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Prologue968 words
1 - Admit One3,089 words
2 - Wake Up3,004 words
3 - And Smell The Roses2,897 words
4 - Echos of Remorse1,744 words
5 - First Steps2,711 words
6 - Hope1,737 words
7 - Base of the Mountain2,385 words

4 - Echos of Remorse

---Spark Eclipse---

We promptly made our way to the elevator. Twilight looked at everything in fascination when she managed to not focus on walking. When the elevator doors slid open and we shuffled into the small room that was the elevator with the only exit behind us, she opened her mouth to say something just as I pressed the button on the wall for roof access where the helipad was.

Twilight obviously did not expect the momentary sensation of extra weight due to the acceleration and a moment later the door we had entered opened again. We walked out onto a flat surface surrounded by sky. It seemed that there were buildings in the distance peaking over the close horizon created by the edge of the hospital roof.

Frosty was looking around for a moment before speaking to me. “Why are we up here?”

I replied, “We are waiting for our ride.” Then I spoke to Twilight, “How is technology at you home?” I said in yet another attempt to speak to her in a language half forgotten.

“Well, we mostly focus on magic to fulfill our needs. Most of our technology is meant to assist arcane functions.” Twilight explained.

“I see. Very opposite here. Look” I pointed out into the distance and directed Twilight’s attention to a small object approaching us. It quickly grew to a very large size and slowed to a stop above them. Twilight obviously had no idea what she was looking at. The hover car was like a giant quadcopter and far quieter than the original devices. It still created a huge downdraft that washed over the group.

The vehicle set down on the surface ahead of us before the rotors on the sides quieted down until the blurs resolved themselves into the rotor blades spinning to a stop. The toroidal shells that held the rotors on the rear of the car stowed themselves on the back of the car while several doors opened outwards, revealing seats that could hold a pony comfortably.

Frosty ran forwards in excitement at having the rare opportunity to ride in such a vehicle in spite of being a pegasus. Twilight approached slowly, investigating the craft. I watched her look up at one of the front rotors as if trying to find magical components. Since most things built outside of the United States, Canada, or the Principality of North America had little access to ponies, they rarely involved magic in their construction.

She noticed that I was watching her in mild amusement. I was interested in her curiosity but we had somewhere to be. I gestured to the inside of the vehicle patiently. Twilight complied and climbed in and took a seat next to a window. The other two sat on seats facing towards her. I sent a request for the car to readjust one of the seats which extended and lowered a bit before sitting down.

“Lean back,” I requested. Twilight complied and watched as I pulled the seat belt across her chest. I inserted it into the buckle in the seat as she watched closely. “For safety,” I said.

I knew Twilight’s curiosity was on the rise but she didn’t voice any questions. She was watching as the rotors moved back into position outside the vehicle. The upwards acceleration pushed us all into our chairs. The building sank beneath us, quickly bringing the city down below into view. I turned my attention from Twilight as she gawked at the city below and then San Francisco just a few miles to the north, but I looked out to the ocean.

I was concerned about the mare. I could only hope that her curiosity would stave off depression long enough for her to accept her loss and form new relationships. The odds were that whatever space teleportation pulls ponies through was once again too agitated to allow travel between worlds for long enough for everyone involved to forget that is was ever possible.

Either way, the vehicle was moving towards the coast and Twilight’s observations didn’t have long to last before we approached a forested region down the coast away from the large bridge. We passed through the security barrier which felt like a torrent of magic that may as well have been a tornado for a second before it ended just as quickly. She looked disoriented but quickly recovered. She recovered quickly while the other mares had yet to recover. My main had been plastered against the seat and window behind me, creating the illusion of luminescent snow.

---Twilight Sparkle---

My curiosity switched from the outside world to the alicorn beside me. He was huge to start with, probably bigger than Celestia. The device he had on the far side of his head was odd. It had a small stalk of dark, smooth material that extended to the front of his eye. The end of it seemed to be shining a light straight into his retina. He moved his head in a manner that let Twilight get a better view of the thing. It had a large part that looked like a smooth rock stuck to the side of his head that the stalky part connected to transparent straps that extended only partway around the back of his neck and over his head. They seemed to have a rather strong grip on his coat. Those were almost entirely occluded by his mane though and she would have missed them if he wasn’t looking directly towards her…

“Twilight?”

I blinked as my attention was brought back to the present and my eyes refocused. I realized that I had been staring for a while and that we had set down on a grassy field next to a very interesting building which failed to hold my attention as I realized that I had been staring and blushed slightly.

“Ah, I was just looking at your… er-” I stammered out, pointing toward his head with her hoof.

The stallion raised an eyebrow in confusion for a moment before understanding dawned on him. “Oh, this,” he said, referring to the device on the side of his head. “Um, no words. Need teach first. Come, this my home. I host for now. Need teach you lot while can and have you meet first human. Okay?”

I nodded and followed him along with the other two off the grass field and into the small mansion. It was a sleek blocky structure that exhibited a lot of straight edges and open spaces. Some of the walls looked to be made entirely of glass but it seemed to be opaque on some panels. It was annoying trying to focus on objects while have no depth perception. I hope that the ‘replacement eye’ procedure went easily enough when it happened. I hoped to never see whatever it was that was in its place in the meantime because I could tell that my eye socket was not empty.

He led us all inside the building. I had not seen anything quite like it. Perhaps it resembled what I would call a normal home as it had all the things I would expect most homes to have but it was also neatly strewn with bits of technology and magical signatures that poked at her senses. Perhaps a local could pass by most of these things but every odd and end stuck out like a bent feather.

Either way I was a guest and I would probably get used to it soon enough. I just hoped he had a library that could explain these mysteries to me.

---Celestia---

I stood on a mountain. Not Mt Canter but an unnamed one in the southern badlands. While my sun baked my fur and fierce, dry wind tried to both dry and freeze my legs, I remained still. I missed Twilight. I had attempted to restore the connection to the destination a number of times in a safe manner, and each of those attempts failed.

When Rainbow arrived and accused me of not trying hard enough, I was on the edge of rage. Deep down though, I agreed with her. She had never told me that she looked to me as a second mother. I had never been a mother before. Luna had once adopted and cared for an orphan when we were nearly a century old. That line inflicted Blueblood upon the world but neither of us had blood relations beyond our parents. We had not been concerned with growing the family until well after the appearance of Discord led to our ascension. We then focused on holding Equestria together and it wasn't until several centuries later redo your interest in farming families. By then, though, he had sequestered ourselves too far from society.

But over the recent years I felt that Twilight was like a daughter to me and she deserves every effort I can give to return her home. I summoned my magic, pushing my mana levels so high that I radiated enough heat to melt the ground below me. Quantities I would dare yield while anywhere near civilization. I pushed all the energy I had into the spell into trying to force a connection to Twilight's destination. It overcame the resistance that had Twilight was taken and for a moment I felt I would succeed. Yet again it failed. This time it was far more dramatic a failure than it had ever been before. An earthquake echoed across the grounds of the desert and sinkholes formed in every place that had a cavity, cave, cavern, or otherwise empty space below the ground. The ground beneath me fell as rock slides slid down the side of the mountain lowering the peak by hundreds of feet.

I stood still for a moment before falling to my knees and weeping at my failure. I feared applying any more power into the spell because every time it increased the resistance the ether applied to any action I took. Even now teleporting would become more complicated even over short, terrestrial distances. I failed Twilight. If I went any further, it may become more challenging to perform basic magic or the destruction itself that I had been causing may create earthquakes so grand that the state of the world would be thrown into jeopardy.

I was a princess first and a surrogate mother second. I had been neglecting everypony else for too long.

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badninja

badninja #1 · Aug 13th, 2016 · · ·

7475852

Ok.

badninja

badninja #2 · Aug 13th, 2016 · 1 · ·

I can bet Twilight and Spark Eclipse are going to have some major cultural sock when they finally breach the language barrier. So just how have the ponies affected the timeline by showing up I wonder?

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