• Published 4th Oct 2016
  • 1,054 Views, 11 Comments

The Leap - LoreLove



While helping Starlight with her skills, Twilight finds herself in a strange setting after a quick reaction. Scared and alone, she only wants to find a way back.

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III - Contact

The sudden find in her haste to take notes had Twilight's mind going in all sorts of directions. She couldn't even manage to move for a good few minutes in her surprise. The book floated closer as she used her magic to look it over and examine the cover closely. Her words and thoughts felt so clogged with her racing heart trying to push that hope through and give her a much brighter outlook.

Her eyes studied the book closely, doing her best to make sure it wasn't some joke played on her. Levitating it closer, she could even pick up the light scent of the paper when it went under her snout. She didn't even know what else to do other than bring it in and wrap her forelegs around the object. A hug to such a possession somehow calmed her more than she ever knew would.

A light sniff and Twilight drew a deep, steady breath to help the process of giving her some comfort. Things slowed down a little in her mind as she held tightly to the book. It was the only thing she cherished more at the moment. She only wished she knew what to do.

Trying to write to Sunset in such a state might yield various results. Or worse, no result at all. The idea made her cling tighter as she forced such a though to the back of her mind and clenched her eyes shut. She had to do something. Even if it meant explaining what was going on, though she didn't even know herself.

The only thing the alicorn knew to do was be to try. She had to try. Her heart calmed and her breathing seemed to ease up a bit from her distraught thoughts. The only thing she wasn't sure on was where to start. How would she bring things up to Sunset? Would her friend in another world even know she was gone in the short amount of time that things have happened? Would Sunset even be there to read and reply?

Twilight magically pulled the book away as she set it down on the table. Her vision was a bit blurred but a light rub with her foreleg cleared that up some. The purple mare carefully walked over and sat herself down, staring at the cover of the book, almost afraid of opening it. Too many ill thoughts clouded her mind. If the pages were blank then she would have nothing more to go on. There wouldn't be any clarification nor a pony to talk to in the slightest if such a thing were true.

With no other option she could think of, Twilight let her magic open the book and skim through the pages. Thankfully, she noticed plenty of written words back and forth between her Sunset Shimmer. Small conversations and other notes were jotted down with little corrections to them by the other or just a small greeting here or there. It made Twilight smile as she remembered so many of the times she had written to her friend. Every time she sent a message, she had a little bit of excitement in her wait to have the book shake and light up.

The thought made her stop as she remembered the book did have a faint glow before opening it. Had Sunset tried writing to her coincidentally at the same time this whole ordeal happened? In a rush, the alicorn flipped through the pages as she caught glimpses of phrases or text she could remember. It wasn't until she neared the last bit of a conversation she had with Sunset that she noticed a whole new set of written lines.

'Twilight,' it read, 'are you okay?'

The lonely princess read carefully over the next few phrases.

'If you're there, please let us know.'

'Twilight, where are you?'

'I hope you're okay. Please get in touch with one of us soon.'

Twilight's eyes welled up with her sudden finding. She had no idea Sunset was so worried about her already. She still couldn't account for what had happened, but somehow her friend in another world knew of her disappearance. At least something seemed to help her cope with her situation. Even if she couldn't help, Sunset knowing something was wrong let Twilight know it wasn't just a fluke of only her in existence.

'We miss you.'

Miss? At most, she could only guess that maybe half a day or so had passed in her time. There were a few other things written down and either scribbled out or seemed like they were random markings. Was Sunset scared? A slight jitter to some letters made Twilight feel a pang of guilt. She didn't mean to bring her friends so much distress by some accident.

Deciding not to wait any longer, Twilight pulled the cork to her ink well and picked up a quill. She wasn't even sure where to begin. Being so scared and stressed had taken quite the toll on the poor pony. It took her several minutes before she finally wrote down the only thing she could think of.

'Sunset, I'm here,' wrote Twilight. Then she waited.

After what felt like hours, but were only so in her mind, Twilight finally saw a response being written out before her. She was elated to finally have contact.

'Twilight?' came the words scrawled onto the page.

'Yes! Sunset, please, I don't know what's going on! I need help!' the alicorn wrote frantically. She knew it was such a startling leap in her greeting, but she wanted to be home. She waited again.

'Where are you?' came the next response, slowly appearing.

'I don't know. Not exactly. I'm in my castle, but nopony is here! I can't find anypony!' Twilight wrote, nearly snapping the quill in her hurry to write.

'Your castle?' came the next reply. 'Twilight, what's going on?'

The lavender pony groaned at the words before she took a breath and tried to relax. She didn't know and apparently Sunset had no idea either. The most she could do would be to retell everything that happened up to where she is. She knew it would sound ridiculous but she had nothing else to add to it.

'Ponyville is empty. The Crystal Empire is too. I don't know what happened or what's going on. I need your help, Sunset,' Twilight wrote carefully. There was no sense in getting upset just because her friend didn't understand either.

'Is this some kind of joke?' came the next line.

Twilight closed her eyes tight and let out a soft whine. Her head ducked down as she did her best to maintain her composure. She just wanted to have everything back to normal. Now she was getting tagged as pulling a prank.

'No! Please, don't think that! Sunset, I would never do a prank this mean. Please help me. I just want things back like they were,' Twilight wrote with her magically held quill.

'We've been looking everywhere for you. Your friends even came here thinking somehow you had been by,' Sunset wrote down.

As much as she admired and loved her friends for their tenacity, something didn't seem right. Twilight could put her hoof on it, but there was something wrong with the whole scenario. Had her friends really gone everywhere in search of her so quickly after whatever happened? They never did such a thing when she stayed cooped up in her castle for a day, or spent a while studying back in the Golden Oak Library.

'Thank you, but I don't know where to begin on how this happened,' Twilight wrote down. She had begun to wonder if there was another writing to her instead of Sunset.

There were a few words about to be written before being scribbled out. The odd act made Twilight a bit more suspicious but she waited it out. If there was another pony or being writing to her, she wanted to know who or what. They would slip up if they tried to keep up with a disguise as a friend she knew.

'Do you remember the last thing that happened?' came up on the page.

Of course she did. She lived it and had been wandering around for a little bit. It hadn't been old news to her by any means. What kind of question was that?

'Yes, I do. What's going on?' Twilight asked, worried that she may be falling for a trick of sorts. Discord? No, even he wouldn't stoop to something like what happened to her. Fluttershy would make sure of that.

'What happened?' appeared on the page. No answer yet.

'I don't know! One second, my friends are around, the next, I can't find a single pony!' Twilight wrote and furrowed her brow. She was getting antsy and just wanted to get some answers and make things right.

'I'm sorry, Twilight. Please be patient with me,' Sunset wrote back at a slow pace.

'I'm trying to. I've been trying to keep calm during this whole thing and I don't know much of what to do! I've pulled as many books out that I can to at least try and find something in them,' Twilight explained, dipping her quill into the ink a few times.

The wait for a response was longer than she liked. Much longer than Sunset actually took when they got into any type of discussion through the books. She almost thought about just heading straight to her room containing the magic mirror to save time. The only issue would be if the portal even worked.

'How long ago did this happen?' Sunset finally replied with.

The alicorn was almost taken aback with the question. She was certain she had explained not too long ago and it all happened in such a flash. Was Sunset even paying attention? The thought would have made Twilight a little upset, but she couldn't blame her friend for something like this. After all, she didn't even know what had happened and perhaps she was getting Sunset confused in her frantic writing.

It would take a more calm approach and collected thoughts rather than just crying for answers. Twilight knew that, yet she also didn't enjoy it. She wanted to have things set right again. It wasn't normal where she was and it left her feeling more alone than she had ever been. One step at a time.

Twilight closed her eyes and took a deep breath, letting her mind slow down and stop going all over the place. Her ears flicked as she let herself take as much time as needed to settle down before opening the violet eyes and staring down at the book. Sunset had asked what happened. It would be best to tell her all that was known up to where she was.

Slowly, Twilight wrote down everything she could and exactly as she remembered it all. From her training with Starlight to the sudden change in her setting and slight exploration. It was a bit to write and she almost feared Sunset might not be able to make heads or tails of the situation. It did give Twilight a more comforting thought that she could at least get everything off her chest from the ordeal.

'I don't understand,' was Sunset's response.

As downtrodden as the answer was for Twilight, the alicorn still felt better that she wasn't the only one not grasping everything. If it was reversible then she wanted to figure out how. It might take a little time, but she could at least try with the help of Sunset. That was if it truly did happen to be her friend writing to her.

She wanted to shake the uneasiness and doubt but they wouldn't leave her no matter how hard she tried. It might be best she stayed wary, though. It was refreshing to have somepony to talk to, but it could easily just be too good to be true.

'I know. I don't either. It's why I need help on figuring out how to put things back,' Twilight wrote down.

More waiting. It was strange to be waiting so long on a reply from her friend. Probably one of the reasons she still felt so uneasy. Regardless, she watched the words coming into view on the page and read them slowly.

Her ears wilted and her heart sank. The sinking feeling in her stomach grew more by the second. What she read next left her speechless.

'Twilight,' came the slow crawl of letters. 'You've been missing for sixty-seven years.'