Impressions

by Lusewing

Fragile

“Now hold on there, sugarcube. What do you mean by another world?” Applejack turned away from the strange scene at the window, and looked the human over in a slightly new light. Pinkie Pie, on the other hand - or hoof - was waving to the static humans on the other side of the glass...if there was another side of the glass, that was. The view didn't change, but that was hardly a reason for the party mare to give up.

Both Rainbow Dash and Twilight had moved closer to the now very fragile-looking creature as it sat on the settee with its hind legs draped off the edge. With more time to study the human, and less door to get in the way, Twilight was able to notice other strange traits it had. Its arms, which were like a Diamond Dog’s, only much smaller and slender, were wrapped around their owner's torso, as though she was trying to stop something from breaking out of her chest or to protect herself.

Twilight noticed the human’s claws - looking like a single scale set into the end of each digit - were digging into the upper arms they were holding. Alice, however, didn't seem to notice. In fact, judging by the glassy expression on her face, Twilight didn't even think the human knew they were still there. The act of having to admit to her situation, that she was in a completely different world, as well as everything else that had happened in less than an half an hour had caused the human to go into shock. At least, that was what it looked like, if she remembered the symptoms from her studies.

“Rainbow Dash, can you find a cup or something, and get some water?” The cyan pony was confused by the request for a moment, and then realized that Alice was not simply just ignoring them. She still felt a little bad for scaring the thing into a wall. Twilight, meanwhile, levitated one of the many blankets from the bed to drape around Alice’s shoulders. The human jumped at the feel of the cloth - her eyes wide and darting - but Twilight moved round to face the creature she had only just met, and try and give her something to focus on.

“Its okay. Just take deep breaths.” Twilight, herself, knew how easy it was to become trapped by your own fears and stress. Normally, she had her friends around her to break the cycle before she fell too deep, but here was Alice, lost and alone, from a completely different world. How long had been been keeping these thoughts and fears locked away?

“Maybe, if you told us what happened, we can find a way to help you.” Twilight sounded far more hopeful than she felt. Time spells were hard enough to manage, but actually bridging the gap between two worlds and sending somepony through it? Not to mention that if there were other worlds out there, then how was she meant to find the one that Alice belonged to? Still, if it had happened once, then maybe she could find a way to reproduce it.

Alice was still glassy-eyed, but she now moved to grab hold of the blanket and wrap it around her.

“How I got here? Right. I had just come back from holiday. Mark had driven me back to my apartment from the airport.”

Pinkie Pie was about to jump in with a question, but Applejack managed to keep her mouth closed with a hoof. Alice, however, didn't skip a beat, and kept on talking while staring off into space, like she could see the events right in front of her.

“I would have asked him to stay, but we were both tired. So I said goodbye, and closed the door.” Alice looked over in the direction of the hallway.

“It’s not there now...it looks like it is, but my hands pass right through it. I don’t know what is real any more.” The human’s voice grew shaky as her hands twisted the blanket within them.

“What happened next?” Twilight needed to keep Alice on track. Maybe, if she could get her to talk about how she got here, it would help the human come to terms with everything. Rainbow Dash came in with a bottle of water, after not being able to stomach the thought of going into the other room and looking for a cup amongst this thing’s food. At least, she hoped it was water, since the stopper on top was not very easy to remove. The pegasus placed it on the table by the chairs in the hope that the human would be able to use it. Noticing Applejack hushing her, as well as how Pinkie Pie was now holding her own mouth closed, Rainbow Dash took the hint and remained quiet as Alice continued.

The human pulled her eyes away from the hallway and blinked a few times before carrying on.

“I went to bed. It was still morning, but I was tired after the flight. The sign of a great holiday, my dad would say.” A smile ghosted across the human’s face. “I remember thinking how great it was to be able to sleep in my own bed, after a week of missing it. I don’t know how long I slept, but it felt like a while. My alarm clock was blinking with an error when I finally opened my eyes. I’d thought it was just a power cut. So I got changed, put on my coat, and decided to head out and get some food for the week. But the door...I thought I was still dreaming, or maybe having one of those out of body experiences, you know?” Alice was now looking around at the ponies around her, though her mind was still focused on the past. “After a little while, I plucked up the courage to stick my head through door. And there it was. A creepy-looking forest. Right smack where the rest of the ground floor of the apartment block should be. I panicked. Anyone would, right? I think I must have blacked out at one point to. Then I...”

Alice suddenly jolted like she had just been stung or zapped by something. She frowned, as did the rest of the ponies in the room. However, whatever had just happened seemed to have helped Alice to snap back to reality, as she was now looking at them rather than through them. Noticing the water bottle, Alice unscrewed the lid and took a long gulp. Her hands were shaking a little, but she felt a bit more stable.

“How long ago was this?” asked Twilight, when she realised that Alice was not about to continue with her story.

“Um, about nine months, if you have the same sort of calendar here. Over 200 days.” Alice watched as all three ponies stood with their mouths hanging open.

“Let me get this straight.” Rainbow Dash flew until she was directly in front of the human. “You have been living in the Everfree Forest - on your own - for nine months?! That’s crazy.” Realising what she had said, especially after seeing the human act a few feathers short of a wing, Rainbow Dash felt her choice of words might not have been the best. “Umm, no offence.” The pegasus tried to avoid eye contact, as she rubbed the back of her head with a forehoof. Applejack, however, caught her eyes and gave her a disapproving look.

“What Rainbow Dash is trying t’say,” butted in the orange mare. “Is that this ain’t the place for nopony to be all alone. There’re carnivorous plants, timber wolves-”

“Quicksand, Manticores, strangling vines...yeah, kinda learnt all of that the hard way. But it's not like I had any choice in the matter.” Alice rubbed at her arms again; at the scars that covered them. She was glad of the blanket around her to hide the state she was in. The last thing she needed was her past failures to be put on display.

“Of course you did, silly. Ponyville is really close by. You could have-” Pinkie Pie found herself cut off and the large smile she had held, faded.

“I could have what? Asked when the next train to reality was leaving?” snapped the human. “What am I even doing? Get out. Forget you even saw me. I can’t deal with this.” Alice covered her face with her hands, then slumped in her seat. Pinkie Pie looked confused, then had an idea.

“Well, maybe Twilight can help you get home. She is super-duper when it comes to spells. I am sure she has something to help in one of her books. Right, Twilight?” The pink pony had a great big grin on her face as she looked expectantly between her friend, Twilight, and her future friend, Alice.

“Pinkie I..I mean.” Twilight was not expecting to be put on the spot like this. It was true that she had told Alice that she might be able to work out how to send her back and maybe - if she knew how she had gotten to this world - she could, but even Alice was in the dark on that fact.

“Okay, then send me home.” Alice stood up and waved her right arm around. Her left was still held close to her chest. Suddenly, this human did not look so harmless. “Send me back to my own world, or get the hell out of here.” Seeing these ponies in the middle of her living room shattered her thoughts. This was her world, the only piece she had left. They didn't belong here. She knew it was just a fantasy to make her believe that inside these four walls, everything was still normal, but it was all that was holding her together.

“Hey, you can’t tell us what to do!” Rainbow Dash flew a little higher so she was ‘taller’ than Alice.

“Err, Dash, we are kinda, in her home.” Applejack watched as the cyan pony huffed and lowered herself a little.

“Yeah, well.” Rainbow Dash couldn't really argue with that fact. Twilight also seemed to become a little more uncomfortable when she realised that they had pretty much just barged their way in. They hadn't meant to, things had just happened. But, it was not exactly winning them any favours with this other-worldly being.

“Applejack is right.” Twilight bowed slightly to Alice before looking at each of the other ponies. “I am sorry if we caused you any distress, it was rude of us to come in uninvited. Please, don’t hold it against us, we have just never seen anything like you before. We...I kinda got a little caught up in the excitement. We will leave you alone for now but...” Twilight stumbled a little on her words. Alice had asked them to just forget her but...they couldn't. Even without the threat of Pinkie Pie telling everypony she met that her new friend was a being from another world, there was the simple fact that this was too much of an historic event. What could they learn from Alice and her world? It was clearly very different but, in a lot of ways, very much the same judging by the furniture, books and Alice’s mannerisms. There was also the fact that they simply could not leave Alice to her fate here. Twilight wanted to help, even if she didn't know how yet.

“Come on Twilight, ah think we've more than overstayed our welcome.” Applejack was the first to move out, with Twilight and and Rainbow Dash following behind. Pinkie Pie, however, was still sitting on the floor.

The human slumped back into the chair and sighed. She had caught the words that the unicorn had said - ‘leave you alone for now’. All the stories and movies she had seen told her exactly what was going to happen next -experiments, imprisonment or maybe they would stick her in some sort of zoo as an attraction. But what could she do to stop it? Get rid of the witnesses? Like she could ever manage that. She had a hard enough time killing the Gobblers. Leaving was not an option, without her home she had nothing. Maybe George could help her...he had gotten her out of some tight spots before, and he had been the one to tell her that these ponies were coming. What was the world coming to, when the only person she could count on may or may not be a figment of her imagination?

It was only then that Alice realised that the pink pony was still in her living room, fidgeting. Actually, it looked like it was shaking a little, though the smile on its face stopped Alice from thinking it was from fear.

“Umm, what?”

Pinkie Pie suddenly exploded.

“WhoisMark? Isheyourspecialsomepony? Orwouldthatbesomehuman? Ohwhatisanairport?Wheredidyougoonhiliday? Wasitwarm? Werethereparties?Whatarepartieslikeinyourworld?Whatdidyoumeanaboutyouralarmclockhavinganerror? Diditshandsfalloff? Thepowerwentout?Dosethatmeanyourmagicgoesonandoff? Ohyouhavemagic.” Alice watched with disbelief as the Pink motor mouth took in a great big breath and then... ”Whoarethepeopleinthephoto?Aretheyyourfamily?DoyoureallyeatParasprites?Whatdotheytastelike?Whydoyouwantustoleave?"

"Whoa, whoa, slow down I can’t understand a thing you are saying." What was up with this pony? Other than the fact it could talk and was bright pink. It was like it had eaten a bag of coffee with a side order of sugar.

“I said...”

“STOP, PLEASE.” Alice knelt down on the floor, so that she was closer to the same height as the cotton candy pony.

“I don’t think I could manage any more. Look, I'm tired, it's late, you’re a talking pony. There are only so many things I can deal with at once. So, just go join the rest of your friends, please.” Alice pointed to the door but the pony didn't move.

“Oh, I can’t do that, silly. My back itches and my tail is twitching, which can only mean one thing - SLEEP OVER!” Pinkie Pie leapt onto the single bed in the room. “This is going to be so much fun!”

“Wait...what? Oh, no no. You are getting out of here right now. What the hell have itchy backs and twitchy tails got to do with whether you can stay here or not.” Alice didn't get a response, because at that moment Twilight gingerly walked back in through the living room door.

“Pinkie? Oh, there you are. Um, sorry about Pinkie Pie. She means well, but she can go a little over the top.”

Alice frowned as she noticed that the unicorn was dripping wet.

“Is it raining out there?”

“Oh, I am so sorry. I'm getting your floor all wet. Hang on, I can fix it.” With no small amount of awe, Alice watched as Twilight closed her eyes while her horn began to glow magenta. In a flash of light, the small damp patch that had formed around the purple pony's hooves was gone - as was the water from her coat and mane.

“Wow, you really can do magic.” Alice had found it slightly hard to believe what the others had said about the unicorn’s magical abilities and, though it was hardly surprising after all of the things she had witnessed in the past nine months, it still proved to be strange. Curiosity tugged at the edges of her mind, but the human pushed them back. She had long since learned that curiosity was not a good thing to have around here.

Twilight smiled and rubbed the back of her head with a forehoof. It was Pinkie Pie that spoke up though.
“That was nothing. You should have seen the time she took down an Ursa Minor! The Princess even made Twilight her own personal student when she was just a filly.”

“Maybe I can show you some more some other day.” Twilight hope she was correct in the interest she had seen Alice show. Maybe, if she could get the human as interested in their world as she was in hers, then they could have some common starting grounds.
“But, right now we need to get going before the rain really starts coming down.” Pinkie Pie, however, didn't move from her spot on the bed, but instead looked over at Alice and pulled the most adorable puppy dog eyes.

Alice raised both hands in a sign of surrender.

“Fine. Look, if you want to stay until the morning you can.” Pinkie Pie yelled out ‘YIPPEE’ and bounced up and down on the bed.
“But you are sleeping in the other room, not in here. I have some spare blankets and you can use the cushions off the settee.” Alice started collecting everything she would need, while Twilight helped and continued to thank her. ‘It was all that pink pony's fault,’ thought the human, who realised this was probably not the brightest idea. Then again, maybe she could convince the ponies not to turn her in; to keep her secret.
Everything was changing...she just hoped it was for the best.

Author's Note:

This chapter almost didn't happen, though I am very glad it did. What had been planned was for Rainbow Dash to go over what had transpired through the night as she flew back the following morning, after running an errand. I even have most of that written out. But it felt...wrong, skipped over, especially as a lot of people seemed to want to see Alice take back control and deal with the 'little invaders'. So here you go. Enjoy this long time coming chapter.

Comments

[Zloe_Zlo]

wrong chapter order...

[warpd]

I was a little confused as well.
Anyway, glad to see this story again.

[Lusewing]

2007997 I am sorry about the odd posting, as well as the time away, but things will return to normal now with chapters being posted in their correct order. Thank you so much for sticking with me so far.

[Drawdex]

Don't care when,
don't care how,
a good story updated
and I need to read it NOW!!

[Lusewing]

2008231 Your comment brings a big smile to my face. Actually I am writing the next chapter at this very moment - time for George to shine.

[Dusty the Royal Janitor]

Oh wow, it updated! Nice to see this has started moving again! :D

I do have to wonder though... why do you write "yer" where one would generally write 'yeah' or 'yes?' I literally spent five minutes puzzling over the word when it showed up those couple times.

[Lusewing]

2013658 Thats my limited grasp on the English language...pity it's the only language I have. Thanks for spotting the mistake, I will work through the chapters and clean them out.