Ninth Chapter
Howard practically had a heart attack with how quickly the sudden change in his surroundings came. It was faster than the blink of an eye, so fast that he barely registered what was happening. It made him jump, and both his wife and his daughter screamed at the sudden change in their surroundings. Barney seemed to be unaffected by it, and only barked once at the purple horse that was standing in front of them.
“Can you not do that without warning, please?” the unicorn asked, as though this horse would be able to understand him. “What are you doing with us? Where are we now?”
The answer to one of those questions was self-evident, thankfully. It was a castle, that much could be determined even just by the library-like room they were standing in. Books sat placed in bookshelves that lined the walls halfway up to the ceiling. The walls and room frame were made out of crystal, and the ceiling was ended in a dome, with an arch supporting the whole thing that traveled the span of the room. Yes, this was a castle. That was clear enough.
The other questions got no answer other than excited whinny-squabbles, the horse prancing in place happily and clapping its hooves about something. Both his wife and his daughter backed away nervously, and Howard stood in front of the two as their protector, not that this horse seemed dangerous. A bit eccentric, perhaps, he judged in the ten seconds he knew her. But with as creepily cute an expression as it had on its face, how could it be dangerous in the slightest?
It chattered more, and then lit up its horn, an event that ended in the thing disappearing from in front of them like a magician. What in the world was going on?
“I really don’t think we should be here, honey,” Carey spoke up, spreading out her wings in a display of anxiety. “That thing seems… off.”
“Uh, yeah,” was the flat reply of agreement he gave. “I just don’t know what the heck we’re supposed to do except try and find our way back to that cottage?”
Except we don’t know where the heck that treehouse was. They didn’t even know if they were in the same vicinity as it anymore. For all they knew, that horse could’ve teleported them a thousand miles away. What then?
“I hate how useless I am right now,” he said aloud to no one in particular, rubbing a hoof anxiously against the crystal floor of the room. “I wish… ugh! I wish there was something we could do right now instead of standing around here and waiting for things to happen!”
He took a breath and sat down at the first table he came up to, running his hooves through his mane to smooth it out. Stressed out was a good word to describe how he felt, that much was certain. His mane was gonna be gray within a week if everything kept up.
His dragon of a wife stood close to him, her body too big for a chair, but his daughter didn’t follow, instead walking past them to the books that lined the shelves. He didn’t imagine that she’d suddenly find the secret to all of this in picking out one of ten thousand books at random, but it was good to see that she was a little more settled down in the last few hours than she was when they’d first gotten here. Maybe being out of the forest and in an actual building helped.
Oh, but his kids. His sons were still out there, and he hated the thought of that. Howard wasn’t ever going to stop stressing out until they were with him again. Neither would his wife from how terrible she looked. She was definitely worse off than he was.
“Hey! Look at this!” his daughter suddenly called, the filly waving a hoof to beckon he and Carey over to her. She held it out for him to see that it was something about the history of a place called Camelot– no, wait, that said Canterlot– and how it formed after whatever natural disaster took place in some other part of this world. It didn’t really provide much information to them that could help right now. Or any for that matter.
“Yes, Denver?” he asked, tilting his head in confusion. “What about it? We don’t know what that place is.”
“I don’t know either, but it’s written in English! We can read what it says! Well, most of it anyway. There’s some squiggly parts here I don’t understand, but a lot of it is in English!”
It took Howard a minute of trying to think about what she was saying before he finally figured it out. If the three of them could read these books, then that meant they should be able to communicate with these horses and get somewhere! He smiled at the thought, and his wife did a second later as he pet Denver’s mane with a hoof.
“Good job, honey,” he complimented her. “This is super good to know. If we could find some pencils and paper, then we can get somewhere and try to figure out what’s going on!”
“Yeah!”
“Do you think there’s anything useful we can read while we wait for whoever that horse is to come back then?” the dragon now asked. “Depending on how long it takes, if we all picked the right books for each of us and sat down, we could probably learn a lot in just a few minutes.”
Another good idea, and this time Howard showed his compliments by kissing his wife. He was glad they were here. He doubted that he would have thought of something like that all alone. His mind was still on trying to think about how to navigate a forest with black smoke from what was likely a fire and weird monsterish creatures prowling around. This was much better, and would help them actually get somewhere.
Of course, the plan was easier said than done. That book might have had some English in it, but it turned out that ninety percent of these books were written in weird squiggly lines, like something out of a cartoon. He almost would’ve believed that he was in a cartoon reading cartoon literature if not for some of them containing maps and numbers and diagrams and just generally looking like they delivered some sort of information. Information that was currently inaccessible, since the odds of the three of them being able to understand the squiggles within the next few minutes were close to zero.
It turned out to be only a few minutes before the horse was startling them by reappearing in front of the three. How she knew exactly where in the room they now were, Howard didn’t know, but he didn’t question it right now. There were a whole host of other issues more important than how the laws of physics were so carelessly broken to this horse’s benefit.
She brought with her parchment paper and what looked like quill pens, as well as every single scientific instrument imaginable. He couldn’t name ninety percent of them, and backed away slightly when she dropped them all on top of the table and sort of whinny-squealed. This time, Carey was the one to step protectively in front of he and his daughter, stretching her wings out to guard the two.
This horse though didn’t seem to notice their nervousness, and chattered away in whatever foreign language she spoke, moving around the table and talking directly to them as though they would understand her. She was a little bit shorter than Howard was, but that was still taller than Denver. She had wings like the yellow mare did, but also a unicorn horn like he and his daughter. She also hosted a little crown on her head that she didn’t have a few minutes ago. Was she the queen of this place? It made sense, what with the castle.
Her horn lit up, and a see through aura surrounded it for a second before it moved to grab one of the sheets of paper and a quill for her to scribble down notes on. It seemed like it happened at her command, and was something that would have surprised Howard yesterday but was closer to curiosity for him right now. It would be impressive if he or Denver could do that with their horns.
Carey automatically thought of the same thing. “If you and your dad can do magic with your horns like this horse can, then maybe we could find a way to get back home. I mean, magic clearly exists, so we might see if we can use it to our advantage.”
“Uh huh!” Denver agreed, looking a little bit excited. “And we can check these books to see if there’s anything. If I focused on reading, and Dad focused on trying out what I read or seeing if there’s anyone who can help us, then she and I could probably take us back home super quick”
“And once we get Reece and Thornton back with us, then all five of us can put our heads together and come up with a plan, I think,” he finished, just in time for the mare to get out some measuring tape and float it around his wife’s body. He did register that his daughter was kind of referring to him as a girl, but didn’t really concern himself with it right now, even if his face did blush lightly. There were many more important things to think about right now.
His wife backed up, and when the horse tried to come closer to measure her, brushed her away with a wing. “Please don’t touch me,” she asked, shaking her head and taking another step away. He moved to stand in front of Carey, as though he could do something to protect the dragon that was much larger than him from the smaller unicorn.
The purple horse whinnied something, and then turned to Howard and raised an eyebrow expectantly. She looked between him and Denver, and whinnied something again, more urgently now. He could only shrug his shoulders, staring at her with an expression that was a mix between confusion and nervousness before remembering the paper this horse brought with her. He grabbed at it, and a quill pen, too, listening to the unicorn make a dissatisfied whinny-grunt, but not stopping as he wrote out a message.
Can you read this? he wrote carefully, in big letters, going as slowly and neatly as he could before showing it to the unicorn. He got the response he was hoping for– in this case, that response being a loud gasp and a quick, excited nod as she grabbed the paper off of the table with her… magic? He didn’t know what else to call what was obviously magic.
Yes, I can! was the excited reply that he and his family read as this girl wrote quickly, her letters much smaller and more scribbled out than he wrote. He watched the horse think for a second before continuing her message.
My name is Twilight Sparkle, she wrote. I’m the Princess of Friendship here in Equestria, and this is my castle in the town of Ponyville! I understand that you’re not originally from Equestria, is that correct? What are your names, and where are you girls from?
She handed the paper back to Howard, the mare taking it in his hooves and writing much smaller and quicker this time.
We don’t know what Equestria is, so I guess not. My name is Howard, the other unicorn is my daughter, Denver, and the dragon is my wife, Carey. My family and I are from a place called Earth. He went into detail describing what she thought this princess should know, highlighting the fact that they weren’t supposed to be weird fantasy creatures and that they didn’t know what was happening. He didn’t bother with correcting her on him not being a girl, figuring it was just going to be something he had to deal with until this whole… event was over. He then finished with the most pressing issue– finding his sons as quickly as possible and asking if there was any way for her to help them get back home.
The entire trio of what remained of him and his family were able to let out a collective sigh of relief with what they read next from the purple horse, Twilight Sparkle.
I got a letter about them from one of my friends, a zebra named Zecora! She told me about a kirin and a changeling who hadn’t reformed that she met in a forest fire, and who said they were brothers. She said that I should ask another one of my friends, Fluttershy, to head down there to meet them, but Fluttershy told me she was already going down there before I got the message on account of the forest fire, and that she had you creatures staying at her home! I headed over to meet you once I got the message about your sons from Zecora, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s already down there and making her way back up with them right now!
Howard couldn’t say he’d ever felt more relieved by anything in his entire life, and wrote back a message of his expressive thanks, Denver and Carey contributing a few words to the writing, too. Then he grabbed both girls and hugged them tightly, his wife shivering and tearing up again and Denver smiling widely. He didn’t let his emotions show though. He might have been less nervous, but the anxiety wouldn’t completely go away until he saw the two of them again.
Do you mind if I interview you? the horse wrote down now on the paper. If you’ll allow me, I’ll let my castle be your accommodations for however long you need. Actually, let me show you where you can stay now, and I can interview you all while you get comfortable!
After a second of deliberation, Howard nodded, deciding that there could be worse places to stay. Like a forest, for example. Besides, this horse seemed friendly enough, and said that his kids should be safe. Once they were all back together, then… well, he didn’t know. Hopefully they’d all just go home as quickly as they got here.
The winged unicorn grabbed the paper and quills in her magical aura, and then started along, not disappearing and teleporting them all somewhere strange this time. He kept track of where they were going, and asked the girls he was with to do the same. Before long, the three found themselves in a room that looked like the place they’d be staying, the purple horse whinny-chattering excitedly the whole time.
It looked like a hotel suite, with a large living room and a bedroom leading off of it. How a horse, or a team of horses for that matter, could build something like this, he didn’t know, but didn’t question it right now. He had only one other question for right now, one that he quickly wrote down the second the horse set the paper and quills on the coffee table in the living room.
Is there any way you’ll be able to send us home?
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I wonder, given the difficulty with local languages, that what they think is English theyre writing, is in some horribly aincient and obscure dialect of a lost language that maybe no longer exists because Celestia obliterated its civilisation over a thousand years prior?
Hoooo-boy, that's likely to be something of a loaded question. Also, FIRST!!!!
F.Y.I. Barney has P.T.S.D.
Omaha beach if i'm correct
For the record, Twilight, the only correct answer other than "Yes" is "We're working on it."
With the bodies you all have now? You will be shot on sight when you arrive in US.
Ah, multiveral identity problems from the start ...
well yes, but also no.
if you are working in a multiverse of actual size or nature you can get to almost your home, but not quite. granted the difference could be as small as someone going one way rather than the other, you'd never really know the difference. still wont be where you came from though.
"place they’d be saying"
Staying.
An okay chapter.
Well, Ive caught up with the story and I have to say, well done. Nothing stuck out at me other than the military thing. Thats more of a personal preference than anything against the story. The story makes a big deal that the older brother is going to join the military and therefor is somehow competent. Most of my family is military and Ive heard tons of stories about complete morons they have to work with. The military will take idiots, they just wont promote them. My advice would be to stop relying on that single fact and give other reasons why the brother is competent and trusted. Nothing wrong with the military as most of my family is in it. But to quote my uncle who is enlisted. "Just because you join, doesn't mean you can find your ass with both hands. "
Ok, back onto the story. I like it. Its unique in a lot of ways. Its refreshing to get a story that is not simply copy pasta of 100 other stories just like it. You have a fun take on it. I think I can only think of one single other story where a family gats pulled into Equestria, and i've lurked this site for YEARS and am a voracious reader.
Good work
Monk
"if Celestia is the nation’s mother, then Luna is its bitter aunt who hangs around renaissance fairs and World War II reenactments." -Some Dickhead (authors actual name)
Good stuff, I am excited to see how things work out long-term.