//------------------------------//
// Chapter Four 
// Story: Agent of Chaos 
// by Li_Time 
//------------------------------//

Chapter Four

Twilight Sparkle

A heavy weight fell over me. Where were my friends? Did something happen to them? What if something terrible happened to them? No, I shouldn't think like that. Maybe they just didn't get through and are still in Canterlot? Maybe they appeared somewhere else in this realm? If that's the case, I just hope they were all alright. I needed to find them; but first, I needed to find out where I was.

I stood up, wobbling a bit. I will never get fully use to walking on two legs. At least I've done it. The others would have a harder time since they've only ever walked on two legs when Discord brought us to visit Hero. They still haven't had multiple visits to a world where they took this form, however. I just had to hope they were alright for now.

After I got my balance, I started to make my way down the ladder out of the tree house. Once I reached the ground, I started to walk towards the house, looking around. In the horizon, I could see tall buildings like Manehatten or Chicacolt, though I knew it wasn't.

I moved around the house but I spotted a machine pulling up to the house, so Iquickly ducked aside, hiding behind some trash cans. The machine looked like something I saw in another realm. I think it was called a 'car.' It pulled up to the house and stopped, turning off. A door opened and a young woman got out as another older woman got out on the other side. By the looks of them, I could tell that they were mother and daughter.

Two more doors opened and a younger woman and an even younger boy stepped out. The two looked like they were in school uniforms. The boy was talking about something that sounded like a game as he reached back into the car, retrieving a bag. After he had done so, another girl got out. She looked to be a little younger than the boy, but her features seemed different than the others. Then a beast of a dog got out behind her.

I fell back when I saw the big fluffy dog. At first, I thought it was a Diamond Dog from his size, but he didn't seem threatening or anything. Still, the sight of it surprised me and I fell back, knocking over a trash can as I did, the contents falling onto me. It got their attention. The little girl hugged the dog at once. The oldest woman started to walk over as the other started to get her brother and sisters inside. However, the dog and the youngest girl stayed, the girl a little surprised that the dog wasn't moving.

The woman came right to me and looked down at me. I gave her a sheepish smile. "Umm, hi," I said. "Well, this is a little awkward."

"What are you doing sneaking around my place and spying on me and my family?" the woman demanded. I could see the oldest daughter running back out, trying to get the big dog and the little girl inside, but the dog wouldn't move, and the girl held onto him.

"I'm sorry," I said. "I didn't mean to spy or anything. I was trying to find my way out of here and look for my friends. My name's Twilight Sparkle."

The older daughter called out to the older woman. "Mother. I can't get Mouse to come inside." Mouse? The large dog is called Mouse? I had to fight not to giggle at that. The woman glanced over her shoulder at the two girls and the dog and studied the dog before looking at me again.

"Get up," she said to me. "Let's get you inside and cleaned up."

I think that surprised her daughter more than me; but I got up anyway, feeling my cheeks heat up from embarrassment. I looked over at the dog, noticing that the dog was wagging his tail, his jaw open in a doggie grin. He patted over to me, the little girl by his side and sniffed my hand. I gave him a grin as I looked at the mother and her oldest daughter. They seemed to be surprised at Mouse's actions, but they relaxed. I guess if the dog approves of me, I wasn't a bad pony...or human in this world.

I followed them inside the home, the mother in front and her daughter behind me. The smaller girl and her dog followed behind her. I felt something as I walked through the doorway of the home and rocked a bit, putting a hand on the doorway as I tried to steady myself. I never felt something like that before. It was like there was a resistant that broke way as I stepped through. I looked around as I walked inside, seeing that this place had a lot of history.

"Amanda," the mother said. "Take Maggie and your brother and sister to the kitchen and start making dinner. Michael and Mr. Dresden should be here shortly. Have Hope help you and Harry check the answering machine." She looked at me. "Mrs. Sparkle, was it?" I nodded. "Follow me." I did so.

I noticed the older daughter, Amanda, leading the little girl and Mouse to rejoin the other two kids before disappearing into the kitchen. I noticed that Mouse stayed with the little girl the whole time. I guess he was her guard dog.

I followed the woman up some stairs and to a bathroom. The woman told me to take a shower, as she hung up a towel for me, and she would return with some fresh clothes before she left, closing the door behind her. The human bathrooms were different than ours in Ponyville, but it worked much the same way. I never operated a human shower, but I quickly figured it out. I got out of the clothes I had appeared in, which now smelled like trash, and looked at myself in the mirror.

It was still weird to look at myself in a mirror, expecting to see my pony reflection, but is greeted with a dark skinned, dark haired young woman instead. Actually, my hair was more of a darker purple. My figure looked so strange and alien to me, my mind kept yelling at me that this wasn't right. I pushed all that back and got in the shower.

It felt really nice and refreshing. Don't get me wrong, I had a nice refreshing bath the previous day, but after having trash dumped on you, this felt great. However, the worry over my friends quickly came over me and I rushed to clean up. I used one of the shampoos that was sitting there, though I didn't know what was the difference between shampoo and 'Body Wash.' I guess since humans didn't have fur, they had to treat their skin with something different. As a pony, we could use the same stuff to wash our manes and tails as well as the rest of our bodies. Then again, I knew Rarity would use all sorts of different stuff for her mane, tail, and coat.

After I was clean, I turned off the water and grabbed the towel the woman had left me. Once I was dry, I wrapped the towel around me as someone knocked on the door. I jumped a bit but giggled to myself. I opened the door to see the woman with some clothes. She looked at me skeptically as she thrust the clothes into my arm.

"Get dressed before someone sees you like that," she said. "Don't you have any modesty?" She shut the door on me as I stood there, surprised. I almost forgot about one of the rules Discord had told us last time. Clothes weren't just for fashion here. It was to cover up your body. To run around without clothes was indecent and inappropriate, and would be shamed upon for doing so.

Once I was dressed, I stepped out of the bathroom and went down the stairs. It looked like the woman was about to come check on me since she stopped at the foot of the stairs.

"Alright, now that you're not covered in trash, I want you to explain to me what you're doing here," she demanded from me.

I chewed on my lip, thinking. How would she react if I told her I was a pony from another world sent here to find not just one, but two creatures of chaos. She might think I'm crazy. Then again, Hero came from this world, right? It might not sound too crazy for her. 

I rather play it safe.

"Umm, well, I don't know how I ended up here,” I said, which was sort of true. “But I got separated from my friends and-" I was cut off by the front door opening up and a man walking in. He was tall and muscular and his face had a lot of hair, black with a lot of gray in it. He was wearing a flannel style shirt and walked with a cane. He looked at the woman and smile, giving her a hug. The woman gave a smile and hugged back, but continued to look at me. He followed her gaze to me and gave a soft smile.

"Good evening," he said. "You a friend of Amanda or something? I'm her father, Michael Carpenter." The woman put a hand on his arm before he could go up the stairs to meet me. I noticed another man, a little taller than Mr. Carpenter, walk in.

This second man had a more square jaw, and looked like his facial hair was just growing out. His shirt was black with a white silhouette of a spider on it, and he wore a thick leather coat that hung down to his ankles. He was also carrying a wooden staff in his hand.

"What's going on?" he asked as he looked between the two of them. He looked up at me and frowned. I looked at him in his eyes but noticed how he avoided eye contact. That somehow reminded me of something, but I wasn’t sure what.

"She said her name was Twilight Sparkle," the woman said. "I caught her sneaking around outside the house when we got home." She looked at the second man. "Mouse seems to like her, Mr. Dresden." He shot a glance at her then at me in surprised. "Do you know her?"

"No idea. Mouse," he called. The dog came around the corning, I'm guessing from the kitchen, with the girl following behind him. I saw how he soften his expression at the sight of the girl. "Stay there, Maggie. I need to borrow Mouse for a moment."

"Okay, daddy," she said with a smile at him. Mouse walked away from her and came over to the man. So the little girl wasn't a Carpenter, but was this other man's daughter.

"Mouse?" he questioned the dog. Could the dog speak? "Do you know this woman?" The dog gave a soft sneeze as he shook his head. "Is she safe?" The dog gave a doggie grin. So the dog could understand us and they could understand him by his behavior. The man look at me again. I couldn't help but feel anxious.

"Look, I must go. I really need to find my friends," I said.

The man stepped passed the Carpenters and went up the stairs to me. Even with him standing a few steps below me, he was still taller than me. He held out a hand to me, though he didn't look me in the eyes. Something about that kept nagging at me. I looked at his hand, not sure what he was trying to do. I held up a hand, mimicking him. He then grasped my hand, not hard, but not loosely either. I could feel something from him and I knew what it was.

"Magic," I gasped. "Oh, thank Celestia, there's magic here."

That got me strange looks. Did I assume too much? "Celestia?" he questioned. I heard a ringing sound from another room. The woman walked off, leaving her husband and this man here at the stairs with me. "Who are you? Or should I ask, 'what' are you?"

Did he know already? Who was this man? Should I tell him? "I...ummm...I'm..."

"Mr. Dresden," came the woman's voice. "It's Molly. She says she needs to talk with you at once."

I saw a puzzled look on his face before he let go of my hand and walked back down the steps. I saw him mumble something to the other man before he went around the corner. The other man, Mr. Carpenter, gave me a soft smile.

"Well, come sit down," Mr. Carpenter said. "Have something to eat. We'll talk and help find your friends."

I heard my stomach grumble at the mention of food and blushed a bit, giving off a nervous laugh. "Hehe, ya, sure," I said and walked down the steps. The dog walked beside me and I petted his head. The little girl came over to him and hugged him.

"Mouse likes you," she said. "I guess you passed the test."

"Test?" I questioned.

"Yep,” she said. “Mouse is very protective. If you were dangerous, he would have let us all know. But he doesn't seem to think you're dangerous."

"Oh, right," I said, giggling nervously again. With my experience in tests, I thought maybe this was one big test.

"I'm Maggie," she said. "That's my daddy, Harry." She pointed at the man in the coat who was now talking into something he held, looking at me. "What's your name?" she asked me.

I gave her a smile. "I'm Twilight Sparkle."

She giggled. "That's a funny name."

I giggled a bit, though I wasn't sure why. I watched as Mr. Dresden set the device down. "Mrs. Sparkle," he started as he reached into a pocket of his coat. I saw he pull out a stone and frown down at it. I thought it glowed for a moment. "Do you know a Rainbow Dash?"