//------------------------------//
// Chapter I - What Happened After Dinner 
// Story: The Unicorn and her Boy 
// by ChudoJogurt 
//------------------------------//

“I cannot imagine, darling, how hard it must have been for you,” Rarity noted sympathetically. “All by yourself, in a new world, surrounded by aliens. I would probably have died on the spot from fear alone.”

“Well, it was easier for me.” Sunset shrugged, pretending to be nonchalant. “Equestria has many different sapient creatures, and besides, that was not the first time I’ve seen humans — or was in a different world, for that matter. Granted, I’ve never been different species before, but still…”

“Ooh, storytime!” Pinkie chimed excitedly. “Story time?” she pleaded when Sunset seemed pensive.

How could one say no to those large, puppy-dog, baby-blue eyes? 

“Fine, I’ll tell you this story,” Sunset relented,“But you guys are paying for the pizza, then.”

As everyone settled around the table and prepared to listen, Sunset gathered her memories in order, poured herself another glass of juice, and began her tale.

“This is the story of how I first met a human and almost destroyed a world. Still, it’s not my story; It is the story of my first friend…”

***


I was just recently out of the Saddle Arabian desert by then, enjoying every little luxury civilized Equestria could offer a mare on Celestia’s money, and I’d almost forgotten my unfortunate romantic attempts. I was getting published in ‘Unicorn Magical Digest’ with my findings on The Amniomorphic Spell’s origins and variations and even got to speak about it at the 'Modern Approach to Ancient Spells' conference.

That night, after the the talks and the workshops, the few of us, young academics, had hooked up and gone out to celebrate with all the hard cider you could get while technically underage. It was me, Legi Lulamoon, Comet Tail, Sunburst, Gerard, the Griffinstonian wizard, and some weird zebra chick whom nopony invited, but she kinda tagged along with us. 

We were finally getting properly buzzed and getting into this argument about multiverse theories. Soon, the argument got heated, the spell-constructs started to fly, shots were downed, salt-licks were licked, and generally, I had more fun than I’ve had in ages.

“You can do your caribou voodoo all you want,” I said, waving a freshly opened bottle of cider, “But there is just no way to cross the dimensional borders without a pre-existing sympathetic connection. That was conclusively proven by Clover the Clever!”

“There is a singularity exception in the second part of the Starswirl–Clover equation—”, Sunburst started, but I wasn’t having it.

“Yeah, right! That would require energies that Celestia herself could not begin to operate—’

For the first time in the evening the zebra spoke, her yellow eyes fixed on me.

“You say it as if your conclusion’s forgone. Yet the folly of your words is in the sound of the horn.”

I stumbled mid-rant at her words, as the low, shrill sound of the horn boomed from somewhere outside, and I felt something pull sharply on my mane.

“I… what? Comet, stop pulling on my mane!”

A subtle wind swirled around the table, and I felt another horrible pull, even though it wasn’t Comet… or anyone else I could see.

It was Lulamoon who spoke next, in the same, alien voice “A horn called too early, through fear or pride - for me like a door to a world that's not mine.”

Gerard’s eyes turned as yellow, and he added to his words: “My pupil’s student, who troubled my tomb; you’ll find the knowledge unwanted under a different moon.”

Another call of the horn, and another pull, much stronger than before, squeezed all the air out of my lungs. The walls of the bar spun and twirled around me, as I clung to the cider bottle, trying to keep it together.

Sunburst was next - the same yellow eyes, the same voice that was nothing like his usual timid tone, “If you wish to come back, a lesson have learned, a king to his throne you'll have to return.”

Comet Tail raised his claw - why did he have a claw and yellow eyes? - and snapped his fingers with an echoing, rolling laugh.

And the very next thing, instead of this cozy hole-in-the-wall pub on Canter Alley off Mane Street, I was in the middle of the forest. At night. 

And someone was firing crossbows at me.


***


I am not a proud mare, so I can admit, there may have been some screams of surprise. And maybe just a tiny bit of fear. 

But six months of roaming the desert, living in the wilderness, staving off sandbeasts and delving into the ruins of the Temple of The Blackened Cutie-Mark had taught me some survival skills. Not so long ago I would not have even considered that someone could have an earnest intent to kill. I would have tried to talk to them, to figure things out, apologize for dropping into their forest even… I would have been dead.

Now, before I even knew what was going on, I had already hit the ground, rolling to cover and released a spell I took a habit of being ready to cast at all times - a mare cannot be too careful, even in Canterlot. The tip of my horn shone brightly and for an instant, the night turned into day as everything drowned in the brilliant white light.

Within the flash of my spell lighting the forest, everything turned stark black-and-white, like a pencilled comic frame, and while the world stood still I could take in the scenery: an unfamiliar forest, a half-dozen strange bipeds armed with crossbows and steel swords on a hill not far from my position and a victim - one of them, sprawled on the ground, his hand raised in defence against their blades.

In a pause born of their fear and confusion, I took my time and summoned The Southern Wind. It is a complex spell, one I studied with Nada, uncovering the name of the willful elemental and weaving it into the pattern of my magic. I used it many times before, I knew it like a back of my own hoof… and it failed utterly. Instead of wind rushing to my aid, a gale to scatter the creatures, my magic called out and nothing came.

It was as if there was no Southern Wind in this place at all as if I was shooting into empty space. And as I stood there like a lost little filly, the enemies - whoever they were - recovered and took their aim.

Bolts flew past me, hitting the trees and the earth; one of them chipped the splinters of the huge oak that served as my cover straight into my muzzle, and I shrieked in sudden fear. The bolt that was mere inches from my head was sharp and heavy; a deadly weapon aimed to murder. 

One of them has raised his sword against the defenseless victim on the hill, moonlight flashing off of the blade, and that meant I had no time to be nice. Summoning the best shielding spell I could, and screaming in fear and anger in equal measure, I broke into a gallop towards the shooting creatures, my hooves slipping on the leaves and roots of the trees. They shot again, but the bolts could not penetrate the turquoise dome of my spell; before they could reload, I broke into their ranks.

I grabbed one of them into my magic as I did, and a twitch of my head and an effort of will threw him into the others. A lucky buck to the shin sent the soldier behind me down the ravine, and then the fight spiraled into the chaos of moving limbs and magic blasts, adrenaline and the thumping of blood in my ears drowning out the sheer terror of the combat.

Something cold and sharp raked across my flank. I yelped, more in surprise than pain, and whirled around, shooting waves of flame wildly in every direction. The spell hit the last of the attackers straight on, hurling him clean off of his feet with the ‘whoomp’ of expanding air. 

That was the last straw, and grabbing their wounded and screaming something about sorcery and foul magics they ran off.

Only their victim and I remained.

I went up to him to see if he needed some help. He stirred and opened his eyes with a moan of pain. And then he screamed in surprise. Startled by the sudden sound, so did I. It was a whole screaming thing, before the both of us calmed down, and in the pale green light of my magic we could look at each other.

That is how I met my first human.