The Ballad of Jack and Sylvia: an Equestrian Odyssey

by Venter

Through the Looking Glass and Back Again

As the great mirror's surface came back into clarity, the image of Twilight and her Mentor was replaced with an aerial view of Canterlot. The great city on the mountain grew closer and closer as the image zoomed in, guided by Celestia's magic. The image eventually passed the city by, focusing in on a point roughly halfway down the mountain. Jack, Sylvia, and Rainbow Dash were all gathered together on a rock outcropping behind a waterfall. Sylvia's lips were moving, though Twilight couldn't hear anything.

"What are they saying, Princess?" Twilight asked.

"Focus on the mirror, Twilight. It will all become clear." The princess answered.

Turning back to the mirror, Twilight focused harder, much as she had with the soul-butterflies earlier. She found the image in the mirror consuming more and more of her field of vision, until the library was no longer on her periphery. Much to her surprise, she felt a cold gust of wind, and heard Sylvia's voice.

"...I still don't understand. You're the one who locked us up in the first place; why would you risk your neck and lie to Shining Armor just to get us out?" Sylvia asked. Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at her.

"Look, I made a mistake, okay? The Princess was attacked, the adrenaline was pumping, and I did something I shouldn't have." Dash answered, walking over to Jack's side. He was gathering water from the falls into his palms to drink. "Wouldn't exactly be loyal if I left this guy behind bars, anyway." Dash gave Jack's leg an affectionate nuzzle, startling the boy so badly that he nearly fell forward off the cliff.

Sylvia had found something to be off about Rainbow ever since the pegasus came into the dungeon after them, and her explanation didn't give her any new confidence. Did Dash just admit to a mistake? To be fair, Rainbow wasn't above admitting when she was wrong... but it was unlike her to do it so quickly, and with so little resistance. Plus, she was acting far more affectionate than Sylvia had ever seen. Coupled with the bizarre emotional patterns she could feel around the pegasus, all signs pointed to one thing - a changeling.

But there was still one discrepancy. Changelings feed on love; to do so, they took the form of a being loved by their prey. True, she had seen Jack and Dash develop a pretty fast friendship, but she knew that Jack was accounted for – by a human. She turned to the pegasus, intending to get some answers from Jack without being overheard.

“Dash, we should stop here for the night – I doubt we'll find a better place to crash before nightfall, and the waterfall will make it harder for guards to track us,” Sylvia said. “Think you could find us some firewood? We're not fast enough to make it to anyplace with trees before dark.” For a split second Rainbow Dash gave Sylvia a glare from Jack's side, but quickly snapped back into character and nodded.

“Right, be back in a flash!” She jumped up into the air and flew off, spinning around the waterfall a few times for effect before bolting into the distance. The setting sun shone through her mane and into the cascades of water, casting a dazzling array of colors onto the rocks behind them.

“She really is impressive, huh?” Jack remarked, looking back at Sylvia and taking a seat on a small boulder.

“I'm sure Dash would love to hear you say that,” Sylvia sighed. “...if that is Rainbow Dash, that is.”

“Th'hell do you mean?” Jack's tone was a bit more hostile than usual. Truth be told, he was having some of the same doubts about Dash that Sylvia had. He just didn't want to acknowledge them. The way she nuzzled up against him... he wanted that to be real.

“Jack... I need to ask you something.” Sylvia looked at him. For a moment she pondered subtle ways to ask what she wanted to know, but eventually she settled on a direct line of questioning. “...how do you feel about Rainbow Dash?” Jack's face immediately went scarlet.

“She's a cool pony- a phrase I never thought I'd say- and we're friends. I generally try to make friends with cool people.” Jack sounded defensive, deliberately avoiding any commentary on romantic feelings.

“Cool ponies.” Sylvia corrected him. In spite of everything – their trouble with the law, the very real likelihood of a changeling in their midst, Celestia and Twilight being hospitalized – the idea of Jack admitting to ponies being cool brought a grin to her face. “But you know what I mean. Are you attracted to her?”

“I am not attracted to Ponies, Sylvia.” Jack responded through gritted teeth. “I'm not some kind of zoophile.”

“For fuck's sake, Jack. I'm not asking you this to judge you. These aren't your typical animals we're talking about here; they have fully sentient, human personalities. Maybe better than human.” Sylvia gave an exasperated sigh. She already knew the answer to her question – Jack was a poor liar. “Look, I don't have time to explain. I'm not going to tell whats-her-face if we ever get back to Earth, but I need to know if Dash is-”

“If I'm what?” Rainbow Dash interjected with a sharply accusatory tone, fluttering around the waterfall with her withers full of kindling.

“I...I...you...” Sylvia was stammering slightly; she hadn't expected such a quick return. Even if it was Rainbow Dash, the nearest trees were all the way at the base of the mountain.

“If I'm going to sell you guys out again?” Dash sighed, floating gracefully to the ground and dropping the firewood at Sylvia's feet. “Look, I know I messed up. You don't have any reason to trust me. I'll... I'll just go. Don't worry, I'll head back to Cloudsdale; nopony in Canterlot will know where you two went.” Dash turned and flapped up a couple feet into the air, her head hung.

“Wait!” Jack interjected, running forward and catching her by the hoof of her hind leg. “Dash, it isn't like that. We want you to stay. Don't we, Sylvia?” Jack turned back to look at his comrade, his eyes implying that she had damn well better agree with him.

Sylvia was conflicted. On the one hand, the circumstances made her look like a fair-weather-friend at best. On the other hand, if Dash was a changeling, she would know Sylvia's suspicions even if the human backed down. With a deep breath and a clench of her fists, Sylvia trusted her gut. “Jack – you need to listen to me. That's not Rainbow Dash; she's tricking you. She just wants to use you for your emotion-”

Jack cut her off mid sentence. Something about Dash's presence seemed to be making him more confrontational. “She just wants to use me, huh? Like you wanted to use me when we woke up in bed together? Dear God, Sylvia, I never thought you would be this jealous. You know what? I admit it. I like Dash. I even like like her, as elementary school as that sounds. And if you can't deal with that, then we can go our separate ways now.”

Rainbow Dash's eyes went wide, a smile stretching slowly but steadily from ear to ear. “You mean it? Like... like like!? Jack... I... I mean... me too! I do too!” The pegasus stumbled a bit across her words, dropping back to the ground and almost tackling Jack with a full body hug. Jack hugged her back, his arms wrapping around her shoulders just above her wing joints, fingers toying with the tips of her mane.

Sylvia's sensitivity to emotion began to reassert itself as Jack's feelings grew more and more bold. It was as though there was an aura about him; massive in both size and intensity. She started to wonder whether she might not be mistaken. There was a sort of gentle light to the aura; it sent a shiver down her spine just to look at them. Then all of a sudden the aura changed. It was hard to pin down the nature of the change at first; however, after a few moments observation it became clear. The aura was shifting, like wisps of vapor being blown by an invisible fan, in the direction of Rainbow Dash. Whenever it got within an inch of her, it would simply vanish. The whole notion of being able to read emotions was still quite new to Sylvia, but it only took her another moment to piece together what she was seeing.

The changeling was feeding.

“Jack!” Sylvia cried out in alarm, frustrated to the core of her being. “Get away from him, you... you.. you monster!” All of her frustration and anger compressed itself in her chest. She hearkened back to the day before, remembering just how she had manifested magic for the first time. Her goal then had been to nurture; this time, she was feeling considerably more destructive. She forced the concentrated anger toward the tips of her fingers and stretched her arm out toward Dash. For a moment nothing happened; Jack gave her a quizzical look, and she felt rather like a young child striking poses and yelling 'Fireball' at her friends on the playground. Then all of a sudden the spell took – bolts of orange lightning raked from each of her fingertips, joining together into a single beam which lanced toward Rainbow Dash, supernaturally bright in the dying sunset. Jack caught it out of the corner of his eye, rolling himself between the beam and the pegasus to intercept it just before it would have struck Dash between the eyes. The beam burned into his shoulder, causing him to scream out in pain; when it faded, there was a hole in his cloak about three inches wide and an exceptionally nasty looking burn beneath it.

Sylvia collapsed onto the ground, shaking and crying as she realized what she had done. At the time, it had seemed the only thing -to- do; Jack was being attacked, and she had to protect him. Now, he was wounded by her hand, and he still thought she was attacking Rainbow Dash due to her own jealousy.

“Jack... I didn't mean... are you okay?” Sylvia cried out between sobs. Dash shot her a venomous look over Jack's wounded shoulder, the boy's face distorted with pain.

“Big mistake Sylvia” Dash growled, taking to the air once more and assuming an aggressive stance. She was winding up to charge when she noticed a familiar glint off in the distance. Dash backed off rather suddenly, landing and ducking down underneath Jack's torso. “Put your arm around my chest; I'll fly you down the mountain. We need to get you to a doctor.”

Jack obliged the pegasus's request, lying across her back with an arm around her chest and his legs falling down around her flanks. He could feel a gust kick up as her wings began to beat. It seemed odd that she had the strength to fly with him on her back; she was perhaps half his size, and her wings weren't particularly large. Still, they rose into the air and set off around the waterfall and down the mountain, making their way over the Everfree forest.

Back on the mountainside, Sylvia was curled up into a ball, weeping into her knees and feeling very alone. But she wasn't alone for long. Rainbow Dash came peeling down the mountain, coming to a sharp landing at Sylvia's feet.

“You! What are you doing, and where the hay are Jack and the impostor!?” Dash demanded, not particularly sensitive to the girl's feelings. “Let me guess; you and your changeling pal thought you could just waltz on out of Canterlot without us noticing? Well I got news for you; I'm way too fast for an escape.”

“It's not like that Dash.” Sylvia whimpered in quiet protest.

“Then what the hay is it!?” Dash demanded impatiently.

“She has Jack! I tried to explain changelings to him once I figured out what she was, but he wouldn't listen. I think she's already got him under her thumb.” Sylvia explained hurriedly. Dash gave her a look of confusion. “...I mean, under her hoof.”

Dash snorted in disbelief. “Sounds like a trap to me. Anyway, if he can't see through his precious little love showing up out of nowhere he deserves to be taken.”

“It wasn't a human, Dash.”

"What do you mean!?" Dash growled in disbelief. "He's told me all about her. Anyway, even if he is dumb enough to believe that she would just happen to show up in Equestria; didn't he get suspicious when the copy of me vani-" She stopped mid-sentence, stunned realization etched across her face. "It... it was me." The changeling hadn't transformed after springing the humans. She had transformed long before that. "But... Jack has a special somepony back home. He told me!"

"Yeah, well people change. I think Jack was having some issues with his old flame even before we got here." Sylvia responded. She was no longer crying, though she still looked rather drained.

"Why would he... I mean... he could have told me." Dash's voice was significantly quieter than it had been. "Why would he tell me about his lover back on Earth instead?"

"Perhaps because he has a sense of loyalty. You know; sticking by people even when things look bad." Sylvia retorted acidly. The remark visibly stung Dash; her head bowed until her rainbow mane was dragging along the ground.

"I...I'm sorry." Rainbow said in half a whisper.

"What do we do now?" Sylvia inquired. Dash stretched her wings, a look of gritty determination spreading across her face.

"We get him back."

Twilight closed her eyes, the mountain landscape shimmering away to leave her in the infinite library once more. She turned and looked behind her, where Celestia was standing and perusing a massive dusty tome. Twi could barely make out the title along it's spine, written in tremendously faded ink. "The Atlas of Everything".

"What's that, Princess?" She asked curiously.

"A guide to the multiverse. If all of these creatures are entering Equestria from other worlds, I want to figure out which worlds - and hopefully find a pattern." The alicorn set the book down, open to a chapter on Earth.

“That's where the humans come from, isn't it?” Twilight peered at the small blue and green ball in a moment of quiet wonder. “Princess... why is it that Sylvia can cast spells? She doesn't have a horn; in fact, she didn't even believe magic existed at first.”

“Your horn is simply a conduit through which you can channel and focus your natural powers. Your horn for magic is sort of like a tongue is for speech; it gives you nuances and articulations, but the real source comes from your vocal chords. The other species of pony also have other natural outlets for their magic. Pegasi expend a fair bit of theirs to be able to walk on clouds, and to supplement their wing-power when it comes to flying. Earth pony magic is infused into their muscular structure, giving them generally superior strength and endurance. Humans, in contrast, have no natural outlets. Sylvia has simply found a way to use her hands as a conduit much like your horn.”

“But then... why did she just start now? Why don't any other humans cast spells?” Twilight asked.

“I imagine Jack could, with patience and practice. He simply hasn't put the effort in. He may also not possess as much natural talent for magic as Sylvia; after all, unicorns come in several levels of talent. Do you remember Drizzle Horn?” Celestia smiled down at Twilight.

“Yeah...” Twilight giggled a bit. “She couldn't even levitate an apple.”

“Right. But she had her own talents; the weather pegasi couldn't ask for a better manager, even if she can't fly. So the point is-” Celestia suddenly went silent, though her lips kept moving. Twilight reached up to tap her ear with a hoof; normally being stricken deaf would concern her, but at this point she just chalked it up to another peculiarity of the world in-between.

Then, in the blink of an eye, the library vanished and Twilight could hear once more.

“Paging House Call... House Call... Dr. Call, you're needed in the coma ward.”

Twilight's eyes were closed, though she didn't recall closing them. She opened her eyes to a bright fluorescent light, shining down onto a hospital bed. She was awake.

Comments

[Dawn Darkling]

I. Can't. Stop. Reading.
I would give you a comprehensive comment on my feelings about this chapter, but I haven't slept in 20 hours.