2 - 19
Purple slowly fading into blackness.
Muffled voices reaches my twitching ears.
And my head is aching.
A groan escapes my lips as I lift my two hooves up and rub my furry pony head.
Damn it... It’s been a long time since I’ve had that nightmare. Only that one was more...painful. And heartbreaking. And confusing. So many jumps and cuts. If I can compare it to a Mario game, it would have been like the water levels: lazy, boring and missing sense. Throwing fireballs underwater? Pfft.
Anyway, I wish to never see that nightmare ever again.
“Are you even listening?” I hear Twilight ask from behind me.
“S-sorry,” I breath out as I put my two hooves down. Opening my eyes, I find myself in...darkness. Complete darkness. Standing up, I turn around and see everyone quite clearly...plus another Twilight. I blink. “...Uh.”
“What in Leg Crawler shit was that just now, anyway?” Moon Gaze squeaks from inside Xana’s pouch.
Leg Crawler...
“We were inside Jay’s dreamscape,” Winged Twilight says, hoof on chin, eyebrows furrowed and eyes burning holes on the darkness. “My consciousness would have been thrown back in time after I drank that potion, but I cast a spell on those gems to send all of us...all of our consciousness, because, well, more is better than one, as Pinkie always says.”
Reykan slowly pokes Seri, but his paw goes through her, making the swan giggle. “...Weird” he says as he sits down and tries but fails to claw the giggling avian. “Why can’t I touch her?”
Wingless Twilight mutters something under her breath.
“Ahem,” Winged Twilight clears her throat, catching everyone’s attention. “We can’t touch each other, nor can anything touch us,” she explains. “Not right now, anyway.”
“So where are we?” Moon Gaze asks. “It’s pretty dark, but I can clearly see everyone for some reason.”
Alicorn Twilight nods her head. “That’s because I’m in control of our united dreamscapes now.” She turns to me. “Earlier, it was Jay who was in control. I still don’t know why, but my theory is that...it’s because his grasp on the dreamscape was stronger than mine, or any one of us, probably because he was asleep.”
“Reykan was asleep, too,” Seri says.
Alicorn Twilight pauses to consider that. “...and maybe because Jay’s...species...has a stronger mind. Maybe.” Her ears droop. “If my other self haven’t figure out a way to, uh, wake him up, we could have been trapped in Jay’s dreamscape forever, even if he wakes up or even if the potion’s effect runs out...”
That’s a scary thought.
Unicorn Twilight grunts.
I guess anyone who’s asleep has more control over their dreams. Does that mean Twilight drank the potion while I was sleeping? Wait... I was sleeping? I remember the Leg Crawler... It bit me, and then...bits and pieces... If I was, or currently am sleeping, then that means we made it out of that millipede nightmare and got to Twilight’s. Phew... That’s a nice thing to look forward to when I ‘wake up’.
“...Why are there two of you, love?” Xana suddenly asks.
Alicorn Twilight blinks. “Well—”
“There are two Equestrias, remember?” Unicorn Twilight quickly replies, cutting the alicorn off. “The real one and the current one.” She gestures at the alicorn. “She’s from the real one.” She points a hoof at herself. “I’m from the current one. Do your simple brains understand that?”
“She’s the mad mare you all know!” Seri chirps, pointing at the unicorn. She then points at the alicorn. “And she’s the mare who looks like the mad mare you all know! Plus wings!”
Xana and Moon Gaze blink.
Unicorn Twilight rolls her eyes. “In any case—”
“Then why isn’t there another us?” Reykan suddenly asks, blinking.
Alicorn Twilight raises a hoof. “I can answer that. It’s because—”
“We’ve wasted enough time as it is!” Unicorn Twilight interjects, glaring at the panther cub. She turns that glare on me. “No thanks to you, alien.”
“I’m...sorry?”
Alicorn Twilight frowns at me. “Jay...” She takes a breath. “...I have a loooooooong list of questions I want you to answer later.”
“Yeah...” I lamely nod my head as I stare at the sudden unrolled scroll floating behind the alicorn. “...I can see that.”
She blinks, looks back and blinks at the floating scroll.
It poofs into the darkness.
She shrugs before looking back at us, her horn glowing. “Alright. Everypony ready to help?”
“Help with what?” Reykan asks.
“Oh!” Seri chirps, smiling at the cub. “You weren’t there when Twilight told Jay and Sienna the plan.”
“What plan?” Moon Gaze asks.
“Who’s Sienna?” Xana asks, blinking. “...And is this plan that ‘investgate’ thing you told us before all this...weird things started happening?”
Alicorn Twilight nods her head. “It’s about to get a little weirder, because we’re going to the past and see what caused the change, so brace yourselves.”
“I can’t wait!” Seri chirps.
Unicorn Twilight, her horn also glowing, looks at the kangaroo. “Remember, we cannot touch anything, and nothing can touch us. So if we suddenly appear in some unknown place, don’t you dare start freaking out.”
Xana and Moon Gaze are freaking out as we find ourselves under a clear blue sky and in the very middle of a large buffalo stampede.
Deciding it’s best to ignore them, Unicorn Twilight turns to her alicorn counterpart. “Where are we?”
“Um...” the alicorn looks around, ignoring the bodies and dusts passing through us. “...in a stampede?”
The unicorn frowns at her.
The alicorn smiles an awkward smile. “Eh heh heh... Eh... Um...” She looks around again as the stampede dies down. “By my calculations, I brought us back to a day before the change happened.”
“...Roughly a week ago?” I ask.
The alicorn nods her head as the stampede finally dies down, leaving a large dust cloud to settle. She turns towards a river where Xana and Moon Gaze have retreated, joined by Seri and Reykan. “I only came back here to see if I can actually bring all of our consciousness to the past.” She looks back at me with a smile. “I guess it works!”
“Congratulations,” Unicorn Twilight says with a deadpan. “Are we going to look for something here or what?”
The alicorn blinks. “Well...”
The unicorn stomps her hoof. “So you took us here for nothing then?”
“I said I wanted to test if I can bring all of us along, and it worked!” the alicorn counters. “That counts as something, right?”
“Why did you even bring these mindless asses along, anyway? Look what they’re doing!” The unicorn points at the four standing by the river. “Are they helping? No!”
“There’s nothing to look for in this part of the past anyway!”
“And need I remind you what this alien did?” the unicorn shouts, pointing a hoof at me. “This stupid ass-probed stallion wasted so much time already! So stop wasting even more time and go back to the past that actually matters!”
“Okay, okay!” the alicorn gives in, sighing. “Let me round them up first.”
“Don’t bother,” the unicorn says as she turns towards the four.
“But—”
“HEY!” the unicorn shouts, startling the four and making her counterpart and I wince. “Get your asses over here!”
Sheesh, hotheaded much? I shake my head and watch the four taking a couple of seconds to reach us.
“I can’t swim on the river,” Seri says with a pout as she lands.
“And I can’t drink the water,” Moon Gaze squeaks, panting. “And I’m thirsty.”
“No,” the unicorn frowns at him. “You’re not.”
Moon Gaze glares at her. His glare quickly fades as he blinks. “...Huh... I’m not thirsty anymore.”
“Your minds are the ones with us right now,” the alicorn explains. “If you think you’re hungry, then you will be. If you think you can fly, then you can.” She smiles at the curious blinks she received from them. “We’re not really in our bodies at the moment. Think of us as spirits—”
“Zip it,” the unicorn growls, shutting the alicorn up. “No point explaining to the idiots something that’s beyond their comprehension.”
The alicorn glares at her wingless counterpart. “Don’t be rude to them.”
The unicorn glares back. “Stop wasting time, and I might just do that.”
The purple mares hold their glares...
...that lasts for only three or so seconds until the unicorn groans. “Stop wasting time already! I doubt you’d want to send these morons to collect the ingredients again while you recharge those gems again!”
The alicorn closes her eyes and sighs. “...Fine.” She looks up at the blue sky. “...If I remember correctly, after I drank the potion Zecora gave me, it magically sent me to the past where an important event happened.”
“And this?” the unicorn asks.
The alicorn looks back at her. “I willed where I wanted us to go.” Her horn starts glowing. “If I’ll let the potion send me...send us to where it wants us to go, we’ll probably see something that’ll help us figure out what happened.”
“Hm...” The unicorn nods her head. “Sounds about right. Alright then...” Her horn starts glowing as well.
Xana leans her head down to my ear. “...Got any of that?”
I nod my head as the purple light gets stronger and stronger. “Yeah. But it’s best to just roll with it.”
“Yep!” Seri chirps in agreement.
“Roll with what?” Moon Gaze asks.
FLASH
As soon as I recover my vision, I find ourselves surrounded by trees in a dark forest, with cricket chirps echoing all around.
I blink... And blink... And blink again. This place looks...oddly familiar somehow. Have I been here before? It feels like I have, but I can’t put a finger on where...
Then again, ever since I got to Equestria, I’ve been walking through a number of nameless forests. Each one looks kinda the same, but this forest gives off a...familiar feeling.
“So where are we this time?” Moon Gaze breaks our silence.
“Looks like we’re in a forest,” Seri answers.
“No kidding, love?” Xana asks.
“Seri’s right,” Reykan nods his head as he turns to the kangaroo. “We’re in a forest.”
A brown hoof meets my face.
A groan escapes Unicorn Twilight’s lips as she looks at her counterpart. “...This is an important event, why?”
The alicorn shakes her head in confusion. “I’m not sure. I didn’t will it this time. I let the potion take us to where it wants us to—”
FLASH
A bright white light blinds us for a moment, silencing the night forest’s melodies almost immediately. The surprised yelps of our companions accompany the sudden thud noise that breaks through the silence.
And then everything’s quiet.
I rub my eyes as I hear the others fussing about that sudden white light.
“So there are two Jays now?” I hear Moon Gaze ask.
Arching an eyebrow, I bring my hoof back down and open my eyes to see the others looking at...myself...my pony self, who’s lying on the grass, fast asleep. I blink. “...Wait, what?”
Reykan pokes my head, but his paw goes through my head instead. “Huh...”
“Oh! Oh!” Seri suddenly chirps, whipping her small head left and right. “Is there another me around here, too? Another cute Reykan, maybe? Where? Where?”
...Wait.
“What’s going on here, Twilight?” the unicorn asks. “Is this the important event?”
...I...think I know what this is...
“Um... M-maybe?” the alicorn replies with a strained smile.
The unicorn’s eye twitches. “...You’re useless.”
“I think...” I voice out, catching everyone’s attention. “...I know what this is. Or when this happened.” I look around, trying to see the horizon through the gaps in between the trees, until I finally see daybreak. “This is when I woke up and realized I’m...no longer human... That I became a pony. That I was no longer back home.” I look at them. “This was when I first woke up in Equestria.”
Dramatic much? I blame my bro and his love for animé.
Silence.
“...What?” Moon Gaze asks.
“Oh! I get it!” Seri chirps happily. “That weird place that always changes, where you’re a weird monkey creature thing! That place was your home, right?”
Sticks...and then monkeys... I shake my head, and then nod my head. “Yeah.” I rest my gaze on my sleeping past self. “...I still don’t know how I got here.”
“And after you woke up,” Alicorn Twilight adds. “You searched for me in hopes of sending you back?”
I smile a weak smile. “Yeah...” I rub the back of my neck with a hoof. “...But after you told me that you had no idea what happened to Equestria, I...decided not to tell you about...where I really came from.”
The alicorn frowns. “I really, really thought you were from the same Equestria where I hailed from, Jay. It gave me a little bit of hope that maybe there are others out there, too, who are like us, who still have the memories of the real Equestria, or that whatever happened wasn’t ‘permanent’ or something and can be reverted.” She sighs. “You lied to me...”
I let out a sigh as well. “I’m sorry. But... I didn’t want to burden you further.” I look away. “I thought it would be a good idea to not tell you until after I help you restore Equestria. After all...” I look back at her. “‘Oh, hey there, Twilight! Can you help me return home? I’m actually a human from another world, or dimension, that is probably far, far away from Equestria.’” I frown at her. “I really doubt you’d believe me.”
“I see his point,” the unicorn says. “Stupid as it may have been.”
I glare at her.
“I have no idea what you are all talking about,” Moon Gaze comments.
Seri turns to him. “Just smile and pretend you know what they’re doing and saying. It prevented Twilight from getting many headaches when we first met.”
“I’ll take your word for it, love,” Xana says before turning back to us. “So what now? We wait for Jay...er, Second Jay to wake up?”
“No,” the alicorn says, shaking her head. “We figure out what that light was, or where it came from.”
“In front of Jay,” Reykan says immediately.
Both Twilights turn to him.
“...The Jay that’s sleeping.” The cub blinks and shrugs. “I saw him floating in the light. And that light was in front of him.”
“Floating?” I ask.
“You saw what happened?” the alicorn asks. “In that light?”
Reykan shrugs again. “Well, yeah. I guess I did.”
“That’s incredible!” the alicorn exclaims, smiling. “I didn’t know nocturnal creatures can see—”
“Zip the science mumbo-jumbo, Einstallion,” the unicorn grumbles.
The alicorn blinks. “...Right, right... Ahem.” She looks back at the cub. “...So what else did you see? Did you see who or what caused that light?”
“Nope,” Reykan replies.
Alicorn Twilight’s ears droop. “O-oh... Um...why not?”
“Because I closed my eyes? The light hurts, you know,” the cub answers with a glare.
“Useless,” the unicorn mutters.
“But you’re sure that the light was in front of Jay?” the alicorn presses on. “Like... Jay suddenly showed up floating, and that the light really came from in front of him? It didn’t come from the sky or the horizon or outside this forest?”
“Nope.”
“So the light was close to Jay?”
“Yep.”
“How close? A few inches? Feet? Meters?”
Reykan blinks, his jaw and the alicorn’s snout already touching. He then eyes me. “...Jay? Why is she putting her face on mine?”
“She loves you, Reykan,” I reply automatically as Twilight awkwardly pulls her head back. “You two are mates now.”
Reykan glares at me as Seri giggles.
The alicorn rolls her eyes. “So how close was it, Reykan?”
Reykan sits down and pulls his two paws apart. “...Maybe this close.”
By my estimate, that’s about—
“Hm... About five or six inches,” the alicorn steals my thoughts.
“And what good would that information be if the predator didn’t even see who or what brought the alien here?”
The alicorn looks at her wingless counterpart. “It’s useful, actually. I can safely say that it wasn’t a portal. And it summoned Jay with the same light that changed Equestria.” She sits down. “I was sitting around the cutie map when that light appeared. In a blink, Equestria changed. But if what Reykan said is true, then Jay was summoned here after Equestria was changed.” She looks grim. “...It’s safe to assume that there is something or someone who’s doing this.”
“I can see your memories, too, Twilight,” the unicorn says. “That light in your castle was slower than the light that brought the alien here.”
The alicorn nods her head as the sleeping me suddenly pushes himself up and pauses, his wide eyes staring at his brown hooves.
Everyone’s attention are on the past me, who closes his eyes, sighs and stands up straight.
“My theory is that...” the alicorn says as we watch the past me looking over his shoulder. “...the light only appeared when something is changed...or added in Equestria.”
I turn to her. “...You theorized that I came here after Equestria changed, right?”
The alicorn nods her head. “I know where you’re going with that line of thinking,” she says as the others watch ‘past me’ bringing a hoof to his head, checking if he has a horn or not. And then he looks over his shoulder again. “That moment in the castle when the light appeared?” She shakes her head with a frown. “It doesn’t exist in this world.” She shifts her sad gaze on my past self. “We can’t see ‘that part of the past’ if it doesn’t exist in this Equestria’s past...”
Oh...
“What were you doing?” Moon Gaze asks.
I sigh and shrug. “Checking if I had a cutie mark, horn or wings.”
We watch the brown stallion walking towards the edge of the forest, mumbling something under his breath.
“Should we follow him?” Xana asks.
I turn to the Twilights and notice the alicorn is deep in thought.
“Cutie marks...” she mutters. “Cutie marks...! That’s it!” She looks to us with a big smile and sparkling eyes. “We don’t have cutie marks! Nopony does! Why do you think that is?”
“What’s a cutie mark?” Reykan asks, blinking.
Seri turns to him. “Twilight once told me what those are. She said it’s some weird things on pony’s flanks.”
Reykan blinks at her, then turns to me, and then stares at my flank. “...I don’t see anything weird on there.”
“That’s the point,” I say. “Now stop staring. You’re making me feel uncomfortable.”
The alicorn sighs. “...Not really the responses I expected.”
“So the cutie marks are gone,” the unicorn says. “That’s another big change, isn’t it?”
“It is,” the alicorn nods her head. “You said that the light was somewhat slower when Equestria was suddenly changed than the light that brought Jay here. I think it’s because the former is a large change than the latter. Cutie marks are on everypony, so that’s a large-scale change.”
The unicorn nods her head. “It’s still quick, but still slower. Unless—”
“And if we know where to look, we can be there right before it happens!”
“The potion will take us there and we’ll be able to see who or what is causing these changes.” The unicorn shakes her head. “But—”
Smiling excitedly, the alicorn lights up her horn in a purple glow. “And once we figure out who or what caused this, we can finally start figuring out how to fix Equestria!”
“Yay!” Seri cheers.
Unicorn Twilight glares at her counterpart. “Twilight.”
“Hm?”
The unicorn glares at her. “Instead of wiping everypony’s cutie marks, what if they stopped the discovery of cutie marks?”
The alicorn blinks, the glow on her horn dimming.
The unicorn continues: “The very first pony who got their cutie mark. What if that never happened?” She shakes her head. “That’s a small change.”
The alicorn’s ears droop. “...I...haven’t thought of that.”
“Well now you do,” the unicorn says. “It’s going to be a quick flash again,” she says as she lights up her horn. “So we should have a quicker eye.”
The alicorn sighs, her horn’s glow brightening. She looks up at her counterpart with a determined look and nods her head. “You’re right.” She looks at the rest of us. “We’re going to need everypony’s help with this. Ready?”
I shrug.
FLASH
As my vision slowly return, my ears twitch to the harsh howls of icy wind. I blink, and blink again. Why am I still seeing white? Oh wait... Is... Are we in a blizzard? I’ve never been in a blizzard before, and I have no plans of changing that.
Anyway, it appears that we really are in a blinding white blizzard, snow zooming past and through us in blurring speed.
I turn and can clearly see the others looking around, except for Xana, who’s shivering all over, but her face is twisted in confusion. I’m not feeling the bitter cold of our surrounding, so the others probably don’t as well, but maybe Miss Roo is shivering because her mind is telling her otherwise? Like instinct, maybe? Reykan and the others don’t look like they’re having any trouble though.
“Brr...” Xana hisses through clench teeth. “I hate snow...”
“It’s not even cold,” Reykan says, blinking at her.
“Doesn’t matter,” the kangaroo says. “Snow is still snow...”
I guess it’s safe to assume that Alter-Equestria snows, too.
Unicorn Twilight rolls her eyes.
“So where are we now?” Moon Gaze ask shakily from the kangaroo’s pouch, his poked head shaking with his shaky host.
“In a blizzard, I think,” Seri answers with a beaked smile.
“This doesn’t make sense...” we hear Alicorn Twilight mutter. We turn to her and see her sitting on the untouched snow, deep in thought. “Why did the potion sent us here? It wasn’t snowing when the cutie marks were discovered.”
I tilt my head to the side. “...How were cutie marks discovered anyway?” I don’t remember any mention of that in the show. All I remember is that a cutie mark will appear on one’s flank after they realize what they are passionate about...or destiny...or something.
Alicorn Twilight looks at me and opens her mouth—
“Ancient ponies,” Unicorn Twilight suddenly says. “Cave ponies discovered fire. They utilized it. They got fire-related cutie marks. The end.”
Alicorn Twilight closes her mouth. “Um... Yeah. What she said.”
I blink. Cave ponies? Discovered fire? So like humans then, minus cutie marks?
She looks around. “Maybe the potion sent us here because—”
A ghostly whine pierces through the blizzard, making us look at the direction where the noise had come from. Faint hoofsteps reach my ears. Many, many hoofsteps, and many, many ghostly whinnies, growing louder and louder by the second.
“...Are we in the middle of a stampede again?” Reykan asks, blinking at the white world in front of him.
“Should we run and panic again?” Moon Gaze asks.
“It’s a good thing I can fly!” Seri smiles.
The rat glares at her. “Lucky you,” he grumbles.
“No, you idiots,” Unicorn Twilight says, glaring at them. “How many times do we need to tell you that we can’t touch anything and nothing can touch us—”
I gasp and jump in surprise when I suddenly see a tall and ghostly horse-like creature breaking through the whiteness a few feet or meters in front of me, and galloping through me! I blink a confused blink in time for another ghostly equine to gallop by, and another, then another, and another. I sigh in relief as a herd of stampeding ghost horses are galloping by, through and over us, ignorant of our presence.
“They’re Windigoes,” Alicorn Twilight says as we turn to the direction where the ghostly herd are headed. “They’re spirits of legend that can freeze an entire continent by feeding off the hatred and negative energies of those living on it.”
“Eating what?” Reykan asks
Her brows furrow. “I say we follow them.”
Unicorn Twilight nods her head. “Quickly, before we lose sight of them in this blizzard.”
“W-we’re gonna just chase after them blind?” Moon Gaze asks as we run with the ghostly equines. “What if we fall or bump into something?”
Unicorn Twilight grunts in annoyance.
We can no longer see any trail or tail of the Windigoes. We can’t even hear their galloping hooves nor their ghostly whines anymore. Instead, all we can hear is the violent howling of the blizzard all around us.
And Unicorn Twilight isn’t happy about it.
“I can’t believe we lost them!” she yells, stomping her hoof on the undisturbed snow, only for her limb to phase through the ground. “Why can’t they just run in a straight line?!”
“Maybe they were trying to lose us?” Xana says. She and Moon Gaze flinch and whimper under the unicorn’s piercing glare.
Unicorn Twilight holds her glare on them for a few seconds before shifting them on her counterpart. “You! Why didn’t you fly after them?! You have wings, for Celestia’s sake!”
The alicorn bites her bottom lip, looking away. “...Um... I’m a bad flyer.”
“Me too,” Seri says with a nod. “Hard to fly in strong winds, especially in a blizzard like this one.” It was surprising to see Seri managing to keep up with us without using her wings.
The unicorn groans. “Great! Just great! We’re stuck in this blizzard with no knowledge of where we are and where to go!”
I slowly raise a brown hoof.
The unicorn notices it. “What?”
I frown at her, then turn to the alicorn. “You winged ones can fly up and see if you can...see anything.”
“We’re in a blizzard!” U-Twlight says. “Empowered by the windigoes, no less! How are they supposed to see anything up there other than this very blizzard?”
My frown grows heavier. “Well, sorry for suggesting something instead of whining about something.”
Oh, she’s fuming mad now, with her horn sparking. I’m really pushing my luck here, aren’t I?
“Calm down, Alter-Me,” Twilight says with a gentle smile as she tries to put a friendly hoof on the fuming unicorn’s shoulder. “It’s worth doing. I’m sure Seri and I will see something up there.”
The swan nods her head.
“Fine,” U-Twilight grunts, sitting down.
“Just take deep—”
“Shut up and fly already.”
A-Twilight’s smile falters. With a nod, she extends her wings and turns to Seri. “Shall we?”
Seri smiles and extends her wings as well. “Sure!”
And off they go.
“...Wow. We’re flying through the blizzard!” Seri’s voice echoes from above.
I blink... Wait... Didn’t they told us that we can fly in this world?
Moon Gaze sighs. “...I could have flown with her.”
“With Seri?” Reykan asks, blinking at the rat.
“With the winged unicorn, you dumb cat,” Moon Gaze grumbles.
“I thought you’re afraid of her?” Xana asks with a teasing smile.
“...half of her.”
U-Twilight rolls her eyes.
FLASH
I cannot believe something whiter and brighter than white itself can suddenly flash and blind me! But it happened!
As I rub my closed eyes and hear the others groaning and grunting from the sudden flash of light, distant and echoing cries and whinnies of the windigoes reaches my ears.
...And then silence. I can’t even hear the loud howling blizzard anymore.
Blinking, and blinking, I look up and around.
The blizzard’s gone.
A clear blue sky and a snowy white landscape greets us.
“...What just happened?” Moon Gaze asks as I look up and see A-Twilight and Seri flying back down.
“I hate snow and I hate blizzards but,” Xana says, looking around. “...blizzards don’t just stop like that.”
“It was because of that white flash, huh, Jay?” Reykan asks as the winged duo ‘lands’ around us.
I nod my head.
“The light came from over there!” Seri points towards a direction.
“It’s pointless now,” U-Twilight says, shaking her head. “We’ll just have to go back to the distant past where the cutie marks were first discovered.”
A-Twilight nods her head before turning to where Seri has pointed. “Still, we should go and check out the location of where that light had come from.”
U-Twilight sighs. “Fine.” She glares at her counterpart. “But if it turns out that it’s all a waste of time, I’m taking over our body after this.”
A-Twilight gulps and nods her head.
A few minutes later—
“I think we’ve been walking for almost half an hour now,” A-Twilight suddenly says to no one in particular. “I estimated the potion’s effect to last only around half an hour.”
“Then clearly you were wrong,” U-Twilight responds back as we stop.
Anyway, as I was saying...or thinking...or narrating to myself... Standing on the snowy white landscape, we see a small group of colorful ponies down the snowy valley, all huddled together to share their warmth.
“Poor ponies,” Xana whispers. “This is why I hate snow. I don’t like how helpless we are to it, and there’s barely any or no food for us to eat. And look at them! They’re so vulnerable to predators!”
“Yep,” Reykan nods his head, ignorant of Xana’s, Moon Gaze’s and U-Twilight’s glares. He shrugs. “Too bad I’m not hungry and I couldn’t touch them.”
U-Twilight turns to her counterpart. “Well?”
A-Twilight is looking at the group with a critical eye. “...One of them is flying...” she points out. “And those ponies are...earth ponies...and unicorns...and pegasi.”
“Good eye,” Moon Gaze says. “I can only see them as a bunch of mashed-up colors from here...”
“What’s your point?” U-Twilight asks.
A-Twilight turns to her. “...Those ponies... Those three ponies in particular are—”
“Commander Hurricane,” I chime in. “Princess Platinum and...uh...” I blink. “...Pudding...something...”
A-Twilight turns to fully face me. “You know, for someone who’s not native and who just arrived barely a week in this world, you sure seem to know a lot about us.” She shakes her head and turn back to the huddled ponies. “Not only them though. But also Smart Cookie, Private Pansy and...Clover the Clever.” A pause. “...I’m containing a squee, by the way.”
“I wonder why,” I say.
U-Twilight rolls her eyes.
A-Twilight turns back to us. “Anyway, it’s strange to see them...like that.”
I nod my head. “If I remember correctly, they were having a meeting in a large building or something, arguing about the snow.”
A-Twilight nods. “Yes. And they then moved to Equestria.”
“Moved to Equestria?” Xana asks. “Does that mean they are currently not in Equestria?”
A-Twilight nods. “The unicorns and earth ponies believed that the pegasi—”
“Save the history for later, Twilight,” U-Twilight says, glaring. “So we see that they also don’t have basic knowledge in making shelter...just like in the current Equestria.” She looks at the group below. “And I don’t see any marks on their flanks either.” She looks back at her counterpart. “So what was that flash about?”
A-Twilight stares and stares at the group.
Silence.
And then...
“...The windigoes...” She mutters. “That light must have been for the windigoes...” She turns back to us. “Those ponies... They couldn’t live here anymore, so they went out and searched for a habitable land, away from the windigoes.”
“So they don’t go and multiply in Equestria,” U-Twilight cuts in. “So what? Who cares?”
“Unity,” A-Twilight tells her. “The windigoes united the three tribes. So if the windigoes were to suddenly disappear...”
U-Twilight blinks at her. She looks away. “...I see the point.”
“So,” Moon Gaze squeaks. “The reason we pegasi and other ponies don’t get along is because some blizzard horses were suddenly gone?”
A-Twilight nods at him. “The three tribes, united in Equestria, helped spread that unity all across the land.” She looks back at the ponies in the valley. “Once the snow melts, they’ll go back to their own tribes, to their own races, and they’ll be hating the others again.”
“Aww...” Seri frowns a sad frown.
“Meh,” Reykan meh’s.
“Right,” U-Twilight says. “It’s sad, but whatever. We didn’t see what or who got rid of those equines.” She turns to her counterpart. “We should let the potion show us the next change before it’s magic runs out.”
A-Twilight nods her head. She lights up her horn and—
“Wait,” I say, catching the purple mares’ attentions. “Twilight, can’t you just...rewind and pause, rewind and pause until we see what caused that light?”
“No, we can’t,” A-Twilight says with a frown. “It’s the potion controlling the ‘time’ in the dreamscape. If I will it to stop and ‘rewind,’ we’ll end up in that dark place after Alter-Me ‘woke you.’”
“Oh...” I don’t get it, but it’s best to end it there.
“Don’t worry,” A-Twilight smiles. “We’re going to the past where the first cutie mark was discovered. All we have to do is find the pony and look above and around them while we wait for the light.” She looks at each and every one of us. “With this many eyes, I’m sure at least one of us will catch a glimpse of who or what caused Equestria’s change.”
I nod my head.
“Everypony ready?”
Seri eagerly nods her tiny little head. Reykan shrugs. Moon Gaze squeaks an affirmative.
“There won’t be any snow in the next destination, right, love?” Xana asks.
A-Twilight taps her chin. Seconds later, she brings her hoof back down as she shakes her head. “...Not that I know of.”
Xana nods her head with a smile. “Alright then.”
I wonder if the Cutie Mark Crusaders are the ones behind this. I mean... I haven’t seen them in the altered Equestria, nor do I remember Applejack mention about a younger sister. Then again, they already got their cutie marks, so I guess—
FLASH
“I am never going to get used to that,” I mutter as I rub my eyes with my hooves.
“Me neither,” Moon Gaze says.
My ears twitch as the sounds finally register in my brain. It sounds like it’s raining. A super strong and super heavy rain.
Thunder roars from the sky.
“Thankfully,” I hear Twilight say as I look around. “This is the last stop the potion is going to take us.” She taps her chin with a hoof. “...Unless something was changed even before this era.”
“I sure hope this is the last one,” U-Twilight says, looking around.
Aside from the heavy rainfall, the occasional roars of thunder and flashes of lightning in the stormy, evening sky, we find ourselves surrounded by large boulders and dead trees, with crashing waters running on large rivers.
“Wild storm?” Reykan asks.
“Looks like it,” Xana replies.
“I hate wild storms,” Moon Gaze says, glaring at the chaotic dark clouds up above. “Can’t touch or kick their clouds. No way of stopping them. They also pull our harvested clouds to add to their dark cloudness!”
Harvested clouds? Pegasi harvest clouds?
“Focus, everypony,” A-Twilight calls. She flaps her wings and looks around, hovering above the heights of the boulders. A lightning flash momentarily blinds us, and then a crashing thunder follows, shaking the ground. “We should be on the lookout for ponies around here.”
“Like those guys?” Reykan suddenly asks.
Everyone turns to him, and then follows his line of sight.
Meters away, we see a foot of a dark and rocky mountain. It looks nothing special until a flash of lightning washes the earth with bright white light, making us see a huge mouth of a cave, completely hidden in the darkness of this stormy night.
Another flash of lightning, and I see white frames of huddled ponies sleeping inside the cave.
“That must be them...” A-Twilight says as she lands. She points at something. “See those dead trees around the cave? I bet lightning will strike one of those and—”
Lightning strikes one of the dead trees, exploding its main tree target and igniting the others around it in ruby flames. Startled by the loud crashing and cracking noise close to them and now awash with the ember light of the large fire that’s eating the trees, the ponies inside jump on their hooves and shuffle deeper inside while their scared eyes are locked on the dancing flames outside the cave.
“Quick!” A-Twilight shouts, flapping her wings. “Go near the trees! We’ll have to see what causes the light!”
Seri flaps her wings and follows the alicorn while the unicorn runs towards the burning tree.
“Fire is a scary thing...” Reykan mumbles.
“Good thing it can’t hurt us then,” I say as I turn to them. I gesture with my head to follow the others. “Now come on.”
“What exactly are we looking for, anyway?” Moon Gaze asks as we run after the unicorn.
Up ahead, a burning branch snaps off of the burning tree. Landing on the wet, rocky ground, it bounces and rolls inside the cave, leaving ember sparks and trails behind it.
“Seri,” the alicorn calls above the trees. “Stay here and keep an eye out.”
“...You want me to pull one of my eyes out?”
“No! Just... Just stay here and try to see what or who makes that light.”
“Oh, okay! We’re not talking about the lightning, right?”
“Nope!” A-Twilight glides down and hovers outside the mouth of the cave.
“I’ll stay out here,” U-Twilight says, standing a few meters from the burning trees, joined by Xana and Moon Gaze.
Reykan and I stop outside the cave as well, watching the curious ponies talking amongst themselves in a language I don’t understand.
“Oh my gosh oh my gosh—” Twilight chants under her breath, rapidly blinking at the scene.
Soon, the ponies all look at one pony. With a determined nod, the curious and muscular earth pony stallion quietly and carefully approaches the burning branch.
“I don’t blame then for being scared,” Reykan says as the heavens roar a mighty thunder. “I’m scared of it, too. Who wouldn’t be?” He shakes his head. “It’s hot, and it hurts and it can kill and it can destroy homes.”
Uh huh... “Focus, Reykan. I need you to see beyond the light that you saw,” I say as the pony tries to touch the flame.
The warmth brings a smile to his lips, but said smile disappears as a yelp escapes his mouth when his hoof got too close, making the other ponies behind him jump in fright. He stands up and turns to his peers, saying something to them, along with hoof gestures. Blinking, his companions look at each other before slowly approaching the fire. The smiling stallion steps aside, giving way to the others to experience the fire’s warmth.
What’s that weird humming noise—
“There!”
“Where?!”
“I see it!”
“Gah!”
“What is it?!”
FLASH
The white light disappears...and so is the ember light. A loud cracking noise, and then the burned trees crash to the ground, startling the ponies inside the cave and making them run deeper inside, away from the violent elements of nature.
“Did you see it?!” U-Twilight shouts as she runs and stops beside me, looking at the hovering alicorn. “Tell me you saw it!”
Xana stands behind us as Seri lands beside the unicorn.
Slowly, the alicorn flies down on the ground. ‘Landing,’ she turns around with a dumbfounded look on her face.
“...I take it that you saw what caused the light,” the unicorn says.
“I did,” Reykan says. He shrugs. “But I don’t know what it was...”
I didn’t... How am I supposed to see beyond such a bright light?
“Twilight!” the unicorn yells, snapping the alicorn back. “Are you going to tell us or would you rather I invade your mind?”
A-Twilight closes her eyes and takes a deep, deep breath. With a slow nod, she says: “Yes... I saw it.”
I arch an eyebrow. “It?” I ask.
Reopening her eyes, she nods her head. “Yes.” She frowns. “It was a—”
A loud roar of thunder erupts from the heavens.
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Finally a story which addresses this point.
It gets really bothersome when you have transformed HiE stories where the human gets shamed because they don't come out immediately and tell their story which would sound crazy to any sane person.
I want to call out and say Starlight Glimmer buuuuuut I'm not so sure.
is that really impossible to fix tribes fighting in the present?
7311602 What's worse is I can get away with it.
This chapter was made of cliffhangers. And ended on one.
The history of this world is an interesting one though. The development of civilization was stopped, and with it cutie marks were lost, the true danger of the windigoes was removed, and because of it the seeds of true unity between the tribes were never planted...
I do like the idea that it was an earth pony that discovered fire. Runs with the hints that earth ponies are the more industrious and technologically progressive of the tribes.
It was Twilight, wasn't it? She wanted to see the first Cutie Mark and just so happened to pop in at the wrong time...
Discord being the reformed guy that he is decided to go back in time and stop all the bad things that happened to ponies from the beginning.
I really hope it wasnt a camera sent back to try and film what happened that very first time.
So "adding" Jay was the third step of the plan huh?
That is the one unnusual change compared to the rest.
The very interesting bit of information we got from Twi is the "a", implying it isn't someone she know, and may even not be a "person" at all and "just" a creature.
Ps:
"do" look?
Suuuuure
7312245
I have no idea what you're talking about.
Thanks for catching that.
...hey... author you missed.... you forgot to add the second half of the chapter... because i reFUSE TO BELIEVE IN THIS CLIFFHANGER
Do you believe that my being stronger or faster has anything to do with my muscles in this place? Do you think that's air you're breathing now? Free your mind, Neo.
Hey, someone other than Jay got shipped! Although I think Reykan would probably be better suited to unicorn-Twilight. Alicorn-Twilight probably has her heart set on Flash Sentry. Or, maybe she'll fall for Jay. Damn it, I just shipped Jay, didn't I!?
I think I've heard that before. That can't be good. I'm told that "A déjà vu is usually a glitch in the Matrix. It happens when they change something."
What if there are agents nearby? Run for your lives!
7311645 I don't think you did. After all, you've been caught red-handed. I'm sure you would have gotten away with it if it hadn't been for us meddling
kidsreaders. And ourdogscomments, too!Cliffhanger please.
What would really be a twist is if somebody got rid of the Windigos because they thought they would be helping Equestria's future.
7323821
And it's probably Sunset Shimmer