Burnt Offerings

by Spike the Scribe

Act Two Chapter Two

Sandpoint, Date Unknown (Presumably 24 September, 1000 SR), Morning

I stood, transfixed in my spot, having difficulties coming to terms with what I just realized I saw. I mean I was half expecting to find Twilight in this presbytery-like place, but to actually run into her? I’ve got the shock of my life, and a positive one at that.

I looked at her, taking in her new, changed features. As I already stated, she looked like a female version of that whole ‘Einael’ guy mixed with her own features, starting from her typical mane color and style and ending on her eyes, which right now looked like if they were stuck in a constant state of realization. Her face, now mirroring her shock at seeing me was to be expected –snoutless and devoid of a coat, just as the rest of her body. Like the rest of us she apparently landed in this world clad in some clothes, in her case a simple set of baggy-looking linen pants and a loose-fitting blouse in a color resembling her normal coat color. It was easy to notice the stains that littered her garments, clear indicators she had experiences similar to our own in the forest. Rarity’s probably going to have a fit once she sees her in this.

Twilight, still looking at me with surprise rose to her feet, only now making me realize how tall she was. If I considered Fluttershy and Rarity in their new forms to be tall, than Twi here was on a whole new level. It was painfully obvious that in terms of height she was at least a head taller than RD or AJ, which to be honest could lead to some hilarious reactions from those two. Myself, I was probably barely reaching her hips now, helping me understand just how small I was despite my own change. Still, the simple act of standing up was enough for me to snap out of my reverie and take the only appropriate action in a situation like this.

“Twilight!!!” I shouted on the top of my lungs, bounding in her direction and jump-tackling her in an overenthusiastic hug, forcing her back on her chair. Yep, definitely the best course of action. Still, I’m surprised I reacted the way I did; I didn’t think I was that worried about her. Probably had something to do with the whole ‘Einael didn’t tell us the whole truth’ issue, or the fact that the last time we talked I said some things that I wasn’t very proud of. That didn’t discourage me from hugging the living daylight out of Twi, which became quite apparent after a few moments.

“Spike… can’t… breath…” She breathed out with difficulty. Sheepishly I loosened my hold on her midsection, the highest point I could reach. Once I did that she began gulping down mouthfuls of air, making me even more sheepish.

“Try a bit… weaker next time…” She panted out, still out of breath but significantly better. She also looked at me, still a fair bit surprised at me sudden appearance but also smiling encouragingly. I couldn’t help but answer in kind with a smile of my own.

“Twi, you won’t believe what I went through to find you!” I said excitedly, slipping off of her lap on which I inadvertently landed on. “Seriously, I’m surprised I’m still alive after all that happened. Crazed boars, gigantic ticks and weird forests are definitely not something I want to see again anytime soon…” I was beginning to ramble, but once I took a better look at Twilight’s face I stopped momentarily.

Twi wasn’t looking too good. She had bags under her almond-shaped eyes and generally looked like she just raised from the grave. At first I was wondering if it was possible that she was still sleepy; from what I could tell by sniffing around, there was no coffee nor green tea nearby, and knowing her, she needed that to function properly this early in the morning. After a moment of looking at her however I noticed that there was more to it. She seemed… weary, like if something completely drained her and she was still in the process of recuperating. I quickly realized that it was most probably the after-effects of her magic being used to fuel the processes that transported us here. Magical exhaustion, it will take her some time to regain her strength.

“You look beat.” I stated bluntly. Twilight responded with a crocked smile.

“That obvious?” She asked with a certain tiredness to her voice. It wasn’t as if she was completely exhausted, but tapping to her reserves did take a lot out of her. Still, she seemed adamant on keeping on, despite her weariness; a brave facade, but I knew her well enough to see right through it. “I’m fine, don’t worry. I only need to take a few hours of rest and I’ll be as good as new.”

“Well, if you say so…” I said, not taking her explanations at face value. She tended to disregard her own limitations when it came to studying, and it was possible that she was going to do exactly the same thing in response to the situation we were in. I can almost envision her working herself into unconsciousness while trying to figure out what happened and how to get home.

I didn’t have the time to think much more about Twilight’s overzealous studying sessions as the mare in question gave me a look that clearly stated that she wanted to ask me something. And sure enough:

“How did you get here anyway? I don’t remember you standing close enough to me when this happened.” Here she pointed at her new body. I looked at her, feigning surprise.

“You really think I would leave you on your own in a situation like this?” I asked in a mock-hurt voice. “I wasn’t going to let something happen to you if I could help it. I couldn’t just abandon you. Family always sticks together, right?”

Twilight studied me for the longest of moments, like if she didn’t know how to respond to what I just said. True, I wasn’t one to openly proclaim my affection towards her, but she was like my sister/mother for peat’s sake! If I couldn’t do something like this than I might as well be a dragon from the darkest of legends. Besides, even the most mescaline of guys must have a soft spot, right?

Finally, after a few moments of silently mulling over my words Twilight came up with a response:

“I… thank you Spike. It’s nice to know you have my back, even if I completely disregarded your warnings. It’s just…”

“Gah, spare the details! Hearing all this mushy stuff is unbearable!” For the first time from the moment I entered the room the second occupant of it decided to speak up, rudely interrupting Twilight’s any my little moment. The voice however… it sounded familiar, dreadfully familiar. With a chill running down my spine I turned around to face the source of the voice.

At the far end of the table sat the second occupant of the room. It was clearly a female, as the voice before indicated, and she sounded quite a bit presuming. Like Twilight, she too was an elf, or at least I think the species she’s turned into was one, as her ears were long and pointy. Again I was looking at a rather flat in comparison to that of pony's face, this one with a slightly upturned nose and a pair of lips twisted in an unamused frown. She was looking at us with half-lidded almond-shaped eyes, giving off the impression she was either glaring or was bored with the whole situation. The most prominent feature of hers was however her hair, and the simple act of looking at it made my blood run cold, especially once I combined it with her voice.

Her hair was silvery, almost white, with trace amounts of pale-blue highlights.

“You…” I breathed out silently, my eyes almost popping out of my eye sockets from surprise. “What are you doing here!?”

“Isn’t it obvious, lizard-brain? Or do you need it to be spelled out for you?” The elf asked mockingly, making me grit my teeth in poorly contained anger. This can't be happening, this isn't happening! Out of all of us who were involved with the Ursa crisis why did she had to end up here? “The Great and Powerful Trixie ended up here in this poor mockery of a body only because somepony couldn’t control her own magic. It’s not like the Great and Powerful Trixie had any choice in the matter, no, because a certain somepony decided for her. And now, stripped of the very thing that made Trixie Great and Powerful, she is stuck here, like a common earth pony!”

“Ugh… we’ve been through this already Trixie –I’m sorry that you had to be caught in the blast, and I’m sorry that whatever happened to you and me stripped the both of us of our magic.” Twilight sounded rather bored by all this; she clearly had to put up with Trixie for some time now. The showpony in response gave off an undignified ‘hmph!’ and busied herself with the content of her plate. She did however shoot Twilight angry glares from time to time, a sure sign that she wasn’t finished yet. All this however made me even more confused than I was already. How did Trixie end up here? Why were they together in this place? So many question and so little answers. Hopefully Twi will have at least a few of them.

“How did she end up here?” I asked Twi none too quietly, not caring if Trixie heard me or not. What little respect I had for her for trying to stand up to that Ursa evaporated the moment she began insulting me.

“I’m guessing the same way you did Spike.” Was Twilight's response. “I’m still not entirely sure how all this happened in the first place, but during that little episode with the Ursa Minor…”

“Ursa Minor? I thought that thing was a Ursa Major.”

“Believe me, it was a Ursa Minor, a baby. A Ursa Major… yeah, that wouldn’t end well.” That gave me the chills. If that gigantic beast was only a baby, than the real deal must've been enormous. Who even came up with the idea of creating such a thing?!

“Either way, during that ‘little’ crisis something weird happened to my magic. I’m not quite sure what it was, but at first it seemed to bolster my power. Only after a minute or two I realized what was happening, and by that time it was too late to do anything.”

“Somepony or something forcefully ‘mentored’ you, am I right?” I asked, expecting the answer. Twilight seemed surprised I already knew about that, and was about to ask where did I hear about this but I beat her to the punch. “Seriously, I’ve lived all my life with you, I like to think that I learned some things about unicorns along the way. Besides, it wasn’t that hard to figure out.” Twi still looked at me a bit taken aback by my knowledge, and I think I saw Trixie glance at me with an arched eyebrow at some point, but in the end none of the two mares said anything about it, and my lifelong companion continued her story.

“Well, since you already know that part I’ll skip ahead; I’ve woken up in the middle of some kind of pine forest looking like I look now. At that time I thought that I was the only one to get sent here, so I decided to search for some kind of way out. Fortunately I ran into somepony, or rather someone who was able to point me in the direction of this town… Sandpoint I believe it’s called?” I nodded in confirmation, at the same time noting off that ‘Einael’ really did meet with Twilight and pointed her here. “Having a set destination and equipped with a glowing metal rod of some kind I went in the direction he gave me. At some point I ran into Trixie, and although at first I thought she was just another local, it quickly became apparent whit whom I had the ‘pleasure’.”

“You’re hardly even worth Trixie’s company, Sparkle.” The mare in question butted in arrogantly. I sent her a glare, which was answered by a mocking, almost challenging look of her own, including a raised eyebrow and all. This was going to get pretty annoying fast, I can feel it.

“Yes, well, the point is once I realized it’s Trixie I decided that it would be better for the two of us to band up, at least until we get to some kind of civilization.” Twi continued. “Besides, it was the least I could do; even if my magic was controlled by an outside force, it’s still my fault she ended up here, so I should help out any way I can.”

Normally I would buy Twilight’s explanation: she was the type of pony to help out in any way she could. I could however see that something was amiss here –it seemed that she was trying to hide something, or at least she wasn’t comfortable with talking about it in the presence of that fraud. I could almost tell that there was more to it than meets the eye. And she must've realized that I knew, because she sighed quietly and beckoned me to walk up to her a bit more. Complying with her non-verbal request I did just tha and allowed her to lean over me so she could whisper into my newly acquired ears.

“I’m not sure how the magic that changed and teleported us works. It might require us to recreate the exact circumstances it was cast in to counter it. And that means Trixie needs to be present.” My eyes widened at that and I looked at Twi in horror. If I understood that correctly, than…

“You mean we’ll need to put up with her for who knows how long?” I hissed, terrified at the prospect. Twi nodded in response, making me cringe. “And you don’t have even the slightest idea how to counter that spell?” I asked, hoping against hope that the answer I would get wouldn’t be too bad. Yeah, wishful thinking.

“I’m not even sure I can counter it. I’m not a unicorn anymore, remember? I can’t do magic in this body.”

Well, there was only one thing left to do in this situation.

“Aw horseapples.”

“Language Spike!”

“Don’t you ‘language Spike’ me! This is a perfectly legitimate time to cuss!” I snapped in response to her reprimand, making Twi back up in shock. “Sorry, it’s just… I was hoping that you’d be able to come up with a way to get us back. I should’ve known that without a horn you wouldn’t be able to do magic. After all, we’re in bodies of some strange, non-magical creatures…”

“Humans.” Twilight interrupted. I looked at her questioningly, not entirely following what she was talking about. “The creatures we’ve turned into are called humans… at least most of them are. Apparently they are more diverse than our records back in Equestria suggested.”

“Wait a moment, what are you talking about?” I questioned, surprised at her knowledge. I mean she was a real brainiac and all, but I didn’t suspect her to know something like the name of a completely alien species. Twi in response smiled, her weariness all but disappearing, replaced by a strange gleam in her eyes.

“Humans –mythical creatures mentioned in the oldest of pony legends. Two-legged beings with no fur aside from a flock of hair on their heads, they lack magic of any kind but compensate for that with high intelligence and a knack for creating tools. Said to balance on the fine line between good and evil, capable of both, though generalized as neutral leaning towards evil because of their omnivorous nature. In many aspects they were believed to be similar to ponies.”

Okay… that was weird. Normally Twilight isn’t one to readily believe something as vague as a legend or myth, with the notable exception of the Nightmare Moon myth for obvious reasons. Seeing her talking like that, all but giddy at the mere thought of ‘humans’ was something so out of character that I was beginning to be seriously concerned about her mental health. Even our unwanted companion, Trixie, was beginning to look at Twilight a bit disturbed by her sudden elation. I decided that it would be wise to calm her down a bit and try to direct her attention at something else.

“Where’d you learn all that?” What the heck?! I wanted to change the subject, not ask something according to it! Come on brain, work with me here!

Twilight answered still with that gleam in her eyes: “First topics discussed in my history classes mentioned the oldest of beliefs of ponykind from the pre-Starswirl era, long before the princesses surfaced and a good chunk of time before the Windigos forced the tribes to search for a new home. One of the oldest records in Equestrian history was even a collection of stories and fables, one of which mentioned a human walking amongst ponies. It was dated as far back as -3000 SR, making the legend at least four thousand years old.”

“Wait, wait, wait…” I stopped her before she was able to continue much further. A thought just struck me with the force of a brick wall. “You mean to tell me that we may have ended up in Equestria as far back as in the times when humans roamed the land? Like… like more than five thousand years back?!”

“Don’t be stupid lizard brain, there’s no known magic that allows for ponies to travel in time.” That was the moment Trixie decided to use as her opening into the conversation. Of course she couldn’t help but insult somepony, and of course I ended up as the but-end of the insult.

“Nopony asked for your opinion.” I hissed at her, annoyed. She ignored me, just as if she didn’t hear me at all, and looked at Twilight, trying to hide her interest with a mask of indifference. I was about to call her on her measly attempts of looking disinterested when Twi decided to step in:

“Actually, I have to agree with Trixie on this one.” If one would listen closely enough, he or she might've heard my neck snapping, that’s how fast I turned to look at Twilight. Almost giving myself a whiplash I stared at Twi with what must've been the dumbest expression I have ever mustered, unable to comprehend what I’ve just heard. Finally taking pity on me, Twilight decided to elaborate: “Time travel is scientifically impossible, so it’s obvious that we couldn’t be sent somewhere in time. Besides, I never heard about magic being able to manipulate the very essence of time, so that line of thought is a dead end. What happened to us must have been something completely different.”

I nodded slowly at her explanation, still having a hard time believing she actually agreed with somepony like Trixie. Or should I say I had a hard time grasping the concept of the showpony actually being right about something? The way she acted led me to believe that she was nothing more than a braggart with no true knowledge or skill. Now however it appeared that she actually did know something.

While I tried to come to terms with what I’ve just learned the source of my confusion was still looking at Twilight, trying to maintain her mask of indifference. That mask cracked however after a few moments, making way for a more surprised expression to adorn her face. Finally, after a moment or two of internal struggle Trixie decided to say something, going to great lengths to seem as indifferent as possible:

“Not that it particularly interests Trixie, but how come some commoner like you, Sparkle, knows of such obscure legends as the one about the Human Hero?” She asked that with a bit of suspicions present in her voice. I for one was surprised by her question, not remembering Twilight mentioning anything other about that legend apart from there being a human involved in it. Trixie however stated that ‘title’ as if it was the name of the legend. Had she once again shown more of her actual knowledge? Either way, Twi seemed as surprised as I was, but for different reasons as it became apparent moments later.

“What do you mean Trixie? I thought that this was pretty common knowledge.” She answered, cocking her head to the side and rising an eyebrow. Her answer brought a snort of amusement from the showpony as well as a pitying smile.

“One of the most obscure legends of ponykind and you mistake it for common knowledge, this is just rich.” She chuckled to herself, obviously making fun of Twilight. “Let Trixie guess: you think that the history of Hellfire Corona and her red sun also is ‘common knowledge’. Or better yet: that the story of the rise and fall of King Sombra and the banishment of the Crystal Empire is known even to foals in kindergarten.”

I looked at Twilight at a complete loss. The names Trixie was dishing out were completely new to me, and considering I’ve spent a great deal of time in Twi’s company and learned a fair bit about Equestria’s history en passant, this was quite unexpected. I was even more confused when I saw Twilight’s expression mirror my own; it was clear that she didn’t know what the silver-maned mare was talking about any more than I did. Just what was going on here?!

“Em… What are you talking about?” Twilight finally decided to ask, only to receive a disbelieving shake of the head from Trixie. “I’ve never even heard about those things that you just mentioned. Have you made them up or something?” That quickly brought a scowl on Trixie’s face.

“Trixie will have you know, Twilight Sparkle, that those are actual legends of old, not some make-believe stories.” The con mare drawled through gritted teeth, glaring daggers at my lifelong companion. “The youngest of those legends dates back about a century before Nightmare Moon’s banishment. And if you had any semblance of talent like the Great and Powerful Trixie has, you would know that in Trixie’s line of work one needs to know not only breathtaking magic, but also captivating legends to weave enthralling stories to recite to the delight of crowds. So don’t you dare state that those legends are but figments of Trixie’s imagination!”

“Alright already! Don’t get so excited, I was just asking. Sheesh…” Twilight tried to calm Trixie down, figuring out that arguing with her would bring her nowhere. I for my part was still inclined not to believe a word the blue-coated mare said, knowing full well of her tendency to aggrandize her stories. Then again, if those legends she was talking about were truly as old as she claimed them to be than they would hardly have anything to do with her personally. And that meant that they weren’t centered around her, which in turn meant that she wouldn’t be boosting her own ego while telling them, which meant… That I was going to get a migraine if I kept thinking along those lines for too long. This just didn’t make any sense.

While my thoughts were revolving around the topic of ‘why would Trixie be telling stories like that’, Twilight was still trying to calm the seething mare down. To her great surprise she even managed to do just that, the showpony aking a couple of deep breaths and averting her eyes from Twi after a few minutes, now only just muttering angrily. Happy with her accomplishment Twilight was about to continue her own story when Trixie decided to continue her original thought:

“The legend of the Human Hero is one of the most obscure legends of pony history. Hardly anypony beside scholars specializing in ancient history or as well versed as the Great and Powerful Trixie knows about it.” She said it actually quite calmly, as if her temper didn’t rise just a few moments ago, and that air of superiority was once again in place, though I think it was hardly gone in the first place. “It does not help that there are at least three different versions of the legend in circulation, not to mention some really odd interpretations of it. The only consistent parts are the appearance of a being called a human, and its involvement in the defeat of an evil creature known by the name of Tirek of the Dark Rainbow. To see somepony else know about this legend is… how to put it… mildly surprising.” She finished, shifting her gaze at Twilight and cocking an eyebrow questioningly. “Care to explain how you of all ponies came to know about this?”

“I could ask you the same question.” I decided to but in, dropping my attempts at making sense of Trixie’s earlier words and challenging her to show her own hoof… hand… whatever. “How come you know about that if it’s such a super secret that nopony knows about, huh?”

“The Great and Powerful Trixie is just that much better than the average pony, it’s as simple as that.” She stated proudly, rising her chin conceitedly and annoying me to no end. I was about to retort, not to kindly mind you, but Twilight beat me to the punch.

“I already said –I’ve learned it in my history classes back in school.” Twi answered Trixie’s question truthfully, failing to mention what school it was in her attempt at being modest. That however couldn’t last very long, as the silver-maned mare shot her a piercing look and said in a doubt-filled voice:

“You learned that in your history classes? Trixie finds that hard to believe. What normal school teaches about something as obscure as the legend of the Human Hero?”

“Who said it was a normal school?” I challenged, stepping away from Twilight as to get out of her range. I definitely didn’t want her to stop me this time, not like when we first met the braggart.

Trixie looked at me, an amused glint in her eye. “Oh, so you mean to tell Trixie that Sparkle attended a special kind of school?” It took me a moment to realize that the way I said it pointed that Twi was special in a completely different way than I’ve meant. I admit, I blushed embarrassedly at that, but I didn’t let that deter me from saying what I wanted to.

“What I mean is that Twilight here graduated Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns.” I said whit as much conviction I could muster, glaring at the con mare. From the corner of my eye I could see Twilight looking flustered, clearly not amused that I did what I did. Mental note: in this form it’s easier to notice when Twilight blushes; might come in handy while gauging her reactions. However, I was more interested in what would be Trixie’s reaction to those news.

If I was expecting some sort of comical reaction from Trixie than I was sorely disappointed. Instead of an incredulous look, an exclamation of surprise or some sort of other extreme reaction to the news all the con mare did was arch an eyebrow and look at both me and Twilight, just like if she was completely disinterested by what I’ve just said. It almost seemed like if she was half expecting this. Either she figured it out earlier, or she was a better actress than I gave her credit for.

“This… does explain quite a lot actually.” Trixie stated slowly, as if she was carefully choosing her words. “That particular institution does a good job with the theoretical part of education. Still, Trixie finds it quite overrated, putting too little emphasis on the practical use of knowledge. So don’t get too full of yourself, Sparkle. Academics are not everything.”

I stood there, staring at the mare with a blank expression. Did she just criticize the best school for unicorns in Equestria? That was most definitely the strangest thing I have ever witnessed –a unicorn, stating that the P.C.S.f.G.U. was overrated? Either she didn’t know what she was talking about and was trying to mask it with her arrogance or she tried to enroll and didn’t pass the graduation exam and now was bitter enough about it to discredit the facility. Yeah, that must be it, there just couldn’t be any other explanation to something like that.

After a few moments of bewilderment I finally snapped out of my daze. This whole conversation was becoming more and more bizarre by the minute, and we didn’t even have Pinkie Pie with us to lead us to new, random topics. Somepony needed to finally put a stop to this madness and direct the discussion towards more pressing matters.

…I can’t believe I’m actually the voice of reason here.

Redirecting the conversation towards more important issues was easier than I initially thought. I was actually expecting Trixie to try arguing with me out of spite or something, the way her arrogance and complete lack of respect to anypony (or anydragon in my case) leading me to believe she would do just that. As it was however, she just shrugged once I proposed we change the subject and looked around the room we were in with a complete lack of interest. She probably didn’t even care what Twilight and I were about to discuss.

Speaking of Twilight, she was actually the harder of the two to coax into changing the subject. The moment I proposed we talk about something else she shot me a glare, and when I asked her, confused by her behavior what was the matter, she almost ripped my head off then and there. Twi was less than thrilled that I mentioned the education she underwent, repeating herself time and time again that she didn’t want to boast and that she asked me not to tell anypony about it, which in her mind I just did. Technically she was right: I did boast in her stead, but only because she wouldn’t defend herself from the accusations of that infuriating mare we were stuck with. And it wasn’t as if there were others around, so it wasn’t so much a boast as setting the con mare straight. It didn’t work in the end, I admit, but that’s beside the point. Fortunately, once Twi finally got all that out of her system she calmed down enough to actually change the topic, which I welcomed with a sigh of relief.

“So… what’s the plan?” I asked, referring to our current situation, us being changed and stranded that is. Twilight quite quickly caught up to what I was talking about and furrowed her brows slightly, thinking.

“I’m not sure what we can do from our end.” She finally admitted, sounding a bit beat. Her exhaustion from overusing her magic seemed to return to her, making her once again look like if she haven’t slept in a while. “At first I was hoping that you would help out and send word to you know who once I disappeared. Sadly, with you here, that’s out of the question.”

I nodded in affirmation. If there was somepony who could do something about this mess, it would have to be Princess Celestia herself. Speaking of which, it appeared that Twilight was trying to hide some of the more important bits about herself from Trixie. Again. Seriously, doesn’t Twilight know the difference between normal, natural pride and simple boasting? Besides, if she was trying to sound unsuspicious she was doing a terrible job at it. Our unwanted companion quickly noticed Twi was trying to hide something, and although she still tried to look as indifferent as ever, it was clear that she was paying us more attention than before.

I was brought out of my reverie by Twilight’s voice, my companion saying something that I didn’t quite catch. Scratching the back of my head embarrassed, I looked at her. “Could you repeat that?” That of course annoyed Twi –she hated when I wasn’t paying attention to what she was saying. Rolling her eyes she repeated herself:

“I was asking if you were one hundred percent sure you can’t use your fire in this body.” She asked annoyed. In response I shook my head no.

“Sorry, already tried that, didn’t work.” I replied, wondering idly what good would it do if I could breathe fire. I’m not quite sure if my connection with Princess Celestia was good enough to traverse who knows how far we were from her right now.

Twilight sighed resigned at hearing my answer. “Well, it was worth a shot. I only hope that the girls will figure out what to do.”

“T-the girls?” I asked uncertainly, my eyes growing wider. I had a bad feeling about this.

“Yes Spike, the girls.” Twi answered flatly, not understanding why I was asking such a stupid question, at least in her opinion. However, once she saw my expression, as well as me shifting uncomfortably on my feet she began growing suspicious. “Is there something wrong?”

I gulped down my nervousness. “Um… yeah… how do I put it…” I was searching for words, trying to come up with a way to explain to her that the girls’ help was out of the question too. I didn’t have to however, as in that moment the door leading from this dining room to the hallway outside rattled a bit from a knock and seconds later it opened slightly, an unfamiliar face appearing in it.