//------------------------------// // Chapter Two // Story: Moving On // by Manitive //------------------------------// Twilight woke up to the sound of chirping birds. "What...what happened?" She asked, weakly climbing back up onto her hooves, eyes still closed. "And why does my head hurt so much?" Opening her eyes, she curiously eyed her surroundings. It looked like she was in a clearing of a pine forest. Alone. "Okay Twilight, think...What happened and where are you..." She said to herself, trying to recall her memories, holding her right front hoof to her temple, slowly rubbing it in a circular motion. "I woke up this morning, ate my breakfast, then went grocery shopping, met Rainbow Dash on the way and she asked me to...be a referee at her competition against Applejack!" "That still doesn't explain why I'm here, and I somehow can't remember anything after that, soo..." Removing her hoof from her head, she cast a little memory spell. Feeling a slight pressure building on her temples, memories started flooding her head, and she instantly recalled what had transpired earlier that day. Not only did she fail at casting such an easy spell, but she also somehow accidentally confused it with an inter-dimensional traveling spell! And what's even worse is the fact that she didn't even know how she had cast that spell! "Buck! Now that's certainly going to be a problem..." She muttered angrily under her breath. "Anyways, I need to find the others first, but how am I going to do that?" "Maybe that one spell Princess Celestia taught me a while ago will work?" Lightning up her horn again, she tried to remember what the Princess taught her. "Think of the pony you want to find, what connects you, and why you need to find him or her. Then, try to dam up the magic that's going to flow in your horn, and when you feel the magic slowly starting to fade, you stop damming up. But be aware, this spell takes a lot of energy, so you're probably going to feel really tired after casting it." 'Applejack, Element of Honesty, one of my best friends. I need to find her and the other two and then get home.' She thought, closing both her eyes. Seconds later, she felt the magic flowing in her horn, so she dammed it up there, and started resisting the pressure that was building up in her horn, which made her develop a headache. After what felt like hours to her, but in reality were only mere minutes, of standing there in that clearing, with a nearly unbearable headache, the magic started slowly fading away from her horn, which lowered the pressure that had accumulated itself, whereupon Twilight stopped resisting it. Shortly afterward, her headache instantly vanished and a little purple orb of magic formed in front of the tip of her horn. Twilight opened her eyes and let loose of the orb, which then floated away from her, deeper into the forest. Concluding, that it'll probably lead her to Applejack, she tiredly trotted after the purple orb. Some time later Twilight walked for quite some time, and it already started becoming dark. "I seriously hope they are okay..." she mumbled worriedly, still following the orb "If something happened to them, I won't be able to forgive myself." Twilight, being lost in her thoughts, didn't see that the ball of purple magic suddenly had disappeared. She also didn't see the orange pony shaped figure lying on the ground in front of her. Well, that is until she tripped over it and fell face first into the dirt. "Ow... What the hay did I trip over?" she quietly asked herself, slowly standing back up. Moving one of her front hooves to her face, she started carefully rubbing it and then turned around to take a look at the cause of her pain. Her vision a bit blurry, she first thought it was just a strangely orange colored stone. But after focusing her eyes on the stone she spotted what looked like a light brown stetson hat on top of a blonde colored something. That was when she realized that the orange stone wasn't actually a stone, but a pony. Applejack. Removing her hoof from her head, she quickly trotted over to Applejack's side and started gently shaking her. "Hey, Applejack, wake up!" Twilight said, to which Applejack started slowly regaining consciousness. "Huh...? Who's that?" Applejack asked tiredly, regaining back control over her body. Shakily getting back up on all four hooves, she looked back at Twilight. "Oh, hey there Twilight, wha' happened?" she slurred, turning around to face her. "Uh...Well, you see...I kinda bucked up a spell, and now we're in another dimension" she hesitantly told her, looking at the ground and rubbing her right front hoof on her left leg up and down. "And mayyybe I don't know how I did that exactly..." Everything around them suddenly fell quiet, too quiet for Twilights liking. "I'm sorry...I really am..." she apologized as she looked up right into Applejacks unblinking eyes. "I understand if you hate me now, but ple-" "Apology accepted." Applejack said with a small smile on her face. "Wait, what?" "Apology accepted" she repeated, taking a few steps forward and hugging Twilight tightly. "But...but why?" Twilight asked in a quiet tone so that Applejack barely heard her. "Twilight, let's be serious here, Ah kinda knew something like this would happen as you said 'Hopefully Ah've got it right', so I'm not mad at ya, sugarcube. " She kindly told her, to which Twilight blushed in shame. "And Ah mean, this maybe ain't so bad. Adventures are always fun!" After that, Applejack let go of Twilight, who then again apologized. After telling her for the tenth time that everything was okay, she calmed slightly. "So, Twilight, how did ya find me?" Applejack asked, sitting herself on her haunches, looking up at the night sky. "I used a locating spell that Princes Celestia taught me before I became a princess." "So at least that one worked like ya wanted to?" She asked with a smirk, causing Twilight to squeak in embarrassment. "Sorry, just had to. Ya know Ah don't blame ya." "Did yah already search fer the others?" "No, you're the first one. Hopefully the others are okay too..." "Ah'm sure they are" Applejack replied, standing back up onto all four hooves."Ah think we should start searchin' fer the oth-" Applejack got cut off by what sounded like flapping wings above her. Both she and Twilight instantly looked up into the air and saw a blue blur approaching them fast. Too fast for their liking. Before the blur could slam into them, they quickly jumped out of the way. It crashed through some treetops, lowering its speed a bit. To Applejack and Twilight, seconds felt like minutes as the blue blur came closer to the ground, but before it could impact, Twilight quickly reacted. Something in her guts just told her to do something. Lightning up her horn, she tried to stop it from slamming into the ground, but only succeeded in slowing it down a bit more. CRASH Twilight and Applejack, too stunned to move, tried to see what impacted the ground, but couldn't see anything because of all the dust covering the area around it. Seconds later the dust cleared, and what they saw made them both worry. There, on the ground, all bruised and with blood flowing from some fresh cuts scattered over her body, lay Rainbow Dash. An unconscious Rainbow Dash. Both of them immediately galloped over to her. "Applejack, we need to get her some medical attention! NOW!" Twilight cried, looking at her friend, a lavender-colored aura already coating her horn. "Can't ya just heal her?!" Applejack asked her, worriedly eyeing the unconscious form of her friend. "I've never really practiced healing magic, and I don't know any spells that could fix this!" She answered, still shouting. Lifting Rainbow up in her magic, she started walking off into a random direction, Applejack directly behind her, but was stopped by a coughing fit that came from her now not-so-unconscious friend. "Who-?" Rainbow started groggily, but was unable to end her sentence as a loud yelp of pain escaped her. "Ssh, be quiet Rainbow, it's me, Twilight, and Applejack's here too. We gonna get you fixed up, just be quiet." Twilight whispered, tears forming in the corner of her eyes. Only because of her, Rainbow Dash was injured. If she hadn't bucked up that spell, Rainbow wouldn't have been injured. "Twilight...wha... what happened?" She asked, clearly in a lot of pain. "I'll tell you later, first we need to get you somewhere and fix you up." Twilight answered, a lonely tear running down her cheek "I *cough* I saw a building to the north of here *cough* maybe a mile away..." She whispered through one of her coughing fit. "We'll get you there, I swear by Celestia." Twilight responded, instantly turning to the north, and started galloping into that direction, Applejack hot on her hooves. "Now Twilight, don't ya think that's a bit rash decided?" Applejack asked through her breath "Maybe the ponies there ain't friendly. If they are even ponies. What if they're dangerous?" "Then we're going to deal with them." Twilight simply stated. It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining, birds were chirping and the smell of freshly grilled steak was filling the air. Looking up to the little playground I had built years ago for Laura, my little daughter, I saw her playing around without a care in the world, climbing up the slide, and sliding it down, repeating this over and over again. A smile forming on my lips, I closed my eyes yet again and leaned myself back into my seat, enjoying the warm summer air on my face. "Hey there..." KNOCKKNOCKKNOCK I was abruptly awakened by the sound of something hard knocking rapidly at the back door that leads outside, downstairs. Groaning loudly, I quickly rolled myself out of my bed and pulled on the clothes I wore before I went to bed, excluding the hunting jacket. Looking at the wall clock above my bed, I saw that it was 11 p.m. KNOCKKNOCKKNOCKKNOCK "Who the fuck is that?" I sighed, rubbing my eyes. Exiting my bedroom, I tiredly walked downstairs and then headed into the direction of the backdoor, but shortly stopped in the living room where I saw Scootaloo still sleeping peacefully. 'How can she still be asleep? Kinda reminds me of Laura, she was a heavy sleeper too...' A series of quick knocks reminded me that I had a door to check, so I quickly pushed my thoughts aside and started walking again. Finally arriving at the door, I set my right hand on the door handle and pushed it down, cracking the door open. "Okay, who the fuck-" I started, but quickly stopped as I looked down onto...three ponies. The one standing to the left had purple fur and an indigo mane and tail, which had a streak of purple and pink running through them. But what fascinated me more was the fact that it had a horn on its head and a pair of wings. The other pony beside the purple one had orange colored fur and a blonde mane and tail. Both its mane and tail were tied into a ponytail, and on top of its head sat a light brown stetson hat like the cowboys in western films would often wear. It definitely looked more like a normal pony since it had neither wings nor a horn like the other one. I then spotted the last of the three ponies. This one was...rather interesting to say the least. Its messy mane and tail had streaks of various colors running through it, strongly resembling those of a rainbow, and its fur was cyan colored. It also had a pair of wings. But what shocked me the most, was that it looked seriously injured. It had cuts all over its body and some bruises here and there. "Please...please help her..." I heard someone whisper, making me look into the direction of the sound. The purple pony looked straight into my eyes, her bottom lip quivering. Acting quickly and without thinking twice, I scooped the injured pony up in my arms, and walked into the living room, both other ponies directly behind me. Arriving in the living room, I walked to the tea table, cleared it of everything that was on it, safe for the first-aid kit, that was still on it from the treatment that I gave Scootaloo earlier. Placing the rainbow and cyan colored pony onto her left side on the table, I quickly checked that side for any severe injuries. Luckily, I found nothing but cuts, but some were a bit deeper than others and some of them were a bit dirty. Standing up, I ran into the kitchen to get some water to clean the cuts. After filling up an empty bottle with warm water at the sink, I went back into the living room and kneeled myself besides the injured pony, and then poured the warm water over the cuts, washing away some dirt and blood in the process. "What happened?" I asked, pulling out a bottle of wound disinfectant from the first-aid kit, opening the lid and applying it to her wounds. "I...I don't know...She just crashed into the ground right in front of us..." the purple pony said with a faint smile. "And...thanks." "For what?" I asked, looking over at her, brows furrowed. "For...for helping her." she answered, a genuine smile on her face "I mean, you don't even know her, and you probably have never seen anything quite like...us." I gave her a small smile and then continued with applying plasters onto the bigger and 'deeper' cuts. "Um, yeah, actually..." I said, pointing with my index finger at the couch behind her and the other pony. They both turned their heads in that direction and then gave a gasp. "Scootaloo?" Both asked in unison. "Where did you find her? And why does she have a bandage around her leg?" The purple one asked "Well, I found her injured in a clearing not so far away from here and, to answer your other question, that 'knee' of hers is probably bruised, so I bandaged it up." I answered them, placing the last plaster onto a rather deep cut. I then turned the pony over, so that I could start tending to her left side. "Wait, does that mean you guys are the others she talked about?" Right after the last word left my mouth, Scootaloo started stirring, slowly waking up. "Huh? Who's there?" Scootaloo tiredly asked, rubbing her eyes with her hooves. Her eyes widened as she removed them from her eyes and saw both of the other ponies standing there. Somehow finding the strength to jump down from the couch and limp over to them, she looked them over as to see if they were real. She smiled at them, but the smile quickly vanished as she saw their sad faces. "What's going on?" she then asked, to which the other two just stepped out of the way. "Rainbow Dash...?" She began limping over to the table and stopped opposite of me. "Scootaloo, she's gonna be okay, her wounds are not that severe." I assured her, but that didn't help at stopping the tears that were already flowing down her cheeks. "You know what squirt? He's right. I'm gonna be fine." "RAINBOW!" All three of them yelled at once as the cyan mare spoke up, seemingly returning from the dead. I flinched from their collective screams, but otherwise continued to tend to the pony's wounds. The purple and the orange pony immediately got back to her side and started asking her if she was feeling well. "Huh? Those are just some scrat-" She started, but was cut off by me applying some wound disinfectant on one particularly nasty looking cut, making her shriek in pain, but she just tried to hide it with a cough. Didn't work out that well. "Yeah, just scratches." I said, applying a big plaster, ignoring the angry looks I got from the others. "Sure doesn't sound like it." "Dude, not cool!" She angrily told me, turning her head into my direction, but as she lay eyes on me, her pupils dilated. "Woooow." "What?" I asked, one eyebrow raised. "Dude...You're like the coolest thing I've ever seen!" She exclaimed, her mouth agape, staring at me. "O-kay?" I answered unsurely, stopping one hoof that was starting to reach out for me mid-way. "Thank you, I guess?" I nervously coughed into my hands, making her stop staring at me instantly. "Well, anyways, I think that was the last cut." I said awkwardly, putting the disinfectant back into the first-aid kit, closing it. Standing up, I picked up the kit from the table and walked back into the kitchen. After storing the first-aid kit back to where it belonged, I headed back into the living room, where Rainbow, as I learned, already was up on her hooves. She kinda looked funny with all the plasters on her body "Is there anything else I can help you with?" I asked them, suppressing a chuckle because of how ridiculous that cyan mare looked. All of them then looked into my direction nervously. Well, all of them, except for Scootaloo, who just looked at me with a big smile. "Well...ya see, we kinda...we kinda need a place tah stay fer the night...-" The orange one started explaining in a southern accent, fidgeting nervously with her hooves, but I quickly cut her off. "You can stay here. Upstairs is one guest room with 2 single beds, and then there's my bedroom with one single queen-sized double bed. I'll take the couch." I told her with a gentle smile on my face. "Nah, It's good, Ah'll take the couch, an' the other three could share the guest room." "I insist that you guys take the beds, the couch is way too uncomfortable for you." They looked at each other, all except Scootaloo, who still looked at me like a child would at a bag full of candy, and then nodded. "Okay, if ya really insist on it..." She said, sighing in defeat. "I do." I simply said, nodding my head once. "Come on, follow me." Walking to the staircase with all four of them behind me, I started asking them some questions, like what they are, where they are from and what those tattoos on their haunches stand for (Not that I've been staring at their backs, of course). The purple one answered my first question with 'We are ponies', to which I stopped and turned my head around, giving her a look that said 'No shit Sherlock'. She then blushed and added that her race is called 'alicorn', which is a mix between a unicorn and a pegasus, the race of the orange pony is called earth pony, and the one of Rainbow and Scootaloo is called pegasus. The next question she answered was the tattoo one, to which she just chuckled and said that those are their cutie marks, which determine what's their special talent. But the last question was the most interesting one. She told me, that they got teleported here by accident. Here, into another dimension. With magic. Yeah, you could imagine what happened after she told me that. So, yeah, I hadn't stopped laughing until we arrived at the door to my bedroom. Still chuckling a bit, I opened the door and walked inside, the other four still directly behind me, glaring at me a bit annoyed. "Here we are, magic ponies!" I said, raising my arms high into the air. "Bathroom is next door to this room, if you need to use it." "Bucking.Awesome." Rainbow simply stated. "I'll take that bed!" "Me too!" Scootaloo said, both of them limping/jumping up onto the bed. "Then it's decided." I said, a small smile touching my lips at the display, letting my arms down. Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure all four of them and me could've easily fit in that bed, but that just wouldn't be appropriate. We've only just met. "Come on you two" I started, turning around to face the purple and the orange pony. I found them standing in the doorway, staring at something to their right. "Let's go." But they still didn't move, so I moved over to them and waved a hand in front of their faces. Their reaction was immediate, as they turned their heads to face me. "Oh, sorry, its just...Who are they?" The purple pony asked me, pointing with her right front hoof to a cupboard to her right, on which was a single photo. A...photo...of me...Laura and Sandra. My happy gaze immediately turned sad and I was reminded of the day it all happened, making a single tear roll down my cheek. Everything came crashing down onto me, and I suddenly felt heavy, in fact, I felt so heavy, that I fell down onto my knees. I then started sobbing silently, looking at the floor. 'Why did god let something like this happen to them? Why them? Why not me? What did they do to deserve something like that?' I thought 'Everything was fine, until that one fucking day. Heh, One week later, I even lost my job, because the company I worked at left fucking town.' Scootaloo and Rainbow jumped down from the bed and walked over to me. Rainbow then placed a hoof on my shoulder, barely reaching it, making me snap out of my thoughts and turn my face around to face her. "You don't have to tell us." She whispered to me, a look of sympathy on her face. "She's right, ya don't have to." I heard someone behind me say. I nodded once, wiped my tears away and then stood up again. I still felt quite heavy, but not as heavy as I did before. I turned into the direction of the door again, and motioned the other two to follow me. They did so without saying a word. As we arrived at the guest room's door, I opened it and walked in, turning on the light switch with one hand in the process. "So yeah, It's not as great as the other bedroom, but it gets the job done." I said coldly, turning around to look at them I then added "Bathroom's opposite of here. I'm gonna go sleep now, good night." I walked around them into the hallway. "I'm sorry." I heard, making me stop and turn to look at the source of the voice. It came from the purple one, who now had its head hanging in shame, making me sigh. It kinda made me angry that I was acting like such a dick. "You don't have to apologize...If anyone should, it's me. So, I'm sorry." I apologized genuinely "I just acted like a dick, and you did nothing wrong. You just asked a question." I once more started walking but was again stopped by a voice. "Ya know, ya didn't tell us yar name and we didn't tell ya ours" "And another reason for me to be sorry." I again apologized, turning around and outstretching one arm, offering her a handshake "My name's William, what's yours?" "Ah'm Applejack" the orange pony said, outstretching her front left leg. I grabbed her hoof and shook it. After that, I offered the purple pony one, which she, after a second of hesitation, accepted. "My name's Twilight Sparkle, but please just call me Twilight." She said, placing her hoof into my palm, letting me shake it. "And you have to seriously answer me some questions about you, your species and this world tomorrow!" "I think I can do that." I said with a small smile, letting go of her hoof. After that, I again wished them a good night and went downstairs to the living room. After quickly unclothing myself completely, save for my boxers of course, I threw myself onto the couch and pulled the blanket that was still lying there from before over my body, covering myself up. I then slowly slipped back into the dreamworld, too tired to even consider thinking about what happened.