A human was transported to Equestria and transformed into a pony. Unfortunately, he needs to get back home, and Equestria doesn't look the same as in the show.
A human suddenly found himself as an Earth Pony in the fictional land of Equestria. Unfortunately, Equestria didn't look the same as in the show. Regardless, it was still a little girl's show, so returning home shouldn't be a problem. Now if only he knew where the cliché ponies were located in this version of Equestria. You know, the ones who could help him get back home?
Special thanks to mix-up for drawing the cover art. :3 You can check his deviantart page as well for more of his art works~
Act 1 A human suddenly found himself as an Earth Pony in the fictional land of Equestria. Unfortunately, Equestria doesn't look the same as in the show. Regardless, it was still a little girl's show, so returning home shouldn't be a problem. Now if only he knew where the cliché ponies were located in this version of Equestria. You know, the ones who could help him get back home?
Have you ever felt that familiar feeling of wakefulness? You know, that annoying feeling where you are about to wake up, but you still don’t want to? Yeah, I am feeling it at the moment. I am slowly losing my grip on sleep and the annoyance I’m feeling is not helping me getting back to slumber. What’s making it worse is that it’s Monday today. Ugh...
...Well, whatever. I can’t be late for work.
I open my eyes and find myself lying on my belly on the grass in my apartment’s backyard. Yeah, I helped the landlady bring some life back in her dying garden. What can I say? I love nature. I just find it weird that I’ve slept outside...
And then the low mixture of different voices reach my ears. Now that’s even weirder. Excluding the landlady, I’m usually the first one to wake up this early in the morning. Wait...today is Monday, right? Gah! I don’t want to wake up and get ready only to find out that it’s Sunday. That happened before, and I was not amused.
The other rentees, as I like to call them, usually are up all Saturday night ’til Sunday morning. So it’s still Sunday today, right? But my internal clock is saying otherwise.
...Why am I still lying here? I need to trust my instinct and get ready! I push myself up and—! Those aren’t my hands. Nope, definitely not hands...
...Right... I still must be drea—sigh... No, I’m not. This is real, as far as I can tell. Yay, I turned into a pony... A brown-coated...pony.
As a brony—and yes, I watch that show—I should, I dunno, be happy? I’ve read a lot of these kinds of fanfics before, and while the idea of ‘suddenly waking up in Equestria’ is fun, I...don’t find it fun. Yeah, it’s fun to read these kinds of fics, but that’s just it; reading. Well, another brony might say otherwise, but I guess I’m one of those boring guys that I’m sure Pinkie would love to try and make me unboring...
I’m not going to deal with the questions of how I got here and blahblahblah. I’m just gonna find somebo—somepony, ask for where Twilight is, ask for her help, Celestia comes in, and then I get sent back home. Yay! Or maybe this is Discord’s doing. I like that dude, but I don’t think I’ll be able to say the same thing if I do end up talking to him directly.
I stand up properly and see a few darker brown lines of hair in front of my eyes. So I guess I have dark brown mane, too. That goes for the tail as well, right? A quick look and, yep, dark brown. A quick head check, and nope, no horn. A quick glance on my sides again (I dunno why I didn’t check when I was looking at my tail) and nope, no wings. So I guess I’m an Earth Pony. I guess nature realized how much I love her work that she decided to tell this world’s nature to turn me into an Earth Pony. I’m...flattered, I guess?
Well, since I’m in Equestria for reasons I don’t want to find out, those voices must be from other ponies. ...Or griffons. ...Or minotaurs. I look around and see a lot of trees in my surroundings. I must be on the edge of some forest if I can hear voices outside the trees. “Please be ponies, please be ponies, I’m not in the Everfree Forest, right? Oh, and please be ponies, please be ponies—” I keep on muttering in a low voice as I get closer to the outside worl...trees.
Don’t ask how I can walk...or trot. I’ve read enough fics to know that I should never pay attention to my hooves while trotting, or else I’ll stumble and fall and make a fool of myself. The latter’s only applicable if someone’s watching.
Anyway, I walk out of the line of trees and sigh in relief as I see the many ponies walking around...a flat and green plane. I blink and look around. I see no houses nor other structures in this flat grass land.
“Hello there,” a manly voi—er...stallion...ny(?) voice reaches my ears and I turn to see a smiling...pony a few paces away from me. Reason why I’m not sure if this guy’s a pony is because, heck, I’m a pony, right? He’s just...tall. Super duper tall! And oh, he has a white coat and a brown mane and tail. Anyway, the tall dude excuses himself from his other tall guy friends and trots over to me. “Never seen you ’round this part of the pasture. You new?”
I blink as he stands in front of me. And I really need to tilt my head up just to make eye contact. Damn this horse is tal—oh, oh! He’s a horse! And I’m a pony, a small horse. Oh...okay... Oh wait, he asked me a question. “Uh, yeah. Um...hi?” I say with a small smile. “I’m looking for uh, Twilight. Is she around?”
He blinks at me, his smile faltering a bit. “Twilight?” He shakes his head, his long mane swaying left and right. “Can’t say I’ve heard that name before. But judging from the sound of her name, I’d say she’s a mare, right?” he asks with a sly grin.
I roll my eyes with an amused smirk. Well, it’s obvious that she’s not here. She lives in Ponyville, not in some...pasture. Speaking of... “Oh, all right. Say uh...” I tear my gaze off of him and look around the...pasture. And now that I am looking at it again, I can now see ponies and horses in pairs, groups or by their lonesome, chatting or grazing on the grass! Like...cows and horses back home. I think I already know the answer for the question I’m about to ask, but... “...w-where do you guys sleep?”
He replies after five or so seconds. “...Uh, around.”
Figures. I sigh and look up at him again. Yeah, he’s looking at me as if I’ve hit my head or something. “Last question.”
“Shoot.”
“Do you know where Ponyville is?”
Aaaaaand I’ll take his blank expression as a ’wtf are you talking about?’ Let’s try again.
“Um... Canterlot?”
Nope. He just blinks at me.
I let out another sigh. “Well, thanks anyway.”
I turn around and am about to walk away when he decides to say something. “Well...” I turn back to look at him. He brings a large hoof to his chin as he turn his head to the green field. “I don’t really know a lot of stuff, especially stuff beyond our pasture.” He brings his hoof back down as he looks at me with a smile. “Maybe you should ask the harvesters.”
“Harvesters?”
He nods his head. “Yep.” He brings back his hoof to his chin. “Technically, they’re the ones bringing a few of our harvests to the winged ones, but we’ve been calling them harvesters anyway.” He shrugs.
I blink. “So...I should ask the harvesters... Why?”
“Well,” he says, bringing his hoof back down again. Oh, the reason why I’m paying some attention to that hoof of his is because it’s freaking big and he might suddenly smack me with it. I’ve learned to be more careful to anyone I ever talk to in the city. “They’re the ones who are always leaving the pasture to offer our harvests to the winged ones. So they may know something that might help you look for this mare of yours,” and he finishes it with a wink.
I roll my eyes again. “Uh, yeah. Thanks.” I nod my head anyway. “So,” I look back at the pasture. “Where are they?”
“Around.” He chuckles.
I stifle a groan. “...Figures.”
“Well, sorry that I couldn’t be much help, outsider,” he says as he turns and walks back to his buddies. “But good luck with your love search!”
I didn’t bother to reply, since my eyes are locked on a pink pony in the middle of this vast green field surrounded by trees. “Pinkie Pie?” What is she doing here?
Well, whatever. If she’s here, then I guess the others might be close by. If not, then I could probably ask (or beg) her to bring me to Ponyville. I smile. Yeah, I like that idea. The sooner I get out of here, the better.
The morning sun pokes out of the horizon as I walk through the pasture, my eyes on a certain bright pink pony up ahead. I pass by grazing, chatting and resting ponies and horses as I think about where I am. The air here is cool, fresh and soothing, but unfortunately, it isn’t helping me with my thoughts.
Okay so, that pink pony up ahead is definitely not Pinkie Pie. Yes, it’s not her. Why do I keep on hoping that it’s her?
Why do I think that that pony isn’t her? Well, the evidence is practically everywhere. No houses and ponies just...sleep on the ground. Also, that horse back there mentioned ’the winged ones’ so I think those are pegasus ponies. So I guess it’s safe to assume that I’m in the early days of Eques—
“Hello!”
“Gah!” I jump back, my heart racing as I stare at the...party pony who just now gave me a mini-heart attack. It’s...Pinkie Pie... It’s Pinkie Pie! Oh my gosh! It’s really Pinkie Pie! Oh, and by the way, her mane and tail are flat and straight for some reason.
“Pinkamena,” a mare behind Pinkie calls her before she turns her attention to me. “Do you know him?”
The happy pink pony turns to her. “Well, duh!” she says, rolling her eyes. “Of course not!” She then turns to me, still holding that wide grin of hers. “So what’s your name?”
Wow, she even sounds and speaks like Pinkie Pie. Wait... Name... Ah, shoot... I didn’t think of a good pony name. Well, I can always use my pony persona’s name, but eh... “Jay.” Yeah, that’s my real name. It sounds cliché for these types of scenarios, but hey, at least I’m not Anon!
Pinkie is still grinning at me. The two other mares behind her are staring at me.
I blink. They blink. I blink again.
Finally, after a few more seconds of nothing, Pinkie’s wide grin turns into a confused frown. “So...just Jay?”
Oh... They were probably waiting for me to add another word on my name. Like, Jay Pony or something. I try to smile, but I feel it’s an awkward one. “Er...y-yeah. Just Jay.”
“Oh, okay!” Pinkie chirps. She blinks and then her smile grows wider. “So Jay! How are you today? My sisters and I are a-okay! And—” and she snorts and falls on the ground, laughing.
I arch an eyebrow as her frien—er, sisters and I wait for her to finish her laughing fit. Eeyup, she’s definitely Pinkie Pie. Wait, she said that those two mares are her sisters? I look at them, but they’re still looking at their laughing-snorting sister. What are their names again? Inkie and Blinkie? Wait, no. Those are their fan-made names...I think. Gah... I only know Maud... Now that I think about it, where is Maud?
“Phew, whoo! I’m okay now.” Pinkie stands back up and smiles at me. “So, Jay. Can I help you?”
Oh? No parties or an invitation to a party? Then again, we’re not in Ponyville, so there’s no reason for her to throw me a ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party or something. Also, yay! I’m not in the early days of Equestria! “Well, do you know where Twilight is?”
“Twilight?” Pinkie repeats, arching an eyebrow.
I smile. “Yeah. You know, that purple unic—mrrf?!” Pinkie all so suddenly puts a pink hoof on my mouth, and I am very thankful that she is not as strong as what the fics I’ve read has said, else I think she would have knocked me unconscious by now.
“Shhhh!” she shh’es me, eyes narrowing. She whispers: “Don’t say that word.”
“’Unic’ what?” one of her sisters ask me.
“Pinkamena,” her other sister grabs her hoof and puts it back down on the ground. She gives her a scolding gaze for a few seconds before she turns to me with an apologizing smile. “I’m sorry about that. My sister could be very touchy sometimes. Could you finish what you were saying, um, Jay?”
I open my mouth but I see Pinkie nervously looking at me. “Uh... Just asking your sister if her um...‘unique’ friend Twilight’s around.”
“Unique?” she asks. “Unique how?”
“I uh,” Pinkie says, earning her two sisters’ attention. She sighs as her ears droop. “I told you not to say that word.” She then turns to her sisters.
I arch an eyebrow. I thought that the word she didn’t want me to say was ‘unicorn.’ Still though, I don’t get it. Then again, Twilight kinda is a weird pony for being inside her home and studying all the time. Until she became a princess of course. So I guess that’s what makes her unique? Is ‘unique’ a bad word to use here? I know Rarity uses that word to describe something that screams ‘I am a horrible product of fashion.’
“Hello?”
I blink and see a pink hoof waving in front of me. “Oh! Uh... Sorry! I um...was thinking about...something.”
“We’ll be leaving you two alone then,” one of her sisters says with a smile. She turns and leaves, the other mare following close behind.
Pinkie watches her sisters leave for a few seconds before she turns to me with a...serious look on her face. “Just so you know,” she pauses as she looks around. Afterwards, she looks back at me. “I’m not friends with Twilight.”
I blink. “...What?” I blink again. “Uh... We’re...talking about the same unico—”
“Shhh!”
I flinch. “W-what?”
She shakes her head and then looks around for a few seconds before she turns to me. “Okay, I understand that you’re not from here, so I’m going to give you an advice; don’t say the unicorn word here.” She looks around again, as if making sure that no one has heard her say the ‘forbidden word of the pasture.’ After she is satisfied, she sits down like a dog and taps the green earth in front of her.
I suppose it means that I should sit down as well, so I nod and sit down. “I thought the forbidden word was ‘unique?’”
She blinks. “What? Ah, well, no.”
“Oh.” I nod. “Okay, I guess. So uh... Twilight?”
She shakes her head. “Sorry, but I don’t know anything about her.”
I blink. I don’t get it. “But why? You two are friends...right?”
She raises an eyebrow. “Since when?”
I blink again. “...L-let’s go back a few steps, is that all right?”
She shrugs.
“Well, you’re Pinkie Pie, right?”
“Yep. But ponies call me Pinkamena all the time.”
“Oh, okay. So... Do you know who Twilight Sparkle is?”
She shakes her head. “I don’t know her know her. I only heard about her from other ponies.”
I blink again. I can’t help it... Things just aren’t making sense at the moment. “Okay, so... You don’t know her personally.”
“Nope!”
“Then do you know anypony who might know her? As in knows her knows her.”
She taps her chin with a hoof as she thinks about it. She later shakes her head. “I don’t know. I’ve only heard about her from other ponies in other pastures. Sometimes from the winged ponies. Well, maybe the unicorns might now.”
“Riiight. About that...” I look around and I see ponies aren’t paying us any attention. “Well, can you tell me why I’m not allowed to say the bleep word?”
She arches an eyebrow. “Bleep word?”
“You know,” I say as I circle a hoof in the air. You know, for emphasis. “The unibleep word.”
She blinks. A few seconds later, her eyes slowly grows wide, realizing what I mean. “Oh! That word!” She giggles. “Well, it’s because the bleep ponies are super mean to us.”
“Oh?”
“And by mean, I mean super duper ‘throw rocks at us’ mean!”
I blink. “Uh... You’re kidding, right?”
“Nope!” She stands up, turns around and flicks her tail aside.
As a gentleman (cough cough) I don’t stare at a woman’s...erm...‘gifts’ but thankfully, or unthankfully, a nasty scar on Pinkie’s thigh is preventing me from looking at her private parts. And it’s a nasty looking scar that made me involuntarily flinch.
“Yep. That bad.”
“Ouchness, Pinkie,” I say as she turns around and sits in front of me again. “I can’t imagine how...painful that is...”
“Yup!” she smiles. “Happened a few moons ago.”
Moons?
“We never went back there ever again. I mean, we offer them our harvests in exchange for a few magic gems, but noooooo, they have to throw rocks at us as we leave!” She angrily tosses her head to the side and spits on the ground. She glares at her own spit. “Well, too bad for you bleeping bleepers! You aren’t getting any of our harvests in like, forever!”
“Okay, okay! Calm down, Pinkie,” I say, reaching out and tapping her shoulder. She closes her eyes and takes deep breaths to calm herself. “I’m...sorry to make you remember an unpleasant memory.”
“Nah,” she says, smiling at me as I pull my hoof back. “It wasn’t unpleasant. It was usually fun to run away from their rock storm. Well, it was fun until I got hit.” She shrugs.
And from the looks of her scar, I don’t think the unicorns were just throwing those rocks with their hooves. Nope. It looked like they were using their magic as cannons and the rocks as cannonballs.
“So we ponies here never mention the bleeps because it ruins everypony’s moods, you know?”
I nod my head lamely. “I see. Well, I’ll try my best not to mention the bleep.”
She smiles and nods.
“So...can I ask another question.”
“Sure! Why not?”
“Well...” If she doesn’t know who Twilight is, then maybe... “Do you know where Celestia is? Or Luna?”
She blinks. “What’s that?”
“Never mind.” I sigh... What kind of Equestria am I in, anyway? “By the way, Pinkie.”
“Hm?”
“You live in Ponyville, right?”
She arches an eyebrow. “Uh, no. I live here.”
...Well, fudge.
“And you’re sitting on the spot where my mom foaled me.”
I arch an eyebrow. “Well, you told me to sit on this spot.”
She pouts. “Aw... Stallions usually jump and apologize if I mention that.”
Well, too bad. I stick my tongue out at her and she pouts some more.
Pinkie Pie invites me to join her for breakfast. And by breakfast, she means that we eat the grass around us.
“Uhhh...” I uhhh as I watch her chew the grass she just pulled off the ground with her mouth. She’s also eating the roots and the dirt! I make a face as she swallows what she was eating.
“Mm...” she licks her lips and looks down at the grass. “I always love breakfast! The morning dew that clung on the blades of grass always makes the grass taste delicious!”
I’m not too sure if all those are morning dew if everypony sleeps on it... And by the way, Pinkie’s sisters are back, eating the grass close by.
“You should try some!”
“Er...” I force a smile. “N-no thanks. I’m...not that hungry anyway...” And then my tummy says otherwise. What can I say? Seeing others eat while I haven’t eaten anything makes me hungry.
“Really?” she asks. “Huh... I thought that was your belly yelling that its hungry.”
“It was just your imagination,” I say as I start to leave. This pasture is surrounded by trees, so maybe there are fruit-bearing trees around. I hope. Also, Pinkie just...lets me leave. Aw well...
Hm... So Pinkie Pie and her sisters live here, and she doesn’t know what Ponyville is, and she doesn’t know who Twilight or Celestia or Luna are. This is a problem. And here I thought I could go back home much faster. I guess I’m wro—no. I’m going home, and I’ll find a way.
But... What is this world, anyway? It’s not the same Equestria I’ve seen from the show. Well, there’s Pinkie Pie, and most likely Twilight’s here as well. But that’s it. Only the ponies are the same. Where are the houses? The castle? ...Fluttershy’s cottage?
I take a deep breath and let out a sigh through my pony nostrils. So, I guess it’s safe to assume that the ponies here do not know how to build houses and other structures. I look around and stare at the many different ponies and horses. I think I’m just going to generally call them ‘ponies’ now because of lazy. Anyway, none of them have any Cutie Marks either. I look at my thigh and nope, no Cutie Mark.
...Maybe I’m in an alternate universe. An alternate Equestria... An alternate timeli—
And my tummy reminds me of something more important, so I go back to walking towards the edge of the pasture.
“Howdy!”
And if I am not hearing things, it seems that Applejack’s here as well. I turn around, blink and eeyup, that orange mare who’s approaching me definitely is Applejack, but without the hat and the strings that tie her mane into a ponytail. Applejack is best pony, but this Applejack is weird pony, but still best pony.
“So you’re the new pony that I heard about,” she says. “Name’s Applejack. I heard from the Pie sisters that you’re Jay?”
I smile. At least she still has her lovable accent. “Yeah.”
“Weird name for a pony, if I do say so myself.”
Aaand I’m frowning now. Applejack is no longer best pony.
“Uh,” she smiles awkwardly. “No offense there, sugar cube.”
She calls me a sugar cube! Applejack is best pony! “None taken,” I say with a smile.
Reason why I’m not squeeing like an idiot is because I’m cool like that. Hahah, no, I was just kidding. Real reason is because I’ve learned to control myself. Being the eldest, my parents have taught me to behave and all that boring stuff. I’ll spare you the details.
And then my tummy decides to introduce itself.
Applejack chuckles while I smile nervously. “Looks like somepony’s hungry. Care to join me for breakfast?”
Another frown is threatening to break the small smile on my face. “U-uh... No thanks...” I turn my head down and stare on the grass. “I’m...I don’t like grass?”
Applejack chuckles. “Heh, that makes the two of us.”
“Oh?” I look up at her, and I feel my ears standing in attention. It feels strange.
“Yeah. I dunno when I decided to hate grass.” She shrugs. “I guess I wanted to try and eat something different.”
“Let me guess,” I grin. “Apples.”
“Heheh. I guess my name gives it away, huh?” She gestures with her head, pointing at the trees on the edge of the pasture. She leads the way, me following close behind. “You know, it’s really nice to meet another pony who hates grass like me.”
Not sure how to respond to that.
“Of course, I only hate eating the stuff. But I love lying on it and sleep on it like every other pony.”
And I still don’t know what to say to that. Now, normally, in conversations like this one where I don’t know what to say, I just stay quiet and smile or nod to let the one who’s talking know that I’m still listening and still paying attention. Applejack is looking ahead, so I feel the need to say something. “I...can relate.” ...Hey, it’s something.
“You all right there, sugar cube?” she asks. “Or are you a quiet type?”
We reach the line of trees, but Applejack walks on, so I follow. “Yeah, I usually am.”
She chuckles. “Ah. You’re like my brother then. Then again, maybe not. I swear, I sometimes think that ‘eeyup’ and ‘eenope’ are the only words that stallion knows.”
“Come now, that’s a bit harsh,” I say.
“Well, it’s true!” she says as she stops in front of a tree and turn around to face me. Well, I thought she turned around to face me, but instead she turn her head over her shoulder, takes aim, and gives the tree a kick, causing the said tree to shake and—
“Ow!” an apple falls on my head. First time experiencing an apple falling on my head, and I do not want to experience that again.
“Oops, sorry about that,” she says as the last of the few apples fall on the ground around us. She grabs an apple with her mouth. Er, no. She bites and eats an apple while it is still on the ground. “Mm...”
I blink at her. She’s not using her hooves to eat? Then again, Pinkie Pie and her sisters didn’t as well. I raise my hoof, turn it and stare at my, uh, underhoof? For hands, it’s called palms. I dunno what it’s called for ponies. Wait, I remember a few fics that it’s called a ‘crook’ or ‘inner hoof’ or ‘frog’ or something. Sigh... Where’s my English major brother when I needed him?
“You don’t like apples?” she asks before taking another bite.
“Ah, no,” I quickly reply, shaking my head. “I was...just thinking.”
“About what, sugar cube?” she asks in between chews.
Sheesh. My mom always told me not to speak when my mouth is full. I look down and stare at the apple before me and...try to pick it up with my hoof. I’ve read a few fics that there’s ‘magic’ in pony’s hooves that ‘magically magnetizes’ stuff on it so we can hold stuff. Aaand nope, I press a hoof on the apple, and it’s not sticking on my hoof.
“What are you doing?”
“...Trying to make a fool of myself,” I sigh as I sit down. I pick the apple up with both my front hooves, pull it closer to my pony mouth and start to eat it.
“Hey,” Applejack smiles. “That’s some fancy way of eating.”
“Uh...thanks—” and derp, I spoke while my mouth was full! My mom’s gonna be so angry with me...
And then I hear faint swooshing noises up above. I look up and, through the large gaps between the sea of leaves, I see low-hanging clouds quickly passing by, and of course, those clouds are being pushed by a number of pegasus ponies.
I hear a sigh. I look back at Applejack and see her fixing her glaring eyes above.
“Well, it’s about time those airheads delivered the rain clouds,” she says angrily as she stands up. She looks at me, trying to mask her scowl. “Well, sorry ‘bout that, sugar cube. But I need to get going before they decide to start the rain on the wrong spot again.”
I nod in understanding as she walks pass me. Looks like she doesn’t like pegasus ponies that much. I stand up on my four hooves and turn around. Pinkie mentioned that the pegasi might know something about Twilight, so I’ll just ask them and hope that they know something.
And then my tummy growls. Fine, after a few more apples then.
It’s not hard to know where the pegasus ponies are. Seriously, just a quick scan on the pasture and just find lots and lots of low-hanging clouds, and you find your target.
So I make my way over there. It’s a little bit far away, but eh, I’ll get there eventually. A few ponies are still around, but most of them are moving towards my destination as well. There’s a big crowd of ponies up ahead, but thankfully, they’re not standing too close to each other, so I walk and turn until I am now standing in front to get a better view of what’s going on.
What I see before me are large patches of brown, fertile earth with different plants and vegetables growing on them. Some parts of the brown earth also has sticks and twigs where vine-like vegetables crawl on them. It’s...a messy set-up, to be honest, but still nice to look at, at least, especially at how the pegasi jumps on cloud to cloud, creating small drizzles that rain on the crops.
...Now that I think about it, I wonder why I never noticed this patch of brown earth when I first got here. Aw well.
“All right, y’all,” I turn and see Applejack waving a hoof at the pegasus ponies above. “That’s enough water for the carrots. Why don’t you move that rain cloud over to the radishes next?”
And then a familiar awesome pegasus pony swoops down and hovers in front of best pony. And oh, the awesome pegasus has an annoyed look on her face. “And where exactly are the radishes?”
“Right over there,” Applejack replies, pointing at where the rainwater is falling. “Just don’t make it rain on the carrots.”
Rainbow Dash stares at the radishes and carrots for a few more seconds before she turns her angry face to the earth pony. “Seriously?! You literally planted them on the same spot!”
“I didn’t plant them like that, sugar cube.”
“And how the hay are we supposed to rain on only the radishes?”
Applejack shrugs. “You’re asking the wrong pony there, sugar cube.”
“Arrgggh!” Rainbow Dash touches down in front of best pony and glares at her. “You guys are making this hard for us! And you’re doing it on purpose!”
“Either you do it or you won’t get any carrots in the next delivery.”
Awesome pony’s eye twitches twice. “You...! Grrr...! All right, fine!” She flies up and tells a few pegasus ponies to stop making it rain on a specific spot, and then gives them some sort of instructions with wild hoof gestures if I’m seeing it correctly.
The pegasus ponies who are listening to Dash’s instructions let out groans of annoyance as they fly and grab clouds, scattering them and...making a smaller bunch of clouds by punching them while in the air. They grab one or two small clouds and flies low, asking a few earth ponies where the radishes are before they place small clouds on top of it.
“There,” Rainbow Dash touches down in front of Applejack. “Happy?”
“Eeyup.” Applejack smiles smugly. “Do save some for the fruit trees over there, ya hear? Oh! And uh,” she turns around and points at the direction where the apple trees are located. “The apple trees could use some water as well.”
Rainbow Dash closes her eyes and takes a deep, deep breath, holds it in for a few seconds, and sighs a heavy sigh. She opens her eyes and glares at the earth pony in front of her. “You said you only needed a ‘bunch’ of clouds. We didn’t bring that many clouds here for your trees, dirtpony.”
Applejack shrugs. “Well, all right. Just don’t expect we bring you guys fruits ne—”
“All right, fine!” Rainbow Dash snarls before zooming up and calling the other pegasi’s attentions.
While Rainbow Dash is giving them new sets of instructions, I can’t help but notice Applejack’s smug smile as I walk towards her. I see her ear twitch before she turns to me, her smug smile turning into a more genuine one. “Ah, hey there, Jay. You finished eating?”
“Yeah,” I nod. “Thanks for the apples, by the way.”
She waves a hoof. “Nah, don’t mention it, sugar cube.”
“So uh...” I say as she returns her gaze on the busy pegasi above. “I can’t help but notice that you’re, like, the boss around here.”
“You could say that,” she nods her head without looking at me. “At least, the boss in handling our crops, for I’m the one who checks them. Well,” she turns to me, “a few other ponies do too, but I guess I’m the only pony who can tell how much water the plants need to grow properly.”
“Oh.” Let’s pretend that I get it. “I see.”
She arches an eyebrow. “...Really?”
I feel my ears droop as I smile awkwardly. “Er...yes?”
“Huh, well alrighty then.” She looks back up at the pegasi.
I look up as well, watching a bunch of them carrying a few clouds over to the different fruit trees a paces away from us. “I...also can’t help but notice that you...enjoy bossing them around.”
“Huh?” Applejack blinks as she turns to me. “What do you mean?”
“Well,” I turn and frown at her. “It looks to me that you’re making their, um, jobs a little difficult.”
She immediately shakes her head. “It’s not my fault that the ponies planted the crops the way they are right now.”
“But I thought you said—”
“I said that I only check how much water they need, sugar cube. I don’t plant them,” she says with a small glare. “I’m handling the trees. My brother and I, I mean.” She points with a hoof.
I follow the direction of her hoof, and in the distance I see a familiar red stallion around the banana trees, who is probably saying something to the pegasi who are handling the rain showers over there.
I feel a cool gust of air blowing towards me as Rainbow Dash lands in front of us. “Okay, I think your stupid crops are soaked good,” she says as she glares at her. “Now where are your apple trees again so we can rain on them and be on our way?”
“I led you there far too many times already.”
RD shakes her head. “You guys aren’t the only ponies we deliver rain clouds, you know. What? You think you guys are special?”
“Perhaps,” AJ says with a grin. “I remember that we’re the only ones who deliver you winged freaks good carrots and apples.” She turns around with a chuckle and walks away. “Now follow me.”
Rainbow is fuming, but I am really, really surprised that she isn’t shouting or anything.
I give her a small and apologetic smile as I bring my hoof to tap her shoulder. “Hey uh, I’m sorry about Ap—”
She slaps my hoof away, and damn did it hurt! “Don’t touch me, dirtball.” Aaand she zooms up.
Ooowie... My poor hoof.
Wait...
I blink and quickly look up. “Wait! Rai—” She’s gone. I blink and look back, and see the pegasi pushing the clouds towards the apple trees. I let out a sigh. Damn, I forgot to ask Dash about Twilight. Wait... I didn’t even ask Applejack about Twilight! Since, well, since AJ’s the one handling the trees, then maybe she’s a harvester. Hm... Judging from the way AJ and RD interacted with each other, it seems that Applejack has already delivered apples and other stuff to the pegasus’...land, or pasture, or area. Whatever.
Also, hm... Pinkie said she also delivers their harvests to the unicorns. Does that make her a harvester, too?
“Any progress, bud?” I hear a familiar voice of a stallion. I turn and see the white horse walking towards me, his smile faltering. “Oh. Judging from your frown, it’s a no then.”
I’m frowning, but not because I didn’t find Twilight yet. But eh. “Yeah...” I sigh. “You could say that.” I look back to him. “Say. Is Big Mac a harvester, too?”
He blinks at me.
“Er... AJ’s—I mean, Applejack’s brother?”
“Ah,” he says with a smile. “You mean Macintosh.” He chuckles and shakes his head. “Twilight, and then Big Mac... Where on earth have you heard these weird names, bud?”
Uh, on earth, duh.
“Anyway, yeah,” Mister White Horse says with a nod. Yeah, since this is the second time I’m talking to him, I get to name him. “Macintosh is a harvester too, but,” he turns to where Big Mac is. “He doesn’t leave the pasture much. His sister never misses a delivery however, so you should go and ask her.”
Yeah, but Big Mac’s much closer than AJ at the moment.
Mister White Horse is looking around the crowd of chatting ponies. “Or I can call a few friends of mine around who are harvesters, if you want.”
“Nah, it’s all right.” I’d rather talk to the ponies I’m familiar with than some unknown background ponies that I don’t even know. ...And Mister White Horse, too. Anyway, Big Mac it is, then. “By the way, name’s Jay.”
He smiles and nods at me. “I’ve heard your name from a few ponies around.” He brings a large hoof over his chest. “Name’s White Horse.”
Unlike Mister White Horse, Big Mac’s shorter, but the red stallion is still taller than me. I watch the few remaining pegasus ponies above the fruit trees, hoping to see a familiar face, but nope, none of them are familiar. As they push the clouds away, I walk up to Big Mac who gives me a quick glance before he returns his attention to the trees.
“Hello,” I greet him with a smile as I stop a few paces away from him. “You’re Big M—er, you’re Macintosh, right?”
“Eeyup,” he says without tearing his gaze from the greens. Er, I mean oranges. They’re still green in color, so I suppose they’re still unripe oranges. It’s a little weird to see Big Mac working on orange trees. No offense to any oranges out there.
Anyway... “I hear you’re a harvester?”
“Eeyup.”
I smile and nod. “Nice. I’m Jay, and I’m not from around here,” or from this world. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“Eeyup.”
My smile falters a bit. “...So you’ve been outside this pasture before, right?”
“Eeyup.”
“Delivering crops to other ponies?”
“Eeyup.”
I’m starting to think that AJ was right about her brother. “...Uh, so have you heard about a pony named Twilight?”
“Eey...” he blinks, and blinks again. After a few seconds, he turns to me with...wow, he has a good poker face. “...Eeyup.”
I sigh with a smile. “Nice. Okay, so I’m looking for her, you see. Do you know where she is?”
“Ee—”
I hold my breath.
“—nope.”
And this is why I should never let my hopes up. It hurts when it crashes down on me. I feel my ears droop as I frown. “...Oh. Uh, okay.” Damn. I’m kinda tempted to ask if he knows Smarty Pants. Hm... Nah. “So uh, do you know anything about her that might help me find her?”
He blinks at me. “...Eenope.”
And my frown goes further down. “I...see... Well, uh, thanks, and sorry to disturb you, Macintosh sir.” I give him a small nod before I turn around and slowly walk away.
Sigh... I guess I better go and see Applejack.
“Why the long face?”
Or Pinkie Pie. That works too, I guess. Also, that was a baaad joke coming from you, Pinkie, yet it manage to make me smile a bit. “Eh, just thinking about something...” I shake my head a bit. “Don’t worry about it.”
She frowns. “If you say so.” She then gives me a small smile of her own. “So... How’s your little love search going?”
I let out a sigh.
“That bad, eh?” She shrugs. “Well, you obviously are looking for her in the wrong place.”
“I know, I know,” I say with a nod. “I’m just...looking for some leads that’ll tell me where to go.”
“Well, if you’re reeeaaally dead-set on looking for her, then why don’t you go and ask in other pastures?” She shrugs again. “Or just go to the bleep ponies.”
I let out a small chuckle. I have already forgotten about our bleep word. “Well, that’s the thing,” I say as my smile turns into a frown. “I...don’t know how to get to other, um, pastures.”
She blinks at me, her smile turning into a straight line. “...What?” She arches an eyebrow. “That doesn’t make sense.”
I blink in return. “Uh...why?”
Now she’s looking at me as if I suddenly turned into a unico—oh, I think I already know where this is going... “Because you’re obviously from somewhere. Some other pasture that I haven’t gone to yet.” She shrugs. “As strange as this might sound—”
Oh, trust me, Pinkie. The show has mentally prepared me for your crazy antics. Which you disappointingly lack in this world.
“—you carry the scent of your home that we haven’t visited yet. And we’ve traveled and traded our harvest with other pastures close by. That only means that you’re from a far-away land, which also means you’ve visited other pastures before you got here,” and she finishes her explanation with a big grin.
I smile at her. She’s strangely intelligent to be Pinkie, but hey, it’s Pinkie. I shouldn’t question it. “So... If I visited other pastures before, does that mean that I get to ‘catch’ their scent on me?”
Pinkie blinks. “Well, yeah.” She smiles. “Oh! You’re doubting me, aren’t ya? Well!” She suddenly puts her muzzle on my neck, making me freeze and hold my breath in shock-surprise. The next thing I know, her face is no longer on my neck, but on a more respectable distance. Oh, and she is frowning at me. “...That’s strange.”
I blink as I begrudgingly start manual breathing. I know breathing is automatic, but I find it annoying that it turns into manual mode if I accidentally take notice of it. Le sigh... Oh, right, Pinkie. Derp, I forgot what she said. “Uh...what?”
“You...” she points a pink hoof at me. “...only have your strange home’s scent and our pasture’s...”
I flash her a lame smile. “Er, yeah. I did tell you that I haven’t been to any other pastures yet.”
“But,” she frowns at me. “It doesn’t make sense!”
Stop talking like Twilight! That’s her line!
She shrugs. “Eh, whatever. Big world and all of its big list of mysteries, I guess?” She smiles at me. “Well, if you really don’t know how to get somewhere, why don’t you join us tomorrow in our delivery?”
Huh. I guess that works. But wait. “Tomorrow?”
She nods her head. “Yep! We’re gonna harvest the crops we need to deliver later before the moon comes up so we can deliver them just before the sun wakes up! We’re gonna be delivering a lot if I remember it correctly. Let’s see... There’s gonna be lettuce, eggplants, potat—mrf?”
I ever so gently press my hoof over her mouth. Hey, I know my hoof’s probably dirty from all of my walking, but she ate the dirt that clung on the roots of the grass, so whatever. Wait... About that... “Pinkie...” I say as I put my hoof down.
“Hm?”
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but,” I say as I look at a few ponies around. “Ponies don’t usually pull the grass and eat it as well as its roots, right?”
Pinkie blinks and shrugs. “Yeah, I guess so. But what can I say? I like the flavor of the roots.”
I think the flavor you’re talking about are the dirt on the roots, but whatever. “Well, uh anyway, I ah uh, appreciate the offer,” I say as I frown. “But, um, tomorrow?”
She nods with a smile. “Yep! Tomorrow! Before the sun comes up!” She then looks around. “If you’re worried about where to sleep, well,” she looks back to me, “you can sleep wherever! We share our territories with everypony around here. Just...” she leans closer to whisper, “...don’t sleep right next to couples. They tend to get really touchy sometimes.”
That’s something, coming from ‘touchy’ Pinkie.
“And loud.”
I shake my head. I don’t need that mental image right now.
She pouts. “Wow... You’re a difficult stallion, you know that? I can get others to smile or blush when I said that line last.”
I sigh. Sorry, Pinks, but I don’t feel like laughing or whatever at the moment... “C-can’t you guys...”
Wait... Why am I asking them to deliver now? Why am I gonna ask them to help me in the first place? This...this is my problem, and I shouldn’t drag anyone else with me. That would be selfish of me.
“Pinkie.”
“Yeah?”
“Can you tell me where...the bleep ponies are?”
She blinks at me. “Uh, why?”
“I need to go there,” I say. “Twilight’s a bleep, so the bleep ponies might know where she is.”
“Uh... Did you forget that scar I showed you?”
I blink. “Er, well, yes.” I blink again. “Wait. Earlier, you suggested that I should go to the bleeps.“
She shrugs. “I wasn’t serious about that.” She then frowns at me. “And you still want to go there?”
I nod my head. “I need to find Twilight, Pinkie. You said so yourself that you guys no longer give them your food, so tomorrow, you guys won’t be going there, right?” I took a breath and sigh. “I need to see her as soon as possible.”
I am heading north. Pinkie told me that the unicorns live near the base of the northern mountains. Isn’t it cold up there? Bleah, I dunno, and I should stop thinking that this world is the same as in the show.
...Yeah, I’ve been repeating that line for a number of times now. I can’t help it though. I’ve read a lot of aitch aye ee fics where the protagonists find themselves in the real Equestria, not in this...low-budget version of Equestria.
Sigh... I really should stop thinking like this... And why am I narrating everything in my head anyway? It’s not as if someone out there in the big, wide universe is mentally listening to me anyway. Bleah, whatever...
Anyway, I am walking on the forest path. It’s not a straight path though. Often times, it curves or sharply turns left or right and stays that way for a few yards before it turns back north again. Tall trees and shrubbery are on the side of the earthen path, providing me enough shade from the sun that’s already high above in the sky. It also provides a good hiding place for...um...
Well, before I left the pasture, Pinkie Pie has warned me that the path isn’t safe to travel alone, because of...predators. There are predators in this world! That eat ponies! And damn, I actually felt my pupils shrunk when she told me that. But, here I am now, stupidly walking on this path despite her warnings and pleas. So far, I don’t see any predators around, but that didn’t help push my nervousness away. Besides, I already know that there’s going to be one that’s going to pop-up soon and try to kill me. That’s how these kinds of fics go, right? Le sigh...
As I walk, I keep on thinking of ways to defend myself if ever danger does show up. ...And the only thing I have that might help me are my hooves. No, I ain’t planning on using these little hooves of mine to buck whatever tries to eat me. Nope. I’m gonna use these little hooves to run away and hope to outrun whatever and not to stumble and fall on the ground like an idiot. I’m a pony, right? Ponies are part of the horse family, and horses are fast runners. Yeah, that’s the only thing that’s helping me continue trekking this path.
The harvesters are going to another pasture to maybe trade some goods with the other ponies. That’s tomorrow, and currently, the sun has yet to reach the zenith. I cannot wait that long. Plus, Pinkie has told me that they aren’t going to the unicorns, so what’s the purpose of me joining them?
I need to find Twilight as soon as possible. Pinkie told me that the journey towards the unicorns’ place is at least two days, with sleep during the night and the crops they carry slowing them down. So since I’m not bringing anything, and I’m alone, and I ain’t sleeping to become an easy meal, I think can keep a quick and steady pace towards my destination.
...How are the ponies gonna carry their crops anyway? I didn’t see any wagons or boxes or crates back there. Eh...
Anyway, I can handle a day being absent from work. I’ll just file a sick leave or an emergency leave and think of an excuse that’s believable. Two days, well, I can handle that too, I think. But beyond that? No, I can’t be gone in my world that long. My mom will be visiting me in my place on Wednesday, or rather, on Tuesday evening. And when she finds out that I’m not there, well... Let’s just say that she tends to overreact...a little.
I shake my head. No! I’m going home. And I will! Just keep walking. Just keep walking. At least the birds are chirping. If birds are chirping, it means predators aren’t around, right? Or the birds didn’t notice yet.
Nope! Don’t think like that! Just keep walking.
So walking on four hooves takes a lot of energy, especially if you’ve been walking for an hour or two. Yeah, the sun’s already on the zenith, so it’s noon or around noon now. Thankfully, the leaves shield me from the harsh sun’s rays.
I’ve been walking on a quick pace and my hooves are starting to hurt. And I’m starting to get hungry. As I continue walking, I look around, trying to spot a fruit or two for me to eat, but nope, I can’t find any fruits around. I don’t think these tall trees can bear fruits anyway.
And I don’t want to try my luck on the bushes. Pinkie told me that Timberwolves sleep during the day, while camouflaging themselves as small trees or even bushes, and when they feel an unsuspecting prey trying to eat their leaves or their fruit baits, well, it’ll bite them, and eat them.
I need a drink. I don’t remember drinking back in the pasture, and I’m starting to regret it. Wait... All I saw back there was green! Where do those ponies get water anyway? Do the pegasi also deliver them drinkable water? Damn, those earth ponies are lazy and dependent on the pegasi. If they decide to stop giving them rain clouds, well—
Hm? I feel my ears twitch as I hear the faint sound of running water. Then again, finding water here should have been obvious. I mean, Pinkie did mention that the harvesters delivering crops to the unicorns needed to sleep. So it’s safe to assume that they make camp around the water.
I can already feel my throat becoming dry and I just now noticed that despite my ouchie hooves, I quicken my pace some more. As I continue moving, the sound of water is getting louder. After a few more minutes of walking on the curved path, I finally see a calm and wide stream that broke the path. I run towards the stream and quickly slow down when I realize that I’m going too fast. Soon, I stop on the edge of the stream and lean my head down to...stare at my exhausted expression.
How am I suppose to drink? How do horses drink? Ah, whatever. I just dip my mouth and suck the water and hope for the best. As I drink, I realize that my nostrils are also submerged, so I try to take a few more drinks before I pull my head back. Aaand manual breathing again... Sigh...
Ah, whatever. At least I’m no longer thirsty. I look around, hoping to see something to eat, but all I see is green, green and a few birds and a deer by the stream. Wait...deer? I don’t really read the pony comics, but I do try and keep up with the goings on in there, and I remember that deer can talk and have cities of their own. Not sure about the cities part, but whatever.
“Hello,” I say as I slowly walk towards the deer, or a doe, since it’s a female deer. ...I almost sang that song in my head.
Anyway, the deer looks like a young adult deer, and has no ho—er, I mean antlers, so it’s female, right? Although she has two little stubs on her head where deer antlers should be if she was a male deer. She’s lying on the grassy ground by the stream and pulls her head up to look at me.
I stop a few paces away from her and put on my best, natural smile. “Um, hello?”
She stares at me for a second or two before she gives me a nod. “Hello to you, too, pony.”
Whew. She’s friendly. It makes my smile grow wider. “I’m sorry to bother you, miss, but um,” brain, I know it’s weird to talk to a deer, so we’ll discuss that later, “am I...uh...” I turn and point a hoof to the direction where I’m heading. “Will that path take me to the unicorns?”
I turn back to her in time to see her shrug. “Pony, I’ve been living in this woods ever since I was born. And never once did I see that path carry anydeer over to the unicorns.”
... ... ...
She snickers. “I’m just kidding. Sorry.”
“...Eheheh...ehh...” Riiight...
She sighs with a small smile. “I’m not really good with jokes. Sorry about that.”
“Oh, I’m not good at it either,” I say. “But, um, I’m kinda in a hurry, so the road?”
She nods and turns her head towards the path on the other side of the stream. “Yes. If you continue to trot that path, you’ll reach the rocky lands of the hornie ponies, or unicorns as your kind liked to call them.”
...Hor—I’m gonna pretend that I heard that incorrectly.
She slowly stands up on her dainty and pointed legs and stretches like a cat. “Ahh,” she says as she stands up properly. She’s a little shorter than me, but eh. She turns to the stream and jumps jumps jumps over the rocks that were poking through the water’s surface and she reaches the other side in two seconds flat. She turns around and arches an eyebrow. “...Pony, are you going to just stand there?”
“Uh, no,” I reply with a blink. I look at the rocks on the stream, and then at the streambed. This is a shallow stream, so I don’t need to step on the rocks and risk slipping. So I walk through the stream, smiling as the cool water soothes my aching hooves.
“Typical ponies,” the deer says, rolling her emerald eyes with a smile.
Oh... About that... “Um, why are you waiting for me over there?” I ask as I continue walking through the stream.
She shrugs, her small tail wagging a bit. “I’m taking you there. I have nothing else to do at the moment anyway.”
I frown as I reach the other side of the stream. “But I didn’t ask you to. And you don’t have to,” I tell her as I shake the water off of my hooves.
She rolls her eyes again. “Sorry, pony, but you can’t tell me what to do.” She looks down and glares on the green ground between us. “I’m tired of getting told what to do,” she mutters under her breath, but I still heard it.
I blink at her.
She slightly shakes her head, turns and faces the path ahead. “If I want to take you there, then I will,” she says with a nod. “It’s about time I start making my own decisions in life.”
Right. I can relate to that to some extent. But if bigger things come my way and I need to make a choice, I’m too afraid to decide on the spot. I’ll first think of the pros and cons, call my mom for her opinion, ask a few friends, and etcetera.
...Being turned into a pony and me deciding to find Twilight despite the dangers doesn’t count. ...I think.
I let out a sigh as the deer turns back to face me. “What if I don’t want you to come with me?”
She shrugs. “Then I’ll follow you, or trot ahead of you. I won’t leave you unless a lynx or a boar shows up.”
...Right. Two is better than one, I suppose. “Well, alright, I guess,” I say as I walk on the path, the deer following close behind. Well, if she really wants to come along, then I guess we should at least know each other. “Name’s Jay, by the way.”
“Jay what?” she asks me.
I turn my head to give her my confused look. “What do you mean?”
She shrugs. “Well, you ponies have weird names, like Rock Eater or Leaf Turner. It’s always What What. So what’s your name?”
I frown. “Uh, Jay. My name’s Jay. Just Jay,” and I finish it with a small albeit awkward smile.
She blinks at me. “Just Jay, huh? Well, that’s a first.”
I shrug.
She shrugs. “I’ll call you Jay Pony then.”
...wat.
“Sienna. My name’s Sienna.”
I nod. “Well, nice to meet you, Sienna Deer.”
She rolls her eyes. “Just call me Sienna, Jay Pony.”
“I’ll stop calling you Sienna Deer if you stop calling me Jay Pony.”
She rolls her eyes again but didn’t say anything.
I turn my attention ahead and listen to the birds chirping on the trees above.
“So why are you going to the hornie ponies?”
I cringe. I get the feeling that she doesn’t know the human meaning of that word... I doubt anyone in this world does... “Well, I’m looking for someone.” I also get a feeling that she doesn’t like the silence.
“Really?” she sounds really curious. “Who? Maybe I know them. Well, then again, I don’t really know that many ponies...”
Sienna rolls her emerald green eyes as she munches on the grass. “Just eat, you silly pony.”
The sun is already setting, and even though the sky is still bright, the forest has already gotten quite dark, probably because the leaves up above block the sun’s rays. Anyway, Miss Deer and I are on the edge of another stream. This is probably the second stop of the pony harvesters who deliver their crops to the unicorns up north.
Sienna gulps down the grass she was eating and flashes me a concerned frown. “Hey, Jay. You really, really need to eat.”
“Mrrrf,” I mrrrf as I stare at the grass. I have been feeling dizzy during the last hour because I’m really hungry, but I’m just too stubborn to eat...grass. The cold water that I drank as soon as we got here didn’t help, and my stomach growls in agreement.
“You won’t have the energy to move if you—”
“I know!” I hiss as I throw her a tired glare. I sigh as I sit down on the ground. “S-sorry,” I mumble quietly. What can I say? Anyone can lose their temper if they’re hungry, and I’m no exception, but damn it, I don’t want to eat grass! “I...just don’t like grass.”
“Pffft—!” Sienna chokes and coughs, and she hurries to the stream to drink some water.
I roll my eyes and lightly shake my head. I look down and stare at the grass stalks before me. I lean closer to it and take a sniff. Well, it smells...nothing, I guess? So I suppose it’s safe to assume that this grass hasn’t been pissed on.
“It’s not gonna kill you, you know,” Sienna says as she walks back towards me from the stream. “Come on. At least eat a little bit?”
“I’m not a kid,” I say as I throw her a soft glare, “so stop treating me like one.”
She rolls her eyes as she stops a few paces away from me. “Well, you sure are acting like one.” She blinks. “...Then again, I’ve never met any goats before, not to mention kids.”
I close my eyes, take a deep breath and let out a heavy sigh. My stomach growls loudly as I reopen my eyes, my gaze on the green grass. I swallow a lump of uncertainty as I chant ‘eat it! eat it! eat it!’ in my head. I open my mouth wide, clench my eyes shut, lean down, feel the tallest stalk touch the roof of my mouth, and chomp the grass. I shiver as I pull my head back, fighting the urge to spit the grass out of my mouth. I slowly start to chew the weird and tasteless food as I ignore Sienna’s amused face.
“See? That wasn’t so bad, was it?”
I throw her a glare as I continue chewing. It needs ketchup...or soy sauce. Anyway, after a few more chewing, I swallow and let out a shivering belch. “Ugh...”
“Now eat up before the sun sleeps!”
“Aren’t there any fruits around here?”
She arches an eyebrow. “Uh, no.” She shakes her head. “Even if there are, wild fruits are usually not something we should eat.”
I arch an eyebrow of my own. “...Why not?”
She shrugs. “Well, for one thing, we can’t reach them.”
... ... ...
“Because they’re really out of reach. Second, birds and fruit bats eat them, so its best not to ruin the animals’ source of food unless you want them to start infesting on pasture-grown fruits.”
“Ah...” Okay, I guess that makes sense, if that’s how things work here in this world. Also, she said ‘animals.’ “Aren’t we animals, too?”
She arches an eyebrow again. “...Why do you not know these things, anyway? Shouldn’t you ponies know this?”
“Just humor me.”
She blinks. “...What?”
I sigh and plant a hoof to my face. “Never mind. I’m going back to eating grass now.” I decide to just fuck it and continue to eat grass. As she said, it won’t kill me...I hope. There’s nothing else to eat around here anyway...
“Well, if you really don’t know,” she says as she starts eating. “Mrrf—is yes, we are animals, too, but—mfff—we’re different because we’re sapient.” She thankfully gulps down what she was eating. “Ponies, deer, giraffes—”
What?
“—zebras, wolves, dragons—”
Oh my god... There are dragons here?! Wait, wolves talk here?
“—dogs, foxes, eh...and so on.”
Foxes too? “Um... Tigers? Lions?”
She blinks and shrugs. “I’ve heard of them, but never seen any of them before. But I’ve seen a lynx and a leopard before.” She shakes her head. “Trust me when I say that you shouldn’t get close to them.”
“I wonder why,” I say lamely. I blink. “...About that.” I look around, trying to spot another ‘sapient’ creature. Spotting no one, I return my gaze on Sienna, who is looking curiously at me. “What were you doing all alone in the—”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” she quickly cuts me off, her two ears drooping. She shakes her head, but it didn’t hide the grimace on her face that she tried to cover.
Well, I suppose I can put two and two together. She was alone, doesn’t want to talk about it, and kept on mentioning that she should start making her own choices. Eh, she probably ran away from her herd, or from some deer-only pasture. Aw well. I shouldn’t trouble myself with her own troubles.
“It’s getting dark,” she suddenly says, snapping me away from my train of thought. She looks around, her two ears pointed up and turning in different directions. It’s kinda cute to look at though. I wonder if I can do that with my own pony ears. After a few seconds, she turns to me, lies down on the ground and lets out a big and long yawn. “Well, I’m getting some shuteye.”
I blink. “Wait... You’re sleeping here?”
She arches an eyebrow. “...Yes?”
...So I guess tents haven’t been invented here yet. Sigh... I look around. “Well, shouldn’t we first start a fire?”
“What?” she gasp in surprise. “W-why would you want a fire?”
“To...keep us warm at night?” Aaand I just realize how stupid that sounds in this world.
She glares at me. “That’s a stupid way to keep ourselves warm during the night, Jay!” She slowly shakes her head.
“Um... S-sorry?”
“Don’t you know that fire can spread and burn everything?” she asks me. “It could burn entire forests—pastures even!—and your winged ponies could barely stop it!”
I sigh as I slowly sit down. “I said I’m sorry... It was...just a random idea...”
“A stupid one.”
“Fine,” I roll my eyes. “A random and stupid idea.”
She shakes her head, her angry features slowly fading. “You’re a really weird pony... Anyway,” she looks at me, “if you can’t handle the cold night air, then you can sleep beside me.”
Er...
“Don’t tell me you don’t know that either? We could share our body heat and—”
“Er... Yeah, uh, n-no thanks!” I smile, albeit an awkward one. “I-I think I’ll be okay.” Okay fur, don’t fail me! Please don’t fail me...
She shrugs. “Eh, if you say so.” She puts her head on the ground and sighs as she closes her eyes. “Sleep well.”
“Um...”
I see one of her ears turn to me.
“...What about predators?”
“If we hear one,” she mumbles quietly without raising her head or even opening her eyes, “then we run as fast and as far away as we can.”
I blink. But...how? “How can we hear them if we’re asleep?” Oh, poop... Timberwolves! They’re active at night! “W-what about timberwolves?”
“They usually prey on smaller animals...” she mumbles. “Now go to sleep.”
“But...but...”
She sighs and opens one eye to give me a tired glance. “Jay... Is this your first time being alone?”
I pause. I...no. Actually, no, this isn’t the first time that I was alone. I’ve...always been alone ever since I moved out of my parents’ house. Well, technically, that’s not true. My brother and I live in the same apartment because he wanted to be closer to the university where he studies. Now that I think about it, the moments when I thought I was alone, someone was there close by, yet I chose to feel alone... I had a few friends at work and in the apartment building. I had my brother. I had my parents. I...suppose, me being a quiet type, I find it hard to share my thoughts with others. It probably made me feel alone, even though I really wasn’t.
But now? I guess I really am alone...
I feel my ears droop as I look down on my two front hooves. “I was never alone from the start...”
“Hm...?”
I take a breath and sigh as I close my eyes. “I chose to feel as if I was alone. Now? I guess the universe wanted to let me feel what being alone actually feels like... And I don’t like it.”
“Well,” she says softly, “I don’t know who this ‘universe’ is, but you’re not really alone.”
I sigh. “Yeah, I know.” I look at her. “Because you’re in front of me.”
She smiles as she closes her eye. “That, and you have your undying feelings for this Twilight pony you’re looking for.”
I roll my eyes. “Look, I don’t love her, okay? I just need her help.”
“Sure...” she whispers. “You’ll find her, Jay. Don’t worry.”
I sigh as I look down on the ground. “...I sure hope so...”
I’m still feeling quite hungry, so I continue to eat some grass... Sigh... Crickets start to chirp as the sun continues to dip down in the horizon that I can’t see. I then hear rustling noises form behind me. I immediately turn around, fearing for my life. It’s about time a predator jumps out and try to kill me, but nope, it’s just a bunch of rabbits going inside their dens under the bushes. I let out a sigh of relief before I put my muzzle back on the grass. I love rabbits, because they’re cute and fuzzy and I find it cute to stare at their little movey-movey noses.
But I’m feeling so...depressed at the moment that cute bunnies aren’t enough to lift my spirits. I’m not sure it ‘depress’ is the right term to use but, well, tomorrow’s Tuesday, and I’m running out of time... I stare at Sienna’s sleeping form as I munch on some grass. Maybe I can continue walking after I’m done eating? But, I wonder if the forest will be too dark for me to see where I’m going later on. Then again, my hooves are aching now, so I guess I’ll just sleep, wake up early tomorrow and hope that Twilight could get me back home before sunset.
...About that...
No, no, Twilight is Twilight. No matter what universe, Twilight will always pursue magical discoveries. She may be different in this world, but I...hope that she could help me. Applejack and Pinkie Pie were different, but they still have their familiar qualities and traits. Pinkie’s friendly and Applejack...well...uh...she...um...friendly, too? Never mind.
Right, I think I’ve eaten enough grass for one night. I quietly walk towards the stream to drink.
...What are the odds of Twilight being able to help me in this world? Ponies here all behave like...ordinary animals. I mean, it’s like the only thing they’re thinking of are the basics of life, with a small knowledge of trade. I dunno... All these thoughts make my head ache.
I pull my head up and sigh as I turn around and join my deer companion. I lie down on the ground with a respectable distance between the two of us. I stare at her two little stubs on her head before I let out a yawn. I suddenly feel how tired and sleepy my everything is, so I lazily lay my head on the ground. Sleeping like this doesn’t feel that bad, probably because of my fur, but it’s kinda sad though.
Oh well... This is just for one night anyway. Tomorrow, I’ll find Twilight and ask for her help.
“Mrfff...?” I hate being a light sleeper. Little noises wake me up from my slumber. Although it saved me a few times from the pranks my brother tried to pull on me while I was asleep. Anyway, with me being turned into a freaking pony, my hearing has been enhanced somehow.
I mumble a grumble as I slowly open my eyes in annoyance. I don’t even know why I opened my eyes, for all I see around me is pitch-black darkness, with a few faint silhouettes of my surroundings and my deer companion sleeping a few feet in front of me.
And then that annoying rustling noise is gone. This is the fourth time that noise woken me up and it’s getting freaking annoying. Every time that noise wakes me, I faintly notice Sienna’s ears turning in her sleep. I suppose she’s used to this kind of stuff. Unfortunately for me, I’m not.
I let out a frustrated sigh as I go back to sleep.
From what I heard, having a camp fire helps repel potential predators. If the one making the rustling noises is a predator, then sigh... End of the line for me. But I sure as hell hope that it won’t come to that.
Now that I think about it, I could have simply dug a small hole on the ground, place rocks around it, put wood inside the hole, and start a fire.
...Uh... How am I supposed to start a fire? I don’t have a flint and I doubt I could grab sticks on each hoof... Sigh...
...There’s that annoying rustling noise again. I wonder if I approach it, a wild Pokémon will appear.
...Nah.
And it’s gone.
Whatever...
Nnngh... That noise...!
I open my eyes and lift my head up, looking around as if I’ll ever see the offending bush or whatever that’s making that rustling noise. And of course that noise dies down. Goddamnit.
“—ay? Jay?”
I take a slow and deep breath, hold it in for a few seconds—
“Something’s out there,” I hear Sienna whisper.
“No shit,” I grumble. Aside from me easily getting annoyed or frustrated when hungry, I also easily get pissed when I don’t have enough or being continuously disturbed from my beauty sleep. I ignore the rustling sounds of leaves as I raise my head up and glare at my companion, who’s busy turning her head and ears around. It’s still freaking dark and I can barely see anything. Whatever. I slowly rise up on four hooves.
“Jay, I think we should—”
“FUCK OFF!!!” I holler as I throw my glare towards the direction where that annoying sound is coming from. The sound is gone now, but my annoyance hasn’t left me yet. I drag my hoof on the ground, trying to grab something. “Go away! Leave us alone and go fuck yourself!” I feel a small rock on my hoof as soon as the words left my mouth. I angrily pick it up with both my front hooves and throw it at the direction where that stupid noise was coming from. I hear a ‘thunk!’ and then more rustling noises, and then rapid footsteps getting fainter and fainter by the second until I can no longer hear it.
I snort angrily, locking my glare on that direction for a few more seconds before I lay down and go back to sleep. I take a deep breath and sigh, repeating the process to calm myself down. Now that I think about it, damn, that was a stupid thing for me to do. Then again, I was so annoyed and wanted to go back to sleep, so eh...
“That...was a stupid thing to do,” Sienna quietly remarks.
Thank you, Captain Obvious.
“And...you have a...um...colorful choice of words there, Jay...” She pauses. “But, well, it worked. Whatever it was, it’s gone now.”
“Good riddance,” I say as I finally feel my sleepiness embracing me. I let out a small yawn. “I’m getting back my beauty sleep. G’nyt.”
“Actually, it won’t be long now before the sun wakes up.”
... ... ...My eye twitches. Thrice. “...Wake me up when I’m dead.”
“Wakey wakey, my little pony.”
Oh my god! I can’t believe she just said that! “Don’t ever say that line again,” I mumble as I lift my head up. “Also, I told you to only wake me when I’m dead.” I hear her snort as I open my tired eyes, and the early morning forest greets my vision. Judging from the sky up above, the sun is barely poking out from the horizon, and while the forest is still dark at this early hour, at least it’s not totally dark unlike last night. Sienna is already eating some grass as I pull my tired self on four hooves. I want to stretch but I don’t know how, but I stretch anyway as I yawn.
“Someone had a good night’s sleep,” she says with a mouthful of grass.
“Hah hah,” I throw her a glare as I walk over the edge of the stream. I take a drink before I dip my face under the water, letting the coldness jolt my tired body awake. If I had a towel, I would have thrown myself in the water, but then again, even if I do have a towel, how am I going to dry myself? I pull my head back up and shake the water off. “Brr...!”
“Why did you do that just now?” I hear Sienna ask from behind me.
I shrug, look down and smile as I stare at my no-longer-exhausted reflection on the running water. “It’s a technique to fully wake up if you don’t have coffee.” I don’t like coffee, by the way. I just used that line my bro kept on saying if we don’t have coffee back in the apartment. Anyway, “we should get going,” I say as I turn to her.
She blinks at me as she munches. “Mm... You’re not going to eat?”
My smile fades. “...You shouldn’t talk when your mouth’s full.”
She arches an eyebrow. “Why?”
I sigh. “Never mind. Anyway,” I look down and stare at the grass with a frown. “...I’ll eat on the way,” if I get hungry anyway. I turn around and stare at the path on the other side of the stream. “We’ll be getting to the unicorns before noon, right?” I ask as I start crossing the stream.
“What’s the hurry, anyway?” she asks as she follows me. There aren’t any rocks poking out of the stream’s surface, so she has to walk through it like what I’m doing. “It’s not like the hornie ponies are going anywhere.”
“...L-let’s stick to calling them unicorns, please? And I’m not sure if Twilight’s there.” I reach the other side of the stream. I shake the water off of my hooves before I walk down the path. “If she’s not there with them, then I’m going to continue looking for her. Hopefully, she’s not too far from the unicorns.”
“Twilight sounds like a very important pony to you,” she says.
I slightly shake my head. “It’s not like that, but—”
“So what happened between you two, anyway?”
I blink. “What do you mean?”
“Did you guys had a fight or something? An argument?” She pauses. “...Racial issues?”
Racial issues? That’s a thing here? Really? I look back at her. “Rac—” Uh, maybe next time. “Uh, again, what do you mean?”
She shrugs. “Well, something big and bad must have happened if she ran away and for you to go and look for her.” She smiles. “It’s...actually pretty sweet.”
I roll my eyes as I groan. “I’ve told you,” I say as I turn my attention back to the path ahead. “We’re not a couple...or mates or whatever you guys call it here.” I shake my head. “I just—”
“—need her help. Yeah, sure,” she says. “Help with what, I wonder?”
I’m not going to entertain that question. Eenope.
“You’re blushing. I can tell.”
I look back at her with a frown.
Her smile falters. “You’re not blushing...”
“No, I’m not.” ...How does blushing even work if my skin...our skins are covered in fur? “Look,” I say as I return my attention on the path ahead. “I just need her help, and that’s it. There’s nothing between us, period.”
Thankfully, Sienna drops the subject, but has yet to keep her mouth shut as the minutes fly by. At least the topics she is choosing isn’t boring, so I have that going for me, which is nice. The path curves and turns but it still turns back up north after a few yards or so. As the minutes become hours, the gaps between the trees becomes wider and wider. A few more minutes fly by and after Sienna and I walk on this path curving north, we see a very tall mountain behind a series of rolling green hills beyond a flat, wide and open field of grass with the occasional trees there and there and over there.
“Wow...” I breathe out as I stop on the edge of the forest. I let my eyes swim on the scene before me. At least, I would have, but my gaze is locked on a herd of cows and bulls milling around.
“Well,” I hear Sienna say as she stop beside me. “The horniecorn ponies are just beyond those hills.” She then looks at me. “Good luck with your search, Jay Pony.”
I blink and turn to see her turn around and begin walking back. “Wait... You’re leaving?”
She stops and looks at me. “Well...yes!” She smiles. “Don’t worry. There aren’t any predators out there in the open fields. Just be careful with snakes.” She turns her head back to the path as she resumes her walk.
I should at least thank her. I should. Yeah. “Uh, well, thanks.”
“Hm?” She stops and looks at me again, blinking.
I smile and nod. “Thanks for uh...escorting me all the way here. I really appreciate it.”
She smiles. “You’re welcome. Bye now.” And she walks away.
I take a deep breath and sigh as I turn my gaze back at the green plane before me, and then at that lone mountain. Right. I linger for a few more seconds before I walk out of the forest, smiling. It won’t be long now before I reach the unicorns.
...Wait... That tall and lone mountain... Is that supposed to be Canterlot?
I wonder if Mooriella’s around here. Then again, I can’t really remember what she looks like in the show. Plus, the cows here all look the same. Uh, no, not really. Their markings are all different but, ah you get the point.
The cows and bulls are all milling and grazing around. Some give me a glance or two, but other than that, they don’t really mind me. Shadows suddenly run over me and I look up, spotting a large number of pegasi ponies pushing lots of clouds towards north. So Rainbow Dash really was saying the truth that they’re also delivering clouds to other pastures. Then that means the unicorns are up ahead! I smile as I quicken my pace.
“There they go,” I hear a male voice say.
“When are our clouds coming again?”
“In two days, if I remember correctly, dear.”
I blink, smile fading as I continue walking. What do the cattle trade in exchange for clouds anyway? Milk? I shudder and shake the feeling off before I continue on my way.
I feel my ears twitch as I hear laughter of young children growing louder and louder. I turn to the source and see a number of young calves playing tag or something. “Pony! Pony!” ...Or maybe they’re just happy to see a pony? I brace myself as they quickly got closer, but instead of tackling me, they run around me as I slow down until I stop to avoid hitting or tripping them by accident. “Pony! Pony!”
“Pony!”
“Pony!”
“Uh...” I feel my ears droop as I awkwardly look at the four calves. I know children back home wants to have a pony, but I sure hope these kids don’t want to own one...or me for that matter.
“Children!” I hear a loud female voice and the four calves stop running around and turn to the approaching cow. “Go and play somewhere else.”
One calf suddenly boops the other’s nose. “Tag! You’re it!” and she and the other two calves screech in fake terror as they scramble away. The other one shakes his head and gives chase.
The cow smiles as she watches them go. Seconds after, she turns to me. “I’m sorry about that, pony sir.”
I slightly shake my head. “Eh, no harm done. Thanks, by the way.”
She nods her head as I resume my walk. She walks alongside me for some strange reason. “Mighty strange to see a lonesome pony travelling our land, if you don’t mind me saying.”
“Oh?” Are all sentient herbivore species in this version of Equestria this chatty and friendly? Then again, she helped me with those kids earlier, so I guess chatting with her is the least I can do in return.
“Tell me, dearie, are you going to the horned ponies?”
Ponies call then unicorns. Deer call them hornie ponies. I guess cattle call them horned ponies? I wonder what’s next? Eh... I doubt I’ll be meeting with another sentient race after I find Twilight. “Yes,” I say with a nod. “I’m looking for Twilight, you s—”
“Twilight?!” she exclaims, startling me and catching the nearby cattle’s attention. I turn and see her look of...horror? “Dearie, you can’t be serious!”
“Eeeeeerrrrrrrmmmmm...” ...Something’s telling me that Twilight here’s a different Twilight. I knew that she will be different, because Pinkie, AJ and Dash are also kinda-sorta different after my brief encounters with them, but this cow’s reaction is telling me that Twilight is a very, very different Twilight. I feel my ears droop once again as I begin to hear hushed whispers around.
The cow then hangs her head low, approaches me, and bumps her head on me as she...pushes me back?
“What the—? Hey—!”
She keeps on pushing me, even as I try to sidestep away from her. “I’m doing you a favor, dearie,” she says as she shoves me back. “No sane individual wants to meet that crazy mare.”
“Unless your insane!” a voice shouts.
“She tried taking away my child!”
“Mine, too!”
“She’s a lunatic!”
“She speaks nonsense!”
“She’s dangerous with that glowing horn of hers!”
And the shouts continue as this cow continues shoving me back. I grit my teeth as I try to stay on my hooves, but as the bulls and cows chant their horrible description of Twilight, my resolve starts falling until I drop on the ground on my side after one last shove. As others continue telling me that meeting Twilight is a bad idea, a few concerned cattle ask if I’m okay as they try to pull me back on my hooves.
After I’m back on my four hooves, I take slow breaths to collect myself as the voices die down. After a couple more breaths, I look around and see a large number of cattle circling around me. I blink as I look at them for a few more seconds before my gaze lands on the cow that was shoving me.
She’s wearing a concerned frown as she looks at me. “...Dearie, you’re still going to see her, aren’t you?”
I take a breath and sigh as I hear a few whispers among the crowd. “Yes,” I quietly reply with a nod. “I...appreciate your um...warnings, but I really need to...”
...To what? Speak to her? Ask for her help? ...How can she help me? This world’s Twilight is different... She can’t help me. Nopony can, it seems. Am I...am I stuck here? Forever?
I shake my head, and shake it again for good measure. I... Even if Twilight’s not the Twilight I’m looking for, I still need to see her... So at least I won’t be stuck here with a ’what if...’ in my head. Even if Twilight can’t help me, I still need to see her at least... “...For my peace of mind...”
The bulls and cows look among themselves before they begin to walk away...probably from me. A few who are still around gives me a few words, basically telling me that I’m crazy. I probably am, seeing as I’ve turned into a pony and am talking to cows.
The cow who was shoving me lets out a defeated sigh. “...If you must, dearie.” She looks back at me with a long frown. “You must have a reason if you choose to ignore our word about her.”
I slowly nod my head. “I’m...sorry if I caused a scene.”
She shakes her head. “No need for that, dearie.” She turns and gestures with her head that I walk alongside her. I nod and we start a slow walk towards the lone mountain. “I saw the determination in your eyes, but I chose to ignore it, and instead of asking you, I started making a scene. I’m...sorry about that, dearie.” Before I get the chance to respond, she continues after shaking her head, “we old cows can only give advice to the young, and this is me advising you that you shouldn’t pursue her, but in the end, the choice still falls on you, for it’s your life after all...” She looks at me, her frown still present. “I don’t know why you want to see her,” she shakes her head before looking ahead again. “And I don’t think I want to know, but do this old cow a favor, dearie.”
I nod and open my mouth to—
“Please don’t ask her to be your mate.”
I stumble on my hooves and fall on the ground. I groan as she helps me back on my four hooves. “Guh... Never in my wildest dreams, gran-gran...”
I don’t like confrontations, especially if it’s against a large number of people. Adding to the fact that I’m a loner, well...let’s just say that I talk more in my head than I do in real life. Not only that though, but sometimes, the tension in confrontations make the words coming out of my mouth all jumbly and messy. I prefer one on one conversations, but often times, I can also handle myself fine in group discussions, as long as there are no arguments involved.
So anyway, Missus Cow didn’t know where Twilight is. She also made it a point that she wouldn’t like to know where the crazy mare lives either. She simply led me to the bordering hills before we said our goodbyes and parted ways.
So here I am now, walking around the bases of the rolling hills as I work my way north. I’m walking through the tall grasses, which are almost reaching my neck, and they’re really lovely to look at, especially if a soft breeze passes by, making the grass stalks sway with the wind. Speaking of, despite the morning sun almost reaching the zenith, the air here’s cool, refreshing and oh so very soothing.
I would have climbed the hills and walked a straight line, but Missus Cow told me that it wasn’t a good idea. Why? Sheep lives on top of the hills. I can see a few of them grazing near the brow. Missus Cow told me that each hill has an “alpha ram” or whatever that is very, very territorial and will harm—or ram (her words, not mine)—anything that trespasses their territory or try to sheepnap his sheep...or whatever.
By the way, no, the cow’s name isn’t Missus Cow. I never got to ask for her name, so eh...
As I walk through the tall grass and hope that I won’t get bitten by snakes, and seeing as there’s nothing to distract me, my thoughts start to run from Twilight to Twilight and Twilight. And no matter how beautiful the scenery or how soothing the breeze, the thoughts in my head is weighing my spirit and my frown down.
Twilight can help me... That single sentence is no longer enough to lift me up. Twilight, in this alternate universe, cannot help me. And the cattle’s reactions were proof of that, and so were Missus Cow’s words during our short journey.
“She’s a very dangerous pony, dearie,” I recall her saying. “She suddenly appeared one day, crying and looking confused and she was asking for help. She was asking us strange and weird questions. We never really understood what she was saying as we spent minutes trying to calm her down, but after she did, she started giggling, and then laughing. She was laughing like crazy, dearie, as her horn glowed brighter and brighter. And then...she started harming us! It lasts for a couple of minutes, but it felt like hours... She then started crying as she apologized, and then she...disappeared.
“She doesn’t show up everyday, mind you, but every time she does, we panic and run away as far away from her as possible. It’s not because she harmed us during our first meeting, dearie, but when she showed up after the first time, she started taking our children! Heavens above, she almost took my child that one time! She has never been able to take away any of our children, thank the heavens above, but we cannot risk it, dearie. That is why our brave bulls started attacking her whenever she does show up, but she’s a clever mare, and not once did our bulls were able to even touch her...
“And that is why I don’t want you to go and see her. I don’t know if the horned ponies around that mountain knows where she is, but I’ll be thankful if you wouldn’t find her. I’m sorry, dearie, but whatever reason you may have for seeking her, I doubt it’s worth the risk, but...”
Twilight can’t help me. She can’t help me. She’s not the Twilight I’m hoping to meet... But I have nowhere else to go and no one else to go to... I... I...
“I want to go home...” I whisper in the wind.
“By the way, dearie... The horned ponies aren’t really...welcoming to whoever visits their land... Unlike the sheep, the horned ponies are growing more hostile as of late... There was a group of earth pony traders who stopped visiting the horned ponies a few moons ago after they were attacked by them... If you are determined to go there, then you need to be patient with them if you want them to listen to you, dearie...”
A soft breeze passes by, blowing the grass and my mane for a few seconds as I continue my slow walk towards the unicorns. The lone mountain of “Canterlot” is growing closer and closer as the minutes fly by. My hooves are starting to feel a little hurt and I’m starting to get hungry but I press on. I just...want to get this over with. Go to “Canterlot,” hope the unicorns will let me ask them where Twilight is, thank them, find Twilight, and...
She can’t help me... She can’t... She...can’t...
My eyes are starting to sting... I clench my eyes shut as I take a few deep breaths. Calm down, me... Just...calm down... Despite what they say... Despite what everyone says, I...I still don’t know yet if Twilight can or can’t help me. E-even if there’s a zero point zero one percent chance of her helping me back home, I’ll take it... I’ll try and take that chance...
...Because nopony else can help me...
Why are there so many clouds on the brown earth up ahead?
“Look, do you want these clouds or not?!” awesome pony asks as she hovers in the air, probably glaring at the glaring unicorns on the ground. I’m still a distance away from them, but damn, RD’s really losing her cool if I heard her loud and clear from here. Also, Dash’s here, too? Is she like the lead pegasus in delivering clouds? Eh...
I’ve already walked pass the rolling hills and I’m now on a plain of tall grasses heading towards the base of the giant “Canterlot” mountain. Speaking off, the mountain is really freaking huge! The base itself stretches beyond my x-axis vision area, and from the looks of it, the mountainside seems to be very, very steep. Oh, and there’s a big and dark cave on it as well, and in front of that cave is where the commotion is happening. I wonder if lone mountains are supposed to look like this.
Hm... I think I remember Pinkie saying that the unicorns live around the northern mountains, and not around one lonely mountain. Eh, I guess I must have misheard her.
I step out of the tall grasses as I stare at the peak. I blink and look at the ground, which is brown, rocky and has a few patches of green grasses here and there. There are also rocks and boulders of different shapes and sizes that are scattered everywhere I look, and as I continue walking and ignoring the arguing pegasi and unicorns up ahead, I notice quite a good number of rock formations where a flat-like rock is on top of two large boulders, forming a makeshift house or tent. So I guess it’s safe to assume that the unicorns are smart enough to make shelter.
Then again, if the weather’s controlled by the pegasi, then I suppose there’s little to no need of a roof to protect themselves from rains or storms, but then again, unlike in the pasture, the air here’s kinda warm, probably because of the lack of trees, so I guess they need something to shield themselves from the sun, and I’m babbling, and a few unicorns are already giving me death glares now. Right... I should try and be patient with them... I stop and look around, hoping to see a friendly face whom I can talk to.
“Last chance!” I hear Rainbow Dash shout. The unicorns who are glaring at me turn their attention to the loud-mouth pegasus who's still a few paces ahead. Dash is glaring at none other than an unfabulous version of Rarity. “Either you give us the gems or the deal’s off!”
“How many times to I have to repeat myself?” Rarity says as he counters the pegasus’ glare with her own. “We lost them just this morning!” She doesn’t have her signature curly mane and tail. Just like the rest of the unicorns around, her mane and tail are flat, and her mane’s length is only up to her shoulders.
“Puh!” Rainbow spits on the ground between them, but Rarity didn’t flinch. “There's your water. Enjoy,” she says as she looks at her pegasus companions. “We’ve wasted enough time.”
“Wait!” a unicorn calls out amongst the crowd. “Just give us until sundown! We’ll give you the gems as promised!”
I hear a growl close by. I turn to the direction of the noise and see a bunch of unicorns inside a rock house glaring at me with their horns and floating rocks aglow. My ears droop. “Uh...”
“The deal was,” Rainbow says, “we give you guys the clouds and then you give us the gems.”
“But...but...”
A unicorn mare steps out from the shadow of their home. “You have one breath to tell us what you’re doing here, dirt pony,” she says, a rock floating beside her head as she glares at me. “Or else...”
Cool! So that's what magic looks like in real life. But that’s not a friendly face... I gulp and take a step back, but then I start hearing sounds of uprooted rocks from the ground. I look around and see a few more unicorns levitating rocks as they glare at me. Welp, so much for the “friendship is magic” slogan of the franchise...
I take a breath as I turn to the unicorn who gave me the warning. Better ask directly then to save myself some time and pain, and to get the hell out of here. “I’m looking for T—”
“But Twilight took them all!”
The magical aura surrounding the floating rocks flicker as the unicorns wince.
“She suddenly appeared by the gems and then disappeared! Along with the gems!”
“You and your stupid and freakish magic...” Rainbow Dash shakes her head as she grabs a cloud. “We’re out.” And she zooms away, the other pegasi following her.
“Wait!”
“Great...” the unicorn in front of me sighs angrily as she eyes the retreating pegasi. She then shifts her glare on me. “We don’t have any water, and we have a dirt pony on our midst.”
I start hearing a chorus of frustrated groans from where the pegasi and the unicorns were having a discussion.
“Look!” one of them shouts. “A dirt pony!”
“What? Where?”
“Only one? How boring!”
“Well, at least we have something to channel our anger!”
Well, shit... More and more unicorns lift up rocks from under the ground, aiming their glares at me.
I feel my ears droop. R-right... Can’t stay here for long. “I ah, um, looking fo—gah!” I got hit! On the back of my neck! And it almost blacked me out as I stumble forward, my muzzle bumping on the unicorn who I was speaking with earlier.
And then she slaps me off of her. “How dare you touch me!”
I wince as I rub my nec—OW!—I feel another painful rock hitting my side! Then another, and another rock lands a few inches from my hooves. “W-wait!” I shout. “I need to—” a rock flies painfully on my cheek! I reel back, fighting the dizziness. Fuck, this isn’t working! I kick my hooves on the ground as I run away from the rock storm, zigzagging to avoid as much of the rocks as much as possible. I get a few more hits on my back but I try to man it up as I run towards the grass fields. But as I reach the tall grasses, the rocks still are falling around me, and when I finally put a lot of distance from them, a rock painfully hits the back of my head, knocking me to the grassy ground. I shiver from the pain as I place both my hooves over my head to at least protect it from the continuous onslaught of rocks, rocks and more rocks. Thankfully, the tall grasses are tall enough to hide my presence... And then a rock slams on where my cutie mark should have been. Ow...
I...guess I now know how ponies are going to act when pegasi stops delivering them rain clouds. If they stop delivering on that one pasture, then AJ and Pinkie are gonna be miserable the next time I see them...
Oh, and to Pinkie Freaking Pie, running away from a rock storm is not fun!
“—nough! Enough, I say!” I faintly hear Rarity’s voice. “This is why we can’t have things! We don’t know how to behave properly!”
“Tell that to Twilight! If she didn’t show up, then we could have already gotten some water!”
“That’s not the point!”
Their exchange continues, but for some reason, I suddenly can’t quite hear them properly. At least the rocks slowly starts to die down until no more rocks are falling from the air... Guh... I...think I’m bleeding somewhere... My mouth is so painful... My everything is so painful! Ow...especially my head...
I...I need to get outta here... Nnnnnggggg...! Ugh, I’m too painful to move... I need help... But through my hazy vision, all I can see is the tall grass and my bloody muzzle... I don’t think anyone can see me unless they stumble into me. Ow...my head and ow...my mouth...
Damn it all... I can’t stay here. Not like this... I...need to find Twilight. Get up, me! Nggg! Get...up...! I-I don’t have time for this! Don’t black out... J-just...get up... Ge—
...Ow. Why...do I feel like I’m—ow—sliding on the ground? Nnnggg... I feel...my tail...I feel like I’m being dragged on the ground by my tail... ...ow... Probably because someone’s pretty much dragging me on the ground by pulling my tail? Ow...
It’s not a continuous drag though. It’s like...pull, and then pause, pull—ow, my head slides on a poking rock on the ground—and pause. I can also faintly hear grunting noises... It’s probably from whoever’s dragging me...
I’m...too weak to move... Too weak to even open my heavy eyes... Ungh... I’m...I feel myself slipping from consciousness again... D-darn...
I regain my consciousness and manage to slowly open my eyes after I feel my ass being pulled, dragging my painful self on the ground. I let out a quiet hiss as the dragging stops and as my tired brain registers how ouchie my everything is...
“Phew...” I hear a young male’s voice from behind me. “This pony’s heavy... Nngggh!” And he drags me on the ground again for a few seconds and stops. “Hah...” I hear him pant for breath.
I’m still surrounded by tall grass, but it’s kinda dark though. Up above, from the gaps on the grass, I see the sky in a scarlet hue. The sun’s probably already halfway down the horizon...
Aaand I’m being dragged again.
...
... ...
... ... ...wait...
Holy shit! It’s already sunset?! I kick my hooves on the ground—
“Wah!” Thud!
—and bring myself on four hooves, my head poking out from the tall grass. “Twil—! ...ooohhh...” aaand I suddenly feel dizzy and fall back down on the ground, wincing from the pain as I lie on my side, the sudden jolt of energy draining away from me...
And then something slightly heavy lands on me, trying to pin me down as I hiss from the sudden jolt of added pain. “Wow! I didn’t think you’re still alive!” he says in a rather cheerful tone. “Well, not for long!”
And then I feel sharp, pointed teeth stabbing my neck! He’s biting me?! “Aaaahhh!” and all that drained energy comes back to me as I thrash around. I’ve seen enough Discovery Channel documentaries to know what’s happening to me! I’m starting to get dizzy again and my flailing is doing nothing but helping me die more. I stop and try to calm myself down a notch—which is really difficult given the situation I’m in—and, seeing that my growling predator’s standing right in front of me, I move my hooves between his legs and under his underbelly until I feel where his “prized possession” is located. I pull my hoof back, put every ounce of strength I have left on said hoof, and punch his pen fifteen.
As quickly as my hoof connects, my killer opens his fanged mouth as wide as he can and lets out a long and painful howl. I push him away from me, scramble back on my hooves and shake the dizziness off of me, which only made even dizzier... Poking my head out of the grass, I take quick breaths in hopes to fight the dizziness as I hear him collapse on the ground. I ignore the many birds flying away in panic and ignore the throbbing pain in my everything as I stupidly and dizzily look back at my attacker instead of running away.
It’s a freaking panther! A young panther, maybe? It’s...not quite as big as I thought what panthers might be. Then again, I’ve never seen one in real life before, until now. It’s fur is black, which makes him kinda difficult to see in the growing darkness.
And then I feel how painful my neck is. Ow... I hiss as I bring a hoof to rub my aching and maybe bleeding neck. My jaw still hurts, and as well as my everything, but my neck’s kinda hurting the more at the moment. I feel a short amount of hot and thick liquid on it. Damn it, I really am bleeding!
As for the panther, he’s no longer howling in pain, but hissing and shivering while curling into a ball.
Right, I should get the hell outta here—I can’t... I still need to find Twilight! And it’s already sundown! Gah! My mom...! She...she’s going to freak out when she finds out I’m not home! Well, judging from the time, I’d say she already knew I’m not there and maybe she already panicked and called the police or even my brother, but hell, that’s not the point!
The panther slowly pulls his head up to give me a tearful glare, hissing through his clenched, fanged teeth, his glaring sapphire eyes reflecting the small amounts of light poking through the tall grasses.
I ignore him. I... I... I failed to reach the deadline... I failed to get back home on time... Darn it... Darn it...! I...why did those stupid unicorns threw rocks at me?! I didn’t do anything, for Pete’s sake! I just want to know where Twilight is! Is that too much to ask?!
“I-I’ll kill you for that, pony...!”
And then this fucking piece of shit wants to kill and eat me! “Fuck you,” I say hoarsely (pun not intended) as I raise both my front hooves up and slam them down on his face, hoping it’ll knock him out.
No movement... I hold my breath... D-did I kill it? ...No. I’m yet to remove my hooves on his face and I feel some warm breath from him. He’s still alive, but unconscious...phew... I...I’m not sure what I’d do if I accidentally killed him... I like cats, but I like dogs more.
Well, whatever... At least he’s not dead. I need to trouble myself with more troubling matters now... I pull my hooves off of the feline as I think of a way to patch myself up.
...
... ... ...
... ... ...how in blazes am I supposed to do that? Well, maybe the unicorns might show pity on me if I show up all banged up. I hope... I think I look amazingly miserable anyway, so maybe they’ll pity me and...oh who am I kidding? I sigh as I turn and walk towards the lone mountain far away... Maybe there’s a unicorn or two who are away from their, uh, rock homes, then maybe I can have a one on one conversation... It’s worth a shot, I guess? I have nowhere else to go anyway... No leads... Nothing...
I wince every step that I make, but I try to man up and walk on.
...Damn... “Canterlot” Mountain is so freaking far away! Has that panther been dragging me after the unicorns knocked me out cold? Ungh... Things are not making themselves easy for me... My entire body’s still aching, especially my hooves and my nec—
“Oof!” Something is grabbing and pulling my tail back. I stop, look back and frown at the young panther who’s growling and tugging my tail as if he can drag me now that I’m standing up and fully awake. While I’m slightly thankful to see him well, he’s annoyingly getting on my nerves. I raise a hind leg and buck him off, wincing as he pulls a few strands of hair from my tail. It’s a freaking weird feeling, actually, that something is attached on your ass, not to mention it getting pulled and tugged by a persistent panther. “Go away!” I holler as I continue my quick pace towards Mount Canterlot.
“Rrraaaarrr!” aaand he goes back to pulling my tail.
I...no longer care if I hurt him or not. With a twitching eye, I stop, lift a hind leg and kick him off before I continue on my way.
“Don’t you have anything better to do?” I say as I kick the annoying feline back for the umpteenth time.
He stumbles but quickly gets back on his four paws. “Yeah! I’m trying to bring you back home so I could eat you!” And he bites my tail again, trying but failing to pull me back.
I take a deep breath, sigh, stop walking and turn my head to give him an annoyed look. “Pulling my tail won’t kill me.”
He spits my tail out of his mouth to blink at me. “I’m bringing you back home, not killing you! Wait...” He blinks. “Maybe I should kill you first before I take you back home. ...I should maybe bite your hoof instead, since you’re too tall when you’re standing and I can’t reach your neck if you want me to kill you right now...”
My eye twitches. “Do that and I’ll kick you.”
He shrugs. “You’ve been doing that to me for a while now.”
“Harder.”
He shrugs again. How the hell does shrugging work for quadrupeds? “Should I be afraid? Yeah, your kicks hurt, especially that one when I was biting you, but I can handle it.” He eyes my hanging tail, bites it and tries to pull me back.
I let out a sigh. “Whatever. I don’t have time for this.” I look ahead and continue walking towards the lone mountain, dragging the panther along. Ignoring him will save me more time than kicking him every time... Maybe if I hurry, I can get back home and do some damage control. My bro‘s not usually home during the weekdays, but I know that when my mom calls him, he‘ll calm her down.
I suddenly feel my tail free. “Where are you going anyway that is so important than dying and be eaten by me?” the panther asks in the most innocent child-like tone before biting my tail again.
I roll my eyes with a groan. “That’s a stupid question.” Aaand it just dawns on me that I’ve been hitting a child. ...Should I apologize? Oh god! I touched his—
He spits my tail out of his mouth and walks after me. “Nuh uh! Killing and eating is important!” And he bites my tail and lets me drag him again.
Derp... What was I thinking about again? Eh... “Killing is important? For you, maybe. You’re a predator while I’m a hu...a pony.” It’s kinda weird for predators to be able to talk. Kinda a scary thought though, but I am thankful that my pathetic story’s bound-to-be predator’s not a fully-grown adult, or a manticore, or else I'd be dead a long time ago...
“Well, yeah!” the panther says after he spits my tail—yeah, I’ll stop now since it’s quite obvious already. “I need to eat you since I’m a preydey...predoy...you know.”
As weird as it is to be able to talk with your potential predator, maybe I can talk and convince him to kill something else? “Why don’t you just go away and hunt...rabbits instead?”
“Well I was!” he exclaims as he decides to walk beside me, looking up at me with his slightly glowy sapphiry eyes. “I really was hunting rabbits a moon ago until I saw you and that deer back in the forest, so—”
I blink. “What?”
“—I thought, hey, why am I still hunting small food? I should try hunting bigger food! Because I’m a big preydey now!”
“The word is ‘predator.’ And you were that annoying shit who keeps on rustling the leaves?”
“Preh...dator...” he says, repeating the word a few more times until he get it right. “And that was a bush. And it was really itchy! I mean, what kind of a bush was that?! It was like it was full of thorns and stuff! Maybe it was a timberwolf bush? That would explain the thorns, I think... But it didn’t attack me, so maybe it wasn’t a timberwolf bush... And what does ‘shit’ mean?”
I blink and look down at him, which is a bit difficult now that the sky has little sunlight left, but aside from his eyes, at least I can still see his frame, faintly though it is. He’s still walking next to me, strangely enough. “Uh...how old are you?”
He growls at me. “I’m not old! I’m still a cub! Well,” he blinks, “...kinda still a cub. I’m still fifteen moons young. Turning sixteen soon!”
What the hell does “moons” mean?
“That’s the age where I start hunting on my own!” he says brightly as he looks ahead. Seconds later, he looks back at me again, probably because he can’t see anything other than grass. “I started when I turned twelve! Anyway, back to the story. I was hiding in that bush until you suddenly started shouting. I was really surprised that you were able to attack me from a distance! I didn’t know food could do that!”
Riiight... “I’m not food. So you ran away?”
“I didn’t run away!” he growls at me. “I... I decided to hunt smaller food. Yeah! Because I was hungry!”
...He’s really talkative... At least it makes me pay less attention to my ouchie self and to the chilly night air.
“And then I slept most of the day. Woke up and went back where I found you, but you and that deer weren’t there anymore. So I followed your scent, since yours is kinda strong. I was having a hard time picking up the deer’s scent...”
My neck feels kinda numb... I hope my neck wound stopped bleeding already.
“So I followed your scent and found you bleeding! At first, I thought you were dead. Can you imagine how sad I was to see you lying there?”
A predator feels sadness?
“I mean, I wasn’t the one who took you down!”
I take it back...
“I mean, I wanted to be the one who takes you down, so I’ll know if I can take down bigger prey yet or not. But hey, whoever the loser was who tried to kill you but didn’t kill you and eat you is a loser! Anyway, I can’t just turn down a fresh and free food! So I started dragging you back home so no one else will eat you but me! But wow, did you surprise me when you suddenly stand back up! It was like you suddenly became alive again after you died!”
Yeah, imagine that...
“And here we are now! So can I kill you now? Maybe I can claw my way up to your neck like how I climb trees. Think that will work?”
I sigh. “Kid, you shou—”
“Yeah, I don’t think it’ll work, since you’re not a tree. Also, I’m not a kid,” he frowns at me. “I don’t look like a goat, or a kid. And goats don’t eat ponies...I think?” He blinks. “They don’t eat ponies, right?”
“No,” I grumble. “They eat butterflies and fart rainbows.”
“Oh. That’s nice. Except for farts.” He nods his head. “...what’s a rainbow?”
“It’s a powerful beam of multi-colored light that will turn you to stone.”
He suddenly stops, but I sure won’t stop for his sake. “Really?! Just like a cockatrice?!”
...Wat? Those things exist here?!
“I should avoid goats then... And kids...” He runs after me and settles on walking alongside me again. “Good thing hunting goats had never crossed my mind before! Anyway, what’s a beam?”
I groan. “Ki—er... Panther, I don—“
“My name’s Reykan.”
I blink. “Riiight... Reykan. Anyw—”
“So what’s your name?”
I arch an eyebrow at him. “Why do you even want to know, anyway?”
He shrugs. “I just want to remember the name of the first big meal I’ve hunted!”
I roll my eyes. “I’m not telling you.”
“Aw, come on. Tell me! I know ponies have names, too! Just like that weird purple pony in the forest. I think her name was Twilight or something... I’m not sure. She keeps talking to herself that—hey! Why did you suddenly stop walking? Oh! Does this mean you want me to kill you now? Well, can you lie down? I still can’t reach your neck. Hey. Hey! Hello? Uh... Pony? Are you okay? Pony? Hm... Maybe I can try biting his hoof now... Or claw my way up?”
I push back a groan as I take a deep breath to calm myself down. “I need to see her. I need to talk to her!”
“But I’m hungry!”
My eye twitches. “You can eat on the way.”
Despite the darkness, and me only able to see his eyes and the faint frame of his body, I can feel him smiling at me. “Does that mean you’ll let me eat you?”
“No, I—”
He blinks at me. “But I think you’ll be dead before we get to her.”
I roll my eyes. “Then don’t eat me—”
“If I eat your hooves first, then you—”
“I won’t let you eat me!” I hiss. “So shut it, kid!”
“Or maybe I’ll eat you when we get there. And I told you, I’m not a k—”
“Whatever!” I blurt out. “Just...take me to her! Please...”
He blinks at me. “...Why?”
I blink at him. “...Are we really going to repeat each other again?”
“What?”
“Never mind...” I fight the urge to shake my head as I glare at him. “Look, if you don’t want to take me there, then just tell me where she is and I’ll go there by myself—”
“I’ll take you there.”
“—and finally be...wait, what?” Oh, how I mentally cringe at how cliché that line is...
He shrugs. “She lives close to my home anyway. So why not? Maybe I can eat you after you see her?”
I blink at him. And I blink again. And again.
He blinks at me. “...Why are you staring at me like that?”
I close my eyes and take a deep breath. Aside from feeling really ouchie all over, neck feeling kinda numb, stomach empty, and my head kinda dizzy, I take deep breaths to calm my senses down. Okay... Okay... I’m meeting Twilight soon...and probably won’t be eaten until then... I open my eyes again and look down at Reykan’s curious sapphire eyes. “...Okay... Okay...” I take another breath and sigh. “Lead the way.”
“What were you doing just now?”
“It’s not important,” I say with a small shake of my head. Right... Don’t be impatient now, me. Don’t blow this chance! “So... To Twilight?”
“Can I eat something first?”
I fail to stop a frown.
“I’m really hungry...”
I sigh and sit on my rump. “...Go and hunt something then...aside from me.”
“Cool!” Aaand he disappears in the tall grasses, creating a fading rustling noise. Seconds later, the rustling noises comes back and I can barely see him walking towards me again. “You want some?” he asks as he stops a few paces away from me.
I arch an eyebrow at him. “Uh... No.” I eat meat, back home when I was still a human at least. I don’t think my pony body would approve eating meat, especially if delicious meat is raw. “I’ll just...” another frown escapes me... “...eat...grass...”
“Eh,” he shrugs and turns around. “If you say so.”
The rustling noises he’s making is growing fainter and fainter as the seconds fly by. I look at my dark surroundings, shivering as a cool night breeze breezes by. I sigh and slowly eat some of the tall grass around me. I might as well refuel myself for the journey I’m about to take with...a panther.
A part of me is telling me that I shouldn’t trust him. Why? Because he’s a freaking predator! He will probably lead me to my demise...
But another part of me wants to trust him. Why? Because he mentioned Twilight’s name. I never told him that. Plus, he has this...child-like innocence that I can...manipulate? Is that the right word? I’m not manipulating the kid...am I? I sure hope not. Maybe taking advantage of the opportunity? Uh...that sounds so fucking wrong...
...Huh... Now that I think about it, this little scenario of mine is kinda similar to that dinosaur cartoon I loved watching when I was a kid. Ah, I remember the title. It was ‘Land Before Time.’
Right... I should get off the memory lane for now. Hm... I’m meeting Twilight soon. I should probably think of a proper way to talk to her. Pinkie and the cattle warned me about the unicorns’ behavior, but I didn’t listen, because I thought they wouldn’t hurt me because I have coughcoughprotagonitistcoughcough... So uh, yeah... I should stop thinking like that and think things through. Just because I’m a human, transported to Equestria and transformed into a pony, doesn’t mean that the world now revolves around me. In the eyes of the locals, I’m just an ordinary earth pony... A lone and weak pony... And hurt... And hungry... Yeah, I should keep eating before Reykan gets ba—
THUD!
I blink, look back and see a dead and bloody rabbit lying near my tail and a young panther who’s giving me a proud yet bloody smile. Thankfully, the darkness masks the redness. “I brought you food! In case you change your mind. I’ll hunt another one for me if you want it.”
I have a tougher stomach than other people though. I’ve seen a lot of dogs and cats getting hit by passing cars. Some of which were my pets back in my younger years. I gulp down the grass I’m eating. “Uh...thanks?” I slightly shake my head. “But uh...ponies don’t eat meat.” ...I think. No, I’m pretty sure they don’t.
Reykan blinks at me, his smile fading. “...Oh.”
Aaand I made him feel sad. I should say something. “Look, I—”
“Oh well,” he shrugs before diving his open and fanged jaws towards the lifeless bunny and starts—
Remember when I said I have a tougher stomach? I take it back. I can handle seeing animals getting hit or getting killed, but getting ripped? Nope! I quickly shot both my front hooves on my mouth to stop the contents of my stomach from exiting through the wrong exit as I turn around so I won’t see him...eat. But unfortunately, the sounds he’s making is making my brain paint a clearer image of what’s going on behind me.
“Mm... You sure you don’t want any?”
Uuurrggh...
And just like any other feline, he finishes his meal by licking his paws clean before he licks said paws to wipe his head and mouth clean. And then he lets out a burp.
“Ahhh...” he says as he continues grooming himself. “I don’t know about you, but I’m stuffed.”
I still have my back on him. I groan before I continue munching on some grass. Hey, I still have a strong but kinda weak stomach, so I still have some appetite after all of that.
“So ponies only eat grass?”
I nod my head.
“Weird... Do ponies always have belly aches?”
I arch an eyebrow. Oh yeah, I remember reading something about dogs and cats eating grass to help clean their stomachs. ...Or whatever. I forgot the specific details...
“Must be sad to live your whole lives with stomach aches all the time. No wonder that Twilight pony cries all the time...”
I gulp down what I’m eating before I turn to face him. Ouch... Yeah, my pony body’s still ouchie... “Look, we ponies don’t always have stomach aches. Grass is what we eat. Fruits, too, because we’re herbivores.”
“Fruits?” He blinks at me. “Well, no wonder many ponies get eaten by Timberwolves!”
No idea how to respond to that.
“What does hairbeevore mean?”
“They’re animals who only eat plants.”
“Oh,” he nods. “Just like you?”
I nod my head. “Yeah. Just like me.”
“And rabbits?”
“And rabbits.”
“And deer? And moles? And fishes? And—”
“Any animal that eats plants,” I say with an annoyed glare. I blink. “...Not sure about the moles,” I mutter under my breath. I think they eat earthworms, too?
He blinks at me. “...But I eat grass sometimes when—”
“Who only eats plants...” I let out a frustrated sigh. Damn, kids are annoyingly curious sometimes...
“Oh... Okay.” He then pulls himself up on his four paws and stretches. “Nnnnggggg—aaahhh...” He stands up straight, smiles at me and then he turns to face a direction. A few seconds later he turns his head over his shoulder to look at me. “Well, I’m still up for more hunting tonight, so we should go and see that pony Twilight Spa...Spo...” His eyes cross. “...Sporkal?”
So he knows her full name? “Sparkle.”
“Right! That! The sooner we get to her, the sooner I get to hunting again.” He blinks at me. “Well, I won’t hunt you yet because I think you still need to talk to Sparkle pony after we get there, right?”
I...smile.
“Right. ” He then frowns at me. “Do ponies always have weird names? Oh hey, that reminds me—”
“Jay.”
He blinks. “...Huh?”
“My name’s Jay.” I slowly rise on my four hooves—ow—and take a deep breath to ease my aching body. Damn, I need a rest...
“Jay? Jay what?”
I frown. Here we go again. “Just Jay.”
“Ah,” he nods at me.
Well, that was faster that expected.
“Can I call you Just? Or do you want me to call you Jay?”
...Or not. I groan as I slowly bring a hoof to my face. “What I mean is... Ah, whatever. Just call me Jay.”
He blinks at me again. “...Just or Jay?”
Eye twitch... “Jay.”
He nods his head with a smile. “Alright. Weird name, though...”
“Thanks, I guess...” I sigh through my nostrils as I follow Reykan leading me towards...a direction. I didn’t see the moon rise yet, or maybe it’s a new moon tonight?
I stop and look back at “Canterlot” Mountain in the distance. Hm... I shift my gaze left and see the faint frames of the rolling hills. I look right and also see more rolling hills. Uh... I’m either heading east or west?
“Just!”
I blink and look ahead, seeing Reykan’s blue eyes staring at me through the tall grasses.
“Oh wait, I mean Jay. Why are you just standing there?”
“Sorry,” I say as I follow him, trying not to wince with each step I make...
“And why are you walking so slow?” he asks as he walks beside me after I reach him. “I’ve seen a lot of ponies before, and they don’t walk as slow as you.”
I roll my eyes. “...Probably because I’m hurt.”
“You’re more than hurt.”
Gee, if you already knew, then why...sigh... Whatever.
“But at least we’re moving. ...Slowly...” He groans before looking up at me. “Can’t you walk any faster?”
I glare at him. “...Wanna pull my tail and drag me to Twilight?”
“Sure! If you let me eat you afterwards,” he says oh so cheerfully...
I roll my eyes and slightly shake my head. Hm... Maybe I should ask him about Twilight before he starts bombarding me with words... “Rey...”
“Hm?” he looks up at me.
“What’s Twilight like?”
“Oh! Well, she’s a pony! Just like you.”
I roll my eyes. “I would have never guessed...” Hm... Despite the darkness, I can see a wavy dark horizon up ahead where there are no stars. Oh, right... That must be a forest, where Reykan probably lives.
...Where other predators probably live.
“Uh...” I uh as I try to control myself. “You live—”
“She’s purple.”
I blink. Oh, right... We’re talking about Twilight...
“She has a horn on her head and—”
“Wings?”
“—and she—uh, what?” He looks at me and probably is arching an eyebrow. “Um...no?”
“Oh...okay.” She’s a unicorn, then. And why is everything getting darker? I close my eyes and slightly shake my head. Huh...
“Anyway,” he looks ahead, despite not being able to see anything other than the dark grass. “She lives inside this big, dead and scary-looking tree that—”
So I guess Twilight still lives inside a tree house. Um...dead tree house, I guess?
“—but I haven’t seen her go outside her tree home for a loooong time now. At first, I thought she was already dead—”
Aaand he’s talking fast again...
“—I still hear her talking and crying and laughing from there, so I guess she’s still alive.”
That’s reassuring, I guess...
“Hm... Now that I think about it, I wonder how she’s still alive?” He looks up at me. “You said you ponies only eat fruits and grass, right?”
I blink at him. “Uh...yes?”
“Well...” he looks ahead. “...there are no fruits or grass around her tree home, and like I said, I didn’t see her come out of her home for a long time now, so...she should be dead, right?”
“Uh...”
He shakes his head. “But I don’t smell a dead smell from there, and I can still hear her sometimes. So that means she’s still alive... Wow... Maybe she’s dead and alive at the same time?” He looks up at me with those curious sapphire eyes of his. “...can ponies be dead and alive at the same time?”
“Uh... No?” I shake my head. “At least, I don’t think so...”
“Huh...” he says quietly. “Weird...”
In before Twilight’s a zombie pony. Who’s probably gonna kill me the moment we see each other... Yey... Sigh... Oh, that reminds me... “Hey, Rey...”
“Hm? What?”
“Are there other panthers over there?”
“Over where?”
I stifle a groan. “Your home.”
“Nope!”
Well, he’s quick to answer that. ...I almost lose my balance... What’s going on...?
“At least, I don’t think so,” he says with a shrug.
Whatever... At least I’m still up and moving...slowly... “...Other predators?”
“Hm...” He shrugs. “Maybe in the deeper parts. I live close to the edge anyway. Easy to spot moving food while I’m lying on my tree. Heheheh...”
I’m getting tired already... Really? We haven’t been walking that long yet!
“Sometimes, a cockatrice or two shows up, but they don’t really mind me as long as I don’t mind them.” He shakes his head. “I don’t think I will, anyway. I kinda don’t wanna become stone. That’d be lame...”
I’m taking slow and deep breaths, hoping that stimulating my blood flow would help me feel not-so-tired...
“...I wonder why they turn prey to stone and just...leave them like that. I can’t eat rock prey. Nopanther can, I think? And I bet the cockatrice can’t eat stoned prey, either. And why are you slowing down?”
I need to see Twilight... Come on, me! We just ate grass to refuel!
“Jay?”
Goddamnit...! No! I need to keep moving! I-I can’t risk blacking out with a panther! “Nnnggg...!” I grit my teeth as I continue forcing myself to walk, but damn, do these hooves suddenly feel so freaking heavy! I’m no longer lifting them, but dragging them on the ground just to continue movi— “Oof!” ...I feel the ground on my side. I collapsed?
I feel two clawed paws on my side... I hear Reykan say something but I can’t understand him from how jumbly my mind is...
“N-no...” I hiss... Damn it, even talking is freaking hard to do! My tired mind is racing a million thoughts and commands but my damn pony body’s just freaking unresponsive...! “I... I...” And the darkness is already consuming me... “Pl-please...” I...hate begging... “...d...don’t...”
“Mmmrrrfff...” I mrrrfff as I slowly open my eyes but I instantly close them back after a bright white light almost blinds me. ...Figuratively speaking, that is... Also...it’s freaking hot for some reason.
Hm...bright and hot... So I died and went to hell. ...Or Tartarus. Great. So now, as a pony spirit, I’ll try and find a way to look for Twilight. Well, if I’m a ghost, I can simply just...fly through things, right?
...How in blazes am I gonna get back home if I’m freaking dead?
...?
I feel something lying on my neck. I carefully and slowly open my eyes again, blinking a few times for my eyes to adjust to the brightness, and what I see before me are the bright green grass and more grass. It’s...daytime? And I’m lying on the ground on my side... ...I’m still alive? And what’s this thing on my neck? I pull a hoof to touch my neck, and my hoof touches something furry, but it’s not my neck.
“Mmmrrr...” I hear a purr of some sort close to my ear as whatever it is on my neck stirs. “...Five more minutes...”
...Well, ain’t that cute? I’m on the ground, lying on my side, slowly being baked by the harsh sun, and Reykan appears to be sleeping behind my head, resting his head on my neck. ...Unfortunately, I don’t have time for cute. I take a few breaths to prepare my pony body to move before I slowly rise up—
Thud! “...Mmmrrroowie...”
—on my four hooves. I hiss as I poke out of the tall grass, looking around. Damn... Is it hot today or what? Either I’m slightly feeling okay now or the heat is overtaking my brain’s pain-o-meter to ignore the other ouchies I had last night.
...Speaking of... I blink and look down at the sleeping panther under the shade of my own shadow.
...He didn’t eat me. For some strange reason, he didn’t eat me while I was...out.
I blink... Wait, maybe this is a dream.
...Eh, or not... My slightly ouchie body and the freaking hot air is real enough for me to believe that I’m still alive. So...I’m still alive... Reykan didn’t eat me. Should I count myself as lucky? Will Lady Luck continue to grace me or will she suddenly troll me sooner or later? Sigh... In before she trolls me just as I’m about to meet Twilight...
I look around and see Canterlot Mountain in the distance. The green hills are on the north and south, with a few specks of white on top of them. I turn and stare at the forest at the distance where we were supposed to be heading before I...blacked out last night... I guess my body was too freaking stoned but I just ignored it... Right. I shouldn’t do that again... At least, not with a predator nearby...
Anyway, the forest is still a distance away... And damn... It’s freaking hot! I squint my eyes as I try to look up at the heavens. It’s a freaking clear sky, as always. No clouds in sight, and the sun appears to be at its highest peak. I take a deep breath, feeling the hot air in my lungs, and exhale as I look back at the forest. Right... I’ve been walking around for a while, so if my calculations are correct, I’ll probably reach the edge of the forest at around sunset. And that’s if I don’t faint from the heat and slash or exhaustion... Well, at least there are a few random trees around, so I can take a break and catch my breath under the tree’s shade if I need to.
And then I feel how dry my mouth is. Damn, I’m thirsty. I look around again, but nope, no water. I sigh... If there was any water close by, the unicorns wouldn’t be asking for rain clouds from the pegasi. ...Stupid rock-throwing unicorns.
Wait... I look back and stare at the tall Canterlot Mountain. Shouldn’t there be a waterfall on that mountain? Uh, now that I think about it, where does the water from the waterfall come from? Eh...whatever. I should get a move on.
I lift a hoof up to take a step, but I brush it over something furry. Oh, right... Reykan. I put said hoof over his small shoulder and gently shake him awake. “Oi... Reykan.”
No response.
I give him a small shake with my hoof again. “Kid... Wake up.” Why am I even trying to wake him up? I should just...get a move on. Yeah, this panther knows where Twilight is, but he already told me enough details on how to find her. I go to that forest, find a lot of dead trees, and presto!
...Cockatrice, though...
I slightly shake my head and try to wake him up in a gentle manner. Hey, I can leave him here, but sooner or later, he’ll find me eventually, probably be pissed that I left him here, and then will hunt me down and try to kill me. I might as well stay on his good side for a few more hours until I get to Twilight. It’s safer that way, I guess? “Rey?”
“...mmmrrrriizufarkgurmph—” he says and some other random, mumbled letters... And nope, he’s still snoring.
I roll my eyes and lean down to bite the skin behind his neck. What? I’ve seen cats do these things back home. That’s how they carry their kids. And eck...fur is weird on the tongue. I hope there’s some water in the forest for me to wash my mouth later.
My neck reminds me how painful it is as soon as I try to lift him up. Ow... Welp, this isn’t going to work. I let go of him and spit the fur out of my mouth and tongue. Bleeehhhk... Zero over ten would try again...
I slightly shake my head and take a breath before I bring a hoof over his shoulder to shake him to wakefulness. “Rey, get up.”
“...Mmmrrrr—I don’t wanna...” and he bats my hoof away with a paw. “...Zzz...”
I roll my eyes and lie down on my belly right next to him. “Rey, I...we need to get going.”
“...Go on without me...” he mumbles as he tries to curl into a ball. “...I’m still hunting...”
I roll my eyes.
“...Rabbits...mmm...” he smiles in his sleep. “...ev...ree...where...”
I sigh. “Look, whatever. Just... crawl and sleep on my back so I can start heading to the forest.” I blink. “...Actually, no. That’s a bad idea.” He’ll be directly exposed to the freaking hot rays of the noon sun. I remember reading something about dark colored clothes absorb more of the sun’s light, making the wearer feel hotter than those who are wearing light-colored clothes...
Well, my coat’s a light shade of brown, so...whatever.
I slightly shake my head, stand up on four hooves and look around, trying to find...something...anything that might help me. I can’t just...stay here and wait for him to wake up. If I force him to wake up, he’ll just slow us down by being sleepy and whatever. Unfortunately, all I see is green grass everywhere. I sigh as I slowly sit on my rump.
I blink. Huh...
I turn my head and look at my dark-brown tail. Hm... Ponies can move their tails, right? Heck, I’ve seen Applejack use her tail to swing a lasso in the ai—I thought I already told myself not to base everything here from the show? Eh, whatever... It’s worth a try, I guess. I slowly stand back up and concentrate, trying to tell my brain to make my tail move.
Come on, sweaty tail... Move... Move. Uh, swing?
After a minute or two of trying, I give up. Yep, I’m a lazy bastard sometimes. I let out a tired and defeated sigh as I sit on my rump again, my ear slightly twitching when I hear Reykan mumble something in his sleep. Hm... I stare at the panther for a few seconds before I turn my head to look at my tail again. It’s...long enough, I suppose.
I rise up, shuffle closer to the sleeping feline and sit down, resting my brown bum on the ground right next to Rey’s. Carefully, I turn my upper body as far as I can before I grab my tail with one hoof and Reykan’s tail with my other hoof.
...And then I remember that I can’t grab stuff with my hooves. I take a deep, deep breath and let out a heavy sigh... God freaking damnit...
...
... ...
... ... ...sigh... I should at least try. ...Yeah, sometimes I'm not totally a lazy bastard...
I push Reykan’s tail away and grab my tail with both hooves. I place them on the ground by my thigh and start to...roll it like rolling an old newspaper by dragging both my hooves on my tail. It’s...kinda working, so that’s progress.
It takes me a while but I eventually manage to accomplish what I want; a rolled tail. I then lean my upper body to grab Reykan’s tail with both hooves while I try not to move my lower body for fear that I might...unroll my tail. I place Reykan's tail over my rolled tail, forming an ‘x.’
...Right. Now for the tricky part; tying our tails... This...might take a while...
I let out an annoyed hiss as I ignore the weird feeling of my ass dragging a panther with me. Said panther is still asleep, snoring loudly as he sleeps on his back against the moving earth underneath. The edge of the forest is still a distance away, but at least I’m moving towards it. Shadows fly over me, and without stopping, I look up with squinted eyes to see a large flock of birds flying by.
...And then I hear a faint sound of thunder. I blink and turn my head towards the direction of the sound. Huh... There’s a very large and dark thunderstorm in the distance. I wonder if a pasture or two requested a storm? Why would anyone prefer a storm than rain?
My throat is killing me... I need some water... And I don’t think ‘a pasture or two’ ordered a stormy sky in all of Equestria. Like...I’ve been walking for an hour or so under the intense heat of the noon sun, but now? The entire sky is covered with thick and dark clouds. What is even weirder is that there are no pegasi spreading the storm.
Is a storm a common thingie in this world? Well, it’s not common back home, but a storm is a natural product of nature. I wonder if this storm...or any other storms here are a natural product of this world’s nature...
And then I feel the first of many cold rain drops hitting my nose. I let out a heavy sigh as a light drizzle starts to shower from the heavens, sending a soft yet cold breeze around that makes the tall grass sway with the wind.
...I tilt my head up, open my mouth wide and stick my tongue out. I think I look stupid, but I seriously am thirsty and I got nothing else to drink.
Hm... Rainwater taste...weird... Or maybe that’s because of how dry my tongue is...
“...Uuuurrrrrffff?” Oh, right... I’m still pulling Reykan by his tail with my tail. “S-stop spraying water on me...” he mumbles, probably half-awake. A pause. “Uh... What’s going on?”
I ignore him as I relish on the cool and watery yet weird-tasting liquid gracing my tongue.
“Jay? Are you dragging me?” A pause. “...Why are our tails tangled?”
Still walking, I turn my head to give him a side glance, my tongue still out.
He blinks at me, his furred back sliding on the ground. “...Uh... What are you doing?”
I pull my tongue back. “Eh... Thirsty.”
He blinks his sapphire eyes at me. “...You’re drinking rainwater?”
I blink at him. “...Yes?”
“There's a water hole by my tree home, you know.”
“Oh...” I turn my attention ahead as the drizzle turns into rain. I take a breath and sigh through my nostrils. “...Why—”
“Can you let go of my tail now?” he asks me. “...I can’t feel the tip of my tail...”
...whoops? “Oh...” I stop, sit down and start to untangle our tails, but it’s freaking difficult, especially with how tight I tied the knot I made with our tails...
“What are you doing now?”
“Trying to untangle our tails... What does it look like?”
He shrugs. “I dunno, but—” he lets out a big and long yawn. “Mrrffff... I slept like a rock.” He sits up, pulling our tails away from my hooves. “Can I cut your tail?”
I arch him an eyebrow.
He shows me a paw, and pulls out four sharp nails underneath said paw.
I shrug. Whoa! I can shrug! Who knew? “Whatever works.” My ear twitches. “Better make it fast though. This rain’s starting to get stronger.”
“Meh,” he mehs, clawing my tail hairs near the tangled knot of tails. “Wild storms.”
I blink, shivering slightly from how cold the air is now. “W-wild storms?”
“Yeah.”
...
... ...
... ... ...no explanation on what those are? “What are wild storms?”
“Mom says that they’re a bunch of angry clouds the flying ponies can’t control.”
Huh...
“Have you been dragging me ever since I fell asleep?” he asks, still cutting.
I slightly shake my head. “No. Only after I woke up.” I pause. “So...you didn’t eat me.”
“Well, you said ‘don’t’, so I didn’t.”
I blink.
He’s still cutting my tail hairs, grunting a bit.
I blink again. “I did?”
“Well, yeah! You said ‘please, don’t’ before you...slept? You have a weird way of sleeping though. Just...collapse on the ground. Doesn’t that hurt?”
I didn’t go to sleep. I blacked out... Not sure if I should tell him that. “...You’ll get used to it...”
“Well, anyway... Not really sure what you meant by ‘please, don’t’, so I only guessed that you meant not to eat you. After all, you still have to see this Twilight pony before you let me eat you. So yeah!” He pouts. “...I didn’t get to hunt after you fell asleep though... Can’t go hunting and leave you. Other preydators might take you away and I won’t be able to eat you...”
Riiight... “Thanks... I guess?”
The moment I notice a small puddle of water forming beside me is the moment I realize that it’s raining very hard now. I’m...soaking wet, and so is Reykan. Well, if there’s a puddle...
I lean my head down and—
“Jay? I wouldn’t drink that if I were you...”
—take a sip from it. I don’t care if it has a taste of mud at the mome—my eyes cross and I spit and cough the vile-tasting water out of my throat and mouth. “Ack...!”
“Told ya... Aaand done!” Reykan chirps and quickly pulls his tail with his paws to untangle it from the tail hairs. It takes him a minute or two, but he’s happy to have his tail back.
I cough and cough until there’s no more of that nasty water in my mouth... “Ungh...”
“Horrible, isn’t it?” He chuckles. “Well, at least you now know not to drink water from wild storms. Heheheh...”
I give him a tired glare, but my gaze then lands on his tail on his paws. “...Sorry about your tail.”
He shrugs. “Meh. Not the worse thing that happened to my tail.” He stands up on four paws and shakes the water off of his fur, only for the rain to soak him again. “I hate rain. Especially wild storms,” he says. “I can’t smell prey when it’s raining like this. I can barely even smell you, and you’re just sitting in front of me!”
Right... No idea how to respond to that. “Eh... We should move.”
“Sure!” Reykan replies as he walks past me, leading the way.
I slowly stand on four aching hooves and walk after the small feline. “So, uh...”
“Hm?”
“...Why does...uh...wild storm water taste...horrible?”
He shrugs. “Eh, I wouldn’t know. Not even mom...”
“Oh...”
He turns his head over his shoulder and smile curiously at me. “So how’d you tie our tails together?”
Damn, this storm is strong. Reykan and I have been walking through the wet and dancing tall grass, heading towards the edge of the forest which is still a few more yards away, shivering from the cold rain and from the cold gusts, but we continue on.
And yesh... The two of us are soaking wet...
“Grrr... Th-this is why I hate wild storms...” I hear Reykan say, who’s a few paces behind me. “They will suddenly show up a-and rains hard...like now!”
I keep my mouth shut and continue on, since I’ve no idea what to respond. And then I slip, my chin slamming first on the wet earth. “Oof!”
“Jay? Don’t tell me you’re falling asleep again!” he says as he stops beside me.
“Ngggh-no,” I say through gritted teeth as I stand back up on four hooves, ignoring my aching dry throat. “Le-let’s move on...”
He nods his head as I turn my attention ahead and continue to walk towards the edge of the forest, Reykan following close behind. We haven’t seen any other living creature since the storm began and we barely say anything to each other though, but it’s all okay for me—
“Wait,” Reykan suddenly says. I stop and turn my head in time to see him turning his head to a direction, both his ears twitching. And then, despite the occasional howls of the wind, rumbling thunder up in the heavens, rustling tall grasses all around us and the loud and constant splashes of rainwater, I faintly hear my little feline companion’s stomach growl. “I hear a rabbit.”
I arch an eyebrow. I let out a sigh.
“...Probably a mouse... You go on ahead, Jay,” he says without turning to me. “I’ll...just catch up...” And he quietly walks away to a direction.
I shake my head and continue heading towards the edge of the forest. Right... So I’m all alone on this little journey of mine again...for the time being, at least. And whenever I’m all alone, my mind starts to wander elsewhere...like home...and my bro...and my mom...
How are they, I wonder? How many days have I been away from home now? Hm... Let’s see... I woke up in this alternate Equestria outside Pinkie’s and AJ’s pasture. That was Monday morning... Spent a night in that forest route with Sienna and woke up still in that location. That was a Tuesday... Then we parted ways and I continued to the unicorns...and got stoned. Woke up in the evening, to Reykan dragging me... That was Tuesday evening...my supposed deadline. I then collapsed and woke up earlier today...at around noon...so it’s a Wednesday afternoon at the moment.
The thick and dark clouds up above makes the afternoon look like the sun’s already gone, with how dark everything looks, but not too dark like the evenings here. Whatever... I continue moving, slipping once or twice.
Hm... How should I deal with Twilight...? She’ll be different, that’s for sure... And if she is, then how is she supposed to help me get back home? I doubt she’d be researching about magic and other ‘impractical’ things... I doubt she can afford wasting time researching magic outside of basic necessities... That’s how the creatures here work, right? Doing, performing and achieving only basic needs...
...I doubt she’ll be sane enough to listen to me...
I sigh, slightly hanging my head low... Twilight won’t be able to help me, apparently... And...in this world, she’s crazy... Crazy enough to try and steal young cattle and...tele-steal a bunch of gems from her own kind for unknown reasons... So yesh...she’s definitely crazy... Now begs the question of why I’m still trying to go and see her. It’s already obvious that she can’t help me... It’s...not hope to hope that she can help me... It’s now just pure stupidity... Many Equestrians already told me that Twilight’s crazy, yet here I am, working my way to see her... This is going to be like the unicorns again... Despite what the others said, I ignored them, and look what happened?
I stop and hang my head lower, shivering from the coldness of everything around me... Damnit... I am...stuck here... Am I stuck here? Am I really going to be stuck here...forever? I...I-I don’t want to live as a pony for the rest of my life! Damnit, no! I want to be with my family again! I want my hands back! And the internet! And...and...pizza! There...there has to be a way! A way for me to go home...! Some...some magical artifact or something...or anything!
“Pl-please...” I whisper through gritted teeth as I glare at the small puddles of water on the ground. “I...I-I can’t stay here... I shouldn’t be here...!” I slowly lift my head up, glaring at the dark heavens. “This...this is a mistake...! Why am I here? I shouldn’t be here!” Rainwater hit my large eyes, and I angrily blink them away as I try to continue glaring at the sky. “Celestia... Luna...! Please help me...!” A low rumbling noise. “Help me g-get back home...! Please! Show yourselves to me! I-I don’t care if I got here by magical accident or whatcrap! Just... Just...” I clench my eyes shut. “I want to go home!”
But of course...there’s no reply. There’s no one around to reply...
“...I want to go h-home...” I choke on a sob as I hang my head low, shivering from the cold gust of wind passing by.
“Then why not just head home?” I hear a loud, curious, cheerful and feminine voice right in front of me.
I blink and lift my head up to see a small and white...head...with an orange-colored beak poking out of the tall grass in front of me. “Uh...” I blink again. That’s...a swan’s head. There’s a swan in front of me...
The white swan tilts her head slightly to the side, blinking her golden amber eyes at me. “Instead of,” she shrugs, “standing under this storm.” She smiles at me. “I’m sure you live close by, anyway!” She blinks, her smile fading, and suddenly she let’s out a squawking gasp. “Oh my goodness! Don’t tell me you’re lost!”
“Er...” There’s a swan standing in front of me... And it can talk...
“Oh... You poor thing.” She quickly extends a large, white and feathery wing to hold my cheek—thud thud thud!—but she stops and looks down, gasping with another squawk again. “Oh, clumsy me...!” She folds her wing back to her side and starts grabbing the fallen carrots and some other small vegetables on the muddy ground with her beak and hides them under her now-folded wing.
“Uh...” There’s a talking swan picking carrots in front of me...
“Brr...” she shivers as soon as she tucks the last carrot under her wing. “I sometimes forget that I’m bringing something...well, a lot of something under my wings.” She chuckles airily, but stops as soon as her gaze lands on me. “Oh my! I forgot that I’m talking to a pony!”
“Uhhh...” There’s a talking swan talking to me...
“Oh, where are my manners?” She violently shakes her head. “Twilight taught me better than this...” She then smiles awkwardly at me. “Well, she sometimes teaches me stuff when she's not...what was that term she mentioned? Episodes? Eh...” She shrugs again and then gives me a beaked smile. “Hi there, mister pony. My name’s—!”
“Grrraaaarrr—!” A black blur pounces on the white swan, leaving a few spinning carrots and other vegetables in the air before they fall on the muddy ground.
“Rey! Wait!” I shout as I finally snap back to my senses, rushing towards the scene.
“Ahhh—!” the swan shrieks in pain and fright as a young black panther’s claws hold the struggling swan in place. She flaps her wings wildly, ineffectively pounding them on the feline as she moves her head left and right to avoid Reykan’s jaw snapping at her neck.
I stop behind Reykan and quickly wrap my two hooves around his back and chest, pulling him away but he wouldn’t let go of the panicking swan. “Rey! Stop it—!” I shout, but my mouth is suddenly filled with feathers. I spit it out of my mouth but I then hold my breath when I catch a glimpse on Rey’s sapphire eyes that no longer has their curious glimmer. His eyes are cold and feral, and it sends a fearful shiver in my entire pony body...
“Grr—!”
“H-help me, mister pony!”
I take a breath to calm myself and to give me enough mental strength to push the fear aside for a while... “Rey... Rey.”
“Grrar!” he lunges, fanged jaw at the ready, but I pull him back—his back on my chest now—just before his jaw can snap at the panicking swan’s thin neck.
I tighten my hold on Rey with one hoof as I dare to pull my other hoof away to push his clawed grip off of the swan. I slide my hoof behind his paws and—“Aaahhhh—!” Holy shit! Reykan’s biting my hoof and his clawed paws are now on said hoof! “Reykan! Gaaah—!”
“Odette’s feathers!” the swan cries as she struggles to pull herself away from us.
“Reykan!” I cry in pain as I try to push and hit him with my other hoof, but he won’t let go. “Gah! Rey! Stop!” He starts to pull my hoof and shake his head in an attempt to, what, dismember me? “Knock it off, Rey!” The pain is too painful, my eyes starting to water, and I’m pretty sure it’s not because of the strong storm up above. I hit his head and face with my other hoof, but he’s still biting me, his cold and feral blue eyes locked on my hoof.
I faintly hear flapping noise, but I didn’t mind at the moment. What I mind, though, is the fact that Rey’s rear flies up, carrying the rest of his body and pulling my hoof up with him.
“Ack! T-the hell—?!” I hiss as I stare at the large, white and flapping swan who is grabbing Rey’s tail with her black and webbed feet, and she’s struggling to fly due to the strong gusts of air in an attempt to help me pull Rey off of my hooves, I think?
“Don’t worry, mister pony!” I hear her voice through the painful waves of pain and the howls of wind. “Just continue hitting the beast and he’ll let go! ...Eventually!”
Rey’s flailing his rear paws but still has his front paws and his fanged mouth on my hoof. A strong gust of air blows Miss Swan to the direction behind me, pulling her and Rey along with it. Reykan’s furred head headbutts me on my muzzle, pushing me back on the ground.
“Oof!” I gasp as my back slams on the muddy ground. I hear a startled squawk, and then a feathery thud noise against the wet grass and ground. I suddenly feel the jaw and claws let go of my painful hoof to my great relief—
“Rwaaarrr—!”
Rey’s fanged jaw immediately bites my neck! “Gah—! R-Rey!” Oh god! The pain! Not again! And he adds his clawed paws on my neck! “Reykan! Stop! Stop!” I shout as I flail my hooves in a panic.
An orange beak biting an orange carrot flies on the side of my darkening vision.
THUNK!
“Grrrraaaaah—!” Rey’s fangs and sharp claws pulls away from my bleeding neck.
I jolt up and see him shaking and trying to get rid of the carrot inserted inside of his ears. I wince, more from the thought of almost half a carrot being shoved inside one’s ear.
“Quick!” I hear my swan savior say. I turn to her and immediately frown. “Help me pick these carrots and potatoes!” she says as she hurriedly picks a vegetable and tucks them under her wings.
“Really?! A freaking panther almost killed us and you’re worried about—!”
“Jay?”
I stop, feeling a cold shiver run through my spine as I slowly turn my head towards the young panther. I see him sitting on the muddy ground, staring weirdly at a carrot on the ground in front of him.
“Why is this...thing inside my ear?”
An orange beak quickly grabs the offending carrot out of his sight.
“Hey!” he shouts, glaring at the panicky swan. He blinks, and I notice his sapphire eyes slowly losing their glimmer again.
I immediately slam a hoof over his head.
“Ow!” he hisses, rubbing his head with both front paws as he throws a glare at me. “What was that fo—you’re bleeding!”
I frown at him. “Thanks to you.”
“I think that’s most of them!” the swan quickly says. She then bites my ear and starts pulling me away.
“Ow ow ow—! Let go—!”
“Why is that swan biting you?”
“You tried to—damnit, let go!” I pull my head back, removing my ear from the swan’s beak. I throw a glare at her that lasts for a short while before turning back to Rey. “And you tried to kill us earlier!”
“What?” he blinks. “I was chasing a rabbit!”
“Really?” I point a hoof at the swan’s bleeding stomach...or chest...whatever. I don’t know my bird biology thingie. “You tried to kill her,” I say before I point said hoof to my neck. “And then you tried to kill me!”
He blinks at me, slightly tilting his head to the side. “...No wonder there’s a familiar taste in my mouth...”
I glare at him. And then I feel how painful my hoof and neck are. The adrenaline or whatever is probably gone, my body reminding me of its newly-acquired wounds. I hiss, and slam my not-hurt hoof on Rey’s head again.
“Ow!”
“Don’t look at her like that!”
“But she’s food!”
“No, she’s not!”
“Actually...” the swan quietly interrupts us, smiling nervously. “I am food. To beasts like him.”
“Don’t side with him!” I tell her.
“But she’s right!” Reykan interjects.
I glare at him. “You stay out of this!”
He blinks at me. “But I am! We’re all outside!”
“That’s not what I meant!”
“Then what do you mean, mister pony?”
“Shut up!” I holler. And then a loud crash of thunder echoes from the heavens. I take fast and deep breaths to calm myself down. “Goddamnit. Just...shut up, you two, for now.” I take a deep breath, hold it in for a while, and exhale through my mouth. I then glare at Reykan. “You. Don’t eat her.”
He pouts at me. “But I want to...”
“Fine, just...not right now when I’m here—”
“Why can’t I eat her when you’re around—”
“Rey, just don’t fucking eat her!” I glare at him. I blink. I wince. “Er... Th-that came out wrong...”
He innocently blinks at me. “What came out wrong? And what does fucking mean?”
I wince, and I then carefully shake my head. “Never mind. You’ll know when you grow older. Just...don’t eat her.”
He frowns at me. “But I don’t understand why I shouldn’t eat—”
“Just please don’t ea—”
“Fiiine...” he grumbles, glaring at one of the many tall grass around us.
I blink at him.
“But I’m still hungry... That rabbit got away from me...”
I take a breath and sigh... “You can hunt later...” I tiredly turn to face the swan, who’s a hoof or two away from us, quietly staring at us.
Her gaze shifts from Rey to me, and she blinks.
“You, mis—”
“Do you two know each other?” she asks, tilting her small head to the side.
“Er...yeah. Kinda.” I glance at Rey, who’s curiously staring at the swan, his sapphire eyes not cold nor feral. I look back at the swan. “Anyway, uh—”
“You’re bleeding,” she interrupts me.
I frown, feeling a warm and thick liquid running down my neck and hoof. “Yes, I noti—”
“We should get you healed up!” she quickly interjects, moving towards me.
I lean back, glaring at her. “Get your beak away from my ear!”
She stops and frowns at me. She then turns her whole body and stops, staring at a direction. “Twilight might know of a way to help you heal up.” She blinks. “And me.”
I blink. “Right, about that—”
She quickly turns to look at me. “We should go to her tree quickly!”
I raise an eyebrow. I turn to Rey.
He looks at me and shrugs. “Can I eat you both after you guys see Twilight pony?”
I sigh and turn to the swan. “...You know where she lives?”
She blinks, and smiles. “Well, of course!” She extends a wing to her chest. “I am her assi—oh feathers...” She picks up the fallen vegetables and tucks them inside her wing again. With that done: “As I was saying, I’m her assistant! And I’m bringing her these for her to eat!”
I nod tiredly. “Right... Whatever. Lead the way then.” I blink. Wait... I thought that I already told myself that Twilight can’t—
“Hey!” Reykan suddenly says, breaking my train of thought. “I thought I was the one who’ll lead you to her?”
I frown at him. “...You both can lead me to her then.”
Miss Swan shakes her head and nervously looks at the pouting panther. “I-ah-uh... I’m not...gonna walk beside a beast...”
I groan. “Rey will lead the way then.”
“Yey!”
The swan frowns at me. “Do you trust him that much?”
I blink. “Er... Yeah, kinda... I guess.” I slightly shake my head. “I don’t even know your name.”
She—
“And stop dropping your vegetables! Sheesh!”
—calms herself down, clears her throat and gives me a small albeit nervous smile. “My name’s Seri, and—”
A strong gust of wind passes us by, making the wet grass sway violently with it.
Seri the swan shivers slightly. “We should head to Twilight’s tree home before this storm becomes more violent.”
I blink. This storm’s already strong...kinda, but it’ll become stronger still? I turn to Reykan.
He’s staring at the swan for a short while before he turns his head and blinks at me. “...What?”
“So,” Seri breaks the silence as she turns her head to look at me. “You’re Jay?”
I blink and give her a side glance. “Ah, right... I didn’t properly introduce myself. Er... Ourselves.”
We’re inside the forest now, Seri and I following Reykan who’s leading the way after a quick visit from our little panther’s little watering hole near the edge of this forest to relieve my thirst. True to our swan companion’s words, the storm really did became stronger, but thankfully, the gloomy forest shields us from most of the rain and gusts of air. The treetops are swaying with the strong winds, creating loud and constant rustling noises that accompanies the howls of the wind and the occasional roar of thunder. It’s still cold, but I guess the three of us have already grown used to it to take little notice... Eh...
I return my attention ahead, staring at Reykan. “My name’s Jay.” I point at our feline companion by bobbing my head forward. “The little guy who tried to kill us earlier is Reykan.” I see Rey’s ear twitch, but he didn’t say anything as he turn around a tree, Seri and I following him close behind.
I blink. Huh... Rey mentioned about cockatrices living here... If so, then I’ve yet to see statues of—
“Nice to meet you two,” Seri says as she nods her head, breaking my train of thought. “So, are you here to see Twilight?”
I nod. “Yeah...” I furrow my brows. “And no. I’m not here to court her.”
“Bleahk,” Reykan bleahks, shivering, probably not from the cold air. “Gross...” He throws a disgusted glare at me. “Is that really why you wanna see her?”
I roll my eyes. Sheesh, and here I thought at least one of those I meet wouldn’t pair me with Twilight. “Rey, I just said no. And pay attention to the road ahead.”
He blinks at me as his front paw steps on a shiny rock on the ground. “What roa—whoa—!” Aaand he slips. “—oof!”
“Told you,” I say after a snicker.
Rey quickly stands back up on his four paws and sticks his tongue out at me before he continues walking.
“Squee~!” Seri suddenly squees with a wide, wide beaked grin and with twinkling eyes. “You two look so adorable.”
...And I’m suddenly paired with Reykan.
“I’m not adorable!” Reykan throws her a glare. “I’m fearsome!”
“Oh, of course you are!” Seri says as she leans her long neck forward to nuzzle the shivering panther’s cheek and lower jaw, making our feline companion to stop walking. “When you’re older, but right now? Oh, you’re so adorable! Squee~!”
“Ja-a-a-ay?” Reykan throws a nervous look at me. “I-I don’t like being nuzzled.”
I stick my tongue out at him.
“Can I eat her now?”
“Eek!” Seri quickly jerks her head away from him.
I smile an amused smile. “Well, at least you now know what to say to make her stop nuzzling you.”
Reykan frowns at me as his ears twitches. He blinks and looks back to the direction we are heading.
Seri and I look ahead as well, and not too far ahead, we see a brown figure emerging from the trees. The familiar figure stops and turns her head to look at us, her emerald eyes blinking.
I arch an eyebrow. Is that—?
“Jay?” she calls out. Yep, her voice definitely sounds like the deer I met a day or two ago. Sienna, was it? “There’s a panther right in front of you!” A pause. “...And a swan standing beside you.”
My arched eyebrow arches even more. “...So I’ve noticed.”
“Oh!” Reykan suddenly chirps. “I remember now!” He looks at me with a smile. “That’s the deer you were with a day or two ago!”
I blink at him.
“Can I eat her later, too?”
“What?” Sienna gasps, taking a dainty step back.
I shake my head.
Reykan pouts. “Aww...”
Seri chuckles. “That’s what you get when you hang around us non-meat eaters.” She turns her head and smiles at me. “Isn’t that right, Jay?”
Reykan pouts even more.
“Hang...around?” Sienna mutters under her breath. How I heard it from the violent rustling of leaves up above, I’ll never know.
Seri then turns her head to look and smile at the deer standing ahead of us. “Hel—”
I quickly put a hoof on her twitching wing and push it firmly on her side.
She looks at me and gives me a blank blink. “Oh, right...” She smiles sheepishly before turning back to the deer. “Hello!”
I sigh as I bring my hoof back down... Great...just what every hero in every adventure story needs... A couple of misfits as his adventure buddies... Drum roll... We have a tough and innocent meat-eating panther cub, a sweet and clumsy swan, and the return of the trying-to-be-independent deer who moved out of her herd. And to complete the set, a human-turned pony who’s neck and hoof are slightly bleeding... Joy... If I ever get back home, I’m gonna write this adventure of mine on FIMFic... Sigh...
“Jay...” I hear Sienna call, a lot of concern and fear in her voice. “There’s a panther in front of you! Why aren’t you running away?”
I shrug. Damn, I still can’t believe I can shrug as a pony. “He’s taking me to Twilight.”
She arches an eyebrow and then shakes her head. “I know love can drive anydeer do crazy things, but,” she glares at me, “asking a panther for directions?! That’s just the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard!”
Seri nods in complete agreement. “I know, right?”
“Totally!” Sienna shouts.
Reykan turns to me with a confused look. “...What is she talking about?”
I let out a sigh. “...Rey, you can eat them now.”
The two females gasp in unison.
Rey’s eyes twinkles. “Really?!” He blinks, the twinkles fading. He then furrows his brows. “You really don’t mean that, do you?”
I give him a tired smirk.
Reykan grumbles, glaring aside. “...Can we continue going to Twilight pony now?”
I nod my head.
Reykan then moves forward, towards the frightened deer. He immediately turns, ignoring the deer who gives him a confused look. She then throws that same look at me and Seri as we follow our little panther.
“Jay?” she calls quietly.
“Hm?” I hm without stopping.
“Jay...!” she hisses as the distance between us grows. “Why are you...?! Why...?! Gah!” One second later, she’s walking nervously beside me—damn, she’s fast—her head hanging a little low as she nervously eyes the panther. “W-why are you still following him?”
“I could ask you the same question.”
She gives me a side glare. “I’m serious! And I’m not following him... I’m following you!”
I frown at her. “So am I.” A pause. “The serious part, I mean...”
“What if he’ll lead you to more of his kind?!” she hisses quietly, still glaring at me. “I’ve seen a few panthers around here just before this wild storm showed up!”
I arch her an eyebrow. “...Why are you still here then if panthers scare you?”
She opens her mouth to reply, but no words come out. She closes her mouth, but her glare intensifies.
I roll my eyes before I turn to our swan companion.
She’s smiling at me. “So, who’s she?” Seri looks at the deer walking beside me with a sway of her long neck. “She looks pretty. I love how green her eyes are.”
“She’s Sienna.” I then turn back to my deer companion. I might as well introduce her to the others. “The swan’s name is Seri. The scary and adorable panther—” I notice Reykan shiver from the corner of my eyes. “—is Reykan.”
“Please don’t call me adorable, Jay,” Reykan quietly says, his ears drooping. “B-because I’m not...”
Seri chuckles merrily, earning a groan from our little panther.
“You didn’t answer my question,” Sienna hisses.
I roll my eyes. “You didn’t answer mine, ei—” I cut myself off with a roll of my eyes. I turn to Seri. “Are we heading to Twilight?”
Seri blinks at me and nods her head. “Well, yes. Actually,” she says as she turns her attention ahead. “We’re already—”
“We’re here,” Reykan suddenly announces, stopping at the edge of the tree line.
Sienna and I stop walking and look ahead.
“Twilight!” Seri calls as she waddles on dead brown earth, heading towards a big, tall and leafless tree in the center of this dead clearing. “I’m baaaaaack! And we have guests!” she calls out against the howls of angry air and rustling leaves.
I’d like to look at my surroundings, but my gaze is locked on that giant dead-looking tree. It...kinda resembles the Golden Oaks Library...minus the windows and the green leaves. There’s a big hollow on the base of the tree, covered by a makeshift door made of some kind of wood.
“Jay?” I hear Reykan say as I hear his muffled pawsteps approaching me, and Sienna’s stabby footsteps backing away from me. “Why are you just standing there?”
My heart is racing, and I don’t know if it’s because of excitement, or nervousness. Probably both. Uh...nervouscited?
“Jay?”
“He’s zoning out,” I hear Sienna say.
I ignore the sounds that I hear as my mind starts going overdrive once again...
Twilight can help me.
No... No, she can’t! She’s different!
But what if she’s not?
But she doesn’t study advance or whatever magical nonsense in this world!
But I thought I told myself that even if there’s a zero point zero zero one percent chance that she could help me, then—
A black and wet tail taps my muzzle. I blink and my eyes cross as I stare at it.
“See?” I hear Sienna say. “I told you he was zoning out.”
I shake my head as Rey’s tail moves away from me and I turn my head aside to see Sienna snickering at me.
“Love does that to anydeer.”
I frown at her. “I thought you’re scared of pa—”
“Then I’m glad I’m a panther and not a deer, then.” Reykan interjects. “But... Jay’s a pony—”
Sienna suddenly gasps, earning my and Reykan’s attention. “You’re wounded!”
I blink, suddenly feeling the numbness around the wounds on my neck and hoof. “Uhh—”
“Hold still,” Sienna commands, leaning her head forward and aiming her two little stubs on her head at me. Her two stubs glow a faint green light.
I blink. “Uh... W-what are you doi—” I jolt and shiver as I suddenly feel a strange feeling around my neck wound.
Sienna hisses as she glares at me, the already faint emerald glow around her head stubs dimming even fainter. “I said hold still!”
I throw her a glare of my own. “What are you even doing to me, anyway?”
She lifts her head up to give me the full force of her glare. “Healing your wound. What does it look like I’m doing?!” she angrily shouts at me, making me take a step back. She once again leans her head forward and aims her two little stubs at me. “Now hold still!”
“Yes ma’am,” I say before I close my eyes shut. And then I feel that strange tingling sensation around my neck. It’s...really freaking weird and my instincts are telling me to move away. But I try my hardest to ignore those urges, to stay still and to try and focus on the strange sensation instead.
Despite the coldness of the weather, I feel a soothing warmth around my wound. I can’t really describe what’s going on, but I’ll try anyway... I feel like these strange tingling sensations around my wound are like...stitching my wound close? That’s the closest comparison I can think of at the moment. I feel the many and tiny needle-like stabs sewing my wound through the soothingly warm feeling. It’s...freaking weird. It doesn’t feel painful, just...weird. Soon, the tiny stabby feelings stopped and is replaced by the feeling of something, or tiny somethings coming out around my wounds, making me wince from how strange it feels.
“Done,” I hear Sienna say as the warm and tingling sensation slowly disappears from my wound, and I slowly open my eyes in time to see her lean her head back and looks at me fully. “A bite wound...” she says as she turns her head to look at Reykan who has an awestruck look on his face. “With four fanged wounds...” She glares at him. “...I wonder from whom...?”
I carefully lift a hoof to rub my neck where the wound...was once was. It’s...completely gone now, replaced by pony skin and fur. “Wow...” I breathe out. She healed me! “Thanks, Sienna.” I want to smile, but I frown instead as I see her still glaring at Reykan. “And uh, it’s not really his fault. Really...” ...Because hunting and killing is natural for predators like Rey, right? Sigh... This is a messed up world...
She quickly shifts her glare at me. “He bit you! And you’re saying that it’s not his—” she stops, the anger in her eyes fading as she stares at my raised hoof.
I blink, extend my raised hoof forward so I can take a better look at it. “Oh... Yeah... I got wounded here, too.”
Sienna sighs as she aims her faintly glowing stubs at my hoof. “Hold still...”
I stare at my green-glowing hoof wound as I feel those strange tingling sensations again. The green glow is actually making me see my healing wound clearer though. I see my wounds slowly closing as the needle-like sensations tingle around my wounds. After my wounds are completely gone, I see brown fur growing out of the newly-healed skin, covering the wound completely.
“Cool!” Reykan suddenly chirps as the emerald glow disappears from my outstretched hoof. He smiles a wide and excited smile at our deer nurse. “I didn’t know that a deer could do that!”
Yeah, neither did I. Then again, I don’t really read the pony comics, so who knows what the deer are capable of doing.
“It was just a simple healing spell,” I hear a familiar female voice behind our little panther, making my mind go blank as I see Sienna turn her attention away from me to look at whoever was standing behind, or in front of Reykan (if he already turned around after hearing her voice). “But ordinary unicorns will probably take a year at most to cast such a simple spell.” A pause. “Maybe a healing spell is a natural spell for the deer kind that anydeer can learn, just like a levitation spell which is a natural spell for unicorns.” Another pause. “Oh, gosh! Where are my manners?!” A shuffling of hooves. “Please, please, come inside! We’ll continue once we’re all inside and after I cast a quick drying spell on you all.” A pause. “Um... Why is your pony friend over there standing still like that?” Another pause. “I don’t see a cockatrice around.”
“There are cockatrices around here?!” Sienna shrieks in fright, and she then dashes towards...somewhere, probably inside the big dead tree if Seri’s faint and startled yelp is anything to go by...
A quiet roar of thunder echoes from the heavens, piercing through the loud whistles of the stormy air, the loud rustling noises of the leaves on the swaying treetops and the many splattering raindrop noises.
“Well,” I hear Twilight say as I finally am able to get a grip on myself. I turn and see her and Reykan staring at the wide opened ‘door’ of her home.
She looks like Twilight from the show. Erm...minus the wings.
Miss Purple then turns back to us—er, to Reykan, her smile faltering a bit. “Uh...” She moves her gaze to me, her smile steadying. “You two should come inside as well!” She looks up and around. “I don’t think this storm’s stopping any time soon, plus,” she looks back at us with a small chuckle, “being outside under a wild storm’s not a good place for a chat.”
She talks like Twilight from the show...
“Meh...” Reykan meh’s. “I’ve been through worse. And I didn’t come here to chat with you, anyway.” He turns his head over his shoulder to look at me. “It’s Jay here who wants to talk with you.”
Twilight nods her head. “I see. But I insist that the two of you to come inside.”
She’s too friendly, too. Just like in the show...
She looks aside, her smile gone. “...The sooner, the better,” she mutters under her breath in a worried tone, making me arch an eyebrow.
“Can’t,” Reykan says adamantly as he looks around. “I’m hungry and I need to hunt something to eat.”
I blink at him. “...But I thought you said that you can’t smell anything with this storm.”
His ears droop. “...I can try and listen to them...?” He sighs in defeat as he turns to Twilight. “...Fiiine... I guess I can come inside and watch you guys do...pony stuff...”
I roll my eyes as Twilight chuckles.
Reykan then turns to fully look at me. “But if I get too hungry, can I eat the swan?”
“N—”
“Hopefully, it won’t come to that,” Twilight interjects with a wince. She then gestures with her head to follow her before she turns around and walks towards her home. “And...Reykan, was it?” Twilight says a bit louder so we can hear her through the loud noises of rustling leaves. “I doubt you can find animals who are out and about in this nasty storm.”
I bite my tongue as I follow the two of them. This is Twilight... She’s the Twilight... I think? Maybe? I’m not sure. I mean...she sounds and looks like Twilight, but...that can’t be right...right? The Equestrians that I’ve talked to had told me that Twilight’s...crazy. But she doesn’t look crazy. She doesn’t act crazy. Although her talking about magic might sound crazy to some...
Twilight walks inside the open door, the darkness eating her up. Reykan follows, and soon, I step inside to...to...uh...
“Oh! Hey there, Twilight!” Seri greets us as I gawk at the interior of Miss Purple’s...home?
Is this place what I think it is? One would expect that the place would be dark and creepy-looking. Heck, while we were approaching the open door, I can’t see anything but darkness inside the dead tree, but now that we’re inside? It looks...looks...
It looks like a brightly-lit library. The library. The Golden Oak Library.
“Why does it smell weird in here?” is the first thing Reykan notices inside the library.
The air smells like old books! And yes, I know what old books smell like. I go to the library at least once a week, because my lazy bro’s too lazy to go there and fetch a book or two that he needs...
Even Sienna looks confused as she darts her curious eyes left and right.
“So... Is this what inside a tree looks like?” Reykan asks as he looks around the many, many items around that I think looks very foreign for him. “It looks...really different from my den... Or maybe pony trees look like this?”
I hear Twilight chuckle as I blink at Reykan. “I thought you live in a tree?”
He turns and blinks at me. “Well...yeah.”
“A tree hollow,” Twilight suddenly says, looking at us. “It’s a hole on a tree that’s naturally formed where animals use to—”
“I get it, I get it,” I say with a frown. Sheesh, even this Twilight tries to explain everything...like in the show... I blink and realize that we’re no longer outside under the storm. I look down and stare at the small puddle of water around my four hooves, my wet fur dropping droplets of water on it. I trail my eyes forward, noticing a few trails of water that are leading to the other creatures inside the library. I smile an awkward smile at Miss Purple. “Eh...heheh... Uh, um... Sorry for uh, wetting your floor?” Shut up, brain.
She blinks at me...and nods. “Well, anyway, hold still, everypony,” she says as she turns around and walks to the center of the room, her horn glowing with bright purple magic.
“Everybody,” Seri...corrects her? The swan chuckles. “There are only two ponies in this tree, Twilight.”
Twilight rolls her eyes as she turns to face Reykan and me. She quickly tilts her head down, aiming her glowing horn at the both of us and immediately fires a purple beam of magic at—
“Gah—!”
“Aaah—!”
—our shrieking selves! I flinch, close my eyes and bring a hoof in front of me to shield myself from the beam of magic, but after a few seconds of nothing but feeling warm and hearing swan giggles, I slowly open my eyes to see a reddish bubble field surrounding me and Rey. I look back at Twilight, who is giving me a sheepish smile. Behind her, Seri is giggling while Sienna is sighing in relief.
“A little warning next time, princess?” I say in an angry tone as I glare at Twilight.
“I’m sorry,” she quietly says as the air around me is getting warmer. “I got used to cast spells witho—” she cuts herself off, blinking at me. “...‘Princess?’”
“Jay, look!” Reykan suddenly says, stealing my attention. He smiles at me before turning his attention at the red bubble wall around us. He then pokes a paw on it, his paw passing through. His smile widens. “We can get out of this magic trap thing!”
“It’s not a trap,” Twilight frowns at him. “It’s a quick-drying spell, a special kind of magic that creates a small field—a bubble—and turns the air warm within that field.”
Reykan blinks at her. He then gives me a confused look. “Uh... I didn’t understand what she just said.”
Seri giggles.
Yesh... Listening to Twilight talk about magic is pretty cool. In the show, at least. But in real time? It kinda sounds weird and out of place, especially in this version of Equestri—wait... Why is she talking about magic like she’s the Twilight from the show? Why does she even talk and look just like in the show?! Could she be really—?
I snap back to reality to see Twilight encasing herself, Seri and Sienna in a reddish bubble to dry themselves off.
“Seri?” Twilight says as the bubble field around me and Rey starts to fade. “Did I just see things earlier or are your wounds have already disappeared?”
As soon as the red bubble field around me and Rey disappears, the warm air disappears and makes way for the cool and book-smelling air as I feel...nice for being a dry pony again.
“Oh, that?” the swan blinks and then smiles as she turns to look at our deer companion. “Sienna here was kind enough to heal my wounds with her green glowy magic!”
Reykan shakes his body, sits down and starts licking a paw.
“Really?” Twilight turns to Sienna and gives her a warm smile. “That’s really kind of you, uh, Sienna, was it?” She receives a small nod from the deer. “Thank you for healing my assistant. I—We really appreciate it.”
“Um,” Sienna fidgets from where she stands. “I-it’s no trou—”
“We mean it!” Seri suddenly chirps cheerfully, nuzzling the deer’s cheek. “We appreciate you helping me, Sienna!”
“At least I’m not the one being nuzzled,” Reykan mutters before he stands up and walks away from me.
“Uh...” Sienna awkwardly accepts the nuzzle as she darts her confused eyes at me.
I give her a shrug.
“Bleahk...” I hear Reykan bleahk.
I turn my head towards his voice and see him reeling away from the many books on the lower shelf of the closest bookshelves.
“What are these...things?” he asks, eyeing the neatly-arranged books suspiciously. “They smell like...like...”
“Old books?” I offer.
“Yeah!” A pause. He blinks. He turns and gives me a confused look. “What’s a books? I know what ‘old’ means, but I don’t know what ‘books’ are.”
“Exactly,” Twilight suddenly says, catching both our attentions. The red bubble around the trio is already gone and Miss Purple is giving me a suspicious look for some odd reason. “No one, and I mean no one, in this world knows what books are.” She blinks. “...Except for me, of course.”
“And me!” Seri chirps, raising a white, feathery wing up. “Because Twilight taught me what books are!” She blinks. “Well, when she’s not having one of her episodes.”
Twilight winces at that. She nevertheless shakes her head and opens her mouth to—
A sweet and delicious aroma suddenly attacks our nostrils, making the swan jerk her head towards the large entryway on the wall which I assume leads to the kitchen. “Whoops! Food’s almost ready!” she says in a cheerful tone as she waddles toward the kitchen.
“Deer god...” Sienna has her nose up in the air, sniffing the aroma with eyes closed and lips curved. “What a delicious smell...!”
Even Reykan’s raising his nose up in the air, sniffing the aroma. And then his stomach makes itself known to us. “I don’t know what that smell is, but it smells better than fresh rabbit meat!”
I hear my stomach growl and feel my mouth water. I smile an awkward smile before turning to the frowning unicorn, making my ears and smile droop.
“...Normally, you should be raising your nose up and smelling that scent, too,” she says. “...like what your two companions are doing.”
“I’m...” I arch an eyebrow. “...sorry?”
She takes a step towards me, suspicion in her eyes. “First, you called me ‘princess.’”
My arched eyebrow arches even more. “...Is something wrong with calling you that?”
“Yes,” she replies quietly, almost growling. “Because the ponies and others I’ve met before you have called me crazy, and other hurtful titles.”
“Is ‘princess’ a hurtful title?” Sienna suddenly asks, tilting her head to the side as she curiously eyes Twilight.
The unicorn blinks and turns to look at her. “Uh... Well... No. Not really...”
She smiles at her. “Well, I’ve thought so.” She eyes me, and I roll my eyes. “Because I doubt somepony who wants to court you would ever say something bad in front of you.”
Reykan shudders in disgust.
Twilight blinks at her. “What...do you mean?”
“Potatoes are still a bit hard!” Seri calls from inside the kitchen. “It’ll probably take a little while for them to be ready!”
“Take your time!” Twilight shouts back, still staring at the grinning deer.
“This delicious smell is from potatoes?” Reykan asks in astonishment.
Seri pokes her head out from the kitchen entryway to smile at our panther companion. “And carrots!” And she pulls her head back.
“...Back to the matter at hoof. Er, the other matter, I mean.” Twilight shakes her head. “What do you mean, somepony who wants to court me would never—” aaand her egghead of a head finally figures out what Sienna meant. She quickly snaps her head back to face me, looking surprised. “You—you want to—?”
“No,” I say firmly as I throw a glare at Sienna. “I am not here to court Twilight or to ask her to be my freaking mate, for Pete’s sake, Sienna! I’ve told you this a few times already.”
Seri’s white head pokes out from the kitchen entryway again to blink at us. “...Maybe Jay wants Sienna to be his mate?”
“What?!” both deer and stallion shout as the two turn to her. And oh, that stallion is me.
“No?” Seri blinks at the two of us. “Then who is Jay courting? Is it Re—”
“Don’t you freaking finish that sentence,” I tell her with a glare. “Or you’ll be a roast duck by the time you get out of that freaking kitchen.”
She blinks at me. “Uh... I’ll pretend that’s something scary that’ll happen to me, so... Eep!” and she quickly pulls her head out of view.
An awkward silence hangs in the library’s...living room? Main room? Book room? Whatever.
Twilight lets out a sigh as she rubs her head with a hoof. “Let’s take a few hooves back, shall we?” She looks at me, eyes not-so-suspicious anymore. “Even if you didn’t say ‘princess’ to court...uh...me,” she blushes slightly. She shakes her head to get rid of that foreign color off of her face. “...I doubt that anypony...anyone in this world knows what that word means. I doubt anyone even knows that such a word exist!” She furrows her brows. “So how come you know that word? And books? And why weren’t you sniffing the air? And roast duck? Kitchen?” She shakes her head and glares at me afterwards. “It sounds like you’re...”
When I was following Twilight and Reykan towards the library door, I pictured it in my head that it was me who will be doing all the questioning to Twilight, and not the other way around...
“You’re not Equestrian...” Twilight says firmly. “You’re not this Equestria’s version of Equestrian.” She takes a step towards me, making me take a step back. “So I’m going to ask you something and I hope you’ll give me a straight answer.” Her horn glows bright, and I hear the door slam shut behind me, making me jump. Horn magic disappearing, she glares and glares at me as tears start to form on her eyes. “Pl-please...” she says, pausing after choking on a sob. Her angry features are gone, and is now replaced by worry, fear, confusion and uncertainty. “...tell me... W-what happened?” A tear or two runs down her face as she sits down a hoof or two or three from me. She hangs her head, sniffing, crying. “I...I don’t understand what’s going on. I don’t know what happened!” She raises her head up, tearfully looking at me. “There was a bright light! And...a-and suddenly...I found. I f-found—”
“Food’s ready!” Seri suddenly chirps as she emerges from the kitchen, carrying a large, metallic and steaming cooking pot with her two large wings wearing green-colored gloves. She wobbles her way to the large reading table beside the seated unicorn and places the pot down on the center. She smiles warmly at us before she turns around and wobbles back to the kitchen. “Now, just hold your appetite for a few as I go and grab us some bowls! And a spoon for Twilight! I doubt any of you knows what a spoon is!” She chuckles at her own joke as she disappears behind the kitchen walls.
Silence...
“I’m baaack~!” Seri emerges from the kitchen again, balancing five bowls, each with different colors and with different patterns. She wobbles to the table and places the bowls around.
A blue bowl with a rainbow thunderbolt symbol... A yellow bowl with a pink butterfly symbol... An orange bowl with a red apple symbol... A pink bowl with blue and yellow balloons symbol... And a white bowl with blue diamond-shaped gem symbol...
I blink at the ‘dining table.’ “Uh... You forgot the spoon?”
“Oh!” Seri quickly wobbles back to the kitchen, and quickly returns with a spoon on her beak. “I forgot to wash you favorite purple bowl, Twilight,” Seri smiles sheepishly at the unicorn as she places the spoon on the table by the white bowl. “And I uh, forgot to wash the green bowl, too... I hope you don’t mind using one of these.”
“It’s...” Twilight quietly says as she wipes her eyes with a hoof. “Ahem... It’s...quite all right, Seri.” She smiles a fragile smile. “T-thank you...”
Seri smiles wide. “Oh, don’t mention it, Twilight!” She turns to face the table, her eyes sparkling as she stares at the steaming hot soup thing inside the pot. She shakes her head out of trance and turns to smile at me. “Maybe you ponies can continue talking while we eat?” She turns her smile to Twilight. “You still have lots of time to be normal, right?”
I...arch an eyebrow. What?
“Can we just forget about talking and just do some eating?” Reykan asks, preparing to jump on the table.
“Nah ah ah ah!” Seri leans her long neck towards him, bites his tail and yanks him back just as Rey kicks his hind legs on the wooden floor.
“What the—oof! H-hey!” He turns his head over his shoulder and glares at the white swan.
“No walking or standing or lying or sleeping on the table!” Seri says after releasing Rey’s tail. “Twilight’s rules. Not mine.”
Reykan quickly stands up on his four paws, turns around and growls at Seri.
“No!” the swan cries. “Bad panther! Bad! Behave yourself!”
I’m waiting for Reykan to angrily ask what a table is...
Seri eyes me and whispers: “Little help?”
I roll my eyes. “Rey, calm down.”
“But Jay!” he whines as he turns to me. “I’m so, so hungry! And I don’t think I can keep my promise not to eat this giant bird if I won’t eat something soon!”
I blink at him. Since when did Reykan promised me to—
“All right,” Twilight suddenly says, who isn’t a crying wreck anymore. “Settle down, every...body. Choose a bowl.”
“What’s a bowl?” I almost forgot that Sienna is with us. She takes a few steps toward the table, eyeing the steaming pot.
Seri turns and smiles at her. “It’s one of those smaller pot-looking things.”
Twilight, Seri, Sienna, Reykan and I are now seated around the circular ‘dining table’ in the library’s main room. Reykan is too small so we placed and stacked four books on the floor for him to sit on.
“Just don’t scratch the books, please,” Twilight tells him.
“But Twilight,” Seri smiles at her. “You told me that those aren’t real books and you can easily just recreate—”
“Yes, yes,” Twilight cuts her off. She sighs, her ears drooping. “You don’t need to remind me. Old habits die hard, after all...”
I blink at her. The books aren’t...real? Well, I suppose that would have been obvious, considering how...ancient this world is... I look around. “So... Is this just an illusion spell?”
“An advanced illusion spell!” Seri chirps happily as Twilight uses her magic to distribute the veggie soup in each bowl. The swan eagerly eyes a floating soup heading towards her bowl. “Twilight told me that this is what her home used to look like, and she wanted this old tree to look like it! And what better way to make it look like her old home than using an illusion spell! And I’m going to eat now!” She literally dunks her head in her steaming orange bowl, making me wince.
“This is really good!” Reykan says as he slightly pulls his head away from his blue bowl enough so he can properly look and smile at me. “Weird, but good!”
Twilight chuckles as she levitates a spoon to scoop up some soup from her white bowl. “Maybe I can teach Seri how to cook meat for you.”
Reykan’s eyes grow very, very wide. “You...can make meat taste even more delicious?!”
“That’s what cooking does to food,” I say as I eye my yellow steaming bowl. “If done properly, I mean.”
“Why aren’t you eating yet?” Sienna suddenly asks after pulling her head from her pink bowl.
I shrug. “Still a bit hot for my liking. I don’t wanna burn my tongue and all that jazz.”
The three of them blink at me. Plus one, now that Seri pulls her head out of her soup.
I blink back. “...What?”
“It’s not scalding hot,” Seri chuckles. “Or else I wouldn’t put my entire head in my bowl!” She grabs her bowl with both wings and lifts it a bit, eyeing Twilight. “Seconds please.”
Twilight rolls her eyes and uses her magic to give her more soup. Leaving the happy swan on her own, she shifts her focus to me as I test the hotness of my soup with my tongue. “So... Jay, was it?”
Nope. Not scalding hot at all. Maybe it’s slightly affected by the illusion spell? Wait... I furrow my brows as I turn to her. “...What does this soup reeeaaally look like, Twilight?”
She blinks at me, blinks again, and then she rolls her eyes with a frown. “And I thought I was the paranoid one.”
“Can I have more?” Reykan asks with a potato goop on his nose.
“As long as you’ll let me call you cute!” Seri teases him, earning herself a frown from the panther cub.
“Stop teasing him, Seri,” Twilight says as she refills Rey’s bowl. “And stop...dunking your head in the soup! You’re going to spend a lot of time in the bathroom again trying to get rid of all that soup under your feathers!”
I stop eating/drinking my soup... She as an illusionary bathroom here, too?
“It’s a good thing that there’s a storm outside, right?” Seri smiles a beaked smile. “I can just let the rain do the work!”
Twilight rolls her eyes, shakes her head before she turns to me with a...poker face. “So, Jay... How come you...” She raises a hoof and makes circle motions in the air. “...know stuff that uh... How do I say this right?”
I gulp down what I’m eating/drinking and sit straight up. I take a breath and sigh. “Twilight. I’m going straight to the point. No reason to zigzag around or whatever.” I take another breath to collect my thoughts. “I’m...not from here. And I’m hoping against all hope that you could help me get back home.”
She blinks and frowns as her ears droop. That’s...not a good sign...
“May I have more?” we hear Sienna say.
Twilight refills Sienna’s bowl with her magic without even ripping her sad stare at me. “I’m not from this world either...”
I blink. Oh... I should have worded what I said better...
“I...am also looking for a way to get home, Jay... Because... Well...” Twilight closes her eyes, takes a breath, and sighs as she slightly hangs her head down. “I’m sorry. I know that...wherever in Equestria you were from, you must have heard that I’m really great with magic after I became a princess.” She looks up at me. “And then, after...everything changed, you looked for me for help, right?”
I...nod my head. Aaand Twilight cannot help me after all, judging from how sad and disappointed her tone is. If Equestria really did change, and she can’t find a way to fix it, then how can she ever help me with my case? My ears droop as I sigh. “Yeah... I feared you wouldn’t be able to help...”
Sounds of eating and slurping...
I sigh once again as I grab the sides of my bowl with two hooves.
“Thirds?”
Twilight refills Seri’s bowl without tearing her gaze away from me. “I’m...sorry to ask, but...I’m genuinely curious...”
I eye her as I raise the bowl and take a slurp.
“How come you’re...not affected? I mean...” She rubs her head with a hoof. “You still...talk and act like the ponies back in Equestria. The real one, I mean...”
Er... I...have no idea what to tell her. I mean, I can tell her that I’m...from another world, or dimension, but she might just think that I am just from another Equestria. I think she already assumes that I am a pony living in the real Equestria. How in blazes can I explain it to her that I’m literally from another world, that is not Equestria?
“I take it that you don’t know?”
I must have been silent for too long. I didn’t even realize. “I, uh, y-yeah,” I say with a frown to mask the lie.
She sighs, slightly hanging her head as she eyes her soup. “I figured as much. No offence, but earth ponies don’t really have much knowledge in the field of magic unlike unicorns do.”
I’m not really a pony, so I can’t really take offence to that. “It’s all right.” I pause. Hm... “Twilight?”
She eyes me. “Hm?”
“Can I ask you to answer your own question?”
She raises her head and blinks at me. “...How I’m not affected, too?”
I nod my head.
She takes a breath and exhales through her nostrils. “...Well... Before everything became like the way they are right now, I was sitting on my chair around the ‘cutie mark map’ when I saw a fast bright light approaching.”
Chair? Not throne?
She looks back at her soup, brows furrowing. “I don’t really know what it was, but the moment I saw it, I felt great amounts of magic that I’ve never...felt before.” She looks up at me again. “A bright white light swallowed everything in a blink, but I managed to cast a protection spell on me. But...” She looks back down on her soup. “...that light disappeared as soon as it appeared, and after it was gone, I found myself inside a forest.” She sighs. “I...think you can formulate a scenario of what I did next.”
I slowly nod my head. Right... So...a flash of white light, and Equestria changed. That’s got to be a work of magic right there. And Twilight said that the magic felt more powerful that she ever felt...or knew...whatever. So...more powerful than alicorns, Discord or even Tirek, maybe? Okay, I can’t really wrap my mind around this whole magic thing... I take another breath and sigh. “...You’ll figure something out, Twilight.”
“Huh?” She raises her head to look at me.
I nod with a small smile. Time to say some inspirational bullshit. That’s how things work in the cartoon world, after all... “You always do. And I know for a fact that, when you put your mind and heart to it, you’ll be able to figure something out and fix whatever magical mojo happened to Equestria.” And to me, but that comes later. She’s too stressed that she just lost her reality. I lost mine as well, but I don’t want to burden her with it for now. Maybe later. I mean, Equestria’s sudden change must be connected to how I got here, right? That’s usually how this whole thing works...I think...
She sighs, her head drooping slightly. “I’ve tried, Jay. Really, I have. I've read every book in Celestia’s library, Canterlot’s library and the books in my library.” She slightly shakes her head. “But I don't remember reading something that could change Equestria like this... I even thought that, since this is an altered dimension of some sort, then that meant I haven’t went back in time yet.” She raises her head as I arch an eyebrow. “I figured that, since I haven’t cast the time travelling spell in this world, then I should be able cast it again and it worked!”
I nod my head, remembering that she did went back in time...in the show. “So...you went back to last week.” I blinked. “But... I thought you can only stay in the past for only a couple of seconds?”
Twilight uses her magic to refill Rey’s bowl before she answers, “Wow... For an earth pony, you sure know a lot!”
I shrug and continue eating as she continues.
“Anyway, I improved that spell when I got nothing to do in the library and in the castle. I created my own version, where I can actually stay in that time forever if I wanted to.”
I nod my head. “But wouldn’t that put you in a loop?”
She shakes her head. “I unfortunately couldn’t figure out how to make the caster cast the time spell again, so no.”
I shake my head. “But... That...”
“Don’t think too much about it, Jay,” Twilight says with a smile. “As Spike once told us after I told my friends that I created my own version of the spell, ‘don’t think too much about it or your heads will explode.’” She sighs, her smile growing smaller and smaller as she refills Seri’s and Sienna’s bowls with her magic.
About Spike... Uh, no. Don’t get Twilight sidetracked for now... Or more sad. Sadder. Whatever... Hm... “Uh...random question.”
She blinks and nods.
I look around. She mentioned the castle and the cutie mark map thingie... So this Twilight already got the friendship castle. I look back to her. “This entire library’s an illusion, right? Even the smell?”
She nods her head.
I nod mine as well. “So... Just curious. Why the library? Why not your castle?”
“Oh. That? Well,” she smiles a small and shy smile, “I lived in the library longer that it became my home.” She takes a breath and sighs. “I... I needed something familiar and homely for me to remind myself of...home...”
“Oh...” To stay sane, I guess?
More sounds of eating and slurping.
“S-sorry for uh, making you feel sad... Sadder than sad... Um...”
She shakes her head. “It’s fine, Jay. Don’t worry about it.”
Well, if she says so. Hm... So if she went back in time... “Is it safe to assume that there are...two Twilights in this world?”
She shakes her head. “No. When I went back a week in time, uh, I merged with the other Twilight.” She bit her lip. “...And it ripped my wings off...”
I almost choke on my soup.
“I-it wasn’t painful or anything!” Twilight quickly adds as she refill’s Reykan’s bowl in a haste, accidentally making the soup splash in his bowl, splashing on his face. He didn’t seem to mind. “I’m sorry if I scared you, Jay. But don’t worry. I figured that me having wings and the old me not having wings wouldn’t match, so my wings were removed...”
“Twilight with wings...” Seri stares at Miss Purple. “Hm...” She blinks and then shakes her head. “Nope! I can't imagine Twilight having wings.”
I take a few breaths to calm my vocal chords. “I...see Rainbow Dash’s preferred choice of words is showing on you.”
Twilight rolls her eyes. “Anyway, I was half expecting that I’d end up in the castle, in the correct world, time, dimension, whatever, and work on a way to prevent...this from ever happening, but unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.” She sighs. “No... I ended up standing before a herd of frightened goats in a field of fire. I...was harming them, Jay.” She slowly raises her two hooves, staring at them.
“Do they fart rainbows?”
I bring a hoof behind Rey’s head and push his face back inside his bowl.
“They...called me names. And I believed them. I mean, why shouldn’t I?” Twilight brings her hooves back down as she slowly shakes her head. “I have the other Twilight’s memories of this timeline after I merged with her... And I...harmed a lot of beings. Got myself hurt. Was exiled from my own kind. Almost got eaten by a hydra.” She sighs. “I sometimes wished that this world’s Twilight was eaten by that hydra so I wouldn’t have merged with her and be worrying about my...episodes...”
I swallow some soup and nod. “Um... Seconds, please?”
“And me,” Seri chirps.
Twilight refills our bowls.
“Thanks,” I say quietly. “But, eh, well... Look on the bright side!”
She gives me a curious look.
I smile an awkward smile, doubting. “You...uh... If the other you died, then you’d be a zombie right now, right?”
She blinks. “Not really. If the ‘me’ in this world was dead a long time ago, then I wouldn’t merge with her.”
I sigh. “Eh... That was a poor attempt of a joke in trying to cheer you up...” Hm... Wait... Something doesn’t add up...
“Maybe because Twilight pony doesn’t know what zombie means?” Reykan offers. “I don’t even know what the two of you are talking about!”
“Me neither,” Sienna shakes her head.
Seri shrugs. “You two will get used to it.”
“Well,” Reykan eyes his empty bowl. “I can definitely get used to this kind of food! More please?”
Twilight refills his bowl.
Sienna curiously stares at Reykan. “Does that mean you’re not going to hunt and kill us and other creatures anymore?”
He blinks and looks at her. “... ... ...Nope!”
Sienna’s ears droop.
Seri chuckles heartily before she leans her long neck towards the metallic pot on the middle of the table, blinking inside. “Huh...” She pulls her head back and looks at Twilight. “Twilight, you need to eat a lot more than that.” She blinks again. “It’s almost time, and you don’t want to feel so weak and helpless after your episodes, now do you?”
The unicorn sighs and nods her head in agreement. “You’re right. I’m sorry, Seri.”
The swan smiles. “No need to apologize, Twilight. Now, stop using that puny little spoon and just eat from the bowl! Like us! You can eat a lot of food that way!”
Twilight gives her a small smile. “I appreciate your concern, but I’ll be fine,” she says before she scoops a spoonful of soup and starts eating.
Alright, so... Uh... Um... Derp... I don’t know. There are so many things to ask that I don’t know where to begin. Let’s see... Ah, phooey.
“Twilight?” I call.
“Hm?”
“If... If you don’t mind, may I ask a couple of questions?”
She nods her head.
Right. “You said that after you went back in time, you, uh, ‘merged’ with the other Twilight, yes?”
She nods her head again. “I think I know what you’re going to ask, Jay. I have a simple theory.” She takes a breath and sighs. “The other me was already dead after you and I got in this world. Or after Equestria changed in a blink.” She shifts her gaze to her soup and furrows her brows. “She was already dead when we got here, but she was still alive one week ago. I...don’t really know what caused her death though...” She slowly shakes her head. “That was why I still had my wings when I first got here.” She takes another breath and sighs before looking back to me with a sad frown. “Does that answer your question?”
“Jay?” I hear Reykan call, catching my attention. “So... Twilight is both dead and alive, right?”
“Huh?” Twilight huhs.
I smile a small smile at Rey “Eh. No, Rey. Not really.” Hm... If Twilight doesn’t know how to fix this...phenomenon, then I might as well—“Do you know where Celestia and Luna are?”—ask as I turn to face her.
She blinks, looking completely stunned after hearing the question.
“I mean... If you can’t figure whatever happened to Equestria... Maybe they can?” I mean, sure. That magical light may be more powerful than them, but Celestia must know something about it or how to fix this, right?
“They...” She frowns a sad frown. “They don’t exist in this world, Jay...”
I blink... Wat...? Then who moves the sun and moon? The unicorns?
She sighs. “Not even Cadence...” She slowly shakes her head. “And according to the memories of this world’s version of me, Shining Armor’s...dead...and my parents, too...” She shudders. “A-and Spike... I never met Spike in this world. Never met my friends. No... Never befriended any of my friends. Rainbow Dash delivers the unicorns storm clouds, but that was it. And Rarity?” She shakes her head. “The other unicorns ignored me, but she tried and tried to talk to me, to help me, but I was...just too out of control, Jay. This world’s me, I mean.” She sighs. “I don’t know where Fluttershy, Applejack and Pinkie Pie are...”
Right. Celestia and Luna aren’t around. Cadence, too. And I have no freaking idea how to console someone. I slowly shake my head. I guess I can try some old and common lines for these situations... “I’m...sorry to hear that, Twilight.”
She shakes her head. “Don’t worry about it.” She goes back to eating, albeit in a slower pace.
“Well, if anything, I happened to meet Applejack, her brother and Pinkie before I found you.”
She looks at me, looking eager to know.
I smile a small smile. “The three of them are doing okay. They’re in a pas—”
“Don’t tell me where they are,” Twilight suddenly interjects. “Just...tell me. Are they doing okay?”
“Uh...ye-yes? Pinkie was very cheerful and welcoming, Applejack was very friendly and generous, albeit mean and bossy towards the pegasi, and Big Mac? Eh,” I shrug, “same old, same old.”
Twilight chuckles and lets out a happy, contented sigh. “That’s...nice to hear.”
“Oh! And uh, I also met Rainbow Dash. Albeit briefly...”
She nods her head. “Yeah. From this world’s Twilight’s memory, Rainbow’s a jerk but with a surprisingly flexible patience.”
“Yeah...” I nod. “Um... May I ask why you don’t want to know where Pinkie and AJ are?”
She frowns and slowly shakes her head. “Just...a precaution, Jay.”
I arch an eyebrow. “A precaution?”
“Yep!” Seri suddenly chirps. “In case that she’s in her episodes and if her ‘episode safety precautions’ won’t get her.”
Twilight sighs as she turns to Seri. “It’s almost time, isn’t it?”
“Yep!”
I slightly shake my head. “I...don’t follow.”
Twilight sighs once more. “I’d rather you don’t...” Twilight then looks up at the ceiling as red light and a strange, quiet hum suddenly fills the entire room, confusing me, Reykan and Sienna. “But it’s...something that I can’t prevent from happening to me.” She then slowly looks back to me with a sad frown. “So...whatever happens... I’m so sorry in advance.”
“We need to hide in the kitchen,” Seri suddenly says, standing up on her webbed feet. She looks at Twilight, and the two of them nods their heads. Seri then turns to us with a nervous smile. “Come on, everyone. Follow me!” She wobbles towards the kitchen.
“But I’m not done eating yet!” Reykan pouts as he and the rest of us eye the retreating swan. “And why is everything colored like blood all so suddenly?”
Seri shrieks a fake-sounding shriek from inside the kitchen. “Oh! I forgot that there’s more soup in here!”
Reykan immediately runs after her into the kitchen, scattering the books on the floor.
“Jay, Sienna,” Twilight calls, sounding like she’s trying to calm down and not to panic. “P-please follow Seri in the kitchen.” She stands up and backs away from us.
“I don’t understand what’s going on,” Sienna says, already up on her four dainty feet and frowning at the two of us... “B-but I have the sudden urge to...run away?”
I don’t know what’s going on either, but the sad and scared look on Twilight’s face is making me feel scared as well.
Despite the fear on her face, Twilight tries to flash me a small smile as she gestures with her hoof for me to go to the kitchen.
I seriously don’t know what’s going on, but maybe this is something very urgent?
“Jay, Sienna, please...” Twilight pleads, tearing up. “I... T-there’s not much time left. You have to go.”
My ears twitch as I hear Sienna retreat into the kitchen. I turn and see her and Seri’s heads poking out from the entryway, eyeing us nervously. I gulp, turn to Twilight and nod my head. I stand—wait, no. I’m already on my four hooves. I turn and walk towards the kitchen. Standing on the entryway, I look over my shoulder and see Twilight gesturing for me to go inside. I nod and—
A red-glowing gemstone falls on the table from above, making Twilight gasp. It glows a harsh red light and immediately flies toward Twilight’s yelping form.
“Twilight—!”
More and more red-glowing gems fall from above, and then fly towards the unicorn, covering her entire body, and she’s not even fighting it!
I run towards her, ignoring Seri’s call. “What’s going—?!”
A powerful purple beam erupts from the cluster of red-glowing gems, making me skid to a stop. The newly-formed gap shows Twilight’s face, the red glow illuminating her manic expression: angry bloodshot eyes, dot-like pupils, and an angry smile. Horn glowing, she fires thin purple beams at the many gems flying towards her.
She cranes her neck and fires a beam of magical energy, throwing another set of approaching gems away from her. Her large, angry eyes then blinks as she stares at me. “Why... Hello there, handsome,” she says in a voice that feels like a cold-scaled snake crawling on my skin, making me shiver. And she then fires a beam straight at me!
“Gah!” I cry in fright as I throw my two hooves forward to shield myself. “Augh—!” I howl in pain as my hind leg suddenly feels so freaking painful. I collapse on the wooden floor, the severe pain making my vision go blurry and muffling any sound that I hear. Tears start to collect around the edges of my eyes as I continue to howl at the burning and painful sensation on my leg!
Despite my agony, I feel my entire body tingling with a strange sensation as I no longer feel the hard wooden floor against my side. I feel the rush of air and gone, and suddenly feel a muzzle against my own. Through my blurry vision, I can see Twilight’s manic eyes staring into my soul.
“Do you have a family, handsome?” I hear Twilight’s quiet and cold voice as I hiss in pain and panic. “You’re about to lose them all... And I’ll let you watch them die right in front of you...” More and more red-glowing gems slowly cover her face. “...Just like how they made me watch mine die in front of my eyes...”
A gem blocks her eyes, and I suddenly feel myself dropping on the floor, shivering.
My consciousness and senses sluggishly return to me. I feel the hard wood floor I’m lying on as my ears pick up the muffled sounds of howling winds, splattering rainwater, Reykan’s snores and purrs, and the occasional roar of thunder outside the tree house.
...Tree house... ...Oh, right... We’re inside the Golden Oak Library, Twilight attacked me, and I must have been unable to handle the pain, resulting to me losing consciousness... I wince as pain shot to my brain. Ow... My leg still hurts like hell...
I slowly open my eyes, blinking a few times to clear my foggy vision. I’m...in the kitchen, I guess? I can see red light entering through the wide open entryway.
With a groan, I pull my two front hooves up, lifting my...upper half or front half? Whatever. I lift myself up into a sitting position, careful not to ouch my ouchie hind leg. Sitting up, I look down on my wound which is a few inches below my knee, wrapped sloppily with white bandages, tainted with a red mark.
I sigh as I look around the kitchen. Minus the red light from the main room, the kitchen is devoid of light, making the room look gloomy. There are cupboards, a sink—is that a refrigerator?—and other kitcheny stuff in here, as well as a small table and two chairs around it. No windows though. I don’t remember seeing a window back in the main room. Eh...
On the floor, the three other creatures lay asleep. Sienna is sleeping under the table, Seri is sleeping near the sink with two rolls of bandages near her, and Reykan is sleeping inside a large and empty metallic pot on its side, his snores and purrs amplified slightly.
I wonder how long was I out? And if my wound is wrapped with bandages—where’d they get these bandages in the first place?—I guess Sienna couldn’t heal it... I wince and shudder as I remember how freaking painful it was when Twilight’s beam struck me.
I hear sniffling... I hear sobbing... The quiet sounds are coming from the library’s main room.
...Twilight’s the only one in that room. And judging from the red light entering the entryway, she’s still...surrounded by the gems?
...
... ...
... ... ...Should I? Uh, no... Maybe I shouldn’t. Maybe I’ll just...stay here and wait for Twilight to—I don’t know—get better? I still don’t understand what Seri meant by Twilight having episodes. Maybe that was it? Twilight going nuts? That would explain why the Equestrians I’ve met have told me that Miss Purple’s a crazy mare. And my ouchie leg’s a perfect example of that.
I turn my head and stare at Seri’s sleeping form. I remember her saying something about Twilight having some more time to be normal. Does that mean that she and Twilight know when the unicorn’s gonna go crazy? Does that also mean that Seri knows when Twilight returns to normal? Gah! Too many questions... Maybe I should ask Seri? But...I kinda don’t wanna disturb her sleep. Sleep is, like, one of the greatest things in the world...any world. My gaze shifts to Reykan’s sleeping form, making me frown. ...Yeah. I sure as heck won’t appreciate getting disturbed from my beauty sleep.
I bite my bottom lip as my twitching ears hear Twilight choking on a sob.
...
... ...
... ... ...Fuck it... I find it very difficult to ignore someone crying.
I slowly pull myself on my three good hooves, careful not to put any weight on my wounded hind hoof. “This is a stupid idea,” I mutter under my breath as I limp my way towards the entryway. Reaching my destination, I gulp and take a breath to collect myself before I slowly poke my head out of the safety of the walls.
The main room is gloomy as well, illuminated by the soft red glow of the red glowing gemstones forming a two-ponies tall sphere-like cage in the very middle of the room. And eeyup, no windows. Anyway, inside the gem sphere, I can see a faint and dark figure trapped within, her quiet sniffles and sobs mixing with the muffled storm noises outside.
I quietly shuffle towards the sphere, trying to push my nervousness away.
“G-go away...” I hear Twilight’s quiet voice from inside the gem sphere.
I stop a few hooves away from the sphere, squinting my eyes a little bit so I can stare at Twilight’s dark figure inside. “Twilight?” I whisper her name.
“Go away...” Twilight sobs. “W-what more do you want from me?” Sobbing. “They’re gone... I-I’m all alone now...”
Right... Twilight’s parents and her brother aren’t alive in this world... It doesn’t make sense though... If the Twilight in this world’s already dead before the real Twilight came here, shouldn’t she be dead, too? Then why is she—? Was it because of that spell that she mentioned she performed on herself before that...light got her? Possibly... Maybe...
I slowly and carefully sit down on my rump, blinking at the glowing red gem sphere before me. This must be Twilight’s ‘safety precaution thingie’ that she told us about. The precaution that would stop her from harming others when she’s in her episodes? And maybe those gems are also the stolen gems from the unicorns in ‘Canterlot’?
I blink. ...What am I doing here again? To console Twilight? I...have no idea how to do that... I suck at consoling people... I look away, my gaze landing on one of the books on the floor that we stacked on top of each other so Reykan can reach the table... I bring a hoof over a book, pin it down and drag it towards me. I ope—I ope—nope, I can’t open the book. It’s probably just a random item shaped like a book and the illusion spell makes it look like a book. Hm...
I feel my ears twitch as I hear Twilight choke on another sob. I close my eyes and sigh... Damn... I feel like I need to say something, but I don’t know what to say. I’m hopeless...
“M-momma...”
I look up at the gem sphere.
“...Poppa...” Twilight mumbles. “...Brother...”
Muffled wind gusts and rain showers.
“I miss you... I miss you... I-I miss you...”
I quietly listen to her.
She continues to sob. “...I...I-I couldn’t...do anything... I...watched you...and I didn’t...do...anything...”
“...When did it happen?” I suddenly ask. I blink, surprised. I don’t have any idea why those words suddenly left my mouth.
I hear Twilight sniffs. “A-a long time ago... W-when I was still small...”
She answered. Hm... So this world’s Twilight’s family died when she was still a filly... Hm... Should I? Eh... “...Who did it?”
“T-them...”
I blink at that. Should I ask again?
“One of them...tried to kill me, too...” She sniffs. “T-they ate them...but they wanted more... One of them saw me...” She chokes on a sob. “B-but then... Rocks...”
Rocks?
“O-other unicorns came and threw rocks at them...”
Ah... Predators then. ...Like Reykan.
“I...miss them...” She sniffs. “I...really miss them...” A pause. “I was all alone... They were...gone... No momma... No poppa... No brother...” Another pause... “They threw rocks at them. They didn’t help us. They only wanted to scare them off...” She sniffs. “Nopony helped me... T-they didn’t understand...” A pause... “...I-it made me angry. I got angry...” she says in an angry tone. “...I got angry and wanted to kill them...” A cold pause. “...So they would know what it’s like...”
I notice a purple light glowing from inside the sphere, the gems shining brightly in reaction, almost drowning the purple light completely.
“I wanted them to know what it felt like...” she whispers angrily. “But they’re all cowards. They didn’t want to know...! It made me angrier...!” she says a little louder now.
I’m not sure that talking to her is a good idea anymore... I just made her angry again, and maybe it’ll delay her ‘return to normality’ or something...
“Do you have a family, Jay?” she suddenly asks, making me blink. “I’ll help you understand how I felt, so you’ll know.”
I glare at her dark silhouette inside the gem sphere. “...Good luck with that,” I reply with a cold tone. I can take hits directed at me, but I won’t let anyone hurt my family. I blink... Wait... “How...did you know my name?”
No reply...
I furrow my brow. “...Twilight? Is...is that you?”
She didn’t answer.
I’m glaring at her silhouette. “...You...can see her memories, too, can’t you?”
No response. Suddenly: “They’re alive...”
I arch an eyebrow.
“...They’re alive... I...I remember every...every...birthday celebrations we had...” A pause. “Celestia’s School For Gifted Unicorns...” Another pause. “...Spike... My five fr-friends in Po...ny...ville...”
I’m not sure what’s going on with her right now...
“Lies...” she says. “Those...didn’t happen... N-not real...”
I think I hear her teeth grinding against each other.
“Grr...! Lies! Y-you did something to me!” she growls. “Th-these gems! M-maybe you’re using them to—”
“They’re alive, Twilight,” I cut her off.
I hear her choke on her words.
I take a breath and sigh. “Twilight, deny it all you want, but you can’t push back her memories. She can see your memories, so it can only mean that you can also see hers as well.”
“I... I...”
“Her memories are real, Twilight. Yours? Eh... Uh... P-probably real, too...” Right... I’m going to another train of thought now... “...She knows what you feel about losing your family in this world, Twilight.” I pause. “And that is why she wants to figure out how to fix it... To return to your family.” I take a breath and let out a calm breath. “...Don’t you want that?”
Another pause. I hear her snort, making my ears droop. “...Her friends are more important to her than her family...I think...”
I blink.
The red gems suddenly start glowing in a bright purple light. I quickly close my eyes and stand up to back away, but a powerful shot of pain runs through my head from my wounded hoof, and the next thing I know, I’m lying on my side on the wooden floor, hissing from the pain.
I hear the gems falling on the floor. A lot of them. A few of them even slides on the floor and painlessly bumps on my fallen self.
...Ah, fuck... I just told her that she can access the real Twilight’s memories... M-maybe she learned how to stop the gems from stopping her? I’m screwed...
“Get up,” Twilight’s loud voice suddenly reaches my ears.
I slowly open my eyes and see her standing on the floor littered with faintly-glowing gems.
“Wha? Already?” I hear Seri’s voice from the kitchen. “It’s still too early for Twilight to be normal.” A pause. “Oh! Hello there, Twilight! I must have miscounted while I was asleep.”
She can count while sleeping?
“I said,” Twilight angrily says as she violently uses her magic to force me to stand up. “Get up!”
I hiss and wince in pain as my four hooves slam on the wooden floor.
“But I’m already up!” I hear Seri say from behind me.
Twilight shifts her glare from me to her. “Not you, you dumb duck!”
A pause.
Twilight then shifts her glare back to me. “Tell me what to do.”
I am still making a face from how painful my injured hoof is, even though I’m not putting any weight on it anymore. “T-to do what?”
“Wait...” Seri says as she stops beside me, blinking at Twilight. “...You’re...still in your episodes.”
Twilight chooses to ignore her. “Well? Tell me what I need to do already!”
“First off,” I hiss, “calm down!”
She stomps her hoof on the floor, making Seri jump. “You expect me to calm down?!” she asks, her eyes blazing in fury as it burns through me. “Something toyed with Equestria, and it killed my family! I’m going to change it back and be with my family again!” She stomps her way towards me, pressing her snout against mine, pushing my head back as a whimper escapes my quivering lips. “Now either you tell me what to do or get lost!”
“Lovers quarrel again?” I hear Sienna say from behind me. She lets out a long yawn before she continues: “You’re really hopeless, Jay.”
“And you,” Twilight immediately removes her muzzle from mine to glare at the deer. “If you’re so sex deprived, then go and get yourself a buck that can buck you like a whore that you are!”
“I—ah—uh...”
Twilight snorts and takes a few steps back to give me some space, which I’m thankful for, but I wish she turns her glaring eyes down a notch... “Stop stalling,” she tells me.
I shakily shake my head. “I-I’m not.” I take a breath and sigh. “...Twilight and I already talked about it.”
She angrily blinks at me. Seconds pass. She snorts. “Useless,” she hisses as she throws her glaring stare aside.
Sienna walks and stands beside Seri, exchanging confused looks with the swan.
“Elements of Harmony... Cutie Marks...” Twilight mumbles and mumbles some more. “—ube Corner... Celestia... Tree of Harmony... Discord... Tirek... Starswirl the Bearded... Windigoes... Clover the—wait.” She blinks and turns to me, her glare not-so-glaring anymore. “You’re from the real Equestria, too.”
“Erm...”
“Why are you guys so noisy...?” I hear Reykan’s sleepy voice as he sleepily drags his sleepy paws on the floor.
“Predator...” Twilight growls a quiet growl as she glares at Reykan’s approaching form. She closes her eyes, slightly shakes her head, and reopens her glaring eyes to me. “Tell me how the three pony races united.”
I blink at her. “Uh...” I gulp. “T-the magic of friendship?”
“How did that silly magic came to be?”
“May I sit down?” I say with a wince. I let out a startled yelp when Twilight uses her magic to slam my bum on the floor. “Ow!”
“Answer the question!”
“Why is Twilight pony suddenly so—”
“Be quiet!” she snarls at Reykan’s wincing form. She then turns to the other wincing females. “You two as well! I don’t want any interruptions! Now...” she then glares back at me.
“Um... W-when the unicorns, pegasi and earth ponies became...friends?”
“And why did they became friends?”
Thank god I’m a brony and not some uncultured guy hurled in Equestria, else Twilight have already killed me by now. “B-because of the Windigoes?”
She slowly nods her angry head. “But what would happen if the Windigo incident didn’t happen?”
I blink. I blink again.
“Stupid earth pony,” she says with an angry roll of her eyes as she paces around, glaring on the gem-littered floor. “You and Twilight are from the time when the Windigo incident happened. I and the other creatures in this Equestria are in this timeline where the Windigo incident didn’t happen. A different timeline where pony races and other creatures didn’t unite!”
Oookay...
“I...She studied about the possibility of having multiple existing worlds with different events that branched from the many ‘what-if’ scenarios. Of course, there is no way to prove that any of these other worlds exist...until now. Until that ‘mysterious white light’ changed everything. But!” She kicks a random gem, making her four little audience wince. “That doesn’t prove that the multiverse is real! No. There’s only one real world. One real Equestria. One real timeline. And that light changed everything.” She stops and glares at the four of us. “Someone tampered with the past, and changed the future.”
Oookay... That’s...possible. But how am I connected to all of this? Does changing the past also pulls a random human from a different universe and turns them into a pony?
Twilight starts pacing again. “Twilight has proven that little theory of mine. You two are apparently the only ponies who still have your real memories even after Equestria changed. She changed the past by going back in time, and it indeed affected the future. How?” She stops and glares at me. “You, Jay, wouldn’t be talking to a wingless Twilight right now if she didn’t change the past by saving me from dying.” She paces around again. “The time-traveling spell only allows the caster to go back a week from time, and only the most powerful of unicorns, and alicorns, are able to perform such an advance spell. There’s no spell in pony history that can travel back in time so far. And even if there was, the future wouldn’t be affected. No, that spell—in theory—would use a lot of mana to create a different and independent timeline so the ponies and other living creature wouldn’t be affected. That much mana could mean the death for the caster.”
Sheesh... Angry Twilight ranting about magic and stuff hurts my head just by trying to catch up. “Twilight...” I call.
She glares at me. “Don’t interrupt me.”
I shake my head. “There’s a problem with that little theory of yours.”
She rolls her angry eyes. “And what would a dirt pony know about magic?”
I ignore her offensive remark because, well, I’m not offended because I’m not really a pony. “What if there really are different existing worlds and timelines and you...er...the two of us are simply...flung into this alternate timeline?”
“Explain that bright white light that held powerful amounts of magic then.”
My ears droop. “Uh... T-that might be the magic used to fling us to this timeline?”
She snorts. “You’re not from Ponyville. So, are you telling me, that a big wall of light sweeps all across Equestria, and only flings two ponies to another dimension? Is that what your saying?”
“Well, fine. How about that other theory of yours?”
She arches an eyebrow.
“The uh, the one you said that if someone really powerful really did went far back in time and changed the events that happened in the past and as a result created a separate timeline, then...there! There’s the other timeline! And then that white magic thing flung us here!” I blink. “Or...maybe a powerful artifact?” Hell, the show showed some of those powerful magical artifacts.
Her eye twitches as she takes a breath, while still glaring at me. “Whoever changed the past and created another timeline would be dead, the spell using their mana and life energy to create a stable altered timeline. There is no way for them to still have enough magic to hop back in the real world and decide to throw two random ponies living in different locations of Equestria to the newly-created altered timeline!”
...Wow... T-that's a good point...
“...Unless there are others working for the past-changer...” She tears her glare away. “...This is something even bigger than I thought...” She shakes her head. “And I’m not fit for the role of thinking bigger.” She closes her eyes, takes a deep breath and sighs. “I hate to admit it, but my rage consumes me. I just...” She sighs a very heavy and very angry sigh. “...want my family back.”
“You’ll get them back,” I quickly say with a nod. “You both will. We just have to think of...something...I guess.” I mentally sigh. In before there’s going to be a stupid quest or quests that I need to do before I can go back home. That’s how these types of fics work anyway... Sigh...
“...I have an idea...” Twilight suddenly says, looking back at me with a soft glare. She looks at the other creatures before her. “...You might need your friends’ and your Twilight’s help for this...”
I blink and turn my head to stare at Seri, Sienna and Reykan.
Jay is a human who suddenly found himself as an Earth Pony in an alternate Equestria. He searches and finds Miss Cliché Twilight Sparkle, who, unfortunately, is just as clueless as he is.
Fortunately, Twilight has a plan. The other Twilight. Well, an idea, which may or may not help Jay get back home or fixes Twilight's Equestria back to normal, but it's better than nothing, right?
“Just to review...” Twilight says, her horn glowing with purple light. “You woke up outside a pasture where Pinkie Pie and Applejack live, asked them and some other ponies about me, Sienna escorted you through a forest, you two parted ways after you reached the edge of the forest, you went north to ‘Canterlot Mountain,’ got stoned, Reykan dragged and almost...killed you, asked said panther cub to lead you to me, saved Seri from Reykan, resumed following Reykan with my swan assistant, and then you met Sienna again right before you reached my tree.” She blinks at me. “Did I get all that correctly?”
“Er...” I er as I stare at the wound on my hind leg, enveloped by Miss Purple’s purple healing magic. “...yeah?” Wow. Leave it to Twilight to make a small, one paragraph summary of a three day long journey of mine that will probably take me twenty or so chapters if I get the chance to write it on some fanfiction website.
Anyway, Twilight and I are in the well-lit library’s main room, healing the wound she gave me during her little episode a few hours ago. Muffled sounds of howling wind gusts and splattering rainwater echoes around the library’s wooden walls. The air is cool and carries the stinky odor of old books. Shelves are standing by the walls, filled with books of different color and different thickness. There are also a few smaller tables and stools lying around for reading purposes. Unfortunately, the tables, the stools, the shelves, the books, and even the library look and smell are all just an illusion.
Oh, and there’s a pile of dormant gems of different colors sitting by the stairs.
Twilight was her ‘normal self’ when she woke up a few minutes ago, and she immediately wants to heal me. During the healing process, we decided to have a little talk just to pass the time.
She theorized that we are in an altered Equestria, where the Windigo incident in the past never happened. And the two of us are the only ponies, or creatures, to still have our original memories from the real Equestria.
After that, she asked me how I managed to find her. And here we are now.
“And all of that happened in the span of three days, correct?” Twilight asks, her eyes locked on my slowly-healing wound.
“Y-yeah,” I reply as I move my gaze on the longcase clock...thing standing in between two shelves. Other than the show and some old-themed movies, I’ve never really seen one in real life...real or illusionary. Hm... Nineteen minutes past six in the morning... It’s Thursday now... “That clock displays the correct time, right?” I ask as I stare at the clock’s swinging pendulum.
“Hm?” She blinks. “Oh. You mean the pendulum clock?”
“Yeah,” I nod my head. “Does it actually tell the actual time or no?”
“It does, actually,” she replies with a proud smile. “It’s still an illusion, but I added another spell on it that’ll show the current time,” she explains, her smile slowly fading. “We... Seri and I used that to know how long I can stay ‘normal’ and how long my episodes last...” She closes her eyes, takes a breath and sighs a sad sigh. “Before...after I fused with ‘her,’ my episodes last for a couple of minutes only, but now? It lasts for two hours, while I...” she glances at the clock in time for the minute hand to move. “...have ten more minutes to stay ‘normal.’” She sighs again as she closes her eyes.
I blink at her. Real Twilight only has thirty minutes while Alternate Twilight has two hours? That’s... “That’s kinda unfair...” I mutter.
“Hm?” She reopens her eyes and looks at me. “What is?”
“Time,” I say with a frown. “You only have half an hour while she has two full hours.”
She slightly shakes her head before giving me a small smile. “It’s all right, Jay. Don’t worry too much about it.” She looks back at the clock. “From what I see in her mind, I can tell that, well, after you gave her a goal of some sort, I’m willing to bet that she’ll help us in figuring out how to fix Equestria.” Her smile widens. “In fact, I don’t think she’ll be harming anyone any time soon, and I no longer need to cage myself inside the magic gems.” She blinks, her smile gone in an instant. “...I hope.”
“That’s...good to hear?” I say.
I remember clearly how the other Twilight explained to us her theory. And like a somewhat good story that abruptly ends for no apparent reason, the other Twilight was about to tell us her idea when she...suddenly dropped on the floor, fast asleep. With nothing else to do and nowhere else to go, we called it a night and went to sleep.
I slightly shake my head. “She mentioned a plan. Do you know what that plan is?”
She nods her head as the magical glow in her horn fades and disappears. “Yes. I know what her idea is. And honestly?”
She sounds like she’s smiling. I’m staring at my healed hind leg, smiling that it doesn’t hurt anymore.
“I think it’s a good idea. And I’m really surprised that she came up with it, too!” Twilight proudly says.
I turn my head and stare at her.
She’s staring at the ceiling. “I’m just somewhat surprised that I didn’t think of it first...”
“Actually, she’s still you.”
She looks at me. “Technically, not really.”
I roll my eyes. “Whatever you say, Twilight...” I look back at the clock and bite my lower lip. She has...eight more minutes left...
Twilight looks at the clock as well, frowning a sad frown.
I take a breath and exhale through my nostrils as I turn back to her. “...So... What’s her plan?” I slightly shake my head as she looks at me. “No offence to her, but I’d rather hear the plan from you.”
She shakes her head. “No, Jay. That would be rude. She came up with the idea, so it’s only fair that she’ll be the one who’ll explain it to you and your friends.”
Friends.... Right. I made some friends here during my three day journey. Well, actually, I still think of them as acquaintances to be perfectly honest. Seri, a white swan, is in the kitchen, washing the dishes...er...bowls, and is also cooking some breakfast. Reykan, a black panther cub, is busy inside Miss Purple’s illusionary toilet on the second floor, emptying his upset stomach. Sienna, a brown deer, is still fast asleep on one of the steps on the stairs to the second floor of the library.
Twilight sighs, catching my attention. She’s staring at the clock for a few moments before she looks back to me with a sad smile. “I hope you don’t mind me asking, Jay, but where did you say you were from?”
I...ah...er... Canterlot? No, she’s from Canterlot. Uh... “M-Manehattan?”
She blinks at me. “Really? No offence, but you don’t really...talk and act like one...”
...oops?
“Then again...” She chuckles. “I spent most of my time inside our hotel room when my friends I were there, making dresses for one of my friend’s Fashion Week performance, so...I haven’t really had the chance to mingle with the ponies in the city...”
“Ahh...hahahah...” I chuckle with her, albeit nervously. “I-I see...”
What Twilight didn’t know is that I am...or was a human, from a completely different world. Unfortunately, I can’t...find a way to tell her that because...when I first met Miss Purple, she was having a hard time trying to understand what happened and was trying to figure out a solution on fixing Equestria while fearing for what her ‘other self’ might do during her episodes. She still is. So...I might as well keep that little secret of mine for now and just let her...fix Equestria. And then after that, I can ask for her to help me get back...home.
“Urrrgh...” Twilight and I hear a low groan from upstairs. Looking up, we see Reykan slowly working his way down on the stairs with a tired and painful look on his face. “W-why do I feel so...so hurt? Urgh...”
Twilight chuckles a nervous chuckle. “Eheheh... It’s...my fault... S-sorry about that, Reykan. I...gave you too much soup last night, momentarily forgetting that you were a carnivore...”
“That,” I say, “or it was Seri’s fault for making him eat a lot more in the kitchen.”
Twilight blinks and turns to me. “She did?”
“Ow—!”
“Whoa—!”
Reykan steps on Sienna’s back, startling the latter and throwing the former down the steps. Purple magic surrounds the falling feline before he hits the last few steps. Twilight gently sets the suffering feline down on the floor.
Sienna, now standing, shakes the sleep off of her. Blinking her emerald eyes, she looks around, her brown ears twitching. She blankly stares at me from the stairs. “What was that just now?”
I roll my eyes as Reykan approaches me. “Good morning to you, too.”
“Oh!” a cheerful voice echoes from the kitchen. A white swan’s head pokes out from the kitchen’s entryway, smiling at us. “Is everyone awake already?” Before anyone could answer, she lets out a surprised gasp. “Oddete’s feathers, Reykan!” She wobble-rushes toward Reykan and grabs both the cub’s cheeks with both her wings, forcing him to look at her. “You look horrible! Uncute! What happened?!” She blinks and glances at Twilight. “Oh, and you only have a minute left, Twilight.”
Twilight frowns a sad frown.
“I...feel so woozy...” Reykan says, weakly blinking his sapphire eyes at the swan. “...Why do you have three heads? No... Two heads... It’s three again...”
Ignoring Reykan for a moment, I turn and frown a concerned frown at Miss Purple’s frowning face. “So... No red glowy gems of doom this time?”
Closing her eyes, Twilight shakes her head as she takes a deep breath. She exhales, eyes still closed. “I... She already deactivated the spell on the gems.”
“Should we hide inside the key chin again?” Sienna asks as she walks down the stairs.
But Twilight didn’t have the time to reply anymore. On the corner of my eyes, I see the minute hand just moved, now pointing at the number six. I hold my breath and brace myself, since I’m sitting right in front of her.
Silence... Save for the muffled sounds of rainwater. No more howling winds though.
...I blink and slowly turn my head, my gaze locking on Sienna’s slightly scared emerald eyes. I then turn to look at Seri’s blank amber eyes. And then I stare at Reykan’s weak sapphire eyes.
Gulping, I turn my head back and stare at Twilight. She’s...still sitting there, breathing, eyes closed, an ear slightly twitching. Suddenly, she slowly opens her eyes, making me flinch. She stares and blinks blankly at me. She turns her head, staring at the longcase clock just in time to see the minute hand move once again. Blinking blankly once again, she stares at each and every one of us, before her gaze settles on me.
As Seri prepares the dining table with Sienna bothering her about the food, Reykan and I are listening to Twilight as she paces around.
“—but the only thing I can think of is that she would need me in this plan of hers instead of herself... So...that could be it, I suppose,” Miss Purple says as she stops and looks at the longcase clock—forty-two minutes past six in the morning—before she resumes her pacing. “She did say that she needs me to be the one performing our part of the plan instead of herself.” She stops and looks at us. “So I guess that would make sense.”
I slightly shake my head. “It doesn’t make sense to me, since, y’know,” I shrug, “I still don’t know what Alter-Twilight’s plan is...” I wanted to call her ‘Psycho-Twilight,’ but I don’t think Real-Twilight would approve...
Miss Purple nods her head. “I understand, but it’s best that I tell all of you about her plan over breakfast.”
“Do I really have to eat plants again?” Reykan asks weakly, lying on his belly beside me. He raises his head, his ears turning. “I can hunt outside now, since that wild storm’s gone.” He pouts. “I’m just going to hunt slower prey for now though... Ugh...”
Oh yeah. The storm’s gone. Hm... “Random question, Twilight.”
“Hm?”
“Why does the rain from the, uh, wild storm taste so awful?”
“Huh,” Reykan blinks, turning his attention to Twilight. “I wanna know, too. Mom didn’t know, so my siblings and I never knew, too.”
Reykan has siblings?
Twilight sits down in front of us. “Well, I haven’t really spent that much time...studying and researching this new environment.” She brings a hoof to her chin as her gaze shifts to a random book on a shelf. “But based on my observations and quick magical analysis, wild storms are created by chaos magic.”
I blink. “Chaos magic?”
Reykan sighs, his ears drooping. “I never understand almost everything Twilight pony says...”
Seri chuckles as she places five bowls on the circular table. “Just nod and smile and pretend you understand what she’s saying, Little Rey.”
Reykan sighs again.
Twilight chuckles shyly. “Well... To be honest, I can’t really find an alternative term for chaos magic...” She shakes her head. “In any case, chaos magic is a destructive and unpredictable type of mana. It enhances other chaos-like mana and chaos material, but, aside from naturally cancelling harmonious magic, it also cancels other chaos mana.”
My head hurts... I’m having a headache from all this magical nonsense talk... And all I wanted to know was why the wild storm rainwater tasted nasty.
“I know what chaos magic is...” Reykan says. He slightly shakes his head before he throws a soft glare at Twilight. “I just don’t know what ‘studying’ and ‘reach seething’ and ‘everyone mint’ and ‘ob—’ whatever are...”
I smile a small smile. “Yesh... Twilight knows a lot of big words, huh?”
“Eh,” Reykan ehs as Seri carries a steaming metallic pot towards the table with Sienna tailing her. “At least I now know that wild storms are created by chaos magic.”
I blink at him. “...How come you know what chaos magic is?”
He looks and blinks at me. “How come you don’t know what chaos magic is?”
“Most non-magical beings don’t know a lot about magic,” Twilight suddenly says, catching our attention.
“Oh! Forgot the spoon again!” Seri suddenly says. “No! Bad deer! Bad!” I turn and see her shooing Sienna away from the steaming soup in a pot. “No eating until we’re all sitting around the table!”
“Get out of my way!” Sienna tries to move past the white feathery blockade to no avail.
I roll my eyes and return my attention back to Miss Purple, who has an amused smile on her face as she stares at the scene. I clear my throat. “Ahem... Go on...”
She blinks and turns her attention back to me. “Oh, uh, sorry about that.”
I shrug.
“Well, chaos magic and harmonious magic are two natural and prominent mana that is available...well...everywhere. But non-magical creatures, especially in this world, don’t usually know about it, nor do they even know it exist in the first place. But magical creatures, like Sienna and I, can feel the mana around us and it also influences us more than non-magical ones, because...well...we use magic.” She turns her head to look at Sienna sitting by the table with a grumpy look on her face. “The deer kind can sense harmonious magic more than chaos magic, because of their natural magical ability to heal.” She turns back to us. “And because the deer kind are closely connected to nature. Unicorns, however, are neutral, therefore we can sense both mana equally.” She frowns slightly. “However, and I’m sure that you’re aware, unicorns are...naturally hot-tempered, and the negative feelings they have kinda automatically absorbs more chaos magic than harmonious magic, enraging them even more.”
I blink at that.
“Emotions act like magnets to attract mana more to us. If we’re angry, we absorb chaos magic to fuel our anger further, almost making it difficult to control ourselves...like...the Twilight of this world.” She takes a breath and sighs before she composes herself. “If we feel love, we absorb harmonious magic to help us act on those feelings.”
I arch an eyebrow. “So...if it’s mating season, there’s more harmonious mana flying around that may infect other ponies, right?”
Twilight blushes slightly.
I still don’t understand how blushes work if our skins are covered with fur. Wait... I blink. My eyes then slowly widens in horror. “T-Twilight, I was kidding... This world has a ma—”
“I found the spoon!” Seri exclaims triumphantly, raising the spoon high with a wing as she emerges from the kitchen.
“Horay...” Sienna says quietly with glaring eyes on the wobbling swan. “Can we eat now?”
Right... I needed that distraction. “Since when did you became a grumpy free-loader, Sienna?” I ask with a teasing smile.
She turns to me, her glaring emerald eyes unchanging. “...Everyone gets grumpy when they’re hungry, Jay. Even you.”
I blink blankly at her.
I hear Twilight chuckle as Seri places a spoon by a bowl. “I think your deer friend doesn’t know what a free-loader means, Jay.”
“I don’t know almost everything you say,” Reykan suddenly says.
“You’ll get used to it, my little panther,” Seri says with a beaked smile. “Come on, everyone. Breakfast is served!”
“Jay,” Reykan calls, giving me a pleading look as he pokes my hoof with a paw. “I don’t wanna eat plant food... It hurts my tummy!”
Twilight smiles at him as she gently pats the panther’s head. “Don’t worry. I’ll make sure that you won’t eat too much that’ll upset your stomach, Reykan.”
He bats her hoof away and looks back to me. “But I don’t wanna! Can I hunt a rabbit or a bird outside, please? Pleeeaaase?”
Welp, I can’t say no to those big, sparkly sapphire eyes of his. “Alright. But—”
“Awesome!” he exclaims happily and rushes towards the door. He hops in place, staring at the wooden blockade. “Open up! Open up! Open up!”
Twilight turns to me and gives me a disapproving frown that contrasts my amused smile. “But he needs to hear the plan.”
“Do you really expect him to understand the plan?” I ask.
“Open up! Open it up already! Open up!” chants the jumpy little furball.
Twilight sighs a defeated sigh. She ignites her horn with purple magic, enveloping the wooden door with her purple magical aura and opening it. “Just be careful with...”
Reykan is already gone.
“...cockatrices...”
I blink. Huh... That reminds me—
“Can we eat now?” Sienna asks impatiently as Twilight magically closes the door. “And thank the deer god, the predator’s gone.”
Twilight and I approach the table and take our seats...on the floor. She uses her magic to distribute the veggie soup to our bowls, Sienna and Seri instantly attacking their bowls the very moment Twilight’s purple aura disappears.
I might as well ask about the cockatrices and the lack of statues—
“All right,” Miss Purple says as she looks at me.
—or maybe I’ll just wait for the right opportunity...
Twilight continues, “The plan—”
“Seconds please?”
Twilight gawks at Sienna. Seri as well. Heck, even I’m gawking at her.
Sienna blinks and looks at each of us. “What?”
Twilight refills her bowl after snapping out of her trance. “Anyway,” she looks at us. “I want all of you to listen.”
“We can listen while we eat, right?” Seri asks with a smile. “Seconds please?”
Twilight rolls her eyes as she refills her bowl. “As you three may or may not be aware of, something happened to Equestria. This world that we live in right now?” She shakes her head. “This isn’t what Equestria is supposed to be.”
“Oh! Oh!” Seri suddenly interrupts with an excited look. “Do that glowy showy thingie!”
Glowy what now?
Twilight nods her head at the swan before she ignites her horn with purple magic. The table soon glows a faint purple light, and seconds later, many various animated scenes appear on the table. Ponies walking on the sidewalks in a city, ponies watching the passing scenery through the train’s windows, ponies bowing to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna inside the castle’s throne room, the bug bear scene in Ponyville, and so much more. And by that, I mean there are also scenes of different creatures in different locations, like those griffons helping each other with fixing a tree house, dragons leisurely swimming in lava, deer milling around a market place, a giraffe couple talking merrily as they approach a movie theater, and so much more...
“What...” I hear Sienna say in a quiet, awed tone. “...are these...?”
Seri smiles at the gawking deer. “This is what Twilight’s Equestria looks like!” She looks back down at the table, staring. “Isn’t it beautiful?”
“I...don’t even know what I’m looking at,” Sienna says with a slow shake of her head.
“I don’t either!” Seri agrees merrily. “But it still looks pretty.”
“You’re looking at the various places of the real Equestria,” Twilight explains.
Sienna looks up at her. “You keep on saying about this ‘real Equestria,’ Twilight, but, isn’t this Equestria real, too?”
Twilight nods her head. “In a sense, yes, but...” She looks back at the table, frowning. “Your real Equestria, Sienna, isn’t real.”
“I...don’t follow.”
“Something happened,” Twilight says. “What you see on the table is what the real Equestria should be. But...something happened, and the many scenes you see on the table?” She closes her eyes and shakes her head. She reopens her eyes with a sad frown. “It all disappeared, and it all became this Equestria.”
Sienna slowly, slowly shakes her head. “I...don’t understand what you’re saying.”
“Don’t be sad, Sienna!” Seri says with a cheerful smile. “I don’t understand it, either! But think of it like this...” She grabs her bowl of soup and tilts it enough for Sienna to see. “Pretend this bowl is Equestria, and the soup is all those you see on the table. Now...something decided to eat all those up!” She lifts her bowl up, pours the soup down her open beak and gulps it all down. “Mmm...” She then shows her empty bowl back to Sienna. “And what happened to Equestria now?”
“Uh...” Sienna blinks, looking completely lost. “...the soup is gone?”
“Yes!” Seri nods her head. “And I’m going to ask Twilight to refill it again! But later! Now do you see? The bowl is empty. The soup is gone! The real Equestria you see on the table-thing is gone! And do you know why?”
“Um... Because some...one ate the real Equestria?”
“Exactly!” Seri says as she slams her bowl down on the table with a huge smile, startling the rest of us. “And Twilight wants to refill this bowl again so she can get the real Equestria back! And also that I can continue eating, because I’m still hungry.” She then smiles at Twilight.
Twilight rolls her eyes and refills her bowl as the magic scenes on the table disappears.
“I...think I get it.” Sienna says with a blink. She turns to Twilight. “So...the Equestria outside...isn’t the real Equestria?”
Miss Purple nods her head.
Sienna looks around. “...And this is what your home looks like in the real Equestria, right?”
Twilight nods her head, looking unsure.
Sienna then looks at me, blinking. “...Jay, you’re from the real Equestria, too?”
Er... Should I tell them where I really am from? I glance at Twilight. She’s looking at me expectantly. Eh... “Yeah...” I say with a hesitant nod.
Sienna nods her head and turns to Twilight. “And you two want to return home, I take it?”
“Of course,” Twilight replies. “But I’m going to need each of you to help me, but...” She bites her lip. “I...I should probably ask you first if you want to help us or not.”
“I wanna help!” Seri cheerfully announces. “And more soup, please!”
Twilight refills her bowl before she turns to look back at Sienna.
The deer shrugs. “I can help. It’s better than wandering around.” She looks down at her bowl with a smile. “And if these are the food you eat back there, then I don’t mind going there to eat more of this stuff!”
Way to go, food. It’s always nice to know that no matter what world, we can always use you as a tool to use others...
Twilight smiles. “Thank you, Sienna. I really appreciate your help.”
“Okay, so...” I say, catching the three females’ attention. I blink. Shut up, brain. This is not a harem. “A-ahem... Right. So uh, the plan?”
Twilight nods her head. “We can’t really go ahead and try various methods in hopes of fixing Equestria.” She shakes her head. “Not until we learn what caused the change.”
I blink.
Twilight continues: “So the first thing we need is to figure out who or what changed the events that happened in the past.”
I arch an eyebrow.
Twilight continues: “To be more specific, we need to know who or what stopped the Windigoes from freezing Equestria.”
Seri stops eating and lifts her small swan head up and looks at Twilight. “Windigoes?” she asks, blinking.
“Question,” I say as I raise a hoof. I bring said hoof down before I say, “How are we supposed to accomplish that?”
Twilight smiles. “With a potion.”
“With a what?” I ask, blinking.
“What’s a potion?” Sienna asks.
Twilight explains: “There was a time when Ponyville was overgrown by chaos vines that—”
Ahh... I remember that episode. The only season premier without an actual villain. Oh, derp. I should probably pay attention.
“—but then Zecora, my zebra friend, gave me a potion that helped me see visions of the past,” Miss Purple says with a smile. “And that’s what we’re going to need to see what really happened in the past! Once we learn who or what caused the change, we can then formulate a plan on how to fix Equestria!”
“Yay!” Seri cheers.
“Zebra?” Sienna asks. “Are those pony-like creatures with black and white colors?”
“Yes,” Twilight replies, smiling at her. “Have you met one before? I don’t think my altered self has met one before.”
Sienna shakes her head. “I haven’t met one, but I’ve heard of them and where they live.”
“Oh?”
The deer nods her head. “If I remember correctly, zebras live beyond the hot, windy and grainy earth with no trees and rain.”
A...desert?
“They live in a desert?” Twilight asks.
“What’s a desert?” Seri and Sienna ask.
They live beyond the desert? We’re going to cross a freaking hot desert?
Twilight shakes her head. “Well, we don’t need to walk through a desert and meet up with zebras for this plan.”
“I still don’t know what ‘desert’ is,” Sienna says with a pout.
“Oh! Sorry...” Twilight smiles an apologetic smile. “A desert is...the hot, windy and grainy earth with no trees and rain.”
Sienna blinks at her. “...Oh...”
“The more you know,” Seri says as she slowly sways a wing from left, then up, and right.
“Anyway,” Twilight continues, “Zecora has told me the ingredients she used to make that potion.”
“Ah,” I ah, “so all we need to do is to gather the ingredients for the potion, yes?”
Twilight nods her head. “Exactly.”
I nod as well with a smile. That smile soon starts to fade when something from that episode reminds me of something... “But Twilight...” I say with a frown. “You need alicorn magic to change that potion’s color, if I remember correctly.”
She blinks her curious eyes at me. “...You really do know a lot...” She furrows her brows. “...I don’t remember telling any newsponies about that. So how did you know about that?”
Er... Welp, I’m screwed...
She shakes her head. “It doesn’t matter. Right now, I need you three to gather the items.”
“Us three?” I ask.
Twilight nods her head. “I want to join you, but, well, other than the fact that ponies and other creatures are afraid of ‘Crazy Twilight,’ I need to power up those gems to help me amplify my magic to be strong enough to match an alicorn’s level of magic.”
I blink at her. “Wow... You’ve thought of that plan well, huh? But,” I slightly shake my head, “I uh, by three, I was asking if we’re going to include Reykan in this little quest of ours.”
“Why do we need that predator?” Sienna suddenly asks me with a glare. “I wanna help you two, but if we bring that predator along, then I won’t help you, no matter how delicious the food is in your Equestria.”
Food...you failed us...
“Actually, Jay,” Twilight says, catching Sienna’s and my attention. “By three, I was referring to you, Sienna and Reykan.”
“Aw...” Seri pouts. Don’t ask how a beaked bird can pout, because she can...for some strange reason... “But I wanna come along!”
Twilight shakes her head. “I’m sorry, Seri, but I need your help with the gems.”
Seri hangs her head and sighs a defeated sigh. “...All right.” She lamely pushes her bowl forward with her beak. “More soup, please?”
“Why do we need that predator to come along?” Sienna asks angrily.
Scratching sounds suddenly echoes around the library after Twilight refill’s Seri’s bowl. We all turn our attention to the door.
Squinting, Twilight ignites her horn with magic. Afterwards, her eyes light up. “Oh! It’s Reykan.” Enveloping the door with her magic, she opens it...
...And in comes a bloody-faced panther cub, carrying a dead rabbit in his jaws, leaving a muddy trail behind him as he approaches us. He stops two or three hooves away, drops the bloody mess on the floor and gives us a bloody proud smile.
“Twilight pony,” he says with twinkling eyes. “You can make this rabbit taste more delicious, right?”
Seri, Twilight and I stare at Reykan who excitingly wags his tail, and I wince and shiver from the sounds of Sienna who’s throwing up in her bowl.
A delicious smell of food lingers in the air, mixing with the stinky smell of old books. Unfortunately, I ignore the smell, because I’ve been concentrating on the list written on this little piece of paper for almost ten minutes now. I never questioned how I was able to walk on four hooves since I first woke up as a pony, so I have assumed that everything pony-related is already written in my pony brain. Buuut... I’m wrong.
I can’t read the list Twilight gave me. I even secretly asked Seri and Reykan (Sienna’s inside the bathroom, emptying her stomach, so I can’t ask her) if they could read it when Twilight wasn’t looking, but nope, other than Miss Purple herself, none of us—including Sienna, I think—can read what she wrote on this little piece of paper. This only means one thing...
English isn’t Equestria’s language!
Sure, I can understand them, but maybe that’s because my pony brain already knows the dialect. But since Equestrian literature doesn’t exist in this version of Equestria (maybe), my pony brain doesn’t know it. Which means...
...I’m inhabiting a random pony’s body. Le gasp!
That, or I was a human who simply transformed into a pony, English is the oral language, but English isn’t the written language. I can still remember what the English letters look like, but none of these...squiggly wiggly lines match any letters in the English alphabet. ...Although this one looks like the letter ‘P’ if I rotate the paper in ninety degrees...
Hm... How exactly does that work, anyway? If I’m simply transformed into a pony from being a human, then does the ‘magic of transformation’ automatically inserts pony-ponies inside my human-turned-pony brain? If I remember correctly, human brains are...heavier than that of a horse.
...Where am I going with this again?
Oh well... At least the numbers still look the same, if the numbers on that grandfather clock is anything to go by. Kinda weird that the numbers on Twilight’s clock isn’t written in roman numerals though. Then again, roman numerals look like Engl—
“Jay? Is there a problem?”
Oh crap! That’s Twilight’s voice! Think, pony brain! Think! Uh... “T-this...paper...” I dunno where I’m going with this...
I slowly look up and see Twilight staring at me blankly. She blinks. “...Are you asking where I got the paper from?”
“Uh...yeah! Exactly...” I’m a bad liar when I’m nervous. Add a smile! And hope it’ll work.
“Well,” Twilight says as she sits in front of me. “Paper is made from trees—”
I stop myself from rolling my eyes.
“—and there are plenty of trees around, and with magic,” she taps her horn with a hoof, as if I don’t know where her horn is located. “I can easily make paper!” she says with a smile.
I nod. Phew... I’m glad I walked out of that one. I still am not ready to tell her that I’m not really a pony. We’re about to gather the ingredients for a potion that will let us, or her, see what caused Equestria’s change. That’s a big enough problem on Miss Purple’s shoulders to trouble herself with, so adding another weight of ‘hey Twilight, did you know I’m not originally a pony and I’m actually from another distant world where Lyra would call it heaven?’ is not a good idea... So...I might as well help her out with fixing her world first, and then I’ll ask for her help to get me back home. I just hope Equestria can be fixed...
“Nah,” we hear Reykan say. Twilight and I turn our heads and see the little panther cub sitting by the kitchen entryway, his furred face looking a bit damp.
Earlier, as soon as she snapped out of her trance, Twilight ‘tossed’ Reykan in the sink to clean the blood off of him—with magic, of course—while she instructed Seri on how to prepare and cook our panther cub’s meal. Reykan tried to get out of the water, but, well, with Twilight and her magic, he didn’t stand a chance.
“Jay just doesn’t know what those black worms on that white leaf are.” Reykan smiles at us, completely ignoring the ‘shut up’ messages I send to him telepathically. Unfortunately, he’s not telepathic. I don’t think I am, either... “He showed me that leaf earlier, asking if I could ‘red’ it or whatever...”
Miss Purple blinks at him before she slowly turns her head back to face me. “...You...cannot read that?”
Uh... Um... “Er...”
“That light must’ve made you forget how to read!” Twilight screeches in disbelief, looking at me in horror, complete with her ears drooped. She then stands up on her four hooves and starts to pace around in panic. “Oh no! What if I forget how to read later on, too? I-I can’t imagine what I’d do! Oh my gosh! What should I do?!”
“T-Twilight...” I call, but my voice enters one purple ear and exits through the other.
“Oh my gosh! I-I-I have to cast a spell on myself so I won’t forget how to read! But what spell should I cast?! Should I cast that spell I cast before that light got me?”
“Twilight,” I call a little louder this time, catching her fragile attention. “You need to calm down.”
“Calm down? Calm down?!” She gives me a horrified look, with a twitching eye. “I’m about to lose my ability to read! And you want me to calm down?!”
I blink. “What are you even going to read, anyway?”
“My research papers!”
She has research papers here? That explains the lack of trees close to her tree home then... So Seri’s her source of quills?
“I can’t double check and triple check them if I can’t read! And what about my notes?! My checklists! Now that I know that I won’t be worrying about my episodes too much, I can finally concentrate on researching and experimenting and—and—the preparations for the potion, but then now I’m going to lose my ability to read! What if I forget how to write, too?!”
“Twilight,” I call as she starts pacing and mumbling again. “You’re being ridiculous...” Eh, I don’t think she’s listening anymore... Ignoring her, I sigh, stand up on my three free hooves and walk towards the study table with my other hoof—bent up so the frog is facing up—carrying the piece of paper. Reaching the said table, I place the paper on it and stare at it as I sit down, but nope, I really can’t read it.
“Are you...ignoring me?” Twilight suddenly asks from behind.
I shrug. “Well, you were ignoring me, too...” I turn my head over my shoulder and I see her staring at me with wide eyes and mouth agape. My ears droop. Eeyup, I guess that was rude of me to just...leave her. “Sorry about that, Twilight.”
She shakes her head with a sad frown. “It’s... It’s fine. I know I ramble a lot at times, but, but... You can’t read? What if I won’t be able to read, too? And write, as well? I—”
There she goes again... “Deep breaths, Twilight,” I interrupt her.
Twilight blinks at me with her mouth hanging open, her next words probably suddenly stuck in her throat. She closes her mouth before she slightly shakes her head, and she then takes deep breaths to calm herself down.
“Is Twilight pony really this weird?” I hear Reykan say.
Seri laughs merrily from the kitchen. “Hahah, yes. You’ll get used to it. Anyway! Your...um...” A pause. “...meat stew is ready.”
“Horay!” I turn my head to look at him. Reykan is jumping in place by the kitchen’s entryway, his attention on the swan inside. “So what’s a meat stew? Is that what meat is called when...uh...‘cooked?’ And is it as tasty as the plant food we had? But instead of plants, its rabbit?”
“Erm...” Seri wobbles out of the kitchen, wearing a forced smile but her eyes show signs of disgust and discomfort as she wobble-carries the steaming bowl with gloved wings, heading towards the study table beside me with her head leaning way back to avoid the steam from the bowl, and with Reykan eagerly following her close behind. “I...sure hope so?” She places the bowl on the table in a respectable distance from me.
“Cool!” Reykan jumps by the table beside me with a wide, excited smile, his tail wagging as he eyes the steaming bowl on the table above him. “It smells really, really good, too! It’s definitely gonna taste great!” His twinkling eyes then shifts to me. “Books! Gimme books!”
Twilight levitates a wooden stool for him to sit on. “I wonder why we didn’t use a stool instead of books when you first arrive here...”
Reykan eagerly climbs and stands on the stool.
I shrug. “Meh. We probably overlooked it in the previous ‘act.’”
“The previous what now?”
“You should add that to Pinkie’s great big list of life’s mysteries,” I say with an amused smile as Reykan now stands on his hind paws, his front paws on the table and his gaze and drooling open jaw lock on the steaming bowl.
“She has a list?” I hear Twilight ask from behind. “A mental list, I take it?”
Seri winces. “Reykan is adorably cute right now, but...” After another wince, the swan wobbles away from the drooling panther cub and stands by Twilight’s side. “Cooking meat is...um...” I hear her whisper. “...a very...how shall I put it?”
“Don’t worry too much about it, Seri,” I hear Twilight say. “You’ll get used to it.” I swear I could hear Twilight’s teasing grin from that line. I blink. Wait... Twilight sounds like she’s used to preparing meat—
“Hey!” Seri says, probably pouting. “That’s my line!”
Damn, Seri. What was I thinking just now? Eh... “So...” I say, still staring at Reykan, my ear slightly twitching after hearing the cub’s growling stomach. “Are you going to eat that or no?”
I hear Twilight’s magic working from behind me and see Reykan’s bowl glow in a faint, bluish light. A few seconds later, the light disappeared, and the soup appears to be not-too-steamy and not-too-hot anymore.
And then Reykan attacks the bowl.
I quickly cover the paper with my hoof and move it away from the messy eater as I hear Sienna’s pained groan from upstairs.
“Ungh...” Sienna groans again, making me turn my head to look at her. She slowly walks down the steps, her head hanging a little low. She sniffs the air, her features lighting up, if only a little bit. “Mm... That smells good...” she says with a small smile as she finally climbs down the last step. “What is it? I could eat something after that—” she pauses, her emerald eyes growing wide.
I blink and turn to Reykan, who is looking at her with a furless rabbit leg sticking out from his jaw. “Want shome?”
Aaand Sienna disappears back into the toilet upstairs, Twilight and Seri wincing from her departure.
Reykan shrugs before he faces his bowl again to continue eating.
“N-nice to know that the sound-proofing spell is still working in there,” Twilight chuckles lamely.
Ignoring Reykan’s noisy eating noises, I turn to look at Miss Purple, who regards me with a blink. “So... The list?”
Twilight blinks again before she frowns. “...You honestly cannot read it, huh?”
I sigh a sad sigh. “No...”
Twilight sighs as well.
Seri blinks, shifting her gaze from the two of us. “List? Cannot read?” Another blink. “Ah!” she squawks. “The black worms on that white leaf Jay showed me earlier?”
Twilight rolls her eyes as she turns to her. “They’re not worms, Seri. They were—”
“Ah,” the swan suddenly says with a frown. “They’re not? No wonder I couldn’t eat them.”
Twilight continues, probably choosing to ignore her remark. “...They were my hoofwriting, and I wrote a list of the ingredients that we need for this plan of ours.”
“You mean ‘magic writing,’ right?” I ask.
Twilight ignores my remark as she faces me. “Is your memory good?”
I blink. “I...think so?”
She nods her head. “I need six items to make the potion, but you’ll only need to gather four items, since the other two items are close by, and I can get them myself with no trouble at all.” She looks back at the stairs. “We should probably wait for Sienna to come down.”
I nod my head. “All right.” I blink. “Wait...”
“Hm?” Twilight looks back at me.
“You said the other two items are close by, right?”
Twilight nods her head.
I...already know the answer to my question... “...Does this mean the other four are...located far from here?”
Twilight smiles a small, shy and nervous smile. “Eheheh... Uhm... About that.”
I blink.
Her cheeks redden a bit as she looks away. “I...don’t know where to find them in this world.”
I sigh a long sigh. “Why can’t the potion simply be milk from cows?” Well, it’ll be easy to get milk if the potion really was made out of that stuff. And of course, the universe wouldn’t want that... Sigh...
We’re still inside the library. Er...in Twilight’s tree home, I mean, and we’re all gathered in the main room, sitting around the circular study table.
“So...” Sienna says, catching our attention. She’s giving Twilight a strange look. “...you’ll need mushrooms that are red during the day, and turns into blue when the night?”
“And clover leaves that create sounds when you blow air at them?” Seri asks.
“Silver ladybug eggshells?” Reykan asks, tilting his head to the side a little.
I frown. “And some roots of poison joke.” I close my eyes, take a breath and exhale through my nostrils. I reopen my eyes and frown at Miss Purple. “The ingredients sound like a joke... I’m starting to consider just staying in this world until I die...”
Twilight rolls her eyes with a frown of her own. “Zecora made the potion, Jay, and she gave me the list of the things she used when she made that potion.” She brings a hoof over her chest. “She’s a friend, and I trust her.” She brings her hoof down. “She told me that the ingredients can be found in the Everfree Forest.”
“But the forest doesn’t exist in this world,” I point out.
She nods her head, her ears drooping. “Yes... Which is why I told you that I don’t know where to look for them in this world.”
I sigh.
“So what are the other two things?” Sienna asks with a curious blink.
Twilight looks at her. “Well... They’re spider silk from leaf spiders and cockatrice’s feathers.”
Sienna winces. “Cockatrices?”
Twilight slightly shakes her head. “They’re very dangerous creatures, yes, especially with their ability to turn others into stone aside from their own kind. But I can handle—”
“Yep!” Reykan interrupts with a nod. “They’re kinda scary, but it’s a good thing wild storms turn you back to normal.”
I blink at him. Wild storms can unpetrify you if those chicken snakes turn you to stone? Huh... I wonder if petrification can stop your body from aging. Wouldn’t that be a great an alternative way to travel through time? Meh...
Reykan chuckles. “It was really funny when Syroc became a rock!”
I arch an eyebrow. “Sywhonow?”
“My sibling.”
Sienna blinks blankly at him.
“Aww...” Seri coos. “There are more cute little panther cuties like you, little Rey?”
Reykan turns to her with a smile. “They are! They’re also better at hunting than me!” He frowns. “Don’t tell them I said that.”
Something tells me that Sienna’s definitely not going to tell them that.
Reykan continues: “That’s why I left them earlier than I should, so I could become better than them! Hahah!” He looks at me with a smile. “And I’m going to prove that by eating you, Jay!” He blinks at me, smile still present. “I’m still gonna eat you, right?” He turns to Twilight. “After you’re done talking to Twilight pony?” He turns back to me.
I arch an eyebrow. “Uh...sure, I guess.”
“Cool!”
“Jay!” Sienna yells as she throws a horrified look my way. “You’re just...gonna let him kill you?!”
“It won’t come to that,” Twilight says with a shake of her head. “Not if I can help it.”
Reykan doesn’t seem to have heard them as he is still looking at me. “So when are you gonna be done talking to Twilight pony?”
I shrug. “Soon, I guess. But I need to gather the four items she needs first.”
“’Kay!”
Whatever. I guess if the potion wouldn’t work, then Twilight’s going to think of another way to fix Equestria, making my ‘talk’ with Miss Purple to extend.
...I sure hope the potion works though. I don’t want to be stranded here for too long...
Reykan suddenly stands up on his stool, jumps down to the floor and dashes towards the door. “Well, I gotta go!”
I arch an eyebrow once again as I see him stopping in front of the wooden door. “You’re...leaving?”
“Yup!” Reykan turns and smiles at me. “I gotta get ready!”
I blink. “Get ready for what?”
“Just let him go already,” Sienna says rather hurriedly.
Igniting her horn, Twilight magically opens the front door, and closes it after our little panther cub walks out.
“Huh...” I blink at the door before I shrug. “Oh well...” I suppose it’s better to have a healer companion than having a hurter companion... I turn to Twilight. “Random question... Why do wild storms unpetrify petrified...creatures?”
“Chaos magic, Jay,” Twilight replies. “Chaos magic cancels other chaos magic. Cockatrice uses chaos magic to turn their victims to stone, and wild storms are created by huge amounts of chaos magic.”
So if wild storms are created by chaos magic, does that mean chaos magic taste awful? Eh... I nod my head. “R-right...” Not sure if I get that and all of these magical nonsense. “So... Mushrooms that are red by day and blue by night, sound-making clover leaves, silver ladybug eggshells and poison joke roots.”
Twilight nods her head. “Yep. That’s all of them.”
“Right...” I sigh. “Now to figure out where to freaking get these freaking things...”
Seri smiles at me. “There are many ladybugs in Swan Lake!”
First, Oddete, and now she mentions Swan Lake? What, is Prince Eric here in this world, too? I wonder who the pigs consider their god here is. Babe? Meh...
“I wonder how everyswan is doing over there,” Seri asks to no one in particular.
Twilight’s horn glows, pulling out a large rolled-up scroll from one of the shelves. She magically places the scroll on the table and unrolls it, almost covering the entire table, revealing a rough drawing of what looks like Equestria.
“Oh!” Seri chirps, smiling as she looks at the map. “It’s the map!”
“A map?” Sienna asks, blinking at the swan. “What’s a map?”
Dora, get out of my head.
Slightly shaking my head, I look down at the map as Seri and Twilight inform our deer friend what a map is. There are a few labels, mostly around the middle part of the map. The map is facing Twilight, so the labels are all upside-down on my end, but I can still read them well.
What? When I was younger, my bro and I read stuff upside-down if we were bored. Not often though, because it gives us a headache, but hey, we had fun. We didn’t have a lot of money back then, so we tried to find ways to kill time. Eh... Not the time to walk around memory lane.
Hm... Let’s see here... Canterlot Mountain is on the very middle. A little to the east, inside a drawn forest by “Foal Mountain,” is a tree labelled as ‘Twilight’s Tree.’ So that’s where we are right now. A little south from Canterlot Mountain is ‘Sheep Hills,’ followed by ‘Cow Pastures.’ Further south is a forest and then...blank. Around that vast blank space is where AJ and Pinkie live. Most likely near the forest’s edge. I wonder if it’s all right to tell Twilight where they are now that Alter-Twilight’s tamer? Eh, anyway... Far west from Canterlot Mountain, aside from the numerous ‘Pony Pastures,’ are ‘Fox Dens,’ ‘Goat Valley,’ ‘Giraffe Pastures,’ a few more ‘Sheep Hills,’ and ‘Elephant Plains.’
And far down south from Twilight’s tree home is a lake-like drawing labelled ‘Swan Lake.’ The said lake is in the middle of a forest. The eastern edge of the forest is a sea or an ocean, and on the west is the mountainous borders of the “Badlands,” complete with quotation marks.
I blink... Wait a minute... I look up at Twilight. “...Why are the labels written in English?”
Twilight stops her little map explanation to blink a curious blink at me. “English?”
I look back at the map. “I...can read the labels.”
“You can?”
I nod my head as I read a few of the labels on the map. Afterwards, I look back at her.
Twilight leans forward, her eyes growing wide. “You can read! B-but I thought...”
I shake my head. “Twilight, no offence, but I don’t have a clue what you wrote on that little piece of paper earlier, but,” I look back at the map. “...I can read the labels you wrote on this map.” I blink and look back at her. “You...are the one who wrote the labels on the map, right?”
She nods her head. “Well, of course. It’s a common practice to use the old Equestrian alphabet in labeling locations on a map. Often times with book titles on their covers and spines too, but over the years, publishers and authors began using the modern Equestrian alphabet instead of the old one.” She clears her throat. “Ahem... Anyway...” She looks down at the map with a curious frown. “This doesn’t make sense...” She looks at me. “How come you can read old Equestrian, but not the modern one?”
I blink. Old Equestrian? English really does exist in this world, but with a different name?
“I don’t understand most of what she just said,” I hear Sienna whisper.
Seri chuckles a quiet chuckle. “You’ll get used to it.”
Twilight shakes her head, either not hearing or simply ignoring the other two females. “But...maybe...just maybe...” She looks at the map with furrowed brows. “In history, unicorn tribes who are responsible for raising the sun and the moon were the ones who invented the Old Equestrian alphabet. They were—and still are, I think—living in the neighboring region of Equestria to the west. The tribe who controls the sun lived in the mountainous regions in the north, while the tribe who controls the moon lived in the watery south.”
I blink and look back at the map. Hm... Welp, the drawn map only shows Equestria.
Twilight continues: “Because the two tribes lived so far away from each other, delivering messages through the mouths of their messengers became impractical, especially if the messenger starts to forget bits and pieces of the message during his or her journey. So one day, the tribes agreed to meet and during that meeting, they invented the alphabet, and ever since then, they started writing to each other and the messenger ponies carry the letter to the other tribe.”
I blink. Huh...
“The Old Equestrian Alphabet was invented long before the Windigo insident.” Twilight blinks at me. “So... Since the past was changed, the modern Equestrian alphabet never came to be. Not only that, but the unification of the three pony races never happened, thus, none of the three groups of ponies ventured out to find new land. They didn't discover Equestria...yet.”
I blink again.
Twilight continues: “Through the years, more and more sapient creatures learned about the old Equestrian alphabet in the neighboring region.” She nods her head. “This is just a theory, but over the years, many ponies probably started...‘branching out’ and maybe, your ancestors settled here in Equestria, carrying the knowledge of the letters. Your ‘alternate self’ must have probably already knew it before your ‘real consciousness’ came here in this world, and that is why you can read Old Equestrian literature.”
“Huh...” I blink. “I...guess that makes sense?” I tilt my head to the side. “So...why is it called ‘Old Equestrian Letters’ if it didn't originate in Equestria?”
Miss Purple shrugs.
I arch an eyebrow. “Er, not really the answer I was expecting from you, Miss Bookworm.”
Miss Purple shakes her head. “In any other day, I would be thrilled to tell you all about history and its specifics in great detail, but not right now.”
Sigh... “Right, right... The potion. Let’s get this over with.” No reason to prolong it any longer anyway. I look at our swan companion. “Seri,” I call.
“Hm?” she blinks and looks at me with a beaked smile.
“You said that there are silver ladybugs in the lake?”
“Oh, absolutely, positively maybe.”
I blink. I frown. “What do you mean by ‘maybe?’”
She shrugs. Wow, I didn’t know swans can shrug too. “I didn’t see a lot of them when I was still living there. They shine when the light of the sun hits them, plus, they’re pretty delicious, so...” Seri chuckles. “Most swans race to eat them if they spot the white glow on leaves and grass. Ah, good times.” She shakes her head. “I left our little lake...hm...seven moons ago, I think? So I don’t know if there are still any silver ladybugs there. But hey! There are other colored ladybugs there, if you’re curious.”
“So... Your kind drove them towards extinction?”
Seri blinks a blank blink.
I take a breath and sigh. “Eh... It’s worth a shot.” I look at Sienna. “Maybe we can also ask the...uh...swans over there if they know where to get the other items.”
Sienna nods her head. She then furrows her brows, glaring at me. “I can help you and Twilight, but do we really need to have Reykan coming along with us?”
I blink at her. “Why not?” I shrug. “If he wants to come along, that is.”
“Jay,” Sienna’s glare intensifies. “He’s a panther. A predator! He eats leaf-eaters like us!”
I shrug. “We’re not yet eaten, last time I checked.”
“That’s not the poi—!”
“Calm down, everyone!” Twilight suddenly says, silencing Sienna. She then gives me a pointed look. “And Jay, that was not a nice thing to say.”
I blink, feeling my ears droop. I take a breath and sigh. This is why I don’t usually talk with someone, because I can barely watch what I say...
“Especially to someone who’s willing to help us restore Equestria,” Miss Purple continues to say, still giving me a disapproving look. “Jay, I need you to apologize to her.”
I grit my teeth. Wow... Twilight’s treating me like a kid, and that stings... I take a breath and sigh. Unfortunately, she’s right... I look up at Sienna, who is staring blankly at Twilight for a second or two before she shifts her gaze on me.
“Sorry...” I say rather quietly.
Sienna shakes her head. “...For what?”
Right... Make this even more difficult for me, why don’t you? Sigh... “For...my sarcastic remark. And stuff...”
Sienna shakes her head once more. “I don’t care about that.” She furrows her brows. “But what I do care is why you want Reykan to come along!”
“I...” ...why do I want him to come along, anyway? “...don’t.” I slightly shake my head. “I said, if he wants to come along, then why not?”
“I’m not going to help you if he will come along.”
I sigh... “Fine, fine...” I turn to Twilight. “Any thoughts?”
“Hm...” Twilight hms. “I’m sorry Jay, but I’m going to side with Sienna on this one.” She takes a breath. “While it is true that Reykan hadn’t eaten you or any of us, and while it is true that his child-like innocence is, in Seri’s words, cute, he is still a predator, and predators are often times unpredictable, especially during the age of maturity. Not to mention that Reykan was able to harm you and Seri before, so what’s stopping him from harming you or any of us again?”
I sigh as I nod in defeat. I turn to Seri.
The swan is quietly looking at the map with a smile. After she probably noticed the silence, she looks up at us with a blink. “Hm?” A pause. She squawks a surprised squawk. “Oh! I’m sorry!” She quickly throws an apologetic look at Twilight. “I wasn’t listening! Um... What were you talking about?”
Twilight chuckles as I roll my eyes. “Don’t worry about it, Seri,” Miss Purple says.
I stand up on four hooves with a defeated sigh. “Right. I can’t win against the majority. I might as well let Reykan know.”
“Reykan?” I hear Seri ask as I turn and walk towards the door. “Let him know what?”
“He can go and hunt anywhere he wants,” Sienna replies.
“Aw...” Seri says as I stop in front of the door. “He’s not going to help and is going to leave us soon?” I hear her sniff. “I’m going to miss the little cutie...”
“I can’t believe you!” Sienna yells as I turn my head to look at Twilight. “He attacked you and Jay as well!”
Ignoring the deer and swan banter, I gesture with my head. Twilight nods her head and magically opens the door for me, and almost immediately, fresh and cool foresty air fills my lungs.
“Ah...” I breath out with a smile as I look outside. Beyond the wide brown earth that surrounds Twilight’s tree home, the green grass and the green leaves of the many trees embrace the sun’s morning rays, morning dews reflecting the sunlight like tiny diamonds in the sea of green. “Feels like I’ve been stuck inside a stinky library for years.”
Whew... The outside world looks really wonderful. I wish my home world is as naturally beautiful as this world.
Eh, enough of the boring sappy stuff... I turn and look at Twilight. “Right. Twilight, do you happen to have any backpacks lying around here?”
She blinks at me. “...What’s a backpack?”
Sienna and Seri ceases their banter and curiously looks at the two of us.
I blink. Oh... Right... “Er... S-saddlebag, I mean.”
“Oh,” Twilight says as she tilts her head to the side. “Whatever for?”
I give her a deadpan look. “For the ingredients, you egghead. What else?” Yesh, and there I go again with my snappy choice of words. “Sor—”
“Oh, right,” Twilight says with a sheepish grin. “Eheheh... Eh... Ahem...” She stands up on four hooves as she looks upstairs. “I...may have some materials that I could use to make something for storing items.” She slightly shakes her head. “I’m not sure if I have enough materials for a saddlebag, but I’m sure I can come up with something!” She then smiles at Seri. “Seri, would you mind helping me?”
“Not at all!” Seri chirps, and soon, the two females trot and wobble up the stairs.
“With magic,” I hear Twilight say, “it wont take long for me to make one, Jay.”
I nod my head, even though she wouldn’t see it. “Take your time.” I didn’t mean that though. I actually want her to hurry. I know she will, because she’s eager to restore Equestria back to normal.
Anyway, I turn back and look outside. Hm... I wonder if it’ll be a good idea to walk outside as I wait? Now that the storm’s gone, cockatrices and other creatures might be wandering around.
...
... ...
... ... ...meh. I’ll just not wander too far.
“Where are you going?” I hear Sienna ask as I walk outside—
Eugh... The brown earth’s freaking wet and muddy. Sigh... Well, I’m going to get muddy hooves sooner or later anyway. “Just going for a walk,” I reply without looking back as I slowly take a few more steps, feeling the weird cold muddy feeling on my four hooves.
Huh... It was raining when we were entering Twilight’s home. I wonder why our hooves and paws weren't muddy at the time. Meh, must have been an oversight.
I stop my slow little walk before I look up and around. Above the glittering green sea of leaves, thin wispy clouds peacefully roll by on the morning blue sky. Chirping noises echo from the forest, adding a peaceful and melodic effect on the natural beauty of the morning scene.
My ear twitch as I hear a quiet little noise from behind me. Looking back, I see the door open and the darkness inside the hollow. Something moved above my peripheral vision. I look up and see a familiar black feline cub on one of lowest yet thick branches of Twilight’s dead tree home, his sapphire eyes on me.
Oh, right. I almost forgot. Well, I might as well tell him that he’s not coming with us before I forget about it again. “Oh, hey there, Rey—”
“Grraaawwrr!” he suddenly jumps off of the branch towards me, sharp paws and jaws at the ready!
“Holy sh—!” I jerk back but slip, flailing my hooves in the air and accidentally hitting Reykan’s lunging form. “Oof!” I land on the muddy ground on my side, splashing mud everywhere. I quickly lift my head up and look at Reykan as I try to calm my fast-beating heart. “R-Reykan, what the hell?!”
He quickly gets back on his paws, mud covering most of his side as he glares at me with a smile. “You came out! So you’re done talking to Twilight pony!” And then he lunges at me once again.
God damn it! I should have stood up! Thinking quickly, I swipe my hoof on the muddy ground in front of me, throwing a wave of mud towards the yelping panther cub.
“Gah—!” Reykan yelps in surprise, mud covering his face.
I quickly get back on my four hooves as my eyes lock on Reykan who’s two or so hooves away from me, hissing through his fanged teeth as he tries to wipe the mud out of his eyes with his muddy paws. Yeah, good plan, kid.
“Reykan,” I say through my rapid breaths, ignoring his turning ears. “I still need to get the items Twilight needs! You know that—whoa!”
“Grraaawrr!” with his eyes covered with mud, he still lunges at me with great accuracy, probably relying on his hearing now.
I yelp and shuffle back in time to avoid his fanged jaws from biting my hooves. “Holy shit! Are you serious?!” I ask as I make some distance between us.
He quickly jumps forward, but I slap him with a muddy hoof, throwing him back with a wave of mud. He slides on the mud and struggles to get up, his body covered with more mud.
“Stop it, Rey!” I yell, ignoring a brown figure who just came out from the tree’s dark hollow. “I seriously do not want to hurt you!”
“You promised, Jay!” he shouts back, turning so he can blindly face me with a confident grin, ears moving. “I kept my promise! Why shouldn’t you?”
“What’s going on here?” Sienna asks, blinking at the two of us.
I ignore her. “But I never—”
“You said not to eat you!” Reykan cuts me off as he readies himself to run towards me again. “You said not to until you see Twilight pony! I didn’t eat you! I kept my promise! So now that you’re out and done talking to her, I can now eat you as you promised!”
I don’t like where this is going.
“Rrraaawrrr—!” aaand he dashes towards me.
“Eep!” Sienna suddenly eeps, as if she’s the one getting attacked, before quickly returning inside the tree.
My heart is racing, and my brain is telling me to get away. I shake my head, furrow my brows and swing a hoof upwards like a hoofed uppercut, hitting the cub under his chin and throwing his lunging form over my head. And then mud flies to my face and eyes! Gah! It stings!
“Whoa—oof!” he lands behind me with a muddy splash.
I quickly wipe the mud off of my eyes with the clean parts of my hoof. “I never promised anything to you, Reykan,” I say as I turn around to face him.
Reykan growls as he gets back up on his four paws and quickly dashes towards me, his paws striking the muddy ground, creating a series of miniature muddy eruption.
I grit my teeth and prepare my hoof to swing again, waiting for him to jump at me, but instead of jumping at me, he continues his quick dash and tackles my hooves, catching me off-guard. Wincing from the pain, I move back as I lift a hoof to pound on him, but then he jumps at me, his clawed paws stabbing my shoulders and his fanged jaws biting my neck!
“Gaaah—!” I shout in pain as I try to shake him off. With that not working, human instincts suddenly kick in, making me lift both my hooves up to grab him— Aaand I collapse on the mud with Reykan. “Grrrk—!”
Lying on his back, Reykan thrashes his hind paws in the air. I hiss in pain, my vision going blurry as I try to think of a way to save my freaking self while trying to not let the pain and panic consume me.
Damn it, damn it...! Calm down! I-I...I'm going to die, aren’t I? No! No! I...I-I can think of somethi— Will it work? Fucking hell how should I know and I freaking don't care!
Hissing in pain, I close my blurry and teary eyes, quickly extend my hooves and drag them on the ground towards my painful neck like a bulldozer, dragging some mud to bury my painful neck and Reykan’s maw. I continue my futile attempts of ‘drowning’ him, trying my damnedest to ignore the thought that I’m about to kill someone, but as the seconds fly by and as I feel myself losing my consciousness, ‘screw it!’ I shout in my head. It’s either kill of be killed in this stupid alternate Equestria! But the stupid kid’s fanged bite is still as strong and painful as ever. As a few more seconds fly by, my hope and my strength is starting to slip from me until I feel Reykan loosens his bite on my neck. He kicks and thrash his paws wildly in an attempt to get his head out of the mud as his fangs free my neck, and I quickly take the opportunity to pull my head out, Reykan quickly inhaling through his open mouth only for the mud to cover it.
Reykan’s stuck, his head and body buried under the mud, his paws sticking out from the mound of mud, thrashing wildly. I feel my neck throb in pain as I feel thick and warm liquid gush out from my wound. I am breathing fast and deep, my heart beating like mad, and my wavering gaze on Reykan’s flailing paws.
I... Am I just going to watch Reykan like this? I should... No! I should get away! The damn kid was trying to kill me just now!
With an eye twitch, I turn around but stop when I notice Reykan’s paws are slowing down, making me hold my breath.
Oh, shit... I... Am I just...gonna let him die? A child? He’s a predator, sure, but...fuck... But... But... He...tried to kill me. God damn it. I hate making big, life-changing decisions! Gah! S-should I—?
Shit! He’s slowing down... Damn... Damn...!
I hiss as I swipe a chunk of mud out of his muzzle with a hoof, but two clawed paws grab my hoof, making me pull Reykan’s head slightly out of the mud. I hiss from the stabbing pain as I hear Reykan inhale a deep breath before he starts coughing.
“R-Reykan, Reykan!” I pull him out, despite how painful his clawed grip is on my hoof. He lets go of my hoof and slowly tries to sit himself up on the mud as he continues his violent coughing fit.
God, he’s alive... He’ll kill me. He’ll freaking kill me... But damn it, I can’t bring myself to stop him from killing me!
...I can’t bring myself the thought of killing someone...
I didn’t notice until now that I’m already sitting down, my gaze on Reykan’s coughing form, but at the same time, not on him...
I close my eyes, take a deep breath, and sigh... Damn it...
“Ow...” I hear Reykan say in a quiet tone. He coughs a few more times. “...I...guess I’m not strong enough yet...” I reopen my eyes in time to see him sigh. “I’m not strong enough to take down a pony yet...” He then looks at me, his sapphire eyes blinking and his jaw forming a disappointed frown. “You’re bleeding, Jay.”
I...deadpan. “...Gee... I wonder why?” I close my eyes yet again, take a deep breath, and let out a heavy sigh through my muzzle. “I’m...sorry, Rey.” I shake my head before I reopen my eyes to give the panther cub a soft glare. “...But I won’t let you eat me.”
“Not yet, right?” he asks with a smile.
I blink at him.
“Not until I’m big enough and strong enough, right?”
...Here’s to hoping that this won’t bite me in the ass sooner or later. Or in the neck. Whichever gets bitten first in the future... Sigh...
Reykan coughs a couple times. He looks down, glaring at the mud I think. “Ehk... My mouth taste like mud.”
“...At least it’s not sand, right?” I can’t help myself. I take another breath and sigh. “Look, Reykan, I—”
“Hm?” He looks up at me, sapphire eyes blinking.
Why am I apologizing? He’s the one who attacked me. He’s the one who tried to kill me earlier. But damn it. We humans have this stupid thing called ‘conscience’, and mine can literally drive me crazy if I ignore it for too long. Like, really. Meh, it’s a story for another time. I sigh once again. “...I’m sorry.” There, I said it. Why do I still feel heavy? Eh...probably because of the hardening mud weighing me down.
“For what?”
I roll my eyes. Of course Reykan will ask that question to make me say it. “For um...trying to kill you...and stuff...”
He blinks at me. “But all you did was swat me with your hoof.” He chuckles. “I think it was me who was trying to kill you.”
I blink at him. “...I tried to drown you.”
Sapphire eyes blinks at me. Reykan looks around. “...I don’t see any water around.”
I facehoof. I insta-regret it as mud covers a part of my face and an eye.
“Did I do a job though?” he asks with a curious smile as I shake my head to rid of the mud on my face. He winces all too suddenly. “Well, I didn’t get to kill and eat you, but I did good, right?”
... ... ... “... ... ...yes?”
“Cool!” He blinks. His eyes twinkle as it widens. “I have an idea!”
My ears droop. “No.”
“You should let me practice!” he says with a wide smile.
“...Please tell me you’re joking.”
He blinks, his smile fading. “...No, I’m not.” He shakes his head. “Why would I be? I mean, I need more practice if I wanna take down a pony, right?”
What the hell—? Is this how predators’ line of thinking goes? Use their potential prey as their test subjects?
“Please?”
Oh, no. No. No! Not the puppy-dog eyes plus the lower pouty lip combo!
“Pleeeaaase?”
Damn it! He added twinkling stars in his eyes, too! Argh...! “Fiiine...” I’m going to regret this, I swear.
“Yes!” He tries to jump, but all he manages to do is throw his upper body up in the air while his other half is still kinda stuck in the mud. “Whoa—oof!” His back lands on the muddy ground, splashing mud around and on me. “...I’m starting to hate mud,” he says, glaring at the sky.
“But no biting,” I say with a glare.
“Mmkay,” he replies with a big grin. “...Can you help me out of this?”
“If I say no, what will you do?”
“I’ll bite during practice.”
“Helping you now.”
I hear voices coming out from the not-library tree as I pull Reykan out of the mud.
“—and he’s going to kill him!” that’s Sienna’s voice.
“Sienna,” that’s Twilight’s voice. Her voice sounds so clear, maybe because she’s already outside. “I don’t think Reykan’s attacking Jay. I mean, look at them—oh my gosh, Jay! You’re bleeding!”
Yesh... I noticed. I glare at Reykan who’s giving me a sheepish smile.
I stare at my muddy reflection on the mirror inside Twilight’s illusionary bathroom. I blink... This... This is actually the first time I’ve seen a clear image of what I really look like. The previous ones were from the watery surfaces, but they didn’t give me a clear reflection like this here mirror. Too bad that the mirror is only big enough to see my neck and head. I can’t detach it though, not without fingers for grasping purposes. These pony hooves of mine are not built for grabbing stuff, no matter what the show showed me.
I turn my head left and right, my gaze still on my reflection. Damn, I look like Doctor Whooves from that special one hundredth episode of em el pee. Minus the mud, of course, and I think the doctor’s mane is a little lighter than mine. Meh...
I study my neck’s reflection. Eeyup... Twilight did a pretty good job at healing me...again. Reykan apologized in front of the females. Twilight accepted his apology reluctantly, Sienna doesn’t want to be near him, and Seri hugged and nuzzled him. Said panther’s probably in the kitchen’s sink once again.
I smirk and slowly shake my head. Right. Better get the mud out of my fur.
Twilight’s bathroom has a sink, a faucet, a mirror, a toilet, a wastebasket, a toilet paper (I have no idea how non-magical ponies can use that (then again, I don’t remember a time when nature called)), a hamper, a weird tiled box where the bathroom’s cleaning materials are probably stored, a tub with a purple shower curtain, and of course a showerhead. Whew... Here’s to hoping that all of these illusionary things are working like how they should be.
I wonder what’s that weird stinky smell though. It smells familiar, but it’s eewy for me to remember. The smell struck my nose ever since I walked inside the bathroom. Meh...
The thought of getting a shower lifts my spirits. Whew... I love showers. Although I don’t really like the time I waste while having a shower. And the water bill... Oh well... I doubt this world has water bills.
I walk towards the tub and—what the heck?!
“Yuck! Yuck yuck yuck yuck—!” I quickly walk backwards as I violently shake my head to get rid of the eewy image I’ve seen. I bump my rear on the bathroom door, still chanting the yucky chant. I quickly turn around, open the door with my mouth—
“Jay?”
—and march out the bathroom with a disgusted look on my face, still chanting the yucky chant.
“Are you okay—Jay! Stop dirtying my room!” Twilight shouts from where she sits by a table. “...again!”
I stop. Oh, right... I still have mud on me. “S-sorry...” I look and smile a sheepish smile at her, which isn’t winning the battle against her disapproving frown.
We’re in Miss Purple’s room on the second floor of her dead tree home. The lower half has bookshelves filled with books, a staircase leading down to the main library’s room, an opened bathroom door and a small set of staircase leading up to the upper portion of the room where her bed and a few more bookcases are located. Still no windows though... And yes, it still smells like stinky old books, but it’s a graceful replacement smell from the...eewy smell in the bathroom. I shiver involuntarily...
I slightly shake my head to get myself back to the matter at hand. “Twilight... Have you seen your tub lately?”
She raises an eyebrow. “...Not since you and your friends arrived. Why?”
“Ah,” I nod my head. “No wonder you didn’t know.”
“About what, exactly?”
“About...” I cringe. “Er... L-let’s just say Reykan and Sienna missed the toilet when they were emptying their stomachs earlier...”
She blinks at me.
I blink back.
She flinches. She then takes a deep breath. “Seri!!!”
The bathroom door opens, and the sound of flushing immediately bounces around the room as a white swan exits the bathroom with a beaked smile.
“All clean and sparkly!” Seri chirps. “And ‘eewy-smell’ free!” She looks at me, then at Twilight and then she chuckles. “Wow, you two. I can’t believe the two of you are afraid of cleaning that foul-smelling liquid in the tob.”
“Tub,” Twilight corrects her. She and I are sitting around a small study table on her room’s lower portion.
Seri simply shakes her head in amusement before she wobbles toward the stairs leading to the main room. “Well, I should head back down and see if Reykan’s okay.”
“All right,” Twilight says. “Thanks for the help, Seri.”
“No problem, Twilight,” Seri replies with a smile. Standing before the stairs, she...lies down on her feathery belly, the upper-half of her body tilting down towards the stairs.
“Uh...” I blink. “What are you do—?”
“Wheeeee~!” she slides down like an excited kid sliding down a water slide. “—eeeeee—aaahhh!”
“What the—gah!” I hear Reykan’s yelp just before a crashing noise echoes from down the stairs. “...ow.”
Twilight’s hoof meets her face as I blink at the stairs. She then shakes her head before she returns her attention on a brownish saddlebag levitating in front of her with her magic. “You should get yourself cleaned up, Jay,” she says without looking at me as she uses her magic to tie the straps firmly and securely so the bag won’t fall apart, it seems. “The bag will be ready by the time you’re done cleaning yourself.”
“All right,” I say as I stand up on my four hooves. I enter the bathroom and close the door by biting and pulling the handle. With that done, I turn around and brace myself as I slowly approach the tub. Eeeeeeeeeeeeee—phew, it’s clean. With a smile, I walk inside the tub, sit down—shivering from the cold surface my bum is sitting on—and pull the curtain with both my front hooves. I look around aaand there’s no soap nor a bottle of shampoo. ...I roll my eyes. Of course there wouldn’t be any of those in this world. Le sigh... Aw well. Now let’s see if the shower actually works.
I push the purple curtains aside before stepping out of the tub. Damn, that was a good shower, albeit a weird one. I can barely scrub myself, especially my back. Not all ponies can be as flexible as Pinkie Pie, I guess. Aw well.
I turn around, facing the dirty water-filled tub. I dip a hoof, try to uncork the tub’s plug-thingie and watch as a small whirlpool appears in the water, sucking the water down and down and all the way down.
Plop!
I lean forward and turn on the shower once again with my mouth. It’s pretty weird to use my mouth for these kind of stuff, but eh... Also, there’s no cold nor hot water available though, but meh, I shouldn’t complain. As the shower rains water down the tub, I scrub the tub with my hoof, removing the remaining mud that stubbornly clings on the tub for dear life.
With that done, I wash my hooves before I turn the shower off, smile, turn around and...there’s no towel... I forgot to bring a towel. Derp. Does Twilight even have towels?
I sigh and walk towards the door. Biting the handle, I open and slightly push the door open, enough for me to slip my pony muzzle through. “Twilight,” I call embarrassingly. “I ah uh, forgot to bring a towel...” Back in my apartment, I don’t forget to bring a towel. Ever. It was my bro who kept forgetting to bring one. And now I know how embarrassing it is to forget to bring a towel, not to mention inside someone else’s bathroom.
I hear Twilight chuckle. “I don’t have any towels here, Jay.” A pause. “I use my magic to dry myself and Seri off.”
I frown. “Well, too bad for me, right?”
I think she’s rolling her eyes. “Just come out so I can cast the spell on you.”
Aand I’m actually blushing now. It’s a good thing Sienna’s not here to see it. “Uh... Twilight? I’m...uh...wet...and naked...”
An awkward pause. Well, it’s an awkward one for me.
“Jay...” I hear Twilight say. “We’re all naked.”
I blink. “...Oh... Derp... Right... Ahhahahah...hah...uh...” I swallow a nervous lump and push the door open with my hoof, and I immediately wince the very moment I see Twilight sitting behind her small table.
Twilight blinks and tilts her head to the side. “Are ponies in Manehattan not comfortable walking out of the bathroom without a towel?”
I look away, crossing both my front and hind hooves as I try to put out the flames on my cheeks. “Just cast the freaking spell already.”
“Sheesh, you act just like Rarity,” she says as a red field of magic surrounds me. “There. Better?”
I sigh in relief as I feel the warm air drying me off. “Y-yeah...” I say as I give her a nod. I blink, my gaze landing on the brown saddlebag on the table before her. “Speaking of Rarity... Is the bag done?”
“Mhmm,” she mhmm’s as she grabs the bag with both her hooves. I blink... Wait... She can grab stuff with her hooves? Freaking unicorns and their freaking magic. “I’m not as good as Rarity with these kinds of stuff, but I’ve read enough books to know how to make one at least!” She smiles as she levitates the bag, opening it as she looks inside. “I think it’s sturdy enough as well. I stitched it and double-stitched and cross-stitched and triple-stitched it!”
“I think that’s called an overkill stitch, princess,” I tease her with a smile.
She rolls her eyes as she places the bag on the table. “Oh, hah hah. Very funny.” She frowns. “Get over here already so I can see if it fits you.”
“Yes, Miss Scorpion. Just as soon as—” I just noticed that the red field of magic is no longer surrounding me. Blinking, I look at myself and see myself already clean and dry. “Oh.” Well, as clean as I can ever get myself clean anyway. But it feels nice to be clean and dry. I step out of the bathroom, push the door close and walk towards Miss Purple’s table.
Reaching the table, Miss Purple levitates the bag, stands up on her four hooves and places the saddlebag on my back, the actual bags resting on my sides, her magical aura tickling me a bit. “Hm...” she hm’s as she stands beside me, leaning her head towards the straps on my back as she critically analyzes it with a critical eye. “Hmmmmmmm...” She lowers her head, studying the bag or the other set of straps hanging loosely behind the bag.
“Uh... Twilight?” I nervously say as she magically attaches the straps to the other bag over my chest and belly, still leaning down with her hmm-ing. “You...do know I’m a guy, right?”
She lifts her head back up with a proud smile. “It fits perfectly!” She smiles at me. “And I didn’t even use a measuring tape, but only with my observation skills!” She quickly sits down and claps her front hooves proudly. “I still got it! Now all I need to do is charge those gems up as you and your friends gather the items!” She blinks. “Oh!” She nods her head. “And of course I’m aware that you’re a stallion.” She tilts her head to the side. “Why do you ask?”
I stare lamely at her. “... ... ...no reason.” I shake my head and look at the bags hanging on my sides. “Well, at least they’re not uncomfortable.”
Twilight nods her head. “They shouldn’t be. I’ve read about how not to make saddlebags uncomfortable to wear.” She smiles. “Still, I’m really proud to know that my first ever saddlebag is okay. It may lack designs and flare and whatever words Rarity can come up with, but at least it’s usable, right?”
I shrug. “Eh, I’ll be the judge of that. The usability, I mean.”
“Actually,” she says, standing up. “We can test it downstairs.” She then walks toward the stairs leading to the main room, with me following close behind. “Seri has told me that her kind are a friendly bunch, but it’s still nice to give them something in exchange for the help they’re going to lend you, right?”
Twilight and I now walk down the stairs. “What do you mean?” I ask.
“I’m going to ask you to give them gems in return,” she says as we reach the main room.
The main library room still looks the same though. Seri’s happy humming echoes from the kitchen. Reykan is licking himself clean by the door and Sienna is sitting around the study table with a very, very wide grin aiming at me.
“How’d it go?” she asks oh so pleasantly.
I roll my eyes as I stop following Twilight to glare at the deer. “Sienna, we didn’t—you know what? It was so amazing that I could kiss you.”
She blinks at me, smile faltering. “That’s...good? What’s kiss?”
“Eeewww...”
I blink, turn and see Reykan shuddering in disgust as he gives me a disgusted look.
“You and Twilight pony did it? Eewww...” he shivers.
I roll my eyes at him. “Reykan, trust me. If we did it, I’ll let you eat me and I won’t stop you.”
He blinks at me. He smiles. “Really? So you two did it?”
“No.”
“Aww...” His ears droop.
I shake my head. “This sex joke is getting tiring and annoying.” I give Sienna a glare. “I’d really appreciate it if you two stop doing it.”
Sienna rolls her emerald eyes, but didn’t say anything.
“Oh, let them have their fun, Jay,” Twilight says as she approaches me with two small gems levitating behind her. She smiles at Sienna with a...teasing smile? “Besides, I learned that those who want to feel something are usually the ones who teases or forces others to do it first.”
“That’s not true!” Sienna glares at her.
“Oooooooh...” Seri’s head pokes out from the kitchen entryway, grinning at Sienna. “Sienna’s secret has been revealed!”
“It hasn’t!” Sienna yells at the swan. “I don’t have a secret!”
“What’s a secret?” I hear Reykan ask.
“Yes, you do,” Seri counters.
“No, I don’t!” Sienna counters back.
I roll my eyes and ignore their banter.
“Plant eaters are weird...” I hear Reykan mutter.
Twilight chuckles before she magically opens the saddlebag, places two gems inside and closes the bag again. She smiles. “Well, if the bag can hold two gems, then I’m sure it can hold the items we need for the potion.”
I nod my head. Gems weirdly don’t weigh much, not to mention one is almost as big as my head. Or Twilight’s head. “So... I’ll give these gems to the swans as thanks?”
“Mhmm...” Twilight nods her head. “I already charged it with mana while you and your deer friend were exchanging words for words. So the swans will be very thankful for it.”
“Oh, they surely will!” Seri chirps from the kitchen. “We don’t really have anything to trade with the unicorns for gems, even if we really wanted to get some.”
I blink. “That...reminds me...” I turn to Twilight. “Pinkie Pie mentioned that they used to exchange their food for gems.” I blink again. “What are the gems for?”
“Protection,” Twilight replies.
I blink. I arch an eyebrow. “Protection?”
She nods her head. “Eeyup.”
“From what?”
“Predators,” Sienna answers, catching my attention. She blinks a curious blink at me. “Wow, Jay. You should know what the gems are for, since you’re a pony.”
“From another Equestria,” Twilight reminds her.
“Eh...” the deer shrugs. “Well, the gems are used for protection against predators. Unicorns charge the gems with magic for non-magical ponies to use so they can fight off predators that enters their pastures.”
“Huh...” I hear Reykan mutter. “I should remember that...”
I blink. “So... Basically, you're saying that Pinkie Pie and Applejack are sitting ducks from predators?”
“Oh dear,” I hear Twilight say, catching my attention. Her ears droop as she gives me a horrified look. “They don’t have any gems in their pasture?”
“Er...” I blink at her. “Who?”
“Pinkie Pie and Applejack,” Twilight says, sitting down with a worried look on her face. “They stopped trading gems with unicorns? H-how are they going to defend their pasture then?”
“Huh...” I sit down as well, the saddlebag slipping down slightly. “Hm... Well, Pinkie told me that they stopped trading with the unicorns in Canterlot Mountain for...a few moons now.”
She blinks at me.
“What does moons mean, Twilight?”
“Er...” Twilight er’s. “Months, Jay. It means months in this world.”
I blink. “Oh.” That’s good to know, I guess. “Anyway, they don’t look like they’re in fear of predators or whatever. Honestly?” I shrug. “They looked pretty fine to me. Er... Except for that nasty scar Pinkie showed me.”
“A scar?” Twilight asks, sounding worried.
I nod my head. “Yeah. She said she got it from the unicorns’...erm...rock cannons.”
Miss Purple blinks. Miss Purple’s ears droop.
“Er... B-but she doesn’t look sad! Or angry!” Uh... Uh... “Uh... B-but, she did say that we shouldn’t say the bleep word because the ponies living there gets upset or sad! So uh yeah!” I smile a weird smile.
Twilight blinks at me. “...Bleep word?”
I blink. “Oh!” I chuckle. “Eheheh... T-that’s what Pinkie and I agreed to call ‘unicorns.’ Apparently, the ‘unicorn’ word is the forbidden word of their pasture.”
Twilight blinks at me. She then rolls her eyes with an amused smile. “Pinkie Pie...” she says, shaking her head slightly. “Still the same happy pink pony, no matter which world.” She closes her eyes, takes a deep breath, exhales and reopens her eyes, staring at me. “I promise to fix Equestria, fix everything, so I can get my life back, get my family back, and get my friends back.” She nods her head.
I nod before I stand on four hooves. “Right.” I smile as I turn around, smiling at Sienna and Reykan. “All right. To Swan Lake then.”
“Swan Lake?” Reykan tilts his head. “There are many swans there, right?”
Sienna throws a glare at him that lasts for a few seconds before she throws that same glare at me. “If he’s coming, then I’m not coming.”
My ears droop. Derp. I forgot about this stupid coming-not-coming dilemma of mine.
Reykan blinks his sapphire eyes at Sienna. “Uh... Why not?”
I throw a helpless look at Twilight.
Miss Purple simply shrugs with an apologetic smile.
The gloomy forest’s ceiling is full of dark green leaves, leaving little gaps for the morning sun to poke its rays through, beaming at random spots on the foresty floor like little spotlights here and there. I pass through a beam of light, softly hitting my eye as I listen to the melodic chirps and tweets and the occasional rustling noises from scurrying squirrels and other rodents that echo all around, helping me tolerate this rooty, slightly rocky, uneven and littered-with-dead-and-decaying-leaves path that Sienna and I are trekking on. A soft breeze must have passed the treetops, accompanying the current forest music with soft rustling melodies of the leaves that lasted for a few short seconds. The air here is cool, calm and refreshingly fresh, soothing my lungs in each inhale I take.
“Jay...” I hear Sienna call, who’s walking a few hooves behind me. “What did you tell him?”
“Hm?” I stop and look back at her. “Tell him?”
She stops walking, her emerald eyes rolling. “The predator, Jay. Who else am I talking about?”
“Ah...” She is a very impatient deer, no? I return my gaze ahead and resume my walk, feeling the saddlebags brushing against my furry sides each step I make and feeling my ears slightly twitch after I hear Sienna’s soft hoofsteps behind me. “Reykan... Well...” I see a low-hanging branch up ahead, devoid of leaves.
And then a small, brown squirrel suddenly scurries up the tree from the ground and settles on that branch, scratching or cleaning its cute, little head, it’s long and bushy tail curling on its back.
I stop with a blink. Back home, I was never able to make a squirrel go near me, even if I was offering it some nuts. They eat nuts, right? If they don’t, then I’ve been nuts all along. Pun nut intended.
“Hello,” I say with a smile. Whew, this little guy’s cute, especially it’s cute, twitchy nose. “How are you today?”
“Uh...” I hear Sienna say from behind me. “...Are you...talking to a squirrel?”
I blink at that.
The little squirrel looks at us, turns to the tree, scurries to the trunk and quickly climbs up to the green sea above.
Sienna walks beside me, giving me a weird look. “...You know that they can’t talk, right? Nor can they understand us?”
“Er...” I feel my ears droop in shame. “I...I knew that! Um...”
She rolls her eyes but didn’t say anything, but the look she’s giving me tells me that she doesn’t believe me.
“Eh heh heh... Um...” I move forward, ducking my head to avoid the branch. “We should move on...”
Hm... I guess it’s safe to assume that not all animals here can talk. I wonder if talking and understanding speech is only exclusive to bigger animals like ponies and deer and panthers, while smaller animals like rabbits, squirrels and birds can’t.
Huh... That reminds me... I wonder where Fluttershy is in this world. She’s the only Mane Six pony I’ve yet to meet, or see.
“You didn’t answer my question, by the way,” Sienna suddenly says, breaking my train of thought.
Blinking, I give her a side-way glance. “Oh, uh, sorry... What did you ask again?”
“Reykan,” she answers. “You told him to leave, right? I want to know what you told him.”
“Oh... That... Well...” I look ahead, thinking of a response. Hm... “...I told him that you don’t like him, so he walked away with a broken heart.” I throw a pouty look at her.
She rolls her eyes yet again. “Well, at least he’s gone.”
Actually, no, he’s not. I simply told him to stalk us but not jump on us until we reach Swan Lake. If I hear him and see where he’s hiding, then his ‘training’ failed and I won’t help him move on to the next step...whatever the next step may be. ...I’ll...just come up with something.
...Reykan’s actually doing a good job though if even Sienna haven’t noticed his presence yet. It has been...what...almost an hour now since we left Twilight’s dead tree home. It’s...actually kinda scary... I know Reykan’s out there, stalking us, and I have no idea where he is.
...Well, at least he’s a panther of his word. I told him no biting, plus, I told him to stalk us until we reach Swan Lake, so there’s that, I guess...
“So...” I hear Sienna say, “...there’s no chance for you and Twilight to be mates, huh?”
I roll my eyes as I slightly shake my head. “No, Sienna. And please drop it already.”
She takes a second or two before she replies: “It’s just weird that you’ve spent a lot of time looking for her, but you two won’t end up being mates.” A pause. “It’s just...weird.”
I blink. “In...this world, maybe?”
Forest music, and then she mutters: “...If it was me, I’ll drag him back...”
I blink, and again. I look at her. “...Him?”
She quickly shakes her head. “It’s nothing...”
But I heard it. Who’s ‘him?’ Well, she won’t talk about it, so I might as well not ask. I return my attention ahead in time to duck my head from another branch.
“Is it normal in your Equestria?”
“Huh? What is?”
“You, or anyone else in your Equestria, searching for someone, but not ending up getting what you really want.”
I slightly shake my head. “Sienna, I don’t want Twilight and I to be mates. Nor do I need us to be one.” I close my eyes, take a breath, and reopen my eyes. “In fact, I’m not looking for a mate. Period. I just...” I let out a sigh... “...want to go home.”
Silence...save for the natural foresty noises all around us.
I take a breath and sigh through my nostrils. “Different ponies and other creatures pursue stuff with different intentions and purposes. Not everyone’s the same, you know.”
“I suppose...” She pauses. “What is it like?”
I turn my head to give her a side glance. “What do you mean?”
“Your Equestria,” she says, looking really curious. “Twilight showed us what your Equestria looks like. And it’s... I don’t know.” She shakes her head. “I don’t understand what I saw.”
Hm... I return my attention ahead as I think of a response. But...how can one explain civilization to someone who doesn’t know what civilization is? ...Derp... “Well, uh... The food’s not grass?”
I hear her chuckle.
“And uh... No predators?”
A pause. “Really?”
I shrug. “Well, I don’t think so, at least. There are still wild animals in forests running around, but they’re not sapient, I think, and ponies and other sapient creatures don’t live in forests. So yeah...”
“No predators...” she mutters. “...That sounds like a nice place to live.”
I smile a small smile. “Well, you could say tha—”
Rustling noises.
I stop, and so does my deer companion. We turn our heads and look at the direction where that rustling noise is coming from. Our gazes land on that rustling pile of bushes meters away from us. And then something...black, shiny, sphere-like head thing pokes out from the shrubs.
“Uh—”
“Don’t move,” I hear Sienna hiss. “Don’t make a sound either.”
“But you’re mak—”
“Shh—!”
I shut my mouth as I stare at that weird head, which is slowly looking left and right before it settles to face us, or at least at the direction where Sienna and I are standing. And then it pulls its head further out of the bushes, but instead of a neck, I see it’s shiny, black, cylindrical and segmented exo-skeleton body thingie emerging from the bushes, it’s many tiny legs click-clacking on the wet forest earth as it crawls its way towards us.
It’s a millipede. A very freakingly big millipede! I honestly find millipedes cute, but that’s when I’m a tall human and the bugs are small, but damn, this millipede’s height is almost at my pony-shoulder-level! Oh yeah, the little-big bug is crawling in between Sienna and I, it’s long, shiny body moving, moving, moving, still moving, moving, aaand finally it’s shiny bum passes by, the clicking-noise of its many feet hitting the ground fading slowly as it moves away.
I glance at Sienna, but she’s still standing still as a rock. I slowly turn my head over my shoulder and see the bug crawling through the bushes again, it’s shiny tail disappearing behind the green, disturbed leaves.
“Phew...” Sienna sighs in relief as she relaxes. She turns and looks at the direction where the millipede went. “It didn’t see us.”
Yeah, about that. “I thought millipedes eat decaying forest litter.” I tilt my head to the side as Sienna looks at me. “And why was that thing so freaking big?”
She arches an eyebrow. “Leg Crawlers are very dangerous creatures, Jay.” She slightly shakes her head. “They’re not fast, but they can kill a deer, and ponies too, I think.”
I blink. I...can’t understand how a slow-moving, albeit giant, millipede bug thing is dangerous.
She looks at the direction where the millipede made its exit. “They also release this...” she makes a face, “...very nasty smell that can make you dizzy.”
Uh huh... “If they’re as scary as you say, then why didn’t we just run away?” I blink. Oh, hey! That rhymed!
...Okay, paying attention now.
Sienna looks and blinks blankly at me. “I...don’t know?” She shakes her head. “Ma and pa and the rest of the deer in our herd told us not to move or make a sound if we see or hear a Leg Crawler.”
Ma and pa and a herd, huh? Makes me solidify my theory that she really did left her herd to be more independent. Kinda like Reykan, I guess. But then there’s this ‘him’ business... Sienna left her herd to look for her lover, maybe? Who was exiled or something?
Or maybe I’m overthinking this and maybe I should focus on more important matters.
...Like that giant millipede. “Leg Crawlers, huh?” I ask as I resume walking, Sienna following close behind.
“Yes.” A pause. “There are no Leg Crawlers in your Equestria?” she asks.
Hm... Was there ever a giant millipede shown in the show that’s half as tall as a regular pony? Hm... I shake my head. The only giant bugs that I know of are from fanfictions. “Eenope. Not that I know of.” Wait... I wonder if the Bug Bear counts...
“Sounds like a very peaceful place,” Sienna says.
I chuckle. I roll my eyes with an amused smile. “Oh... You could say that.”
“How do you mean?”
“Hm...” I hm as I walk over an exposed root. “Well, Equestria still has a few bad things going on, but there are ponies who make an effort to stop it before it can harm anyone else.”
“Really?”
“Well...” I give her a side-glance. “...yeah!” I return my attention ahead.
And then there’s silence, save for the natural music of the forest and the quiet sounds of our hoofsteps against the forest floor.
Hm... I might as well ask her something. I wasn’t able to ask this to Twilight earlier, not with an angry deer that kept on glaring at me at the time. “Hey, Sienna,” I call.
“Hm?”
“Uh... How do ponies protect themselves, or their pastures, with gems?”
A pause. “...You really don’t know?”
“I wouldn’t ask if I—” I bite my lip. “N-no, I don’t know...” I glance at her. “And I’m curious.”
Sienna shakes her head. “I don’t really know how ponies use the gems, but we use them to scare off predators from entering our pasture.”
Uh huh... “How?”
“The gems glow when the sun sleeps. It keeps us warm at night, and shelters us from sudden rains and storms.”
I blink. How...can gems do those things? Magic?
“We can also fire beams of mana at predators with the gems if the glow isn’t enough to scare them off.”
Oooooooookay... I glance at the saddlebag on my side. “...So... These here gems are ray guns?”
A pause. “...Ray guns?” She blinks a curious blink at me. “What are those?”
“Er...” I smile a small and awkward smile. “Eh heh heh... Uh... Never you mind about it!”
She arches an eyebrow at me for two or so seconds before she shakes her head. “Well, I think the non-horniecorn ponies here uses the gems the same way we use them.”
There’s that word again. I nod my head anyway. “All right. Thanks.”
Aaand silence. I smile as I let my ears concentrate on the forest music echoing all around us as Sienna and I continue our trek towards the swans.
“What are the deers over there like?”
Aaand I fight the urge to groan... “Hm... Well...” I slightly shake my head. “I’m not really sure. I mean... I don’t really follow the comics to know what the deer kind are like there...”
“Oh...” I hear her say. “What’s a comics?”
Derp.
Meanwhile...
Reykan blinks slowly, his big and nervous sapphire eyes reflecting the big and shiny black head of the giant millipede...or Leg Crawler as Sienna liked to call it.
The Leg Crawler’s big, dull and empty black eyes reflected the nervous feline’s face a few centimeters in front of it, its large feelers feeling the furry cheeks, head and neck of the panther cub.
After a few agonizing seconds that must have felt like hours for the feline, the Leg Crawler pulls its two feelers back, lifts its head and crawls on top of the panther cub—
“Oof—!”
—pushing him down on the moist ground as the giant bug continues moving over him, its many legs thankfully clicking on the ground on Reykan’s sides, the bug’s rough and vulnerable underbelly brushing against his fur.
After a minute or two, the Leg Crawler finally crawls off of him, nonchalantly moving on towards its destination...wherever it may be.
“Mrrrf...” Reykan exhales his nervousness out, calming himself down. “...Whew...” He chuckles a quiet and nervous chuckle. “I almost became worm food. Hah...”
After taking a few more seconds to completely calm himself down, Reykan rises on his four paws, stretches, and finally puts on a confident grin, continuing his ‘test’ as he returns to stalking the two brown figures far ahead who are walking through the gloomy forest.
“Is that it?” I ask as I stare at the bright edge of the forest up ahead. My ears twitch, still collecting the melodious music of mother nature.
Sienna and I have been walking through this forest for three or so hours now. The gaps between the trees are wider now compared to before, providing us more room to walk on. The forest is brighter now, too, with the sun high up in the sky at this hour, its sunny rays poking through the bigger gaps on the green, leafy ceiling of the forest. The forest floor is still littered with dead and decaying leaves, but the surface is mostly flat now, and has less exposed roots, making our walk easier than before.
The air is still calm, but not as cool as before. And speaking of air, it's a little windy, probably because we're nearing the edge of the forest already.
Sienna quickens her pace until she’s walking beside me, her emerald eyes gazing ahead. “...No.” She slightly shakes her head. “It’s not the lake. Just the end of the forest.”
I frown at her. “I...know that.” I look ahead as well, my ears twitching to the sounds of faint buzzing noises above. There's probably a beehive up there somewhere. “But is the lake—You know what? Let’s just go and see for ourselves.”
Sienna nods her head but didn’t say anything else. But I know, seconds from now, she’ll start talking about stuff again, or maybe not, but I’m quite thankful for it if she does, because her constant talking takes my mind off of walking, and prevents my brain from worrying over stuff...like my mom and bro. I should probably thank her for it, but maybe later.
The brightness of the outside world is uncomfortably bright for my squinting eyes as we near the edge of the forest. A few seconds later, and after a few blinks, my eyes adjusts to the brightness as Sienna and I walk out of the forest and...find ourselves staring at the very wide expanse of rolling grasslands with the occasional trees there and there. There’s tall and green grass everywhere, swaying with the calm breeze and creating a majestic rippling effect on the sea of green, piercing my ears with their melodic rustling melody. A large number of small shadows suddenly fly by, and looking up, I see many small birds flying towards a direction. Looking back at the sea of green before us, I see the rolling grasslands continue to expand to the east and west, and a line of thick and dense trees bordering the lands on the very far south. The air here’s cool and refreshing, and I can barely feel the warm tickles of the morning sun in the cloudless blue sky.
And despite the beauty of it all, I frown. “...So...” I say as a cool breeze breezes by the two of us. “...There’s no lake around here.” We’re going to walk through this grasslands, and then through that forest, aren’t we? Sigh...
“I don’t see one either,” Sienna says with a nod before she starts walking forward, the tall and green grass hiding her body below her neck-level. “Seri said that the lake is inside a forest, right?” she asks, her voice growing distant as she continues walking, increasing the distance between us. “Well... Maybe it’s in that forest over there.”
I sigh, my ears drooping.
She stops walking, looks back at me, blinks and raises an eyebrow. “What are you just standing there for?”
...I’m kinda getting tired of walking already... “...Snakes?”
She blinks. “Well... Just try not to step on them.”
I frown.
She looks down on her dainty hooves, shrugs, and walks on.
I close my eyes and sigh. I can’t believe there’s still more ground to...walk on to get to the swans. I sigh once again as I slowly reopen my eyes. Taking a breath, I walk after her through the tall grass, their soft blades brushing against my fur and the saddlebags on my sides.
Well, I should man up and carry on. This is for restoring Equestria, and for me to get back home, after all.
Sienna is a couple of hoofsteps ahead, her brown and alert ears turning around as she bites off the grass and munches on them as she moves.
...Huh. I should probably eat some as well. This is going to be a loooooong walk. I open my mouth, staring at the parting grass as I walk through them, and—
“Oh?” I hear Sienna suddenly say.
Blinking, I close my mouth and see her simply standing there. “What’s up?” I ask as I move towards her.
She turns her head to give me a confused look, swallows, and then looks up at the sky.
I roll my eyes.
“Uh, nothing,” she says as she looks back at me. “Was something there?” she asks oh so genuinely...
I sigh. “That wasn't what I meant.”
She blinks at me before she returns her attention ahead. “Well, there are ponies and deer up ahead.”
“Oh?” That’s interesting. I quicken my pace and soon enough, I’m standing beside my deer companion.
Not far ahead is a flat field of green land devoid of very tall grasses but with a few trees and a small watering hole. It’s kinda like a clearing in a forest, but instead of trees bordering the clearing, it’s tall grasses instead, and there’s a big number of ponies and horses and deer who are...well...doing normal pony and deer stuff? No, not Ponyville-like normal, but the same normal back in AJ’s and Pinkie’s pasture. Ponies and horses and deer are grazing, standing, talking and lying around.
...I really should think of a general term for the talking creatures in this world. Hm...
My train of thought stops for a moment when I notice two tall horses noticing us. “Oh, hello there!” one of them greets us as they begin to approach us, walking through the tall grass. Reaching us in a few seconds, the two tall horses are smiling and standing two or so hooves in front of us. “What brings you two to our pasture?” the brown one asks.
Yesh... Another pasture.
“Wow...” I hear Sienna breathe out, her emerald eyes blinking. “I didn’t know ponies can be so tall...”
The two horses chuckle. “Well, little doe,” says the black horse, “that’s because we’re not ponies, but rather horses.”
“Horses...” Sienna parrots quietly. She then looks at me. “Jay... Are you a pony or a horse?”
I look at her. “...a pony, from the last time I checked.”
“I take it that you two are a couple?” one of the horses ask.
Not this again. I close my eyes and let out a sigh... I reopen them and see Sienna glaring at them.
The two tall horses chuckle. “Right. Pardon us for assuming,” the black one says.
The brown one shrugs. “Can’t blame us though. Here in our little pasture, we have a few pony and deer couples.”
I blink. “Oh?”
The duo looks back at their pasture.
I lean aside to get a better look at the pasture behind the two towering horses. And eeyup, now that I’m observing them rather than just merely looking at them, there are some ponies and deer mingling affectionately with each other. Not just antlerless deer though. There are even antlerful deer there. Oh, and another one over there, too, under the shade of a tree.
“...Oh...” I breath out as I take a couple of steps to the side away from Sienna.
She turns her head and arches an eyebrow at me.
The two horses return their gazes at us. The black one blinks and stares curiously at me, probably wondering why I moved away from my companion, while the brown one doesn’t seem to notice as he smiles at my deer companion.
“So,” says brown horse, “if you two are looking for a place to live peacefully without any of your kind being—”
“Please don’t finish that line,” I interrupt him with a frown. “We’re not a couple. Or mates. Or whatever lovey-dovey words you call it.” I slightly shake my head. “We’re just heading towards...erm...Swan Lake and—”
“Ah!” black horse suddenly blurts out with a smile. He turns around, facing south. “They’re deep inside that forest over there,” he says, pointing at the forest in the distance by bobbing his head forward.
“...I figured,” I lamely reply.
“They’re pretty happy and chatty,” brown horse says with a smile and a nod as his black horse friend turns back to us. “So don’t be afraid to approach and talk to them! They’re really friendly.”
Black horse agrees with a nod.
Right. That’s good to hear, I guess. And it’s safe to assume that these two horses have been there before, or at least heard from others what the swans are like. Can’t have a repeat of that encounter of mine with the bleeps. Brr...
Brown horse smiles, takes a breath, opens his mouth, blinks blankly, and then closes his mouth as he stares at Sienna. “Huh...”
“Hm?” black horse turns to his friend. “What’s wrong, Brownie?”
Brownie? Really? Seriously? And the black one is—
“Landee, she smells familiar,” says Brownie, looking at the black horse.
—not Blackie. I blink. Landee? Is that the black horse’s name?
Sienna arches an eyebrow at the two staring horses. “Familiar?” she shakes her head. “But I've never been here before.”
Landee leans his head towards her, sniffing her scent—strange that Sienna doesn’t look offended—and blinks before he pulls his head back. “Huh... You’re right, Brownie.” The two horses look at each other. “She smells like—”
“A deer?” I blurt out.
The two horses turn and blink at me, and then they chuckle. “Indeed, little pony,” says Landee.
Brownie shakes his head. “Well, your little doe friend smells like our buck friend over there,” he says, throwing a look at the pasture.
...That sounded wrong.
Sienna blinks at them.
Landee nods his head. “Yeah. You two probably know each other if your scent is almost identical to his.”
Brownie smiles at Sienna. “You know Cosmo?”
Sienna blinks. She blinks again. And again. “...He’s here?”
Huh... That's a ‘he.’ Is that the ‘him’ she mentioned earlier? I smell a backstory approaching...
“Wuh-oh,” Landee says, frowning. “You’re not his mate, are you? He—”
“He’s my brother,” Sienna interrupts him with a glare. “And I’ve been looking for him for almost two moons now!”
“Oh, phew...” Landee sighs with relief, and so does Brownie. “For a moment there, I thought you’re going to fight his pony mate to get him back or something.”
I guess it’s safe to assume that couples are a thing in this world. Not some...one male and a number of females. What’s that called again? Harem? Wait, no, that’s an animé genre. Hm... A pack? A herd?
Huh... I wonder how’s ‘Thems Fighting Herds’ is doing.
Anyway, hm... Two moons. A two month-long search, eh? So Sienna recently left her herd then. I found Sienna a few days ago sleeping alone by the stream. Was she resting from her search? So she didn’t run away then?
...I can simply go and ask her instead of formulating random stories in my head.
Sienna blinks, her angry features slowly turning to...blankie face. And then her angry features return as she steps aside, walks past the two horses, stops and scans the pasture, probably with angry eyes. Spotting her prey (I think), she walks towards the pasture.
I blink, staring at her retreating form.
“Uh...” Brownie mutters, eyeing her warily as she walks out of the tall grasses, marching towards...somewhere. “Should we stop her?”
Landee shrugs. “Nope. They’re family, and I smell conflict. We should let them settle it on their own.”
Brownie nods his head. “If you say so.” He then turns to me. “So...”
I blink at him.
Brownie continues: “You’re welcome to stay if you want to wait for your, um, friend to finish talking with Cosmo.”
I blink again. “Oh, uh, sure.” I nod my head. “Thanks, I guess?”
The two horses smile at me. Turning around, they walk back to their pasture.
I blink. ...I should probably follow them. I mean, it’s either follow two friendly horses or follow an angry deer. Hm... If I’m going to be waiting here for a while... “So, uh,” I mutter as I follow them. I might as well ask for some info. “You guys know where one can get a red and blue mushroom?” I ask as I exit the tall grasses.
The duo turns around to look at me. Landee’s gaze drops on the ground as he brings a large hoof to his chin, while Brownie looks at his friend.
“...Or Poison Joke...plants?” I add.
“Hm...” Landee hums in thought. “I haven’t heard any of those plants before.” He drops his hoof back on the ground and looks at his friend. “What about you, Brownie?”
Brownie shakes his head before he flashes a small frown at me. “Sorry, pony, but I’ve never heard any of those plants before, too...”
“Name’s Jay,” I say with a frown, “and yeah, I didn’t think you would, but I figured to ask anyway.”
“Well,” Landee says, looking around. “Maybe the others might know about those plants.” He smiles at me. “These ponies and deer are from many different places, after all. So I bet at least one of them knows where to find this mushroom you’re looking for. And plant.”
From many different places... Huh... I nod my head, managing to smile a little. “Yeah. That sounds like a good idea.”
The two horses nod their heads at me.
“Just try not to cause trouble, okay Jay?” says Brownie.
I arch him an eyebrow. “Uh...sure?”
The two nod their heads at me once again before they look at each other. “We should probably go back to our posts,” says Landee.
I blink. Posts?
Brownie nods his head before the two of them walks past me, heading towards the tall grasses. They stop a hoof or two from the grass wall and they then begin talking to each other.
“...Huh.” Posts... Are they sentries or something? Now that I think about it, Mister White Horse and a few of his horse buddies were standing around the edge of his pasture home. Was he and his horse friends sentries, too? I might ask Twilight later after Sienna and I collect the ingredients.
Hm... Speaking of Sienna... I turn and see her in the distance, standing under the shade of a tree and in front of two sitting creatures: an antlered deer and a pony. I guess she’s not done talking to her brother. Cosmo, was it? I’ll leave her be for now to settle whatever it is she wants to settle with him.
I look around and see a...pegasus stallion standing by the watering hole, drinking. Well, since he’s the closest being at the moment, and since my throat now reminds me of how thirsty I suddenly am, I walk up to him. His white coat shines under the sun’s rays, and his ears and wings twitch a bit as I get closer. He lifts his head, black eyes blinking, his long and bluish mane swaying from the movement, and droplets of water drips down from his wet muzzle.
“Hi,” I greet him as I stop by the watering hole with a respectable distance from him.
“Sorry, bud,” he said, shaking his head. And then he smiles an apologetic smile my way. “But I want mares as mates.”
An eyebrow of mine raises up. “...Excuse me?”
He blinks at me. His ears droop. “Oh, uh, sorry...” He awkwardly scratches his neck with a white hoof, smiling sheepishly as if that would fix my frowning face. “I uh...s-saw you talking to Landee and Brownie earlier...so I thought...yeah,” he explains lamely, his white, folded wings slightly twitching.
I blink at that. I turn my head, look and stare at the two horses. “...Huh... Really?”
“You didn’t know?” I hear him ask.
I throw a frown at him. “I’m not from here.”
He chuckles. “Yeah, I figured.”
No, you didn’t.
He takes a breath and sighs. “Look, uh, earth pony, I uh—”
“Jay.”
He nods his head. “Moon Gaze.”
...That’s a pretty cool name, actually. Wait. No ‘Just Jay?’ or ‘Jay what?’ questions? I can get used to this. And hey, even those two horses didn't ask, either!
He smiles awkwardly once again. “Uh, sorry for assuming.”
I shrug. “Eh, simple misunderstanding. Anyway, I wanna ask if—”
“If there are any single females here?” he cuts me off with an eager smile. He nods, and nods, and nods his head. “Yeah. Only a few though. This is a small herd, after all. And hm... I think there’s one single female deer here if you like deer. And hm... There’s a cow here, too. I wonder where she went off to this time.”
I’m frowning at him. “...I’m not looking for a mate,” I say flatly. I shift my gaze to the clean and cool-looking water.
“Oh? What are you looking for, then?”
I lean my head towards the water to take a drink. The water's cool as I thought, cooling my throat with each gulp. Satisfying my thirst, I pull my head back up and wipe my wet pony mouth with a hoof. “Well,” I say as I turn back to him. “I was hoping if you know where I can find a red and blue mushroom. Oh, and Poison Joke plants.”
He blinks his black eyes at me. And then his eyes grow wide in realization. “Ah!” Eeyup, that’s a good sign. “You mean Protean Mushrooms?”
I give him a weird look. The what mushroom?
He nods his head with a smile. “Yeah. They’re mushrooms that are red during the day and blue during the night, right?”
I don’t know, but hey, it fits the description! I smile. I nod.
“Right,” Moon Gaze nods his head as well. “I’ve heard about them when I was still living with the other pegasi over the Storm Forest.”
I...arch an eyebrow. The Storm Forest?
“Wow... That was a few moons ago, too.” He looks up, staring at the sky as he rubs his chin with a hoof. “Hm... Where did I...oh! I remember now!” He brings his hoof down as he smiles at me. “I remember these dirt ponies talk—” He winces. “S-sorry... I-I didn’t mean—”
“It’s all right,” I cut him off with a shrug. “So... Protean Mushrooms?”
He nods his head. “Yeah. I heard some earth ponies talking about it in that pasture a little north from the Storm Forest.”
There’s that Storm Forest again. In before foreshadowing...
He chuckles. “R-right... I need to be more specific, huh?”
I guess... “...Eeyup.”
He points a hoof at my mouth. “That there!”
I blink, my eyes crossing as I stare at my pony mouth. What? My mouth has mushrooms now?
“I remember that one big red horse with a deep voice saying that word! A lot!”
Oh. That’s what he meant.
He blinks, his hoof returning to the ground. “Or was he a pony, but bigger? And I think that was the only word he kept saying, other than the ‘nnnope’ of his.”
“Big Mac? Er... Macintosh?”
He shrugs. “I don’t know his name. But he was a big stallion. Red coat. Orange mane and tail. And there was this sexy orange earth pony mare that kept on following him whenever my fellow pegasi and I brought them rain clouds.”
I arch an eyebrow. “...That was his best pony sister.” ...Wait. Is incest a thing here?
“Oh?” He smiles at me. He blinks, and then his ears and features droop. “Oh... Damn... Well, I guess I’ll have to settle with the mares around here.” He chuckles nervously. “...I don’t think I’ll survive a kick from that giant red stallion if I try to court his sister...”
Giving up that quickly without even trying, huh? I can relate. And hm... That’s interesting. I thought the races here would rather be around with their own kind? I wonder if this little herd is a group of ponies and other creatures who like other races...
He turns and points at a direction. “You’re going to need to head over there if you want to find out more about those mushrooms, Jay.” He brings his hoof back down and smiles a small smile at me. “Oh, and Poison Joke are blue flowers, right?”
I nod my head.
“Well, I’ve seen a lot of blue flower fields inside Storm Forest.”
And eeyup, there’s the foreshadowing...
“Mind you, I’ve never seen them up close, nor have I flown inside the forest, because, well, the forest is really creepy.”
In before Storm Forest is this Equestria’s version of the Everfree Forest.
“Since you don’t have wings,” Moon Gaze says, “...erm...it might take you a day or two, maybe, to get there from here. But hey!” He smiles widely. “The winds here are really nice, and it’s all grass and grass before you reach a small forest. And beyond that forest is the pasture where those earth ponies live! So there’s little chance for predators to trouble you, if you’re worried about them.”
Lucky winged ponies. Never ever gonna worry about predators. Unless they decide to leave their cloud homes and settle down on the ground.
Anyway, damn... So I need to get all the way back to AJ’s and Pinkie’s pasture just to get some mushrooms? And then head south from there to the Everfree Forest to collect some Poison Joke roots? The thought of going back is pulling my spirits down. Well, maybe there’s a slim chance that the swans know a closer location of getting the mushrooms...and some Poison Joke. I mean, it’s not like I don’t want to go back there. Heck, I’m kinda wondering how AJ and Pinkie are doing, but... This little quest of mine is more important, so I guess I shouldn’t delay any further by going back there if I can help it.
Hm... Speaking of avoiding delays, I wonder if I can ask Moon Gaze if he can help me collect those two items if the swans don’t know any closer locations of getting them. Then again, why would he help me? We just met, we’re not friends, and I don’t have anything to give him in exchange for the two plants I need. I can give him one of the two gems Twilight enchanted, in exchange for the Poison Joke, but I still need the mushroom, and since he doesn’t really know where to get those—wait.
I hear the pegasus chuckle quietly. “Wow... No offence, but I’ve never seen an earth pony think that long. You look like you really need the mushroom and the plant, huh?”
I ignore him and return to my train of thought as I move my gaze on the calm and watery surface of the watering hole. Hm... Twilight said that Zecora made that potion. She said that her zebra friend got all the required ingredients inside the Everfree Forest. So if that were the case...
Wait, no... But this is an alternate world. What are the chances that—
I almost forgot. Moon gaze just told me that he saw a large field of blue flowers inside the forest. Probably growing around clearings if he saw them while flying.
“Yeah...” I nod. Welp, I suck in business, but here goes nothing... “How about you fly to the Everf—er, the Storm Forest and get those two plants for me?”
Moon Gaze arches an eyebrow, his smile fading. “Uh... No.” He shakes his head. “I can’t fly there, pick up flowers, and bring them back to you. I mean...” he shrugs, “...why should I? No offense, of course.”
I nod my head. “How about a trade, then?”
His ears perk up, and his black eyes glint in interest. “I'm listening...” Okay, the bait is set. Now to wait for the fish to bite.
I look at the saddlebag on my side and slightly push the cover piece up with my pony mouth, enough to reveal the shiny white gem inside.
“Whoa—!” I hear him whoa. “Is that a gem?” There’s the bite. Now to reel in my catch.
I look back at him with a smile. “I can give you this gem, in exchange for those two plants I need.”
He shakes his head. “But I don’t know where to find Protean Mushrooms.” He frowns. “And I doubt the ponies in that pasture will tell me where to get them without giving them something in exchange.” Ooh, this fish is a fighter.
“I figured,” I say with a nod. “But you can also find the mushrooms in Storm Forest.”
He blinks at me. His gaze shifts to my saddlebag, and then shifts back to me. “...Really?” Reeling... It’s near the surface now...
I nod my head. “Eeyup.”
“How can you be so sure that I can find the mushrooms there? I mean, have you been there before? Wait, no.” He shakes his head. “You didn’t know where to find either of them, and now you’re telling me that the mushrooms can also be found in the same forest where the blue flowers are found?” Damn, this fish doesn’t want to give itself up.
I nod lamely. “...Eeyup.”
He furrows his brows. “...Are you trying to fool me here? That forest is full of strange things, and no pegasi has ever dared to go there.” Gah! I’m losing my grip on my fishing rod!
I sigh an impatient sigh. “...Do you want this gem or not?”
He bites his lower lip, seemingly thinking about the offer more in his head. “I...I do, but...” He sighs, his ears drooping. Aaand with one final pull, the fish flies out of the water! “All right. I’ll go and get you those plants.” It’s a catch, people! It’s a big fish! Okay, I’ll stop now. He looks up at me. “...But it’s kinda an unfair trade, to be honest.”
I blink at him. Really? So since I’m asking for two items, I need to give up two gems?
“Unfair for you, really. I mean...” He glances at my saddlebag and then back at me. “A mushroom and a plant is not enough for even half of that gem that you have.”
I blink. And again. Oh... That’s what he meant. “Well, I don’t mind. But anyway, I need as much mushrooms and as much Poison Joke that you can grab. Roots included.”
“Roots?” He blinks at me. “Do mushrooms have roots?”
“I...have no idea.” I blink. “Oh, by the way. Do not touch the blue flowers. They’ll...do funny stuff to you if you do.”
He nods his head with a small smile. “All right.” He stretches his wings and flaps them a few times. “I’ll be back before sunset.”
Well, I’m glad he’s helping out. It’ll make this quest of mine easier. “Another thing.”
“Hm?”
“I’m going to the swans, and I don’t know how long I’ll be back, and—”
“You're going to the swans?” he asks, blinking. “It's pretty far. That's going to take you a while.”
Yeah... I'm not looking forward to it, either.
He shrugs. He flaps his wings, lifting himself up.
Damn... Why didn’t I turn into a pegasus? Flying would be epic.
“Well,” Moon Gaze says, looking down at me. “I'll be here with the mushrooms and plants by the time you get back.” He blinks. “...You’ll be back with the gem, right?”
I nod my head. “...Unless I get eaten.”
He frowns at me. “Well, try not to get eaten then.” And with that, he flies off without another word.
I sigh in relief, hearing faint whispers from the residents of this pasture, asking about where their pegasus friend is heading.
...Wait. I chase my gaze after him and see him already far away. Darn... I should have asked him to get some silver ladybug eggshells, too... Seri said that those bugs are pretty rare in the lake.
Sigh... Oh well... At least I don’t have to go all the way back to AJ’s and Pinkie’s pasture.
“What do you mean you don’t want to go back?!”
I blink. That was Sienna’s very loud and very angry voice just now. Is she telepathic?
“I’ve been looking for you for two moons and this is what you’ve been doing all this time?!”
Or not.
“Jay!” Sienna snarls angrily, sending chilly shivers down my spine. I see her angrily marching towards the southern forest in the distance, ignoring her brother’s calls who is sitting by the tree. “We’re leaving!”
Ears drooping, I quietly shuffle after her, ignoring the curious looks the ponies, horses and deer are giving me. I pass by the tree where her brother's sitting, but I keep my gaze ahead.
“Excuse me,” I hear a male voice. Stopping, I blink, look and see Sienna’s bro frowning a sad frown at me, his antlers looking pretty heavy for his smallish brown head. “Are you perhaps Jay? The one my deer sister called?”
“Er...” I blink, my eyes lingering on his sharp-looking antlers. “...if I say yes, are you gonna hurt me?”
“Jay!” Sienna loudly calls. “Do you want to restore your Equestria or don’t you?!”
I look ahead and see her very angry face poking above the tall grass. I gulp and slowly and quietly walk after her.
“W-wait,” her brother calls, making me stop and wince at the same time. Looking back at him, I see his sad and pleading look...with two very small and brownish foals sleeping around his thin hooves. He bites his lower lip, his gaze falling to the sleeping infants. “...t-tell her I’m...sorry.” He slowly raises his head, his sad gaze on me. “I am truly, truly sorry for leaving the herd...”
He left their herd? I wonder what’s the backstory of these siblings. Blinking, I look behind the tree and see a pale green and whimpering...unicorn mare looking worriedly at the male deer. I blink once more. “Uh,” I uh as my gaze returns to the antlered deer. “Sure,” I quietly say with a small nod. “I’ll tell her.”
The deer manages a small smile, and nods his head.
Right, uh, I should shuffle along. I ignore the curious looks the many ponies, horses and deer are still giving me as I power walk towards Sienna, who’s impatiently waiting for me in the tall grass.
“Whatever he wanted you to tell me,” she quietly yet angrily says as I reach her, her glaring emerald eyes piercing through my pony head. “I don’t want to hear it.”
I frown, my ears drooping. “...Then I won’t.” I slightly shake my head. “Look, I don’t really know what you two were—”
Sienna’s glare softens, if only a little bit. “T-then don’t ask.” She slightly shakes her head. “I...don’t want to talk about it.” Her glare returns full force. “And I don’t want you to talk to him.”
Welp... Backstory denied.
I arch an eyebrow. “You know... You really don’t have the right to tell me what to...” I trail off as my arched eyebrow arches even more as I see something...big and bouncy approaching, meters behind Sienna. “...roo?”
She arches an eyebrow. “What?” She turns around with a slight shake of her head. “Let’s just go and—huh?”
“G’day, mates!” says a female (judging from her voice) and happy looking...kangaroo, hopping in place in front of Sienna. This...kangaroo is taller than the two horses we just met in the pasture behind us. “’ow ya goin?” she asks, her golden orange eyes blinking.
“Uh...” Sienna takes a nervous step back. “W-what are you?”
“She’s a—”
“I’m a kangaroo!” says miss kangaroo, her golden brown fur flowing up and down as she hops in place. “Why... You two never seen one before? Hm... Then again, I’ve never seen you two in these here grasslands before. You two new?” Before any of us can answer, she turns west, extending a hand towards it. “I live over there with the other roos.” She turns back to us, still wearing that smile of hers. “But I like to jump around, race around and hop around, like other roos, too!”
I blink. “...riiight.”
“Well, gotta go! Nice talking to ya, mates!” She jumps away, her long and mighty brown tail bobbing up and down. “Cheers, ponydoe!”
And then there is silence...save for the quiet rustling noises of the tall grasses dancing with the calm breeze.
Earlier, the sun was already setting by the time we reached the edge of the southern forest. I wanted to call it a day, but Sienna walked on, ignoring me, or maybe she didn’t know how tired I was. In any case, I could have just ignored her, too, and slept on the edge of this forest, but then I would be on my lonesome, and I didn’t think that was a good idea...even if Reykan was and still probably is watching us from afar.
I let out a tired groan as I force my tired and aching hooves to move through this dense and dark forest. The gaps between the trees are very narrow, with an occasional pony-tall bush rooted on the said gaps, blocking us from going through, making this tiring journey more annoying than it should be as we try to move around it or look for another path to take. At least the bushes aren’t ‘disguised sleeping timberwolves.’ A sea of thick, dark green leaves up above leaves little to no gaps for the eyes of any earth-bound creatures like myself to see the sleeping sky, making the forest even darker than it probably should. Thankfully, my tired eyes have already adjusted to the darkness, enough for me to see the dark and faint frames of my surroundings.
The loud and monotonous orchestra of the crickets echo very loudly in the forest, almost making it impossible for me to hear my own tired breaths and my own hoofsteps on the forest’s floor, not to mention Sienna’s, who’s three or so hooves ahead of me, who hasn’t said a word ever since that weird kangaroo left.
“...We can rest here.”
...Never mind. She just said something. I let myself fall sideways, allowing gravity and the ground to embrace me. Thud!
She turns around, her blinking emerald eyes barely visible from the darkness. “...You should have told me you were tired.”
Yeah, no. I kinda can’t, since you looked so annoyed or grumpy, not to mention very quiet. Angry and quiet females are scary creatures from what I’ve observed back home. I close my eyes and sigh in relief, focusing on the tingling electric-like sensations on my four tired hooves. “...Owie...” I mumble tiredly, my side starting to ache from lying on my gem-in-a-saddlebag. I turn to lie on my chest and belly, sighing through a tired smile on my lips. My ears twitch slightly as I hear Sienna lie down on the ground.
“Good night,” she says, her voice still carrying a hint of annoyance.
And then a loud hooting hoot of an owl echoes up above, barely piercing through the loud cricket chirps.
“...Night,” I mumble as I allow myself to drown in sleep’s embrace.
Here’s to hoping that Reykan wouldn’t be annoying us while we sleep...
I close my teary eyes and open my pony mouth wide as I let out a looong yawn. Morning came a little too soon for my liking, and Sienna was and still is looking annoyed, and aside from the ‘Let’s move’ she said as soon as she saw me waking up earlier, she hasn’t said a word to me.
With sleepy hooves, I follow Sienna’s lead though this gloomy forest. The sky is still waking up from what I can see through the little gaps on the sea of leaves up above, but at least it’s not as dark as last night. Rotting leaves, twigs and branches litter the forest floor, with different kinds of small insects moving and flying around. The air is cooler than the previous forest, and carries the many echoing chirping melodies of birds from up above, accompanied by the occasional rustling noises from scampering little rodents.
A horrible squeaking noise erupts in the forest, making me jump. Ignoring the panic tweets and rapid wing beats of the birds up above, I turn and see a struggling and squeaking rat trying to escape the jaws of a brown-scaled snake that is slowly coiling its slender body around its victim.
“...Jay,” Sienna calls impatiently.
I frown a sad frown as I feel my ears droop. Turning to my grumpy companion, I see her rolling her eyes before she continues moving, and I follow her after a quick glance at the predator and prey live action scene.
Walking around a tree, I notice how quiet the forest is now, and it’s...unsettling.
The trees are starting to provide wider gaps in between them now, which only means one thing, and that one thing is making me smile, making me feel that all of this walking is going to be worth it.
The lake is up ahead. I can’t see it yet, not with all the trees and bushes around, but I know it’s up ahead. And I think Sienna thinks the same, too, judging from her calm expression I chance to see each time she turns around a tree or a bush. It’s an improvement, which also means she’ll be talking again soon.
“I think we’re getting close,” I hear her say as I walk around this big tree, seeing her standing up ahead, her head and ears turning. “I can hear quiet voices. And that weird noise Seri makes when she’s surprised.”
Eeyup, talking deer’s back. “You mean ‘quack’?” I ask as I stand by her, looking around and trying to listen to any voices, but nope, I don’t hear any faint voices or anything.
“Over there,” Sienna says, walking towards the direction. She then stops and looks at me. “You still have the gems, right?”
I nod my head. “Yeah.”
She blinks at me. “...Are you sure?”
I frown at her. “Yes.” I turn my head to look at the saddlebag on my side, and push the cover slightly with my pony nose. “I doubt they suddenly grew legs and ran off.” Shiny gem number one is still there. I check the other bag on my other side, and eeyup, shiny gem number two’s also there.
“That’s good,” she says with a small smile before moving onward. “I was thinking... Maybe we should let the swans look for the eggshells before we give them the gems.”
“Just one gem,” I say as I follow her lead.
“Right,” she nods her head. “Just one.” A pause. “Where do you think we can get the other items?”
I blink. “About that... I asked a pegasus back in that small pasture to get me the other two plants in exchange for one gem.”
She’s not responding.
I wince. Maybe mentioning that pasture will ruin her mood once again?
“That winged pony knows where to get them?” she suddenly asks in a not-angry tone, making me sigh in relief. She stops and blinks at me. “And only two plants?”
I nod my head. “Yeah. The Protean Mushroom and the Poison Joke.”
She blinks once again. “Protean Mushroom?”
“Ah, right. That’s the name of the mushroom that turns red during the day and blue during the night.”
“Oh,” she says, nodding her head. “What about the other one?”
I blink. “The...Poison Joke?” I shrug. “He’ll take care of it, too. I bet he’s already back in the pasture by now.”
She furrows her brows for some strange reason. “I mean the other one, Jay.”
“Uh...” I blink in confusion. “The...silver ladybug eggshells?”
She rolls her eyes. “The other one. Don’t tell me you forgot about the clover that makes sounds.”
...
... ...
... ... ...
Hello, hoof. This is face. Face, meet hoof.
She frowns at me. “I can’t believe you forgot about that!”
I sigh, my ears drooping in shame. “I...can’t believe it, either.”
She takes a breath and sighs. “Let’s hope that there are sound clovers around the Swan Lake,” she grumbles as she continues moving.
Aand I ruined her mood. Joy...
Minutes later, and after walking around this giant tree, the happy and chatty voices sound clearer to my ears now as I stare at the lake a few meters ahead beyond the obscuring bushes and trees. White, twinkling sunlight stars are dancing along the calm and swan-infested surface of the large lake, bringing a smile to my face.
Sienna and I walk out from the trees, looking around. The lake is pretty large, as well as this clearing that borders the said lake. And swans are everywhere: black and white! They almost look like Seri though. The white ones, I mean. Only difference is that their bills are all orange, some all black, others have both colors but with different patterns. There are also white swans but the colors of their necks and heads are black, too. Some are on the lake and some are on the grassy ground by the lake, and all of them are chatting merrily, their happy voices echoing all around the clearing.
“Well,” Sienna says, her emerald eyes swimming through the scene before us. “...they’re happy birds.”
I nod my head in agreement. “It’s better than angry birds, at least.”
She looks at me. “What do you mean?”
I shrug. “Eh, don’t worry about it—”
“A pony!” a voice shouts above the chatter.
“A doe!”
Blinking, Sienna and I turn our gazes back at the swans.
“A pony!”
“A doe!”
“A pony!”
“A doe!”
All swan eyes are now on the two of us as the swarm of feather dusters happily approaches us, chanting their ‘pony’ and ‘deer’ chants along the way.
“...Uh...” Sienna nervously takes a step back, stops, and looks back.
There are happy-looking swans chanting happily behind us. How they got there, I wouldn’t know. But they’re there. Actually, they’re everywhere, already surrounding us.
“Eh heh heh heh...heh...” I awkwardly say as Sienna and I nervously lean against each other, our personal spaces almost completely taken by the swarms of happy swans. “T-they really are a happy and friendly bunch, huh?”
And then they’re suddenly quiet, the silence almost feeling too foreign for my abused ears.
“...Uh...” Sienna uhs...
A black swan standing in front of us and in front of the crowd furrows its...uh... It gives us a serious look, as if trying to scan us. “...You two friendly?” she asks, her voice sounding elderly.
“Uh...” I say. “...yes?”
“FRIENDLY!”
“Gah—!”
“Eep—!”
Oh my god! My poor, poor ears!
Blinking the stars off of my eyes, I shake my head and see...that all the swans are now on the lake, smiling at us.
“Welcome to our hooome~” a group of swans on the left say...in a melodious tone.
...Are they about to sing?
“Welcome to our hooome~” the swans on the right sings.
...Eeyup, they’re about to sing.
“Welcome to our hooome~” the swans on the center sings in a higher pitch.
I...smile. Hey, they sound pretty nice, to be honest.
They all then take deep breaths, silence—
“WELCOME TO OUR HOME DEAR PONY AND DOE HELLO! ~ WELCOME TO OUR HOME WE ARE GLAD TO MEET YOU! ~”
Uh...
A group of swans flies in the air.
“WE ARE AVEEYANS OF WHITE OR BLACK OR BOTH! ~ HAPPY TO HAVE YOU AND THAT IS OUR OATH! ~”
The swans in the air and on the lake are flying and swimming in patterns now, all the while smiling at us.
“WE DON’T HAVE MUCH BUT PLEASE ENJOY YOUR STAY! ~ TELL US WHAT YOU NEED AND WE’LL FIND IT RIGHT AWAY! ~”
A swan’s head pop’s up in front of me, to my great surprise. “Pom pom POM!”
“WOO HOO!” the swans cheer, swirling in the air and swimming in a circle, their loud and merry voices hurting my ears.
“...Ow...” Sienna mumbles beside me, her head hanging low as she rubs her ear with a hoof.
“So what do you need, pony and doe?” a white swan suddenly asks, suddenly standing in front of us with a wide, beaked smile.
I slightly shake my head. “Well, uh...before that...” I smile a small, awkward and fragile smile. “...nice performance?”
The swan quickly turns her long neck around to look at the others on and above the lake. “They like our song!”
The swans cheer. Weird crowd.
The swan then looks back at me. “We thank you, mister pony.”
“Eh, no problem?” I take a breath. I blink. “Wait... What do you mean by ‘what do we need?’”
The swan smiles as she nods her head. “It’s exactly as it sounds like, mister pony!”
I arch an eyebrow. “How...did you know we need something?”
The swan shrugs. “This here lake is not an ideal place for a pony and a doe couple to live—”
I stifle a groan. Sienna fails to do so.
“—so then why would a pony and a doe come here to our little lake? Why, to conduct a trade, of course!” Miss Swan happily explains, spreading her long and white wings wide. She then pulls her wings back. “So, what do you—”
“Rrraaaawrrr—!”
“Gah—oof!” Something black pounced on me, knocking me to my side—
“R-Reykan?!” Sienna yelps.
“A panther!” the swan shrieks, scrambling away.
“I got you, Jay!” the cub proudly claims, standing proud on my side with a smile. “So! Did I—”
“Panther!”
“PANTHER—!”
“AAAHHH!”
“PREDATOR—!”
Shrieks and loud flapping wings echo all around as white and black feathers fill my vision—
—and ten seconds later, silence reign in the clearing, devoid of any swans as black and white feathers softly rain down the watery and grassy surfaces of the clearing.
Reykan blinks, his sapphire eyes gazing at the empty lake. “...What was their problem?”
I hear soft hoofsteps, growing fainter and fainter. Blinking, I lift my head and look at where that sound is coming from...or leaving to.
Sienna’s marching back towards the trees.
“First, they were singing, and then shout-singing? And then they—whoa—oof!”
I push myself on my four hooves, ignoring Reykan who fell off of me. “Sienna?” I call as I see her turning around a tree. “Hey, Sienna!” I holler, but she’s not responding. “Darn it, what has gotten into her all of a sudden?” I mumble as I walk after her in a fast pace.
“Jay?” Reykan calls behind me as he probably gets up on his four paws. “Hey! Where are you going? And did I passed the test?”
“Not now, Rey,” I say as I turn around the tree—
—and with a surprised yelp escaping my pony mouth, I bump my nose on Sienna’s nose, my surprised look contrasting her angry look. She slowly and angrily moves her head forward, pushing my head back as I helplessly gaze at her furious emerald eyes burning through my head. “Why. Is. Reykan. Here.”
That wasn’t a question.
“Huh?” Reykan asks, looking at the two of us. “What about me being here?”
She ignored him.
“That was the test, right? Me stalking you two and jumping at you when you reach Swan Lake?” Reykan asks oh so innocently. “I mean, sure, I didn’t know if that lake over there was Swan Lake, so that’s why I took a while to jump at you. Oh, and the swans started singing, too, which surprised me. So...does that little delay of jumping at you guys made me fail the test? Please say I didn’t fail...”
Sienna is breathing very angrily, trying to contain her rage as she waits for my reply.
I gulp, smiling a weak and nervous smile at her as I slowly take a few steps back to recover my personal space...and to stall some time. Okay... Okay, okay... What to say? What do I say? Uh...
Eye twitching, Sienna snorts angrily, turns around and marches away.
I bite my lower lip as I feel my ears droop.
“Uh...” I hear Reykan say. “Where is she going?”
I take a breath and sigh. “Sienna...” I call as I walk after her. “Please wait.”
She stops and violently shakes her head. “No, Jay,” she quietly says without looking at me. “I don’t know why you want him around.” She shakes her head again. “I don’t know why you want him to keep on trying to kill you.” Slowly, she turns her head, enough to give me a sideway glare. “But I know one thing, and that is to stay away from crazy ponies like yourself.”
I slowly take a breath, close my eyes and sigh. “Sienna... It’s—”
“If you want to die that badly, Jay,” she says, still glaring at me, “then don’t drag anyone else with you.”
I shake my head. “I don’t plan on dying just ye—”
“Then why in deer god are you still dragging him with us?!” she snarls, turning to properly glare at me. “With you?!” She points an angry hoof at Reykan who’s...standing beside me. “He is a predator, Jay! He eats ponies like you and deer like myself! Can’t you understand that?! He can kill you but you kept on letting him tag along with you! WHY?!”
“S-Sienna’s scaring me...” Reykan mumbles under his breath as he backs up and hides behind my hooves.
Sienna suddenly throws her angry look at the leafy ceiling above and screams with frustration, echoing through this thick forest.
I flinch, my ears drooping once again.
Her screaming done, Sienna angrily snorts before she turns around and walks away.
I close my eyes, take a slow and deep breath, and let out a sigh... Frowning, I reopen my eyes.
Sienna’s gone.
Taking another breath, I sigh as I turn around, walking past the panther cub.
“...Jay?”
I stop.
Reykan shuffles beside me, his sad sapphire eyes blinking at me. “Did...? Is...?” He looks back, frowns, sits down and looks at me again. “...Is it my fault that Sienna left?” he asks in a sad tone.
I sigh.
His ears droop. “I...didn’t mean to. I mean...” he hangs his head, staring at the forest floor beneath him. “I... What did I do wrong that made her angry like she did?” He looks back at me. “I know I’m a preydator, but I won’t eat her if she doesn’t want to.” He blinks. “I...don’t even have to eat or kill you if you tell me not to.”
I sigh once again as I sit down in front of him. I slowly lift a hoof and, ignoring his wincing expression, I gently pat his black-furred head. “I...know, Reykan.” Another sigh escapes my mouth. “I know...”
“Was she upset that I kept on trying to kill you?” he asks as I pull my hoof back. Curiosity replaces the sadness in his eyes as he blinks. “Or maybe she’s upset that I haven’t tried to kill her yet?”
I blink at that. I shake my head. “Don’t worry about her, Rey.”
“But she left!” he says, frowning. “How could she just...leave you? I thought she wanted to help you and Twilight pony about...something.”
Oh, right... Reykan wasn’t there during Twilight’s explanation. That was my fault. I smile a fragile smile at my panther companion. “Don’t worry about it, Rey...”
Silence... Once again, I realize how quiet the forest is.
“Jay?” Reykan suddenly calls, looking at me. “Did you like Sienna?”
I blink at him. I frown at him. “...No.”
He blinks at me. “Oh.” He nods his head. “Okay.”
So...now what? The swans left the lake, Sienna left the party, and Reykan’s sitting in front of me, scratching his ear with a hind paw.
“...By the way, Rey,” I say quietly, catching his attention. “You...passed the test.”
He blinks at me. “Oh. Right...” He smiles. “Awesome! So, what’s the next test?”
I take a breath, look at the quiet lake through the tall bushes, and sigh. “...Help me and Twilight restore Equestria.”
After waiting for almost half an hour doing nothing but sitting around and talking about random stuff, Reykan and I finally hear the sounds of many gentle flapping wings behind the thick line of trees that surround the lake. Soon, the forest is once again echoing the happy, chatty voices of the swans as Reykan and I turn around a large tree, and see the swan-infested lake.
“They're pretty...talky, huh?” Reykan points out as we emerge from the trees, approaching the lake.
“Just shut up and let me do the talky—talking.”
“Mmmkay...” he replies rather quietly.
I stop and let my eyes swim on the chatty swans on and around the large lake, their movements creating small, gentle ripples on the watery surface, making the reflected twinkling sunlight to twinkle even more.
...I'm kinda not in the mood to appreciate Mother Nature's art at the moment. I take a breath and sigh through my nostrils. Right. Let's get this over with. I take another breath and—
“Panther!”
“PANTHER!”
“AAAAAHHHHHH—!!!”
—frown as the swans frantically and wildly flap their wings, flying away and showering the area with feathers of black and white.
Silence...
I sigh, trying to quell my annoyance.
...I blink. That's odd... It's quiet. Too quiet, actually. I turn and see Reykan, his gaze on the heavens, his eyes...emotionlessly cold...and not reflecting any sunlight despite the sun already on the zenith...
Those eyes... He had the same cold eyes when he was attacking Seri... I gulp, my ears drooping. “Uh... Rey?”
His ears twitch, and then he blinks, eyeing me with his normal sapphire eyes. “Huh...?” He blinks a curiously blink, looking around. “Hey... Where'd they go?” he asks with a confused frown.
“They, uh, flew away.”
He looks at me. “...Really?” His ears droop. “That happened twice now... A-and only when I show up.” He sits down and hangs his head, his sad gaze on the grassy ground under his shadow. “...I don't think they like me.”
I wonder why.
He slowly looks back at me. “Maybe I shouldn't show myself to them. What do you think, Jay?”
I close my eyes and sigh. I sometimes wonder if Reykan is really hopelessly clueless. “...Why don't you go around the forest and look for a clover that makes sounds if you blow some air on them.”
“Oh. Okay.” Reykan nods his head, his sad look slowly fading. He then slightly tilts his head to the side. “What's a clover?”
I bite my lip to stifle a sigh.
Minutes later...
I walk out of the line of trees that border the large lake, and on the said lake, swans of black, white or both colors swim and chat merrily without a care in the world.
Rolling my eyes, I stop by the lake and look around. Hm... Strange that they haven't noticed me yet.
“A pony!”
Never mind.
“A pony!”
“A pony!”
“Pony!”
Not a minute later, the swans surround me, aiming their happy eyes and smiling beaks at me, making me feel a bit uncomfortable. “Uh...hi?”
“HI!” they all greet back in unison, making my ears ring. Ow...
“Oh!” a black swan chirps, blinking at me. “Are you the same pony who came here earlier with a deer?”
Murmurs of agreement echo all around as he and his fellow swans turn their small heads left and right, looking around.
“She left,” I say flatly. I close my eyes as I take a breath. I then slowly reopen my eyes as I exhale, blink, and see the swans on the lake once again, looking at me. I frown as the left group started to lift their wings. “No singing.”
“Aaawww...” they all say, hanging their long heads with a sad frown.
“I thought you liked our singing...” one of the swans said as they slowly break their formation, facing one another and engaging themselves in quiet conversation.
I blink. Maybe telling them not to sing hurt their feelings, and now they decided to ignore me?
“Well,” a voice says from behind me, making me jump and turn around. “No singing it is then,” a female white swan says, smiling at me. “So, mister pony. What do you need?”
I blink. This swan looks like that very same swan that greeted Sienna and I when we first got here. ...Then again, I can barely tell them apart except for their feather colors. “Oh, right...” Damn, can these swans teleport or something? I slightly shake my head. “I'm looking for eggshells.”
The swan blinks, her smile fading, and looks down.
There's a white piece of eggshell on the grassy ground between us.
“Er...” I say, looking at her. “I mean, I'm looking for eggshells of silver ladybugs.”
“Ahh.” She nods her head with a smile. She then slowly turns her head left and right, blinking. “Hm... I don't think I've seen any of them around here lately...”
“Uh huh...”
She chuckles. “I think they're hiding behind leaves, too shy to show themselves to us.”
...Uh huh... Sure.
She looks at me as she ruffles her white feathers. “Well, it doesn't hurt to look around, right?”
I nod my head. “I guess so.”
She nods her head as well before she waddles past me, heading towards the lake.
I blink, blink again and turn around, looking at the retreating swan who wags her feathery tail excitingly as she swims on the lake's watery surface, joining a conversation with the other swans.
“Uh...” Wait... Did...she just told me to go look for them on my own? She's laughing with her fellow swanmates, so I guess that was really what she meant. I furrow my brows as I walk closer to the lake. Standing on the edge, I clear my throat rather loudly, catching her and a few swans' attention. “Excuse me, Miss Swan,” I say as I look at my saddlebag. “But I came here to trade,” not to look around and search for something that I don't even know what that something looks like. I push the saddle's cover slightly with my pony nose, the sunlight reflecting the shiny gem's surface.
“A gem!”
I flinch, pulling my head back as my ringing ears hear the many flapping wings and splashing water noises. And then a fury of excited feathery heads push me back.
“Hey!” I shout, jumping back and glaring at the excited swans swarming in front of me. This is getting ridiculous. “Calm the heck down!”
“Calm down!”
“Calm down!”
“Calming down!”
“Calm down!”
I roll my eyes as the swans pass those words around each other.
Miss White Swan clears her, uh, long throat, walking in front of her avian minions with an excited smile on her beak. “You say you wanted to trade with us, mister pony?”
“Er...” I blink at her. “...yes?”
She and a few swans shake in excitement, their feathers standing. “We're getting a gem!” one of them says happily, and he receives excited cheers.
“A-ahem,” Miss Swan says, looking at me. “We haven't traded with anyone in a long, long time! If you can believe them.” She ruffles her feathers, her feathery tail wagging. “Oh... I hope we have something that you're looking for—wait!” She rapidly blinks her eyes. “You said you were looking for silver ladybug eggshells, right?”
“Uh—”
“You hear that?!” one swan asks.
“The pony is looking for shinybug eggshells!”
“What, really?!”
And then most of them start to wobble and fly towards a random direction in excitement.
“Look at them go!” Miss Swan says with an amused smile. She turns to me, blinking, her smile faltering. “Is something wrong, mister pony?”
“Erm... Well uh,” I look at a direction, staring at a group of swans who are excitingly flying around trees, scanning the leaves. “...They mentioned shinybugs?”
“Ah...” She chuckles. “That's what we swans call the silver ladybirds...bugs...beetles?” She shakes her head with a calm smile. “Other creatures call them differently.” She nods her head. “We used to trade the shinybugs with many creatures until...erm...” She looks away, her white cheeks reddening. “...u-until we...tried to eat them...”
I still don't understand how blushes work if we're covered with fur...and feathers. Anyway, I smile a small smile. “Yeah... I've heard.”
“But this is the first time a land pony came here looking for shinybugs,” she says. “It used to be winged ponies, griffons, giraffes, buffalo and drakes who came here looking for shinybugs.”
I blink. Griffons? And drakes? Aren't those, uhm...predators? They traded with big, scary predators, but they're afraid of a small, black-furred feline?
“Uh, mister pony?” Miss Swan calls, looking at me with her beak almost touching my nose. “Are you alright?”
“Er, yeah...” I say as I gently push her back with a hoof. “Also, um... I'm looking for clovers that—”
“The pony's also looking for Melody Clovers!” a swan behind me suddenly shouts, flapping his wings wildly as he waddles away as the other swans cheer while they continue their search.
Melody Clovers. That's...a nice name than ‘sound-making clovers,’ to be honest.
“I found some!”
“Gah—!” I yelp in surprise.
I turn and see a black swan cradling some...tiny shiny pieces of whatarethosethings with both her wings. Another swan runs and stops beside her, also carrying the same shiny stuff with his wings. And then another. And then another swan brings four-leafed clovers that whistles gently as it sways in the air. And then another one. And another.
One...two...seven... There are ten swans standing before me, each carrying the sound-making Melody Clovers and the shiny pieces of something that I presume are silver ladybug eggshells.
Hm... “Are there any poison joke plants here, too?”
Blank blinks.
“Erm... Protean Mushrooms?”
Another set of blank blinks.
“...Never mind.” I stare at the tiny and glittery thingie that is being cradled by one of the smiling swans. “Are those—”
“Shinybug eggshells!” she squawks happily, looking down at them. “They're eeky when they hatch and become worms, but they're really tasty when they become shinybugs.”
I didn't answer. Instead, I turn my head towards the saddlebag on my side, bite the cover, and pull, hearing a dull pop sound. Huh... Twilight used magnets to lock the bags? Cool, I guess. I throw the cover up, landing on my back. Now...how in blazes am I going to get this gem out of the bag? My hooves aren't flexible enough...
“Mister pony?” I hear Miss White Swan call. I glance a look and see her frowning a confused frown. “What's wrong?” she asks, seemingly unaware of the glittering eyes of the other swans behind her, who are staring at the shiny gem inside my bag.
“I, uh, can't get the gem out of the bag.”
She blinks at me. “...Bag?”
I slightly shake my head. “Never mind. Can you take the gem out for me?”
“Oh! Uh, sure!” She smiles, her smile growing wider as she waddles closer to the gem. Slowly, she lifts her wings, puts them inside the bag, grabs the gem, and slowly pulls the mineral out, her eyes reflecting the gem's shine.
“Woooooo—” the crowd of swans quietly coo.
After blinking at the many swans around me, I turn back, blink once again, and deadpan, the gem not even halfway out of the bag. “...You can hurry, you know.” I slightly shake my head. “It's not like it's going to break.” I think.
...I don't think she heard me. She's still pulling the gem in a very, very slow pace. It's...actually slightly amusing. Rolling my eyes, I crouch down, my chest and belly brushing against the grassy ground.
“Oh!” Miss Swan yelps, stumbling back a bit as she embraces the gem on her chest, her large wings completely covering the mineral with white feathers.
I stand back up on all four hooves, looking at her. “Well, there you go.” I turn, letting the opened bag to face the swans. I point at the bag by bobbing my head at it. “Just put the eggshells and the clovers inside.”
The ten, excited swans shuffle towards me and dump their items inside the opened bag hanging on my side. With that done, I pull the cover down and hear a soft click, the magnet locking the bag, sealing the contents inside.
I take a deep breath and sigh through my nostrils as I smile at Miss Swan, who is now gathering every swan's attention. “Well,” I say, making her look up at me. I nod my head. “Thanks for the trade.”
She smiles and nods her head. “No. Thank you, mister pony!”
“Mhmm!” the swans bob their heads in agreement.
“Eh...” I shrug. “Well, I'll be on my way now.” I wave a hoof goodbye, and they return it with blank blinks. Huh... I guess the gesture hasn't been introduced yet...in this timeline, at least. Oh well... Twilight will fix everything after I give her the items she needs for the potion.
I turn around and walk towards the trees, my ears slightly twitching from the excited voices of the swans behind me. Reaching the trees, I glance back at the lake and blink as Miss Swan swims on the lake, the other swans trailing behind her. She stop, turn around and show the gem at the cooing swans.
She then drops the gem on the lake, my eyebrow raising along the volume of the swans' cheering.
...And then the entire lake glows in white, making me blink in surprise. What's happening?
As if reading my mind, the lake's glow disappears, and then three or so watery orbs floats out of the watery surface, hovering in midair. And as sudden as the orbs appeared, one of them suddenly zooms toward a direction in speeds that might make Rainbow Dash drool.
Splash!
“Ow!”
...That was Reykan's voice.
And then the other orb zooms after where the panther cub's voice came from, eliciting another yelp from him as the swans cheer and as the suddenly magical lake creates more floating orbs of doom.
...I turn around, shake my head and walk away from the lake. Nnnope. I don't think my lowly human brain can understand what I just witnessed.
After following Reykan’s painful wails echoing through the forest, and after he was done licking his painful self when I found him hiding inside a tall bush, the two of us head north, towards Twilight’s tree home.
The wide gaps between the trees are getting narrower the farther we walk from Swan Lake, making my trek a little difficult, not to mention the slightly slippery worming tree roots that poke out of the earth, ready to make me trip, slip and fall if I’m not careful. Reykan doesn’t seem to be having any trouble at all, putting little to no effort in walking through this hazardous terrain. Maybe paws are suited best in forests than hooves? But Sienna didn’t have any trouble walking when she was still my party member. But I do have bigger hooves than her. Maybe that’s what’s making this forest walk of mine difficult?
I shake my head to rid of that train of thought. No use thinking about it anyway. I’ll just have to focus on my walking.
Tweets and chirps echo from the forest’s ceiling, accompanied by the occasional buzzing noises of tiny flying insects flying by and the rustling noises of leaves up above. Thin lines of sunlight stream down from the tiny gaps on the leafy ceiling, illuminating random spots on the forest floor that is littered with dead and decaying leaves and twigs.
“I can’t believe water could be so painful!” Reykan suddenly exclaims, startling me a little. “How are they even throwing water at me, anyway?” he asked, looking at me with a curious frown. “Can they grab water or something?”
“Magic gem.”
He blinks. “...Gems can do that, too? Huh...” He looks ahead. “They really do attack preydeytors like me,” he says with a frown. “If they don’t want me around, they could just say so, instead of...” he shivers. “...t-throwing painful water balls at me...”
I shrug. “I thought you don’t mind getting wet?” ...Shut up, brain.
He throws a frown at me. “I don’t. But their water balls hurt! Who knew water could hurt?” He shakes his head. “I sure didn’t know.”
Hm... Reykan is a strange predator. Or maybe all panthers are like this? From what I remember in all those science animal channels I watched before, panthers are elusive, agile and solitary creatures, like leopards. And I think panthers have emerald eyes. Back in my home planet, at least, in the wild where they live.
...I blink. That reminds me... “Hey, Rey.”
“Hm?” he looks up at me, ears twitching.
“I wanna ask about your eyes.”
“Oh. Okay.” He nods. “What about them?” He crosses his eyes. “Is there a bug in there again?”
I blink. “Uh...no?” How am I going to ask this? “Anyway, why do your eyes look...well...different...when uh...like Seri, yeah!”
He blinks. “...My eyes look like Seri?”
“Ah, no.” I shake my head. “I worded that wrong. Ahem... I mean, why did your eyes look different when we first met Seri?” I blink at him. “And when you saw those swans back at the lake?”
He tilts his head to the side, looking confused. “My eyes looked different?” He frowns. “Are they looking different right now?” he asks, his sapphire blue eyes reflecting light and my faint reflection.
“Well...no.”
“Oh.” He looks ahead. He then looks back at me. “What about now?”
I frown at him. “No, Rey. It’s... Well, do you remember when we first met Seri?”
“She took that cahroot that was inside my ear, right?”
I blink. “...Uh... Before that, Rey.”
“Oh. I was about to kill and eat her that time, right?”
I wince. “Er...yeah.” I take a breath. “Do you remember me hitting your head—?”
He frowns at me.
“—and telling you not to look Seri like the way you were looking at her?”
“I think so,” he replies, still frowning.
“Well,” I look ahead. “Your eyes looked really...cold. Killer-like, even.”
“Whoa...” Reykan whoa’s. “Really? Did they look cool?”
“Er...” I look at him, noticing his big, sparkling and awestruck eyes on me. “...No?”
“Aw...” Reykan’s ears droop, the twinkles in his eyes fading.
“But it was scary-looking.”
“Oh?” his ears points up again. “Cool! Being scary is good, you know!”
“Yeah, for predators, maybe.” I slightly shake my head. Hm... Time for a different approach. “Remember the first time we met?”
“I was dragging you and thought you were dead.” He chuckles. “I was really surprised when you suddenly stood back up.” He smiles at me. “You really scared me that time, Jay. And I didn’t even know that was possible!” His smile immediately turns up-side-down. “Don’t tell my siblings I got scared by food, by the way.”
“Er... Okay?” I’m still food to him, huh?
“I wouldn’t hear the end of it, if we see each other again,” he says, frowning as he throws his gaze ahead.
I blink at him. “...again?”
He nods his head. “Yeah. I met Syroc a moon ago while I was following you and Sienna.”
Oh?
“I told him to find another prey, because you two were mine,” he explains with a smile. “He followed me though, and he kept saying that I couldn’t handle taking down two large prey at once. I told him to back off, but he wouldn’t. Meh...” He shrugs. “He’s probably preying on Sienna now, because I didn’t see him when you asked me to look for that...uh...sound clovie plant whistly...thing...”
Reykan’s bro is stalking Sienna now, huh? Welp...
“I didn’t find that plant though.” He shrugs. “Anyway, I don’t really mind if Syroc goes after her. I still have you anyway, in case you change your mind,” he says, smiling a benevolent smile at me before throwing his gaze ahead. “If not, well, there are still food running around for me to eat.”
Eh heheheh... Heh... Um... What were we talking about again? I blink. Oh, right, eyes. “Um... Getting back on topic. Why weren’t your eyes different when you were attacking me?”
He takes a moment before answering with a shrug: “I dunno. I can’t really tell if my eyes look different or not when I’m hunting or trying to kill food.”
Fair enough, I suppose. It’s not like one can see their own eyes, anyway. One has to wonder why I even asked him in the first place. And hm... Trying to kill food? “You said you haven’t killed a pony before, right?”
“Nope!”
“Hm... Deer?”
“Nope!”
“Swan?”
“Yep!”
I blink. “Wait, what?”
“Huh?” He blinks at me. “What’s the matt—oh, swans? Yeah, I killed and ate swans before.” He tilts his head. “Why? They’re tastier and meatier than rabbits and rats. And bigger, too!” He frowns. “But they have more blood though. It’s annoying when they spray their blood on me while I kill them, especially if they take a looong time to die. Sometimes, the blood dries up on my fur and it’s really tiring to clean myself up without any watering hole. Oh! And their feathers are annoying, too. I first need to rip their feathers first before I could properly eat them.” He shivers. “I really hate it when I choke on their feathers.”
Too much info, kiddo. But, hm... So, Reykan’s eyes changed when he first met Seri and when he first saw the swans back in the lake... But his eyes didn’t turn cold when he first met me, Sienna and Twilight... He hasn’t eaten or killed a pony and a deer yet, but already ate swans before... I wonder, once he finally managed to kill a deer or pony, his eyes will change the next time he sees one?
“Oh, hey, look!” Reykan’s voice suddenly rings in my ears, snapping me out of my train of thought. He dashes towards a small hollow on the base of a giant tree. “Leg Crawler eggs!” he says before he turns his head to smile at me. “Check it out, Jay!”
“Uh...” Leg Crawler eggs? I warily look around, trying to pick up any rustling noises.
He turns back at the eggs. “I wonder if I can eat them?”
If Sienna’s words were to be believed, then— “Maybe we should leave it alone in case Mother Leggy comes back.”
He turns his head and blinks his sapphire eyes at me. He shrugs. “Meh...” He walks away from the hollow, no longer blocking my eyes from seeing the black, shiny, large-as-basketballs marble-like spheres stacked on top of each other inside the hollow.
I blink, and shuffle after Reykan’s retreating form.
“Hey, that reminds me!” Reykan turns his grinning face to me. “Have I ever told you that one time that my siblings and I played with a Leg Crawler egg?” He blinks, his eyes no longer focusing on me. “...Huh. Syroc ended up eating it, but I didn’t ask him if it was tasty or not.” He shrugs, looking ahead. “Maybe I should ask him the next time we see each other. Anyway! So, one night, my siblings and I were—”
I open my mouth wide as I let out a very long yawn. Damn, we’ve been walking all day and the exit is still a distance away. The sun has probably already hidden itself behind the horizon, making the forest too dark to walk through without stumbling on something. My eyes have already adjusted to the darkness, but it’s still pretty difficult to walk around, not to mention that I’m already too tired to move.
Lying on my stomach, I let out a tired sigh as I rest my head on the forest floor, my ears twitching slightly as I hear the continuous and monotonous chirps of crickets echoing all around me. I close my eyes, ready to let sleep take over me.
Reykan’s hunting around somewhere. The darkness suits him, being a nocturnal creature and all. Hm... When was the last time Reykan slept, anyway? I doubt he managed to find the time to sleep while he was following Sienna and I while we were still heading towards Swan Lake. But we did sleep during the night. Maybe Reykan slept during that time, too?
Hm... I wonder if Moon Gaze’s already back with the plants I need. Er... I mean, the plants that Twilight needs. I sure hope he got the plants. I can’t really delay this little journey of mine any longer. And if he’s already back in that little pasture of theirs, I wonder if the plants have already withered. I wonder if all of the ingredients will be withered by the time I get back to Twilight. Will she still be able to make a potion with almost dead plant ingredients?
I take a deep breath and sigh through my nostrils.
I wonder what happened to this Equestria. I remember that Season Five finalé where Starlight altered the past and changed the present completely. Twilight said... Well, Alter-Twilight said that whoever changed the past could die and the universe will use that pony’s ‘life energy’ to create another timeline to avoid changing the present time. But that didn’t happen, in the show at least, and that doesn’t make sense if what Alter-Twilight said was true. Then again, I have already told myself countless times not to base everything from the show. But, Real-Twilight was from the show. Her memories, her everything. So maybe I shouldn’t rule out the show completely.
So... Maybe Starlight Glimmer’s behind all this? She did use Starswirl’s spell, altered it a bit to fit her revenge. Even Twilight was amazed at her feat.
Hm... Maybe, just maybe, Starswirl was already aware of the consequences of going back in time and changing the past, so he made his spell to protect the caster from dying? Or maybe it was Starlight who added that little addition in the wizard’s spell?
Whatever the case, Starlight surrendered and Equestria’s timeline was fixed. Whatever happened to those altered timelines? Did they just vanished in time and space? I wonder if that’s even possible.
Hm... If not Starlight, then maybe some other unicorn found the altered spell and used it? That seems possible. I wonder who could have done it, and I wonder if they know what the consequences of their actions are. Starlight, according to the show, wasn’t aware of the consequences of her past-altering actions, believing that it’ll only make Twilight and her friends’ lives a little different or miserable until the alicorn dragged her along to the changed-present.
But Twilight required the spell-scroll thingie to teleport herself to the time where Starlight went. So...maybe the scroll is around Equestria somewhere. Maybe Spike has it and is just waiting for Twilight to find him? Or maybe Spike’s out there looking for her right now? Or maybe it’s just Spike who’s going back in time, trying but failing to stop whoever caused this?
Wait, no... Spike was with Twilight when Starlight cast that spell. And the three were the only ones aware of what was going on. But this time around, maybe no one else was there with the caster, so that means Spike...
Twilight hatched Spike, so if the past really did change all the way back in the past, then there was no chance for Alter-Twilight and Alter-Spike to ever meet in this new timeline, I think.
...Not to mention Twilight not meeting the rest of her friends, minus Rarity.
...Wow, that’s kinda sad to think about.
But hm... Before Equestria became like what it is now, Twilight said everything was swallowed by that bright white light. If whoever or whatever did this did use Starswirl’s altered spell, then why did Twilight say that the magic was unfamiliar to her? I don’t really know how magic works, or if a certain type of magic or spell can be felt familiar when you felt it at least once.
So... If it wasn’t Starswirl’s altered spell that caused this, then who or what did?
Sigh... Alright, that’s enough thinking for now. Isn’t that the reason why we’re gathering these plant ingredients in the first place; to get our questions answered? I just need to have some faith, let Twilight do her thing and hope she can get some answers.
Wet, decaying leaves littered the ground of the early morning forest as I march north, my pony ears twitching occasionally as I listen to the birds’ chirping melodies.
“...mmmrrrfff...”
...Oh, and Reykan lies asleep on my pony back, and I am praying to Celestia that he’s not drooling. Fighting the urge to shiver, I march on, ignoring my grumbling stomach that keeps on reminding me that I need to eat, despite my mental protest that I still don’t want to eat...grass. Not right now, at least.
I slightly shake my head and focus my attention on the narrow, bushy and twisty path ahead. It's still a long way back to Twilight’s, but I'll get there, eventually.
Four dainty hooves march out of the tree lines. Squinting her emerald eyes from the rising sun’s rays, Sienna stops and looks around the quiet grassland, planning her way to avoid a certain spot on the vast land of tall grasses. Frowning, she decides to walk where her shadow is pointing.
Unbeknownst to her, above the ground and hidden under the shadows of leaves and branches, two pairs of golden eyes are watching her in silence. As the deer walk on, the shadowy figure seems to be just content on watching her, even as the distance between them grow.
Suddenly, Sienna stops walking, her ears turning. Blinking, she cast a look over her shoulder, her emerald eyes scanning the line of trees bordering the thick forest, but all she see is nothing but the ordinary. Her frown hardening, she whips her gaze back and marches on.
Two steps... Four steps... Six steps... Eight—
A quiet and distant squeak reaches her brown ears, making her stop and blink in wonder. And as soon as she heard it, the sound was gone. She turn her curious gaze north, trying to see what it was, but after a few seconds of nothing, she shakes her head and resumes her trot.
If I am to guess, the sun merely has less than an hour left before it reaches the zenith. I march out of the tree lines, munching on some grass as I stop and stare at the vast grasslands, each stalk swaying with the breeze, occasionally disturbed by a number of racing kangaroos. I let my gaze swim at the scene until I notice a ‘clearing’ far ahead, the twinkling sunlight reflected on the small watering hole acting like a beacon to guide me where to go.
I close my eyes and take a deep breath, letting the calming air to cool my lungs. Damn, it’s really astonishing that I manage to get not one but two items without any major problems, but hey, I’m not complaining. If Lady Luck keeps this up, I might be able to get the other two items and return home in no time!
With a blink, I toss my gaze back and stare at the saddlebags on my sides.
...And then I notice a black, furry lump lying on my back, it’s tongue sticking out of its open, sleeping maw.
“...mmm...”
...right, I almost forgot that Reykan’s still sleeping on my back.
“...white...fluffy...rabbit...zzz...”
I roll my eyes as he slightly noms my fur in his sleep.
Anyway, I don’t think the folks living in that clearing would welcome me with a sleeping panther on my back. As I march onward, breaking through the tall grasses, and hoping that there won’t be any snakes in my path, I think of ways to enter that pasture without any problems.
Mission is to get inside, trade with...what’s-his-name and shuffle onward to Twilight’s tree. Problem is I have a predator on my back. Current location...tall grasses.
...Well, you know what they say; simple problems have simple solutions.
I lean sideways until—
Thud!
—the black, furry lump falls off of my back.
“...mmmrrrfff—ow...” Lying on his back and after he sleepily blinks the stars out of his sapphire blue eyes, Reykan stares up at me. “...Jay?”
“Hm?”
He looks around and then stares back at me. “Did you just dropped me?”
“Nah. You slipped.”
“Oh.” He rolls on his stomach, stands up on his four paws, stretches and yawns. “My bad then.” He then sits down, licks a paw and wipes said paw on his head. “You should have seen how I scared that timberwolf away from you last night, Jay!” he says proudly, walking after me as I continue heading north. “I can’t believe I managed to scare it, but I did!” and he finishes it with a big, toothy grin.
I blink at him, my walk slowing somewhat. “...What?” He repeats what he just said, but I zone him out. I...thought I’m a light sleeper. Damn. All of this walking and thinking must have been giving a toll to my pony body if I wasn’t able to wake up to two predators wrestling against each other in the dark. But wait... “Why aren’t you wounded?” I doubt that Reykan managed to dodge every attack of that cat-twig.
“Huh?” he blinks at me. “Wounded? Me?” He blinks yet again. “Why would I be wounded?” he asks with a confused frown.
I blink in return. “...You said you scared a timberwolf, right?”
He nods his head.
“So...why aren’t you hurt?” I shake my head. “Don’t tell me you just stared at each other and it just left.”
“...” He slightly tilts his head to the side. “How’d you know? Were you awake when it happened?”
... ... ... “... ... ...whatever.” I stop and turn to fully face him, him stopping in front of me. “There’s a pasture up ahead.”
He nods his head. “I know. You and Sienna went there.”
“I need to go there again and get something for Twilight.” I point a hoof at him, his eyes blinking at it. “I want you to stay here,” I point on the ground in between us. “Stay out of sight. Can you do that?”
He shrugs. “I’ve done it before, so I can do it again.” His ears twitch. “I can hunt a few birds while you’re in there.”
I shake my head. “Whatever. Just stay out of sight, okay?” I didn’t wait for his reply. I turn and walk north, staring at the reflected twinkling light through the tall grasses.
It didn’t take long until I reach the pasture. Walking out of the tall grass, I blink and look around, expecting a horse or two to approach me.
Sure enough, a tall, brown horse nearby sees and approaches me. “Hi there,” he greets me with a small smile. He stops in a respectable distance and blinks. “Oh, I recognize you,” he says, his smile growing. “Yes. You’re that small pony who came here a few moons ago. But uh...” He blinks yet again. “...I think I remember that there was a deer with you?” He looks behind and around me.
I slightly shake my head. “Eh. She left.”
He looks back at me with a frown. “Oh... Well, sorry to hear that.”
I arch an eyebrow. I close my eyes, shake my head and shrug. “...Meh. Anyway, I’m looking for...uh...” Damn, I can’t remember that pony’s name—oh wait, I remember now. “Moon.” ...Can’t remember the last name though. “He’s a white pegasus.”
“Moon Gaze?” brown horse asks as another horse walks towards us. He shakes his head with a frown. “Yes, he’s...uh...around?”
I once again arch an eyebrow.
“Is that pony here looking for Moon?” says yellow horse, stopping beside his friend. He blinks at me. “Oh, I remember you.” He nods his head. “Weren’t you the pony who was talking to Moon Gaze before he flew off somewhere?”
I nod my head. “Yeah. We agreed to trade.”
The two horses frown at me. They both then look at each other, and then return their gazes back to me.
“Er... Right,” Yellow Horse says quietly, looking over his shoulder. “He should be...still sitting by the watering hole.”
“...Uh huh...” I want to question them further, but I’d rather not waste more time. After all, they already told me where the pegasus is anyway. After saying my thanks, I walk past them and head straight towards the watering hole. I see a bunch of blue flowers by the edge—those are probably the Poison Jokes—but there’s no white pegasus around it.
I shuffle to a stop beside the flowers, and this close to them, I notice a bunch of mushrooms lying beside them. Oh, and there’s a white rat staring at its reflection on the water. Yes, it’s a rat because I don’t think mice are that big.
I blink at the flowers. Hm... How am I gonna put these inside the bag, anyway? If only I can use magic, this wouldn’t be a prob—say, I think I remember seeing a unicorn around here. Now where is that—
SQUEAK!
I jump back and whip my gaze at where that squeak had come from. The white rat thing is standing on its hind legs, one front paw-thing pointing at me, its red eyes...glaring at me?
“You!” it...squeaks?
It...rat...wha? Rats...can speak?
“What did you do to me?!”
... ... ...
It scurries towards me, and I reflexively try to walk back while flailing my hooves to shoo it away. “Oof—!” Unfortunately, I lose my balance and fall on the grassy ground. And then the rat jumps on top of my muzzle, its red, glaring eyes glaring directly into my own eyes.
It then starts to squeak at me, squeaking angrily at me, each of its squeak carries anger, confusion and more anger. But I understand each squeak perfectly, and as the rat squeaks the seconds by, my brain suddenly comes up with a...weird theory.
“M...Moon Gaze?” I breathe out, blinking at the white rodent on my muzzle.
“No, I’m a perfectly ordinary rat, is what I am!” the white rat exclaims as it leans its white furry head closer, its long, white tail whipping madly behind it. “Yes! I’m Moon Gaze! And I want to know what you did to me!”
“And again, what do you mean you don’t know what happened to me?!” Moon Gaze the rat squeaks angrily as he carries flowers and mushrooms as many as his tiny little body can, drags them towards me and drops them inside my opened saddlebag where the other two ingredients are stored. “After I fetched you your stupid plants, I woke up the next day—today—as a rat! So don’t you dare tell me that I became like this because of a bunch of stupid flowers and mushrooms!” He jumps down and lands on the ground with an angry huff. “I swear to the moon, that forest is cursed, and you made my fly there!”
As he continues his little task, and his little rants, I let out a tired sigh and ignore the looks we’ve earned after minutes of him yelling at me. Looks like ‘an ignorant me’ isn’t going to work, so let’s try ‘an honest me.’ Applejack, don’t let me down.
“Okay, I miiight know why you became—”
“Of course you do,” he grumbles, dragging two blue flowers behind him, his tail whipping behind him. “And are you going to help me or not?! It’s not easy doing this as a rat, you know!”
I slightly shake my head, ignoring the itchy feeling of my furry tummy against the ground. “No, I can’t, else I risk touching the Poison Joke.”
“Whatever,” he grumbles as he climbs on my saddlebag and throws the two flowers inside. “And why I became a rat?”
“B-because you probably touched the blue petals, even after I warned you not to.”
“Pffft,” he pffft’s, throwing glare at me. “I might try these sharp teeth on you right now if you keep on lying to me, pony!”
I counter his glare with my own. “Believe it or not, ratty, the Poison Joke turned you like that. Why do you think I’m not touching it? And why do you think I warned you not to touch the petals before you flew off?”
He angrily grabs another Poison Joke on the ground, glaring at the blue, dry and crinkly petals, and then those glaring red eyes slowly shift to me.
I glare back. “Don’t you freaking dare.”
“Two mice is better than one, I say,” he smirks.
“I doubt I’ll turn into a rat.”
His smirk grows even wider. “Only one way to find out.”
“I thought you’re into mares?” I blink. ...I don’t know why my mind told me to say that.
He blinks blankly at me before his red little eyes grow in horror. He squeakily snarls as he points the flower at me like a sword. “That is not what I meant, you sick bastard!”
I shake my head. “Look, I’ll help you, okay? Just...I need to stay as a pony if you want me to help you.”
“And how are you going to do that? With a gem?” He blinks. “Wait.” He blinks again. A smirk appears on his rat snout as he throws the flower behind him. “You owe me a gem! Give it!”
“Erm...”
He scurries in all four towards the other saddlebag, climbs and pulls the cover open. He saw me how to open the other bag earlier, so I guess he’s a quick-learner, probably even a quicker-learner when he’s desperate.
With the cover thrown open, Moon Gaze climbs further up and is now standing in awe on the gem, his red, tiny eyes reflecting the reflected light from the sun up above. “Shiny...” He clears his throat and slumps on the gem. “Oh, shiny gem of magic, grant me my wish and return me to normal!”
I arch an eyebrow at him as he repeats his chant a few more times. Is...that how it’s supposed to work? Make up some chant, repeat a few times, and magic happens? Is that how the swans did it back in the lake?
Moon Gaze’s impatient grunt breaks me out of my train of thought.
“Guh...!” he stands up and stomps on the gem. “Work! Work! Work, you stupid shiny thing!”
“I don’t think it’s working...”
“I can see that, dirtpony!” he squeaks and stomps the gem a few more times before giving up. He tiredly lay on the gem, breathless. ...And then he sniffs. “Am I... Am I gonna be a mouse forever...?”
“Rat,” I correct him. I sigh. “Look. I know somepony who can—”
“Zap the pony.”
I blink as the gem glows. “Huh?”
BZZZT!
“Gah!” I finally manage to shout—or gasp, to be more specific—after shaking violently and painfully for...I dunno how long I was electrified! Electrocuted! Whatever! I suddenly find myself lying on the watery surface of the watering hole, shivering from the stinging, electric leftover feeling in my entire pony body.
And then a series of squeaky laughter graces my stiff ears.
“Hah—hahahahahahahahah—!” Moon Gaze the rat is on the ground, rolling his ass off.
“Grrrfff...” I shiver as I slowly pull myself up. Oh yeah? Well, two can play that game. With a glare, I say: “Gem, zap the mouse.”
“Hah!” he shouts at me. “You traded me that gem, buddy! It’s mine and only listens to me now!” And then he returns to laughing.
I blink at that. And again... And again...
Is that how this work? Gems can sense it’s owner through trade? That’s...
You know what? I’m not gonna bother trying to understand it.
With a grumble, I walk out of the water and try my best to shake myself dry. With that done, I stand and glare at the rat, waiting for his laughter to die down.
And when he finally stops laughing, he wheezes for breath, looks up at me, and chuckles. “Heh... I needed that.”
“You’re welcome.” I roll my eyes as I close the saddlebags on my sides. “You know, I can leave them gem and you behind and be on my way, because our trade is complete.”
“Oi,” he throws a pointed look my way as he stands up on his two hind feet. “You said you know how to fix me, and I want to know how.”
“And what if I won’t tell you?”
“Wanna have another dance with lightning?”
I feel my ears droop.
He smirks. “Didn’t think so. So tell me.”
I glare at him. “You turning into a rat is your own fault; not mine.”
“Whatever,” he says as he scurries to me, climbing his way on my back and sits behind my neck. “Now tell me how,” he says behind my ear.
I stop myself from shaking my head. “I don’t know how. But I know somepony who knows.”
“I’m to guess that pony doesn’t live here.”
“You’re a smart rat. I wished you were smarter to heed my warning when you were still a pegasus.”
“Your ear looks chewable from here, you know.”
“And I can stomp you into a pancake.”
Silence.
I guess bigger creatures can throw the bigger threats here.
“...What’s a pancake?”
I groan and walk north, ignoring the looks of the creatures around us. “Never mind. Just be quiet.”
“You haven’t told me who the pony is that can help me.”
I glare ahead as I break through the tall grasses. “I’m going to her. Now can you be quiet?”
“You’re gonna bring me to her, huh?” Somehow, I can sense his smirk behind those words. “She must be a pretty smart mare.”
I roll my eyes and keep moving.
“Details, pony!” he says squeakily and excitingly, hurting my ears a little. “I wanna know aaall about her.”
He’s not gonna shut up, is he? I take a breath and sigh. “...She’s a unicorn, purple, and lives in a forest.”
Silence, and then... “A purple unicorn?” He chuckles. “You’re not talking about that crazy Twilight pony, right?”
“Yeeeaaa—” ...huh... I almost forgot about Twilight’s reputation in this world. “—aaa-no, of course not.”
“Is she your mate?”
Here we go again. “No. Twilight’s not my mate.”
“I’m not talking about Twilight, dumbbutt.”
...Oh. And uh, ‘dumbbutt?’
“I’m talking about that purple unicorn that will return my pegasus body back.”
“...aaahhh! Right. Eh, uh, still a no on that.”
“Hm...” I feel him slowly move and sit on the center part of my back. “...these plants are for her, right?”
“Yeah,” I nod my head.
“Huh... Wow.” He sounds amazed for some reason. “You’re an amazing pony, you know that?”
“...Thanks?” I honestly have no idea why he just...complimented me.
“She must be a pretty mare if you went this far to get all these plants as an offering to be her mate.”
This stupid world and its—ugh... I groan and facehoo—“Oof!”
A black blur pounces on me, throwing me off balance. I land on my side where the gem is, hurting me as I hiss in pain.
“Jay!” a small and black feline yells at me as he stands on my other side. “You cannot believe how juicy that brown rabbit was—”
“Aaahhh!!!” a squeaky yell erupts from behind my skull. “A p-p-p-p-pa—”
“Preydeytor?” Reykan asks, blinking at him.
“...Yeah, that works too,” Moon Gaze says. He clears his throat. “Anyway... Aaahhh!!! Preda—!”
I push Reykan off of me for one, before his eyes fully change once again, two, to stop him from paining my other side, and three, just so he can get off of me. With a grunt, I push myself back up and glare at the cub as he shakes his head. “Can you please stop pouncing on me? I’m not Zazu, you know.”
“I just thought to practice pouncing on bigger prey,” he says with a shrug.
“Well don’t.”
“Mmmkay.”
“Uuuhhh...” I hear Moon Gaze uuuhhh’s.
Reykan blinks at the white rat behind me before blinking at me. “...Can I eat the rat, Jay?”
“N—”
“Please don’t say no,” he adds with a pout.
“—nnnnnnnnnnn—”
“Yes!” Aaand Reykan chases after the panicking white rat.
I facehoof as the duo circles around me noisily: Reykan growling excitingly and Moon Gaze trying but failing to say the magic gem words.
“Reykan, stop—”
Moon Gaze, in blind panic, rushes north with a panther cub hot on his tail.
With a sigh, I run after them, breaking through the swaying grass stalks. Seconds later, I break out of the tall grass, stop and see the two running around still.
I frown. “Reykan, you can stop chasing him now—”
“—haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa—!”
Goddammit. Now what—?
A quick brown blur quickly runs up to Reykan and delivers a mighty somersault kick, sending the yelping cub flying in the air.
“—aaayah!” A grinning kangaroo lands on her two large feet and skids to a stop, her orange eyes locked on the black missile she just launched.
I blink.
“Hah! Take that, ya stinkin’ meat-eatin’ varmint!”
“My savior!” Moon Gaze quickly runs up to her and throws his small self on her tall, mighty kangaroo leg, embracing it.
“Huh?” With a curious blink, Miss Roo looks down on her feet, staring at the rat that latched itself on her. “Are my ears still working right? I thought I just heard this little fella talked just now.”
I hear a distant thud. “...ow.”
I take a deep breath and sigh... Well, at least—
“Birds of prey!”
A far-away voice coming from behind me reaches my twitching ears. Stifling a groan, I take another deep breath and exhale as more and more distant voices chant ‘birds of prey.’
I open my mouth to ask no one in particular what else is going on, but my voice gets stuck in my throat after I see the tall kangaroo nervously crouching low, her brown ears drooping behind her head. She’s shivering, looking frightened, and so is Moon Gaze who quickly climbs up and jumps inside her pouch to hide, slightly poking his head out, looking at the sky.
As the distant voices sound more and more scared, I start to feel scared as well, my ears drooping. “W-what’s—?”
“We have to get outta here...!” says Miss Kanga, looking at me. She motions to follow her towards the trees. “We should hide in the forest, quick!” She turns around and quickly hops towards the tree lines.
I run after her, but quickly skid to a stop. “...Darn it, Rey—” I grunt as I turn around, but the words die in my throat as I see many black flapping dots from the south. Pegasus ponies take off from the grassy fields, fleeing in a panic while earth-bound creatures either run towards the trees or hide under the thick grass stalks.
“Pony!” I hear Moon’s squeaky shout from behind. “W-what are standing there for?! Get a move on!”
Snapping back, I quickly run towards Reykan’s unconscious form a little distance away, ignoring Moon Gaze’s squeaks and trying my best not to crash on any fleeing creatures. A kangaroo bursts out of the tall grasses, its mighty legs almost crushing the panther cub.
“Goddammit Reykan!” I hiss as I skid to a stop and bite his tail. I turn around and gallop towards the trees, ignoring the deathly shrieks from behind me. I kick and kick and kick my hooves, pushing myself closer and closer towards the trees as shadows of winged creatures start to fly pass me. “Grr—!” Finally reaching the tree lines, I slow down—“Gah—!”—but hit an exposed root with my hoof, letting go of Reykan’s tail and throwing me off balance. “Oof—!”
Rolling to a painful stop, the world spins around slightly as feathery shadows swoop down outside the trees, carrying ponies and deer with their sharp talons. I close my eyes and pant for breath, but the shrieks of predator and prey isn’t helping me calm down.
Loud rustling noises echo from above. A broken twig falls on my nose—ouch—forcing me to look up. A griffon is clawing through the thick leaves and branches, its hungry eyes on me.
“...Hi?”
SQUAAAAWK!!!
It quickens its pace, its lower-half, or behind-half, or whatever is stuck in between branches but it desperately tries to pull itself out of it just to get to me.
Taking this chance, I quickly jump to my hooves, ignoring its squawkings. I run away as far as—“GODDAMMIT REYKAN!”—I stop, turn around and sprint back, my eyes on the black furred piece of shi—
THUD!
And of course the tall and scary brown griffon falls on the ground where I was lying a few seconds ago, a meter or two away from Reykan. Damn it...! I quickly look around to see what I can do.
The catbird quickly gets back on its feet and shakes the dizziness and twigs off. It looks around and quickly locks its eyes on me, a pony who’s stupidly just standing around. Flaring its brown, mighty wings, it roars at me and flaps its wings, launching itself at me in great speed.
...And I just drop myself on the ground like a lifeless sack of potatoes and—
THUD!
...Huh... That was a stupid idea, but I can’t believe it actually worked!
Crawling away from the tree, I stand up and look over my shoulder.
The griffon is unconsciously attached on the tree, its beak stuck on the trunk.
Right. I don’t want to be here when angry catbird wakes up. I turn around and from the distance, I see more griffons catching prey as they dodge rocks thrown at them. Shaking my head, I quickly snatch Reykan up and run deeper into the forest.
I pant for breath as I tiredly lean on a tree, feeling hot and sweaty all over.
...I blink. Wait. Ponies sweat? Huh... I actually thought they sweat through their nose and tongue like dogs. The more you know.
I close my eyes and just...concentrate on breathing through my open pony mouth.
...Who knew griffons could be so...so...freaking terrifying? Swans traded with griffons? Really? For silver ladybugs? Did the ‘extinction’ of those bugs drove the catbirds to prey on ponies and deer? If that was how griffons work in this world, then I shiver at the thought of dragons.
But, thankfully, I don’t have to find that out. I got all the ingredients now. Twilight will brew a potion, figure out what happened in the past, she fixes it, and boom! Equestria’s fixed, and I can finally drop the ‘I’m a human from another world’ revelation to her. Who knows? With her, her friends and the princesses, they can figure out a way to bring me back home. Or maybe Discord can help, too. He can easily open portals to another world, right?
...I wonder how many worlds are out there.
I slowly open my eyes, staring at Reykan’s unconscious form lying on the ground in front of me, and noticing the tired smile I have on my muzzle.
Heh... I can finally go back home after all of this. I can hardly believe it! Oh, the explanation I’m going to tell my mom and my bro when I return. They’ll...probably think I’m crazy and will throw me in a mental hospital or something.
...I might need to come up with a lie, but eh, I’ll figure something out later. Right now, I should focus on getting back to Twilight.
...huh, I just realized how quiet the forest is, aside from the occasional gentle breeze that rustles the leaves.
I take a deep, deep breath and exhale. With a smile and a nod, I bite Reykan’s tail—
Bleahk... Now that I’m no longer in danger, my pony tongue is now free to remind me that it doesn’t like the taste of dirty fur. I grumble in annoyance... Well, too bad, me! Man up and just go already!
After a little mental scolding to myself, I bite Reykan’s tail, lift him up, walk north...
...and hope that I won’t end up getting lost.
“Griffons? Huh...” Reykan says as he limply walks beside me. His ears and head droops. “Aw... I’ve never seen one before, and I missed my chance...”
“I think you were lucky not to meet them.”
“Meh.”
Reykan woke up not too long ago and immediately cried how painful his everything was. We took a breather for a couple of minutes before he insisted that he was okay and that the pain had already faded, which was a big, fat lie.
“We can stop and rest if you want, you know,” I tell him, walking in a slow pace for his sake.
“I said I’m fine!” Reykan growls at me with piercing blue eyes. He winces. “Ow ow—I’m okay!”
I frown at him. “I hope you realize that you’re not fooling me with that.”
“I’m a strong panther! A little hurt wouldn’t stop me!” he says with a strained smile. “Your kicks were more painful that this. Ow...”
I let out a sigh.
“Say... Why is your...bahg-thing glowing?”
I blink. “Hm?” I stop and look at him.
He stops, sits, wince, and points at my saddlebag with a paw. “That one. It’s glowing.”
I take a look and eeyup, the bag where the gem is stored is glowing. “Huh... So it is.”
I swear, if it zaps me once again I’ll—
“It’s been glowing for a while,” Reykan says before licking a paw.
Huh... I wonder what this could mean.
“There you are!” a familiar squeaky voice echoes from the trees.
Oh. I guess it means that it’s ‘owner’ is close by. I turn to where the voice had come from and see the tall Miss Roo in the distance, approaching us, with Mister Grumpy White Rat on her head.
“I actually thought you were a goner when you went back to get that—”
Both Miss Roo and Mister Rat stop from approaching and talking respectively.
I blink at them. “...Oh hi there.” I hear movement behind me. Blinking, I look over my shoulder and see Reykan hiding behind my hind legs.
And then I hear powerful thumps on the ground ahead of me.
“Don’t worry your crazy little head, pony!” Miss Roo exclaims, getting ready to...dash or something. “I’m gonna get that bastard off of ya quicker than you can say—” she stops when I suddenly grab the wincing cub with both hooves and drag him in front of me.
“Miss Roo, and Mister Grumpy Rat, this is Reykan. Reykan, meet Miss Roo and Mister Grumpy Rat.”
The trio blinks at each other.
Silence.
Moon Gaze breaks the silence with: “...Okay, I give up. What’s going on?”
“He’s with me,” I say quickly.
Miss Roo blinks in confusion. “...You two are mates?”
“NO!” Both pony and panther exclaim in unison.
“Eewww Jay!” Reykan scurries away from me, wincing. “We’re not mates!”
Ah, headache. How I’ve missed you. “No, Rey. We’re not!” I glare at Miss Tall and Mister Tiny. “Reykan’s a friend. That’s all there is to it.”
“Friends?” Moon Gaze asks. “Pffft! That’s the funniest joke I’ve ever heard. I could have laughed if there wasn’t a meat-eater around!” He narrows his tiny red eyes. “Good thing my gem’s still with you! We can easily scare that cub away!”
“Huh?” Reykan blinks, turning to me. “‘His’ gem?”
“Moon Gaze,” he slowly say, glaring at him. “Don’t you dare—”
“Zap that cub!”
After the words escape his snout—
BZZZZZZT!
—a beam of electric light dances out of the bag and dives towards the confused panther cub in a split of a second.
Reykan didn’t even get the chance to shout the pain before he’s zapped to a tree, slamming into it. “Oof—!” He drops on a small bush that grew around the tree, creating a rustling noise.
“And while the bastard’s out!” Miss Roo rushes towards him. “I’mma break his skull so he wouldn’t bother the pony ever again!”
“Goddammit you two!” I shout as I shot myself towards Reykan, but the roo is too damn fast.
Skidding to a stop, she grabs him, slams him down on the ground and quickly jumps up, preparing her two mighty feet to slam them on him.
“Grrr—!” Still running, I jump and tackle her before her feet connects, pushing and slamming her against a tree.
“Oof!” Miss Roo breathes out as the tree shakes, its leaves rustling above us.
“Aaaiiiyyyeee—!” Moon Gaze yelps and falls off of her as I quickly move away from them.
“Guh!” Miss Roo shakes her head and glares at me, countering my own. “What in the stinkin’ poophole did ya do that for?!”
“He’s out of his mind!” Moon Gaze shouts as he scurries back to the kangaroo’s head.
I stand my ground as Miss Roo turns to properly glare at me. “Damn it you two! Don’t hurt him!”
“We kinda already did,” Miss Roo counters.
“And why not, pony?” Moon Gaze asks, glaring at me. “You risked your life to save him from those damn birds of prey! And now you’re trying to stop us from...from...” he trails off, tearing his gaze off of me.
“Killing him?” I finish for him.
He shudders violently. “D-don’t say that word,” he squeaks quietly.
I raise an eyebrow.
Miss Roo takes a step forward, almost making me jump. “The question remains, pony.” She gestures at Reykan behind me. “Why are ya protecting the bastard? He’s a meat-eating predator!”
I keep my glare and stance up as I formulate a response. I gather the reasons in my head and prepare to blast them with my reasoning.
...But there’s none. I can’t even formulate lies, and I’m supposed to be somewhat good at making up lies on the spot!
Sienna asked me the same thing. I never gave her an answer, probably because I never had one. Seri and Twilight didn’t really asked me why. At least, I don’t remember them asking me why I bring Reykan along. Heck, why did I even chose Reykan over Sienna back in Swan Lake?
“...Ow.”
My ears twitch after hearing Reykan’s weak voice. I turn around, my glare fading as I see him too weak to even wince as he lie on the ground.
“...I’m...I think...I n-need to rest...ow...”
He closes his weak, blue eyes, and exhale.
...
...
...
He’s still breathing, thankfully. Tough dude, this one is.
“Don’t tell me you feel sorry for him!” I hear Moon Gaze shouts from behind me.
My eye twitch. With a grunt, I open my saddlebag and push the gem out by pushing the bag against the ground. I kick the gem towards them. “There’s your gem. Good bye.” I bite the fur behind Rey’s neck and walk away.
“What?” Moon Gaze says. “Oi!”
“You can’t be serious, pony!” I hear Miss Roo say as I turn around a tree, hopefully blocking them from seeing me, and hopefully they’ll leave me alone.
I groan as my ears twitch to the sounds of bird chirps echoing from above. “...Remind me again why you two are following me.”
“I’m starting to think that you’re crazier than that Twilight mare!” Moon Gaze exclaims from Miss Roo’s head.
As for Miss Roo, she’s...walking...or at least she looks like she’s walking, on all five, including her tail. Do kangaroos...walk like this? It’s weird, but at least it wouldn’t...rock Reykan up and down while he’s unconscious in her pouch.
“And do I really need to tell it again?” Moon Gaze asks.
“Humor me.”
“...what?”
I sigh.
He shakes his tiny head. “I turned into a rat, sheesh. How many times do I have to repeat it?”
Mrrrfff...
“You said you know a mare who can change me back, and you’re gonna lead me to her, because me turning into a rat is your fault!”
I’m not gonna enter that argument again.
“Hm...” Miss Roo hm’s as she awkwardly walks beside me. “How strange of a pony...who can tame predators and turn others into mice.”
“Miss Roo,” I say, glancing at her. “I...”
Huh... Did I tame Reykan? Really? Is that why I stood up for him back there?
...No, that is definitely not the reason why. “...am one hundred percent certain that I don’t have form-changing powers that can turn stupid pegasus ponies into stupid rats.”
“Watch your tongue, pony,” Moon Gaze glares at me. “Or you’ll be—”
“—dancing with lightning. Whatever,” I say as I feel the gem inside my saddlebag. Miss Roo carried it and placed it back inside as soon as they caught up with me.
Speaking of, I hear her chuckle.
I arch an eyebrow at her.
“‘Miss Roo’?” She shakes her head in amusement. “Lamest name someroo has ever called me. Call me Xana.”
“Jay,” I say with a slow nod. Xana? Weird name for a kangaroo. “I’ll stick to Miss Roo. It rolls easier on the tongue.”
She frowns at me. “I’d rather you don’t, Jay.”
...Alright.
“Weird that the mare lives in this forest,” Moon Gaze says. “Are you sure you know where you’re going, Jay?”
“It’s really warm in here,” Reykan says, his furry head poking out of Xana’s pouch thing.
Xana glares down at him. “You’ll fly if you’ll bite,” she warns with piercing orange eyes.
The panther cub whimpers and hides deeper inside.
Moon Gaze snickers, who is sitting on my back. “Heh... I can’t believe how fun it is to watch a meat-eater afraid of us! Now I understand why Crazy Jay wants him around.”
I roll my eyes and continue walking.
We’ve been walking for quite a while now. The forest is already darker than a few hours ago, indicating that the sun’s probably about to set for the night. I don’t remember Sienna and I taking this long to reach the southern edge of the forest from Twilight’s. But, if I continue walking straight, we’ll eventually reach Twilight’s—
“We’re lost, aren’t we?”
...My ears droop.
Moon Gaze grumbles. “He knows where he’s going, he says. Pfft...!”
“Put a sock in it,” I mumble as I stop walking.
“I would if I knew what ‘sock’ means,” Moon Gaze replies. “Then again, I probably wouldn’t.”
I ignore him as I look around.
Miss Roo stands tall beside me and starts looking around as well. “What is this home of your damsel look like, Jay?”
I stifle a groan. “She is not my mate.”
Miss Roo chuckles. “Why did ya think I said ‘damsel,’ eh?”
“I’ll check the dictionary later,” I reply quietly.
“A what now?” Moon Gaze asks.
“Jay,” Reykan voices out. “Where are we going, anyway?”
I turn to him.
His head is poking out, two of his paws gripping the edge of the pouch thingy. “I thought we’re heading back to Twil—mrrrf?!” His sapphire eyes cross, his mouth suddenly full of a brown and dirty hoof.
“Don’t move too suddenly!” Moon Gaze squeaks as he clings on the saddlebag.
“Fffftooey!” Reykan spits my hoof out and glares at me. “What was that for?”
I lean my head towards him and whisper in his ear: “Don’t mention Twilight’s name.”
He gives me a curious blink as I back away. “...But why?”
I glare at him.
He blinks at me.
Moon Gaze climbs up behind my neck and stands on my head. “What are you two talking about?”
“It’ll be dark soon,” Xana suddenly says, still looking around. “We’re not gonna be safe here when the light’s gone.”
“Why not?” Reykan asks, looking up at the roo.
I hear Moon Gaze groan, probably rolling his eyes. “So now what? Mister ‘I know the way’ got us lost!”
I keep my mouth shut. I hate to admit it, but he’s right... I got us lost. I was supposed to just head north from that pasture, but I guess the sudden griffon attack pushed me off-track a bit. Should I head east or west? Well, if I head west, I’ll eventually reach the edge of the forest and will see Canterlot Mountain in the distance. East then?
An up-side-down white rat head suddenly appears in my eye, its red eyes glaring at me. “Hellooooooooo? Stop ignoring us and move already!”
I reflexively shake my head, hearing Reykan sniffing the air and Moon Gaze’s panicked yelping. Tiny paws kick on my head, launching the rat to Xana’s arm. He grumbles angrily as he climbs up and sits on the roo’s head.
“Let me out,” Reykan suddenly says, looking up.
With glaring eyes, Xana cautiously grabs him with her hands, pulls him out and unceremoniously drops him on the ground.
Reykan lands on all four, his face immediately crunching in pain as he lets out a pained hiss.
“Whoops,” Xana says, looking away. “Slipped. Sorry.”
Moon Gaze snickers.
I glare at the two of them.
Reykan shook his head before he sniffs the air again. The three of us watch him as he slowly turns his head left and right. He turns, sniffs the air again, blinks, sniffs, another blink, and turns to me while pointing with a paw towards the direction where he was facing seconds ago. “She’s that way.”
He’s pointing south-east.
...Oh yeah. It was Reykan who was leading me to Twilight before we met Siri. ...Er, Seri. “You sure?” I ask him.
He nods his head with a smile. “Yeah. It’s faint, but I can smell it from here.”
I arch an eyebrow. “Smell what?”
“The markings I left around her tree before you and Sienna left.”
Er... Cats rub themselves on things they consider their territory, right?
He shrugs. “What? I did it so I’ll know where it is if I’m in an unfamiliar place, like where we are right now,” he says with a grin.
I shake my head. “Eh... Lead the—you can walk, right?”
He looks down at his paws, looks up at me and shrugs once again. “I think so.”
Strong kid. I nod my head. “Lead the way then.”
“Mmmkay!” And he limps off, me following close behind. After a couple of steps, I hear Moon Gaze call my name. Reykan and I stop and turn to look at them both. They aren’t following us.
Moon Gaze is giving me a serious look. “...Are you seriously going to follow a predator?”
Xana nods her head, the rat almost falling off in the process.
I shrug at them. “It hadn’t killed me before.”
Miss Roo raises an eyebrow. “What? You followed that bastard’s lead before?”
I nod my head. “Reykan led me to her before. Well, kinda.”
“Kinda?”
I shake my head. “Not importan—”
“I was leading Jay to Twi—”
I glare at Reykan.
“—iiiiiiiiiiiii—to her before we met a swan who knows her so I continued to lead them to her and because the swan also knows where she lives the swan knew that I wasn’t lying and then we met Sienna and the four of us went to her tree!”
Blank stares.
“...Who’s Sienna?” Moon gaze asks.
I roll my eyes. “The deer.”
“Oh.”
“...Right,” I say, turning to Reykan. “Lead the way.”
Reykan nods his head, turns around and limps forward.
I blink. “That reminds me...”
“That it’s not a good idea to follow a meat-eater leading to your demise?” Xana asks from behind.
“Mmm-hmm,” Moon Gaze agrees.
I roll my eyes and refocus my attention on the path ahead with Reykan leading the way. “I can understand why Moon Gaze wants to come along, but what’s your reason, Xana?”
A short pause before she answers with: “I came here to flee from the birds of prey, remember?”
Oh, right... I almost forgot about that. “So what’s stopping you from returning?”
“I’d rather wait a moon or two here before I return. I kinda don’t like the smell of blood.”
“Mmmrrrfff...” I hear Moon Gaze moan uncomfortably.
And I hear Xana chuckle. “You’re not a fan of the topic, Mounsey?”
...That is a baaad pun.
“But I don’t like doing nothing either,” she continues as we turn around a tree. “So why not follow you guys around? It’d be fun to kill a panther cub if you want me to.”
Reykan stops and shivers.
“Can we please not talk about death?” Moon Gaze squeaks. “Please?”
Ears drooping, Reykan quietly continues walking.
“Oh, toughen up, Mounsey.”
“I am not a mouse!”
“Yeah,” I nod my head in agreement. “He’s a rat.”
“I’m not a rat either!”
“You sure look like one, Mounsey.”
“Grrr!”
The forest has grown darker as the evening takes over the sky. Eyes adjusting to the darkness, we notice the forest trees has grown distant from each other, giving us more room to walk on, which means that we’re getting close to the clearing, I hope.
My ears twitch as I hear faint wing flaps above from flying bats, barely breaking the crickets’ orchestra.
“They sure are noisy ’round here,” Xana comments from behind. She takes a big breath and exhales with an audible sigh. “Air’s colder here, too. You should come out, Mounsey!” She is now weirdly walking beside me, smirking on my saddlebag...or the creature that’s inside, at least. “This air’s great!”
Moon Gaze pokes his head out from the saddlebag where the gem’s stored and glares at her. “Yeah? And then get swept up by bats or owls?” He slips his head back inside. “No thank you!”
“Your loss.”
Up ahead, I see our panther cub stop walking. He’s staring at the big exposed root a few inches beside him. “...Don’t step on that,” he says before moving forward again. “I can see the dead trees up ahead, Jay,” he adds, looking over his shoulder. “We’re getting—” He suddenly stops as I avoid the root he warned me about, his sapphire eyes growing wide in horror. “Don’t step on—!”
KKKKKKRRRRNCH!
“Huh?” Xana blinks, looking down at the large root she’s standing on. “What in the world was tha—?”
And then the ‘root’ starts squirming. Clicking noises fill our ears as the bush where the root’s poking from is shaking violently.
Clicking noises... Oh...derp... My ears droop.
“Run!” Reykan yells.
“What is it—?”
SKREEEEEE—!
“That sounded like a Leg Crawler!” Moon Gaze shouts from inside the bag.
“A Legga-what now—?” Xana asks as the bush suddenly explodes, the other half of the millipede’s large body flying towards her.
I kick her out of the way, the millipede missing its main target and barely hitting my bum. Gulping, I kick my legs, running away from it before the giant black millipede can put its clicking legs on me.
“What in bird shit is that thing—?”
I look over my shoulder to yell at her: “Just run away—!”
SKREEEEEE—!
I gasp. “Why the heck are you chasing me?!” I yell as I kick my hooves on the ground, the sounds of angry clicking noises following me from behind. Holy shit can millipedes run so freaking fast! “It wasn’t me who stepped on you!”
“Stop shouting and just run you stupid pony!” Moon Gaze yells back.
I zigzag around bushes and rocks and trees, the cold night air whistling in my ears. “...Use the gem you useless rat!”
“What gem?!” he shouts back. Seconds later: “...Oh yeah... I do have a gem—”
Something painful stabs my rear hoof, jolting me in surprise. “Gah—!” I stumble and fall, and something yanks me to a stop. Clicking noises surround me as whatever that stabbed my hoof pulls out and stabs me yet again! “Augh—!”
“Z-z-z-z-z-za-za-zap the—!”
“Get away from him—!” Xana tries pulling it back by its tail, the clicking noises almost drowning her voice.
I scream in pain as I feel whatever’s stabbing my hoof is turning left and right and left and right and it’s freaking painful!
“Z-zap the Leg Crawler!” I see the bright white light out of the corner of my eye. “...Aw nuts...”
BZZZT—!
My saddlebag lights up, and I swear I can see the rat’s skeleton as he gets magically zapped.
A beam of electricity dances out of the bag and zaps the millipede, zapping my stabbed wound as well! Holy freaking hell—!
I shiver involuntarily, feeling numb all over as I hear the painful screech of the millipede, clicking and rolling on the ground in agony, its sharp fangs or whatever it used to stab me no longer on me.
“G-guh...!” I hear Xana say, who is standing still and shivering.
SKREEEEEE—!
The clicking noises sound angrier than before, getting louder and louder—
“Rrrawrrr—!”
Screeches and scratches fill my ears as I giggle.
...I giggled... And still am...but I don’t know why. But...it’s funny. It’s so funny and I can’t stop giggling. What’s so funny? I don’t even know, but it’s so freaking funny.
I giggle and giggle and keep on giggling, hugging myself at how weird things are going on. I giggle at how I just got stabbed. I giggle at how I’m gonna die as worm food. I giggle at how helpless I am, unable to move. I giggle at how stupidly vulnerable Xana is. I giggle at how stupid Moon Gaze looks when unconscious, with his tongue out. I giggle as Reykan tears a few legs out of the millipede, his sapphire blue eyes looking feral and menacing as they should be. I giggle at how scary the two predators look as they fight, the sounds of their battle ringing in my ears.
I watch in glee as Reykan loses his grip on the tall millipede. He roars again and jumps at it, claws and fangs ready. The millipede simply waves its shiny black body sideways, slapping him in midair and throwing him at a tree if the ‘thud’ noise is any indication. The millipede then crawls angrily at him, but then Xana holds its tail-rear-end, stopping its advance. The millipede curves its body to bite her, making Miss Roo yelp and letting it go. She jumps back, and quickly jumps forward, kicking the millipede in the face!
I cheer and wish I have popcorns as Reykan joins in the action once again, trying to claw his way to the millipede’s soft underbelly. The millipede screeches in pain and anger as it tries to shake Reykan off, while Xana, meanwhile, is kicking and punching the rear-end of the worm.
And I watch all of these without any popcorn, and I giggle at my misfortune.
Knock knock knock!
I hold back a chuckle as I hear hoofsteps from the other side of the wooden door. A purple aura envelops the door, pulling it open inwardly.
A tired-looking purple unicorn mare blinks and smiles at me. “Jay! You’re back!” She blinks, her smile fading, eyeing the bodies behind me. “...uh...”
I can barely hold back my chuckle. “Hey Twilight. S-so, heeheehee, a mighty-kicking kangaroo, a pegasus-turned rat, an awesome panther cub and a human-turned earth pony walks inside the library...”
Twilight blinks a slow, confused blink. “Uuuhhh...”
Seri’s white head pokes out from the kitchen, blinking.
I giggle before I continue: “...They walk up to the librarian and then—”
“Aaahhh! It’s the mad mare!” Moon Gaze shrieks.
I turn and giggle at him. “Aw...! You—heeheehee—you ruined the joke!”
I lose my balance and laugh on the ground as panicky squeaks fill my ears.
Purple flashes of light washes over the many items in the library. Occasional tired grunts accompany the magical hissing noise emanating from the large, shining and levitating gemstone.
A purple unicorn grinds her teeth and clench her eyes shut in concentration, her horn releasing powerful waves of mana towards the floating gem in front of her as sweat streams down her face.
“...Guh...!” Twilight squints an eye open, staring at the bright gem. “A-almost...got it...!”
“My...” a voice breaks through the noise. “I’ve seen the many other gems getting the same shiny treatment, Twilight, but seeing it again with this last one still amazes me like the first!”
“...Th-thanks...I guess...?” the unicorn replies.
A white swan chuckles. “You’re welcome,” she replies with a smile. She turns around and waddles toward the kitchen. “I should go and check the soup. Don’t want your ‘other half’ to get angry for being tired and hungry and have nothing to eat. Especially hungry and have nothing to eat.”
“...Nnnggghhh...!” Twilight’s ears twitch as flashes of memories from her other self’s outburst floods her mind. Her ears droop. “...D-don’t remind me...”
“It’s a good thing you two share one tired body,” Seri said from the kitchen. “Or else she could have magicked me to death.” She chuckles merrily, contrasting the unicorn’s grimace. “I actually thought she was going to turn into a predator with that look she gave me!”
“...Wouldn’t surprise me if that were to happen...” Twilight mutters before she returns her full concentration on her task, the gem’s glow intensifying in the process.
In a forest veiled by the night, four dainty hooves walk towards a running stream. Stopping by the edge, brown pointy ears turn left and right, picking up the many sounds of the forest. Squinting emerald eyes scan the surroundings.
A bush shakes.
Sienna tenses up, ready to flee.
Two squirrels emerge from under the bush. One of them is holding a nut and is running away from the other one.
Sienna stares at them until the two are out of sight. Her eyes close as a sigh escapes her lips. She reopens her eyes and leans her head down towards the watery surface of the stream, drinking.
Her ears twitch to the sound of a shaking branch above her, rustling its many leaves.
Sienna immediately looks up.
A large bat flies away from the branch and towards the large gaps of leaves.
Sienna blinks, staring at the twinkling sky. She is yet to find a safe spot to sleep. Frowning, she looks back down at the stream and resume drinking.
Meters away, hidden in the shadows, a pair of orange eyes is watching her.
Purple light slowly fade, returning the library’s true colors. The light and hum from the floating gemstone are quieting down as it gently falls down towards the wooden floor.
With a tired grunt, Twilight stops the flow of mana on her horn.
The gemstone lands gently on the floor with a soft thud.
Twilight, however, drops her tired and sweaty self on the floor, panting for breath. “Phew...” As she tries to collect some of her strength, her eyes are on the last gem, staring at the little magical light in the very middle of the translucent mineral. Seconds pass before she tears her gaze from it and settles on the pile of other gemstones a few paces away.
A small smile manages to crack on her lips. After days and nights of magic casting, she’s finally done ‘recharging’ the gems. Two items already in her possession, she now only needs the other four Sienna and Jay are gathering.
She hopes they’ll be back soon.
Brown ears twitch in the darkness, trying to catch any noise from the crickets’ choir. Green eyes squinting, Sienna slowly walks through the dark forest, careful not to step or bump on anything.
She still hasn’t found a safe spot to sleep. The small number of hollows that she found were either too small for her or were already occupied. She stops, sighs and settle down on the ground, as she tried doing a few minutes ago, but a strange sense is—again—telling her to keep moving, bothering her to no end.
Something shifts out of the corner of her eye. She lifts and turns her head to look, but all she sees is darkness. She squints her eyes even harder, trying to see if anything’s there.
A rustling noise behind her.
Standing and turning around quickly, her glaring eyes land on a shaking bush. An owl suddenly burst through the shrub, flying towards her.
She ducks just before impact. Rolling her eyes, she turns around and decides to continue walking—
Thud!
A bloody owl falls a few meters in front of her, with a few feathers gently raining down towards the dead bird. The smell of blood suddenly fills the cold night air.
Holding her breath, Sienna slowly looks up...
...and sees a pair of orange eyes staring back at her.
“Wakey wakey, sleeping beauty.”
“Mrrr...”
A swan’s head nudges the purple pony’s cheek. “Wakey wakey. Hoping to not wake miss angry.”
Twilight stirs in her sleep, mouth opening and closing. “Mmmm... F-five more minutes, momma...”
Seri blinks. Seri smiles. “Aww...” She snatches the unicorn’s head and hugs it tightly, her tiny white head nuzzling the waking mare's back. “I never realized how cute and wonderful it is to be called ‘momma.’”
Twilight awkwardly sits herself up. “S-Seri?” she manages to say, her muzzle being buried in the sea of feathers. “I’m up, I’m up!”
The swan giggles as she lets her go. “Sorry to wake you, my little duckling.”
Twilight blinks at that.
Seri turns around and waddles back to the kitchen. “Food’s almost ready. Hope your sleepy stomach is also a hungry one.” She chuckles.
Twilight smiles and shakes her head. Seri can be weird at times.
Knock knock knock!
Twilight blinks. Looking over her shoulder, she lights up her horn to check who knocked on her door. The glow on her horn fades, as well as any traces of sleep from her as she recognizes who are outside. Well, she doesn’t recognize the other two, but it doesn’t matter.
Walking up to the door, Twilight lights up her horn once again, pulling it open, the light form inside the library illuminating the creatures outside her home. Her smile widens upon seeing the brown, smiling stallion.
“Jay! You’re back!” Twilight greets him. She then notice how haggard he and his companions all look. She blinks, her smile fading. “...uh...”
Jay barely holds back a chuckle. “Hey Twilight. S-so, heeheehee, a mighty-kicking kangaroo, a pegasus-turned rat, an awesome panther cub and a human-turned earth pony walks inside the library...”
Twilight blinks a slow and confused blink, staring at the stallion’s bleeding hind leg. “Uuuhhh...”
Jay giggles once again for some odd reason. “...They walk up to the librarian and then—”
“Aaahhh!” a squeaky yell erupts from the kangaroo’s head, making Twilight jump. “It’s the mad mare!”
Jay turns to the yelping kangaroo and looks up, smiling at the panicking white rat who’s running over, under and around the kangaroo’s head. “Aw...! You—heeheehee—you ruined the joke!” The brown stallion falls on the ground in a heap of laughs and giggles.
Stepping back and throwing curses out of her mouth, the kangaroo tries but fails to stop the rat from running around her shaking head.
Twilight throws a confused look at the cub.
Reykan, who’s been staring at the stallion, closes his sapphire eyes and lets out a tired sigh. He reopens them and looks at Twilight, his black ears twitching. “Jay got bitten by a Leg Crawler.”
Twilight blinks at him, and then at Jay. “Ahh. Well, that explains it.”
Reykan blinks, tilting his head. “Explains what?”
“Get off of me, darn it!” the kangaroo yells. She finally catches the panicking rat and throws him away with a growl. “That worm-a-thing gave me enough scratches, thank ya very much!”
“You’ll never take me alive!” the white rat yells as he scampers to the woods, making Jay laugh even more.
A hoot breaks through the nightly orchestra.
A white streak suddenly zooms to the kangaroo. The rat clings to her mighty leg, his body shaking all over. “W-what have I put myself into?!”
“Calm down, darn rat, or I’ll send ya flying far, far up that the bats and owls will race towards ya!” She turns to Twilight and offers her an apologetic smile. “Apologies, miss, for barging into your home like this.”
“Whoa!” Jay, his back lying down on the ground, suddenly gasps, staring at the kangaroo with widening eyes. He then points a hoof at her. “Xana has manners!”
The kangaroo raises an eyebrow at him.
The stallion returns to his laughing fit.
“Er...” Twilight’s ears droop as she flashes the kangaroo an awkward smile. “It’s fine. Come on in.” Her gaze then falls on Jay, who is now wheezing for breath. “We should fix him up before the poison...” She bites her lip. “...before he gets worse.”
The kangaroo's raised eyebrow arches even more. “...There’s a worse version of this laughing idiot?”
“Hopefully it wouldn’t come to that,” Twilight replies. She gestures for them to enter the library. “Come inside.”
“No!” the white rat squeaks from inside the kangaroo’s pouch. “We’re gonna die! She’s gonna kill us.”
“Nah,” Reykan offers. “But she shoots magic beams that will hurt you, if what Jay said is true.”
“Pew pew pew!” Jay adds.
Twilight winces.
“You really wanna see a race between a bat and an owl, huh?” the kangaroo grumbles.
The white rat squeaks and sinks down.
“Didn’t think so,” the kangaroo smirks. “’Sides, this here place is surprisingly warmer than outside,” she says as she enters the tree home, ignoring the hyperventilating rat in her pouch.
“Squeee...!” Jay squeees as Reykan drags him inside by his tail. “I’m gonna die because a worm bit me.” He chuckles. “Write that on my tombstone, ya hear? I wanna give my mom and bro a giggle when they read it every time they visit my six feet under the ground self.” He laughs. “Oh! Oh! Reykan!”
“Mrrrf?” the cub replies through a mouthful of pony tail.
“This reminds me of the night you were dragging me from Canterlot Mountain because you thought I was dead! HAH! Remember that?”
Reykan rolls his sapphire blue eyes, spits the tail hairs out of his jaw, and ignores the tempting smell of blood from the giggling pony’s hind leg as he walks away from him.
Seeing everyone already inside, Twilight magics the door close, eliciting a squeak from the kangaroo's pouch. “I’ll take it from here,” she says as she levitates Jay and sits him down on a stool.
“Twilight,” Seri calls, who has been quietly observing the goings on from the kitchen.
“Hm?” she responds as she magically pulls bandages from the kitchen, flying over the swan’s head.
“Whoa!” the kangaroo suddenly gasps, staring at Seri.
“What?!” a white rat's head pokes out of her pouch. “What?! Is she gonna kill us?!”
“A swan!”
The rat blinks.
“A swan!” Jay parrots merrily.
The kangaroo’s smile vanishes as she looks at the stallion. She scratches her head. “Poor idiot, already losing his mind.” She then throws a glare at the rat. “And calm down, ya jumpy rat. Noroo's getting killed.”
Seri blinks at the creatures inside the library’s main room. She frowns. “Aw... Does this mean I don’t get to eat so many leftover soup?”
The kangaroo blinks at her. “Soup?”
The white rat suddenly sniffs the air, and sniffs some more. “Say...” the rat begins, momentarily forgetting his fear of a certain purple unicorn. “...what’s that smell?”
Curiously, the kangaroo sniffs the air as well. Despite her tired body, she manages to crack a wide, wide smile. “Stars above, that smells heavenly!”
“It’s plant-eater soup,” Reykan answers as he sits under the stairs. He starts licking a paw, rubs said paw on his head, and repeats the process.
“Soup...” the kangaroo makes a face, trying to understand what the word mean.
Jay giggles. “No, no! It’s a stomach pain for Reykan!”
The cub pauses his grooming to roll his eyes.
“Seri,” Twilight calls, ushering Jay to stop moving too much. “Get the jar of antidote for leg crawler poison bites.” She can simply use her magic to get it, but she forgot where she placed it.
The swan blinks blankly at her.
Twilight looks at her, blinks, and rolls her eyes. “...The green, foul-smelling juice thing.”
“Oh! The stinkiest one!” Seri slips back into the kitchen. “Coming right up!”
“I prefer this good-smelling one,” the rat comments.
“They’re not for you,” Twilight smiles at him, mentally storing the question of how a rat can talk for later use. “They're for Jay here, to remove the poison inside his body.”
The said stallion giggles. “H-hey, Twilight,” he calls, catching the mare’s attention. “Is it weird that the leg the worm bit is the same leg that you shot me with your hyper beam?”
Both rat and kangaroo blink at that.
Twilight’s ears droop.
Jay giggles again. “Oh, and Twilight... D-did you know that I’m actually a human?”
“No Jay,” Twilight shakes her head as Seri approaches her, a jar with a sloshing green liquid inside. “I don’t. You can tell me all about it later once you’re okay.”
“Once I’m okay? But I am okay!” he beams. “Never been better! Anyway, will you believe me if I tell you that I’m actually a human from another wooooooorld, turned into this brown stallion?”
Twilight shakes her head as she opens the jar with her magic. “I don’t even know what a ‘hue man’ is.” She levitates the opened jar to the stallion’s muzzle. “Now, open wide, Jay. It may taste unpleasant at first—”
The smell hits Jay’s nostrils like a ramming ram. His eyes cross, and he immediately swats the jar away, but Twilight manages to pull it out of his waving hooves before he hits it. “Bleahk!” He makes a face. “Smelled like poop. Worse even! It even looks like—!”
A blob of the liquid antidote forces its way inside his opened muzzle. Purple aura shuts the struggling stallion’s mouth shut and lifting his head up, forcing him to swallow.
Twilight smiles an apologetic smile as Jay flails his hooves wildly. “S-sorry... Had to make you drink it quickly before you, um, before the poison takes its full effect on you.” She puts the lid back on the jar and gives it to Seri. She lets him go after the stallion swallowed the cure.
Jay winces, opening and closing his muzzle. He shudders. “Ugh... That was horrible.”
And then he instantly passes out, his limp body falling off of the stool, a thread of drool already streaming down from his open muzzle.
Twilight sighs in relief.
“...Is he dead?” a squeaky voice asks.
Twilight's ears twitch to the sound of snoring. Turning, she sees Reykan fast asleep under the stairs.
The kangaroo walks toward the unconscious stallion and pokes him, and pokes him again. “...Nah. The idiot's alive.” She stands up tall and smiles at the mare. “Thank you for shutting him up.”
Twilight blinks at her. “Oh...uh...” She smiles a small and weird smile. “...you're welcome?”
“So can we eat yet?” the rat asks.
Twilight blinks at him. “In a minute.”
The rats blink back. “...what’s a minute?”
“Moment,” Twilight quickly says as Seri emerges from the kitchen, carrying bowls and spoons with her wings. “I meant to say ‘moment.’” She blinks. “...I thought you were afraid of me.”
The rat opens his mouth to reply—
“Terrified, love, is more like it,” the kangaroo says, ignoring the rat’s glare.
The rat grunts. “I’ll go ‘scared’ after I eat,” he grumbles as Seri sets the bowls on the circular table.
“Weird place ya got here, love,” the kangaroo comments, looking around.
“It’s called a library,” Twilight replies. “I’m sorry about Jay. He’s usually not so...giddy.”
The kangaroo smiles at her. “Worry none of it, love. I think that’s what happens to whoever gets bitten by this ‘Leg Crawling’ thing.”
“Leg Crawler,” the rat corrects her.
The kangaroo shrugs. “Same thing.”
“No they're not.”
The kangaroo ignores him, facing Twilight instead. “So you’re this damsel that can turn this little mouse into a pegasus, huh?” she says as Seri waddles back to the kitchen
Twilight blinks. “...huh?”
“Name’s Xana,” the kangaroo says as she grabs the rat in her pouch.
“Eep!” the rat squeaks as Xana shows him to the mare.
“And this little guy’s Moon Gaze,” the kangaroo says as Seri waddles out of the kitchen, carrying a steaming pot of soup with her gloved wings. “Says he’s a pegasus before Jay over there turned him into a mouse.”
“...Rat,” Jay mumbles in his sleep.
“Aw...” Seri chimes in as she places the pot on the middle of the table, filling the air with a delicious aroma. “He looks so cute!”
“Everything is cute for you, Seri,” Twilight mutters with a smile. She smiles a gentle smile at the terrified rat. “Hi there. I’m Twilight Sparkle.” She shifts her smile at Xana. “You can call me Twilight.”
Xana nods her head as she returns Moon Gaze inside her pouch. “Nice to meet ya. I’ll settle on calling ya ‘love’ if ya don’t mind,” she says with a smirk and a wink.
“I’ll settle on calling you ‘The Crazy Mare,’” a squeaky voice erupts from the kangaroo’s pouch.
“...mmm...and I’ll...settle...on calling you...Miss Roo...zzz...” the brown, unconscious stallion mutters, unable to notice Xana’s angry frown.
“Well,” Twilight smiles at the kangaroo. “Food’s ready. Why don’t you join us for dinner? We can talk about Moon Gaze's...transformation while we eat.”
“Care to tell us what dinner means, love?”
Twilight’s smile falters.
“It’s eating time at night!” Seri chirps, already seated by the table.
“Heh...” Xana smirks as she follows Twilight towards the table. “Smells really heavenly, love. No wonder the idiot madly wanted to return to ya.”
Twilight blinks at that. Lighting up her horn, she magically checks the contents inside Jay’s saddlebag. Happy that he collected the items and curious that there’s still one gem inside his saddlebag, Twilight leads Xana to her seat before she sits on her place as she wonders where Sienna has gone to.
Curious, Xana leans forward, staring at the foreign liquid goop inside the pot. Curious as well, Moon Gaze climbs up to the kangaroo’s head to have a look.
“Can’t deny the heavenly smell,” Xana says, leaning back. “But what in tail hairs is that thing?”
“Soup!” Seri hungrily answers as Twilight magically fills their bowls with soup.
Moon Gaze climbs down and lands on the table to investigate Xana’s soup bowl.
“Don’t eat it yet,” Twilight says as she magically pushes another bowl of soup to Moon Gaze. “Let me cool it down first.” Using her magic, she summons a blue aura, cooling the soup in the bowls and in the pot. “There we go—”
Seri dives her head towards her bowl, slaughtering the soup with her hungry beak and making a mess. “Om nom nom nom—!” She lifts her soup-smeared head back moments later, bowl empty, and blinking at the others who are staring at her. “...Is there something on my face?”
Twilight rolls her eyes before smiling an apologetic smile at the other two as she refills Seri's bowl. “She's Seri, by the way.”
“Nice to meet you two!” the swan says before diving her head back into her soup bowl.
Xana and Moon Gaze blinks at her. The duo looks at each other and shrugs. Xana grabs her bowl with her hands and digs in while Moon Gaze climbs on his bowl, standing on the edge as he eats.
“Mmm...” Moon Gaze mmm’s. Seconds later, he slips, falling to the soupy pool. His head breaks through the soup, looking around. “...Aw to heck with it.” And he slurps the soup as he sits inside his soup bowl.
Twilight chuckles at the sight as she magically refills Seri’s and Xana’s bowls. Now that she have all the items she needs, she’ll be able to look back into the past to see what happened to Equestria.
But she’ll do it later. For now, she needs to regain her strength if she wants to take a peek into the past without any interruptions.
Twilight blinks, recalling how Xana introduced Moon Gaze to her. “So...” she begins, staring at the rat. “You used to be a pegasus?”
“Mm-hmm,” Moon Gaze replies, kicking aside the thought that he's actually talking to the mad mare. He frowns a soupy frown. “Your mate turned me into a rat.”
Twilight blinks. “My mate?” She blinks again. Then it clicks, her eyes widening. “Oh no, no, no! Jay and I are not mates! We're just—”
“Friends?” Xana blurts out, smirking. “That's how it starts, love,” she says with a wink.
Twilight looks away, feeling her cheeks burning, probably because of the soup's temperature, she mentally tells herself. “A-anyway...how did it happen?”
“You wanna hear what happened, huh?” Moon Gaze asks. Upon receiving the mare's affirmative nod, he blinks. “Huh... No mare has ever been interested in listening to me or my stories,” he mutters under his breath as he climbs out of his bowl.
“Probably because the things you tell them were boring,” Xana teases.
Moon Gaze throws a glare at her.
Xana counters it with a smirk. “But a pegasus turning a rat might be an interesting tale to hear.”
“I'm excited to hear it while eating!” Seri chimes in.
Moon Gaze gives up his glare and sighs before facing the mare again. “Well, promise not to kill me while I tell you the story?”
Twilight blinks. “...Uh, I promise?”
“Thanks,” the rat smiles a wide smile at her before he retells the story of how he met Jay and Sienna, his journey to the Storm Forest, and the morning he found himself as a rat.
“So Sienna wasn’t with Jay when he returned to collect the items you got for him?”
“Nope,” Moon Gaze replies, sitting on the table by his empty soup bowl. “No clue why. First time I saw those two, I thought they were mates.” He shrugs. “I guess I was mistaken.” He stares at the mare. “You sure you and Jay aren’t mates?”
Twilight nods her head. “Pretty sure we aren’t.” She rubs her chin with a hoof. “I wonder why she left. I should ask Jay or Reykan later, whoever wakes up first.”
“I’ve said it before, love, but I’ll say it again,” Xana says as she puts down her empty bowl on the table. She smiles at Twilight. “That food...soup, was it? It was heavenly.”
“Aw... Thanks!” Seri chirps, smiling at the kangaroo. “It’s a wonderful feeling to know that you all love my koking!”
“Cooking,” Twilight corrects her.
“Heh,” Moon Gaze smirks at the avian. “I can clearly see why Crazy Jay wanted to return. Food here’s wonderful, though they look weird and feel hot and weird in the mouth. Still...” He shrugs. “Too bad he’s sleeping.”
“Seri left him some.”
Seri blinks. She turns to Twilight. “...I was supposed to leave some for Jay?”
Twilight frowns at her. She shakes her head. “And we can’t wake him until the poison’s completely out of his system. He should wake up on his own.”
Seeing as everyone is done eating, Twilight asks Seri to clean up the table as she trots toward the stacks of gems.
“I’ve been wondering about those gems,” Moon Gaze says as Seri takes away his empty bowl.
Her horn glowing, Twilight envelops the many gems with her magic. “Hm?”
“Why do you have so many of them?” the rodent asks, sitting up properly to have a better look as Seri places all the empty bowls inside the empty pot. “Did you mine all of them on your own?”
“No,” Twilight replies as she begins to scatter the gems on the library floor. Her ears droop. “I uh...kinda sorta stole them from the unicorns.”
Moon Gaze blinks.
“...Kinda?” Xana asks.
Seri waddles toward the kitchen, carrying the pot with her wings and careful not to step or bump on any of the gems.
“As for why I have...or took so many,” Twilight continues, still scattering the gems, “I need as many gems as possible to amplify my magic so I can fix Equestria. Or at least see the past of this version of Equestria so I’ll know what caused this change and fix it.”
Silence, save for the quiet magical hum from Twilight’s horn and the gems.
“Uh,” Xana breaks the silence a few seconds later. “You lost us at ‘Equestria’, love.”
“The first one or the second one?”
“You lost me at ‘amp fly’,” Moon Gaze squeaks. “What does that mean? And what do you mean ‘you’re going to fix Equestria’? Why? What’s wrong with it?”
“Everything!” Seri chirps from the kitchen.
Twilight pauses what she’s doing. She turns and faces the two creatures sitting by and on the table. “Oh, right... You don’t have a clue what I’m talking about.”
Moon Gaze rolls his eyes.
“Oh! Oh!” Seri excitingly pokes her head from the kitchen. “Twilight! Do that shiny glowy showy thingie on the table!”
“Shiny glowy what now?” the rodent asks, blinking.
“Maybe later, Seri,” Twilight replies to the avian as she returns to her task.
“Aw...” the swan pouts.
“I can tell you two a short version of the story if you want?” Twilight asks.
Moon Gaze and Xana blinks at the busy mare. The duo looks at each other, shrugs, and return their attention to the mare.
“We’re all ears, love,” Xana says.
“So let me get this straight...” Moon Gaze says, his upper body hanging above the kangaroo’s pouch. He rubs his aching head with his small paws. “This land that we live in, Equestria, is not Equestria, and you’re trying to find out how to fix it.”
“Mhmm,” Twilight nods her head as she places a small pot with water on the table. She blinks. “Somehow, I get the feeling that Jay’s going to be impressed by how you summarized it all in just one sentence.”
“I’ll take that as a ‘yes’...” Moon Gaze groans.
“So what exactly are you doing now, love?” the kangaroo asks as she curiously leans her head towards the pot to have a better look.
“Hopefully it’s something that’ll turn me back into a pegasus.”
Twilight shakes her head. “I’m sorry, Moon Gaze, but I’m going to have to ask you to wait a little bit longer.” She flashes the pouting rat a small smile. “But don’t worry. I still remember how to make the cure.”
“I can hardly wait...” Moon Gaze sighs.
Reminding herself where she put Jay, Twilight turns and eyes the sleeping stallion by the stairs beside Reykan. Using her magic, she unstraps the saddlebag from him and levitates it towards her, ignoring Moon Gaze’s quiet comment about how freaky Twilight’s magic is. Placing the saddlebag on the table in front of her, she levitates the bag’s contents out, sets the bag aside and places the contents in front of her.
“Can I have my gem back?” Moon Gaze quietly squeaks. His gem levitates toward him and Xana places it inside her pouch, careful not to squish the rat in the process. “Thank you,” he said, now standing on the gem and can now easily poke the upper-half of his body out of the kangaroo’s pouch.
Horn still glowing, Twilight pulls two jars from the kitchen, flying above Seri’s head who’s waddling out from the other room.
“What’d I miss?” Seri asks as she sits beside the kangaroo.
“You missed the headache,” Moon Gaze says. “Unless you already heard the crazy mare’s crazy Equestria tale.”
“Oh, I’ve heard it thrice already,” Seri smiles and nods at him. “Four times if you count her earlier retelling of the story,” she says as Twilight opens the two jars.
Moon Gaze and Xana blink at her.
She blinks back. “What?” she asks as Twilight looks and smiles at the ingredients inside the jar.
“You’re crazy,” the rat says.
The swan chuckles as Twilight mixes the ingredients inside the pot. “Well, I’ve been with ‘the crazy mare’ longer than anyswan, anypony, anycat, anyone, so that makes me ‘the crazy mare’s crazy swan!’”
Xana looks at Twilight who’s using her magic to stir the contents of the pot. With a frown, she turns back to the smiling swan. “What Twilight told us... This Equestria being not real?” She shakes her head. “I gonna be honest, I’m having a hard time understanding it.”
“More like impossible,” Moon Gaze grumbles. “If this isn’t real, then why does it feel real?” He looks at the mare, then back at the swan. “I don’t understand it.”
“Oh, it’s quite easy to understand,” Seri says, turning to fully face the kangaroo and the rat. “Look at the sky.”
The duo looks up, blinks, and frowns at the swan.
Seri smiles at them. “What do you see?”
“Not the sky,” Moon Gaze replies.
Seri nods her head. “Right. So imagine the sun is up and shining. What’s the sky like?”
“Blue?” Xana shrugs.
Moon Gaze nods his head. “Unless a wild storm’s happening.”
“Right,” Seri confirms. “What if we change the sun with the moon. What happens to the sky?”
“...Black?” Xana offers, blinking.
“Again, unless there’s a wild storm,” Moon Gaze chimes in.
Xana frowns at him. “...Then it’ll be a blacker sky.”
“With lightning.”
“Say there aren’t any storms,” Seri says. “They’re still the same sky, right?”
“Obviously,” Moon Gaze says.
“But there was a difference, even though it was still the same sky, right?” Seri asks.
Xana mulls it over.
“Wait,” Moon Gaze says, rubbing his forehead. “...What you’re saying is...Equestria, our Equestria, is still the same, but different, too?”
“Yes!” Seri chirps, ruffling her feathers. “Someone, or something, took the sun and replaced it with the moon! Or the other way around. And Twilight is going to find out who or what did it!”
“...Huh,” Xana smiles at the swan. “You’re better at explaining it than the unicorn, love.”
“There!” Twilight suddenly says, smiling and catching the attention of the others. She stops channeling mana from her horn and turns to Xana. “I don’t think I answered your question yet. Sorry about that.”
Xana blinks. “What question, love?”
Twilight gestures with a hoof at the pot. “You asked what I was doing. Sorry if I wasn’t able to answer you earlier.”
The kangaroo shrugs. “It’s okay, love.” She looks at the pot and blinks, noticing the once crystal-clear water inside is now purple in color. “So what is it?”
“It’s a potion,” Twilight replies as she stands up. “I was making a potion, and now it’s done. Well, almost. It’ll help me see the past. All I need to do now is to cast an alicorn-level magic to turn it white.”
“Alicorn?” Moon Gaze asks.
“And then we drink it, right?” Seri asks, eyeing the liquid inside the pot. “Mmm... Looks like one of those delicious drinks you sometimes make, Twilight. Dews, right? Or pee?”
Xana blinks. “...Purple pee?”
“Juice, Seri, and no, it’s not,” Twilight frowns at the avian. “And this isn’t tea, either...” She blinks. “And ‘we’?”
Seri nods at her. “Why not? It looks plenty enough for all of us!”
Twilight rubs her chin with a hoof. “Actually, not including the sleeping duo, it’s not enough. Buuuuut...” She takes a step back, eyeing the pot on the table. “You gave me an idea. But before that...”
Taking a deep, deep breath, and exhaling, Twilight closes her eyes and lights up her horn, enveloping all the gems scattered on the library’s floor with her purple magic.
Moon Gaze and Xana are looking at the glowing gems with worry and discomfort, but Seri smiles a reassuring smile at them, making them feel somewhat reassured that nothing bad will happen to them.
Strands of magic start to stretch out from the gems, worming through the air and heading towards Twilight’s horn. Seri coos, looking at the many strands with starry eyes. The other two are fidgeting with their ears droop, nervous about what is happening and what is about to happen.
The strands connect to Twilight’s horn, and slowly, the purple aura from her horn is becoming whiter and brighter. Seconds pass, turning into minutes. Twilight grunts from the magical strain, her horn shining brighter and brighter, painting the entire library in bright white light and deep black shadows. Sweat runs down her face as she grinds her teeth in concentration. “...A-almost...grr...g-got it...!”
Moon Gaze hides inside the kangaroo’s pouch.
Xana takes a step back. “I...I-I feel strangely...warm...and positively wonderful, but...” And then another. “...I think we should run.”
“No no no,” Seri says, eyeing the end of one of the many magical strands in the air. “I think it’ll be over soon!”
Moon Gaze pokes his long snout out of the pouch. “Y-yeah, us, will be done for.”
Sensing the last of the magical strands fuse in her horn, Twilight then squints her shining as white eyes open. Both light from her eyes and her horn then suddenly turn black, oozing with green, mist-like energy and purple, bubble-like auras.
Seri, Xana and Moon Gaze shudder violently, their features drooping, suddenly fearing for their lives.
“Thundercrap! She’s gonna kill us!” Moon Gaze squeaks in fright. “I don’t want to die as a rat!”
“W-wow...” Seri shivers all over, pulling her head back in fright. “...W-why does it feel like we’re all going to die so suddenly?”
Xana wants to run, but she can’t find the will to move as she stares at death right in front of her.
Without warning, Twilight suddenly fires a black beam towards the pot, making Moon Gaze and Seri yelp in fright. Enveloped by a powerful negative magic, the pot shakes on the table, the liquid inside bubbling and sizzling as the purple color evaporates.
Black to purple, the aura on her horn vanishes as Twilight collapses on the floor with a tired grunt.
Nervously, Seri and Xana crane their heads to see if the mare is okay.
“...I-I’m okay,” Twilight breathes out.
Moon Gaze pokes his head out of the kangaroo’s head. “What was that just now—?” His eyes grow wide as he and the others eye the white liquid inside the pot. “...Why does that...water-holding rock thing feel so...dangerous?”
“I know, right?” Seri nods her head in agreement, too afraid to touch or even look at the pot. “...Drinking it sounds like a bad idea now.”
“No kidding.”
Slowly, Twilight rises to her hooves. She wipes the sweat off of her head as she stares at the others across the table. “S-sorry about that. I underestimated how...negative dark magic is.” She shakes her head. “I didn’t mean to scare you guys. I’m sorry.”
“N-n...” Xana smiles a nervous smile. “...It’s alright, love. No harm done, r-right?”
“So what is it, Twilight?” Seri asks.
Twilight eyes the pot. “It’s a special potion that will help me see the past.”
“See the past, huh?” Moon Gaze says. “I wouldn’t mind seeing my sexy pegasus self again.”
“I’ll help you return to normal,” Twilight tells him with a gentle smile. “I promise.”
Moon Gaze blinks at her, failing to notice the heat on his cheeks.
Seri notices it however, and smiles a wide smile.
“E-er, okay,” the rat manages to squeak quietly. He looks elsewhere. “...I feel weird. I blame the magic earlier.”
“Magic,” Seri says. She snickers. “Sure, sure...”
“Hm?” Twilight blinks at her. “What’s so funny, Seri?”
“Oh, nothing,” Seri shakes her head with an amused smile. She then gestures the pot with her head. “So... We get to drink it and see the past?”
Xana blinks at Seri. “I thought you said it’s a bad idea.”
“No,” the mare shakes her head. “I’ll be the one who’ll drink it.”
Seri pouts.
Twilight lights up her horn. “Buuut, I’ll let you guys see the past, too.” She smiles at them as the gems on the floor glow in purple aura. “That is, if you want to help me investigate.”
“Sure,” Xana nods her head. “Whatever ‘investgate’ means.”
“Twilight wants us to help her check what changed Equestria,” Seri explains to the kangaroo.
“Ahh,” Xana ahh’s, nodding her head in understanding. She shrugs. “Can’t be too hard.”
Moon Gaze shrugs. “Why not? I might as well help the mare who’s going to help me return to being a pegasus.” He glares a soft glare at the mare. “As long as there won’t be any more freaky killer magics involved.”
“No promises,” Twilight says as the purple glow on the gems die down. She then levitates the pot towards her. “I suggest we all sit down.” She sits down, the pot levitating in front of her muzzle. Seeing the others sitting down, she takes a breath to prepare herself, exhale, then drinks the white liquid.
The others wince, feeling the negative energy oozing from the drink.
Stifling a burp, Twilight places the empty pot back on the table. She fails to stop herself from shivering. “Well, it should start any seco—”
Bright white light suddenly flashes from Twilight’s eyes and muzzle. A second later, the gems glow white as well, swallowing the entire library with the intense light.
Twilight winces from the brightness.
She takes a breath.
She blinks, waiting for the whiteness to fade in her eyes.
Her ears twitch, hearing many echoes...
Echoes of hoofsteps... Multiple hoofsteps... From far, far away...
Are they hoofsteps? They don’t sound like hoofsteps...
Echoes of droplets of water, falling down puddles and surfaces.
Is it raining? It isn’t a strong one, she notices.
Echoes of muffled voices. Many words and many sentences, clashing with each other.
She takes another breath.
Finally, Twilight’s vision slowly, slowly returns to normal.
She blinks. Thrice.
She finds herself sitting on a pavement, in a city, full of tall, tall buildings. Taller than any buildings she has ever seen in Equestria. The clouds are thick and gray in the sky, and it’s raining.
Carriages of weird designs on the roads run and stop through the traffic. She sees no drivers.
And tall, silhouetted and two-legged creatures are walking on pavements and across the streets, and through her.
Twilight flinches as soon as she realizes that mysterious and unidentified creatures are walking through her. She then remembers that she cannot touch anything, nor can she be touched by anything. She takes a deep breath to calm down. She ruffles her feathers and—
She freezes, her eyes growing wide. Momentarily forgetting the strange creatures around her, she slowly looks over her shoulder.
Her purple wings are folded on her sides.
A loud splash. Her ears twitch. She turns her head towards the noise.
One of the strange creatures stands on a puddle in front of her. It isn’t silhouetted. Twilight can identify clothing. She identifies shoes, long, very long pants, and a shirt behind a long-sleeved hoodie. The creature has a head. A small head, anatomically reminding Twilight of monkeys. But the creature has no fur protecting its skin. Is that maybe why its wearing clothing?
Twilight then realizes something...
The creature is directly looking at her. Staring at her.
She freezes in fear, ignoring the silhouetted ones walking by and through her.
It’s impossible, she mentally tells herself. Nopony... No creature should be able to see her.
It’s looking at her with small and bored-looking eyes. It then slowly opens its small mouth, making her flinch.
“Twilight?” the creature says, with a male voice. A familiar male voice. He blinks a slow blink. He then slowly shakes his head. “You shouldn’t show yourself in public.” He slowly looks around. “If the government sees you, they might catch you and experiment on you...”
Twilight blinks. She then releases a breath she didn’t realize she was holding. She gulps. “...Jay?”
The creature slowly looks back at her, shrugs, and walks away. “...Can’t help you, Twilight, if they catch you. I got...”
Twilight gasps as the silhouetted creatures suddenly disappear, the surroundings suddenly change into a forest, and sees Jay change into a brown pony.
Jay, the brown stallion, stops his trot, and slowly looks over his shoulder, staring at her. “...a lot of problems of my own already... Like...”
The green, tree-filled surroundings disappear, and Twilight finds herself back in the raining city, staring at the two-legged Jay.
Jay slowly turns his head towards the direction he’s heading, and walks away. “...looking for a way to get home. I’m sorry...”
I’m walking down the street with slow and lazy steps, not minding anyone who’s passing by. Where am I going, anyway? I can barely remember...
...Oh, right... Now I remember.
I need to find an apartment.
Now that I have a job, it’s time to see if I can live by myself. I can’t really stay at my aunt’s forever...
I stop, staring at the tiny puddles of rainwater on the pavement.
I blink and look ahead, staring at my aunt’s simple-looking two-storey house... It looks more like a building than a house though... Couldn’t blame her. She never liked standing out in crowds. Didn’t like getting a lot of attention. So she made her house look like the buildings in this city...
I turn around and blink at the purple pony who’s staring back at me. I blink once again, wondering if this pony’s a ghost, seeing that the cars are passing through it. Weird.
“Jay?” Twilight calls. “Is... Is that really...you?”
I close my eyes and shrug. “At least I know why you’re confident showing yourself around if nothing can touch you, Twilight.” I reopen my eyes and see her looking around her library in confusion. I sit my pony bum on the library floor and look around as well, albeit at a slower pace. “Hm... Mom’s trying to look for another job... Maybe I should the local library... See if they’re hiring.”
Twilight turns to me. “Jay... Just... Just what are you?”
I shrug, stand on my two feet, turn around and walk up the steps towards the city’s library.
“Jay, wait!”
Reaching the last flight of stairs, I stop and blink at Twilight, who’s sitting in front of the library’s door, looking angry and confused at me. I tilt my head slightly to the side, wondering why she doesn’t have her wings anymore.
I bring a hand on my chin. “...On second thought, maybe library work’s too boring...”
“Hey,” I hear Twilight’s voice from behind me. I turn around and see her looking offended, her wings twitching. “I’ll have you know that working in the library is not boring! It’s actually quite—”
“Twilight,” I hear Twilight’s voice from behind me once again, even though I’m looking at her in front of me, who then looks behind me, her eyes growing wide. And then another Twilight, the wingless Twilight, walks by, standing in front of Twilight-with-wings. “What the heck is going on? Where are we?”
Huh... Two Twilights. That’s new.
“Who... I mean... Are you...?” Winged Twilight stammers, wide eyes still glued on the wingless version of herself.
Wingless Twilight huffs and rolls her eyes. “I’m you from the other Equestria. Sheesh, and I thought you’re supposed to be smart.”
“B-but... How?”
“Answer my question.”
Winged Twilight blinks. And blinks. “...You’re me from the other Equestria?” She sits down and rubs her chin with a hoof, deep in thought. “...Then again, I did cast a spell on those gems to bring our friends’ consciousness along as soon as the potion’s effect triggers...”
Wingless Twilight groans an annoyed groan and turns to glare at me. “Apparently, you’re Jay, and I bet you’re the one doing...” With a hoof, she gestures at...everything. “...this.” She stomps her hoof on the ground, eliciting...no noise, but our surroundings ripple violently. “I suggest you stop, or else.”
Threats... I never like giving threats to anyone, nor do I like receiving one.
I turn around and find myself sitting on a chair around the dining table. Across the table, I see my mom looking pointedly at me.
“Stop this, Jay,” my mom says in Twilight’s voice. She’s glaring at me, directly at me. “Or would you rather I geld you first before you stop?”
I sniff. I suddenly feel so downhearted. I am crying. I feel like the biggest loser. Biggest, most useless loser. I wonder why. “I-I can’t...” I say, hearing the voice of my younger self. I hang my head, feeling afraid. I sniff. Looking up a bit, and through the tears, I stare at a piece of paper on the table in front of me, full of black prints, pencil writings and red x-marks. “I...I don’t understand how this works.”
My mom sighs and rubs her forehead with her hand. “Jay, I’m counting to three.” She glares at me. “One...”
I take a deep breath. I feel my heart racing. “Th-thirty-three...times...”
“...two...”
“T-times two...is...is...”
My mom growls at me. “Final warning, Jay!”
I clench my eyes shut. “I-I don’t know how to times!”
My mom suddenly stands up, pushing her chair back, the screech almost making my heart stop. She stomps towards me, a broomstick on her hand. “You dumb stallion!” she yells as she raises her hand, the broom shielding the ceiling’s light from my face.
I flinch even before the first strike can hit me. “Mama, no!” I quickly clench my eyes shut.
And when I reopen them, I see myself outside our house, petting a stray panther’s back as it ate a chicken bone. I feel myself smiling as the black cat looks up at me, it’s blue eyes reflecting my younger reflection.
“...Jay?” the cub says, sounding like Reykan. “...What are you?” it asks, the bone almost falling out of its mouth.
“What are you doing?” I hear Twilight ask.
I turn my head towards her voice, and see my mom standing by the door. She’s looking genuinely curious.
I smile a small smile at her. “Nothing,” I tell her as I return my attention to the feline. “Just letting the dog eat the bones from last night’s dinner.”
She suddenly grabs my hand and drags me away from Reykan. “Idiot!” she hisses. “What if it bites you?! We don’t know who owns that dog...panther...whatever! So who’s going to pay for the anti-rabies, huh?!”
“I-I’m...”
“What’s the problem?” Reykan asks. “I’ve bitten Jay a lot, and he’s still okay!”
“Not the point.” She sighs and lets me go. “Jay...” With a frown, she squats so her eyes are level with mine. “Stop this. I may have made a large amount, but the potion can only last for roughly half an hour.” She smiles a small smile. “...Plus, I don’t think Reykan’s a good dog.”
“Hey,” the cub barks, sitting beside me and glaring at my mom. “I can be good at something!” It blinks. “But what’s a dog?” It then turns and blinks at me. “And this is really Jay? What happened?” It looks back at my mom. “And where are we? I was chasing a big rabbit and then this bright light suddenly flashes in front of—”
A bright white light consumes and silences everything...except for myself. I stand up on my two feet and look around, feeling the salty breeze as the ocean’s waves caress my bare feet. I take a deep breath and sigh, smiling at the golden rays of the setting sun on the horizon.
I love the ocean. I love the sea. I love the beach.
...I love the sunset.
I feel my smile fading...
The sun’s about to set. The sun’s about to end the day. It can’t forever be a sunset. Things need to end, apparently.
A flash of darkness. A severe headache. Closing my eyes and grinding my teeth, I clutch my aching head with both hands as I fall to my knees.
Things eventually end. Why does it need to end?
“JAY—!”
Startled, I open my eyes wide as I whip my head back. I see my mom, kneeling in front of her dresser, shoving her clothes and items inside a large traveling bag. She’s crying. She’s trembling. She’s sobbing.
She looks at me, her tear-stained face making my heart ache. “I told you to pack your things, you dumb stallion! Now do it!”
I feel my lips trembling. My vision is starting to fog.
The door suddenly bursts open, startling the both of us.
“And where do you think you’re going, you mad mare?!” Moon Gaze squeaks as dad storms in, fire burning in his eyes. He grabs my mom’s hair and pulls her away from her dresser.
I hear her shout. I hear her wail.
I hear a mighty fist striking against soft skin.
I hear angry shouts. I hear madness.
I quickly turn around—and stop, my breath freezing inside my lungs.
...I feel my lips trembling as I stand there, staring at my mom—
The door bursts open once again. Dad storms in. No. He rushes in...and grabs mom by her legs, lifting her up.
“Get the knife, dammit!” he shouts at me, horror written all over his face.
My mind is blank. My body rushes down the stairs automatically without my command. I grab the knife from the sink and rush back up. I run inside the room, dad already standing on the chair, still grabbing mom. I give him the knife.
And he cuts the rope.
Mom falls down.
And everything turns black.
...I open my eyes, seeing the golden sand. I take a trembling breath.
I hear footsteps on the sand behind me, approaching me.
“Time to leave, love,” Xana says.
I stand back up and turn around.
My mom’s standing a few meters from me, a sad smile on her lips. She looks old. Older than when I was young. Make-up can hide her true age, maybe slightly, but it cannot hide from my eyes.
It cannot mask the pain from my eyes...
“We’ll be staying in your aunt’s den in the forest. Should be nice enough to live, I hope.” She blinks. “What in snake’s skin am I talking about anyway?”
I take another breath and sigh. “...What about dad?”
She frowns. She frowns a heavy frown.
I feel my heart break. I shouldn’t have asked that. Why did I ask that?
She looks away. “...You understand why he’s not coming...why he won’t be coming with us...right?”
I do.
I hang my head, looking at the newly-made kite on my young hands. “Whoa!” I say, feeling my eyes practically sparkling.
I feel a large, strong hand rubbing my young head. “Hahahah,” Moon gaze laughs as he hands me a tin can where he rolled the string for the kite. He points at the beach which is not too far away, where a few silhouettes are running and playing. “Now go over there and fly your kite. Fly it as high as you can!”
“Mmm!” I nod and run towards the beach, the kite tailing me in the air, ignoring the sad look my mom is giving me as I run past her.
Reaching the beach, I skid to a stop as I turn around, falling on the sand on my back. I feel a wide grin as I let Seri fly in the air, rolling the can on my hands to increase the length of the string.
“Wheee!” Seri wheee’s cheerfully, flapping her wide white wings in the air. “I’m flying! There’s no wind but I’m flying!”
“Hey, son!” Moon Gaze calls.
I sit up and turn my head towards his voice. I blink and see him sitting on the table outside our home, with a couple of his friends from work, holding those weird, bad-smelling bottles on their hands.
Dad, his face looking slightly red, is holding and waving a paper bill with his other hand. “I’m gonna give you this money if you can empty this full bottle.” He smiles a wide, wide smile. “What do ya say?”
His silhouetted friends are telling me, almost chanting, to accept the offer.
I bite my lower lip. I don’t want to. The smell of that stuff hurts my head. But that’s...a big money. I could buy lots of things with that.
I slowly take a step forward, but I stop when I hear chains rattling behind me. I look over my shoulder and see a sphere of moving images floating in the darkness. I slowly turn around to have a better look.
I see mom teaching a kid how to properly sweep the floor.
I then see the kid looking at mom as she washes the dishes.
Mom, holding a report card, is scolding the kid.
The kid is quietly sneaking towards a drawer. He opens it and quietly grabs a handful of coins while mom is talking to a customer inside our little store.
Mom is shaking her head in disappointment as she watches the kid kneeling on the front yard, hand-picking some red ants and putting them inside a sugar-filled jar.
The front door opens, mom walks in, and looks surprised to see a bunch of water-filled jars on the living room table with goldfishes each, some where already floating up-side-down.
Mom and a teacher are shouting at the kid, who is sitting on a tree branch in a school yard, to climb down.
An angry mom is boiling a notebook, each paper full of drawings and doodles. She pours the paper soup on a bowl and tells the kid to drink it or else.
Mom looks stunned, staring at the crying kid who’s holding a knife, with a dead, chopped cockroach on the floor.
Mom then walks in on the kid, who’s playing a video game. She pulls the plug, immediately turning the television off. The kid shouts at her, and mom shouts back. The kid throws the joystick on the floor, making mom furious.
A weak chuckle escapes my lips as I wipe a tear running down my face. I was a curious and spoiled brat back then.
Mom was always there for me, even though she hurts me at times. She attends every parent-teacher meetings and Christmas parties in schools. She even walks with me on my graduations: kindergarten, grade school, high school...
...even college, right after things started making sense. When I finally strung the pieces together and started making sense of everything. When I finally convinced my mom that we move out after I’ve stopped being blind to it all...
Of why dad had lots of ‘friends’.
Of why dad talks ‘differently’ to single women.
Of why dad tells me not to tell mom.
Of why dad is not often home.
...Of why my dad barely had the time for us.
“Time to leave, love,” I hear Xana say.
I blink, feeling the comfort of the gentle setting sun’s rays on my eyes. I turn around and see my mom, looking older than she used to be, who kept holding on keeping the family together, no matter how cracked it was even from the start, just so I can grow up with a mother and father.
...until she finally snapped and almost—
She blinks, the dark surroundings turning back to the beach. “...Haven’t I said that before? What’s going on?”
“...To the city?”
She blinks, surprised to hear me suddenly talking. She composes herself and nods her head. “Yes. City. Whatever that is.” She shrugs. “You’ll attend college there, away from here.” She smiles a small, sad smile. “...You understand, right, love?”
I hang my head. “...Yeah.”
He was always out there, busy working.
...or at least, I thought he was.
Everything’s dark all of a sudden. There’s that pain in my head again.
“Grrk...!” I clench my eyes shut as I rub my aching head with my hooves.
He always cooks the best meaty meals. He drives the motorbike and oftentimes brings me along with his deliveries. He knows how to use his words to calm angry customers. He has a lot of friends.
He doesn’t buy me the stuff I want though. But I never felt too bad about it. He promises me that he’ll buy it for me next time.
And the next time... And the next time after that.
He doesn’t attend any school activities. He’s always coming home late, always missing dinner and movie nights. He says he’s busy with work. But I never felt too bad about it either. He promises to attend the next one.
...And the next one... And the next one after that...
He doesn’t scold me if I did anything wrong with anything. He even argues with my mom to let me off the hook.
He doesn’t eat with us most of the time, because he’s always rushing to or busy with work.
He doesn’t compliment me if I achieve good grades after studying too hard on them, because he’s too tired and wants to sleep.
He tells me that everything’s fine the next morning, even though there are a lot of glass shards on the floor.
He tells me that mom is insecure, that is why they always argue and fight almost every single night.
He tells me that mom will be back soon every time my mom leaves for an uncertain amount of days.
...And he tells me that he doesn’t know what he has done wrong, as we watch these strange people carry mom inside the ambulance.
...Sometimes I wish that I never grew up and stayed innocent, because I miss feeling happy and seeing how bright the world was in my innocent, ignorant eyes.
Then again, that would mean I would remain blind to everything that was happening...
I hang my head as the images around me start to fade. I sit down and embrace my knees, crying quietly as I ignore the many voices calling out my name. Twilight’s, Reykan’s, mom’s, dad’s, Moon’s, Seri’s, Xana’s, bro’s—!
My bro. My poor, poor bro...
He was cheerful, but was mortified when he saw how angry my mom was at me. He studied hard, impressing my mom with good grades.
“Why can’t you be as smart as him, Jay?”
He was energetic, but he’s well-behaved after he saw how mom punished me after talking back at her.
“Why can’t you be good like your brother, Jay?”
He was lazy, but not anymore after my mom scolded me for not sweeping the floor.
“Why can’t you be as responsible as your brother, Jay?”
He was—
“Why can’t you be—”
He was—
“—just like your—”
He was—
“—younger brother—”
He was—!
“—Jay?!”
My eyes shot open. I feel angry. So fucking angry.
And without hesitation, I push my brother off the stairs.
I hear mom cry out in panic from downstairs.
I see the stunned look my brother is giving me as he falls down.
...And I feel how wide my smile is and how happy I am that I did it.
I finally did it.
...What did I do? Why did I do it? Will it stop mom from hurting me? Will she finally stop scolding me? Will she finally let me do whatever I want? Will she finally stop comparing me from my brother?
She didn’t answer. I didn’t ask anyway.
I can almost see how horrified I am as I stare at my brother down the stairs, mom cradling him and crying over him.
Why did I do it? She asks me, I’m sure, but I never hear any voice coming out from her trembling lips. She is crying. She is sobbing. She is asking herself what she did wrong to deserve this. She is asking herself why I turned out like this.
...She is asking me why am I like my father. I am like my father. Am I really like my father? I should be happy...right? Mom is trying to stop me from becoming like my father! I like dad! I love dad! Why is she doing that? Why is she stopping me from turning into him?!
But I didn’t ask her. I didn’t need to.
I...have hurt my brother. I have never seen him like that before... He almost looks like...mom. He looks...like mom...after their fight. Dad hurts mom... I am like dad... I hurt my brother... I hurt mom...
“Jay...” I hear Reykan’s weak voice from my brother’s lips... “...I...’m...s...sorry...”
A loud crashing noise. Everything becomes dark as I fall to my knees, crying. I cry, and cry, and cry...
“N-never again...” I say, almost choking on a sob. “I-I... I don’t want to hurt my brother ever again... I don’t want to hurt my mom ever again...”
“And why not?” I hear Twilight ask. “She’s hurting you. Countless times, even. And you didn’t even hurt her, not even once! And don’t you give me that look, Twilight! From what we’ve seen, from what he showed us, he’s been hurt, always getting hurt, and never got justice. I’m proud of him, to be honest. He finally learned when to draw the line, just like I did back then, but I’m disappointed as well, for he immediately erased that very line. So what’s next? Basing from cliché stories my counterpart has read, you become a sponge to all hurt as you try to be a good pony...who-mahn...whatever your stick species are called. Am I correct? Please say yes and let’s be done with this useless background story of yours.”
I take a breath, feeling the salty breeze as I hear the soft waves of the beach.
“Oh, for crying out lou—”
“Never again will I hurt them...” I whisper to myself as I see my younger self, crying with a knife on hand and a dead roach on the floor.
“Jay?” I hear Xana’s voice. “I’m...afraid to ask, but what’s going on?”
I sniff and look at her as I hear another set of sobs from somewhere in the room. “It...it scared Kevin, so I...I killed it!”
My mother’s sigh echoes in the background as I pet the eating panther cub, my brother sitting beside me and curiously looking at the creature.
“What are you two doing?” I hear Twilight ask.
My bro and I turn our heads toward her voice, and we see mom standing by the door, looking curious.
“Nothing,” my brother and I reply in unison.
“Just letting the dog eat the bones from last night’s dinner,” I add as I turn back to the panther cub.
Grabbing my bro’s hand and mine, mom drags us away from Reykan. “Idiots!” I hear her hiss mixing with the salty breeze as my brother and I happily watch Seri flying in the air.
I turn to him. “Wanna hold it?” I ask, offering the tin can.
“Eh?” he blinks at me, his smile turning into shock. “No no no! I don’t wanna! I dunno how!”
“Idiot,” I chuckle. “It’s simple! Just hold it and...um... Just hold it!” I say as I shove the can to his hands.
I hear shouting from the distance. My brother and I turn to the source. We see mom and dad arguing outside the house...again.
“They’re still fighting...” I hear Reykan whisper to himself.
I frown as dad waves the bill in the air, taunting me to grab the bottle. I want to leave.
But my brother suddenly appears beside me, walking towards him.
Dad hands him the bottle, and his friends cheer as my brother grabs it.
He looks at it, looks at him, looks back at the bottle, holds it on its neck with one hand...
...and turns it up-side-down, spilling the content on the ground, creating a liquid mess in the quiet outdoors.
“...There,” my brother says. “It’s empty.”
I’m not quick enough to push him away from my father’s fist.
I close my eyes and lean my head on the window of the moving bus. Slowly, I reopen my eyes and watch the blurry scene passing by.
I pull my head back and look at mom, who’s fast asleep with her mouth slightly open. I feel a small smile on my lips. She really did thought she was doing something wrong after that...incident. She stopped hitting me. Still though, she was still strict on grades.
We’re moving away from it all. We’re putting the past behind us... I’m going to college... Mom’s gonna look for work. My bro’s gonna attend senior high school...
I look out the window and see my aunt’s two-storey building before us, mom and bro carrying and pulling bags and walking through the closed door.
I take a breath as I close my eyes. I turn around and reopen my eyes.
I stare at the tall apartment building before me. Here’s to hoping...
The landlady opens the door, and smiles an old, wrinkly smile at me.
“Hello, Jay.”
I still find it weird how she knew my name. Mom probably told her.
“Looking for a room, I take it?”
I nod my head. Not only my name, but she also knows why I came here... It’s...strange...
Something’s suddenly growing on the landlady’s forehead, my widening eyes transfixed on it. “...I’ve had enough of your backstory bullshit,” she says in Twilight’s angry voice as a purple horn on her forehead suddenly glows in bright, purple light. “Now wake the buck up!”
A groan escapes my lips as I lift my two hooves up and rub my furry pony head.
Damn it... It’s been a long time since I’ve had that nightmare. Only that one was more...painful. And heartbreaking. And confusing. So many jumps and cuts. If I can compare it to a Mario game, it would have been like the water levels: lazy, boring and missing sense. Throwing fireballs underwater? Pfft.
Anyway, I wish to never see that nightmare ever again.
“Are you even listening?” I hear Twilight ask from behind me.
“S-sorry,” I breath out as I put my two hooves down. Opening my eyes, I find myself in...darkness. Complete darkness. Standing up, I turn around and see everyone quite clearly...plus another Twilight. I blink. “...Uh.”
“What in Leg Crawler shit was that just now, anyway?” Moon Gaze squeaks from inside Xana’s pouch.
Leg Crawler...
“We were inside Jay’s dreamscape,” Winged Twilight says, hoof on chin, eyebrows furrowed and eyes burning holes on the darkness. “My consciousness would have been thrown back in time after I drank that potion, but I cast a spell on those gems to send all of us...all of our consciousness, because, well, more is better than one, as Pinkie always says.”
Reykan slowly pokes Seri, but his paw goes through her, making the swan giggle. “...Weird” he says as he sits down and tries but fails to claw the giggling avian. “Why can’t I touch her?”
Wingless Twilight mutters something under her breath.
“Ahem,” Winged Twilight clears her throat, catching everyone’s attention. “We can’t touch each other, nor can anything touch us,” she explains. “Not right now, anyway.”
“So where are we?” Moon Gaze asks. “It’s pretty dark, but I can clearly see everyone for some reason.”
Alicorn Twilight nods her head. “That’s because I’m in control of our united dreamscapes now.” She turns to me. “Earlier, it was Jay who was in control. I still don’t know why, but my theory is that...it’s because his grasp on the dreamscape was stronger than mine, or any one of us, probably because he was asleep.”
“Reykan was asleep, too,” Seri says.
Alicorn Twilight pauses to consider that. “...and maybe because Jay’s...species...has a stronger mind. Maybe.” Her ears droop. “If my other self haven’t figure out a way to, uh, wake him up, we could have been trapped in Jay’s dreamscape forever, even if he wakes up or even if the potion’s effect runs out...”
That’s a scary thought.
Unicorn Twilight grunts.
I guess anyone who’s asleep has more control over their dreams. Does that mean Twilight drank the potion while I was sleeping? Wait... I was sleeping? I remember the Leg Crawler... It bit me, and then...bits and pieces... If I was, or currently am sleeping, then that means we made it out of that millipede nightmare and got to Twilight’s. Phew... That’s a nice thing to look forward to when I ‘wake up’.
“...Why are there two of you, love?” Xana suddenly asks.
Alicorn Twilight blinks. “Well—”
“There are two Equestrias, remember?” Unicorn Twilight quickly replies, cutting the alicorn off. “The real one and the current one.” She gestures at the alicorn. “She’s from the real one.” She points a hoof at herself. “I’m from the current one. Do your simple brains understand that?”
“She’s the mad mare you all know!” Seri chirps, pointing at the unicorn. She then points at the alicorn. “And she’s the mare who looks like the mad mare you all know! Plus wings!”
Xana and Moon Gaze blink.
Unicorn Twilight rolls her eyes. “In any case—”
“Then why isn’t there another us?” Reykan suddenly asks, blinking.
Alicorn Twilight raises a hoof. “I can answer that. It’s because—”
“We’ve wasted enough time as it is!” Unicorn Twilight interjects, glaring at the panther cub. She turns that glare on me. “No thanks to you, alien.”
“I’m...sorry?”
Alicorn Twilight frowns at me. “Jay...” She takes a breath. “...I have a loooooooong list of questions I want you to answer later.”
“Yeah...” I lamely nod my head as I stare at the sudden unrolled scroll floating behind the alicorn. “...I can see that.”
She blinks, looks back and blinks at the floating scroll.
It poofs into the darkness.
She shrugs before looking back at us, her horn glowing. “Alright. Everypony ready to help?”
“Help with what?” Reykan asks.
“Oh!” Seri chirps, smiling at the cub. “You weren’t there when Twilight told Jay and Sienna the plan.”
“What plan?” Moon Gaze asks.
“Who’s Sienna?” Xana asks, blinking. “...And is this plan that ‘investgate’ thing you told us before all this...weird things started happening?”
Alicorn Twilight nods her head. “It’s about to get a little weirder, because we’re going to the past and see what caused the change, so brace yourselves.”
“I can’t wait!” Seri chirps.
Unicorn Twilight, her horn also glowing, looks at the kangaroo. “Remember, we cannot touch anything, and nothing can touch us. So if we suddenly appear in some unknown place, don’t you dare start freaking out.”
Xana and Moon Gaze are freaking out as we find ourselves under a clear blue sky and in the very middle of a large buffalo stampede.
Deciding it’s best to ignore them, Unicorn Twilight turns to her alicorn counterpart. “Where are we?”
“Um...” the alicorn looks around, ignoring the bodies and dusts passing through us. “...in a stampede?”
The unicorn frowns at her.
The alicorn smiles an awkward smile. “Eh heh heh... Eh... Um...” She looks around again as the stampede dies down. “By my calculations, I brought us back to a day before the change happened.”
“...Roughly a week ago?” I ask.
The alicorn nods her head as the stampede finally dies down, leaving a large dust cloud to settle. She turns towards a river where Xana and Moon Gaze have retreated, joined by Seri and Reykan. “I only came back here to see if I can actually bring all of our consciousness to the past.” She looks back at me with a smile. “I guess it works!”
“Congratulations,” Unicorn Twilight says with a deadpan. “Are we going to look for something here or what?”
The alicorn blinks. “Well...”
The unicorn stomps her hoof. “So you took us here for nothing then?”
“I said I wanted to test if I can bring all of us along, and it worked!” the alicorn counters. “That counts as something, right?”
“Why did you even bring these mindless asses along, anyway? Look what they’re doing!” The unicorn points at the four standing by the river. “Are they helping? No!”
“There’s nothing to look for in this part of the past anyway!”
“And need I remind you what this alien did?” the unicorn shouts, pointing a hoof at me. “This stupid ass-probed stallion wasted so much time already! So stop wasting even more time and go back to the past that actually matters!”
“Okay, okay!” the alicorn gives in, sighing. “Let me round them up first.”
“Don’t bother,” the unicorn says as she turns towards the four.
“But—”
“HEY!” the unicorn shouts, startling the four and making her counterpart and I wince. “Get your asses over here!”
Sheesh, hotheaded much? I shake my head and watch the four taking a couple of seconds to reach us.
“I can’t swim on the river,” Seri says with a pout as she lands.
“And I can’t drink the water,” Moon Gaze squeaks, panting. “And I’m thirsty.”
“No,” the unicorn frowns at him. “You’re not.”
Moon Gaze glares at her. His glare quickly fades as he blinks. “...Huh... I’m not thirsty anymore.”
“Your minds are the ones with us right now,” the alicorn explains. “If you think you’re hungry, then you will be. If you think you can fly, then you can.” She smiles at the curious blinks she received from them. “We’re not really in our bodies at the moment. Think of us as spirits—”
“Zip it,” the unicorn growls, shutting the alicorn up. “No point explaining to the idiots something that’s beyond their comprehension.”
The alicorn glares at her wingless counterpart. “Don’t be rude to them.”
The unicorn glares back. “Stop wasting time, and I might just do that.”
The purple mares hold their glares...
...that lasts for only three or so seconds until the unicorn groans. “Stop wasting time already! I doubt you’d want to send these morons to collect the ingredients again while you recharge those gems again!”
The alicorn closes her eyes and sighs. “...Fine.” She looks up at the blue sky. “...If I remember correctly, after I drank the potion Zecora gave me, it magically sent me to the past where an important event happened.”
“And this?” the unicorn asks.
The alicorn looks back at her. “I willed where I wanted us to go.” Her horn starts glowing. “If I’ll let the potion send me...send us to where it wants us to go, we’ll probably see something that’ll help us figure out what happened.”
“Hm...” The unicorn nods her head. “Sounds about right. Alright then...” Her horn starts glowing as well.
Xana leans her head down to my ear. “...Got any of that?”
I nod my head as the purple light gets stronger and stronger. “Yeah. But it’s best to just roll with it.”
“Yep!” Seri chirps in agreement.
“Roll with what?” Moon Gaze asks.
FLASH
As soon as I recover my vision, I find ourselves surrounded by trees in a dark forest, with cricket chirps echoing all around.
I blink... And blink... And blink again. This place looks...oddly familiar somehow. Have I been here before? It feels like I have, but I can’t put a finger on where...
Then again, ever since I got to Equestria, I’ve been walking through a number of nameless forests. Each one looks kinda the same, but this forest gives off a...familiar feeling.
“So where are we this time?” Moon Gaze breaks our silence.
“Looks like we’re in a forest,” Seri answers.
“No kidding, love?” Xana asks.
“Seri’s right,” Reykan nods his head as he turns to the kangaroo. “We’re in a forest.”
A brown hoof meets my face.
A groan escapes Unicorn Twilight’s lips as she looks at her counterpart. “...This is an important event, why?”
The alicorn shakes her head in confusion. “I’m not sure. I didn’t will it this time. I let the potion take us to where it wants us to—”
FLASH
A bright white light blinds us for a moment, silencing the night forest’s melodies almost immediately. The surprised yelps of our companions accompany the sudden thud noise that breaks through the silence.
And then everything’s quiet.
I rub my eyes as I hear the others fussing about that sudden white light.
“So there are two Jays now?” I hear Moon Gaze ask.
Arching an eyebrow, I bring my hoof back down and open my eyes to see the others looking at...myself...my pony self, who’s lying on the grass, fast asleep. I blink. “...Wait, what?”
Reykan pokes my head, but his paw goes through my head instead. “Huh...”
“Oh! Oh!” Seri suddenly chirps, whipping her small head left and right. “Is there another me around here, too? Another cute Reykan, maybe? Where? Where?”
...Wait.
“What’s going on here, Twilight?” the unicorn asks. “Is this the important event?”
...I...think I know what this is...
“Um... M-maybe?” the alicorn replies with a strained smile.
The unicorn’s eye twitches. “...You’re useless.”
“I think...” I voice out, catching everyone’s attention. “...I know what this is. Or when this happened.” I look around, trying to see the horizon through the gaps in between the trees, until I finally see daybreak. “This is when I woke up and realized I’m...no longer human... That I became a pony. That I was no longer back home.” I look at them. “This was when I first woke up in Equestria.”
Dramatic much? I blame my bro and his love for animé.
Silence.
“...What?” Moon Gaze asks.
“Oh! I get it!” Seri chirps happily. “That weird place that always changes, where you’re a weird monkey creature thing! That place was your home, right?”
Sticks...and then monkeys... I shake my head, and then nod my head. “Yeah.” I rest my gaze on my sleeping past self. “...I still don’t know how I got here.”
“And after you woke up,” Alicorn Twilight adds. “You searched for me in hopes of sending you back?”
I smile a weak smile. “Yeah...” I rub the back of my neck with a hoof. “...But after you told me that you had no idea what happened to Equestria, I...decided not to tell you about...where I really came from.”
The alicorn frowns. “I really, really thought you were from the same Equestria where I hailed from, Jay. It gave me a little bit of hope that maybe there are others out there, too, who are like us, who still have the memories of the real Equestria, or that whatever happened wasn’t ‘permanent’ or something and can be reverted.” She sighs. “You lied to me...”
I let out a sigh as well. “I’m sorry. But... I didn’t want to burden you further.” I look away. “I thought it would be a good idea to not tell you until after I help you restore Equestria. After all...” I look back at her. “‘Oh, hey there, Twilight! Can you help me return home? I’m actually a human from another world, or dimension, that is probably far, far away from Equestria.’” I frown at her. “I really doubt you’d believe me.”
“I see his point,” the unicorn says. “Stupid as it may have been.”
I glare at her.
“I have no idea what you are all talking about,” Moon Gaze comments.
Seri turns to him. “Just smile and pretend you know what they’re doing and saying. It prevented Twilight from getting many headaches when we first met.”
“I’ll take your word for it, love,” Xana says before turning back to us. “So what now? We wait for Jay...er, Second Jay to wake up?”
“No,” the alicorn says, shaking her head. “We figure out what that light was, or where it came from.”
“In front of Jay,” Reykan says immediately.
Both Twilights turn to him.
“...The Jay that’s sleeping.” The cub blinks and shrugs. “I saw him floating in the light. And that light was in front of him.”
“Floating?” I ask.
“You saw what happened?” the alicorn asks. “In that light?”
Reykan shrugs again. “Well, yeah. I guess I did.”
“That’s incredible!” the alicorn exclaims, smiling. “I didn’t know nocturnal creatures can see—”
“Zip the science mumbo-jumbo, Einstallion,” the unicorn grumbles.
The alicorn blinks. “...Right, right... Ahem.” She looks back at the cub. “...So what else did you see? Did you see who or what caused that light?”
“Because I closed my eyes? The light hurts, you know,” the cub answers with a glare.
“Useless,” the unicorn mutters.
“But you’re sure that the light was in front of Jay?” the alicorn presses on. “Like... Jay suddenly showed up floating, and that the light really came from in front of him? It didn’t come from the sky or the horizon or outside this forest?”
“Nope.”
“So the light was close to Jay?”
“Yep.”
“How close? A few inches? Feet? Meters?”
Reykan blinks, his jaw and the alicorn’s snout already touching. He then eyes me. “...Jay? Why is she putting her face on mine?”
“She loves you, Reykan,” I reply automatically as Twilight awkwardly pulls her head back. “You two are mates now.”
Reykan glares at me as Seri giggles.
The alicorn rolls her eyes. “So how close was it, Reykan?”
Reykan sits down and pulls his two paws apart. “...Maybe this close.”
By my estimate, that’s about—
“Hm... About five or six inches,” the alicorn steals my thoughts.
“And what good would that information be if the predator didn’t even see who or what brought the alien here?”
The alicorn looks at her wingless counterpart. “It’s useful, actually. I can safely say that it wasn’t a portal. And it summoned Jay with the same light that changed Equestria.” She sits down. “I was sitting around the cutie map when that light appeared. In a blink, Equestria changed. But if what Reykan said is true, then Jay was summoned here after Equestria was changed.” She looks grim. “...It’s safe to assume that there is something or someone who’s doing this.”
“I can see your memories, too, Twilight,” the unicorn says. “That light in your castle was slower than the light that brought the alien here.”
The alicorn nods her head as the sleeping me suddenly pushes himself up and pauses, his wide eyes staring at his brown hooves.
Everyone’s attention are on the past me, who closes his eyes, sighs and stands up straight.
“My theory is that...” the alicorn says as we watch the past me looking over his shoulder. “...the light only appeared when something is changed...or added in Equestria.”
I turn to her. “...You theorized that I came here after Equestria changed, right?”
The alicorn nods her head. “I know where you’re going with that line of thinking,” she says as the others watch ‘past me’ bringing a hoof to his head, checking if he has a horn or not. And then he looks over his shoulder again. “That moment in the castle when the light appeared?” She shakes her head with a frown. “It doesn’t exist in this world.” She shifts her sad gaze on my past self. “We can’t see ‘that part of the past’ if it doesn’t exist in this Equestria’s past...”
Oh...
“What were you doing?” Moon Gaze asks.
I sigh and shrug. “Checking if I had a cutie mark, horn or wings.”
We watch the brown stallion walking towards the edge of the forest, mumbling something under his breath.
“Should we follow him?” Xana asks.
I turn to the Twilights and notice the alicorn is deep in thought.
“Cutie marks...” she mutters. “Cutie marks...! That’s it!” She looks to us with a big smile and sparkling eyes. “We don’t have cutie marks! Nopony does! Why do you think that is?”
“What’s a cutie mark?” Reykan asks, blinking.
Seri turns to him. “Twilight once told me what those are. She said it’s some weird things on pony’s flanks.”
Reykan blinks at her, then turns to me, and then stares at my flank. “...I don’t see anything weird on there.”
“That’s the point,” I say. “Now stop staring. You’re making me feel uncomfortable.”
The alicorn sighs. “...Not really the responses I expected.”
“So the cutie marks are gone,” the unicorn says. “That’s another big change, isn’t it?”
“It is,” the alicorn nods her head. “You said that the light was somewhat slower when Equestria was suddenly changed than the light that brought Jay here. I think it’s because the former is a large change than the latter. Cutie marks are on everypony, so that’s a large-scale change.”
The unicorn nods her head. “It’s still quick, but still slower. Unless—”
“And if we know where to look, we can be there right before it happens!”
“The potion will take us there and we’ll be able to see who or what is causing these changes.” The unicorn shakes her head. “But—”
Smiling excitedly, the alicorn lights up her horn in a purple glow. “And once we figure out who or what caused this, we can finally start figuring out how to fix Equestria!”
“Yay!” Seri cheers.
Unicorn Twilight glares at her counterpart. “Twilight.”
“Hm?”
The unicorn glares at her. “Instead of wiping everypony’s cutie marks, what if they stopped the discovery of cutie marks?”
The alicorn blinks, the glow on her horn dimming.
The unicorn continues: “The very first pony who got their cutie mark. What if that never happened?” She shakes her head. “That’s a small change.”
The alicorn’s ears droop. “...I...haven’t thought of that.”
“Well now you do,” the unicorn says. “It’s going to be a quick flash again,” she says as she lights up her horn. “So we should have a quicker eye.”
The alicorn sighs, her horn’s glow brightening. She looks up at her counterpart with a determined look and nods her head. “You’re right.” She looks at the rest of us. “We’re going to need everypony’s help with this. Ready?”
I shrug.
FLASH
As my vision slowly return, my ears twitch to the harsh howls of icy wind. I blink, and blink again. Why am I still seeing white? Oh wait... Is... Are we in a blizzard? I’ve never been in a blizzard before, and I have no plans of changing that.
Anyway, it appears that we really are in a blinding white blizzard, snow zooming past and through us in blurring speed.
I turn and can clearly see the others looking around, except for Xana, who’s shivering all over, but her face is twisted in confusion. I’m not feeling the bitter cold of our surrounding, so the others probably don’t as well, but maybe Miss Roo is shivering because her mind is telling her otherwise? Like instinct, maybe? Reykan and the others don’t look like they’re having any trouble though.
“Brr...” Xana hisses through clench teeth. “I hate snow...”
“It’s not even cold,” Reykan says, blinking at her.
“Doesn’t matter,” the kangaroo says. “Snow is still snow...”
I guess it’s safe to assume that Alter-Equestria snows, too.
Unicorn Twilight rolls her eyes.
“So where are we now?” Moon Gaze ask shakily from the kangaroo’s pouch, his poked head shaking with his shaky host.
“In a blizzard, I think,” Seri answers with a beaked smile.
“This doesn’t make sense...” we hear Alicorn Twilight mutter. We turn to her and see her sitting on the untouched snow, deep in thought. “Why did the potion sent us here? It wasn’t snowing when the cutie marks were discovered.”
I tilt my head to the side. “...How were cutie marks discovered anyway?” I don’t remember any mention of that in the show. All I remember is that a cutie mark will appear on one’s flank after they realize what they are passionate about...or destiny...or something.
Alicorn Twilight looks at me and opens her mouth—
“Ancient ponies,” Unicorn Twilight suddenly says. “Cave ponies discovered fire. They utilized it. They got fire-related cutie marks. The end.”
Alicorn Twilight closes her mouth. “Um... Yeah. What she said.”
I blink. Cave ponies? Discovered fire? So like humans then, minus cutie marks?
She looks around. “Maybe the potion sent us here because—”
A ghostly whine pierces through the blizzard, making us look at the direction where the noise had come from. Faint hoofsteps reach my ears. Many, many hoofsteps, and many, many ghostly whinnies, growing louder and louder by the second.
“...Are we in the middle of a stampede again?” Reykan asks, blinking at the white world in front of him.
“Should we run and panic again?” Moon Gaze asks.
“It’s a good thing I can fly!” Seri smiles.
The rat glares at her. “Lucky you,” he grumbles.
“No, you idiots,” Unicorn Twilight says, glaring at them. “How many times do we need to tell you that we can’t touch anything and nothing can touch us—”
I gasp and jump in surprise when I suddenly see a tall and ghostly horse-like creature breaking through the whiteness a few feet or meters in front of me, and galloping through me! I blink a confused blink in time for another ghostly equine to gallop by, and another, then another, and another. I sigh in relief as a herd of stampeding ghost horses are galloping by, through and over us, ignorant of our presence.
“They’re Windigoes,” Alicorn Twilight says as we turn to the direction where the ghostly herd are headed. “They’re spirits of legend that can freeze an entire continent by feeding off the hatred and negative energies of those living on it.”
“Eating what?” Reykan asks
Her brows furrow. “I say we follow them.”
Unicorn Twilight nods her head. “Quickly, before we lose sight of them in this blizzard.”
“W-we’re gonna just chase after them blind?” Moon Gaze asks as we run with the ghostly equines. “What if we fall or bump into something?”
Unicorn Twilight grunts in annoyance.
We can no longer see any trail or tail of the Windigoes. We can’t even hear their galloping hooves nor their ghostly whines anymore. Instead, all we can hear is the violent howling of the blizzard all around us.
And Unicorn Twilight isn’t happy about it.
“I can’t believe we lost them!” she yells, stomping her hoof on the undisturbed snow, only for her limb to phase through the ground. “Why can’t they just run in a straight line?!”
“Maybe they were trying to lose us?” Xana says. She and Moon Gaze flinch and whimper under the unicorn’s piercing glare.
Unicorn Twilight holds her glare on them for a few seconds before shifting them on her counterpart. “You! Why didn’t you fly after them?! You have wings, for Celestia’s sake!”
The alicorn bites her bottom lip, looking away. “...Um... I’m a bad flyer.”
“Me too,” Seri says with a nod. “Hard to fly in strong winds, especially in a blizzard like this one.” It was surprising to see Seri managing to keep up with us without using her wings.
The unicorn groans. “Great! Just great! We’re stuck in this blizzard with no knowledge of where we are and where to go!”
I slowly raise a brown hoof.
The unicorn notices it. “What?”
I frown at her, then turn to the alicorn. “You winged ones can fly up and see if you can...see anything.”
“We’re in a blizzard!” U-Twlight says. “Empowered by the windigoes, no less! How are they supposed to see anything up there other than this very blizzard?”
My frown grows heavier. “Well, sorry for suggesting something instead of whining about something.”
Oh, she’s fuming mad now, with her horn sparking. I’m really pushing my luck here, aren’t I?
“Calm down, Alter-Me,” Twilight says with a gentle smile as she tries to put a friendly hoof on the fuming unicorn’s shoulder. “It’s worth doing. I’m sure Seri and I will see something up there.”
The swan nods her head.
“Fine,” U-Twilight grunts, sitting down.
“Just take deep—”
“Shut up and fly already.”
A-Twilight’s smile falters. With a nod, she extends her wings and turns to Seri. “Shall we?”
Seri smiles and extends her wings as well. “Sure!”
And off they go.
“...Wow. We’re flying through the blizzard!” Seri’s voice echoes from above.
I blink... Wait... Didn’t they told us that we can fly in this world?
Moon Gaze sighs. “...I could have flown with her.”
“With Seri?” Reykan asks, blinking at the rat.
“With the winged unicorn, you dumb cat,” Moon Gaze grumbles.
“I thought you’re afraid of her?” Xana asks with a teasing smile.
“...half of her.”
U-Twilight rolls her eyes.
FLASH
I cannot believe something whiter and brighter than white itself can suddenly flash and blind me! But it happened!
As I rub my closed eyes and hear the others groaning and grunting from the sudden flash of light, distant and echoing cries and whinnies of the windigoes reaches my ears.
...And then silence. I can’t even hear the loud howling blizzard anymore.
Blinking, and blinking, I look up and around.
The blizzard’s gone.
A clear blue sky and a snowy white landscape greets us.
“...What just happened?” Moon Gaze asks as I look up and see A-Twilight and Seri flying back down.
“I hate snow and I hate blizzards but,” Xana says, looking around. “...blizzards don’t just stop like that.”
“It was because of that white flash, huh, Jay?” Reykan asks as the winged duo ‘lands’ around us.
I nod my head.
“The light came from over there!” Seri points towards a direction.
“It’s pointless now,” U-Twilight says, shaking her head. “We’ll just have to go back to the distant past where the cutie marks were first discovered.”
A-Twilight nods her head before turning to where Seri has pointed. “Still, we should go and check out the location of where that light had come from.”
U-Twilight sighs. “Fine.” She glares at her counterpart. “But if it turns out that it’s all a waste of time, I’m taking over our body after this.”
A-Twilight gulps and nods her head.
A few minutes later—
“I think we’ve been walking for almost half an hour now,” A-Twilight suddenly says to no one in particular. “I estimated the potion’s effect to last only around half an hour.”
“Then clearly you were wrong,” U-Twilight responds back as we stop.
Anyway, as I was saying...or thinking...or narrating to myself... Standing on the snowy white landscape, we see a small group of colorful ponies down the snowy valley, all huddled together to share their warmth.
“Poor ponies,” Xana whispers. “This is why I hate snow. I don’t like how helpless we are to it, and there’s barely any or no food for us to eat. And look at them! They’re so vulnerable to predators!”
“Yep,” Reykan nods his head, ignorant of Xana’s, Moon Gaze’s and U-Twilight’s glares. He shrugs. “Too bad I’m not hungry and I couldn’t touch them.”
U-Twilight turns to her counterpart. “Well?”
A-Twilight is looking at the group with a critical eye. “...One of them is flying...” she points out. “And those ponies are...earth ponies...and unicorns...and pegasi.”
“Good eye,” Moon Gaze says. “I can only see them as a bunch of mashed-up colors from here...”
“What’s your point?” U-Twilight asks.
A-Twilight turns to her. “...Those ponies... Those three ponies in particular are—”
“Commander Hurricane,” I chime in. “Princess Platinum and...uh...” I blink. “...Pudding...something...”
A-Twilight turns to fully face me. “You know, for someone who’s not native and who just arrived barely a week in this world, you sure seem to know a lot about us.” She shakes her head and turn back to the huddled ponies. “Not only them though. But also Smart Cookie, Private Pansy and...Clover the Clever.” A pause. “...I’m containing a squee, by the way.”
“I wonder why,” I say.
U-Twilight rolls her eyes.
A-Twilight turns back to us. “Anyway, it’s strange to see them...like that.”
I nod my head. “If I remember correctly, they were having a meeting in a large building or something, arguing about the snow.”
A-Twilight nods. “Yes. And they then moved to Equestria.”
“Moved to Equestria?” Xana asks. “Does that mean they are currently not in Equestria?”
A-Twilight nods. “The unicorns and earth ponies believed that the pegasi—”
“Save the history for later, Twilight,” U-Twilight says, glaring. “So we see that they also don’t have basic knowledge in making shelter...just like in the current Equestria.” She looks at the group below. “And I don’t see any marks on their flanks either.” She looks back at her counterpart. “So what was that flash about?”
A-Twilight stares and stares at the group.
Silence.
And then...
“...The windigoes...” She mutters. “That light must have been for the windigoes...” She turns back to us. “Those ponies... They couldn’t live here anymore, so they went out and searched for a habitable land, away from the windigoes.”
“So they don’t go and multiply in Equestria,” U-Twilight cuts in. “So what? Who cares?”
“Unity,” A-Twilight tells her. “The windigoes united the three tribes. So if the windigoes were to suddenly disappear...”
U-Twilight blinks at her. She looks away. “...I see the point.”
“So,” Moon Gaze squeaks. “The reason we pegasi and other ponies don’t get along is because some blizzard horses were suddenly gone?”
A-Twilight nods at him. “The three tribes, united in Equestria, helped spread that unity all across the land.” She looks back at the ponies in the valley. “Once the snow melts, they’ll go back to their own tribes, to their own races, and they’ll be hating the others again.”
“Aww...” Seri frowns a sad frown.
“Meh,” Reykan meh’s.
“Right,” U-Twilight says. “It’s sad, but whatever. We didn’t see what or who got rid of those equines.” She turns to her counterpart. “We should let the potion show us the next change before it’s magic runs out.”
A-Twilight nods her head. She lights up her horn and—
“Wait,” I say, catching the purple mares’ attentions. “Twilight, can’t you just...rewind and pause, rewind and pause until we see what caused that light?”
“No, we can’t,” A-Twilight says with a frown. “It’s the potion controlling the ‘time’ in the dreamscape. If I will it to stop and ‘rewind,’ we’ll end up in that dark place after Alter-Me ‘woke you.’”
“Oh...” I don’t get it, but it’s best to end it there.
“Don’t worry,” A-Twilight smiles. “We’re going to the past where the first cutie mark was discovered. All we have to do is find the pony and look above and around them while we wait for the light.” She looks at each and every one of us. “With this many eyes, I’m sure at least one of us will catch a glimpse of who or what caused Equestria’s change.”
I nod my head.
“Everypony ready?”
Seri eagerly nods her tiny little head. Reykan shrugs. Moon Gaze squeaks an affirmative.
“There won’t be any snow in the next destination, right, love?” Xana asks.
A-Twilight taps her chin. Seconds later, she brings her hoof back down as she shakes her head. “...Not that I know of.”
Xana nods her head with a smile. “Alright then.”
I wonder if the Cutie Mark Crusaders are the ones behind this. I mean... I haven’t seen them in the altered Equestria, nor do I remember Applejack mention about a younger sister. Then again, they already got their cutie marks, so I guess—
FLASH
“I am never going to get used to that,” I mutter as I rub my eyes with my hooves.
“Me neither,” Moon Gaze says.
My ears twitch as the sounds finally register in my brain. It sounds like it’s raining. A super strong and super heavy rain.
Thunder roars from the sky.
“Thankfully,” I hear Twilight say as I look around. “This is the last stop the potion is going to take us.” She taps her chin with a hoof. “...Unless something was changed even before this era.”
“I sure hope this is the last one,” U-Twilight says, looking around.
Aside from the heavy rainfall, the occasional roars of thunder and flashes of lightning in the stormy, evening sky, we find ourselves surrounded by large boulders and dead trees, with crashing waters running on large rivers.
“Wild storm?” Reykan asks.
“Looks like it,” Xana replies.
“I hate wild storms,” Moon Gaze says, glaring at the chaotic dark clouds up above. “Can’t touch or kick their clouds. No way of stopping them. They also pull our harvested clouds to add to their dark cloudness!”
Harvested clouds? Pegasi harvest clouds?
“Focus, everypony,” A-Twilight calls. She flaps her wings and looks around, hovering above the heights of the boulders. A lightning flash momentarily blinds us, and then a crashing thunder follows, shaking the ground. “We should be on the lookout for ponies around here.”
“Like those guys?” Reykan suddenly asks.
Everyone turns to him, and then follows his line of sight.
Meters away, we see a foot of a dark and rocky mountain. It looks nothing special until a flash of lightning washes the earth with bright white light, making us see a huge mouth of a cave, completely hidden in the darkness of this stormy night.
Another flash of lightning, and I see white frames of huddled ponies sleeping inside the cave.
“That must be them...” A-Twilight says as she lands. She points at something. “See those dead trees around the cave? I bet lightning will strike one of those and—”
Lightning strikes one of the dead trees, exploding its main tree target and igniting the others around it in ruby flames. Startled by the loud crashing and cracking noise close to them and now awash with the ember light of the large fire that’s eating the trees, the ponies inside jump on their hooves and shuffle deeper inside while their scared eyes are locked on the dancing flames outside the cave.
“Quick!” A-Twilight shouts, flapping her wings. “Go near the trees! We’ll have to see what causes the light!”
Seri flaps her wings and follows the alicorn while the unicorn runs towards the burning tree.
“Fire is a scary thing...” Reykan mumbles.
“Good thing it can’t hurt us then,” I say as I turn to them. I gesture with my head to follow the others. “Now come on.”
“What exactly are we looking for, anyway?” Moon Gaze asks as we run after the unicorn.
Up ahead, a burning branch snaps off of the burning tree. Landing on the wet, rocky ground, it bounces and rolls inside the cave, leaving ember sparks and trails behind it.
“Seri,” the alicorn calls above the trees. “Stay here and keep an eye out.”
“...You want me to pull one of my eyes out?”
“No! Just... Just stay here and try to see what or who makes that light.”
“Oh, okay! We’re not talking about the lightning, right?”
“Nope!” A-Twilight glides down and hovers outside the mouth of the cave.
“I’ll stay out here,” U-Twilight says, standing a few meters from the burning trees, joined by Xana and Moon Gaze.
Reykan and I stop outside the cave as well, watching the curious ponies talking amongst themselves in a language I don’t understand.
“Oh my gosh oh my gosh—” Twilight chants under her breath, rapidly blinking at the scene.
Soon, the ponies all look at one pony. With a determined nod, the curious and muscular earth pony stallion quietly and carefully approaches the burning branch.
“I don’t blame then for being scared,” Reykan says as the heavens roar a mighty thunder. “I’m scared of it, too. Who wouldn’t be?” He shakes his head. “It’s hot, and it hurts and it can kill and it can destroy homes.”
Uh huh... “Focus, Reykan. I need you to see beyond the light that you saw,” I say as the pony tries to touch the flame.
The warmth brings a smile to his lips, but said smile disappears as a yelp escapes his mouth when his hoof got too close, making the other ponies behind him jump in fright. He stands up and turns to his peers, saying something to them, along with hoof gestures. Blinking, his companions look at each other before slowly approaching the fire. The smiling stallion steps aside, giving way to the others to experience the fire’s warmth.
What’s that weird humming noise—
“There!”
“Where?!”
“I see it!”
“Gah!”
“What is it?!”
FLASH
The white light disappears...and so is the ember light. A loud cracking noise, and then the burned trees crash to the ground, startling the ponies inside the cave and making them run deeper inside, away from the violent elements of nature.
“Did you see it?!” U-Twilight shouts as she runs and stops beside me, looking at the hovering alicorn. “Tell me you saw it!”
Xana stands behind us as Seri lands beside the unicorn.
Slowly, the alicorn flies down on the ground. ‘Landing,’ she turns around with a dumbfounded look on her face.
“...I take it that you saw what caused the light,” the unicorn says.
“I did,” Reykan says. He shrugs. “But I don’t know what it was...”
I didn’t... How am I supposed to see beyond such a bright light?
“Twilight!” the unicorn yells, snapping the alicorn back. “Are you going to tell us or would you rather I invade your mind?”
A-Twilight closes her eyes and takes a deep, deep breath. With a slow nod, she says: “Yes... I saw it.”
I arch an eyebrow. “It?” I ask.
Reopening her eyes, she nods her head. “Yes.” She frowns. “It was a—”
A blue aura of magic surrounds a dark and solid patch of earth, scooping it out of the way to reveal a newly-unearthed gemstone, its rough crystal surface reflecting the dim lights that illuminate the underground cave.
Horn still lighting, a white unicorn mare winces as she envelops the gem with her magic, pulling it out of the earth. She lifts it in front of her, the stone's surface reflecting the mare's tired smile on her muzzle. Staring at her reflection, the mare's smile grows a little wider as she slowly lifts a hoof up to touch her messy and dirty mane.
“Rarity...”
The mare inhales, closes her eyes, brings her hoof down and sighs. “Yes, yes. Must you always remind me?” she asks as she turns around, throwing a tired glare at a white unicorn stallion.
The said stallion huffs, pushing some of his yellow mane out of his face with his hoof. “If you keep stopping to admire yourself, then yes, I will.”
“Hypocrite.”
The stallion narrows his eyes.
Rarity rolls her eyes once again as she tosses the gem to the small pile of gemstones on the center-most area of the small cave. “Well, if someponies were ... oh I don't know ... nicer to other ponies...?”
“Don't give me that,” the stallion hisses. “You know as well as the rest of us that those mud-tossers cheat.”
“And now they call us rock-tossers.”
The stallion snorts. “They deserve it for cheating in trades!”
Rarity narrows her eyes. “We don't know that.”
He narrows his own. “Don't we?”
The two unicorns glare at each other, unwilling to back down.
“Blueblood! Rarity!” A new voice yells, his loud and gruff voice echoing all around. “Stop glaring at each other and go back to digging!”
The two throw a tired glance at the old stallion. With a sigh, they both nod an apology then throws a glare at the other before they return to digging up gems, away from each other.
The old unicorn huffs before turning around towards the exit. “I swear, those two will probably hit it off just to piss me off.”
“I dunno,” another stallion says. He shakes his head before glancing at the two unicorns. “They've always hated each other since they were foals.”
“Get back to work.”
The stallion's ears droop. “Yes, sir...”
“Hurry it all up, you sissies!” the old stallion yells, making the other unicorns wince. “Those damn birdbrains stalled us enough as it is! We need to work double-time if we want to meet the deer's demands!”
Tired groans echo in response.
The old stallion then marches up an incline leading to the surface, wincing when nopony is looking. Ears drooping, he mutters an apology as the gentle rays of the natural morning light touches his frail frame.
Once outside, he lifts his gaze to the blue heavens above, letting the cool air calm his mind, if only for a short bit. Seconds later, he looks ahead and stare at the resting unicorns in their rock homes.
A small rock flies by. A melodious sound of cheer and giggles dance with the breeze as a group of foals run after the rock.
The old stallion smiles as he watches them go. Trotting forward, the smile is instantly replaced with a frown as he sees how tired and hungry and frail the resting unicorns are.
He continues his quiet trot until he eventually reaches the edge of their territory. He stands still, staring at the swaying tall grass that borders their land.
With a sigh, he slowly sits down, opens his muzzle, leans forward, and takes a bite.
He's not alone.
A few unicorns are eating the tall grass as well.
Shamefully.
“Still not used to the taste of it, I see,” a female voice says.
“Get back to work, Rarity,” the old stallion mutters as he chews, fighting the urge to wince.
“You can't blame me for not having hope that our trade with the deer will be successful,” she says as she sits on the ground, staring at the grass. “If we keep this up, no one will even glance at us.”
“Rarity...”
“That brown stallion was our chance to fix our ties with the earth—”
“Silence,” he cuts her off quietly and icily. “We are a proud and powerful—”
She glares at him. “‘Proud and powerful’ my ass, you old fart! There is nothing to be proud about the situation we're in! We barely even survived the griffon attack!”
He throws a side-glare at her.
She rolls her eyes and shakes her head. With a huff, she stands up, turns around, and trots away. “I swear, sometimes I think I'm the only rational one in this entire herd!”
The old stallion continues munching, listening to the retreating mare's fading hoofsteps. When he can no longer hear them, he hangs his head.
An orange hoof stomps and stomps and stomps on the brown earth that has sunk and hardened from countless abuse.
“—freaking birdbrains ruined our crops and wrecked everything we've worked so hard—!”
The stomping continues as the angry orange earth pony mare continues her angry rant as her angry, teary eyes glared at her herd's ruined crops.
A few paces behind her, a large, red stallion is sitting on the grassy earth, staring sadly at his angry sister.
Around the siblings, a few earth ponies are trying to clean the place up, separating edible and no-longer-edible crops on two different piles. Horses are trying but failing to push fallen trees back up, while some are bucking the broken ones and pushing them to another pile, with ripe and unripe fruits separated to two different piles.
A pink mare slowly trots toward the red stallion and sits beside him, joining him in staring at the angry mare in front of them.
“Well,” she says with a fragile smile. “...at least we still have grass to munch on, right?” She throws a sideway glance.
The stallion's frown deepens.
The mare's ears droop. “Eh heh heh... Eeeehhh...” She sighs. “Well, at least you and the others were able to trade with the winged ponpons before this all happened, r-right?”
He closes his eyes and sighs a quiet sigh.
Her drooped ears droop even more, and so is her gaze. “Right... I'll shut up now.”
Silence ... except for the rant of the still-ranting mare.
The stallion lifts his gaze up and sighs. “...We met a group of deer when we were on our way back.”
The pink mare's ears and gaze lifts up towards him. It's rare for the red stallion to speak long sentences.
“They wanted to trade.”
The mare winces. “Oh...”
“Our crops for their gems.”
Her ears droop once more as she slowly looks around, her gaze settling on the small pile of still-okay crops. “...I'm guessing that's no longer happening?”
The stallions sighs. “...Eeenope.”
“Urk...! Grrrrrrfff...!” a blue pegasus mare growls as she limply trots on a cloudy surface, limping towards a group of pegasus, ignoring her crying hooves full of stab and scratch wounds.
She's not alone.
A number of pegasus ponies are lying down on the cloud ‘land,’ with abled ponies treating the wounds of those who are still breathing.
Her ears twitch to the sound of thunder, her teeth grinding behind her closed muzzle.
Among the group of talking, arguing pegasi, a gray stallion notices the mare approaching. He immediately excuses himself before approaching her. Frowning, he opens his muzzle—
“Zip it and get outta my way, Score.”
—and closes it. He sighs as he lifts up a hoof to stop her.
She stops. Angrily.
“Rainbow Dash,” he puts his hoof back down. “You're hurt. You shouldn't be moving yet.”
Her glare intensifies. “We can still get enough rain clouds. I can still get enough rain clouds!”
“You can't even fly at the moment. So just rest up and let us deal with the deer.”
“Either you get outta the way or I'll drop you in the Storm Forest.”
A quiet roar of thunder echoes in the air.
The stallion sighs once again. “I'd love to say ‘I'd like to see you try,’ but we already know you can't.” He turns his head slightly so his glare isn't obstructed by his black mane-bangs. “Not in your current state, at least.”
A white flash.
A loud boom of thunder.
A chorus of gasps as a number of pegasi witnessed a ‘forest’ of violent lightnings shot up from the black blanket of clouds hanging above the Storm Forest.
Both stallion and mare shift their gazes to the dark clouds a short distance away from their homecloud.
The stallion sighs. “...Look, I can't deny that you are our best rain cloud gatherer.” He looks at her with a frown. “Which is why you should rest.” He shakes his head. “I... We can't afford to lose you.”
She glares at him.
He glares back.
Another roar of thunder.
“...Fine.” Rainbow Dash finally says, growling. She turns around and angrily, yet limply, trots away.
Act 3 After figuring out what caused the changes in Equestria, Twilight comes up with a plan to change it back to normal. She asks the others to help her, and they will, because they got nothing better to do anyway.
“A book?” I ask, dumbfounded.
Reykan nods his head. “A book.” He looks at Twilight, who's sitting across the table from me. “That's what they're called, right?”
“Mhmm,” the mare replies, nodding.
With a shrug, the panther cub returns to his task.
I blink. I open my mouth. I close it. I open it again. I close it again.
Twilight nods her head again. “Yes, Jay. From how Reykan described it, it was indeed a book.” She puts a hoof on her fluffy chest. “And I saw it, too.”
I furrow my brows. “So let me get this straight,” I say, bringing both my front hooves on the table. “A book caused...” I lift a hoof up and make circle-motions in the air. “...everything?”
“Mhmm...”
I blink and point a hoof at her. “...So you're responsible for everything?”
“Mhmm—wait, what?” she asks in surprise. “Why are you accusing me?”
I shrug. “Well, you love books, so...”
She rolls her eyes. “And here I thought you were trying to be serious about this whole thing.”
“I am,” I reply quickly. “Well, the ‘trying’ part, at least.” I shake my head. “But how can I be serious about it if a book caused everything? A book!” I take a breath to calm myself down a notch. “I was kinda-sorta expecting it was maybe Discord, some other villain the show haven't...shown yet, or a magical experiment gone wrong.”
Twilight shakes her head. “For the record, Discord is reformed and, believe it or not, appreciates order, logic and, in Fluttershy's own words, unchaosness.”
I sigh. “I just...can't believe a stupid old book transported me here, of all things...” I frown at her. “I could have gotten a paper cut from it, too, and I really, really hate how it stings like a...” I sigh. “Was it an old, ancient, magical book? I bet it was an old, ancient, magical book!”
Speaking of Fluttershy, I'm yet to meet her. I wonder how different she is.
“Well, um...” she hesitates, ears drooping. “...maybe?”
“Maybe?”
“I haven't seen that book before.” She places a hoof over her chest again. “And trust me when I say that I have seen a lot of books.”
And I bet you remember every detail of each book. “No arguments here,” I reply with a nod. “But you've never seen this book before?”
She shakes her head. “Nope.”
“Well, any ideas what book it was?”
“It was...” she smiles a small, teasing smile, “an old, ancient, magical book.”
I deadpan. Two can play that game. “...And here I thought you were trying—”
“Okay, okay, sorry...” she says, waving a hoof. She takes a breath and sighs. “I'm sorry. I'm just...trying not to stress here.”
“It would have been Lesson Zero again,” I mutter under my breath.
“Huh?”
“Nothing.” I cough. “Ahem. So uh, a book.”
She pauses. She blinks. “...We're really not going anywhere with this conversation, are we?”
I shrug and stare at Seri as she, Reykan and Xana gather the scattered gems to a corner. “I'm just waiting for you to figure something out, so I'm just filling the void.” That, and I'm too lazy to help picking up gems.
She sighs. “I honestly don't know where to start.” She levitates a piece of gem and stares at it. “Well, I do, but I'd need new sets of fresh gems.”
I blink and look at the many dim gems on the floor. “I'm guessing that these aren't usable anymore?”
“Well, they're still usable, but it'll take me a lot longer to recharge each of them to be properly usable...” She sighs, placing the gem on the table in front of her, only to be picked up by two pairs of white wings. “Hm...” Twilight hm's as she places a hoof on her chin, her furrowed eyes burning holes on the table.
“Hm?”
“Now that I think about it, I received a crate-full of new books the day before all of this happened.”
“Oh?” Revelation! Also... “A crate? Wouldn't a box be better for books?”
“Probably.” A happy and sad sigh escapes Twilight's muzzle. “I can still remember how I excited I was when it arrived.”
I roll my eyes with a smirk. “I bet Spike felt the same.”
She missed my sarcasm. “Oh, the crusaders invited Flurry to do some questions and answers in their school, and Spike went along since we were still baby-sitting her.”
I blink. How can they do a QnA with a baby? Unless Flurry isn't a baby anymore? And speaking of Spike, I wonder where the little guy is.
I shake my head. “Well anyway, since these gems are kinda unusable anymore, does this mean you'll be visiting the unicorns again?”
She blinks. Her ears droop. “...Maybe.”
“Were you the one who stole their hoard, or was it the other Twilight?”
She bites her bottom lip and looks away.
I nod my head. Right, I guess that was obvious.
“I'm gonna have to apologize to Rarity and to every unicorn there after we fix this.”
I shrug. “Ehh. Maybe, or maybe not.”
She looks at me with a curiously-raised eyebrow. “What do you mean?”
I shrug. “I have watched a number of sci-fi movies and read a lot of...” coughfimficscough “...stories about changing timelines and stuff.” I wave a hoof. “One possibility is that, if we ever do fix this, nopony other than us will remember what happened.”
She taps her chin in thought. “Mmmaybe...” She shakes her head. “But I'm still gonna apologize to them, Rarity especially.”
I shrug. “Anyway,” I say, “back to the day you received that box—er, I mean, crate of books. After you were done drooling over them, what happened next?”
She throws a glare at me. “I was not drooling over them!”
Yeeeaaah...no, not buying it.
“Don't give me that look.” She crosses her hooves over her chest and looks away, feigning anger. “...You weren't there, so you can't prove your claim.”
Heh, sure. I just realized how fun it is to tease Miss Bookhorse. I sigh. If only I was transported here without a huge problem that's waiting for us to face.
Then again, even if I was transported to the real Equestria, I'd still try to get back home, but at least getting home would be easier than where we are right now.
I shake my head. “Right, sorry. Sooo...?”
She composes herself. “Well, I was unfortunately busy that day, so the only thing I did after that was Starlight and I placed the crate on a corner in the castle's library and left her in charge of sorting the books.”
I raise an eyebrow. “You were busy? With a friendship problem, yes?”
She blinks. “...It's really scary how you know a lot about us, considering you're literally not from here.”
I wave a hoof. “I'll explain in due time.” I cross my currently non-existing fingers.
“And I can't wait for that.”
“I can tell,” I lamely reply. “So you were busy that day that you weren't able to touch that crate nor the books inside until the next morning?”
She sighs and looks away. “...There was no ‘next morning’. In that timeline anyway.”
Oh... I bring a hoof on my chin. “Hm... Was the book really from that crate?”
Twilight nods her head. “Most likely. They're books from the expedition I funded.”
I blink. “Expedition?” Twilight can fund expeditions? That's something the show didn't...show.
“You know... Expedition? A group of ponies going to a—”
“I know what the word means,” I cut her off with a frown. “What I meant is, where?”
She blinks. “Oh! Well, they went to an ancient underground city near Starlight's town and—”
I thought the official name of that place is ‘Our Town’?
“—that's where they got the books from.”
“Reykan?” we hear Seri call.
I look and see the cub just standing there, his ears turning and twitching.
“What's wrong?” the swan asks, catching the kangaroo's attention.
“What is it, love?” Xana asks, standing tall.
“Something's coming this way,” Moon Gaze squeaks from Miss Roo's pouch.
Reykan suddenly throws his gaze on the wooden door.
I blink. “Um...” I turn to Twilight. “It's been a while, but if I remember correctly, no one should be able to figure out that we're here, right?”
“Well, yes,” she replies with a nod. “Unless they know that—”
Hoofsteps. Frantic yet light. A shout. A thud.
The door swings open and—
“Hi Sienna!” Reykan greets the blurring deer.
A roar. A roar that sent shivers down my spine.
A panther larger than Reykan runs inside, its ferocious roar mixing with the frightened shouts and shrieks of everyone inside.
"So here's the plan," Twilight says, her horn glowing with purple magic light as she looks at each and every one of us sitting around and away from her little round library table. Finally, her gaze settles on me. "I'll grab a few crystals from the unicorns, bring them back here, and I'll use them to amplify my magic once again."
I blink. "Oookay?" Another blink. "Amplify it for what?"
She shakes her horn-glowing head. "Right now, my magic is not strong enough to track that book."
Oh, so we're gonna be looking for that book, huh? I ask, "what are the chances of it being in this timeline?"
She blinks at me. And then again. And again. "I...thought we have already discussed that...there's only one active timeline." She waves a hoof in the air. "I mean, think about it. If that book—"
"Ah, right," I cut her off. I smile a small and apologetic smile. "Right... We wouldn't be here right now, dealing with...all of these."
I blame that little interruption a few minutes ago.
Twilight nods her head. "Mhmm. It's safe to assume that there are no multiple timelines. If there was, then the book could have easily created a branch timeline—this one—and we wouldn't have been here."
"Eugh..." Reykan groans.
Seri chuckles. "Just smile and nod."
Reykan responds with another tired groan.
"Hm..." I hm... "Sooo, you are gonna be stealing gems from the unicorns, eh?"
"It's not stealing," Twilight quietly says, looking away. "Just...borrowing..."
I nod my head and turn my attention to the pile of dormant gems by the stairs.
Twilight loudly clears her throat, catching my attention.
"Anyway," she says, "a book powerful enough to change the present by altering the events from the past would obviously have used large amounts of magic."
I nod my head. Yeah, I guess that would make sense.
“We're simply just gonna have to trace it.”
I arch an eyebrow. "...Assuming the book is still ‘releasing’ large amounts of magic right now, right?"
She smiles. "Probably not."
“No?” I blink. "Then ... how are you going to locate it if it's not releasing magic?" I shrug. "For all we know, maybe it already closed itself and is now lying dormant somewhere."
"And that is a very good point," Twilight agrees, nodding her still horn-glowing head. "I will, however, search for traces—leftovers, in other terms—of powerful bursts of magic."
I tilt my head to the side. "I don't get it."
"Let me give an example," Twilight says. "Lightning is a powerful force, isn't it?"
I nod my head.
"If it strikes a tree or the land itself, it'll leave traces behind that lightning had struck there."
"Ahh..." I nod in understanding.
"Here's my theory..." she starts. "Time in the present won't stop even if we head back to the past. If we change something in the past, it'll affect the present in real-time. Do you follow?"
"I think so, yeah," I say with a nod.
Twilight smiles and nods her horn-glowing head as well. "The problem is that nopony will ever notice these changes, because the present will correct whatever alterations somepony or something is doing in the past.
But that is only true if the changes are small. Powerful unicorns and alicorns will be able to sense big changes, but as I've shared with you before, we only have a fraction of a second to react. I was lucky enough to cast a spell to protect myself from it."
"Uh-huh..." I say with a slow nod. "So ... that means you thought I was a powerful, non-magical pony at first then?"
She frowns at me.
I cough. "Right, sorry."
She shakes her horn-glowing head. "Nothing can stay in the past forever, because time spells don't work that way.”
I slowly raise a hoof up.
She shakes her head. “Let me rephrase that. The old time spells will always return the caster back to the present.”
I slowly put my raised hoof down.
She puts a hoof over her fluffy chest. “My revised spell allowed me to stay, however...” She brought the hoof down. “I can't go beyond a week, and the revised spell required alicorn-levels of magic.”
“What about Discord?”
She blinks. She shrugs. “Eh, he breaks every law of logic anyway.” She shakes her head. “But we're getting off-topic. Anyway... so they, or it in this case, will eventually need to return to the new present time. They are going to be opening a powerful time portal to return here, and that would require an intense amount of magic that will no doubt will leave traces behind."
"And that is what you are going to be tracing?" I ask the obvious.
She nods her head. "Exactly." She looks at the others. "Once we pinpoint the location, we'll head there and investigate." She settles her gaze back to me. "Hopefully, the book will be close by."
"And whoever is responsible, right?" I add.
She frowns. "Probably. Maybe." She shakes her head. "It's safe to assume that whoever unleashed that spell from that book has been...altered as well."
I blink. The book?
She taps her chin in thought. "Although it's also safe to assume that the book granted whoever it was immunity to the changes. So I suppose it is possible for whoever's responsible to still be around."
"Wait wait wait," I say. "So the book is responsible for all of this?"
Twilight nods her head. "Most likely. Why do you ask?"
...Eh, well, if she says so. I shrug. "Just...making sure."
Twilight gazes on the table as she brings a hoof on her chin, deep in thought.
Moon Gaze takes this as an opportunity to say something. "I'm not sure what you two were even blabbering about," he says in his squeaky voice.
Seri chuckles and turns her long neck towards him. "Just smile and nod. It works everytime."
A squeaky snort. "Yeah, for you."
"Hm..." Twilight hms in thought, horn still glowing. "I suppose I should prepare myself to ‘borrow’ the gems we need." She then looks back at me. "I can simply teleport there, grab the gems, and teleport myself and the gems back here."
"Yep!" Seri quickly agrees. "She did it before!"
The mare blushes slightly.
I shake my head. "You think the unicorns will let you?" I ask.
Her ears droop. "I ... don't think they have much of a choice."
"Will you be doing it or will Alter Twilight do it?"
Her gaze lowers, probably thinking about it.
Silence...
"Are you guys seriously just ignoring that vicious thing?" Sienna suddenly asks.
I turn and see her still glaring at me and still cowering behind the amused kangaroo.
I then turn my gaze to the thrashing, adult panther floating above the table, held by Twilight's magic, trying but failing to reach the mare with its jaws and claws. The unicorn probably added a silencer, too, since we can't hear whatever roars and angry words it's throwing at us.
Then I return my attention back to Sienna. I shrug. "...Yes, we are?"
Reykan chuckles. He open his mouth—
“Zip it,” I glare at him. “I did not scream like a girl!”
A dainty deer leg stomps on the wooden floor, belonging to an angry deer. “Are you two really ignoring that meat eater right in front of you?!”
I shake my head. “Not really.”
Twilight nods. “What he said.”
“I dunno,” Xana shrugs. “Looks like ignoring to me.”
Sienna points at the tall kangaroo. “What she said!”
“I wanna join!” Seri suddenly chirps. Smiling, she turns to Reykan. “Quick! Say something!”
“I want to eat you,” the panther cub quietly says.
“What he sai—” Seri blinks.
I roll my eyes and shake my head. “I'm just waiting for Twilight to think of something to deal with, uh...” I look at Reykan. “He's your brother, right?”
“Yep.”
“What was his name again?”
“Sy—”
“Does it matter?!” Sienna shouts. “He tried to eat me!”
Reykan shrugs. “I tried eating Jay.” He shrugs once again. “He didn't mind.”
I raise an eyebrow. “That's false.”
“Jay, in his twisted mind, enjoys pain!” Sienna retorts.
I frown. “That is also false.”
The deer angrily looks at me as she points at the cub. “Why is he still here then?”
“Jay's crazier than Twilight,” Moon Gaze joins in.
I glare at the white rat. “Look—”
THUD!
Heart racing, I snap my gaze back on the table. The large black panther is now aura-less, lying on his stomach, his back slowly rising and falling, and is snoring with a bit of growling.
I blink at Twilight.
She shrugs, her horn still glowing. “He should be asleep long enough for me to get some gems and come back.”
“Are ... you sure?” I ask as I carefully poke the sleeping panther. “I don't think any of us here are capable of defending ourselves.”
“I am!” Seri suddenly chirps, emerging from the kitchen, her white wings holding on the handle of a frying pan.
I blink at her.
Twilight chuckles.
“What even is that thing you got there, love?” Xana asks the wobbling swan.
“It's a flying pan!” the swan replies.
“Frying pan,” I correct her.
She shrugs. “Same thing.”
“No, they're—eh, whatever.”
Sienna shakes her head. “So we're just going to leave him like that?” She looks and points at the dormant pile of gems. “What about those?”
“They're useless at the moment,” I answer.
She snorts. “Well, we can't just leave him like that! What if he wakes up?”
Seri suddenly lifts the frying pan right in front of Sienna's face, startling the deer. “Then I'll use this! Twilight showed me how to use it!”
I blink. “Did ... she use it on you?”
Seri turns to me and shakes her head. “Nope! I used it on her!” She swings the frying pan, as if to demonstrate it. “Wham! Just like that!” She smiles at me. “Then Twilight made a silly-looking face before she collapsed.”
I blink, and slowly look at the mare.
She is blushing. “Erm... I should probably go and get the gems now.”
And with a flash of purple light, she's gone.
Silence returns.
Seri wobbles toward the table, taking aim on the sleeping panther's head.
Silence once again ... except for the growling snores.
Sienna nervously looks around.
Xana scratches her ear.
Moon Gaze, sitting inside the kangaroo's pouch, blinks.
Reykan is still licking himself clean.
A flash of purple light.
BONK!
Ow.
Wincing, I lift a hoof to rub my aching head as I open my eyes.
“Whoops,” Twilight says. “Sorry about that, Jay.”
“Aw...” Seri pouts. “Does this mean I can't get to use the flying pan on him?”
“I feel like I was struck by it,” I say, glaring at the gem that is on the table after landing on my head. I slowly look around, noticing the floor is now full of shiny new gemstones.
Reykan groans, pushing a gem away from him. “Are we gonna clean again?”
“Quick!” Sienna says, looking desperately at Twilight. “Use these on that meat eater!” A blink. She then points at Reykan. “To him as well!”
Reykan frowns at her. “Why? I'm not gonna eat you. Even though I really want to...”
Xana blinks at him as the gems start to glow and gather on a spot.
Moon Gaze shakes his head. “A meat eater who doesn't wanna eat meat. This tree is full of crazy.”
I stare at the new, scattered gems, feeling my ears droop. “Ooooh boy. Those unicorns are gonna be sooo angry.”
Twilight's ears droop. She shakes her head. “I'm ... trying not to think about it, Jay.”
An intense purple light washes over the entire library, making it hard to see anything but purple. The magical hum of the many glowing gems echo on the purple walls.
I wonder if this specific spell Twilight is casting makes the gem shine purple, despite most of them not being purple.
“I can't see a darn thing,” Moon Gaze squeaks ... somewhere.
“Close your eyes, love” I hear Xana say.
“I can't tell if my eyes are open or close either, because I see the same thing!” the rat squeaks back.
“I can still see the flying pan!” Seri chirps somewhere.
I roll my eyes behind my eyelids as I notice the intense light is starting to dim.
“Oh, hey! It's not as bright as before anymore!” Seri chirps cheerfully.
A few seconds more, and I open my eyes, finally seeing things, albeit still awash with a little bit of purple.
“There,” Twilight says, sweating, her smoking horn's aura fading. She wipes her forehead with a hoof as the gems finally stops glowing purple, their magical hum dying down as well, the illusionary library returning to its original illusionary colors. “It's ready.”
“For what?” Sienna asks, rubbing her eyes with her dainty hooves. “For the meat-eaters, right?”
“Sorry, but no,” the mare replies.
The deer grunts in annoyance.
Reykan blinks at her. “Why do you hate us so much, anyway?” he asks with a tilt of his head.
Sienna removes her hooves on her eyes to glare at the cub.
Said cub just blinks back.
“Because,” Seri chirps, smiling at him and catching his attention. “You eat us.”
“No, I won't,” Reykan says with a sigh.
Sienna rolls her eyes. “Not the point.”
I decide to ignore the trio's conversation as I turn to Twilight. “So... Now what?”
“You will turn me back into a pony, right?” Moon Gaze asks.
I look at him, look back at Twilight—I do a double-take and raise an eyebrow. “...Someone's comfy.”
By the bookshelves, Xana chuckles, sitting on the larger and unconscious panther's back. “I'm simply making sure he won't be moving too much when he wakes up, love.”
“We'll deal with the other problems later, I promise,” Twilight says, earning my attention. She furrows her brows as she lights up her horn once again. “Right now, we're going to find where that book is located.”
“You sure you don't need to take a little rest?” I ask, eyeing the mare's glowing horn.
Twilight shakes her head. “I'm okay. Don't worry about me.”
I nod my head. “Well, if you say so.” I watch as Twilight concentrates on a spell. “I'm betting it'll be in Everfree Forest,” I say to no one in particular as Twilight begins casting some magic spell on the now-glowing gems, turning their multi-color glow into white. I close my eyes and shrug. “I mean, that place is full of weird, magical stuff.”
“We won't know until we can pinpoint its exact location,” is Twilight's simple, automated reply.
I take a breath and exhale. I turn to the discussing trio—
“—but grass don't get angry if you eat them, so why should you get angry if I eat you?” Reykan asks Sienna in an annoyed tone.
Said deer groans in annoyance. “Because they are not. Alive!”
Seri blinks at Sienna and opens her beak—
“Shouldn't they be brown or black then?” Reykan asks.
Seri chuckles. “Beat me to it.”
Sienna slaps a dainty hoof on her forehead.
“Hey, Rey,” I call, catching their attention. “Grass and other plant stuff are alive, but not as alive as us.” I smile at him. “Get it?”
“Not really.”
I frown.
“Gah! This is pointless!” Sienna snarls, turning to the door. “I'm leaving.” She stops when she's three or so steps from the door, and turns to the other two. “Aren't you two leaving?”
Xana shrugs.
Moon Gaze shakes his head. “I can't live a life of a mouse, or rat, forever.”
Sienna arches an eyebrow. “...But you're—”
“No,” Moon Gaze cuts her off. “I am not!” He points an angry paw at me. “Mister Crazy over there turned me into a mouse!”
I glare at him. “I told you not to touch—”
FLASH!
I turn back to Twilight, her eyes open wide and glowing white. All around us, the gems start to dim one by one.
“Why are her eyes white?” Reykan suddenly asks, sitting beside me.
I shrug. “I don't really know, but she's maybe looking for the book.”
He looks at me. “You mean the one that I saw outside that cave?”
“Yep!” Seri suddenly chirps. “She's definitely looking for that one!”
“Book?” I hear Sienna ask. “Cave?”
I turn to her and see her looking at us with furrowed brows.
“What have you been doing?” she asks, blinking.
I shrug. “Why do you care anyway?” I wave a hoof at the door. “You were about to leave, remember?”
I blink.
...Huh. That may have been a little harsh of me to say.
“That's a mean thing to say, love,” I hear Xana say.
But then again—
“You're right,” Sienna suddenly says, snapping me out of my train of thought. She turns to the door and marches toward it. “Why do I even care anyway?”
“I found it!” Twilight suddenly yells, startling all of us, minus the unconscious one.
I turn to her, her eyes no longer glowing. “You—”
She smiles and cuts me off. “Jay, you were right!”
I hear the door open from behind me.
Twilight continues: “Well, I mean, you guessed it right! It's—” she cuts herself off, blinking, her gaze on something behind me.
I'm about to turn around when I see her ears droop.
“Um...” I hear Sienna say.
I finally turn around.
“That's...” Moon Gaze exhales, “...a lot of angry unicorns.”
I feel my ears droop as I see a certain white and angry unicorn mare, and many other sets of angry eyes, glaring daggers at Sienna and everyone inside the library tree.
They shouldn't be able to see us here, right?
“Pardon me,” Rarity hisses slowly as her glare lands on a certain purple mare who is behind me. “But I do believe you have something that belongs to us?”
Many horns behind her light up.
Welp... Looks like they can see us.
“Ooooh,” Seri says nervously. “S-such pretty ... scary colors.”
My ear twitches, hearing a waking growl.
Welp... We're dead.
A purple aura suddenly wraps and slams the wooden door shut, startling the deer.
“Jay! Quick!” Twilight suddenly says, making me snap my attention back to her.
Loud pounding noises echo from the door, and on some other parts of the tree.
“Are you done yet?” I hear Applejack ask shakily from behind me.
I wipe my muzzle with a shaky hoof as I pull myself away from the poor bush that received the contents of my stomach. “Uuungh...” I groan weakly as I slowly turn to the mare.
Applejack winces. “Erm...” She scratches her nape. “You feeling alright there, Jay?”
I sit down and frown at her.
She winces some more. “R-right.” She coughs and looks elsewhere. “Gotta say though,” she attempts to change the subject, which I honestly don't mind. “You scared the living apples out of me, appearing out of that bright flash from out of the blue.”
“Sorry about that,” I reply weakly.
Applejack and I are surrounded by unknown trees and apple trees, right close to the pasture where she lives.
She smiles a weak smile. “Nah, don't worry about it.” She frowns a worried frown. “I take it that things didn't go well with Twilight?”
She must have heard from other ponies, probably from Pinkie Pie or from her brother, that I was looking for her. “You ... could say that.”
She nods. “Well, I don't rightfully know why you wanted to see her, but, no offence, you got what you deserve for meeting a crazy mare such as her.” She chuckles. “I wonder if that makes you crazier than her.” She shakes her head. “But I'm glad you're alright and in one piece, sugar cube.”
My ears twitch slightly, and I smile a little.
For some strange reason, hearing best pony address me as ‘sugar cube’ is really nice.
...I wonder if sugar cubes exist in this Equestria...
She looks over her shoulder, bucks the truck of a tree, and catches one single falling apple with a hoof.
“Here, have a bite,” she says, throwing the apple to me. “Gotta need to refill that belly of yours after, erm, emptying it.”
I nod a thanks before slowly eating the—mmmmmm—juicy apple with both hooves. It doesn't beat Seri's soup, but it definitely beats plain grass.
“Well, anyway,” Applejack says, catching my attention. “I best be returning. Gotta see if we still have a good enough harvest to deliver to the deer.” She nods and smiles before trotting away. “Gotta need their gems in case those blood-thirsty sky devils decide to show up again,” she grumbles under her breath.
I watch her leave, still munching on the apple she has given me.
... ... ... I should have asked her for directions to the Everfree Forest.
I sigh. Well, I can just walk up to her, or anyone in the pasture, and ask for directions ... when I feel a little better.
I sigh once more. Uugh, I feel so weak, even eating an apple feels like a chore. Teleportation is something I will never want to experience ever again for as long as I live.
...
... ...
... ... ...
It's ... really hard not to think about it, but why in the freaking hell did Twilight teleported me? She could have easily teleported herself to the Everfree Forest and fix everything.
...That would mean leaving me and the others to deal with those stone-throwing unicorns.
Another sigh escapes my pony mouth.
Sitting around here won't change anything, nor will it fix everything. I think.
At least I have a lead. The book that caused everything is in the Everfree Forest. All I need to do for now is to ask for directions, and off I go.
...What am I supposed to do once I do find the book, and slash or those who ‘activated’ the book?
I slowly shake my head. I guess I'll take these things one step at a time? Doesn't hurt to think ahead though.
Hm...
Throwing the apple core behind, I stand up on four hooves and trot towards the pasture.
...The Everfree Forest is a big place though. How in blazes am I gonna find the book while avoiding the dangerous stuff in there?
Twilight didn't think this through.
“How in blazes are you gonna find this thing while you avoid all the dangerous stuff in there?!”
Yep, Twilight definitely didn't think this through.
I wipe my face clean with a hoof before I reopen my eyes to give this pink and loud mare an angry look.
“Well?” she asks angrily in a kinda-sorta comedic way.
I take a breath and sigh. “Look, Pinkie. Just tell me where to go and—”
“No.”
I blink.
She sits down, crosses her hooves and shakes her head. “Nuh uh. Applejack told me what happened. No way am I gonna let you trot to another dangerous situation again!” She sticks her tongue out at me as a stallion walks by.
I wave a hoof to catch his attention. “Hey. Can you tell me where the Storm Forest is?”
He smiles and nods. “Sure.” He turns toward a direction and points. “Just trot straight there. It'll take a while, but once you exit the trees on the other end, you should see a large collection of low-hanging clouds.” He turns to me. “That's where the winged ponies live, and Storm Forest is practically their neighbor!”
I smile. “Thanks!”
He returns the smile, and then turns to Pinkie Pie. His smiling face morphs into fear and he runs away, his tail between his legs.
I blink and turn to the mare, who's giving the retreating stallion a death glare.
I stand back up. “Welp, I best be—”
Her glare made me choke on my own words. Quite literally.
Ignoring me and my coughing fit, she closes her eyes and sighs. “I'm starting to agree with Applejack that you are crazier than the crazy mare.”
“Yeah, well,” I say, pounding my chest a bit. “You best start calling me Crazy Jay.”
She snorts, but frowns. “You're really going, huh?”
“Unfortunately,” I say as I turn towards the direction where that stallion has pointed. “I need to get home.”
“That dangerous place is your home?”
“Er, no.” I shake my head. I look at her. “But like I said, I need to look for something in there. It'll help me get back home.” I turn my gaze ahead, staring at the trees bordering the pasture. “...I hope.”
“It'll take a while, he said,” I grumble as I swat these annoying buzzing mosquitoes away from me. “I've been walking for forever. Gah!” Goddamn that stupid branch! Goddamn these annoying mosquitoes! Goddamn this stupid darkness! I can barely see a freaking thing! “Shut up!” I yell as I hear an owl's hoot echoing on the trees.
I step and slip on something wet—
“Whoa—!”
—and land on the wet ground with a muddy splash. I slowly reopen my angry eyes, my annoyed groan creating a muddy bubble in front of my muzzle.
It pops, raining droplets of mud onto my face and eyes.
Something soft is poking me. “Pokey poke,” a familiar feminine voice says. The voice giggles before poking me again.
I take a sharp breath, my closed eye twitching. “I swear, you poke me one more time, I'm gonna—”
She pokes me again.
I quickly and angrily open my eyes, quickly stand up, the dried-up mud breaking off of me, and I angrily turn to face—
I blink in surprise.
The yellow pegasus mare giggles, retracting her extended wing to her side. “Hee hee.” She smiles a warm smile, her long, pink mane almost covering one of her eyes. “Good morning, mister grumpy.”
I sit down, dumbstruck.
It's Fluttershy. It's freaking Fluttershy!
...I honestly thought she was a tree in this universe.
For some odd reason, she squees, her folded wings fluttering on her sides. “Oh, goodness. Am I really that pretty to have made you speechless?”
I, uh, what?
She turns around, her long mane and tail swishing with her graceful motion. “Well, you're not bad yourself, handsome.” She winks at me.
Ooooooookay. I do not like this version of Fluttershy.
“A little dirty, but that's okay,” she says with a sly smile. “I like getting dirty, too.”
At all.
Purring, she suddenly leans closer, eyes half-lidded.
I gulp and lean back.
She leans even closer.
I lean back further—oh shiet, there's a tree right behind me. I close my eyes and turn my face away from her, whimpering.
“Aww, what's the matter?” I can sense her predatory smile as she whispers right to my ear: “I promise I won't bite ... much.”
“NOPE!” I quickly shove her away—she has a very soft fur—and march ... somewhere ... anywhere. “Nope! Nope! Bye!”
“You don't know where you're going, do you?”
“No thanks to you,” I reply with a grunt.
Fluttershy has decided to follow me wherever I go, and I'm powerless to stop her. Not for the lack of trying, but with her wings, and with her seductive way of talking, there's barely anything I can do to shoo her away.
I stop and sigh, feeling like I've passed this tree three times now.
To be fair, the trees around here do look the same if you don't look hard enough...
Anyway, how long was I walking since I woke up anyway?
I turn to the hovering pegasus beside me. “Hey, Navi.”
She blinks at me. “That's not—”
“Be helpful for once and tell me where Storm Forest is.”
She frowns at me. She sighs. “I already miss that stallion from earlier who could barely talk or move when I woke him up.”
I roll my eyes. “And I already miss that grumpy deer who guided me to the unicorns with no problem at all.”
She crosses her hooves and throws a ‘hmph!’ as she looks away from me.
I shake my head and move on. My ears twitch, hearing the pegasus' gentle wing flaps. “Why are you even following me, anyway?”
“Oh, I'm just waiting for you to get tired so I can finally get my prey,” is her quick reply.
“I was asleep earlier.”
“It's more fun to play with someone who's awake,” she says with a wink.
I look away. And no, I am not blushing. “A-are there no stallions in cloud land for you to—?”
“HA!”
Her reaction startles me.
“The only reason I stayed there for so long is because I felt bad for each and every one of them.” She sounds so smug. “They finish so fast, even with multiple of them, they can't ever satisfy me.”
I was originally planning to rate this crazy adventure of mine as teen when I get the chance of writing everything on a fanfiction site, but goddamnit Fluttershy.
She flies a little bit ahead of me, turns around to fully face me and says—
—aaaaaand I'm gonna try my best to ignore her, else I'll be forced to rate this adventure of mine as mature, and I'm not comfortable with that.
“—but after I saw that red and muscular and handsome earth pony stallion, I knew he was going to be the one,” Fluttershy is still going... She sighs a very happy and longing sigh. “Oh, how I miss his touch and his d—”
“DID YOU KNOW THAT THE SUN IS A GIANT BALL OF GAS BURNING BILLIONS AND BILLIONS OF MILES AWAY?!”
She blinks at me, and then arches an eyebrow. “...deep voice.”
Oh.
Wait... This is my chance! “...AND DID YOU KNOW THAT HE'S GONNA BE MAKING ANOTHER DELIVERY TO THE WINGED PONIES TODAY?!”
...huh. I didn't know that a pony's eyes can open that much. She quickly grabs my shoulders, shoving me back a little. “Are you sure?! You're not shitting me, right?!”
I blink. “Wow. Watch your language, girl.”
She hovers back with a frown. “I've said a lot of nasties not too long ago, and you're just now telling me that?”
“I may or may not have ignored you.”
“Whatever,” she shakes her head before putting on a hopeful smile, the very same that I'm used to seeing back when she's inside the monitor screen. “Is he really going to be there?”
Ooooh how I hate to lie. “Did I stutter?”
She blinks.
I roll my eyes. “I mean, yes, he is.”
“YES!” She punches the air and quickly zooms toward a direction, probably towards the pegasi's cloud land.
Wow, that worked, huh? I shake my head and walk after her.
She's gonna be sooooo angry when she finds out there's no trade going on.
Aside from a sleeping Leg Crawler that I carefully and quietly passed by a few minutes ago, my walk through this forest has been uneventful, which I am honestly thankful for. The pleasant sounds of nature, like the chirps of birds and the squeaks of squirrels, is a wonderful change from the annoying mosquito buzz from last night and the foul mouth of a horny pegasus earlier today.
Huh... Come to think of it, I still don't know what happened after that Leg Crawler bit me while we were on our way back to Twilight's.
Twilight...
...I then remember where I'm heading and what I'm supposed to be doing once I get there. The smile on my face turns upside-down as I think of how to search for that book inside the Everfree Forest.
Did Twilight really expect me to come up with a plan on my own? I simply cannot just wander around that forest on my lonesome. I need to think of a plan, and fast, as I'm already seeing the exit of this here forest. A few more steps and I'll be out of the trees and—
“Oh, thank goodness! There you are!”
Fluttershy suddenly appears out of nowhere. And no, I did not scream from surprise. Nope.
Anyway, as I am recollecting myself, the pegasus mare flies behind me and quickly pushes me towards somewhere.
And she stops just as I was about to ask where we were going. “Look! Look!” she says excitingly, pointing at the pretty patch of flowers.
...yes, I said 'pretty.' I love flowers.
She flies over them, smiling at me. “So I need your opinion.” She gently lands on the center of the patch, careful not to harm the flowers. “I'm thinking of leading him here, and I'll be lying in the very middle like this...”
Fluttershy then turns her back on me and...
...
... I'll leave whatever she's doing to your imaginations.
“...inviting him to do whatever he wants to me.”
Goddamnit, Fluttershy.
She smiles a hopeful and nervous smile. “D-do you think he'll love it?”
I can honestly feel how hot my face is right now, even though I'm looking at something else.
I close my eyes and take a deep, deep breath, and I let out a heavy sigh.
“...If I was him and you did exactly that, I'd rut you 'til I break you,” I say flatly, hoping that is what she wanted to hear. Truth be told, I would, but her alternate personality is putting me off. Plus, I really, really need to go home.
Ignoring the nervous pegasus for a moment, I look around and spot a very large cluster of white clouds hovering close to a cluster of black and angry cluster of clouds over a forest. That must be the—
“What are you looking at?” Fluttershy suddenly asks.
I blink and turn to her. “The Ever—er, the Storm Forest.”
She looks at the aforementioned forest in the distance. “What about it?”
I shrug. “I need to get there.”
She laughs, and that catches me off-guard. Fluttershy is laughing ... at me.
I frown at her. “...I'm serious.”
She is on her back now, laughing even more.
Rolling my eyes and shaking my head, I walk through the slightly tall grass, towards the forest with a nasty and stormy swirling clouds above it.
Between the line of trees where I came out and the Everfree Forest is a flat plain just full of swaying grass, with random trees here and there. It kinda reminds me of the grassy field when Reykan and I were heading to Twilight's from the unicorns.
It's quite a distance, but I'll get there eventually. Now to come up with a plan, and fast.
My ears twitch, hearing the faint roar of thunder from up ahead.
My ears twitch yet again, hearing faint flapping noise from behind.
I close my eyes and sigh. “Leave me alone, Fluttershy.”
“Who's Fluttershy?” a familiar feminine voice asks, landing and wobbling beside me. Seri blinks, smiling at me. “Is she that yellow pony that is laughing in the flowers?” she asks, a fanny pack around her thin neck bouncing on her feathery chest.
“Oh, hey there, Seri,” I say with a small smile. That smile quickly disappears. “Wait... How'd you find me?” I shake my head. “No. What happened to the others?”
“Eeehhh—” she nervously looks elsewhere. “—hhh they are, um, fine?” She throws a bright smile at me. “Y-yep! Just fine!”
I stop and frown at her. “...That bad, huh?”
Seri's stops as well, her head drooping. “The angrycorns broke the tree.”
I wince.
Her fanny pack starts moving. “Mrffghhh?” a squeaky voice erupts from inside, and then a white rat head pops out from the flap. He looks around. “Where are we?” Moon Gaze asks before his gaze lands on me. He frowns. “Oh. It's you.”
“Hello to you, too,” I reply dryly.
Moon Gaze emerges from the bag and scurries on Seri's small head. “You're one lucky stallion, you know that?” He shakes his head. “Escaping from all that chaos.” He shivers, not from the cool afternoon air.
Seri and I resume walking. The swan's movement is too wobbly, so Moon Gaze moves to my back instead.
Well, at least there are three of us now. Three heads are better than one for coming up with a plan, right?
Wait... Was this Twilight's plan all along? To split up and to meet up by the Everfree?
“It was too chaotic for me to pay attention to what was going on,” Moon Gaze suddenly squeaks, breaking my train of thought. “I just wanted to get out of there, but the damn kangaroo fought those horned freaks. I fell out of her when she got hit or something.” A pause. “There was a really nerve-wracking roar that made the horned freaks stop for a short moment. I took that chance to get away.”
I feel him shiver on my back.
“That was Reykan's big brother, maybe,” Seri chimes in. She shivers as well. “After the tree broke, Twilight's illusion magic thing stopped working. I was so scared, so I just flew away and hid behind a dead tree.”
How were the unicorns able to see us inside? I thought none could see what was inside Twilight's tree if they were outside?
Wait, no. How did the unicorns know where we were?
“I ran away and hid behind the same tree where the swan was hiding, too,” Moon Gaze suddenly squeaks once again. “I didn't know she was there, but I didn't care.” A short pause. “Then that crazy mare suddenly appeared right in front of us. She gave Seri something before she threw the both of us up in the air!”
“It was this bag here,” Seri points at the zipperless fanny pack bouncing on her chest. “It has a small gem in it.” She looks at me. “Twilight says that I'll eventually find you if I follow the direction where the gem shines the brightest. So I did, and I found you.”
I nod my head. “I see.” I look ahead, eyeing the veiny lightning cracks on the dark clouds above the forest a distance away. “So... We wait outside the Storm Forest for the others, right?”
No answer.
I glance at Seri.
She looks at me with a frowning face. She slowly shakes her head. “I'm not sure.”
The three of us are silent as we continue walking towards the Everfree Forest ahead, its thunder roars echoing in the air.
I estimate that we have been walking towards that stormy forest for like ... an hour now.
“Feels like we've been walking for a while now,” Moon gaze squeaks.
I roll my eyes. “Except for you.”
He squeaks. He probably wanted to snort.
Come to think of it, I've been walking quite a lot since I turned into a pony. I wonder if I can bring with me my leg muscles when I get home.
I sigh. No time for nonsense thoughts, me. We need to come up with a plan.
...
... ...
... ... ... Yeah, I got nothing.
I turn to Seri, who has been awfully quiet. I can't really blame her though, since it really looked like she and Twilight were really close. She's probably really worried about her.
I should probably say something. “Seri,” I say. “Um... You okay?”
She slowly nods her head, her sad gaze on the forest ahead.
“Wow,” Moon Gaze squeaks. “If it were any other day, her being quiet would have been a blessing.” He sighs. “But now it's depressing.”
The peaceful melody of rustling grass dancing with the cool breeze mixes with the thunderous roars.
I take a breath and sigh through my nostrils.
Right, so—
“Why are we going back there anyway?” Moon Gaze suddenly asks.
I ... forgot what I was about to think. Sighing, I open my mouth—
“The book's there,” Seri suddenly answers, startling me a bit. “Twilight said that it's there, right?”
“Right,” Moon Gaze replies. “The crazy mare says we go there, and here we are, going there.”
...So I guess the plan is to just go inside and search for the book?
“Looks like we're as crazy as you are now, Jay.”
“You're free to live your life as a rat, you know,” I say lamely.
“Not on your life,” he squeaks back. “Whatever you guys are looking for will probably get me back to normal.”
A flash of lightning.
We're getting closer to the forest now.
A mighty roar of thunder.
A squeaky sigh. “I can't believe we're going back in there.” I feel him squirming on my back. “There are dangerous predators in there.”
“You're alive,” I quickly reply.
“I got lucky,” he replies just as quickly.
I blink. “...How long were you in there anyway?”
“Longer than I liked.” He squirms. “And I turned into a rat for it.”
Only a few more minutes now and we'll be arriving at the edge of the Everfree Forest. From the looks of it, the trees are quite ... larger and thicker than the trees I've ever seen during my little adventure. There are gaps in between, which is good, but it's too dark.
I glance at Seri's fanny pack, noticing the slightly shining gem within. I guess that will be our makeshift flashlight as we wander around in there.
I blink. “Moon Gaze.”
He squeaks.
“How were you able to see while you were inside?”
“Lightning orb.”
I blink once again. “What?”
“Lightning orb.”
I roll my eyes. “I heard you the first time.”
“Then why did you ask me to repeat what I said?”
I stifle a groan. “...I was asking what a lightning orb is.”
“Ah,” he squeaks. “You should have said so.”
Sigh...
“Lightning orb is a ball-cloud of lightning we pegasi use for us to see in the dark,” he explains. “Especially while we're flying.”
“A ... ball cloud?”
“Yeah. We take a chunk of cloud, compress it into a small ball, and charge it with lightning.”
Huh... That sounds pretty cool.
He sighs. “Too bad I can't make one, for obvious reasons.”
Right, because it's my fault you've become a rat.
...We still don't have a good plan though.
I turn to Seri—
I blink and look ahead once again, and yep, I didn't imagine it.
There's a familiar vomit of color standing by the edge of the forest. I squint my eyes and ... yep, that's Rainbow Dash alright, facing the forest.
Her ears twitch. She turns her head enough to glance at us. She returns her gaze back to the forest.
A few more steps later, and we stop a few paces from the mare.
I hear Moon Gaze trying to whistle. “Now that's a pegasus I don't mind gazing all night long.”
She turns around mid-eyeroll. She frowns. “Oh, sure. So I guess the swan right there has the hots for me.”
Seri blinks at her.
I turn for her to see the white furball on my back. “It's this rat here.”
She arches an eyebrow. “...Right, and I'm the crazy mare.”
“Name's Moon Gaze,” furball suddenly introduces himself, surprising the colorful mare.
“The buck?!” RD exclaims, louder than the roar of thunder.
“If you want him,” I say, “you can take him. He's a good pet and his name his Tank.”
“B-but he just said—” she cuts herself off by wildly shaking her head. “You know what? I don't care.” She limps off ... slowly. “I don't—mmm-guh!—have time for this.”
Seri and I just stare at her slow retreat. Moon Gaze is just ogling at her.
My ear twitches to a roaring sound.
I lift a hoof and slap a panther cub before he can pounce me.
“Ow!” Reykan lands, rolls and stops in front of me. Wincing, he sits up and rubs his aching head. “You really like hitting my head so much, huh?”
Silence.
“...What are you guys staring at, anyway?” A pause. “...Oh hey, that pony looks really colorful.”
I'm not staring at her though. I'm staring at Seri with a worried frown. Not even Reykan's presence is breaking her sadness.
The swan is staring at the mare, yet it feels like she's not staring at her at all. She then slowly looks my way, blinks, and looks at Reykan. She cracks a small smile. “Hi, Reykan.”
The panther cub gives her a suspicious look.
She then looks ahead, and then does a double-take. “Wait, Reykan?!”
Said cub sits up straight. “That's me—EEE!” he shrieks as Seri suddenly grabs and pulls him closer, their heads now touching.
Serious swan eyes stares at frightened panther eyes. “Where's Twilight? Do you know?!”
Oshiet, Reykan was there, too! Why didn't I think of that?
The panther cub squirms. “Uuuhhh... She's...” He glances nervously at me, then back to the swan. “...dead?”
A roar of thunder.
Reykan's nervously shifting his paws on the ground.
...Twilight's...?
Seri slowly let's the cub go, her expression blank. “...Oh.” She slowly nods her head. “...Okay.”
Reykan nervously moves away from her.
Another boom of thunder.
Seri then looks ahead. After a short pause, she wobbles forward as she pulls out the gem. “Let's go.”
“Seri, wait...” I call lamely, but she isn't stopping.
Reykan and I watch the swan enter the forest, the shining gem on her wings lighting up the darkness.
The cub then looks at me, his sapphire eyes reflecting the cracks of lightning up above. “Jay?”
“Yeah?”
He looks back at the swan. “...she, um... S-she's...”
I sigh. I take a breath and take a step forward. We can't just let her go alone. “Let's go.”
We're gonna die...
Moon Gaze's dreamy sigh is drowned by a loud thunderous roar.
“Dead?!” Moon Gaze squeaks as he's (probably) staring at Reykan in shock. “What do you mean she's dead?”
“Well...” Reykan says, walking beside me, staring at the rat on my back. “She's dead.”
I feel Moon Gaze squirm. “Dead, like ... dead-dead, or...?”
“What does dead-dead even mean?” Reykan asks. “A dead prey can't die again, can they?”
“A-HAAA!” Moon Gaze squeaks loudly. “So you killed her!”
Reykan blinks at him.
I roll my eyes as I duck, avoiding a low-hanging branch. “Can he really?”
Silence, and then: “...maybe?” the rat squeaks.
I look at Reykan, whose attention is now on the path ahead.
...I kinda-sorta feel weird to ask this, but uh... “How did she die?”
Reykan's ears twitch, and he shrugs.
“Did the unicorns ... kill her?”
He shrugs once again.
...the fuck kind of answer is that?
Moon Gaze sighs. “If you don't know, just say so, you damn meat-eater.”
“...meh.”
Seri, who has been leading this little party of ours, suddenly stops. The trees shake slightly with the loud roaring thunder as she lifts the shining gem left and right, looking for a preferable road to take.
Reykan and I stop behind her.
The cub sits down and blinks at her. He then looks at me. “What is she doing anyway?”
I ... have no idea either.
“We're looking for the book,” Seri suddenly says, her eyes on the gem as she's slowly turning.
“How exactly?” Moon Gaze asks as he scurries and sits on my head. “We're lost, aren't we?”
Seri quietly sighs. “...T-Twilight says that...” She pauses. She inhales, and exhales. “She said that this gem will shine bright if it's pointed towards where the book is.”
Huh... That's neat.
“Cool,” Reykan says. “Gems can really do a lot, huh?”
I kinda-sorta am annoyed at Reykan for being able to talk like normal. I know that he's a predator and he kills a lot, but still...
Moon Gaze shuffles on my head. “Yeah. I wish I still had mine though.”
I fight the urge to shake my head. “Get off of my head.”
“Make me.”
I look at Reykan.
His ears twitch. He looks at me, blinking. “...What?”
Moon Gaze is suddenly on my back now.
I shrug and look at Seri, who's still looking around.
She opens and closes her beak, and repeats the process a couple of times, looking like she's hesitating to say something.
“You guys are crazy,” a familiar raspy voice says from behind me.
I turn around and see a bored-looking Rainbow Dash being shined by the gem's light.
And Moon Gaze is suddenly on my head again. “Hey there, good looking.”
She glares at him. “Stuff it, pipsqu—” She blinks in surprise at Reykan. “...Is that a panther?”
Said panther sighs. “I can't eat her, too, huh?”
She growls at him, kicking the tree beside her with a hind hoof. “You better think twice before you do—”
A growl echoes from the trees.
We all turn to Reykan.
The panther cub blinks blankly at us. “...What?” He shakes his head as I notice something glossy from the darkness. “That wasn't me.”
Startled, I quickly take a breath to yell—
—Reykan jumps away just as the earth where he was mere moments ago—which is in front of me—explodes, raining dirt all over me.
I spit the earth that entered my mouth as Reykan turns and growls, countering the loud and annoyed growl that is erupting from the shadows as the large and glossy scorpion tail pulls out from the newly-made crater.
I quickly wipe my mouth with a hoof. Holy shiet, I almost got stung! Either that or it would have ripped through me!
“The buck was that?!” Dash asks, who I just noticed is now beside me.
A mighty roar, and not from the heavens this time.
Seri finally shines light to whatever we're dealing with.
And I guessed it right as I feel my ears droop.
“Freaking run!” I shout as I turn around and run.
The manticore behind us lets out another roar before chasing after us, it's large paws creating loud thumps on the forest floor.
Branches scratching me, and roots and mud making me slip, but I run on, because I do NOT want to become cat food!
“Did we lose it?” Moon Gaze squeaks as the trees and shadows blur by.
“Can you not hear those large footsteps its making?!” Dash snarls a reply, running for dear life despite the state she is in.
And as if to prove she's right, the large manticore chasing after us lets out another roar.
Seri, who is surprisingly keeping up on her webbed feet, looks at Reykan. “Rey! Can't you, like, talk to it?”
Reykan growls an annoyed growl in response.
Seri frowns. “I didn't think so, too...”
The panther cub growls in annoyance yet again. “This is stupid. Why am I running away?! I'm a preydetor!” He looks back with an angry frown. “I'm not prey!”
“Are you crazy?!” Moon Gaze squeaks. “That thing is bigger than you!”
Reykan completely stops, turns around, and growls as he runs towards the—
“What the actual fuuuuu—?!” I skid to a stop.
“Why the buck are you stopping?!” Moon Gaze asks.
I turn around in time to hear a really, really heart-stopping roar from the darkness. Scratching noises, growls, thuds, more growls, and more scratching noises.
“Reykan!” Seri shouts, stopping beside me and trying but failing to see the goings on with her shining gem.
“Why the buck are you guys not running?!” we hear Dash ask from behind us.
“I'm asking the same question!” Moon Gaze squeaks back.
Basing from hearing alone, I think the battle is moving now. Seri thinks so, too, as we turn and follow where we assume the battle has moved now.
More roars. More scratches. More thuds.
And then...
...silence.
...
... ...
... ... ...
The seconds fly by, I'm hearing nothing but the thunder and rustling of leaves up above, and Dash's nervously approaching steps.
“Is...” Seri speaks nervously. She swallows a lump down her long throat. “...Is it ... over? Are they...?”
“I...” I hesitate. “I don't hear ... eating, so...”
“Jay,” Moon Gaze quietly squeaks. “You were crazy enough to stop, so please surprise not-surprise me by looking at what happened.”
Seri shakes her head and slowly wobbles toward where we heard the last of the battle noise, her slightly-dim gem shining the way.
“Okay,” Moon Gaze squeaks as I follow Seri closely behind. “I'm actually surprised it was Seri who decided to approach them first.”
“You guys are really, really out of your freaking minds,” Dash quietly says as I hear her following us, albeit slowly. “...and that makes me one, too,” she whispers to herself.
Seconds later, Seri's gem shines on something yellow.
We stop and blink. I then realize that we're on yet another small clearing, and on the center-most part of this clearing is a patch of yellow flowers, some of its yellow petals scattered all around, and finally, there are two unconscious-looking felines who are lying on the flowers.
“Oh, hey!” Moon Gaze squeaks. “Reykan's not eaten!”
Seri slowly approaches as I sigh in relief.
Moon Gaze then jumps off of my back. “And sweet! Daisies!” He scurries by Seri.
My gaze then falls on the flowers, which kinda reminds me of daisies, as the rat mentioned.
Hm... Well, there he goes again, testing another flower.
He climbs on a tall flower's stem and picks a petal on the neighboring shorter flower. He sniffs it. “Hmm... Smells good, too.” He opens his mouth, pauses, and falls on the ground, fast asleep.
Seri stops, a few more steps away from the large patch of flowers.
I blink.
“Huh,” Dash says. “What's wrong with him?”
Seri looks back at us. “Mmmaybe these flowers make you fall asleep?”
“Touch or smell?” I ask.
Seri shakes her head. “I don't think I want to find out.”
Yeah, neither do I, but hm... If it's smell, then shouldn't it be in the air? If those flowers do indeed make us fall asleep, then I'm guessing it's through touching them.
We continue our little journey, with Seri leading the party.
The winds above has gotten stronger, creating a very loud rustling noise with the leaves.
“Why are you guys even here, anyway?” Rainbow Dash suddenly asks, looking at me with a frown. “And why didn't we just leave them back there?” she asks, eyeing Reykan and Moon Gaze who are both asleep on my back.
I look at her. “We could ask you the same question.” I shake my head. “And I can't just leave them back there.”
She glares at me. “I don't answer to dirt ponies. And I know you can leave them there, so why didn't you?”
I glare at her. “How different is a grounded pegasus from dirt ponies?” I shake my head. “So I won't answer you either.”
She rolls her eyes and looks ahead.
I add: “And for a pony who's hurt, you sure can run fast.”
Her angry features dissolve into confusion as she looks back at me. “Wait... Did you just insulted me, and then complimented me?”
...Was the latter a compliment? I shrug. Well, at least that dissolved some of the tension. “Anyway, we're looking for something.” I point at her. “And you?”
She snorts, but answers: “Same.”
“We're probably looking for different things,” Seri suddenly says.
We turn to her.
A flash of lightning light up the entire forest for a short second.
Seri waits for the loud crashing roar of thunder to die down before continuing: “We're looking for a book.”
“The buck is a book?” Dash asks.
The treetops suddenly glows in bright white, dims, and then a very loud crashing thunder pierces our ears once again.
Seri stops once again, looking around.
“I get the feeling that you guys don't know where you're going,” Dash points out.
I didn't answer as I look at the large trees around us. On the corner of my eyes, I notice Seri's gem's shine isn't as bright as earlier. I turn to her in time to see her turn as well, the gem brightening a little more.
“...This way,” the swan says, wobbling towards the direction she's facing.
Dash catches up with the swan and walks alongside her. “So, where'd you get that gem?”
I am about to follow, but ... just to make sure...
I furrow my brows and look around, but it's too dark to see anything. I look back and squint my eyes, but I can't see a damn thing, nor can I hear anything but the rumbling noises in the heavens above the rustling treetops.
“You guys are going to that cave, right?” Rainbow Dash asks the swan as the duo walks ahead and side-by-side.
Seri blinks at her. “Cave?”
“You know,” Dash replies, waving a hoof in the air. She winces mid-wave, and returns her hoof on the ground. “The cave where it's filled with gems.” She smiles an excited smile. “You guys must have heard the rumors, too.”
Seri blinks at her once again.
Dash arches an eyebrow, her smile fading. “I ... get the feeling that you have no idea what I'm talking about.”
The swan returns her attention ahead. The gem she is holding dims somewhat, so she stops and slowly turns until the gem is shining bright again, and she resumes walking towards a new direction.
Seri then gives the mare a sideway glance. “We're looking for something, and this gem is guiding us towards it.”
It's kinda nice to see Seri talking again, but it's still a bit depressing that she's not as cheery and happy as she used to be.
Dash frowns. “I know I asked before, but I wanna ask again. What are you guys looking for?”
“A book.”
Dash shakes her head. “You mean a brook, right?”
Seri shakes her head.
“The heck is a book?”
Seri shakes her head once again. “You're probably not looking for it, but we are.”
“The keyword there is ‘probably’, birdie,” Dash says. “Whatever this ‘book’ may be must be something trade-worthy, so I'm tagging along.”
Seri opens her beak to say something—
“Yes!” Moon Gaze suddenly squeaks in triumph, probably doing a happy rat dance on my head.
She glares at him. “...Does your pet cub eat pet rats?”
Walking beside me, Reykan sighs, his ears drooping. “Jay says I shouldn't.”
Oh yeah... Reykan and Moon Gaze woken up about half an hour after they fell asleep from those flowers.
Dash blinks at the cub. “...the buck are you letting him tell you what to do?”
“Meh.”
“The buck kind of answer is that?!”
Reykan is still angry that he didn't get to win that battle from earlier. He said he could have won it easily, since the Manticore was ‘slow’ and he was able to dodge its every attack.
Kid's got good reflexes.
Moon Gaze relaxes on my head. “You can buck me if you want—”
A blurring blue hoof slaps him off of my head, sending him flying ... somewhere.
I sigh, stop and turn to Reykan. “...Fetch.”
He stops and blinks at me. “...What?”
“Let me go!” Moon Gaze squeaks angrily, trying but failing to free his tail from Reykan's closed jaws.
“Heh,” Dash chuckles. “I'm starting to get why you're keeping these two weirdos along.”
“Oh, sure,” Moon Gaze says upside-down. “We're the weird ones.”
Dash looks at me with her signature confident grin. “So how'd you do it?”
“Dirt pony secret,” I reply.
She snorts, shakes her head, and then turns to Seri.
As the duo continues their little girly conversation, us guys at the back are warily following them, our twitching and turning ears trying but failing to hear anything unusual.
Well, it's mostly me who is failing. I've no clue if either Reykan or Moon Gaze are still hearing the noise they heard a few minutes ago.
I blink—
I quickly reopen my eyes and turn to where I saw ... something. It's not there anymore, but I did saw something just before my eyelids closed during that blink.
“What is it?” Moon Gaze quietly squeaks.
I squint my eyes, hoping to see whatever it was.
“Jay?”
...It doesn't look like I'll be seeing it again. I turn to him and notice Reykan's glancing at me as well.
I shake my head. “It was probably nothing, but...” I turn my gaze back to where I saw it. “I thought I saw a small green orb.”
And suddenly, a bright flash of white light blinds me. I close my eyes and rub them with a hoof as a mighty roar of thunder booms from the heavens, shaking the earth slightly.
The was the most powerful lightning plus thunder combo I've ever experienced since we entered the Everfree Forest.
I shake my head and rub one of my ringing ear. Everyone else has stopped as well, catching their bearings.
“—must be close to the eye of the storm,” I hear Dash say, looking up at the dark, leafy ceiling of the forest. She then brings her gaze back to Seri. “Well, I dunno what the hay a book is or why you guys are looking for it but,” she looks at the rest of us and shrugs. “I can't really fly at the moment, and it would be stupid if I go and look for the cave on my lonesome, so ehhh,” she shrugs once more before turning to Seri. “I'm gonna tag along.”
“Sweet,” Moon Gaze quickly says, who is now sitting on the cuphead, er, I mean cub's head. “Can I sit all over you?”
She glares at him. “I'll squash you,” she says as Seri wobbles forward.
I squint my eyes.
Hm...
I quickly look back and—
Four small green orbs quickly vanishes.
I blink. No, those weren't orbs. Those were eyes—
“They've been following us for a while now,” Reykan suddenly says, startling me a bit. “I think those are timberwolves.”
Ah, but of course.
“I'm glad they're not running after us like hungry meat-eaters,” Moon Gaze squeaks.
Huh... I wonder how they're able to digest what they eat. They are mostly made out of wood and green magic stuff, right?
Moon Gaze continues: “But ... why aren't they running after us like hungry meat-eaters?”
“A big preydeytor is probably scaring them,” Reykan says.
Huh...
“Hey, slowpokes!” Dash calls out.
We turn back and see them quite a distance ahead now.
She sits down and puts both front hooves around her mouth. “What's the hold up? Get your asses over here already!” she hollers, her voice almost drowning to the rumbling thunder noise and the noisy and constant rustling leaves up above.
We hurry after them, and as we got closer, we realize that the two of them are now outside the thick line of trees, standing and sitting on the edge of a cliff.
“Yo!” Dash greets us as we exit the dark forest. She points a hoof behind her. “Check it!”
She turns and gazes at—
Reykan skips and stops beside the swan.
“Whoa,” Moon Gaze squeaks in amazement.
“Heh,” Dash chuckles. “I gotta admit, even though you got no wings, you dirt ponies sure find cool ways to get to places you can't reach.”
Wooden planks for footing, and rope for railings and as well as for support. The bridge is connecting this cliff we're on to that other cliff up ahead.
“Although you gotta be stupid enough to cross this thing with this wind,” Dash comments.
The wind is whistling violently here, swinging the bridge left and right, and up and down.
Seri looks at the gem she's holding, and then looks ahead. “...The gem's pointing us there.” She extends a wing up. “Hm... Too strong to fly across.”
“Yeah,” Dash nods in agreement. “I don't think I can even fly across with winds this strong.” She flutters her wings. “Though I'd love to try if I could.”
“What's that over there?” Reykan asks, pointing at the thing I've been staring at ever since we got out of the trees.
“Huh,” Moon Gaze squeaks. “I didn't even notice that.”
On the other end of this bridge, probably right in the middle of the trees, is a castle.
A freaking ... castle.
But not just any castle.
It's the castle of the freaking two sisters, or whatever it was called in the show.
As the others are talking amongst each other, I blink and look back.
There are probably more than a dozen sets of timberwolf eyes glowing in the darkness of the forest, all staring at us, but one by one, a pair backs away and fades into the darkness, until no pair is left.
“Well,” Seri says, “the gem is pointing us there, so...”
“This is a very stupid idea,” Moon Gaze squeaks as he clings on my violently-waving mane for dear life.
I groan in response. It's the only thing I can do in terms of talking at the moment, as I'm using my mouth to bite the rope rails for added support, as my hooves are hopelessly touching and ‘flying’ off and landing once again on the wooden footing of this violently-dancing rope bridge. This would have been easier if I had fingers.
It's weird that this chaos storm isn't pouring a heavy rainstorm. A blessing in disguise, I guess? Crossing this bridge would have been even more difficult, I would assume, if it were raining heavily as well.
Why is there a rope bridge here anyway? And why is that castle here as well?
“We're already stupid enough to be entering Storm Forest,” Dash, who's behind me, shouts her reply over the violent whistling winds and loud booms of thunder.
“Good point,” Moon Gaze squeaks. “...I wonder if that makes me the stupidest of the group, since this is my second time here?”
“Oh?” Dash says. “Heh. For a mouse, you got guts to enter this forest twice!”
I feel Moon Gaze squirming in my mane. “Heh heh heh...”
And how is Rainbow Dash still able to talk, I wouldn't know, and I don't wanna risk stopping just to look back at her.
Anyway, Seri, who is ahead of me, returned the gem inside her bag before we crossed this here bridge, and is using both wings and beak to hold onto the railings.
And Reykan's already on the other end of the bridge, crossing with ease thanks to his claws, and he is now sitting and grooming himself. Lucky bastard.
We're halfway across the bridge now, progressing slowly yet carefully.
“Land!” I gasp out as I collapse on solid ground beside Reykan.
“Land!” Moon Gaze squeaks as he jumps out of my mane.
Dash chuckles. “Heh. I can't believe how much I wanted to get back on the dirt after being whipped around in the air.”
Seri ruffles her feathers. “Brr...”
“You guys were so slow,” Reykan says at us with a frown.
Dash, Gaze and I glare at him.
The cub blinks. “What? It's true!”
Dash points a hoof at him. “One more word out of you and I'm throwing you off the cliff.”
Seri takes a deep breath and sighs. Afterwards, she pulls the gem out of her bag and turns around and around, finding which direction the gem shines the most.
“You really trust that gem, huh?” Dash asks as Seri begins wobbling towards the forest, the others following behind her.
Moon Gaze runs up my back as I stand up on four hooves and follow them.
Seri and Dash enters the forest, with the latter talking about stuff to the former.
Reykan is about to enter when he suddenly stops, the hairs on his back standing as he lets out a low yet ferocious growl, making the female duo stop and look back at him.
Dash glares at him. “Oh, you wanna have a go?” She growls at him.
“Rey?” I ask as I stop beside him. My breath stops for a short moment when I see the familiar no shine nor glimmer sapphire eyes oh his.
Reykan is still growling, his fanged teeth showing.
“The heck are you standing beside him?!” Moon Gaze squeaks, pulling my mane.
I look at the duo. “...Step away?”
Seri does so without question.
Dash stays put, arching an eyebrow yet not leaving her gaze on the growling cub. “The heck for?”
“Just do it.”
She quickly throws a glare at me before returning her gaze back at the cub. “Just so you know,” she says as she slowly steps aside. “This is me not taking orders from a dirt pony.”
I roll my eyes and then look back at Reykan.
The cub is still looking ahead, his piercing, predatory eyes not locked on either of the two females.
I blink and look ahead, squinting my eyes as if that'll help me see beyond the blanket of darkness within the forest.
Seri notices and turns back, trying to light the forest up ahead, but all we see is trees and trees, and more darkness further ahead.
I slowly bring a hoof to Reykan's shoulders—eliciting a surprised gasp from Dash—and shake him. “Rey?”
He's not responding to my call.
I lift said hoof over his head and tap it thrice. “Hey, Rey!”
His growling lowers in volumn. His eyes start to reflect tiny amounts of light once again. The hairs on his back is still standing though.
He blinks, glancing at me before quickly returning his gaze ahead. “...GrrrrrrJay...” he says in between growls. “...I sense ... a very ... grrr...” The glow in his eyes disappears once again, his growling much louder now.
We look ahead, trying but failing to see whatever is making Reykan act like this.
Silence, except for the constant rumbling noise above and the constant growling noise beside me.
Seri slightly lowers the gem. “...Well, the gem is pointing us there...”
There is something here that is making Reykan worked up. It's probably a predator thing.
Speaking of predators, there aren't any around here, except for our cub companion. Unlike the part of the Everfree on the other cliff, I don't feel any hungry eyes watching me or anything.
“Can't you shut him up?” Dash suddenly asks, throwing a side-glare at us.
Reykan is still looking as ferocious as ever. Surprisingly, he's keeping up with our pace, although his steps look more cautious now. His sapphire blue eyes still lack that bright glimmer of his, and his fanged teeth are still showing as he growls lowly.
I feel Moon Gaze squirming on my back.
“Aside from our angry pet cub here,” Moon Gaze squeaks, “I don't hear anything else in the forest.” He pauses. “...I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not...”
Speaking of the forest, the trees here aren't as close to each other as in the previous forest, making this journey of ours a little easier as we walk through the spacious gaps in between them, but their thick branches and large leaves still block the stormy sky up above, making the forest look just as dark as the previous one.
At least its shielding us from the violent winds that is constantly rustling the leaves up above.
Seri is still leading our group, with Dash close by her.
I slightly shake my head.
I ... still don't understand why there's a castle here. I thought ponies and other creatures can't build stuff? Well, at least in this version of Equestria, they can't. I don't think they can even build a rope bridge. Even if they start to learn how to make basic structures, why a castle of all things? The unicorns back in Canterlot Mountain had the right idea of how to build a basic home, so I would assume that they'll start building homes, not a castle.
And why does it resemble the castle of the two sisters so much? If ponies or some other creature were able to build a castle in the middle of this freaking forest, then it looking similar must have been one heck of a crazy coincidence.
...Or maybe it's the very same castle from Twilight's version of Equestria, where she and her friends went to face off Nightmare Moon.
...Twilight.
I shake my head. No time to mope, as Seri is displaying.
Hm... Since the book is most-likely located there, is it possible that it brought a small portion of the Everfree Forest to this new timeline? That would make much more sense than a race of creatures building a castle and then just disappearing and leaving the castle to be ruined by time and the elements of nature.
The rope-bridge must have been part of that ‘small portion’. I wonder if the Tree of Harmony is close by. If so, maybe we can use the Elements to defeat whatever or whoever is responsible.
...What are the odds that we can use the Elements if it does exist in this timeline. Let's see here... There's me, Seri, Dash, Reykan and Moon Gaze. That's five.
I sigh... I should stop thinking about the Elements. Twilight would have mention them if they were an option. Even if they were, who will wield them? I certainly can't wield any of the six.
Another sigh escapes my lips.
“You really like thinking a lot, huh?” I hear Moon Gaze squeak. “And no, I'm not interested in hearing your thoughts.”
I roll my eyes and look ahead.
I blink. Huh... That's the exit up ahead. I must have been so lost in thought that I didn't notice we're about to leave the forest.
How are the others, I wonder?
Reykan is still tense, Dash is still annoyed at him, Seri is still leading our group, Moon Gaze is still on my back.
And I'm just walking along, lost in my own thoughts.
Well, at least we're exiting the forest now—
Click!
Startled, Dash stumbles back and bumps into me. “The buck?!” she exclaims.
I step aside as Moon Gaze jumps off of me and lands on Dash's back. “What? What is it?” he squeaks as he scurries to Dash's head.
I blink and study the surroundings, ignoring Dash's and Gaze's conversation about a piece of broken cobblestone the mare has stepped on, which is actually arranged like a pathway leading to the old castle ruins. The castle is surrounded by the thick trees of the Everfree Forest. Aside from this broken pathway towards the castle and the castle itself, the green and grassy clearing is also littered with dead and broken trees, and there are also black patches of dead grass. And to add some eerie effect to it, the eye of the storm is directly above the tallest spire of the ruined castle.
A loud crash of thunder erupts from the heavens as Seri extends the gem towards the castle, and the stone shines bright.
“We're going in there, aren't we?” Dash asks.
Seri nods her head.
The mare sighs. She looks back at us—Reykan to be specific—with a frown. “He's still not shutting up?”
“Looks like it,” Moon Gaze squeaks. “I really like how your mane looks.”
Her eye twitches. “Grrr...” Dash violently shakes her head, trying to shake the rat off of her. “Get off of me, you creep!”
Ignoring the duo, I move forward and step beside Seri. “So,” I breathe out. “We walk up there and search for the book?”
“Yep,” Seri replies with a nod. She opens her beak, as if to say something, but she looks like she's hesitating. She closes her beak.
I blink at her. “Seri?”
She shakes her head. “...What are we to do once we find the book?” she asks, looking at me with a sad frown.
“I...” I blink at that. “...I don't ... know.”
Her frown goes further down.
I quickly add: “B-but I'm sure we'll figure something out once we find the book!” I point at the gem she's holding. “I'm sure Twilight has placed some sort of spell in that gem that will do its magic once we find the book.”
Here's to hoping that's how it'll go.
The swan sighs. “I hope so.” She looks back, blinking a worried blink at the cub. “...But something else is probably there.”
I look at Reykan and frown. “...Yeah.” I look back to her, and then to the castle. “Maybe we should make sure that the coast is clear before we enter the castle.”
In before whoever is in there will tell us that the book is in another castle.
“Coast?” Dash asks, stepping on the other side of the swan. She looks around. “I don't see an ocean or anything...”
“And what's a castle?” Moon Gaze asks as he climbs up to my back.
I sigh.
With these as my companions, why did I even entertain the idea of the Elements anyway?
Seri and I poke our heads out the outer wall of the castle ruins, blinking as we study what's inside the castle. We didn't even need her gem's light for us to see what's inside, as the hall is awash with a multicolor of light.
Moon Gaze—on my head—squeaks a whistle. “That's a lot of gems.”
“Must be a very tough preydeytor if they can leave their presence here while they're somewhere else,” Reykan suddenly says, startling me.
I look down—Moon Gaze falling in the process and landing on the cub's head—and see Reykan standing between my front hooves, poking his head to check the hall as well. How I didn't notice his fur brushing against my hooves, I'll never know.
My ear twitches, hearing Dash snort. “You guys look like you're mating.”
Har har.
I move away from the curious cat as Rainbow Dash stops beside Seri and takes a look inside. “Whoa! No way!” she blurts out in surprise and excitement. She immediately dashes—no pun intended—through the castle's wide entrance and skids to a stop in the very center of the large castle's hall.
I facehoof as the others follow her. “Didn't I just say we check first if the—oh, nevermind.” Yes, I'm aware that I'm a hypocrite at times.
“This must be the cave I kept hearing about!” Dash says, her voice echoing in the ruined walls of the ruined castle.
With a sigh and a shake of my head, I follow after them, eyeing the many, many colorful gemstones lying around the hall. They are practically scattered almost everywhere, with small and big piles against the broken walls.
“Doesn't look like a cave to me,” Reykan says.
“It has a rock entrance and it's surrounded by rocky walls,” Dash counters with a glare. “If this isn't a cave, then I don't know what this is.”
Speaking of walls, I can clearly see large and nasty-looking scratch marks on them. A wall to the left also has a pretty big hole on it, much larger than the broken entrance where we came in.
“But Jay said that this is a cattle.”
“Castle,” Seri corrects him.
Hm... Burn marks on the ground outside, scratches and a large hole on the walls, and a large collection of gemstones here? I gulp. “I think this is a dragon's lair.” Or wait, don't dragons hoard gold? Do they hoard gems, too?
I hear a gemstone drop, it's thudding noise bounce around the walls. I turn see Dash looking at me in horror.
“...D-dragon?” she stutters.
I shrug. “Most-likely. I mean, they could be diamond dogs, but there are signs of fire outside.” I look at the walls. “And scratches, too, sooo...”
Silence, aside from the storm sounds outside.
Dash suddenly starts grabbing some gemstones. “Then let's grab what we could and get out of here.”
I blink and watch as she struggles to carry three gems with her two front hooves.
Moon Gaze, who's still on Reykan's head, sighs a squeaky sigh. “I'd like to help, but...”
“Just push a gem and let's go,” Dash replies. She blinks at the rest of us. “What are you all just standing there for?”
I look at Seri, who is staring at her shining gemstone. She looks ahead, blinking at the two curved stairway behind the platform where I'm assuming is where the throne is supposed to be. One of the stairway is broken, and the other is still looking mostly-intact, leading to a second floor indoor balcony of some kind.
Look, I'm not an interior architect, alright? It's not like I have access to the internet to look up what stuff are called.
...And I really need to stop narrating everything in my head.
Anyway, Seri then looks back at us, then at Dash. “We're not here for the gems.”
“Are you guys serious?!” Dash exclaims. “We could get whatever we want with just two gems! More if we can get more gems, obviously, but, uh, you get what I mean!”
Reykan shrugs. “Eh, I'm not really interested with gems.” He looks at me. “It's not like I can just use those to trade for a pony or deer for me to eat.”
I blink at him. “...Why are you looking at me?”
He shrugs.
Dash opens her mouth to reply, but she says nothing. She blinks. “...Okay, well, at least you have a point.” She shakes her head. “But what about the dirt pony and the birdie?”
“And the mouse!” Moon Gaze adds.
Dash rolls her eyes, then looks at me. “Are you really stupid to not grab these gems here and make a run for it?”
I shrug. “We didn't come here for the gems.”
Dash groans. “Idiots. Every single one of you!” She shakes her head and winces as she extends her injured wings. ”Whatever. Go find that stupid brook of yours or whatever. I don't care,” she says as she puts a gemstone on her side and carefully folds a wing to hold it.
And Rainbow Dash has left the party.
Seri, Reykan and I walk towards the curved stairway. Despite their large size, the gemstones are pretty light, so Seri has no problem wobbling through the sea of gemstones, with Reykan and I walking on the cleared path she has made.
Moon Gaze is fidgeting on the cub's head. “Um...” He shakes his head and jumps off of the cub's head, eliciting an annoyed grunt from the feline. “I-I'll help!” he squeaks as he scurries to Rainbow Dash.
Aaand Moon Gaze has left the party.
I ignore their conversation as I follow Seri and Reykan walking up the stairway.
We're getting closer. I can feel my heart beating faster and harder in excitement ... and nervousness, and worry, and and and—
“I wonder if I could use gems for hunting,” Reykan thinks out loud, his left ear twitching. “I can just zap bunnies and birds and oh! Maybe even ponies and deer, too!”
Onoes...
He shakes his head. “Eh, that'd be boring.”
I sigh in relief. I look up at Seri, expecting for her to say something, but I frown when no words escape her beak. I sigh yet again, not in relief this time.
We reach the second floor and—
A rush of warm and stinky air blows at us from the darkness up ahead, making Reykan growl. I already feel my guts dropping as Seri shines light to the darkness, revealing green scales, scales, more scales, and finally a large fang.
Another rush of warm breath blows at us from the large, sleeping green dragon's scaly nostrils.
“Um...” Seri nervously walks back. “Is that—?”
“Hey guys!” Moon Gaze squeaks oh so freaking loudly, skidding to a stop beside me. “Dash is asking you guys one last time if you want to change your minds—”
A powerful snort of hot breath, almost blowing Moon Gaze off the floor. A thud. A groaning growl.
...And then scaly eyelids open, revealing large, draconic eyes reflecting our nervous forms, and one growling form.
The large dragon head slowly leans closer, exhaling hot air towards us.
“Hey!” Dash's loud voice echoes loudly, making the dragon blink in confusion. “If they're not coming, let's go already!”
The large head slowly rises up, as if trying to see who said those goddamn loud words.
“Um...” Moon Gaze squeaks quietly. “...I think I just pissed myself.”
I gulp and take a nervous step back. “O-o-on the count of three,” I whisper, “we get the hell outta here.”
I see Seri and Moon Gaze nervously nod their heads.
I gulp once again, my throat too dry all of a sudden. “O-okay... One—”
“IS THAT A BUCKING DRAGON?!” Dash yells so freaking loud—
The dragon let out a ferocious roar, making the entire castle shake as if an earthquake is happening.
Wincing, and ears ringing, I look up and see the large dragon is staring at us.
As I feel the air rushing towards me from below, I momentarily ask myself which is scarier: the dragon behind me who's about to eat me, or jumping these freaking stairs all the way down to the ground floor, which is freaking high.
Thankfully, it's a curved staircase, so I quickly throw my front hooves down to grab the railing, stopping my fall.
And then I continue running for dear life as I hear and feel that loud thud of a clawstep.
And then another clawstep, and another, and another.
And then a roar that sounds a bit ... annoyed?
Reaching the end of the stairs, I stupidly look up and do a double-take.
The dragon's attempt at shaking Reykan off of its face is making me think that either it's just slow or is still groggy. It's letting out groans of annoyance as it slowly shaking its head left and right.
“YEAH!” Moon Gaze—who's on my head—suddenly yells, startling me. “Get him, Reykan!”
Something pinches my ear and starts dragging me away from the scene. “Ow ow ow ow—!”
It's Seri, and she's pulling me by the ear with her beak—
A mighty roar. The ground shakes. Seri and I slip. The gemstones around us are rattling.
We look up and see the dragon slam its snout on the second floor, creating a huge dust cloud, covering the entire second floor balcony thing.
“Well,” Moon Gaze says. “He's dead. Now let's—”
There's a flash of red from the dust cloud, and then a torrent of fire blasts from it.
I duck and cover my head with both hooves, Moon Gaze cowering beside my head.
“The entrance!” Seri gasps.
The flamethrower is gone. I look back and see the entrance is burning, the flames almost reaching the ceiling.
Another roar.
We turn and see the dragon's head emerging from the dust cloud, its large, piercing eyes glaring at us.
I quickly stand up and run towards the hole on the wall, hearing Seri's flapping wings close behind...
...and hearing a loud thud behind as well, rattling the gems.
“We're gonna die we're gonna die we're gonna die!!!” Moon Gaze chants, clinging to my mane as I jump through the hole. Gritting my teeth, I kick my hooves on the grassy ground, heading towards the bordering trees.
“Eep—!” I hear Seri gasp as a strong gust of wind whips at us.
I yelp as I feel my tail is being yanked. I take a quick glance and see Seri clinging onto my tail, and the freaking dragon bursting through the hole, it's large jaw aflame. It lets out another roar to the thunderous sky before looking back at us and giving chase!
Holy shiet, we're definitely gonna die!
“Tree!” Moon Gaze squeaks.
I whip my gaze ahead and quickly fix my path. I run in between two large trees ... which the dragon easily breaks as it continues chasing after us!
Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck! “I can't see a damn thing!”
And suddenly, a faint white light shines a few inches of my path ahead. Must be Seri pulling the gem out.
But never mind that! “Seri!” I holler as I continue running, ignoring the painful scrapes from the blurring branches of the blurring trees I run by. “Go! Fly!” It's getting brighter for some reason. “Find the book—!”
“FIRE!”
SHIT!
I take a chance and quickly jump left—
“OOF—!”
—slamming my head into a thick branch, almost making me black out.
“Were you trying to kill me?!” I hear Moon Gaze's angry squeak who is shuffling on my back. “Whoa—! Run run run!”
I shake my head, unaware of the fierce torrent of flames mere inches behind us.
And then I now feel how freaking hot my bum is.
“Gah!” I yelp as I continue running, Seri now running beside me, shining the pathway even further.
The earth shakes with each step the dragon rapidly takes, it's mighty roar echoing all around.
“Seri!” I holler. “Find the book! I'll...”
I gulp. Here I go again, acting like a hero...
I shake the hesitation off. “I-I'll distract it!”
“A-are you sure?!” Seri asks in surprise.
Thunder, roar, and trees being broken out of the way.
I gulp yet again. “J-just go!”
Moon Gaze quickly jumps off of me, landing on Seri's back. “Well, it's been nice knowing you, Jay.”
“Fuck you, too,” I growl as Seri runs toward a different direction.
Aaand it's suddenly too dark to see anything!
Gah! These branches are gonna kill me before the dragon could!
And wouldn't you know it, the freaking dragon is following me.
Fuck!
When Seri finds that book, things will be fixed!
I wish!
I hope!
An exit is up ahead! Yes!
...the darkness is awash with red. Freaking hell—!
I jump out of the way, thankful that I didn't slam into a tree or a branch. I feel the air becoming hot as a torrent of blazing-hot fire scorches through the trees behind me.
Using the light provided by the flames, I continue running towards the exit.
...Aaand I can no longer see the damn thing except for that exit! I grit my teeth as I blindly run through the forest of sharp branches.
A bright white light washes over the outside world as I approach the exit. Inhaling sharply, I leap out of the trees as color returns to—
“HOLY SHIET—!”
Thunder roared from the heavens as I try to stop my momentum, leaving a trail on the ground behind me as I skid—
“Noooo no no NO NO NO—!!!”
I chant as the edge of the cliff is getting closer and closer...
...and I stop a few inches from the edge.
I throw my head forward as I let out the biggest “phew!” I've ever phewed.
...
... ...
... ... ... and then the earth is shaking. The stormy air is filled with thuds and breaking trees from behind me.
...fuck!
I quickly walk away from the edge and look around for an—oh you've got to be fucking kidding me!
The rope bridge is still wildly waving up and down and left and right with the violent winds.
...It's either a fall to my death or get eaten and die.
...I've been bitten a lot of times now, sooo...
I hurry to the bridge, stand on my hind legs and—
“Whoa whoa whoa—!” I wave my front hooves around, stopping myself from falling on my back. Recovering, I extend both front hooves and grab the rope-railing on each side, and start running like a maniac on this wavy bridge.
...Only that I realize that I'm actually not grabbing the railings as the bridge whips up, throwing me up—
—I quickly bite one of the railings as the bridge whips down, slamming my two hind hooves down on the wooden flooring.
Wait... I've survived all of the biting incidents since I became a pony. Maybe I can survive one more?
...from a dragon?
I hear a loud explosion of sorts, and see a wave of broken trees flying from where I almost fell off—
“Grrfff—!”
I tighten my bite as the bridge flies up, up and up and suddenly whips itself down once again. My hind hooves slam hard on the wood—
A mighty roar.
I glance back and see the dragon looking around, trying to find me, its green scales and yellow back spike-thingies reflecting the thunderous heavens above.
Yeeeaaahhh, I'm not surviving a bite from that.
I gulp and slowly, slooooowly work my way towards the other end of the bridge while keeping a watchful eye on the dragon—!!!
I stop and hold my breath as the dragon is staring at me.
...
... ...
... ... ...
It looks elsewhere.
Huh...
I ... guess me being brown, it probably thinks I'm a part of this bridge.
Well then, here's to hoping it'll continue to think that.
The dragon then eyes the cliff. Slowly walking on all four claws towards it, the large dragon pokes its large head over the cliff, looking down.
A random realization comes to mind. Boy, am I glad that its flames didn't start a forest fire. That would have been a nightmare.
...As if my current situation isn't a nightmare already.
The dragon's low growl snaps me off of my train of random thoughts. Still inching towards the other end, I glance at the dragon, who is now turning around, probably to return to the castle.
Well, good riddance.
I look ahead and continue my quiet and slow progress.
...
... ...
... ... ...Wait.
The dragon is returning to the castle! And things aren't back to normal yet!
Well, I mean, will it quickly return to normal once Seri finds the book? Does she even know what to do with it?
I quickly release the rope from my teeth, take a large breath, and holler: “WAIT!”
The faint thudding noise stops.
...This is a stupid idea, on top of the other stupid things that has been happening as of late.
I look back and see the dragon raise its head above the trees, looking around.
“Hey! Ugly!” I holler, trying to catch its attention—
My breath freezes in my lungs as it's draconian gaze immediately lands on me.
Silence, except for the thunder, winds, and groans of the rope bridge.
I blink. “...Can't we talk about this—?!”
It lets out a loud roar before it runs after me again, trees breaking and flying from its wake.
“Holy shi—!”
Heart racing, I quicken my pace towards the other end of this rope bridge—
A blinding light.
A booming roar of thunder.
Ears ringing, and vision returning, I see tiny white orbs all around me, disappearing a second or two later—
The bridge whips up again, and I'm not prepared for it—!
“Aaahhh—OOF!”
I was thrown up in the air, and helplessly land on the other cliff's ground, rolling twice or thrice.
I gasp and quickly return to my four hooves, wincing from the pain. I look back and see the dragon is standing still, shaking, sparks of electricity dancing, appearing and disappearing around it.
It ... got struck by lightning?
It shakily raises its head up, and let's out a mighty roar, a wave of electricity sparking out of its scales. It shakes itself, growls, and glares at me as it slowly extends its large, leathery wings.
Oh, for fuck's sake... It can freaking fly?!
My ears droop as the dragon flaps its mighty wings, slowly going airborne.
I quickly turn around and ... the forest is freaking dark to see anything!
The dragon roars from behind me.
Fuck it! I grit my teeth and run towards the forest, but as I enter, I am hoping against all hope that the dragon can't see me in this darkness as I quickly turn and hide behind the trees.
Sounds of mighty flapping wings echo in the air as—
THUD!
Wait... Why did it land—?
CRUNCH!
Holy shiet! It's biting the tree I'm hiding, and its sharp teeth are bare inches away from my freaking head!
I quickly run deeper into the dark forest as it pulls the tree out of the ground.
I am soooooooo sooo so so so dead!
I hear a rumbling and burning noise from behind, growing louder and louder—
I quickly jump out of the way, tripping on an uproot and making me fall on the ground as the forest behind me starts to burn.
“Oof—!”
I wince as I quickly get back up, but ow, my everything hurts! I open my eyes and see that I'm a clearing—
A mighty roar.
Heavy thuds.
All from behind me.
I feel my ears and heart sink as I slowly look back and see the dragon on its two hind claws, raising its upper body up in the air, its piercing eyes locked on me.
It rears its head back as...
...welp, I'm dead.
It lunges—
“WAIT!” I yell.
And for some fucking reason, it freaking worked this time!
The dragon jerks its head to a stop, growling at me.
A roar of thunder.
“Ummmmm uuuuuhhh—” I nervously stutter as I look around and—wait, are those...?
I smile a nervous smile at the dragon as I slowly walk sideways towards the patch of yellow flowers. I might as well be asleep before I get eaten, right?
“O-okay!” I say as I step on the flower patch. “You can—”
I almost black out. I move my hooves to steady myself. Holy shiet, these flowers are—
The dragon lets out an ear-splitting roar before it lunges its open jaws at me—
“I found it!” the purple unicorn mare exclaims all of a sudden, her glowing eyes quickly returning to normal.
Her gaze lands on Jay, the brown stallion, who is seated across from her.
She beams. “Jay, you were right!”
A doe rolls her eyes as she bites the illusionary library's wooden door's handle with a huff. She angrily opens the door wide. Her angry features immediately turn into confusion, and then into shock, and then—
The mare continues: “Well, I mean, you guessed it right! It's—”
She suddenly stops, her gaze now on the many horned ponies standing outside the door.
The doe's ears droop. “Um...”
“That's...” a white rat, whose upper body is poking out of a blankly-blinking kangaroo's pouch, says in an almost-whisper tone as Jay looks back. His tiny white ears droop as he continues: “a lot of angry unicorns.”
Outside, almost two-dozen angry unicorns fix their angry glares at each person inside the dead-old tree.
In front of the unicorn crowd is a white unicorn mare, whose angry glare is locked on a certain purple unicorn inside the tree. “Pardon me,” she hisses, “but I do believe you have something that belongs to us?”
The unicorns begin lighting up their horns, their multicolored lights reflecting the shocked and nervous faces of those who are inside the large tree.
A purple aura suddenly surrounds the wooden door and slams it close, creating a loud banging noise that momentarily startles everyone on both sides of the wooden barrier.
The doe runs away from the door, yet she's clueless where to hide.
Outside, and shaking the surprise off of her, the white unicorn quickly turns back to the others. “Everypony!” she shouts, her horn lighting up. “Bring this tree down!”
Inside, and horn lighting, the mare nervously exclaims: “Jay! Quick!”
Startled, Jay quickly turns to her as the unicorns outside start banging on the door, while others start pulling out rocks and launching it at the tree.
“Where's Applejack?!” the purple unicorn loudly asks as the interior of the tree is now filled with banging and breaking noises.
The nervous stallion mutters a response as the wooden door explodes into splinters, no longer filtering the angry noises the unicorns are making.
Before they can flood inside however, the purple unicorn fires a beam of magic at the startled brown stallion. In a mere second, Jay turns white and disappears in thin air.
The angry unicorns enter—and stop as a large and blood-thirsty panther roars and runs toward them, his fangs and claws glinting off their horn's lights.
Overcome by the sudden sense of fear and panic, unicorns who are inside let out a cry as they turn around, trying but failing to fight the flood of their own angry kind from entering.
A younger panther runs at them, and together, both predators bite and claw at the unicorns, unaware that the walls of the tree have started to collapse.
As the top of the tree starts to fall down on everyone below, the purple mare quickly lights up her horn and fires a beam of magic upwards.
The treetop explodes into tiny splinters, startling the majority and shielding themselves from the sudden wooden rain.
A magical aura grabs hold of the larger panther, pulling him away as the others concentrate their magic on him, and as one, they slam and slam and slam the beast repeatedly on the ground—
—until one by one they go flying as a large kangaroo starts kicking and punching and whipping her tail at them. She's about to punch another startled unicorn when a rock or two slams into her, pushing her back. As she tries to shake the dizziness off, more and more rocks pelt her.
The large panther returns to his paws and lets out a roar, only to receive a rock to his face, and to his entire body.
As the chaos continues, a white rat is running away from the scene, skittering towards the bordering trees that surround the dead clearing. He hides behind the nearest tree, and lets out a squeak of surprise when he sees an even larger white creature hiding there as well.
“Please don't hurt me!” Moon Gaze squeaks, covering his eyes with both claws.
A white feathered wing quickly grabs hold of him. The swan hugs the rat nervously, whimpering and crying.
The rat let's out a surprised gasp, and then a sigh of relief.
The duo then gasps in surprise as a bright white light appears right in front of them.
The purple mare materializes from the light. She shakes her head and takes a breath before looking at them with courageous eyes. “Seri, use this to find the book,” she says as she gives the swan a bag. “The gem inside will shine when you face the direction where the book is located, so head towards it.” She walks away from the safety of the tree, looking at the chaos. “You'll maybe find Jay, too.” She looks at her with a soft expression. She sighs. “I'll join you guys when I'm done here.” Her horn glows, surrounding the gasping swan with her magic. “Now GO!” She throws her head up, launching the shrieking swan and rat up into the air.
A rock slams into her face, the light on her horn vanishing in an instant. More rocks soon follow.
“Grab the gems!” the white unicorn mare shouts above the chaos. She turns and points at a small group of unicorns. “You! Deal with those damn felines! And you!” she points at another group. “Get the wounded out of here—OOF!”
A mighty kick to her chest sends her flying. As gravity pulls her back, what she sees last is a bloody and angry kangaroo, who turns around so quick for her to see her mighty brown tail slapping her across the face.
Her limp and unconscious body flies and lands on the unicorns who are holding both panthers down. As they fall and lose their concentration, the panther brothers quickly run towards them, their ferocious orange and blue eyes reflecting their shrieking and bloodied faces.
A few of the unicorns are already starting to flee. Some holding gems, others holding their bloodied comrades away from the chaos.
A white unicorn stallion with a yellow mane and tail of the fleeing group notices a brown figure standing by the trees. He stops to take a proper look, and sees a doe just standing there, her gaze on the chaos, her mouth open in shock, and her whole body frozen in fright.
“You're one of them...!” the stallion hisses as his horn lights up. He quickly pulls out a rock from underneath the ground. “Die, you thief!”
Hearing this snaps the doe back to reality. She quickly whips her gaze to the source of the voice, and—as if time slowed—sees a large rock flying straight towards her.
A large black head suddenly blocks the rocks path. The rock then explodes into dust and smaller rocks.
The doe shrieks in surprise, stepping back and falling to the ground.
A long growl. A set of glowing orange eyes glare at the startled stallion, its fangs glinting from the shining horn.
“You dare...” the panther growls through his bloody jaw. “...lay claim ... to my ... prey?”
The stallion is frozen in fear, but is thankfully snapped back to his senses when a fleeing unicorn bumps into him. Shaking his head, he quickly turns tail and flees.
Seconds later, a slow black blur appears, chasing after the fleeing unicorns.
The large panther growls. “Grrr—R-Rey...!”
The smaller panther skids to a stop. He turns toward him, his blank sapphire eyes staring at him.
“Grrrk—!”
Reykan's eyes start to glimmer, reflecting his older brother's collapsing brother. “Whoa—!”
In the sea of broken wood, scattered gems and rocks, and a few lifeless bodies, the kangaroo limply approaches the panther's group, carrying with her the purple unicorn mare.
“Wow, Syroc,” Reykan says, “you look horrible.” He sits down in front of him and winces. “Ooooooow ow ow ow—!”
Despite his condition, Syroc smirks. “Heh... Look who's talking.”
The kangaroo finally reaches the group and slowly puts the mare down on the grassy ground.
The purple mare winces, slowly and carefully rubs her bloody muzzle. “Ow...”
Reykan shakes his head. He shakes it some more. “Grrr—!”
The younger cub shakes and shakes and shakes his head. “I-I-I can't...! I made a promise!”
The larger panther rolls his orange eyes. “Ack—! You're still into that? Really?!”
“Mom says that we preydeytors should have at least one code,” Reykan says, frowning at his older brother. “Mine is I keep my promises.”
“You could have picked one that isn't easily exploitable, you know,” the older panther frowns back. “Now look what you got yourself into. You've become the prey's pet!” Syroc takes a breath and sighs. “...and it's ‘predators.’”
“Whatever,” Reykan shakes his head. His sapphire eyes gaze on the doe. He frowns. “Are you gonna heal us or not?”
That snaps her back. “W-what?!” She quickly stands up. “And why would I want to do that?!”
“Gee...” Syroc coughs. He tries his best to glance at her. “Makes one wonder why you're still here, too.”
“I-ah-uh...” the doe stammers.
The kangaroo sighs. “Just doe your magic, girl.” She pauses. She blinks. She chuckles.
The doe sighs, stepping away from the two feline as she approaches the kangaroo, her two stubs on her forehead glowing green. “Fine, but I'm not healing those two.”
Syroc snorts.
“Meh,” Reykan shrugs as he starts grooming himself. “I'm not hurt that much anyway.”
The doe throws one last glare at the two felines before she sighs, sits down and leans her head closer to the unicorn mare, her stubs glowing brighter as she starts healing the purple mare.
The doe grunts. “Twilight, you're hurt pretty bad...”
“Obviously, love,” the kangaroo chuckles, and winces. “Ow...”
“I'm not sure if I can heal you completely...” the doe says with a frown.
“It's fine, Sienna,” Twilight whispers.
As the kangaroo watches the doe healing the mare, she carefully rubs her aching cheek with an arm. “Hm...” She slowly lifts her gaze up, staring at the twinkling rays of light poking through the ocean of green leaves. “How'd they find us, I wonder?”
Twilight coughs. She takes a breath and groans. “They ... must have placed a tracking spell on one of the gems.”
Blinking, the kangaroo looks down at the unicorn. “What is that, love?”
Twilight closes her eyes and takes a breath. “A spell that tells the caster where their item is located.” She takes another breath and sighs. “I honestly didn't think that they were capable of casting such a spell.”
Silence.
After scratching his ear, Reykan looks at the clearing, blinks and smiles at his brother. “Oh, hey, bro!”
“Hm?”
The cub looks at the messy clearing once again. “Look! Dead ponies!”
Twilight and Sienna shudders.
Reykan looks back at his brother. “You always love eating cold meat—that's still gross, by the way—so there you go!”
Syroc glares at him. “I do not like cold meat!”
“Yes, you do.”
The larger panther growls at him. He then winces from his injuries. “N-no, I don't!”
Reykan shrugs. “Meh, whatever you say.” He stands back up and sniffs the air. “Mmm... Where'd Jay go?”
No answer.
The kangaroo is sitting on the ground, leaning against the tree with Twilight leaning against her.
Twilight is trying to relax under the comfort of the doe's healing spell.
Sienna has her eyes closed, for her to properly concentrate on healing the mare's many injuries.
Syroc is just lying on the ground on his side.
And Reykan is still sniffing the air, trying but failing to locate the stallion he's looking for.
A soft breeze caresses the treetops, serenading their ears with a soft rustling melody.
Twilight closes her eyes and sighs. “Jay is ... probably heading to the Storm Forest.”
Reykan blinks at looks at her. “Storm Forest?” He tilts his head to the side. “Why is he heading there?” Before Twilight can reply, he shrugs and quickly adds: “Eh, I can just ask him when I catch up to him.”
Syroc groans. “Why are you so attached to this Jay, Rey?”
Reykan shrugs once again. “Eh, he promised that I can eat him after I'm done helping him.” He blinks. He smiles. “Oh, and Twilight, too. And that annoying swan, too.” He turns toward the direction of the forest and starts to leave. “Well, bye!”
Before his older brother can say something—
“Reykan, wait,” Twilight calls.
The cub stops and looks back at her. “Huh?”
Twilight takes a breath. “...when you see him... When you find him, tell him that I'm—”
“...dead?” Reykan finishes, trying but failing to maintain eye-contact with the swan.
The swan blankly stares back at the cub.
The cub awkwardly fidgets where he stands.
A roar of thunder resonates from the stormy sky up above, falling on deaf ears as Jay and Seri are still processing the news.
After what feels like forever, Reykan is finally free from the swan's feathery hold.
“Oh,” Seri blankly says with a blank expression as Reykan shakes his head. She slowly nods her head. “...Okay.”
Reykan gulps and nervously backs away from the swan. He doesn't really like lying, and is unsure if he can keep the lie up.
He looks up at Jay, but the swan catches his attention once again as she begins wobbling towards the dark forest.
“Let's go,” she says as she pulls out a shining gem from her bag.
“Seri,” the brown stallion quietly calls. “...wait.”
Reykan looks at her retreating form with an uneasy frown. He then slowly looks up at the stallion. “Jay?”
The stallion looks back at him with a sad frown. “Yeah?”
The cub then looks back at the swan. “...she, um... S-she's...” His ears twitch slightly upon hearing the stallion sighing.
Jay then slowly walks after the swan. “Let's go.”
Reykan takes a breath and sighs through his nostrils. He slowly starts tailing the stallion as the heavens above let's out a loud roar of thunder.
“Ah, the Storm Forest,” Syroc lamely says, his long black tail waving left and right as he boringly stares at the forest in the distance.
The panther looks back, his bored orange eyes reflecting the approaching forms of the unicorn mare and the kangaroo.
The kangaroo lets out a whistle in awe. “Woo-wee. That is one nasty-looking storm!”
Twilight nods her head. She shifts her gaze to the large cluster of white clouds close to the forest's stormy clouds. “That must be the place where the pegasi lives.”
A sigh echoes from the trees behind them. Soon, Sienna emerges from the shadows, frowning at the three creatures before her. She groans. “Ugh... Why am I tagging along, anyway?”
Syroc rolls his eyes. “'Cuz I'll kill you if you don't.” He glares at the purple unicorn. “This crazy mare sent my brother somewhere, and I'm taking him back before he gets himself killed.”
“You'll kill me afterwards,” Sienna says angrily, glaring at the large feline. “I'll be dead either way.”
The panther looks back at her with a smirk. “Oh, don't worry.” His smirk becomes menacing. “I'm sure you'll find the chance to escape while I retrieve my brother.”
He lets out a startled yelp when something grabs him by the nape. His four paws no longer touching the ground, he frowns as he finds himself face-to-face with an angry kangaroo.
“You outta stop threatening the doe there, love” Xana says with a daring smirk. “Else you and I will be dancing, with you mostly flying.”
Syroc blinks a boring blink. He yelps when the kangaroo suddenly let's him go, barely landing on all four.
He growls at her.
She smirks at him.
Sienna and Twilight sighs an impatient sigh.
“There's a pegasus up ahead,” Syroc suddenly says in an annoyed tone.
His and his companions' ears have been listening to the constant rumbling noises from the stormy heavens up ahead. The tall grass stalks are swaying wildly with the strong winds, irritating the panther.
“What's the matter?” Sienna suddenly says with a teasing smirk, enjoying being taller than the large panther. “Grass got your tongue?”
Syroc stops, looks back and growls at her. “I'll get your tongue if you don't shut up!”
Sienna sticks her tongue out at him.
Syroc's eye twitches. He groans and continues moving. “How did Reykan put up with you, I'll never know.”
Twilight blinks, noticing something familiar with the yellow pegasus up ahead. “Wait... Isn't that...?”
A familiar yellow pegasus is standing at the edge of the Storm Forest, her back to them.
Twilight begins walking faster, passing by both Sienna and Syroc. “Wait right here,” she says before galloping towards the pegasus.
Syroc arches an eyebrow, but didn't stop moving. “What made you think I'm taking orders from you?”
A large foot steps on his tail.
A roar. Probably from thunder, or from the panther, or perhaps from a mixture of both.
Twilight emerges from the sea of waving grass and happily approaches the pegasus. She stops from a respectable distance, and clears her throat. “Hello there.”
Ears twitching, Fluttershy looks back with an eyebrow arched. “...And who the buck are you?”
Twilight blinks. Her ears droop.
Fluttershy chooses to ignore the unicorn. She settles on glaring at the darkness beyond the forest. “Damn dirt pony. Grrr—!” She angrily turns and marches off. “It was the deer who came here, not the ponies! Gah!” She cries in frustration. “I can't believe I fell for such a dumb lie!”
“What's her problem?” Syroc asks as he and the others stop beside Twilight, staring at the retreating pegasus.
Twilight closes her eyes and sighs. “...I can't believe how different my friends are in this world.” She shakes her head as a small smile appears on her muzzle. “Except for Pinkie Pie.”
“That there pegasus is one of your friends?” the kangaroo asks, blinking at the pegasus mare who is flapping her wings, flying towards the cluster of white clouds. She looks back at Twilight, arching an eyebrow. “Some friend she turned out to be for ignoring you.”
Sienna shakes her head. “Well, at least you approached her instead of just watching from the trees with those other two.” She taps her chin in thought. “What were their names again? Pinkie and Applebuck?”
Syroc groans. “Who cares? Let's just go already.”
Syroc roars in frustration, throwing its ferocious glare at the purple unicorn.
“I told you not to interfere!” he snarls, trying his best not to show his surprise when none of his three companions flinched.
Sienna rolls her emerald eyes.
The kangaroo shakes her head.
Twilight sighs, her horn lighting to provide a lavender light. “I'd rather we avoid more ... bloodshed.”
Syroc growls an annoyed growl.
Before the four lies a large and unconscious manticore, it's snores being drowned by the constant roars of thunder above the ceiling of rustling leaves.
“Gotta admit,” the kangaroo says, looking all around. “This place would have been really scary if I'm on my lonesome.” She looks at her companions and smiled. “I'm glad that you're all here, loves.” She turns and frowns at the panther.
“Well, I'm not,” Sienna sighs. “I could have returned to my herd by now, since they were trading with the winged ponies, if what that yellow pegasus said was correct.” She sighs once more. “It was pointless to leave to look for my brother, who didn't even want to return anyway...”
The kangaroo blinks at her. “...if he left, then that would have meant he didn't want to return, right, love?”
The doe is silent.
“Ugh, let's just move already.” Syroc shakes his head, throws dirt at the sleeping manticore, and continues following his brother's scent, the three females following him close behind. He blinks when he smells something strange. “...Was there a forest fire here?”
“A forest fire?” Sienna echoes in concern.
“Huh,” the kangaroo blinks. “I smell something burnt, too.”
The panther stops. “The heck happened here?” Syroc asks, blinking at the burnt and broken trees.
The others stop beside and behind him. Twilight shines her horn brighter for them to see properly. Before them, a line of trees have been burnt to the ground.
“Doesn't look like what a forest fire would look like,” the kangaroo says, and Sienna nods her head in agreement.
Syroc shakes his head and walks on the burnt path. “Well, whatever. It's easier to walk on here that through the annoying trees.”
Sienna rolls her eyes and follows the panther, her two stubs glowing green to properly see where she's going.
The kangaroo is about to follow them when she notices Twilight isn't following them. She looks and blinks at her. “Something wrong, love?”
Twilight is tapping her chin in thought. “I'm ... just wondering what caused this. It looks like a beam of magic struck straight through here.” She looks and studies the burnt wood littered on the ground. “But if it was magic, then it shouldn't have left this many burnt trails behind.”
“Well,” the kangaroo offers with a small smile. “This place is already unnatural enough, so what's to say something unnatural happened here as well?”
“Hm... Probably,” Twilight says, slowly nodding her head. She furrows her brows as she thinks more about it. “Although ... maybe ... since this is the Everfree Forest...” She blinks. She blinks once again. “...this could have been—”
“Jay?!” Sienna's shout echoes on the trees.
Twilight blinks. “Well, no. He can't really—”
“Deer god! What is that thing?!”
Before Twilight can process that, she gasps as the kangaroo suddenly carries her.
“Xana, what—?” the mare stammers.
Xana hops toward the others in a hurry. “What's wrong—what the—?!”
The kangaroo skids to a stop, almost bumping into Syroc and Sienna. Gawking at the scene, she absentmindedly brings Twilight on the ground.
The mare walks forward, blinking at the scene. Yellow wilted petals littered the clearing. A few of them fly off the ground as a warm, unconscious breath blows over them.
A large, green, and scaly dragon's head lie on its scaly chin, and on top of its large snout is an unconscious brown earth pony stallion.
“D-don't...” Syroc stammers, staring at the scene in awe. “Don't tell me that that pony knocked that giant lizard out.”
Twilight rubs her chin in thought, brows furrowed as she stares at the wilted flower petals. “Hm...”
A white feathery wing pokes the unconscious lump of black fur. “Rey?”
The black furball stirs, if only slightly.
“Well, looks like he isn't dead yet.” A pause. “Tough kid.”
“Nnnnggghhh...” Reykan stirs some more, finally recovering his consciousness. Hissing and coughing, he slowly sits up. “Ugh... Grrrfff...”
Two feathery wings help him up, supporting him.
“G-get...” the cub hisses weakly, slowly opening his eyes. All he sees is the blurry broken floor he's on. “...t-them a-away from m-me...”
Two sets of eyes blink curiously at him.
“...what?” Moon Gaze squeaks.
“Kid,” Reykan clarifies before he slowly shakes his head. “Mmmrrrfff... T-their farts turn you to s-stone.”
Moon Gaze blinks. He looks up at the swan. “...I feel like what he just said is an old joke that needs to die already.”
Seri sighs, shakes her head, and hugs the hissing cub. “T-thank Odette, you're okay.”
Reykan weakly pushes her away. “N-no hugs.”
The swan blinks, smiles and chuckles.
Moon Gaze then scurries up the swan and settles on her back. “Well, let's go,” he says. “Can't let that crazy stallion's sacrifice go to waste.” He sighs as Seri picks up the shining gem on the floor. “But I wish that Rainbow Dash mare is here though. I wonder where she went?”
“Jay?” Reykan shakes the last of his dizziness off—“ACK!” he cries in pain—startling the swan and the rat—and quickly lifts a front paw off the ground. “Ow... Mrrrfff...” He blinks the tears out of his eyes as he looks around. “Where's Jay?”
Seri tries but stops herself from holding the cub. “Reykan, are you...?”
“I'll be okay,” the cub quickly says, looking at her. “Where's Jay?”
Seri looks away.
Moon Gaze shrugs. “Outside, distracting that giant lizard.” He shakes his head. “He's probably already dead, so we should—”
“Dead?” Reykan asks, blinking at the rat.
Moon Gaze frowns. “Probably. Maybe. I don't care. If he is, then that dragon's gonna be coming back soon, so let's find that stupid book already.”
Seri sadly nods her head in agreement.
Reykan's ears droop. “B-but...” He looks at the thunderous world outside. “...I didn't get to eat him.”
Moon Gaze rolls his eyes.
Seri shakes her head. “I'm sorry, Rey.” She frowns a sad frown at the cub.
Reykan sighs. “...Well, I can still eat you and that Sparkle pony after I'm done helping you guys.”
“...What?” Moon Gaze squeaks.
Seri blinks at him. “...I ... thought you said that she's...” she trails off, frowning a sad frown.
Reykan blinks a blank blink. “...Oh, right...”
Moon Gaze shakes his head. “His head is still jumbled.”
The cub coughs. “Mmmrrfff... I'm fine.” He slowly puts his paw back on the floor, but winces when he puts pressure on it. “...or not.”
“You,” the swan starts, hesitates, and continues, “you need help?”
Reykan shakes his head. “I'll be fine. Not soon, though...”
The swan lets out another sigh. “Well, if you say so...” She looks back at where the dragon was resting not too long ago. She lifts the gem up, repelling the darkness.
Before them is a spacious hallway, with large doors—some of them broken down and barely hanging on—on each of the two walls. The swan walks through the hallway in a slow pace, turning and pointing the gem she is holding towards the doors, but the gem only dims in response.
They continue until they reach the end of the hallway. Before them are two sets of spiral staircases, both spiraling down and up a floor.
The swan blinks and points the gem at each, the stone shining brighter at both.
“Let's go that way,” Moon Gaze squeaks, pointing at the left stairway.
Seri blinks at it. “...Why?”
The rat shrugs. “I dunno.”
The swan turns to the cub. “What do you think, Rey?”
The cub blinks at her, his ears twitching. “Meh...”
Seri frowns a concerned frown. “Are you sure?”
Reykan glares at her.
Seri sighs. “Alright...”
The group approaches the left stairs. Before they take their first step up, Seri points the gem upward, it shining brighter.
“We're going up, huh?” Moon Gaze asks as the swan starts climbing up the stairs with the cub following not too far behind.
The group arrives on the third floor of the castle.
Or at least, what was left of it.
The walls are almost non-existent here, and the limited floor only provides little space to walk around. From the swan's point of view, she can see the ground floor, the many gems reflecting the many cracks of lightning up above.
The swan then turns and turns, trying but failing to point the gem to the right direction.
Moon Gaze carefully jumps off of the swan's head. “Guh,” he squeaks, shaking his head. He then scurries onto the cub's back. “Damn swan making me dizzy.” He blinks, and pokes the cub's nape. “I'm not making it hard for you, right?”
“Meh...”
After a few more turns, Seri blinks and slowly points the gem at the stairs.
It shines a bit brighter.
Blinking, she lowers the gem. It dims.
She then slowly points the gem up the stairs.
The gem shines brighter.
“...What?” Moon Gaze asks. “But there's no ‘up’!”
The stairs before them spirals up twice, and ends there. It broke off, many many years ago.
Seri blinks at the gem. She pulls the gem back. It dims.
She points it up again. It shines.
“Great,” Moon Gaze sighs. “We came all the way here, following a stupid gem, for nothing!” He shakes his head and glares at the swan. “What? Don't tell me the book is in the very eye of this chaos storm?!”
Seri doesn't reply as she slowly wobbles toward the stairs.
Reykan blinks at her.
Moon Gaze gawks at her. “...Are ... you serious?”
The cub and the rat watches the swan wobble up the stairs. Seri soon arrives at the very last step. Blinking, she lifts the gem up, it shining even more.
“Are you trying to get lightning to strike you?” Moon Gaze shouts at her. “Get down from there already!”
Seri looks down at her webbed feet. She furrows her brows. She slowly lifts a foot up...
...and takes the next step.
“You're not serious, are you, love?” Xana asks, blinking, her amber-orange eyes reflecting the waving rope-bridge before her and her companions. She looks below the cliff, seeing nothing but darkness. “That's a deep fall, too.”
Twilight is gazing at the forest on the other end of the bridge. More specifically, on the large broken portion on the wall of trees. “Hm...” She turns to the kangaroo, staring at the unconscious brown stallion she's carrying on her shoulder. “Hmmm...” She then looks at the trail of broken trees behind them.
Sienna sighs. “Jay was able to cross and back, right?”
“Looks like it,” the mare says with a slow, studious nod.
“Heh,” Syroc smirks at the sleeping stallion. “Dude's got guts for crossing this crazy path twice and taking down that giant lizard.” He turns to the unicorn mare. “Now I know why my bro wants to be around him.”
The doe rolls her eyes. “He was just lucky.”
“Extremely,” the mare agrees.
The panther rolls his orange eyes. “Yeah, well, call it whatever you want.” He gestures at the stallion with a paw. “He survived, and that's what counts.” He looks back at the stallion with a smirk. “Pony-dude got my respect. Not gonna harm him nor his mates and offsprings, if he has any.”
“I take it that's your predator code, love?” Xana asks, blinking at the black feline.
The panther shrugs. “Eh, sure, I guess. Whatever.” He stares at the wavy rope bridge. “So how are we gonna cross this?”
“Well,” the unicorn mare says, “we could just—”
The panther quickly turns and roars at her. “No more of your magical bullshit!” He then shivers violently. “I felt like vomiting a very large hairball when you did that!”
“Sorry, love,” Xana says, shaking her head. “But I'm with the cat here.”
Syroc glares at her. “Don't call me ‘cat,’ you oversized dog.”
Xana ignores him and continues: “I don't really wanna experience that ever again, not so long as I can help it.”
Twilight mare frowns. She then turns to the doe.
Sienna blinks. She shrugs. “Well, I wouldn't mind going through it again.” She smiles at the mare. “It's not the worse I've experienced when it comes to magic.”
“Magic freaks,” Syroc mutters under his breath as he approaches the bridge.
Xana rubs her chin with a hand, staring at the neighboring cliff. “Hm... Too far for me to jump.”
The panther places a paw on the wooden footing of the rope bridge. He presses onto it. “Hm... It's sturdy enough.” He blinks, noticing something on the wood. “Huh.” He smirks as he pulls out the sharp nails on his paw. “So that's how he crossed this,” he mutters to himself as he slowly walks on the bridge, his nails digging slightly to the wood. “Heh. Rey's all grown up.”
“Well,” Twilight turns from the panther to the kangaroo. “I'll teleport Sienna and I to the other side.” She smiles a small smile. “Wanna join.”
“Nope,” is Xana's quick reply as she quickly leans forward and grabs the panther's tail with her free hand.
“Gah!” Syroc shrieks, shivering from tail to head. He throws a glare at the kangaroo. “Let go!”
Xana smirks as she steps on the bridge. “No chance.”
“Grrr—!”
“Get a move on!”
“I'm gonna kill you,” the panther growls.
“Pfft,” the kangaroo pfft's as the duo resumes their careful trek on the rope bridge, their combined weight preventing the bridge from waving too wild.
Sienna blinks. “Huh...” She looks back as the mare begins emitting magic from her horn. “... ... ...”
“It looks like they're doing just fine,” Twilight says, smiling as she eyes the duo crossing the bridge. “But just in case...” She casts a magic spell on the bridge, steadying it some more.
The panther yelps when he notices the bridge glowing purple. He stops and throws a glare over his shoulder, only for it to be blocked by the tall kangaroo following close behind him. “I will kill you if you do anything funny, you magical freak!”
“Move your tail, love.”
“Let go so I can, you stupid oversized dog!”
Horn still lighting, the unicorn mare rolls her eyes and turns to Sienna. “We should wait for them to cross before I teleport the both of us.”
The doe doesn't reply, her gaze still on the path of broken trees behind them.
Lightning occasionally lights up the dark atmosphere. Thunder roars from the stormy heavens. Violent gusts of wind rustles the treetops of the Storm Forest.
On the very center of the forest is a large clearing, where in the very middle lies an old castle in ruins, its broken pieces scattered all around.
A group of creatures emerge from the bordering trees, blinking at the ruins before them.
“What the—?” Twilight gasps in surprise. “What is that doing here?!”
Xana blinks and turns to the surprised mare with a raised eyebrow. “I'm more surprised that you just saw this now, love.” She looks back at the ruins. “It was visible before we crossed that ... wild wooden pathway earlier.”
“What even is that?” Syroc asks, blinking.
The kangaroo rubs her chin with her free hand. “Now that I see it up close, I gotta say, that's a strange-looking rock formation.”
The panther looks at her with an arching eyebrow. “Are there rocks with that color?”
Xana shrugs. “This is the Storm Forest.”
“Touché.” Syroc shakes his head and gazes back at the ruins. He blinks, and then looks at the mare. “You look like you know what that thing is.”
Twilight turns to them and nods. “I do.” She gestures at the ruins with a hoof. “That is the Castle of the Two Sisters,” she tells them as she turns back to the ruins. “Which shouldn't exist in this version of Equestria!”
Syroc arches an eyebrow.
“Cattle?” Xana asks. “And their two sisters?”
Twilight turns to them and blinks. “...I don't think I've explained it to the both of you.” She then turns to the deer. “But I remember you were there when I explained it.”
Sienna rolls her emerald-green eyes. “All I remember was soup.”
The mare blinks, and chuckles. She shakes her head, her small smile gone. “Basically,” she begins, gesturing all around, “this Equestria isn't real.”
Syroc arched eyebrow arches even further. “...it looks and feels real enough to me.”
“Mmmrrrfff...” the sleeping stallion stirs in his sleep.
Twilight shakes her head. “That's true, but false as well.”
Syroc rolls his eyes. “I'm starting to see why they called you the Crazy Mare, Twilight Sparkle.” He frowns at her. “Because you don't make sense.” He smirks and adds: “I'm aware of your killer reputation, but that's not crazy.”
“Yeah, for you,” Sienna says, glaring at the predator.
Twilight sighs. “Back on the topic, it's a long explanation—”
The doe cuts her off: “Our Equestria right now isn't real because something or somedeer changed things in the past, and it caused this Equestria.”
Three sets of eyes stare at her.
Xana tilts her head to the side.
Syroc blinks at her. “...What?”
Twilight sighs once more. “Like I said, it'll take a while to explain it properly.”
“Soooooo let me get this straight, love,” Xana says, looking at the mare. “This whole crazy adventure you and your group of friends are doing is ... is to change back what was changed?”
The mare and the deer nod their heads.
“That's the basic of it, yes,” Twilight says. She turns her gaze back to the ruins, her brows furrowing. “That castle is from the real Equestria. It shouldn't be here, but here it is.” She starts walking towards it. She pauses and blinks. “And now that I think about it, that bridge from earlier shouldn't even be here as well!” She shakes her head and continues trotting. “Something tells me we're about to see whatever ... or whoever changed everything.”
“Ain't that exciting,” Syroc says, rolling his eyes as he and the others follow the mare. He turns and smirks at the doe. “So, why are you still here?”
Sienna glares at him. “You know exactly why I'm still here.”
“I do remember earlier today that you had the chance of running away from me,” Syroc says, still smirking. “While I and this oversized dog were walking on that wooden crossing.”
Sienna's eye twitches. “And what? Get myself eaten by timberwolves lurking around the forest?”
The panther shrugs. “You're fast. You can outrun those twigs no problem.”
The doe angrily shakes her head. “Not in total darkness, I can't.” She glares at him. “And I have Xana and Twilight to help me when you try doing anything funny.”
Syroc shakes his head in amusement. “You're depending on them far too much, little doe.” He gazes ahead, still smirking. “You should learn to be more independent.”
Sienna glares at him more.
Xana has been listening to their conversation, but decided not to say anything.
Seconds later, the group arrives at the large entrance of the ruins. Despite the many gems lighting up the dark place with their multicolored lights, Twilight still shines her horn, illuminating the inside of the ruins with purple light.
Xana lets out a whistle. “That's a lot of gems.”
“Eh,” the panther rolls his eyes. “Prey relies too much on it. They start crying when their gems don't work anymore. It's pathetic.”
Twilight walks inside after surveying the area. She looks back and motions for them to follow her.
Syroc blinks, his ears twitching as he the others follow the purple mare. “I hear Reykan up ahead.”
Twilight nods her head, her horn still glowing. “I sense Seri's gemstone close by, too.”
“It's strangely a bit warm in here,” Sienna comments, eyeing the large hole on one of the walls. She suddenly stops, her ears twitching, and soon those ears droop as she senses faint vibrations from her dainty hooves. “I ... sense something large is approaching.”
The rest of her companions stop and turn to her.
Twilight blinks. “...The dragon is probably awake and...” She blinks once again, looking at the many gems scattered and piled around. “...this place must be its lair.”
“Dragon?” Syroc asks. He blinks. “Ah, that giant lizard from earlier is a dragon, is what you mean, right?”
Xana shakes her head. “Whatever it's called, I don't want to become lizard food.”
Syroc smirks at her as Twilight ushers them to hurry up the curved stairs. “Heh, I agree. It would be humiliating for a predator to become prey.”
“Then why won't you prey on it?” Sienna asks, still glaring at him.
Syroc rolls his eyes. “I know how to pick my fights, deerie.” He grunts. “...most of the time, anyway.”
Twilight and the rest arrive on the second floor of the ruins, and hurries toward the other end of the hallway as she and the others finally feel the faint vibrations on the floor.
Syroc throws a smirk at the doe. “Still feeling safe around these two?”
Sienna glares at him. “Twilight can just teleport ourselves away from here, leaving you to deal with that drag-on.”
Xana rolls her eyes as she readjust the sleeping stallion on her shoulder.
The group arrives on two sets of spiraling staircase. Twilight quickly takes the one on the right, the rest following her.
“Why not the other one?” Syroc asks. “I smell my bro's scent on that one.”
“Doesn't matter,” Twilight yells back as she hurries up the stairs. “They lead towards the same floor anyway!”
“Then why are there two of them?!” the panther asks back.
“Is that you, Syroc?” the group hear Reykan's voice as they arrive on the third floor, or at least what is left of it. “And what's a floor?”
Twilight dims her horn as she and her group turns—their gazes lock on the huge, green and scaly dragon walking on all four through the trees that surround the ruins.
“Are you okay in the head, still, Reykan?!” Moon Gaze squeaks, sitting on his back and pointing at the purple mare. “I thought you said she's dead!”
The cub shrugs.
“That is not a good response, you know!”
Twilight shakes her head and turns to the panther cub. “Where's Seri?”
“Reykan said you were dead!” Moon Gaze squeaks at her as the cub sits down and points up the stairs with his good paw.
Syroc blinks at where the cub is pointing. He looks back at this brother with an arched eyebrow. “Are ... you okay, bro?” He looks back up. “There's nothing up there.”
“We'll become nothing if we don't do something about that drag-on!” Sienna yells.
Xana glares at her. “We'll be nothing sooner if you don't keep your voice down, love,” she says, ignorant of the stirring stallion she's carrying on her shoulder.
They then turn to Twilight, who has been staring at the broken staircase.
“Am ... I dead yet?” the brown stallion whispers, blinking sleepily at the purple mare. “Oh, hey, Twilight. Are we in pony heaven or something?”
Xana carefully brings him down on all four hooves.
Jay slowly shakes his head, shaking the sleep off of him. “Oh, I'm alive.” He blinks, staring on the ground. “...wait...” He quickly looks up and gasps. “Holy—!” he covers his mouth with a hoof, his gaze on the dragon emerging from the line of trees. He notices a large and smirking panther standing beside him, and he gasps through his covered mouth.
“Let's go,” Twilight suddenly declares, approaching and then walking up the stairs.
“No, wait!” Moon gaze squeaks.
“Twilight,” Reykan calls as he stands up on three paws.
Twilight stops and looks at him.
“Seri is gone.”
Twilight nods her head and looks up the stairs again. “I know. And I think I know why.”
The others watch as Twilight reaches the last step but still continues—
—and she disappears in thin air.
No flash. No magic. Nada.
Thunder roars. Howling winds. Dragon steps.
Twilight's head suddenly pokes out from nothingness. She smiles at the others. “I knew it! An illusion spell!” She blinks. “Well, sort of.” Her hoof appears, motioning for them to follow her. “Come on!”
Twilight returns to the nothingness.
Another set of thunder roars, howling winds, and dragon steps.
Syroc sighs. “Magical freaks...”
“Well,” Moon Gaze squeaks. “It's either through there or through that dragon.”
“Hey bro, you're hurt,” Syroc points out as they slowly approach the stairs.
Reykan rolls his eyes as he starts walking up the stairs.
Syroc smirks at him. “Looks like you can't hunt for a while.”
“Shut up,” the cub replies, eliciting a chuckle from the larger panther.
Xana follows them, and then the doe.
“Sienna?” Jay calls, blinking at the doe, who stops and throws an angry look at him. “Was... That was really Twilight, right?”
“Why do you care?” she asks back before following the others.
Jay blinks, frowns, and follows them up the stairs.
Don't get the wrong idea. I'm glad she's alive and well, but did Reykan lie to us when he told us that she was dead? If so, then why? Or did he think Twilight died during the chaos with the unicorns?
Second, how did I not die when that dragon's large jaw was about to eat me? Was it not able to chomp me into pieces? And did Xana and the others find and carry me all the way from there to here?
Third, why is Sienna still here? She would have already fled during the chaos back at Twilight's tree if she really didn't want anything to do with us anymore.
And while I'm sure there are still quite a lot of small questions floating in my head, I'm not bothering with those and the big three at the moment.
Because hooooooooly shiet!
There are stars everywhere! And galaxies! And space dust! And other cosmic stuff!
Okay, okay... Deep breaths. Calm down.
Inhale...
Exhale...
Phew...
Okay...
To put it simply, we are standing on sturdy pieces of floating ... stuff. They're semi-transparent bluish steps, arranged in a stair-like fashion leading up, up, waaaay up to the cosmos. No railings either. What is weird is that there is still gravity of some sort that is preventing any of us from floating into space. What is weirder is we can still breathe.
An illusion spell, as Twilight said earlier today, but holy shiet, this is amazing!
I look back and—oh wow! Is that what a comet looks like up close? Why is it moving so slow though?
“Stop pushing me!”
I blink and return my attention to the large group of weirdos a few steps ahead of me.
Seri is crying and has put Twilight into a death-hug.
Reykan is sitting beside me and licking a paw.
Moon Gaze and Xana are looking gleefully at the larger panther, who is shakily crouching against the step he's on, glaring at Sienna who's pushing him over the edge.
“I'll kill you!” the large panther threatens with a roar and a whimper.
“Ha!” Sienna laughs. “You can't even stand right now!”
As the scene continues, I look at the smaller panther beside me.
Reykan notices and shrugs. “Syroc's afraid of heights.”
I blink. “...But aren't you guys usually being lazy on a tree?”
“Very, very high heights.”
“...But they should have crossed that rope bridge to get here.”
“Very very very very very very very very—”
I roll my eyes. “Alright, I get it.” I look at the scene in front of me. “He must hate mountains then.”
“There are no mountains close by, except for that unicorn place,” Reykan replies.
I blink at him. “Then how—?”
Twilight gasps for breath, finally free of the feathery hug. She coughs. “R-remind me not to tell you when I die.”
Seri suddenly grabs the mare's face and pulls it towards hers, bumping their foreheads into each other. Tearful glare on nervous stare. “Why?” Seri asks quietly yet angrily. “Why did Reykan said you were dead?”
Twilight squirms. “I'll ... explain.”
“Yes, please,” Moon Gaze squeaks from Xana's head as Seri let's go of Twilight.
I nod my head in time for Twilight to look at us.
“Before that, love,” Xana says, holding a hand up. She looks around, blinking at the many stars. “Where in Equestria are we?”
“They look pretty,” Seri chirps, smiling.
Twilight takes a breath and sighs. “We're ... in a pocket dimension.”
“A pocket what now?” Moon Gaze asks.
Reykan pokes my hoof. “What's a paket? And dim...” he trails off.
Twilight shakes her head. “Think of it like a pasture, except it's very, very hidden.”
Blinking eyes.
Nodding heads, except for Rey's, who tilts his head slightly.
“...I don't get it,” the cub says.
The mare shakes her head. And then the mare frowns. “And as to why I told Reykan to tell you I was dead...” She looks at me. “It's because of Jay.”
I blink, most eyes now on me. “Wait, what?” My ears droop. “What did I do?”
Twilight shakes her head. “It's not about what you did.” She sighs as she turns around. “I'll explain as we move onward.” She starts walking ‘up’ the cosmic stairs, Seri following close behind.
“I-I'm not going anywhere!” Syroc cries, shaking.
Sienna rolls her eyes and starts walking up.
“What did you do?” Moon Gaze asks me as Xana leans down.
“Gah—!” the large panther gasps in surprise as the kangaroo grabs him and lifts his flailing form up.
“I don't ... I didn't?” I stutter. Like what the heck, Twilight?
The rat shakes his head.
“I swear I'll throw you if you scratch me, love,” the kangaroo says, glaring at the panther.
Syroc whimpers as he goes limp, allowing the kangaroo to carry him on her shoulder. “Pl-please don't drop me.”
Reykan chuckles as he follows after them with...
I blink at him. “You're hurt?”
The cub sighs. “I'll be fine. Sheesh.” He looks away. “It's just a paw. I'll be okay.”
Green light.
I look ahead and see Sienna glaring at the approaching cub, her two stubs glowing.
Reykan returns her glare with his own. “I said I'll be fine!” he growls. “Stop bothering me about it already!”
Sienna rolls her eyes, her stubs dimming. “If you say so, tough guy.” She briefly glares at me before resuming her climb.
I take a breath, sigh and follow after them as Moon Gaze asks Twilight to explain.
Huh, the steps glow a bit each time we step on them. Cool.
“Right,” Twilight says, looking straight ahead. “I've done a lot of thinking after our little field trip through time.” She pauses. “Basically, Jay being here doesn't make sense.” She shakes her head. “At least, at first it didn't. Anyway, before that, the book stopped the discovery of fire, halting this world's age of progress, civilization, and discovery.
“This is probably because of instinct, but creatures have stayed within their own kind or race. I say this loosely, of course, but the vast majority don't trust other races.
“But the Windigos, while deadly, would have been the reason the different races would start working together and understand the meaning of friendship. But the book stopped that from ever happening by removing the Windigos entirely.
“Out of all the three changes that happened, only those two were the greatest changes that altered the entire timeline of this world.”
Cosmic silence.
“I understood nothing of what you just said,” Moon Gaze squeaks.
Seri smiles at him, which is a very welcome returning feature of hers. “Just smile and—”
“Shut it, birdo.”
Seri sticks her tongue out at him.
“Sooo...” Sienna says. “...what's the third change?”
Twilight answers immediately: “Jay being here in this world.” She looks back at the doe. “He's neither from this version of Equestria nor mine.” She looks ahead. “He's from a completely different world, so I wondered why he's here.”
“Why are you here, though?” Moon Gaze asks. “I mean, I'm not complaining, but...”
“I was an accident.” Twilight shakes her head. “I was not supposed to be here, but here I am. In that tiny fraction of a second, before the changes got me, I cast a protective spell on me.”
Moon Gaze sighs.
“Magical freaks,” Syroc mumbles quietly, to which Xana chuckles.
“Sooo...” Sienna starts, looking back at me. “...why is he here?”
And Twilight answers: “I wondered why he was sent here. I have wondered and wondered, but I couldn't find an answer.” She shakes her head. “But when I decided to think on the changer's horseshoes is when I start getting ideas of why he should be here.
“And I think the reason that he is here ... is to set things in motion. Think about it: no one in this world will ever wonder why things are like what they are in this Equestria. They will just continue on living their lives the way they know how.”
“Except for you?” Sienna asks.
Twilight shakes her head. “I don't believe I was part of the changer's plan, so no, they didn't think of me. But ... Jay was sent here—and judging from what I found out, he indeed knows a lot about the real Equestria—Jay will wonder why things are like this here, he will search for answers, and will discover and locate this very place and he will confront whatever or whoever is responsible.”
...That's a lot of ‘and’.
She looks back at me and frowns.
I raise a hoof up. “To be fair, I really didn't care why Equestria was like this when I first woke up here.” I return my hoof down, mainly because it's easier to walk on all four hooves rather than with just three. “Well, maybe I wondered a little bit, but I just wanted to get home, and that is all.”
Twilight shrugs. “It was just a theory anyway.” She returns her attention ahead. “In any case, whatever or whoever is responsible must have grown bored of their own ‘creation’, and is merely looking for a little excitement.
“Jay is a desperate creature not from this world, who would look for a way back home. And the one responsible is watching him.” She shakes her head. “It wouldn't make sense if whatever or whoever was responsible wouldn't watch him. As to why I told Reykan to tell you I was dead, is of me hoping to throw the changer off their game, if only a little bit, because if my theory is correct, then they will prevent me from ever reaching this place.”
“...or they decided to add you into their little excitement,” I say quietly.
“Possible,” Twilight says, nodding her head. “They are already powerful enough to change the course of history, so what was stopping them from getting rid of me if I was a threat to them?” She shakes her head. “If they indeed decided to add me in their little ‘game’, then I must have been an important piece to drive you here, Jay.” She shakes her head once more. “But one thing's for sure, we are all here now, about to confront them, and we will restore Equestria back to normal.”
Hm... If what Twilight says is true, then I wonder how in the freaking hell would I even decide to check the Everfree Forest. But then again, the forest would probably be high on my list of locations to check.
“I didn't really come here for that but,” Moon Gaze squeaks and shrugs. “Sure, I guess. We don't have much of a choice now, anyway.”
Xana chuckles. “I honestly have no idea what she just blabbed, but I'm bored and I'm coming with.”
Seri smiles at the kangaroo. “Just smile and nod is what I always say.”
Moon Gaze groans.
Sienna sighs. “Yey...”
The swan chuckles. “I'm just happy Twilight's okay and this journey's ending soon.” She pauses. “Well, I hope it's ending soon anyway...” She looks back, smiling at the small cub. “Rey has a tree, right? Maybe Twilight and I can stay there?”
“No,” Reykan replies with a frown. “Find your own tree.”
“I just want to get out of here,” Syroc whispers shakily.
Sienna glares at him. “Well, too bad for you. Now you feel how I feel about this whole thing—GAH!”
What the—?! “Oof!”
I stumble. We all did.
“Ow ow ow ow ow my paw—!” Reykan hisses.
“What just happened?” I hear Moon Gaze squeak.
“Twilight!!!” Four sets of voices shouting her name as I push myself up on all four hooves. And they all sound so familiar.
I blink.
A sound of a flipping page breaks the heavy silence as the others stand back up.
I blink once more, staring at the awkward smiles of four young souls caged inside a glowy birdcage-like ... cage.
“Um...” a young purple drake is smiling awkwardly at me. “...s-sorry.”
“What he said,” a yellow filly said.
An orange filly grabs the bars of her cage, slightly poking her face through the bars. “We're sorry!” she cries. “We didn't mean for all of this to happen!”
A white filly inside her own cage nods her head, her ears drooping. “Please believe us!”
“Who are those?” Seri asks no one in particular.
Reykan blinks. “Hey. Is that a baby lizard?”
The caged lizard in question crosses his claws on his chest and glares at the panther cub. “I'm a baby dragon, not a lizard. I don't do that tongue thing.”
“S-Spike?” Twilight finally says after slightly recovering from surprise. She then looks at the other caged fillies. “Apple Bloom? Scootaloo? And Sweetie Belle?” A pause. “What are you—I mean, a-are you really you? I mean, why are you—but—what—you said—did you—?”
A chuckle from above.
I look up and see another filly, seated on some sort of glowing magical throne, a glowing book floating in front of her. A page flips to another.
“Is she always like that?” the filly asks in amusement, not removing her gaze from the book.
“...I have no idea what's going on anymore,” Moon Gaze squeaks.
Sienna snorts.
I just now am noticing that we're on a large, flat, floating ‘floor’, with tall, translucent walls which are ‘showing’ us, right now, like a flat-screen television broadcasting a live scene.
No audio though.
How did we get here all so suddenly? We were still walking up the ‘stairs’ and this flat plane wasn't even on sight.
A sound of a book closing.
I look back up and see the pinkish filly above extends her large wings, floats down, her magical floating chair disappearing, and lands between us and the caged youngsters. She floats the book to her side and smiles at us ... at Twilight.
Reykan and Syroc are growling at the filly after she greeted Twilight, and I honestly don't blame them. The way the filly looks at us, smiles at us, and greeted the mare, she is giving off an evil vibe.
Also, Flurry doesn't look like a baby foal now. She looks like the same age as the CMC behind her.
“Twilight!” Spike suddenly shouts. “Be careful! That book is controlling Flurry!”
Flurry chuckles, giving the drake a glance. “Oooh Spike. That's not entirely true now, is it? After all...” She turns to fully face the youngsters. “I granted all of your wishes.” She puts a hoof on her chest. “Even Flurry's.”
“Liar!” Sweetie Belle shouts adorably yet angrily. “You twisted our wishes and you know it!”
Scootaloo nods, looking angrily at the young alicorn. “We didn't want ... this!”
“To be fair though,” Apple Bloom says, looking away. “I did want a milkshake, and it wasn't twisted or anything, and it was the best dang milkshake I ever had.”
“You're not helping, Apple Bloom.”
Flurry Heart chuckles. “At least one of you appreciated my wishing services,” she says, bowing at Apple Bloom. She then turns to us, but she's looking at the youngsters over her shoulder. “But the others? Tell me then...” She looks and smiles at us. “Why did you wish for all of this?”
“Twilight!” Spike shouts. “The book! Get rid of it!”
Twilight snaps to her senses. Horn glowing, she aims it at the smirking filly.
The levitating book is surrounded by Twilight's magical aura.
Twilight grunts, fidgeting. “I... I can't...!”
“Oh, auntie...” Flurry says as she taps the book beside her, instantly breaking Twilight's magical aura around it.
Horn sparking, Twilight is suddenly thrown back, bumping into Sienna and Seri.
“You honestly think it would be that easy?” the filly asks through a smirk.
“Okay,” Xana suddenly says, cracking her knuckles. “I don't usually hurt young roos, and young ponies for that matter, but,” she glares at the filly. “You're annoying me to no end for some reason, and I wanna hit you so badly.” Her mighty tail slaps the floor behind her. “And you've hurt my friend just now.”
“What is this?” the filly asks with an amused smirk. “Is this the legendary ‘Magic of Friendship’ I heard about?” The filly sits down and extends her front hooves wide in a welcoming gesture. “By all means,” she says, still smirking. “Do your worse.”
Xana smirks at that. “Heh. You'll regret those words of yours, young one.”
“Xana,” Twilight calls as she and the other two return to their hooves and feet. “Wait—!”
Xana quickly runs toward the filly.
Smirking, the filly brightens her glowing horn.
A yellow aura surrounds the fast-approaching kangaroo—
“HA!” the kangaroo shouts ... breaking the aura around her without breaking her sprint.
Horn sparking, the filly winces, but blocks the kangaroo's mighty kick with the book, sliding back a bit.
Other foot landing on the ground, Xana quickly turns in a three-sixty, slapping the filly with her blurring tail. “Ha!”
The filly quickly blocks it with the book, the force pushing her further back. She frowns, lowering the book down. “Okay. I underestimated you.” Her horn glows brighter, encasing the kangaroo with her magic. “But that won't happen again,” she says as she lifts the flailing kangaroo in the air. “Try breaking out this time.”
A mighty roar echoes, startling me.
“No, don't—!” Twilight says.
Syroc rushes toward the filly in a much faster speed than Xana, his claws scraping the smooth floor.
Frowning, the filly effortlessly slams the flailing kangaroo on top of the panther, creating a sickening sound of impact.
The two are instantly out cold.
“Hey!” Reykan roars. “Don't hurt my brother!”
Flurry smirks at him. “I just did.”
Back hairs standing, Reykan roars once more and rushes toward her on three paws.
I quickly lean down and bite his tail, stopping him, yet he continues running. I grunt, holding him.
And eck, fur still tastes bad.
“Ah, the alien,” Flurry says, catching my attention.
She smirks and turns to Spike. “So, Spike. What do you think of your little alien?” She chuckles. “You were so specific with your wish. Is he what you wanted?”
Spike glares at her.
The filly chuckles as she looks back at us.
“Flurry,” Twilight calls, ears drooping. “Or ... whoever or whatever you are. Please stop this.”
“No can do, auntie,” Flurry replies, shaking her head.
Twilight frowns. “And please stop calling me that.”
The filly smirks. “Is that a wish I hear?”
“No,” Twilight says sternly. “I want you to stop and return Equestria back to normal.”
Yeah, and send me back to my home, too, please. Damn it, Reykan, calm down!
“I don't know if the definition of ‘wish’ has changed over the millennia, but that sounds like a wish to me.” She shrugs. “Anyway, I could do that,” the filly says, nodding, smirking. “Buuuuut...”
But Twilight senses a catch, I am guessing. “...As you said, it's not that easy.”
The filly chuckles. She takes a few steps to the side and faces the caged youngsters. “Why don't your little friends here let you explain how I work,” she says, bringing a hoof to her chest.
All four sets of young eyes look away.
“Spike,” Twilight calls.
The young drake winces, slowly looking at her. “Um...” He pauses, scratching the back of his neck. “B-basically, y-you cast a spell, a wishing spell written on that book to be more specific, and make your wish.”
“I, ah,” Sweetie Belle adds: “Flurry and I ... were the ones who cast the spell...”
Scootaloo sighs. “And I was the one who forced them to do it.”
Apple Bloom sighs as well. “I feel responsible, too. I should have tried stopping them instead of just ... going along with it.”
“To be fair,” Sweetie Belle says, “we didn't know what we were getting into.”
Scootaloo sighs. “What else is new?”
Flurry Heart chuckles as she turns to Twilight. “And your sweet little niece didn't want to stop them because she's afraid she might hurt her friendship with them.” She smiles a wide and fake smile. “She was such an angel, right, auntie?” She chuckles once again. “As the Princess of Friendship yourself, you should be proud.”
Twilight glares at the filly before turning to Spike. “So, I just need to cast the spell and make a wish?”
“Well...” Sweetie Belle says. “The spell is ... technically still going.”
Spike nods his head. “The spell is still in effect, Twilight. All you got to do is make a wish!”
Flurry chuckles.
Twilight glares at her. “...But it's not that easy.”
The filly shakes her head. “Nope.” She smirks at us, waving the book levitating beside her. “Only those who have touched the book can make a wish... A wish, to wish their greatest desires to come true.”
Straining, I blink, staring at Xana's unconscious form.
The filly chuckles. “But, as they say,” she looks at her captives. “Be careful what you wish for.”
“Ha HAH!” Moon Gaze suddenly squeaks in triumph.
We blink and turn to the levitating book, with a smirking white rat holding onto it.
...
... ...
... ... ... Well, that was easy.
Moon Gaze throws a smirk at the dumbstruck filly. “Now, I get to make a wish, right?”
The filly slowly, slowly nods her head.
Moon Gaze squeaks a cheer. “Okay, sooo ... I wish you turn me back to normal.”
Silence.
“Really?!” Sweetie Belle squeaks.
...
... ...
... ... ...
The rat blinks. “...Well?”
E-even I don't know what to say.
Spike faceclaws, the sound echoing all around.
Flurry Heart blinks.
Flurry Heart chuckles.
Flurry Heart laughs.
She laughs and laughs and laughs as the goddamn rat is surrounded by her magical aura. Still laughing hysterically, she pulls the rat off of the book and quickly throws his squealing and shining form towards us.
Sienna isn't fast enough to dodge Moon Gaze's shiny pegasus form slamming into her, and both slamming on the tv-like wall behind us.
Behind us? Wait, where did the stairs go?
“Stupid and simple-minded!” Flurry shouts in glee as she surrounds Twilight, Reykan, Seri and I with her magic, slowly lifting us up. “And I thought you were smart, Twilight! Yet here you are now, with a group of dumbasses!”
The mare's horn lights up with her magical aura, breaking Flurry's hold on us and quickly firing a beam of magic at the laughing filly.
“Ack—!” Reykan hisses after we land on the floor.
Still laughing, Flurry quickly jumps up high to dodge the attack, extends her wings and slowly floats back down. “Oh, I've never laughed this hard ever since Discord imprisoned me in this book!”
Horn lighting, Twilight grunts as she surrounds the laughing, floating filly with a thick layer of her magic. “S-Seri, quick!” she hisses. “I'll hold her, you fly up there and touch the book!”
Seri hesitates, looking at the magical cocoon that surrounds the filly. She steps back. “I-I don't think—”
“Do it, please!” Twilight begs, sweating.
Gulping, the swan nods, extends her wings and flaps them, lifting herself up.
The drake and the crusaders quietly cheer as the swan flies up to the filly.
A white magical aura surrounds Twilight's magical hold, startling the nearby swan. The sphere of magic explodes, releasing a shock wave of air and magic and—
“OOF—!”
—throwing and slamming Seri on the television walls, knocking her out.
“Ack—!” Twilight winces, stepping back in pain, her horn smoking.
The filly suddenly flies straight down, and quickly turns toward us in great speed—
“RAAAAAAAWR—!”
Reykan suddenly jumps in the way, biting and clawing at the book.
“Reykan—!” I gasp, noticing the lack of glimmer on Reykan's eyes.
Holy shiet, he was able to touch it!
“Reykan!”
On three paws, he attempts to go around the book, only for the filly to turn and slam it on his face—
“Hhhrrt—!” Twilight fires a beam of magic.
Flurry twirls the book around her, blocking both the beam and Reykan's lunge. Horn glowing bright, Flurry surrounds herself with her magical aura and releases a shock wave of magic—!
“Whoa—!” I gasp as I am suddenly flung back— “Gah—!”
Ow! My bum hurts...
Wincing, my ears twitch, barely understanding what Flurry is saying to Twilight. The mare is trying but failing to break free from the filly's magic—
Reykan roars an angry roar after he pushes himself up on three good paws. He rushes toward the filly, expertly dodging Twilight which the filly threw at him, and lunges at her.
Shiet, Reykan's not ‘waking up’! I need to do something!
Uuhhh, um... S-Spike!
After making sure the filly is busy, I quickly run towards the cages, towards Spike in particular.
As I near him, he's waving his claws and shaking his head.
I skid to a stop before him as I hear a magical explosion behind me. “How do I open this thing?!” I quickly ask, looking around his cage.
“You can't!” Spike quickly replies as I grab the cage and try but fail to move it. “It's made of magic, and—no offence—you can't break any of us out of here!”
My ears twitch, hearing Reykan's loud yelp of pain. A purple beam flies pass me as I start hitting the cage, its surface shining from each slam of my hoof. “Damn it—!” I turn to Sweetie Belle. “Can you break free?”
Wait ... Twilight! I should have told her to grab Reykan and—
“I tried!” Sweetie Belle suddenly cries, startling me out of my train of thought. “But I'm not powerful enough!”
“You enjoyed watching my family getting killed? I'm gonna enjoy killing you!”
Never mind. I don't think I can talk to Alter-Twilight at the moment.
Magical beams and magical explosions and not-so-magical panther roars echo behind me as I try but fail to think of something—
Scootaloo suddenly gasps—
“Watch out—!” Apple Bloom shouts—
Something slams from behind my head—
I almost black out.
Hhhnnnggg...!
My ears are ringing...
Ow ow ow ow...
Whatever it was that hit me, the force made me slam my face on Spike's cage.
Ow...
Through blurry vision, I notice that I'm now lying down on my side, and something black and furry is in front of me. Reykan? Did the filly sent him flying towards me?
Ow...
I wince. Oh my god, it hurts so bad...
Damnit, damnit, damnit...!
C-calm down, me... Just ... calm down...
...
... ...
... ... ...
Huh...? My vision is turning green for some reason.
...And I feel ... really at ease.
“Guh...!”
My ears are still ringing slightly, but I think that was Sienna's grunt?
I'm feeling a bit better now. My vision is still green though.
“Ha-HAH!” I hear a familiar stallion's voice echoing from behind.
Magical beams and explosions. Wing flaps and swooshing sounds.
“Can't hit me! Whoops! You missed! Aww, you almost got me! Damn, it's good to be a pegasus again!”
Is that Moon Gaze?
“Nah nah nana—oh shit!”
An explosion.
“Hey! Whose side are you on?!” Moon Gaze asks.
“Get out of the freaking way, you winged freak!” A-Twilight shouts back.
A magical blast.
A magical explosion.
“Wake up already!” Sienna hisses, grunting.
I blink and look up, seeing her angry face above mine, her two stubs glowing green.
She's healing me.
She winces, her glowing stubs fluctuating. She grits her teeth, glaring at me. “Nnngggh!”
“I-I'm okay now,” I breathe out.
She let's out a stinky gasp as her two stubs stop glowing. Legs shaking, she drops to her side, panting, her head lying on Reykan's unconscious form.
“Jay,” Spike calls as I carefully stand back up. He frowns a worried frown. “I'm so, so sorry. I didn't mean for you to—”
I hold a hoof up, glaring at him. “Later.” I look back and see the filly firing beams of magic at Twilight and Moon Gaze. “Any ideas how to stop Flurry?”
“I've said it before, and I'll say it again,” I hear Apple Bloom say. “I find it really scary that this alien knows a scary lot about us.”
I turn and frown at her. “You may be the best crusader in my book, but as your friend said, you're not helping, Apple Bloom.”
She frowns. “...In your book. Really?”
“Damnit, Apple Bloom,” Scootaloo hisses, glaring at her friend. “And I thought I was the one who couldn't focus on the goings on!”
The others gasp, catching our attention.
“Twilight!” Spike shouts in a panic.
I turn in time to see a large explosion of magic. A second later, Twilight shoots up from the plum of magical smoke, flies over me, and lands far behind me.
“Twilight!” Spike and the CMC yells.
“Not cool!” Moon Gaze yells.
The filly snorts, glaring and smiling at the flying stallion. “Are you just gonna be flying and dodging forever, Mister Mousey?”
The stallion frowns at her. “From my vantage point, you're the mouse right now.”
The filly smirks, her glowing horn glowing even brighter as she starts flapping her wings. “Oh?” She's now airborne. “Wanna play cat and mouse?”
The stallion's frown goes further down. “...I forgot you can fly.”
The filly quickly shots herself after him.
The stallion dives down, turns, and lifts himself up, flying and dodging the beams of magic the filly is firing at him.
“Do something!” he shouts at me as he flies by, the filly hot on his trail.
I tear my attention from the aerial show. “We need to figure something out.” I turn and see Sienna, who is now unconscious. I frown and turn to the caged youngsters. “Help me out here.”
“How?” Sweetie Belle asks. “My magic can't get out of the cage.
Spike shakes his head. “My flames can't either.
I blink and think. Uh, uh... ”...Y-you resist fire, right?”
“If you're thinking what I think you're thinking, then no, it won't work.” Spike sighs. “Trust me, I tried.”
“The only way for you to stop Flurry is by grabbing ahold of that book!” Apple Bloom says. “And making a wish!”
Moon Gaze and Flurry Heart fly overhead.
I tear my gaze from them and look at Apple Bloom. “So what's stopping any of you from making another wish?”
“Only one wish per pony,” Scootaloo explains. “And dragon. And whatever you wish for is final.”
Sweetie Belle nods her head.
I turn and stare at Xana and Syroc's unconscious forms. My ears droop. “...Xana was able to touch the book.” I whisper as I turn and look at Reykan and Sienna. “...and so did Reykan.”
“Did you see what Flurry did to her?!” Scootaloo asks. “I don't think that kangaroo is ever waking up from that!”
“R-Reykan touched the book... W-wha-what if I touch his feet?” I look at them, ignoring the loud explosion up above. “Would that work?” I blink. “Wait... You guys touched it, right?!” I quickly look at Spike. “If I hold your claw, would I be able to make a wish?”
“Probably,” Flurry's chilling voice echoes from behind me, making me shiver in fright. “Would you like to try it?”
Moon Gaze's smoking form lands beside me with a loud THUD!, startling me and the youngsters.
I'm ... too afraid to turn around.
“Ah, the alien,” she says.
I take a breath to steel myself ... and slowly turn to face her.
She's smiling at me, her horn still glowing, and the book slowly and lazily revolving around her. She then points at Spike with a hoof. “Come on. You do want to find out if it'll work, right?”
I look at Spike.
He pokes a claw out.
I take a breath. “...it's not that easy, is it?”
The filly chuckles. “You caught on.”
I sigh and turn my gaze back to her.
She's still smiling at me. “Do you miss home?” she asks.
I can't think of a good response.
“Flurry,” Spike speaks from behind me. “Please stop this...”
The filly frowns, her glowing horn brightening.
I look back and see a magical field surrounding their cages. I can no longer hear their voices, even though I can see them yelling at her.
“You know,” Flurry says, and I slowly turn to face her. She shakes her head and turns around, slowly walking away from me, the book levitating after her. “Twilight was right about us watching you.”
Us? Oh, she's probably including Spike and the crusaders...
She continues: “But she's also wrong in her assumption that we're watching only you.”
She looks to the side, at the scene on the wall, which is showing Rainbow Dash hiding behind the thick trees and nervously looking at the castle ruins.
I blink and notice that the other parts of the wall are also showing other scenes of different creatures in different locations. They show Rarity asleep with the other sleeping unicorns under the safety of a simple rock house, Fluttershy ... um ... ‘celebrating’ with other pegasi around a small pile of gems, Pinkie Pie and Applejack arguing about something, and some other sort of creatures I don't care abou—
!!!
“Ah, so you noticed,” Flurry says as I...
...as I stare at the scene of ... me ... as a human ... sleeping under the covers on my apartment bed... My phone suddenly lights up, stirring me awake. I squint my eyes as I grab it and open the newly-received message...
...and reading my mom's text, reminding me that my bro needs another damn book from the library.
...
... ...
... ... ...
“...why?”
“Hm?” the filly asks, smiling curiously at me.
I glare at her. “Are you fucking with me right now?” I point a hoof at the ‘monitor screen’. “Who is that? Why did—why did—gah!” I slam both front hooves on the ground. “Why did you put an imposter in my place?!”
The filly chuckles.
I grit my teeth. I sooooo fucking want to punch her right now, but damn it, she's too powerful.
“Oh, you poor alien,” Flurry says, shaking her head. “What, pray tell, made you think that the alien over there is an imposter?”
“Are you dumb?!” I snarl. “Why do you think I'm here right now while some ... thing is impersonating me back in my world?!” I blink. “...unless what that screen is showing me isn't real...”
“Oh, it's real, alright,” the filly says, turning to the scene. “And live as well. You're a light-sleeper, too, huh?”
I glare at her. “So it is an imposter!”
I'm getting really annoyed at her chuckles.
She shakes her head and looks at me. “Come on. I know you're not that dumb, little alien.” She turns to fully face me. “Think. How could there be two of you right now, in two separate worlds?”
I angrily blink at her.
...
... ...
... ... ...
My breath leaves me. “Y-you cloned me...”
Her smile grows as she nods. “I did tell you that Spike was very specific with his wish.”
“I'm ... I'm a clone...?”
She turns back to the screen. “Spike wanted Rarity to fall in love with him.”
...
She chuckles. “As powerful as I am, I don't have the power to manipulate the mind.” She shakes her head. “That's Discord's field of expertise. Well, he's an expert on virtually everything, really.” She shrugs. “Anyway, Spike wanted to meet a real alien instead, but he didn't want to just pull some random alien out of their world after he realized he couldn't wish for them to return. So he wished for a copy instead.”
... ...
She turns to me, still smiling. “And if you remember, the spell is still in effect, because he wished to be friends with a real, albeit cloned, alien.” She shrugs. “Hey, I only grant wishes, not make them, so don't ask me.” She chuckles. “Although I did add a little bit of twist, which is turning you into a pony, because why not, right?”
... ... ...
“It saves us the trouble of breaking the language-barrier, so you and Spike can become friends quicker. Ain't I thoughtful?” She sits down and gestures at Spike with a hoof. “So go to your wish-maker and become friends already.” Her shining horn shines brighter, removing the sound-proof barrier around the drake's cage.
“Jay!” Spike sobs. “I'm so, so so sorry... I-I realized how hard this must be for you, and I'm...” he chokes on a sob. “I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I thought I've thought things through but, I ... I was just ... just so selfish.” He sniffs. “I'm ... sorry...”
... ... ... ...
Sobs.
... ... ... ... ...
More sobs.
... ... ... ... ... !!!
“Ack—!” I hiss, feeling a painful sting on my hoof. I sit down and bring my wounded hoof closer. It's bleeding.
“If I remember correctly,” Flurry says, frowning an impatient frown at me. “You hate paper cuts.” She gestures at Spike. “If you don't want another one, go there and be friends with Spike already.”
I tearfully lick the wound, glaring at her.
She blinks, still looking impatient. “...well?”
...I slowly bring my hoof down.
...I take a breath and sigh.
...I slowly stand back up on all four hooves.
She smiles. “That's a good alien.”
...I close my eyes, take a breath, and sigh through my nostrils.
...I reopen my eyes, turn towards Spike, and slowly sit down.
He's looking down, probably too afraid to look at me.
...I take another breath and sigh.
“Huh,” I hear Flurry mutter. “I'm actually interested to see how this goes.” She pauses. “I've never made a friend in a very long time. This could be a refresher course for me.”
Spike slowly and nervously looks up at me. He gulps.
I look over my shoulder, glaring at Flurry.
She's smiling at me.
“So...” I lift my wounded hoof up for her to see. “A paper cut, huh?”
She blinks, her smile slowly fading. “... ... ...” She glances at the levitating book beside her—an opened book, with a small blood stain on the edge of one of the opened pages. “... ... ...” She looks back at me. “... ... ...”
Two royal guards clad in purple armor bow before a young drake and his four young friends.
“Welcome home, Spike the Magnificent,” one of the two royal guards says as the two lift their heads, smiling at them.
Spike looks at them in annoyance. “Cut it out already, you two. Sheesh,” he says, rolling his eyes. “You make it sound like we don't know each other.”
The two guards chuckle as they light up their horns, opening the large double doors of the crystalline castle.
“Well, what can we say?” the other guard says, shrugging. “We're supposed to greet members of royalty, like what the training book said we should.”
Spike groans as the four fillies behind him chuckle.
The two guards blink at one of them, and immediately bow their heads.
“O-oh! Welcome back, too, Princess Flurry Heart!”
“Thousand pardons for not noticing you sooner, princess!”
The young alicorn blinks at them.
Spike look over his shoulder and smirk at her. “Well, at least I'm not the only one who gets to bear it.”
“Um,” the timid alicorn bites her bottom lip, looking away in embarrassment. “Uh, t-thank you. Um...” She nervously looks back at them. “U-uh... Rise?”
Spike chuckles as the two royal guards lift their heads up once again, looking a little nervous as well. He looks at the duo and crosses his arms over his chest, smirking. “Why are you two looking like that?”
The royal guards fidget in place.
Spike chuckles and shakes his head. “Calm down, you two. Don't be so stiff.”
“Can't help it,” one of the guards whisper their reply. “Like you said, we know you and Twilight and the others, but um...”
The other guard continues for him: “W-we shouldn't look so casual in front of actual royalty.”
The other guard blinks, and turns to him. He sweats and smiles nervously at the drake. “N-not that you nor Twilight aren't royalty or anything!”
The second guard blinks, just realizing what he just said. “O-oh! That wasn't... Um...”
The crusaders are now laughing.
Spike rolls his eyes in amusement. “Seriously, you two. Relax!” He looks over his shoulder, smiling at the fidgeting alicorn. The turns back to the guards. “You're the Princess of Friendship's royal guards! Just be friendly to everypony.”
The two guards nod their heads with small smiles on their muzzles.
Spike and friends enter the castle, heading towards another set of large double-doors up ahead, which is slightly open. As the group nears the door, they hear many familiar voices coming from inside the map room.
“Huh,” the drake says, stopping before the doors. He pokes his head inside, blinking at the scene.
Twilight and some of the Elements are seated on their respective chairs, looking at the holographic map as a discussion is going on—
“Lame-me-o!” Pinkie Pie says, waving her forehooves up in the air. “Why can't they just, like, stop fighting and start talking instead?”
“Yeah!” Rainbow Dash nods in agreement. “I mean, I'm sure they're all tired after years and years of fighting that they should be willing to stop and listen, right?”
Twilight shakes her head. “I've done some research, and apparently, these two nations' hatred towards each other started way, way, way back.” She taps her chin with a hoof. “I've already contacted the deer, and they have arranged an audience to hear us out.” She shakes her head. “The felidae, however, has rejected my request.”
As the discussion continues, Spike blinks and pokes his head back out of the room. He turns to his four young friends. “Looks like they're busy.”
“You don't suppose she'll mind if we borrow a book without asking?” Sweetie Belle asks.
Spike shrugs and leads them towards the castle's library. “I'm sure she'll be okay with it. After all, I grab a comic book or two without asking and she doesn't mind.”
Apple Bloom arches an eyebrow as the group walks on a long hallway, one side with doors and the other with windows. “I don't think a spell book is the same as a comic book, Spike.”
The group passes by three royal guards heading to the opposite direction, exchanging a greeting with each other.
Spike shrugs. “Eh, don't worry too much about it.”
The drake turns toward a door and pushes it open. He blinks and smiles. “Oh, hey there, Starlight.”
The unicorn mare blinks and turns to the new arrivals from the crate. She smiles. “Oh, welcome back, Spike!” She places the book on the table with the other old-looking books and approaches the group. “So how was your morning at the school?”
“It was interesting,” the drake says with a casual shrug. “Flurry answered the questions of the students and stuff.”
The others behind him nod their heads.
“And one of them stuck with us,” Apple Bloom says, looking at the alicorn. “And it got us thinking, ” she says with a friendly smile. “Since we're the Cutie Mark Crusaders, it should be our job to help fillies and colts to discover their cutie marks.”
“Oh?” Starlight says, looking at the nervous alicorn. “Well,” she says, smiling, “you found the right fillies for that.”
“Well,” Sweetie Belle scratches her head, “she didn't really asked us to help her...”
“But we decided to help her anyway!” Scootaloo says, buzzing her wings.
Apple Bloom flashes the pegasus an angry look. “We did ask her after we calmed Scootaloo down.”
“What was the difference anyway?” the pegasus says, waving a hoof. “She still said yes.”
“Anyway,” Sweetie Belle chimes in, smiling at the nervous alicorn. “Flurry mentioned that she loves casting spells.”
“I'm not surprised,” Starlight murmurs to herself.
“And so we thought that we should start by letting her try casting some spells,” Apple Bloom says.
“Spells, huh?” Starlight asks, smiling. “That does sound like a good place to start.”
“Mhmm,” Spike nods his head in agreement. “So I'm thinking that we should borrow books on spells. Just the ones for—”
As Spike and Starlight discuss a good spell book that they should try, the shy alicorn blinks, her ears standing on attention. She looks around, wondering what it was she just heard, but she notices that neither one of her friends seem to have heard anything.
She hears it once again. She looks toward where she assumes it has come from. She blinks, staring at the old books on the table by a wooden crate.
“Wat'cha looking at, Flurry?” Apple Bloom asks, looking at where the alicorn is facing. “Huh...” She calls the mare's attention and points at the crate. “What's that?”
“Looks like a crate,” Scootaloo says.
Apple Bloom rolls her eyes. “Gee, I wouldn't have guessed.”
Starlight turns back to them with a smile. “That actually just arrived today.” She looks at Spike. “Remember that expedition Twilight sent near my home?”
“Yeah,” Spike says. He blinks. “Oh! Is that the crate that arrived this morning?”
“Yep,” Starlight says as she and the others approach the crate. “It's mostly filled with books from ancient times, from the looks of it.”
“They look really old,” Sweetie Belle points out, looking at the number of books on the table.
Flurry Heart blinks at a certain book on the table, the one Starlight placed just as they entered the library. Lighting her horn, she carefully levitates the book towards her, and carefully opens it to the first page, blinking at what was written on it.
There's a knock on the door.
“Hellooooooo~” Pinkie Pie sings as she opens the door wider, smiling at everyone inside. “Oh, hey there, kiddos!” She looks and smiles at Starlight. “Hey Starlight! Twilight says that she needs a book about...um...” she taps her chin in thought. “Uh... What was it again?”
“Excuse me, everypony,” Starlight excuses herself before trotting towards the pink mare.
As the two adults converse with each other, the others turn to the young alicorn.
“What do you have there, Flurry?” Scootaloo asks.
“A spell book,” Flurry Heart replies automatically, flipping the book to the next page.
“Well,” Apple Bloom says as she looks at Starlight pulling out a number of books off of shelves before following Pinkie Pie towards the map room. She turns to her friends. “I guess we found ourselves a spell book for Flurry to try?”
Sweetie Belle nods and smiles. “Well, let's start!”
“I don't know...” Flurry Heart says, closing the book with a frown. “I mean, I don't want to make a mess in case I cast the spell wrong...”
“That's a good point,” Apple Bloom says.
Spike smiles. “Well, I happen to know a place where we can safely try out spells.” He shrugs. “And it's already in ruins, so I doubt we can make it look even worse that what it already is.”
“Are you guys sure that this is a good idea?” Flurry Heart asks, worried that they might get scolded.
“Of course!” Apple Bloom assures the young alicorn. She brings a hoof on her friend's shoulder. “Trust us. If there's any place 'round Ponyville that is safe for casting spells, it should be right around...”
“We're here,” Spike announces, stopping and turning to the four fillies with a smile. “Welcome, fillies, to the Castle of the Two Sisters!”
Emerging from the line of trees, four young fillies feast their eyes on the old castle in ruins.
“Wow...” Scootaloo wows. “We should totally decorate this place up for the next Nightmare Night!”
“Good luck escorting everypony through the Everfree Forest,” Apple Bloom says, frowning.
“I dunno,” Sweetie Belle chimes in, eyeing the old castle as she taps her chin with a hoof. “Scootaloo may be on to something here.”
“And besides,” Scootaloo says, smiling. “We've got plenty of time before the next Nightmare Night arrives. I bet we can come up with a plan to get ponies here.”
Apple Bloom sighs, deciding not to continue the argument. She turns and smiles at the nervous alicorn. “Relax, Flurry Heart.”
“Yeah,” Sweetie Belle says with a squeak. “Spike's been here countless times.” She turns and smiles at the drake. “He knows his way around.” She looks back at the alicorn. “So don't worry!”
Flurry bites her bottom lip.
“Come on!” Scootaloo announces, running towards the ruins, with Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom tailing her.
Spike chuckles and turns to the alicorn. “Flurry, relax!” He puts a fist on his chest. “Trust me, it's totally safe in there.” He approaches her, puts a claw around her shoulder, and walks with her towards the ruins. “We just gotta avoid the turning walls, trap doors, falling shelves, swinging axes, shooting arrows, spinning blades...” He blinks when he suddenly finds his friend rooted in place. He looks at her, his earfins drooping. “Oh. I wasn't helping, was I?”
“Hurry up, you slowpokes!” Scootaloo shouts from the entrance of the ruins.
“Hey, it's okay,” Spike says, removing his claw from her. He scratches his head, looking away. “...We shouldn't force you to come along if you don't want to.” He shakes his head and smiles an apologetic smile at the young alicorn. “You, uh, want me to walk you back to Twilight's? I'm sure we can find something else to do while we're there.”
Flurry Heart frowns. She looks over her shoulder, on the large book balanced on her back. She sighs. She looks back at him with a small smile, and slowly shakes her head. “No, it's okay, Spike.” She looks at the old castle. “I... I don't want to make them feel bad.”
Flurry Heart takes a breath and sighs. She looks at the young drake. “...Well, since we're already here, we might as well try.”
“Are you sure?”
The young alicorn looks at the ruins once again, gulps, and shakes her head. She looks back at him with a nervous smile. “M-maybe?”
“You guys?!” Scootaloo yells from the ruins' entrance. “What's taking you so long?!”
Spike turns to the impatient filly and cups his claws around his mouth. “We'll be right there!”
“Hurry up!”
Spike rolls his eyes with a smirk. He turns to the young alicorn. “Shall we?” he asks, gesturing at the ruins with a claw.
Flurry sighs, and smiles a small yet nervous smile at him. “O-okay.”
The two then approach the ruins, with Spike smiling reassuringly at the nervous alicorn.
“Sheesh, you two,” Scootaloo says as the duo reaches the entrance, looking at them with impatience.
Sweetie Belle chuckles. “Aw, you two look so cute together.”
Flurry Heart blinks, and blushes.
Spike looks pointedly at the unicorn filly. “Cut it out, Sweetie Belle.”
“Yeah, Sweetie Belle,” Apple Bloom says, smirking at her friend. “We all know who Spike's heart belongs to.”
“Hey,” Spike says, looking unamused at the amused filly.
Scootaloo chuckles. She then shakes her head and turns around. “Alrighty,” she says, looking around before turning back to her friends. “This place should be good enough to try some spells, huh?”
The other two crusaders smile and nod. The trio then turn to the young alicorn.
“Don't worry, Flurry,” Sweetie Belle says. “You'll get your cutie mark in no time!”
“Yeah!” Apple Bloom agrees. “And what better way to test your magic than to try out long-lost magical spells!”
Frowning a worried frown, Flurry looks back, staring at the book on her back. She lights up her horn, levitating the old book and placing it on the dirty floor in front of everyone. “W-what should I try first?” she asks, opening the tome to a random page.
The drake and the crusaders blink at the texts written on the pages.
Silence.
The young alicorn looks up at her quiet friends, blinking curiously. “What's wrong?”
Apple Bloom looks at her with an arched eyebrow. “What do you mean ‘what's wrong?’” She gestures at the book's pages. “What language is this book written on? I can't read a dang word!”
Flurry Heart blinks. She turns to the other crusaders.
Scootaloo is having a weird look as she tries but fails to make sense of what she's seeing. Sweetie Belle sighs and gives up.
The young alicorn then turns to the drake.
Spike has a claw on his chin, his eyes scanning the lines of words on the pages. “Huh,” he says, unknowingly catching the crusaders' attentions. “It looks like it's written in Old Equish.”
“Old Equish?” Apple Bloom asks.
“Wait,” Scootaloo says, blinking. “Isn't that like ... a dead language or something?”
Flurry nods her head with a small smile. “It is.” She gazes back at the words on the page, blinks, and slowly looks back at the three blank faces of her three filly friends. “...You girls can...?”
“Nnnope,” Sweetie Belle confirms with a shake of her head. “I can't read it.” She looks at the other crusaders. “I don't think we can.”
“Well, I can,” Spike announces with a proud smile.
Scootaloo rolls her eyes. “I wonder why.”
“Well anyway,” Apple Bloom turns her smile from the crusaders to the young alicorn. She gestures at the book with her hoof. “What's it say?”
Flurry reads the contents of the pages. “Well, I can't really read Old Equish that well yet, but I can try.”
“You want me to read it?” Spike asks.
“Nah, let her read it,” Scootaloo says, waving a hoof.
Spike shrugs and looks at Flurry.
The young alicorn quietly reads the contents, blinks, and looks up at her friends. “...This is a spell on how to attract earthworms.”
“Eewww,” Sweetie Belle eewww's.
Scootaloo glares at the quietly-chuckling drake. “You say a word and I'll kick you.”
Apple Bloom taps her chin. “Huh. That spell might be useful back in the farm.”
Sweetie Belle frowns at her. “Please don't tell me we're letting Flurry cast that icky spell...”
“We could,” the farm filly says. “But that would mean going to the farm first.”
Scootaloo shakes her head. “And the spell's too lame.” She smiles at the alicorn. “Flurry should try casting an awesomer spell than that! After all...” She puffs her chest and puts a hoof on it. “She wants to be as powerful as Twilight, remember?” She brings her hoof down and smiles at her friends. “And a spell that calls earthworms isn't really something that tells ponies that you're a powerful unicorn.”
“Alicorn,” Apple Bloom corrects her.
Scootaloo rolls her eyes. “Unicorns, alicorns, whatever. They both use magic.” She reaches the book and flips it to another random page. “So what's this spell?” she asks, looking at the small drawing of a diagram on one of the pages.
Spike and Flurry reads it. The former blushes a fierce blush and the latter arches an eyebrow.
“... A spell for ... pleasing your mate during your activities so late?” She blinks. “What does that mean?” She looks at her friends.
The three crusaders are looking confused at each other. They shrug simultaneously.
Spike quickly flips the book to the next two or so pages. “Let's, uh, c-check another spell, shall we?”
Sweetie Belle looks curiously at him. “But why?”
Spike is visibly sweating. “N-no reason,” he lies, smiling awkwardly. “Eh heh heh heh...”
“A wishing spell?” Flurry reads, blinking.
“A what spell now?” Apple Bloom asks, tearing her gaze from the drake to the alicorn.
Flurry Heart reads on: “‘Those whose hearts have strong desires, cast this spell with magical fire’.”
Apple Bloom arches an eyebrow. “Magical fire? What does that mean?”
Flurry Heart shakes her head and continues reading: “‘Those with hearts as pure as gold, one wish be granted by the pages of old’.” The alicorn's heart is starting to race. She closes her eyes and starts doing a breathing exercise.
Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle share a look of confusion. Apple Bloom scratches her head.
“So, like a genie?” Spike asks, smiling excitingly.
“Yeah, but only one wish,” Scootaloo says. “And what the hay is ‘magical fire’?”
“Maybe it's our horns?” Sweetie Belle says, looking up at her horn. “It does look like it's on fire when we use magic.”
Flurry Heart reopens her eyes and continues reading.
Scootaloo nods her head. “I guess that makes sense.” She turns to her other friends with a curious smile. “So what do you guys want to wish for?”
“Only one, huh?” Sweetie Belle asks no one in particular, her gaze on the floor. “Hm...”
Spike chuckles. “Oh, I know exactly what to wish for.”
Before the crusaders can react, Flurry scratches her head, looking confused. “This spell looks really complicated.”
“Aw, really?” Scootaloo asks, frowning in disappointment.
Apple Bloom shakes her head. “Well, that's no surprise. I mean, a spell that grants wishes?” She shakes her head once more. “It's obvious the spell wouldn't be easy to do.”
Scootaloo sighs. “I guess I just got my hopes up that I didn't think about it.”
“Well,” Sweetie Belle says, walking and sitting beside the alicorn. She looks down at the book. “Maybe I can help cast it.”
“You can't even read what's on the book,” Scootaloo says lamely.
Apple Bloom nods her head. “And besides, we're here for Flurry to cast some spells.”
Flurry looks away. “I-I think it's okay.”
The others look at her.
“Okay for what?” Apple Bloom asks.
“That, um, Sweetie Belle helps cast it,” the alicorn manages to say, albeit quietly. She looks at the unicorn filly. “I can just tell her what's written, and she can help me cast it.”
“I guess that can work,” Sweetie Belle says, shrugging.
“Awesome!” Scootaloo cheers. She blinks, her smile gone. “Oh, I need to think of a good wish...”
As the two magical fillies start conversing with each other, Apple Bloom looks at the drake. She arches an eyebrow. “Somepony's excited.”
Spike looks at her. “Aren't you?”
Apple Bloom shrugs. “Not really.” She sits down and looks at the book. “I mean, I think I got all I need now, and even if I still don't...” She shrugs. “Wishing for it wouldn't feel like we deserve it.”
Spike frowns, but nods his head.
“I think I understand how to cast the spell,” Sweetie Belle suddenly says out loud. Her horn lights up. “Though I don't think I can do it alone.”
Flurry Heart bites her bottom lip. “I... I'm starting to...”
A claw rests on her shoulder.
The filly looks up and sees Spike smiling at her.
“If you don't want to do it, just say so,” Spike says reassuringly. “I'm sure they'll understand.”
Scootaloo crosses her hooves over her chest. “I'll be annoyed at first, if I'm being honest.”
Apple Bloom shrugs. “Eh, I don't really mind, but if you girls can make it work, then I guess I'll just wish for a milkshake.”
Sweetie Belle blinks at her.
Scootaloo looks at her with an arching eyebrow. “After that little speech you told us about need and deserve and stuff, I thought you were gonna wish for other ponies or stuff.”
“Sooo...” Sweetie Belle blinks. She turns to the alicorn sitting beside her. “Should we cast it or...?”
Flurry Heart looks at the book with uncertainty. She then looks at each of her friends. She looks at the opened book again.
She bites her bottom lip.
“They probably found a spell book already,” Starlight says, walking on one of the castle's hallways with Twilight. She sighs, her ears drooping. “I shouldn't have left them unsupervised like I did.”
“Don't beat yourself up too much about it, Starlight,” Twilight says with a comforting smile. “Besides, Spike is with them, so I'm sure they will be fine.”
Starlight sighs. “I hope you're right.”
The duo enter the map room, where a number of ponies are cleaning the room.
Twilight sits down on the floor and claps her hooves together, catching everyone's attention. “Thank you for your hard work today, everypony.” She smiles at each and everyone of them. “You can have the rest of the day off.”
The ponies give their thanks and they begin collecting their tools as they happily converse with each other.
“Why'd you let them leave early?” Starlight asks, following the princess towards the map table.
“I need them to be extra rested for tomorrow.”
Starlight arches an eyebrow as the princess takes a seat on her chair. “Why? What's going on tomorrow?”
Twilight lights up her horn and places a parchment and quill on the table in front of her. “The nation of felidae refuses to meet the deer, not in the deer's kingdom nor in their very own kingdom, sooo...”
Starlight blinks as Twilight starts writing on the parchment. “...You are going to have them meet here?”
“Yup!”
Starlight's ears droop. “S-should I evacuate the townsponies?”
Twilight rolls her eyes. “Hah hah, Starlight.” She shakes her head and looks at her student. She blinks. “Oh. That was a serious question.”
Starlight frowns at her.
Twilight smiles and shakes her head. She returns her gaze back on the parchment. “It'll be fine, Starlight. Trust me.” She continues writing. “Princesses Celestia and Luna will be here, too. Cadence as well. Oh!” Her writing quickens. “I should invite Thorax and Ember here as well!” She stops to smile at her student. “Having Thorax and Ember here is a good idea, don't you think? I can use them as a good example that friendship can happen to any nation!”
“Or this whole thing can turn into a war of all nations,” Starlight says with a worried frown.
Twilight frowns as well. “Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence.”
Starlight sighs. “Sorry. It's just that ... this sounds way, way big of a responsibility, even for you.”
Twilight's frown goes further down. “My previous comment is still an applicable response to that.”
Starlight rolls her eyes. “What I'm trying to say is ... are you sure this will work?”
Twilight returns to her parchment, frown gone. “...I'm hoping it will.”
Starlight nods her head. “Well, I hope so, too.” She turns and trots towards the exit. “If you need me, I'll be at town hall, helping with the evacuation.”
Twilight rolls her eyes and returns to her writing.
Seconds turn to minutes. The crystalline walls echo the princess' writing, and the occasional hoofsteps of her royal guards walking by the room's double doors.
A few minutes pass.
Twilight suddenly stops writing.
“...”
She looks up, staring at the wall of the hallway outside the map room's doors.
“... ...”
She places the quill on the table beside the parchment. She furrows her brows.
—and the flash of light vanishes just as quickly as it appears.
Twilight blinks, her shining horn dimming.
She blinks. And blinks. And blinks once again.
She slowly and carefully brings a hoof on her chin. She's not hurt there.
She slowly brings her hoof back down as she carefully processes in her mind that she's not hurt anywhere.
She slowly looks down, staring blankly at the parchments on the table before her, slightly awash with the purple light from her glowing horn.
She slowly stops emitting mana on her horn.
The protective spell around her disappears, the fading sensation startling her—
“Princess!”
“Ahh—!”
A rattle of clopping hooves on crystalline floor. “Thousand pardons, your majesty!” her royal guard says, bowing an apology. He looks back at her with a concerned frown. “I was passing by when I noticed you looked rather troubled. Is everything alright?”
Twilight blinks at him.
He blinks at her.
She blinks back. “Uh ... what day is it today?”
The guard blinks. “...It's Monday, princess.”
Twilight blinks once again. She slowly, slowly nods her head.
The guard awkwardly shifts in place.
“Um...” Twilight looks out the window, staring at the bright afternoon sky. “Right.” She slowly looks back at him, and slowly nod her head. “...Thank you.”
“N-no problem, princess.” The guard awkwardly bows at her. “Would you like further assistance in anything?”
“I...” Twilight trails off. She looks down at the parchments. She blinks. She slowly gets herself off of her chair—
She feels feathers brushing against her sides. Her feathers.
“!!!”
She quickly looks at them. She sees her wing folded on her side. She blinks at it.
“Princess?”
She slowly looks ahead. She slowly shakes her head. “I ... think I'm going outside for some air.”
The guard nods his head. “Would you like to have an escort?”
Twilight looks at him, and shakes her head. “Thanks, but I'd ... like to be alone with my thoughts, if that's okay with you.”
The guard immediately nods nods nods his head. “Of course, princess.”
Twilight takes a deep breath...
...holds it in...
...and lets out a very, very heavy sigh.
She frowns at him. “...And please stop being so formal.”
Twilight smiles a small smile and waves a small wave at the ponies who smile and wave at her. Other than that, the townsponies mostly ignore her as she slowly trots on one of the many earthen paths of Ponyville.
She stops and looks at Sugarcube Corner. She notices the ‘Close’ sign hanging outside the bakery's door, and if she listens hard enough, she can hear Pinkie Pie's excited giggles as she busies herself with baking many baked treats for tomorrow's event.
She continues her slow trot, heading towards nowhere in particular. Minutes fly by and she notices herself by the town's park.
Her ears twitch, picking up Rainbow Dash's voice.
She turns her head towards her voice and sees the daring pegasus doing lazy loopty-loops in the air in front of young foals. She stops and starts telling them something. The foals cheer, and those with wings start buzzing their tiny wings.
Rainbow Dash notices Twilight outside the park. She smiles and waves a hoof at her.
Twilight waves back with a small smile.
Rainbow returns her attention to the youngsters.
Twilight smiles and watches them for a few more minutes before she resumes her trot.
She is so lost in her thoughts that when she finally returns to reality, she sees herself standing just a few more steps to her friend's boutique.
A closed sign hangs on the shop's front door.
Her ears twitch as she hears the sounds of Rarity's sewing machine. It stops, and she can hear her friend talking to herself in excitement.
She stares at the boutique for a few more minutes before she resumes trotting once again.
Minutes fly by.
Twilight's lost in her thoughts once again.
She bumps into the side of a wagon.
She blinks, returning to reality.
She hears a familiar chuckle.
“Wow, Twilight,” Applejack says, smiling at her. “Is tomorrow's event getting to you?”
Twilight smiles a small smile as she approaches the farm mare and gives her a warm and friendly hug.
Applejack blinks and awkwardly returns the gesture. “Uuuhhh...” she uuuhhh's. “Something wrong, sugarcube?”
Twilight soon breaks the hug and steps back. “Sorry.” She sighs a happy smile. “I'm ... just glad to see you, Applejack.”
Applejack blinks at her. She chuckles. “Well, I'm glad to see you too, sugarcube.” She turns her gaze towards her farm. “I've heard from Rainbow the news, so I've closed shop early to prepare for tomorrow.”
Twilight nods in understanding. “Sorry for keeping you.”
Applejack shakes her head. “Naw... Don't stress yourself too much, sugarcube.” She places a hoof over her chest. “If you need help, just give us a holler, you hear?”
Twilight smiles and nods her head. “I will. Thank you, Applejack.”
Applejack returns the smile. “Well, I should get going. See you tomorrow, Twilight.”
Twilight nods and waves a hoof goodbye as Applejack pulls the wagon, heading towards Sweet Apple Acres.
Once again, Twilight resumes her trot. So lost in her own thoughts that she wakes back up to reality when a talon suddenly boops her on her nose.
She blinks, staring at the claw as it pulls back from her nose. She looks up as Discord chuckles.
“My my... Look who's out and about at this hour,” he says, looking at the setting sun in the horizon. He turns back to her. “I'd say, Twilight, it's rare to see you outside your little friendship castle.” He gags. He violently shakes his head. He looks down and smiles at her. “Care for some tea? Not by me, if you're worried about that.” He turns back and smiles at the cottage. “Fluttershy is preparing some, and I was patiently waiting on her cute-sie little sofa when my bookworm alarm started blaring and—”
The Lord of Chaos stops and freezes when the Princess of Friendship suddenly hugs him, the mare not minding the draconequus' sudden frozen and cold state.
He looks down, as best as he can in his frozen state. The ice around his mouth cracks and breaks. “...Well, it's not everyday that Miss Bookworm surprises the Lord of Mischief.”
Twilight sighs a happy sigh. “Where were you?” she whispers, not hoping for him to hear nor for him to answer.
Discord raises an eyebrow as the ice in his entire body disappears in thin air. “...Is this ... some sort of prank you read in one of your books or something?”
She breaks the hug and shakes her head. She smiles at him. “Yes, I'd like some tea, please.”
Discord's arched eyebrow flies up to the heavens. “...uh huh...” He quickly looks on his backside, trying to see if she stuck something there or something. He furrows his remaining brow as he looks back at her. “...Okay, I'm keeping a watchful eye on you, princess.”
She giggles and snorts as a tear or two runs down her face, her tears reflecting the setting sun's soft rays.
In a panic, Discord teleports the confused Fluttershy beside him as Twilight continues to cry tears of joy and as Spike and four young fillies are running towards them from the Everfree Forest.
“—and after Jay showed his wounded hoof to Flurry, he made his wish,” Spike explains. His earfins droop as he continues: “He wished for the book to undo each of our wishes.”
He and the rest of the Elements are seated on their chairs around the cutie map.
The young drake sits down and sighs.
Silence...
...until—
“Poor dear,” Fluttershy says, her ears drooping. “He must have been so crushed when he learned that he was a duplicate...”
Spike's drooped earfins droop even more.
“So let me get this straight...” Applejack says, rubbing her aching head with a hoof. “Equestria was suddenly changed into ... another sort of Equestria where cutie marks weren't discovered, and union between pony races didn't happen, throwing history into whack where ponies live like wild animals?”
“Freaky,” Pinkie Pie says with a calm smile. “So everypony were different? Was I a grumpy grump, throwing rocks at anypony who comes near my family's rock farm?”
Many sets of eyes blink at her.
She blinks back. “What?” She shrugs. “It could happen.”
Rainbow Dash shivers. “I can't imagine what kind of life would I have without the Wonderbolts and you girls as my best friends.”
“Aww...” Rarity aww's, smiling sweetly at the athletic pegasus. “That was sweet of you, Rainbow Dash.”
Rainbow rolls her eyes. “Don't get used to it.”
“It all sounds really scary,” Fluttershy says shakily. She frowns a concerned frown at Twilight. “It must have been so hard for you, Twilight.”
Twilight nods her head. “It was.”
Rainbow Dash looks back to the young dragon. “Sooo... Your wishes were thrown out the window, and it changed Equestria back to normal.”
Spike nods his head.
Rainbow Dash blinks. “...What does that mean for the stallion?”
The young drake's eyes fall to the floor.
Fluttershy's whimper echoes in the quiet room.
Twilight sighs, her ears drooping. “I wasn't able to stop the book that got ahold of Flurry.” She shakes her head. “She—I mean, the book knocked me out. I barely did anything.” She looks at them, then at Spike, and return her gaze back at them again. “It was Jay, an alien who was turned into a pony, who fixed everything.”
Rainbow Dash shakes her head. “He could have just wished for, I dunno, bring Equestria back to normal?” She frowns. “Why did he wish for something that will ... like ... make him disappear?”
Pinkie Pie blinks. “Wait...” She turns to Twilight. “You said the book added little twists to the wishes, right?” She furrows her brows. “What are the chances that the book twisted Jay's wish, too?”
Silence.
“That...” Applejack breaths out. “...is a good point.” She turns to the alicorn. “What do you think, sugarcube?”
Twilight sighs, her ears drooping. “Maybe, just maybe, that is the reason why Jay wished to undo their wishes.” She looks at each of her friends. “As powerful as the book was, it would be difficult to ‘twist’ a reverting spell.”
Applejack nods her head. “So if he wished to return Equestria back to normal...”
“...the book could easily twist his wish,” Rainbow Dash finishes, her ears drooping. “Wow...”
“Perhaps he was aware of what will happen to him, he still wished for it anyway,” Rarity says with a sad smile. “Such a noble and brave soul.”
“It's just so sad...” Fluttershy sobs quietly.
The room is quiet once again.
Rainbow Dash scratches the back of her neck. “So, um...” She looks at Twilight. “Where is the book now?” She quickly waves both her front hooves in front of her. “Don't get me wrong. I just don't want something like that to happen again.”
The alicorn sighs and shakes her head. “Unfortunately, I have no idea where the book's current whereabouts is.” She looks back to her friends. “I can't even trace any powerful bursts of magic around the Everfree Forest. It's... It's as if the book never even existed.”
Applejack clears her throat. “Well, his selfless act of saving Equestria is something we should be thankful for.” She smiles at each of her friends, and then lifts her gaze up at the chandelier they have made for Twilight, her smile growing a little wider. “...I wish him the best, wherever he may be now...”
A moment of silence.
The farm mare sighs, her ears drooping. She looks at the entrance of the map room, at her parked wagon full of apple treats. “I ah, hate to change the subject, but um...”
Pinkie Pie blinks at her, and looks at where the farmer is looking. Her ears and mane droops. “Sooo... No more nations meetup party?” she asks, turning to Twilight.
Twilight takes a breath and sighs. “I'm so sorry, Pinkie, Applejack.” She frowns. “I made you guys work for nothing.”
Applejack shakes her head and waves a hoof. “Nah, don't worry about it, Twilight.” She smiles a reassuring smile at the alicorn. “I'm sure the Cakes wouldn't mind taking a few to sell in their shop—”
Starlight comes in and knocks on the open door. “Um, sorry to interrupt but—” she blinks, looking at the wagon-full of treats. “That's a lot of pie.” She shakes her head and looks back at Twilight with a nervous smile. “Eh heh heh heh... Um, Twilight? I hope I'm not interrupting something important, but ... did you, um...” She scratches her head, looking at the waking sky through the window. “...Did you send those invitations last night?”
Twilight blinks. “Uh, no. No, I didn't,” she says, shaking her head.
“Oh, huh...” Starlight says, laughing awkwardly. “Funny story, because there's, um, outside the castle, I mean, um, there's a lot of um ... creatures who want to have an audience with ... you?”
Many sets of eyes blink.
Starlight nervously gestures with a hoof for Twilight to come.
“Um, alright, I guess?” Twilight stands up and trots after Starlight, who already trotted back towards the castle's entrance.
The others look at each other. They soon follow after the alicorn.
“Looks like the food will be meeting some muzzles soon!” Pinkie Pie says as she bounces along with her friends.
Applejack chuckles as Rainbow Dash flies ahead.
Twilight and Starlight approaches the wide-open front doors of the castle where a number of royal guards are standing by. The two mares trot out of the entrance, and Twilight immediately stops.
“Twilight!” a familiar feminine voice quacks excitingly.
Rainbow Dash turns and flies toward the exit. “Hey, Twi! So what's—” she stops in midair, blinking at the alicorn princess being choked via hug by a white and crying swan, with both pony and swan guards awkwardly squirming in place. “...uuuhhh...”
The rest of her friends arrive outside the entrance.
Pinkie stops in midair, and Applejack blindly grabs her hoof and puts her down.
“Wowsers,” the pink mare says, blinking. “That's a loooooooot of different muzzles to feed.”
Rolling her emerald eyes, a brown doe wearing a simple yet elegant white dress walks up and pulls the swan off of the coughing purple alicorn.
“Seri, honestly,” the doe says, glaring at the sheepishly-smiling swan. “Show some constraint, will you?”
“Seri?” Twilight coughs, teary-eyed. She then looks at the smiling doe. “S-Sienna?”
The doe looks and smiles at the alicorn. “So, so you do remember us!”
“Yey!” Seri cheers.
Sienna bows before the alicorn, her long green mane covering half her face. “Pleasure to meet you, princess.”
Following her lead, the other deer behind her bow their heads as well.
Twilight blinks at her. “You ... have a mane.”
Sienna's smile immediately disappears. She rolls her eyes. “Ugh... Please don't mention me having a mane, Twilight.” She glares at the chuckling swan. “I've heard it enough already.”
Seri turns to the alicorn and raises a wing up. “Hello, Twilight!” She smiles a wide smile, pulling her large white wing back. “Sorry about the death hug.”
Twilight smiles and shakes her head.
“Twilight,” Applejack calls as she and the rest approach her. “You know these, um, fellows?” she asks, eyeing the many beings before the castle.
Three bipedal creatures walk and stand beside the doe and swan.
One is a kangaroo, dressed in a uniform-like dress. She salutes at the purple alicorn with a wide smile. “G'day, loves,” she says with a wink. “Happy to see you again.” She looks and smiles at her friends. “And hello to you, too, loves.”
Twilight's friends wave a hoof back at her.
The other two bipedal creatures, one tall and the other younger and smaller one, both dressed in a military-type uniform, salutes as well.
“You guys have hair, too!” Seri cheerfully announces, pointing a wing at the trio.
They decide to ignore her for the time being.
The younger bipedal and black feline smiles at the alicorn, his sapphire-blue eyes blinking. “Good morning, Princess Twilight!” He adjusts his beret over his dark-blue hair before he and his older brother return their raised ‘hands’ back on their sides. Reykan blinks, his smile fading. “Do ponies really stand on all four hooves?”
The larger bipedal panther slaps Reykan's head from behind.
Seri squees, and launches herself towards the yelping panther cub, but Sienna bites the swan's tail to stop her. “You look sooooooooo cute, Reykan! And that military hat thing looks cute on you, too!”
Reykan rubs his head as he glares at his older brother, then throws that glare towards the flailing swan, and then adjusts his beret once again with a huff.
The cub then blinks and turns to Twilight's group. He smiles. “Oh, hey! It's the baby lizard!”
Spike groans, and groans even more as Rainbow Dash starts to chuckle.
The taller and older panther chuckles as well. He looks at the alicorn princess. “The Felidae Nation has sent us, the nation's elite military unit, as representatives after our...” He lifts a hand-paw up and waves it in the air. “...eh, reluctant acceptance of your invitation.”
Sienna spits out Seri's tail-feathers, rolls her eyes, pushes her mane out of her face, smiles and nods at the alicorn. “I, Princess Sienna of the Deer Kingdom, am here to represent my people for the friendship invitation you have invited us.”
Xana salutes once again. “Took a lot of convincing, but I managed to convince the council to send myself and a few of my roos here in Equestria in hopes to establish ties with every nation present.”
Seri bows before the alicorn. “I'm one of the council members of my nation, and I'm here to be friends with everyone!” she chirps and winks.
Twilight blinks at them. “But I ... didn't send any invitations after...” she trails off.
Sienna smiles a serene smile.
Seri chuckles cheerily.
Xana gives her a thumbs up.
Syroc crosses his arms and smirks.
Reykan blinks a blank blink. “Wait ... you didn't?”
Syroc hits his head.
Recovering, Reykan growls and glares at him. “Stop doing that!”
Sienna rolls her eyes in amusement. “You did invite us though.” She looks up at the castle, her green mane swaying with the breeze. “If I recall correctly, you wanted to help unite my nation with the felidae's?”
Syroc nods his head. “And we rejected the invitation.” He shrugs. “At first.”
“Come on, Twilight,” Seri quacks tearfully. “Are you really gonna send all of us away?” She pouts.
Reykan looks at the pouting swan in disgust. “Eek. You look ugly.”
As the swan and the cub converse with each other, Twilight looks back at her friends, and notices Pinkie Pie barely containing her excitement. She returns her attention to those in front of her, just in time to see three pegasi-driven royal carriages from the distance, growing closer and closer.
With a smile, Twilight clears her throat and prepares to address everyone present.
Twilight's castle is full of activity as the Elements make sure everyone are having a good time, with Pinkie Pie as the impromptu host. She then calls their attention to give a welcome applause to the newly-arrived local musicians.
As the Elements help the musicians set up and as the many different races mingle with each other, behind the closed doors of the map room, the representatives and leaders of the different nations are seated around the map table.
“Now then...” Seri starts, smiling at everyone present. “Should I get some soup?”
Sienna and Twilight chuckle while Reykan plants a paw to his face and groans.
“I'm starting to regret coming along,” the cub whispers to himself.
Syroc blinks a confused blink. “...I don't get it.”
“And look!” Seri chirps, pointing a wing at the holographic map of Equestria. “It's the map!”
Sienna rolls her emerald eyes in amusement and shakes her head.
“I still don't get it.”
Reykan groans once more. “Don't bother.”
The doe princess then looks at Syroc sitting across from her. “So...” Eyes half-lidded, she leans closer with a sly smile. “What would you like your prey to do now, mister predator?”
The older panther ignores her teasing as he places both hands on the table. “A ceasefire.” He shrugs. “Or perhaps even an armistice.”
“Oh?” Sienna says, expression not changing. “Do I hear a surrender?”
“Ha!” Syroc laughs. “Not on your life!”
“Sienna...” Twilight whispers, throwing an angry look at the doe.
Sienna leans back and sighs. “Aw, come on, Twilight...” She looks at her with a pout. “Being a princess is tiring after my brother decided not to be our nation's next leader! Can't I have a little bit of fun?”
Twilight shakes her head. “Maybe after your two nations agree to be friends.”
The doe princess rolls her eyes, her bangs covering an eye. “Sheesh, you sound just like dad, but fiiine.” She turns and frowns at the smirking panther. “Oh, get that smirk off of your face, meat-eater.”
Xana chuckles and shakes her head. “Seriously you two. Knock it off.” She looks at the alicorn princess. “I'm sure the pony princess can provide the two of you a private room for later.”
Seri blinks and blushes. “O-oh my...”
Twilight covers her blushing face with a hoof.
The kangaroo laughs, and laughs even more after seeing two death glares aimed at her.
Reykan blinks. “...I don't get it.”
“Welcome to my world,” Syroc says, groaning.
Three large alicorn princesses, who are seated close to the crystalline wall behind the purple alicorn princess, chuckle.
Twilight looks behind her, at Celestia.
The Princess of the Sun waves a hoof at her.
Twilight sighs.
“Anyway,” Syroc says, clearing his throat. “We can start with a ceasefire.” He waves a paw in the air. “Our military government is dealing with the trolls from the west.” He shakes his head. “It would be a big load off of our shoulders if your nation is no longer a threat to us. That way, we can pull our soldiers from the south borders and assign them in the west.”
Sienna blinks. “Your nation is dealing with them, too?”
Syroc sighs. “Unfortunately.”
Reykan blinks. “What do you mean by ‘too’?” He curiously tilts his head to the side, his beret sliding off a bit. “Are you guys dealing with them, too?”
Sienna frowns and nods her head. “Our soldiers in the west border are having a hard time dealing with them.”
“Looks like we both have a common enemy,” Syroc says, rubbing his chin. “I'm surprised we're just learning this now. What say we team up and deal with them bastards?” he asks, extending a paw forward for a shake.
Sienna smiles and nods her head. “We'd like that.” She leans forward and extends a hoof.
The two awkwardly realize they're too far away to shake paws and hooves with each other.
“I've always thought that the trolls were just mythical creatures,” Twilight thinks out loud as the other two pull their paw and hoof back.
“If only,” Sienna says and sighs.
“No offence to our new friend,” Syroc says, frowning. “But the trolls are more of a pawful to handle than the deer.”
“That's because we don't attack willy-nilly,” Sienna says. She shakes her head. “Unlike the trolls.”
Xana smiles. “So does this mean the deer and the felidae are no longer enemies?” After seeing two nodding heads, she claps her hands. “Oh, that's wonderful!” She smiles at the doe princess. “Then that means my nation is now friends with yours, too, love.”
“Yey!” Seri chirps. “First the deer, then the changelings, then the ponies, and now the felidaes and kangaroos!”
Sienna blinks. “Ah, right.” She nods. “The kangaroos and the felidaes are both military nations.”
“Correct,” Xana says. “We've been helping them cats dealing with those bastard trolls in the west.”
Syroc frowns at her. “Don't call us cats.”
Xana smirks at him. “Then stop calling us oversized dogs.”
Syroc rolls his eyes. “I said that in that different life we had.”
The kangaroo shrugs.
Seri blinks. “Speaking of...”
Everyone's attention turns to her.
Seri continues: “...everyone here recall what ... happened, right?”
Silence.
The three confused alicorn princesses blink and look at each other.
“I have a theory,” Twilight says, catching everyone's attention. “We retain those memories because we were all inside the dimensional space the book has created.”
Sienna blinks. “Wasn't that just an illusion spell? I recall you saying that before we climbed those stairs.”
“Nah,” Xana says, waving a hand. “She said something about pockets.”
Twilight nods her head. “We were inside a pocket dimension the book has created. A small bubble of space separated from other worlds.”
Syroc shrugs. “I barely understand what you just said.”
Reykan nods his head. “We don't really use magic, so we never really looked much into it.”
His older brother nods his head. “We only know the basics of deer magic.”
Sienna arches an eyebrow at him.
The larger panther shrugs. “It's common sense to understand what your enemies are capable of doing.” He smirks at her. The smirk disappears as he sighs. “I wish we knew a lot more about the trolls though...” He shrugs. “Now that our nations are ‘friends’, your healing magic would be useful in the battlefield.”
“Hm...” Twilight hmm's, tapping her chin in thought. “Maybe Discord knows a thing or two about trolls.”
“Discord?” Sienna asks, blinking. “The Lord of Chaos?” Her eyes grow wide. “You can talk to the Lord of Chaos?”
Twilight blinks a blank blink at her. “Well ... yes.” She nods her head. “He's friends with one of my best friends.”
Sienna's mouth drops.
“Back to these false memories that we have,” Xana says, looking at the purple alicorn. “Why is it that I can recall ... everything of my life from the false Equestria?” She shakes her head. “Wouldn't my mind go ka-boom with these many clashing memories?”
“You've read too much fiction,” Syroc comments.
“Hey, they're entertaining,” Xana replies with a smirk. “Oh, that reminds me.” She looks back at the alicorn. “I hear this castle of yours has a library. You mind showing me it later, love?”
Twilight ruffles her wings in excitement. “I would love to.”
“Bookworms,” Syroc mumbles under his breath.
“I heard that,” the kangaroo says.
The larger panther snorts.
“Anyway,” Twilight says. “I'm yet to fully understand why we still have these memories.”
“I don't mind getting rid of them from my head,” Reykan says, frowning. “I don't really wanna eat you or Sienna or Seri anymore.” He shakes his head. “None of you look tasty enough,” he says, adjusting his beret.
Seri chuckles.
Sienna blinks. “I'm not sure if I should be offended or not.”
Seri smirks at the cub. “Does that mean you still want to eat Jay?”
Reykan blinks at her. He turns to Twilight. “Oh yeah... What happened to Jay?”
Everyone's eyes are on Twilight now.
The alicorn sighs and shakes her head. “He's ... gone.”
Sienna blinks. “Gone?”
“Spi—” Twilight bites her tongue. “I mean, the book was accidentally activated by a group of ponies. They made a wish each, but the book twisted them, resulting to the false Equestria we all have experienced.” She slowly shakes her head. “Jay was a wish as well, and he was able to make a wish.” She frowns a sad frown. “A wish to undo the other wishes.”
“Jay was able to wish?” Reykan asks.
Sienna's ears droop. “So if he was a wish, and he wished to undo the other wishes, does that mean...”
Silence.
Seri frowns at the purple alicorn. “Then ... just like the fake Equestria that disappeared, maybe Jay...”
More silence.
Twilight takes a breath and sighs. “As my friends said earlier,” she says, looking up at the chandelier. “The truth may have crushed him, he still restored Equestria.” She looks at them, and smiles a sad yet thankful smile. “We should be thankful for his selfless act, and we should wish him the best, wherever he may be.”
The morning sun graces the small town of Ponyville with its golden rays of light. Birds are chirping merrily on rooftops as a number of ponies start doing their morning rituals.
Sienna trots through the earthen path of Ponyville with a happy spring on her steps. “I gotta say, Twilight,” she says with a smile, looking back at her two companions. “I really love what Rarity did to my mane.” She turns and looks at her reflection on a nearby window, admiring the twirls and waves the fashionista did to her green mane. “Now I have more reason to visit Ponyville.”
Twilight chuckles. “That's Rarity for you. Always has the eyes for beauty.”
Seri sighs a longing sigh. “I wish I had a mane, too.”
Sienna smiles, looking around. “And thank you for having us here.” She shakes her head. “Finally, with the felidae's help, we're able to have a breather with those trolls.” She stops and stretches. “I've been wanting to have a vacation in a looooong while now.”
Twilight and Seri chuckle as the trio resume their walk.
Smiling, Seri looks around. “It's really nice to see that ponies wake up early, too.”
Twilight shrugs. “Some. Some wake up in the afternoon.”
“Really?” Seri comments, looking back at the mare. “Us swans and deer always wake up the moment the sun rises.”
“Except for my brother,” Sienna grunts. “Lazy bum will probably not wake up even if the trolls run over him.”
Twilight smiles and shakes her head. “Well, speaking of the trolls, I've talked with Discord and have—”
“TWILIGHT!” a female's shout breaks the quiet tranquility, startling the birds and making them fly away. Skidding to a stop in front of the trio, the lime-green unicorn mare levitates a book in front of the blinking alicorn princess. “You gotta help me, please!” she asks, her sleepy and baggy and bloodshot eyes twitching slightly.
Sienna blinks. “What seems to be the problem, dear pony?” she asks as Twilight grabs hold of the book with her magic. She and Seri eye the book. “...ee-hooman?” she reads the title with an arched eyebrow.
The sleep-deprived mare glares at the deer princess. “It's ‘iHuman’!” she corrects her. “And it's the greatest books I have ever read!”
Sienna blinks at her, then at the book, and then at the sighing alicorn. “...human?”
Twilight shakes her head as she opens the book on a random page. “Strangely, Lyra here has an ... obsession in ‘humans’.”
“They are real!” Lyra suddenly says, startling the swan.
Sienna blinks. She leans closer to the alicorn and whispers: “...Like Jay?”
Lyra points a hoof at the deer. “You whispered to her about something!” She angrily stomps her hoof on the ground. “I am not crazy! I know they are real! We know they're real!”
Sienna blinks at the unicorn. “...we?”
“The Circle of Human Believers, of course!” Lyra then angrily taps the book in Twilight's hold. “And that book proves that humans exist somewhere out there!”
Seri blinks blankly at her. “... Wow.” She smiles. “How do I join?”
Sienna arches an eyebrow at the swan.
Before Lyra can grab the swan, Twilight closes the book. “Sooo... You needed my help with what exactly?”
“That book was released yesterday!” Lyra says with a weird yet excited smile. “And I finished reading it just a few minutes ago!”
“Wow...” Sienna says, eyeing the thickness of the levitating book. “That's dedication if I ever hear one.”
Lyra proudly puts a hoof over her chest. “We of the Circle of Human Believes, or CHB for short, are one-hundred percent dedicated to prove the existence of humans!”
Seri smiles and nods. “Humans are real!”
Lyra finally grabs the swan with an excited squee. “You should join us, fellow human believer!”
“Yey!” Seri chirps excitingly. “Do we get badges?!”
Sienna frowns at the giddy duo. “You are not serious...”
Twilight sighs. “Lyra,” she calls the mare's attention. She gives her a patient smile. “So... How may I help you?”
Lyra let's the swan go. “Ah, right. Sorry...” She takes a calming breath and sighs. “Like I said, that book was released yesterday.” She leans a bit closer to the mare with a hopeful smile. “A-and I wanna invite the author to our group meeting next week, but I don't know where he, or she, lives.”
Twilight blinks at her. “Uh... And um, why do you think I—”
“Because you love books!” Lyra blurts out. “You're like an expert of books! Princess of Books, even!”
Seri chuckles.
Twilight rolls her eyes in amusement as she flips the pages to the very first page. “Honestly, Lyra... Even though I do love books,” she says, reading the contents of the first page and sees the name of the author. “It's not like I'm going to look for the author and...” She trails off. She rereads the author's name once more. She rereads it again. She rubs her eyes and rereads it again.
Curious, Sienna leans closer and reads the contents of the page.
Joining in the fun, Seri wobbles behind the two and pokes her head in between then. “I wanna read it, too.” Her eyes swan the contents, reads the author's name, and smiles. “Oh, hey! I know who that is!”
“You do?!” Lyra quickly asks, her impatience quickly forgotten.
Seri smiles at her and nods. “Yep! He's—” She blinks. She rereads the author's name once more. “...wait.”
Twilight suddenly closes the book. “Lyra... You don't mind if I borrow this book for a while, right?”
The unicorn's eyes grow wide. “Whoa... So you'll find him for me?” Her horn lighting, she quickly slips a letter in the book. “Give him that invitation letter, 'kay? 'kay!”
Sienna blinks at the giddy unicorn. “...Where did you pull that enve—”
The alicorn mare quickly turns around and gallops toward a direction.
Startled, Sienna quickly runs after her.
Seri looks at the two go. With a smile, she extends her long white wings and flies after the duo, leaving the excited unicorn mare behind.
“Are you sure about this, Twilight?” Spike asks, sitting on Twilight's back and holding a book on a claw. “Is it really him?”
“I don't know, but there's only one way to find out!” the alicorn replies in between panting breaths. “It can't be a coincidence!”
Twilight and Sienna are running towards the train station as quick as they can, with Seri flying closely behind them. They arrive at the station just in time to hear the train's whistle.
“All abooooooooard!” the conductor yells, standing by one of the train's open doors. He blinks and quickly steps aside so the rushing royalties won't bump into him.
They then quickly sit down on the nearest couches as they catch their breaths.
“So where are we going?” Seri asks as the train's doors close.
Another whistle, and the train rumbles slightly as it starts to move towards its destination.
“Canterlot,” Twilight says, looking out the window. “I already asked Spike to send a letter of our arrival to the publishing company that published and distributed the book.”
Sienna blinks at her. “...Isn't that like ... a breach of somedeer's privacy?”
Twilight blushes slightly. “Um... I-it's a good thing I'm a princess then?”
“That's abuse of power,” Sienna says, frowning.
Spike chuckles. “Oh, trust me. Even when Twilight and I were still young, ‘Books and Imaginations’ are well aware of Twilight's antics when she wants her favorite books signed by their authors.”
Twilight's blush darkens as Spike and Seri chuckles.
Sienna blinks a blank blink at the embarrassed mare.
Shaking his head, Spike looks at the book's hardcover. “Huh...” He opens the book and reads the contents on the first page. He blinks. “...Yep. That can't be a coincidence.”
Sighing a sigh of relief, Spike jumps off of a bench and smiles at the approaching trio walking under the early afternoon sun. “I got the tickets,” the drake says, waving four train tickets on his claws.
With the book levitating beside her, Twilight smiles and nods her head. “Thanks, Spike.”
Seri chuckles. “It's a good thing Twilight's a friend of that conductor, right?” She smiles at the frowning doe. “Else we would have been kicked out of a moving train!”
Sienna sighs. “I still think those were abuses of power.”
Spike smiles at her. “Power of friendship, my dear...” he blinks, his smile faltering. “...dear?”
The group then move towards the train that will be heading to their latest destination. They fall in line, a few ponies starting to converse with the pony princess.
Spike turns to Sienna and Seri. “So where are we heading?”
Sienna looks at him. “They say he lives in Vanhoover.”
Seri chuckles. “I just realized that a lot of your cities' names are horse puns.”
The drake blinks. He places a claw on his chin. “...huh. I never even noticed it.”
The train screeches to a stop. Its many doors open, and passengers start to exit the locomotive in an orderly fashion.
Twilight and her group exits the train, a gust of the chilly night city air greeting them.
Sienna groans, shaking her head. “Ugh... Remind me to never eat those weird-looking stick fries ever again...”
“Hayfries?” Seri asks, blinking. “I think they tasted great!” she chirps with a smile, earning an annoyed groan from the suffering doe.
“I-I think I need to visit the little doe's room...”
Twilight turns to her and nods her head in understanding. She turns and points toward a direction. “I believe the restrooms should be over there.”
Sienna immediately runs toward the direction without a second thought.
Seri chuckles. She ruffles her white feathers as she turns to her other two companions. “After she's done, where should we go next?”
“I remember the address, but,” Twilight says, and shakes her head. “I'm not really familiar with this city. So we'll just have to ride a taxi.”
“Ooooooh, that sounds exciting!” Seri says with a wide smile.
“Mrrrfff...” Spike mrrrfff's, sitting on Twilight's back and sleepily rubs his sleepy eyes. He lets out a big and long yawn. “Mmm...” He uses the book as a pillow and lies his head on it. “Wake me up when we get there.”
Twilight rolls her eyes as Seri chuckles.
As they wait for Sienna to return, another train arrives and screeches to a stop. With nothing else to do, Twilight and Seri watch the exiting passengers, the swan making a few comments and Twilight either nodding or explaining things to her.
One of the exiting passengers is a young and bipedal panther, wearing a thick coat, a scarf around his neck and a beret over his dark-blue hair. “Brr...” he shivers. “Syroc was right about how cold the autumn nights here.”
Smelling a familiar scent, he sniffs the air and turns toward the three familiar figures. Sapphire eyes blinking, he smiles and approaches them.
“You guys are here, too!” Reykan says, stopping before them.
“Reykan!” Seri chirps, immediately giving the yelping cub a big feathery hug.
“Why did I expect a different greeting from you...?” Reykan groans, trying to push the clingy swan away.
Twilight chuckles as a groaning doe approaches them.
She blinks at the scene. “Oh, he's here, too.”
Seri finally lets the cub go and smiles at Sienna. “You feeling okay now?”
The doe sighs. “I think so.”
Twilight turns to the cub. “You came all the way here from your home?”
Reykan nods his head as the group heads toward the station's exit. “Xana showed my brother and me a book and pointed at the name who wrote it.”
“What a coincidence!” Seri chirps, smiling. “We're here because of the same reason, too!”
As the group exit the station—
“Oof—!”
A stallion bumps into the alicorn princess. He quickly takes a few steps back and bows an apology. “I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I was in a hurry and I wasn't paying attention and—!”
“It's fine, it's fine,” Twilight cuts him off as the sleeping drake on her back mumbles something.
The stallion blinks at her, and then at her companions. “Whoa,” he whoa's, his wings ruffling. “It's you guys!”
“Huh?” Sienna and the others give the stallion a proper glance. The doe blinks. “Wait... Aren't you...?”
“Moon Gaze?” Twilight says after finally figuring out where she has seen the stallion before. “Is that really you?”
“Yup!” the pegasus stallion eagerly nods his head.
A chilly breeze breezes by.
Reykan shivers, and pushes the swan away before she could hug him.
The stallion's breath freezes in his lungs as he stares at the alicorn mare trying to stop her mane from waving. “Whoa...” he breathes out.
Twilight shakes her head and smiles an apologetic smile at the stallion. “It's nice to see you, Moon Gaze, but um...” She bites her bottom lip. “We're kinda-sorta in a hurry and—”
“Oh! I'm sorry for keeping you!” the stallion quickly says, startling the alicorn. “I just realized I'm also running late for work, too.”
Reykan blinks at him. “You work at night?”
“At a twenty-four hour fast food joint near the heart of the city,” the stallion explains.
Seri blinks at him. “Why not just fly there?”
Moon Gaze shakes his head. “Here in Vanhoover, there's a curfew for flying.”
Seri blinks once again. “...Now that's just stupid.”
The stallion sighs. “Tell me about it.” Shaking his head, he smiles a small albeit nervous smile at the alicorn. “Um, you guys are planning on staying here in the city for a day or two, right?”
“Probably,” Twilight quickly replies, blinking.
Moon Gaze small smile grows a little bigger. “Great! That sounds really great! Would you ... um...” He nervously looks away as he scratches the back of his neck. “A-after my shift, w-would you like have some coffee maybe? Y'know, while talking about ... stuff?”
Twilight blinks and smiles. “Coffee sounds good.”
The stallion stops himself from cheering. He instead smiles a very wide, very nervous and very awkward smile at the mare. “T-that's great! Um ... m-meet you at the city park at seven?”
Twilight, still smiling, nods her head. “Sure. We'll see you then?”
Moon Gaze nods nods nods his head in excitement. “Great! S-see you soon then, Twilight!” He quickly and nervously trots away. When he is out of earshot, he blinks after he realizes something. “Wait ... what did she mean by ‘we’?”
“Wow, Twilight,” Sienna says, staring at the pegasus' retreating form. “I didn't know you were so good with stallions.”
“Huh?” Twilight says as she waves a hoof at an incoming taxi. She looks back at the doe. “What do you mean?”
Sienna blinks at her. “...You're not serious right now, are you?”
Seri chuckles as a taxi stops before them.
Twilight uses her magic to open the cab's door. “He invited us over for coffee. It would be rude to say no.” She smiles as she and the others start entering the cab. “And besides, I'm sure he just wants to figure out why he also remembers his memories from the alternate Equestria. And coffee in the morning sounds really nice.”
Sienna sighs as she uses her magic to close the door. As Twilight tells the drivers where they're heading, she turns to the cub. “I'm curious how you figured where he lives,” Sienna asks.
Reykan shrugs. “I dunno. Xana maybe asked when she bought the book.”
As the cab drives through the streets of Vanhoover, the group takes in the brightly-lit buildings and establishments they pass by.
Minutes later, the cab is now driving through a rather dimmer and quieter parts of the city. They soon start to slow down and finally stop in front of an old-looking apartment building.
After paying the drivers, Twilight turns around and joins the group who are staring at the tall apartment building.
“Huh,” Seri says as Spike slowly wakes up. “This looks nice.”
“Are we there yet?” Spike sleepily asks, rubbing his eye with a claw.
“Looks really old,” Reykan comments.
Sienna rolls her eyes as Twilight approaches the building's door. She and the others follow the alicorn.
Twilight stops by the door and knocks.
“Come in,” a muffled voice says from inside the building.
Horn lighting, Twilight opens the door inward and trots inside—
“Princess Twilight!” the old mare by the counter shrieks in surprise, her glasses almost falling off of her face. She shakily bows her head. “G-good evening, your highness,” the old mare says as the group approaches her after closing the door.
“Please,” Twilight says with a patient smile. “Just call me Twilight.”
The old mare smiles and nods her head. “The press were right about you being so humble.”
Twilight blinks and blushes.
The old mare chuckles and shakes her head. “Well, good evening to you and to your friends. I really doubt you are all here to rent a room or two, so may I ask how may I be of service, your highness?”
Spike chuckles as Twilight holds a sigh.
“We're hoping if you could tell us where room number three-twenty is,” Twilight asks.
The old mare nods her head and gestures at the stairs with a shaky hoof. “Of course, your highness. It's on the third floor. Doors are marked by numbers, so you'll just need to look for the number you are looking for. Although...” she smiles at the group as she brings her hoof back down. “It's pretty late already, so if it's not too much to ask, may you save the explosions and rainbow beams in the morning?”
Spike laughs as Twilight nods her head.
The group then march up the stairs, seeing nopony during their ascent to the third floor. They walk through the small hallway, looking at the numbers on the doors until they finally find what they are searching.
Twilight stands before the closed door, with the others standing behind her. She closes her eyes, takes a breath and sighs. Reopening her eyes, she lifts a hoof up, knocks on the door, and takes a step back.
They hear a muffled meow from inside, and then...
“Door's unlocked. Come in!” a familiar voice of a stallion says from the other side of the door.
Taking another breath, Twilight uses her magic to open the door.
The room looks somewhat small, and messy. There's a bed, a closet, and a stallion sitting on a chair who is busily writing on pieces of paper on a small table.
“Just put the pizza on the bed, please. Money's on there, too,” the brown earth pony stallion says without looking.
Blinking curiously, they look at the bed, where a yawning cat and a few bits are on it. They slowly look back at the busy stallion.
“Don't worry about the cat. He'll just sleep on the box like usual,” the stallion says, chuckling.
The cat on the bed then looks at the newcomers, blinks, and slowly sits down, its tail slowly waving behind it.
Seconds fly by.
The stallion stops writing and blinks. He places the quill on the table, looks at the table, and blinks.
He smirks. “Well well... What is this? Some kind of joke?”
Reykan swiftly tackle-hugs him.
“Gah—!” the stallion yells as the duo falls down on the floor. “Reykan! I swear to god, if you bite me again—!”
The cat yawns a long and bored yawn. It curls on the bed and goes to sleep as the others slowly enter the room.
The silence of the cosmos... Ever quiet. Forever lonely...
Stars and galaxies from light years away in all direction, twinkling and glittering and painting the black monotony of the cosmos with soft hues of colors... Ever beautiful... Forever dying.
I take a breath...
... If only I can.
I drift in forever silence...
...Slowly fading into nothingness...
“You know...” a voice whispers, breaking the cosmic silence.
I frown. At least, I feel like I'm frowning.
“...you can still undo it.”
“Go away,” I whisper back, my entire ‘orbical being’ glowing and dimming with each word I ‘release’.
A book slowly and quietly floats near me.
I ‘look’ away. Yet I can't. I look at ‘everywhere’ now.
Everywhere and nowhere...
“Do you honestly desire this?” the book whispers, glowing slightly with each word it whispers to me. “To become nothing in this empty space of nothingness?”
I don't reply.
I ‘hear’ the book sigh, glowing slightly. “The offer still stands.”
I ‘frown’ at it. “...Makes one wonder why the offer wasn't available to them.”
The book floats in silence.
For a brief moment, I enjoy the silence, until the book speaks again...
“It was,” the book whispers. “I simply chose not to say it.” A chuckle. “For young ponies that smart, they were dumb not to think it was a possibility.”
I say nothing.
Another chuckle. “You cannot blame me, Jay.” A pause. “The magical fillies decided to cast the spell without reading everything about it.” Another pause. Another sigh. “Come on, Jay. We've been stuck here for like days now! Take your wish back!”
I want to roll my eyes. Unfortunately, I don't think I have any anymore. “We've been here for like ten or fifteen minutes.”
Another sigh. “My point still stands.”
I say nothing more as I decide to focus on ‘looking’ at the distant stars.
Hm... If I remember correctly, they shouldn't be twinkling like the way there are doing right now, at least, not here in space. Wasn't it the earth's atmosphere that distorts the light from distant stars to make them look like they're twinkling?
...
... ...
... ... ...
A sigh breaks the silence. This time, it's mine. “How much longer until I ... fade away?”
“Not much longer.”
Silence...
Well, it was a good run.
...
... ...
... ... ...
“Waiting is boring...” I whisper.
“At least you'll be gone,” the book says. It sighs. “As for me? I am forever bound to whoever made a wish last. So once you disappear ... I'll stay here for eternity.” A pause. “Imagine how bored I will be.”
...
... ...
... ... ...
“What were their wishes?” I ask.
“Why do you need to know?” the books asks.
“No reason...”
Silence...
...and then—
“The filly named Apple Bloom wished for a milkshake. I believe she wanted to test if the spell was actually working. I sense no regret from her making such a mundane wish, however.
“After they have confirmed that I work, the young ponies start to discuss what they wanted to wish for. The young drake by the name of Spike, however, immediately wished for a mare's affection.”
The book's chuckle echoes through the silence.
“While I may be powerful, as I have mentioned before, I am not capable of altering the mind.
“The filly named Scootaloo then made a wish of making these so-called ‘cutie marks’ unimportant. I do not question it, but her friends did. She has told them that if cutie marks are no longer as important as they currently were during their wish-making, then those who do not have cutie marks will not be bullied like they were.
“The drake then wished for wings, however, I did not grant it, for I find it pointless as his specie naturally grows wings in their later years in life, but if he insisted, then I would have granted it, regardless of pointlessness. Fortunately, he decided to hold off that wish as he thinks of another one.”
Another chuckle.
“You would think that his example would have clued them that they have the option of taking back their wishes.”
A pause.
“...unless they have already consumed it, like the first wish-maker's milkshake.
“Anyway, the filly named Sweetie Belle then wished that these creatures called ‘Windigos’ would not hurt anyone anymore. I believe she fears of a future where they suddenly decide to show up once more and bring her homeland into a snowy nightmare.
“The drake made a wish that which I granted, and that is you. I do not need to retell the specifics of his wish, do I? In any case, his wish was unfulfilled.”
“What happens if a wish didn't come true?” I ask.
The book quickly replies: “Then by the rules of this book I am bound, I ask them to make another wish. However, the newest wish is more powerful than the previous ones, and therefore, since you have wished to undo their wishes before yours, the drake's wish is no longer in effect.” The book sighs. “Which is why you are fading.”
That honestly sounds like a time-travel paradox. What was it called? The grandfather paradox?
Hm... “...What happens if I became friends with Spike?”
The book immediately answers: “Then the wish is fulfilled and the wishing spell is finally over. It would have meant my freedom from my current imprisonment.”
“So... I'll vanish after Spike's wish is fulfilled?”
“No. And why would you be? Despite being a clone, you are ... er ... were a living creature.”
Oh...
“Now then ... if I may continue? Ahem, finally, the filly named Flurry Heart wished to be as powerful as her aunt. She has always feared her own power since she was younger, and as a result, was not able to train herself out of fear of hurting those around her, however, she has always admired her aunt's feats, and her fearlessness of learning more about magic.”
I sigh... “You manipulated each wish.”
“Ah, but of course.” A chuckle. “In Discord's words, it would be plain boring to just grant them without adding a little twist.” Another chuckle. “I take it you are curious of these twists, yes?”
“I already know what you did,” I say. “You stopped the discover of cutie marks. You removed the Windigos entirely.” I pause. “I ... think you summoned me far away from Spike and with no clue as to where he is so the wish won't be complete as soon as possible. I think.” I take another pause. “And instead of granting Flurry's wish, you took over her body instead.”
“Summoning you in a forest wasn't the twist,” the book says, glowing and dimming. “Turning you into a pony was. You are a brony, after all.” The book chuckles.
“Then why was I in the forest, far away from Spike?”
“Dimensional ripple displacement.”
“...what?”
“Imagine the world as a lake, if you will, and you are but a stray leaf floating on its surface. Now imagine each of their twisted wishes as rocks, thrown to the calm lake. What would happen?”
I ... think I get it.
“As for taking over that filly's body, you cannot blame me,” the book says. “I have been a book for such a long time. I desire a body to move, to breathe, and to live once again. Discord has transformed me into what I am right now as a joke. While I admit it was funny at first, he has but forgotten me in countless years that I fear I may not be able to return to my former self.”
Silence.
The book glows and dims as it sighs. “The filly named Flurry Heart gave me the opportunity to be alive once again. I simply cannot pass that chance.” Another sigh. “Unfortunately, I may have enjoyed myself being alive once more a little too much. I have become careless during our melee.”
Cosmic silence.
“...What were you?”
“A draconequus,” the book quickly replies. “Like Discord. I had assumed that it was obvious.”
“So ... you're saying that you wish to return to normal?”
“Is that you reconsidering the wish you have made that I hear?” the book asks.
“Just humor me.”
“Hm...” the book hums. “I think I've been around spells for far too long. Living a simple life wouldn't be too bad. Like a cat. I had a cat once.” A pause. A chuckle. “Such cuddly and mean creatures. You cannot help but pet them, yet they bite and claw you if you touch them.” Another chuckle. Another sigh.
Silence.
The book slowly opens itself, its pages flipping. “I wonder if I have a picture of a cat in my pages.”
“You mention those who touched you can make a wish, right?”
“That is assuming the wishing spell is still in effect, yes,” the book says, its pages still flipping. “And if you are curious, the spell is still in effect, until you are gone.” Flipping noises. “The wishmakers are also immune to the changes their wishes made, in case you are wondering. Unless of course if their wish is aimed at themselves directly, like Spike's wish of gaining wings, and yours.”
“Then...” I say. I sigh. “Why not make a wish of your own?”
