the close proximity made me feel slightly awkward. Unsure of the proper human etiquette, I didn’t pull away. Instead I sat there and cried softly for a few minutes. “... she’s my Princess,” I finally choked out between breaths. “Twilight,” he whispered. “I think I understand what you mean.” Chris pushed me back to hold me at arm’s distance. “But you can’t give up. If magic can do this, magic can undo this, right? You can get Rebecca back into her own body, right?” His eyes were pleading. This was just as important to him as it was me. “Right,” I nodded weakly, wiping away my tears with a paw. I wasn’t sure I could do it at all, but I wasn’t about to admit defeat just yet. “I’m going to need to do some research. Where can I find books about magic?” Chris paused. “Books about magic? I would guess at the library, if anywhere, but you’re going to have a difficult time with that. No one believes magic is real, and all of our books about magic are just fiction designed for entertainment.” “Nonsense.” I replied, matter-of-factly. “There has to be at least some truth to some of it, somewhere. It’s just a matter of finding the right book.” “How can you be so sure?” “Because otherwise how would anyone have thought to write fiction about magic in the first place?  Somepony had to have known, even if nopony knows now.” After several moments of processing, Chris shrugged. “Okay, I guess. The library is about two miles from here; we could take my car, but I think it might be a good idea to walk. You could use the practice.” I nodded my agreement. “And one last thing,” he continued. “What?” “You absolutely cannot use any magic outside this house.” ●▬▬๑۩๑▬▬▬▬▬๑۩۩๑▬▬▬▬▬๑۩๑▬▬● “Careful now. Left foot. Right foot.” At first, walking was rough. Chris supported me for a short distance until I felt more confident putting one foot in front of the other, and after a few minutes it even felt a little bit normal, if not natural. Chris suggested that maybe my quick uptake was Rebecca’s muscle memory at play, and I couldn’t find any reason to disagree. Once I felt comfortable with the motion involved, I was walking without having to dedicate my concentration to it. Then, finally free to let my mind wander a little bit, I took stock of the city around me. Like many Equestrian cities, the houses here were lined in rows right along the streets, and came in all sorts of shapes, colors and sizes. Dozens of human carriages - ‘cars’, Chris had called them - were stopped alongside the road, though none of them seemed to be in use. It could easily be described as a suburban area, not entirely unlike the the fringes of Manehattan. The roads themselves crossed at perfect perpendicular intersections and at regular intervals, with a half-dozen houses or so between each. Most yards were entirely devoid of humans, but a few had children playing, and at one home some adult humans were gathered together in what Chris called a “barbeque”, which I guess was like a picnic party?  He refused to really explain it. With so many humans to observe, one thing I quickly noticed was a lack of coloration. Humans, it seemed, had a very limited range of color - something that they made up for with eye-catching and colorfully diverse clothing. I stopped on a few occasions just to look at their outfits, and found myself with a little bit more appreciation for Rarity’s impact on my life. Chris suddenly thrust his arm out, preventing me from continuing forward. One of the human carriages whizzed past us, right in front of my eyes. Carriages in Equestria were harmless and benign, offering rides for ponies who lacked the mobility or stamina to traverse long distances by hoof, or even for those who just needed to multi-task and couldn’t spare the trouble of navigation. Even so, the ponies who made a living pulling carriages were great for conversation, and dedicated to their craft. Up until that moment, all of the human carriages I had seen were stationary and unoccupied. Seeing a human carriage in motion, only inches away and travelling at such speeds? My knees were shaking uncontrollably and I collapsed to the ground, unable to focus on standing. The carriage that had just passed us seemed to have a life of its own, with nopony pulling it! It took Chris a few minutes to assure me it wasn’t magic and that they were perfectly safe as long as you looked both ways before crossing the road. I hadn’t sensed any magic from it so I knew at least that much was true, but it still unsettled me. Several minutes later, I finally stood up and crossed the street, once again using Chris for support. My confidence in walking came back shortly afterward, but I was much more attentive to cross-streets from then on. ●▬▬๑۩๑▬▬▬▬▬๑۩۩๑▬▬▬▬▬๑۩๑▬▬● BOOKS!  BOOKS EVERYWHERE! The library Chris led me to was enormous, easily dwarfing even the largest libraries Equestria had to offer. I strongly suspected that Equestria didn’t even have half as many different published books across all of written history! And according to Chris, this library was small. Apparently, like in Equestria, on Sundays many venues closed early - though obviously not out of respect for Celestia. With only three hours before the library closed, I wasn’t going to have much time to read while we were there, so my time was fairly evenly divided between wandering around in awe of the number of books, sitting in awe of the search capabilities of the ‘computer’ (a device I desperately wanted to understand better once I had the time), and trying to decide what books I wanted to actually check out. The library policy limited me to seven books, so I had to choose carefully. I settled on a human biology book (so I could understand my body a bit more), a political history book (to help with understanding human cultures before opening potential negotiations), a book on the history of magic (what I had initially come to the library for in the first place), a book on mythology (because I was curious about the Greek myth Chris had mentioned), a book on astronomy (they had a sun, moon and stars, but there was no Celestia or Luna here - a curiousity indeed), a book of popular legends (Chris had assured me that many legends involved magic), and a book about ponies (which I hadn’t really planned on finding so much as I had stumbled upon laying out on a table and curiosity struck). “You’re sure those are the seven books you want?” Chris asked as we approached the checkout counter. “No,” I mumbled. How could anypony limit themselves to just seven? There were dozens of others I had interest in. “Here,” Chris said to the librarian, handing her a small card. The librarian shone a thin red light on a white and black pattern on the card, and then handed it back before shining the light across a similar pattern on each of the books. It was a strange ritual, and my own experiences as a librarian only made it even more confusing. We left the library without further delay to find the sun dipping lower on the horizon. So many questions filled my mind. How could they possibly deny magic when the sun itself was clearly being moved in the sky? I shook my head. A light musical tone drew my attention away from the sun’s slow descent. A small, flat device in Chris’ hand was lit up and producing the gentle sound. He glanced at it for a moment, before poking it with a finger and then put it to his ear and leaning up against the side of the building. “Hey, it’s Chris. Is this important? ... … … Shit. Yeah, alright, one sec.” He took the device away from his head and gestured to the books. “Sorry Twilight, I really have to take this call, but it should only take a couple of minutes. Go ahead and read while I wrap this up.” Chris put the device back to his head. “Alright, go ahead,” Chris continued. I picked up the book titled “An Observer’s Guide to the Universe”. It was the astronomy book I’d decided on. Since the sun and moon were on my mind, I figured it was as good a place to start as any. I opened to the first page and started reading. … ... ... ... ...This book was full of lies. There’s no way the world could possibly go around the Sun as this book described. I had watched Celestia raise the sun myself countless times - including the times where she wasn’t adhering to her schedule properly, and on those days, the sun rose late. All of this bunk about orbital mechanics… I briefly considered returning the book and grabbing another while I had the opportunity. I realized I was pacing while reading; a habit I often had while studying as a pony. I suppose in many ways, that meant I was largely used to walking now, as walking while reading was something I’d always done without thinking, especially if I was agitated. That was probably a good sign. … I was also levitating the book with my magic. I quickly grabbed the book with my paws, remembering that Chris had forbidden my use of magic outside the house. Before we left, I had to convince him that I couldn’t allow the Aether Battery out of my sight, and he’d finally relented and allowed me to take it. I stole a quick glance over at him to make sure he hadn’t noticed. Chris was now shouting into the flat object in his hand. I would have to ask him about the thing; as I’d seen several humans in the library with them. A quick glance around confirmed no one else seemed to have noticed my magic, and then continued my reading with the next chapter of the blasphemous book. This chapter was delving into the moon. … And there it was; Mare Crisium, Mare Nectaris, Mare Imbrium. There was no doubt in my mind now; there was definitely traces of the “Mare in the Moon” here in human literature. In fact, they believed in dozens of mares on the moon! And then one last piece of evidence: The ‘human moon’ was actually named Luna! I needed no further proof. There was a clear connection between these humans and Equestria. “Reb-- Twilight! Watch out!” I looked up; I was inches from walking right into the street, and one of the human carriages was barrelling toward me at high speed. I stopped. Or tried to stop, but in my panic, I couldn’t keep my unfamiliar body from stumbling forward. I toppled to the ground. Right in front of the speeding carriage.