Chapter 14 Horse Halfways
“Twilight! Why the frowny-face?”
Twilight looked up from her gaze-less thoughts, meeting the warming face of a pink friend. “Just waiting for a train,” she said, gesturing around the emptiness of the station, “What are you doing here, Pinkie?”
“I saw you looking all mopey-like walking through town so I followed you. No friend of mine is going to be feeling down while I can help it,” she said, the party pony’s energetic style leading her words.
Twilight gave a weak smile. That was what she loved about Pinkie. Always the best friend looking to help.
“Oh, no,” Pinkie said, “I’m going to need a bigger smile than that.”
Twilight gave a small chuckle; she couldn’t help it.
“That’s better. Now, what’s got you all down, Twilight? Auntie Pinkie’s here to help.”
“Well,” she said, “There’s been some… recent developments concerning a new friend. Not very good developments.”
“You mean the human?”
“Yeah the — wait, how did you know about her? No, wait, let me guess. Pinkie sense?”
She shook her head. “Nope! Fluttershy told me about her earlier this week. And I did see her a few times outside her cottage.”
“Oh. Should’ve known better than to try to understand your sense,” she said to herself, “But yes, it’s the human. She’s been wanting to go home but due to… reasons it seems she won’t be able to. Ever.”
“Aw, that’s horrible!” Pinkie exclaimed, “She must be so sad.” She gasped loud enough for it to echo. “You know what she needs?”
“Ah, Pinkie. I don’t think a party would be best,” Twilight admitted, “It might just make things worse, actually.”
“Party? Silly-filly, I wasn’t going to say party.”
“You weren’t?” Twilight responded, honestly surprise raising an eyebrow. Zero for two.
“No. A wise donkey once taught me an important lesson I won’t soon forget: Everypony is different and they all have their own way of expressing their friendship. Or something like that,” she said as she looked about off-hoofedly, smiling innocently, “I doubted she would’ve appreciated the whole town surprising her.”
“I remember you wrote something like that in one of the friendship reports,” Twilight recalled, “I think that was one of the best lessons we learned. It really tells of the wide variety of friends out there that you can have.”
“Thanks! Now, I was going to say she needs her friends there for her.”
“She’s with Fluttershy right now and I doubt Vinyl knows and… I’m going to go talk with Princess Celestia about this…” she trailed off.
“You’re leaving for Canterlot now of all times? Well, if it’s for a good reason to help her…” She put a hoof to her chin as she put on her “thinking face.”
“Pinkie?” the alicorn asked, her smile dropping a notch, “Could you do me a favor? Could you go check on Ryan and Fluttershy? I want to make sure everything’s okay over there.”
“You got it, Twi!” she agreed.
“Thanks,” she said, “I really appreciate it.”
“Anything for a friend,” she replied in always-cheerful sing-song voice.
Twilight nodded gratefully, watching as her friend trotted, or rather bounced on her hooves, away. Then she turned back to the lonesome of the train station, her smile dropping as a million thoughts rushed back to her.
The alicorn had a task ahead of her, she knew, but she didn’t specifically realize what that task was. The usually-planning mare had thought ahead no further than the goal of talking to Princess Celestia, the few subjects she felt she should expect disregarded. Of those expectations, however, they all had something in common. They all revolved around one certain out-of-place person. She cared for her friend despite the small amount of time they knew each other. And what kind of Princess of Friendship would she be if she didn’t try to help?
But for now, she was stuck waiting in the empty railroads.
Ryan got to her feet, legs a bit unsteady but offering her support. One particular limb was finally healed after all. She glanced about the cottage in a haze, her tired eyes giving off a blurred, unfocused view to the world, a trait that went both ways.
To say Ryan was feeling down would be a gross understatement. She felt horrible in both emotional and physical ways. Having a breakdown tended to do that; she had come to realize that all too well the past week and more. Unlike the earlier ones, there was no fear or anger inspiring her turmoil of emotions. Only the emptiness of despair, which she ceded, was far worse. With fear and anger, there was at least something to be directed at, but with this, all she had was herself, and that never failed to make terrible company.
Fortunately or unfortunately, her solitude of despair wasn’t a void, rather, it was a pit that she clung to the edge of, her grip tightened by one thing—her own determined set of mind. She did have anger, yes, but what good was it if it were just let to boil? Instead, it was just another motivator to be put to use.
Ryan had the scraps of a plan in her head. She knew the ultimate goal was to go home, but that required opening the gate, which required cutting off the Crystal Heart’s power, which required who-knows-what? Of course, this was all assuming she could even get to the Empire, which could be on the other side of the planet for all she knew. Hardly worthy of being called a plan if it couldn’t even start.
So, she concluded, she needed help.
She trudged to the door, leaving a quaking, tense trail in her grounded wake. No one could stop her; she was sure of it.
“Ryan?”
Except for her.
Ryan turned to the pegasus slowly, her feet pivoting until she faced the speaker.
“Are you going somewhere?” she asked, her timid voice barely audible in the silent background ambiance of the cottage at night. She, herself, looked depressed, as if it were her in Ryan’s position instead. She was true kindness and sheer empathy came with the act, along with a few other motherly traits… Ryan felt a tinge of guilt at the unintentional display for she knew it was her fault —
No, she cut herself off, It’s not my fault this time. It’s the blasted Princess’ fault. The saddened friend before her was just another victim of the princess, even if indirectly. Fuel to the fire.
“I’m just going to take a walk,” she lied, her unforced tone working for her, “I need some time.”
Her eyes stared up at Ryan a moment longer, her cyan eyes giving the deepest of understandings, if she could understand, even. It was doubted that her loved ones had been ripped away mercilessly. “Oh,” she said without much other than simplicity in her single word, “Do you want me to come with you?” she continued, this time latching onto a curious, hesitant tone.
Ryan held back a sigh at the pure care that emanated from such an unassuming person. She honestly did feel bad for the blatant lie she directly to her face, but there was no other way out without the pegasus trying to stop her, or worse, getting involved. She couldn’t do that to her. “No thanks,” she said in sincerity, “I’d rather have some time to myself.”
She merely nodded in turn, keeping her constant gaze transfixed on her wreckage of a friend. It was Ryan who broke and lost the indirect contest of staring, once again pivoting on her feet back to the door, simply reversing the previously taken action. Then she halted on and at a thought. She looked back, head watching from over her shoulder. “I… just want to say thanks… and sorry,” she began, “For everything. Thanks for taking me in on a whim just because I needed help, and then letting me stay. I hope I wasn’t a burden this past week; I know I’m not the best of people.”
The horse, eyes widened, opened her mouth, no doubt to deny the sudden claim, but Ryan cut her off sooner.
“And I want to say sorry for being such a rude, ungrateful… prick. At every moment. I know we already had this talk, but I just wanted to make sure you knew I was sorry.” She focused her attention once more to the door but quickly turned it back.
“Thanks. Fluttershy.”
She left before the little pegasus could say anything. She couldn’t bear to hear the kind words that would’ve inevitably came. So she walked away, leaving the quaint cottage behind.
She doubted she’d ever see her friend again. Shame, they don’t come like that often.
Twilight gazed aimlessly out the window of the passenger car of the train, watching the grassy world wash by in blurry splotches of green and brown.
Around her, she could her the shushed whispering of ponies from out of town taking the same express to Canterlot. They sat and gossiped about the fact that a princess of the kingdom was taking a common train to the capital, but Twilight paid them no mind. Anyone not from Ponyville had that reaction to her. Actually, some ponies in Ponyville still had that reaction, but she could only help that so much.
For once, Twilight was wishing she had used her royal power more. A chariot would be of quite good use at the moment. Alas, her modesty had struck and now she was stuck on the train. Her only other options were balloon and her own wing-power, one of which Pinkie was keeping for her and the other too much work. Anyways, the train gave her time to gather her wandering thoughts.
Still without a proper plan, she had spent her time simply pondering what had and what was going to happen. To be honest with herself, she was disaccorded. Her mentor, her friend, her even mother figure had left her conflicted. There was a clash of values in her head that consisted of the trust in her Princess’ judgment and her own sense of right from wrong.
“The princess knows what she’s doing!” one side argued, “She’s had centuries to know what’s for the best.”
“But how can that be right?” the other side rebutted, “It was just… cold! It’s like she didn’t even care. Surely there’s something that can be done for Ryan.”
Unfortunately for the alicorn, no amount of internal arguing would give her an answer. So instead, she sat in effective silence as the she thought to and against herself, never reaching a point of content.
She sighed.
She was anxious, to say the least. How odd it was that she could stand up to an ursa minor, yet going to meet one pony put her on and leaning over the edge. Granted, an ursa minor didn’t control the sun or was immortal or was the living embodiment of a goddess, but it was easy to see the idea. Was this how Ryan felt? she thought, To get anxious over something that would usually seem so small? She felt a sudden twang of sympathy for the human. She must’ve been feeling this uneasiness constantly. It’s a wonder she functioned so well after getting past their earlier misunderstandings.
She could only hope for Ryan at present. She didn’t bother trying to imagine what level of agony she was going through; she could never relate to such a horrible dilemma. She hoped for herself she never would be able to.
Hopefully everything was alright.
Ryan stood in front of the door to a house. She had just been there a mere set of hours earlier.
It would be so simple to knock on the door, but she held back, not out of reluctance but out of thought. Just why exactly had she come here? she thought to herself, To ask for help? Some part of her cloudy thoughts seemed to have led her here for that reason. But really, what could a DJ do, no offense to her or DJs?
The real question, however, was why she thought she could go to Vinyl for help. Like knocking on the door, it was simple but complicated. So she wouldn’t ask dear Fluttershy for help but would ask Vinyl? To commit what was probably treason? Favoritism, much?
No, it wasn’t favoritism. It was cold-blooded logic weighing the two. The only reason she felt more inclined to ask Vinyl was because some part of her felt Fluttershy deserved better. Disgusting, Ryan thought to herself, thoroughly displeased with her own jumpy thought process. To treat a friend like that… That would make her no better than Celestia, she figured.
Ryan knew she couldn’t ask for help from Vinyl, but at the very least, she could talk to her. So she knocked on the door.
“Heh, forget… something?” it said as it opened, revealing the DJ behind it. Her brash persona dissipated as quickly as her tone changed at seeing her friend’s face. It was solid and distant, with hints of a crying red lacing in remnants. “You okay?”
Ryan looked down at her friend—easily her closest friend in this whole otherworldly ordeal. “Hey,” she said, “What’s going on?”
Vinyl looked up at her suspiciously, one eyebrow perked and a frown adorning her face. “You left your record player here,” she carefully replied, “Messed around with it, found out how to make it play music… Okay, what’s wrong? Really? You’re not looking so good.”
“I’m not,” she monotoned
The DJ’s eyes widened, taking on a flush of concern for her friend. Sometimes the few spoken words tell the most. “Here, come inside.”
She complied, following Vinyl into the messy home. Nothing had changed, but she expected as much. It had only been a number of hours, after all. That didn’t stop the feeling that so much had changed and happened. A lot did, after all. It felt much longer than hours that she’d last been here recording music and talking and avoiding one obsessive unicorn’s advance. Speaking of the girl, she seemed to have already left. To Ryan, that was a relief. She would’ve just complicated the mess further. She thought an unspoken apology to not being able to see her again.
Vinyl took a seat, allowing space for Ryan beside her. “What’s wrong?” she inquired.
“I met Celestia…” she started.
“That’s great!” Vinyl exclaimed, drawing a frowning glare from the other, “Or… maybe not?”
Ryan let her features soften again. She couldn’t blame her friend for the mistake. She didn’t know better. If anything Fluttershy had said about their princess was true, then Celestia was seen as the wise, old, benevolent figure of harmony. It was only natural Vinyl would thing it to be a good thing. Oh, how little she actually knew about the real princess, Ryan thought.
“Sorry…” she amended, then said, “No, it wasn’t great. Things didn’t go well.”
Vinyl remained silent, allowing her to continue.
“She came over to help with getting me home. It started off simply enough. Well, mostly. I told her what had happened to me so far while I’ve been here, then she went on a tangent with some story about how there’s this… gate that actually connects to my world.”
“I’m guessing there’s something wrong with the gate?” Vinyl asked, her tone solemn as her inquiring eyes watched her friend.
“Yeah,” she confirmed, “It’s closed under her orders and won’t open it.”
“Huh? Why not?”
“Long story short, she doesn’t trust my kind ever since one guy came through with some soldiers. She says if she opened it, it would supposedly leave them wide open to more people like that.”
“So, she’s just leaving you here?” Vinyl concluded.
Ryan nodded, wincing.
“That… can’t be right,” she said, drawing a furrowed scowl, “That’s not like her.”
“She’s doing it for the ‘greater good’,” Ryan said, her face contorting into a bitter, sneering smirk.
She pondered a moment, “Why haven’t I heard of this gate before? It seems like a pretty big thing.”
“She’s keep it hidden from you all,” came the answer, “Same reason as before; she said it herself.”
The DJ went silent, an oddity considering her career choice. She was at a loss of words for both Ryan and the princess. The former was in a horrible, terrible situation and the latter was her kind ruler that could do no wrong — at least, it seemed that way. But here she was, being told of such a thing. Was it wrong, though? she questioned, This was for her subjects, after all. Maybe this —
She looked at Ryan. What she saw was the bent sliver of a woman that had been battered and left for the dust. The bent sliver of a dear friend.
No, she instantly realized, leaving her here can’t be right. The Princess’ reason for closing this gate may be justified but tearing away someone from where they belong couldn’t be, nor would it be, ever.
“Wolfe?” she asked, as she set a dead, serious stare on her, “Is there anything I can do to help?”
No. That was exactly what she wanted to avoid. “You do realize you’re offering to commit treason, right?”
“Oh, uh…” she floundered, then regained her confidence, albeit less so, “Yeah. But what do you mean treason? Just where is the gate?”
“In the Crystal Empire, held shut by the Crystal Heart.”
Oh.
“Oh.”
Ryan picked up the slack, saying, “I didn’t come here to ask for help, but I am grateful you offered. I couldn’t put that on you. The reason I came wasn’t to ask for help. It was to say goodbye.”
“Goodbye?” Vinyl sputtered, “What do you mean goodbye?”
“I’m leaving. Going home.” She turned to face the DJ.
“But… the gate. You just said it’s closed.”
“And I intend to open it.”
“All by yourself?”
“Hopefully not.”
“That’s… that’s… just crazy! Wolfe, how do you expect to even get there, let alone open the door?”
“…I have my ways.”
Vinyl looked at her, an unamused glower adorning her face. “Really?”
“Vinyl,” she rebutted, “I’ll find a way. Just trust me on that. This is something I need to do. I need to go home. To my family.”
The DJ looked up at her, her saddened eyes spelling reluctance. “I know,” she sighed, “So, is this it? Goodbyes?”
“…Yeah…”
“Well, then…”
“Vinyl,” she started, “Thanks. If it wasn’t for you I’d probably be some monster’s lunch, as funny as it sounds, but I’m serious. You put everything back in perspective when I was hopelessly lost. Thanks for that, really.”
“It’s nothing special, I already told you that.”
“But it is,” she countered, “You helped me, a complete stranger, just because you wanted to. Remember what I said earlier about not seeing you as the Fluttershy-type? I was wrong. You’re the best kind of person there is. I couldn’t ask for anyone better to call a friend.”
“Heh… thanks,” she said weakly, a hint of a sniff in her voice.
“What’s this?” Ryan capitalized, darning a mischievous grin, “Is the cold-hearted DJ actually showing emotion?”
“No!” she denied, her wavering voice defying her, “I just… I’ve never been good with emotional moments like this. But I don’t cry!”
Ryan laughed, an honest sincere laugh, the first bit of joy in being lost at sea. Even in her hour of darkness, she could always rely on friends for a grand moment. That’s what friends were: they were someone you could always count on through the roughest of opposing waves; they were there just because they wanted to be there with you, even if it ended in a complete wreck of a mess. And the best of friends were the ones for life, no matter what.
“Vinyl?”
“Yeah, Wolfe?”
“I have to go. But I want you to know that, if you’ll let me, I’ll always consider you a friend.”
“Same here, Wolfe, same here. And before you go, let me say that you’re one of the best people I’ve gotten to know. Thanks, too.”
“Anytime,” she said, then winced at the falsity of the statement.
She got up and headed to the door after retrieving her phone, followed by the equine. The following wouldn’t last beyond the door and into the outside, so Ryan savored the last few moments of togetherness. Who would have thought that her best friend would be a horse? She certainly didn’t.
As she stepped out, she turned back. She tried, but she still couldn’t keep eye contact without the anxious, powerful feelings of irrational fear bubbling up in her. She hated her phobia for doing it; she couldn’t look her friend in the eye and say bye, but she could at least say she tried.
“Bye, Vinyl,” she said, her simplicity once again speaking for what she hadn’t said.
“Wolfe,” she suddenly said, “Are you sure you don’t want my help? I will help. You just need to ask.”
“No,” she denied, “I couldn’t live with myself if you did that to yourself. You have your whole life ahead of you.”
“Tch… I know, just, be careful, alright?”
“I will.”
“Bye, Wolfe. It’s nice knowing you and always will be.”
“Thanks. Goodbye.”
Then she was gone, leaving the DJ left alone on her doorstep, gazing out down a beaten path, and thoroughly uncertain.
The princess, Twilight, steadily walked through the halls of the castle of Canterlot, her hoof steps echoing down the long corridors at a steady rhythm. Turning right around a corner, she beheld her goal — the broad, powerful doors to the Day Court.
As one guard had told after stopping her and then cringing at seeing who he had stopped, the Princess of the Sun was regarding business and papers leftover from after the Court had closed on time with its name.
With each passing step bringing her closer to the doors — and thus, the Princess — she, felt the unease of uncertainty clamp down on her at full force, threatening her steeled resolve. She always felt the nervousness of a student addressing their teacher for review when she was anticipating or was just in the presence of the solar alicorn, but this time, it was much more present and powerful, simply because of she had planned.
Or rather, had not planned.
The lavender alicorn still had yet to make a plan, something very, very unusual to her personality, and she couldn’t, for the life of her, figure out why she couldn’t formulate one. Not even a simple step-by-step process was in the recesses of her mind. She would have to commit the unforgivable sin of going in unprepared to her old teacher. It was a horrible, nagging feeling that wouldn’t stop bothering her, similar to the one she’d had when she was late for a Friendship Report, though less maniacal.
Being plan-less was just one part of her worry, however. Of what she knew for what she was going to do, questioning the Princess’ will was on the list. She’d never done such a thing, at least, not to this extent, and Twilight was divided between hers and her former mentor’s beliefs on the matter. She had her own opinions, but she knew it was always smart to hear all sides’ arguments before taking a side.
Of course, such a comparison implied that this would be an argument.
She certainly hoped not.
As she reached the tall, elaborate doors, she gave a small nod to the guard posted outside. He opened the doors a smidge without hesitation to his youngest ruler, stepping aside afterwards.
Twilight stepped inside the ironically dark hall of the Day Court. It was emptied of all ponies but earlier would’ve been a bustling hub of inquiries and requests to the solar alicorn that she could do with what she wished.
Across the hall and down the visitor’s path sat the Princess, herself. In a dull light of candles, she sat with a lazy demeanor looking at documents on parchment held aloft by her magic. She sat looking completely unfazed by the day’s earlier events, Twilight’s observant mind noted, as much as she told it to hush. She mustn’t think rudely of her. That was just… rude.
Twilight approached silently and unnoticed, her hoofs quieted out of the anxiety of being noticed. But that was the purpose of being here, she knew, so there was no point in keeping the charade. She took a breath and exhaled, then drew another as she spoke.
“Princess?”
Ryan strolled down an old, familiar path, one that she’d hadn’t taken in over a week. Around her she could see mountain ranges, one holding up the high towers of Canterlot. Behind her was a distant town. And in front of her was an apple orchard.
It was the same path from her first day in arriving, and now she was going the other way down the path on her last day. She hadn’t done so out of some sense of symbolism or humor. She just needed to get away. That, and her goal was probably around the place somewhere.
Well, what did the goal’s location matter, anyhow? She could have it now, but she had taken the time to think about what she was going to say.
She looked around the dusk-covered ways around her, then satisfied with herself and that she was alone, she called out.
“Discord?”
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I hope Ryan's plan succeeds. The Princess (and she really is only royalty, nothing more or less) had no right to be so cold, or to refuse to help her.
SHIT'S ABOUT TO GO DOWN!
Fight the power, Ryan!
Oh shit. It's gonna go down!
Oh yeah, I had forgotten she could call on Discord. I guess he is her ticket to the Empire.
Why do I get the feeling that even without whatever Twilight's going to say, when Ryan (eventually) gets to the Crystal Empire she's going to find Celestia sitting next to the open Portal, waiting for her?
Powering down the Crystal Heart, you mean the one that keeps the Crystal Empire from being bowled over by a glacier? She'd better be snappy.
Hmm, Discord. That... might just work, actually. Celestia's main issue with reopening the portal seems to be that it takes a long, long time to close. Discord's probably the only one who could work around that, that or the Elements if they're still an option - don't remember if they are.
But even then, Discord can probably zip the portal shut like a ziplock bag or something.
Rather obviouse outcome. You don't dangle something a human wants really bad and tell them they can't have it, we will find a way, we always find a way.
5156878
5156565
Do the impossible, see the invisible, row row, fight the power! Touch the untouchable, break the unbreakable, row row, fight the power!
5156878 As a species, so far, yes. The problem is that individuals are more than capable of utter failure.
I feel like this whole gate problem might have something to do with Sunset Shimmer. Maybe not, but it might help explain Celestia's strange behaviour.
I dunno, just a thought.
tensions are rising
Ooooh. Now I really want to see the next chapter...
Ooooh. Now I really want to see the next chapter...
5156878
So, if you really want a super-well-locked gate, on the other side of which bears technological marvels ready for the trading (since Equestria has gold and gems galore) but which you've lost the key for, how do you convince a human to tear the gate back open again?
By dangling it as the only method of getting back home, of course.
Lucky she has a home she wants to return to.
The next chapter will be delayed due to workings on a Halloween special. More details on the blog.
Don't worry, though. It will be worth the wait!
Thanks for reading!
If all else fails wolfie, make keeping you here a problem. maybe with something sharp/explosive, whichever you chose.
Well everyone seems out of sorts now. Ryan is still way quick to judge and grudge, but we accept that as one of her personality traits.
Still, it was extremely rude of Celestia to regal them all with a nice chunk of hope and then summarily smash it to bits.
Here's to hoping this leads to why the eqg portal only opens once every thirty moons.
Keep going! ;)
Be careful Ryan, for the road is dark and full of horses.
Why did Celestia even tell her about the portal if she couldn't use it? Thats just cruel, to give her hope and then smash it like that.
5275968 I know right?
Does anyone else have a sense of impending doom? Anyone?
Something tells me that if one of her own were accidentally magically sent to earth, Celestia would go through hell and back to see that singular pony's safe return to equestria.
5156692
If so, then the last thing she does before going home is stuff her fist up Celestia's nse, because that would be a really dick move if she intended it all along.
Oh damn! She's going with him as help!? Well, this just got even more interesting!
"You know Twilight, If you want to go see Princess Celestia so bad, why don't you just fly to Canterlot?"
"Because I'm lazy..."
And that apology didn't set off any red flags Fluttershy? My first thought after that would be if she was going to "un-life" herself, or something equally as foolish. All though, I seriously doubt Equestria has seen enough suicides for Flutters to even come close of that conclusion, but the danger sirens should still be blaring regardless.