Prologue - An Offer of a Lifetime

Author's Notes:

Hello everyone! Welcome to the first chapter of A Sign of Things to Come. Before the chapter starts, I wanted to give a quick shout-out to 0-Blazing Sun-0 and their story "A Second Chance" on Fanfiction for inspiring this story. Without it, this story probably wouldn't exist. I would highly suggest you go read it if you haven't already.

This is my first My Little Pony Fanfiction, so don't be surprised if characters from the show are a little out of character. This is my first time really making a story not completely based off the source material, so go easy on me.

Also, if there is anyone out there who can and likes to draw, I would really like a piece of cover art made for this story if at all possible. If you fit this description and wouldn't mind taking time out of your day to help me make one, PM me, or contact me at mitchinator9000@gmail.com and I'll get back to you as soon as possible. Anyway, on to the chapter!

I slammed my bedroom door and pushed my back against it. My breathing was heavy and my body was shaking from both fear and shock. I kept telling myself that this couldn’t be happening, that this was all a bad dream. But that wasn't possible. The banging, barging, and shouting of a feminine voice on the other side of the door was making that fact abundantly clear. Nothing made any sense anymore. Well, it wasn’t like parts of my life already didn’t make sense to begin with.

But that’s beside the point. My Wednesday had started like any other. I was just sitting at home watching a cartoon with my kids. And after the show finished, they both went upstairs to play. It wasn’t until I went to change the channel that I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. A small purple light. It seemed insignificant, so I didn’t pay it much mind at first. But after a while of it just sitting there in the corner of my eye, like a dog begging for you to take it for a walk, I simply couldn’t ignore it anymore. I slowly got up from the sofa with a huff and cautiously shuffled my way towards it.

It was definitely there, plain as day. My eyes hadn’t been deceiving me. When I began examining the light, I noticed that it had an ethereal glow to it. It definitely wasn’t natural. It seemed… controlled, almost like someone had created it with their bare hands and was now whelding it like a puppet on a string. Suddenly, the light flashed brightly, and an invisible force blasted out, blinding me and sending me sprawling onto my ass. In the process, the right side of my glasses slipped off my ear and caused them to sit crookedly on my face.

After the light died down and the room was no longer a purple blur, I fixed my glasses and looked back to where the light had been, only to see something completely impossible.

Standing before me was a small purple horse with a horn protruding from its head, and wings extending out from its back. It had a purple mane and tail, darker than its fur, with two streaks of pink and a slightly lighter shade of purple going down the middle, and large purple eyes. It also had this weird star-shaped symbol on both sides of its lower back, almost like a tattoo of sorts.

I was absolutely flabbergasted. A purple unicorn with wings had appeared in my living room in a flash of light. I had no idea what to think, do, or even say…. It then started talking!

“Ugh, even after a whole week, it still hurts my head to use magic,” the horse, clearly female based on the voice, muttered, more to herself than me. “...Hello. My name is Twilight Sparkle. Nice to finally meet you.”

She extended her hoof out, like she wanted me to shake it. “...E-er…” Unfortunately for her, I had officially declared myself insane and was pretty much unresponsive. A whole week? Magic? What the fuck is going on here?

I must have had the most moronic look on my face, because she looked at me with confusion, before some sort of realisation hit her. “Oh, where are my manners? Let me help you up.” Her horn abruptly lit up, with what I realised was the same light from earlier, and I felt a warm and tingling sensation envelope my body. I looked down to see that I was surrounded by the ethereal light, and before I even realised what was going on, I was somehow lifted up into the air and placed back on my feet like nothing had happened. The horse winced slightly, but smiled nonetheless. “There. That’s much better, isn’t it?”

My face may not have shown it completely, but on the inside I was panicking and screaming. Absolutely nothing made sense anymore, and that’s saying something. I had seen some weird shit in my time on this earth, but this was next fucking level.... Correction; this was batshit crazy and then some. I tried to rack my brain for any logical reason as to how ANY of this was possible, but precisely nothing could explain this, and it didn’t help that my brain had turned to complete mush.

I must have been standing there brain-dead for a while as she SPOKE about god knows what, because the next thing I knew, I was brought back to earth by her shouting, “Are you even listening to me!”

I shied away from her yell, actually scared for my life. Who knows what the fuck this creature could do. Whatever it was, it definitely wasn’t from earth, and it terrified me to high heaven. There was no chance of recovering my mind at this point. I did the only thing I could think of… “I-I’m sorry, but I-I can't deal with this right now…” I stuttered as I slowly shuffled past the seemingly magical horse and walked out of the room.

“Hey! Where are you going?!” the horse shouted after me.

Without even thinking, I shouted back, “Away from you!” And with that, I rushed as fast as I could up the stairs towards my bedroom. She shouted back at me, and, from the sound of hooves running up the stairs behind me, she wasn’t too happy about me just leaving like that. But I didn’t care. I just wanted to get as far away from her as possible. Put some distance between us before I went completely nuts.

And that’s where we’re at now, with me trying to barricade my bedroom door against a rabid equine who magically appeared in my living room, who was currently banging on my door, desperate to get in.

"Let me in, Darren! This is important! I know information that will change your life forever," the voice said, her banging only getting harder.

"How do you know my name! Leave me the fuck alone!" Even if it was life or death, there was no way I was going to listen to the ramblings of a magic talking horse that's probably just in my head. Not in this frazzled state of mind anyway.

After about a minute of banging, which felt more like an eternity, it seemed to stop. I quickly locked the door and backed away slowly, praying to god that she had decided to give up and go back to wherever she’d come from. After a few seconds of nothing but silence, I let the breath that I hadn’t even realised I was holding out and turned to lay down on my bed, completely fried.

What the hell was that! That was so fucked... Why wasn't I warned of this? I was genuinely confused. I really should have seen this coming, but nothing of the sort occurred. Probably one of the weirdest facts of the evening.

Suddenly, another flash of light blinded me, and the horse was practically standing on top of me, eyes wide and twitching slightly. Apparently, she could teleport too. “You have to listen to me!” I scrambled to push her off of me and get away from her.

“No, I don’t! Get away from me!” I practically screamed, immediately launching off the bed and rushing for the door.
“Sorry, not this time.” I didn’t pay the comment much mind, until I reached for the door and bounced off some sort of invisible force, landing on my ass again, but this time, with a stinging hand to boot. I jumped up and tried again, only for the same thing to happen. I turned around to see the equine’s horn lit up again, sweat beading down her forehead and a strained look on her face. She must have somehow put a ‘forcefield’ over the door, meaning I had no escape. What the fuck IS THIS THING?!

“...Umm, Dad? Are you ok? You’re making a lot of noise? We’re worried…” The world froze as I heard the voice of my son and the crying of my daughter on the other side of the door. No. No no no no! They can’t be here. It’s far to dangerous.

I glanced back at the creature sitting on the bed behind me, also seeming to stop at the interruption, looking at me almost like it was observing me, wondering what I was going to do about this new predicament, still somehow keeping the forcefield over the door. I punched the invisible wall with a low growl at getting myself trapped in a situation like this.

“...Yeah. Everything’s fine… Nothing for you to worry about. Go back to your room…” I said, hoping that would be enough to not get them questioning what was really going on.

After an eternity, I heard my son console my daughter quietly, before speaking up. “Ok, dad. We’ll be in our room if you need us.” With that, I heard the shuffling of feet as they left.

“Phew, that was close. We almost got caught. Nice thinking, Darren.” The creature applauded. “I better soundproof the room before something else happens.” The light surrounding it’s horn intensified as the room glowed slightly, before fading as quick as it had brightened.

I slowly turned around with a fiery look on my face. “We? WE?! No, YOU almost got caught! Let me the FUCK out of here!”

I tried desperately to escape, punching the forcefield as hard as I could, but it wouldn’t budge. I kept doing it anyway. Maybe I really had gone insane. "Fine... I didn't want to have to do this, but you've left me no choice. You've forced my hoof. We're going to have to do this the hard way," I once again didn’t pay this comment too much mind as I let out my aggression on the invisible force.

That was my downfall.

A minute or so later, I noticed that the room around me was slowly being covered in a bright white light. I looked at where the horse was sitting on my bed, seeing that it still had its horn lit up, but this time I noticed that there was also a white light radiating off it as well. It, and the room, kept getting brighter until I realised that this was obviously her doing. She was doing something, and I had a REALLY bad feeling.

I lunged for her, in a slight hope that I could somehow stop whatever she was doing, but I was too late. The white light completely enveloped the room and I suddenly blacked out.

The next thing I knew, I felt myself slowly waking up, without any energy. I couldn't even open my eyes. I could, however, hear voices around me, but in my weakened state, they sounded like they were miles away. I felt like I was also laying on a soft surface, so soft in fact that I could just curl up and fall asleep. As my energy started to return to me, however, I could make out the voices as being from two females and a male.

I groaned as I opened my eyes, blinking rapidly as the harsh light assaulted my retinas. My vision started to clear, and what I saw caused me to; yell out in surprise, sit upright, and shuffle back against the wall behind me. Right in front of my face had been the same horse from before, accompanied by another horse, this one a unicorn with a pink coat, large purple eyes, and a purple mane with a light teal stripe down the middle that hung slightly over its left eye and flowed down its neck. It also had a weird tattoo on its lower back like the other horse, but it was a small purple and white star with two light blue streams instead.

The third thing that stood in front of me was probably what surprised me the most. It was a purple reptile with large green eyes and green spines running from its head down to its arrowhead tipped tail. I looked around the room I was up in, finding it to be somewhere I didn’t recognise. It was a fully furnished bedroom with crystal walls that had a purple tint to them, which would explain the soft surface I was sitting on. It was really nothing more than your average bedroom, well, aside from the crystal walls. There was a window to my left that overlooked a quaint little town that seemed to be filled with other equines, which scared me even more.

I was just about to ask what the actual hell was going on, when I suddenly heard a strange voice in the air. “Darren…?” It asked, echoing eerily around the room. Weirdly, the horses and dragon around me hadn’t said a word.

“Darren…? Darren…!?” The voice continued, now starting to become clearer as a female voice… one that was VERY familiar to me. There was only one person that had that voice.

“...Dani?” I questioned out loud. With that one word, the world around me became clouded by darkness once again, but I never felt more awake.

Darren
The Walker Residence

My eyes shot open, returning me from a deep sleep to the real world, as hot sweat dripped down my face and neck. I was breathing heavily and on the verge of hyperventilating. I sat up rigidly on my hands and stared into the darkness surrounding my bedroom, trying to calm my rapidly beating heart to a normal rate.

As I composed myself, and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, I could just about see the outlines of the furniture in the darkness of our bedroom, although they were a blurry mess. The blackout curtains were drawn, blocking most of the early morning light from entering our room.

However, looking to my left, I saw that one of the bedside lamps was on, and my wife, Dani, was leaning over me.
“Everything ok, dear?” she asked as I quickly grabbed my thin-rimmed oval glasses from off my bedside table and slipped them onto my nose, wanting to see her lovely face, only to be greeted with brown eyes full of concern. “You were tossing, turning, and moaning, like something was scaring you.”

"...I-It's nothing, hun... No need to worry..." I replied, trying to give her my best reassuring smile. She didn’t seem convinced.

"Are you sure? You look like you've seen a ghost or something... Did you have another one?" She gave me a knowing look. I knew exactly what she was implying. There was no way it could be that, right? But what else could it be OTHER than that. It wasn’t possible that it could be anything else, yet it still wasn’t a likely situation either.

"...Yes, I did, but it's fine. Really," I reassured her, stroking her cheek lightly, feeling her shiver faintly at the touch.
"If you say so," she said doubtfully, lifting the covers off of her body, getting out of bed, and drawing back the curtains. I groaned as the light of the morning sun shone sharply into my eyes, causing me to shield them from the onslaught.

"I better get ready for another day of crunching numbers, and you better get ready to take the kids to school." Dani said, moving towards the wardrobe.

I glanced over at the ticking clock. 15 minutes before our children, Harrison and Scarlet, were supposed to be up and getting ready for school. It was my day off today, meaning I was in charge of the kids and the house while my wife went to work at her accounting firm. I looked back at my wife; I could now see her gorgeous face, her sparkling blue eyes, her luscious blonde hair, and her slender figure that was lightly covered by her nightgown. I considered myself lucky to have been married to her for 8 years now.

"Aww, do I have to? I was hoping I could get a lie-in for once in my adult life," I moaned with a pout.

"Well, you should have thought of that before you said yes to the idea of having kids," she said cheekily, a smirk plastered on her face. I audibly groaned and pulled the duvet over my head playfully, trying to block out as much light as possible.

"Come on, mister. You can't live under there forever," I could hear her footsteps move over to my side of the bed before feeling a tugging of the covers as she tried to pull it off of my body.

"You can't make me! You'll never take me alive!" I jokingly shouted, hugging the blanket tightly to my chest so she couldn't pull it out from under me.

As we wrestled for control of the duvet, a smile grew on my face as I conjured up a wicked idea. As she tried to rip the covers away from me, I strongly yanked on them, hearing her gasp as I saw a shadow flip over me and onto the other side of the bed with a loud thump. With the momentum of the motion, I rolled on top of my wife, making sure my legs were on either side of her as to not hurt her, taking the duvet with me.

The covers slipped off of my body and onto the floor, revealing what I thought would be quite the sight to any unknowing onlookers. Dani was now on her back on the mattress, head on the pillow, hair matted, out of breath with a stunned expression on her face. I was on top of her, in only my blue boxers, lightly holding her down, smile engraved on my lips, and breathing heavily. We started laughing at the situation we had ended up in.

After a couple of minutes of chuckling to ourselves, I couldn't help but kiss her passionately on the lips in the heat of the moment. She stared at me for a second before melting into my arms, hastily kissing me back with as much ferocity. We were lip-locked for almost a minute, moaning quietly and just enjoying each other's embrace. We eventually broke the kiss, even more out of breath than we were before.

"That... was..." She started saying between breaths.

"...Intense?" I finished with a laugh, out of breath myself.

"Yeah... That's a good... description..." She agreed with a nod. We laid there in silence for a minute, subconsciously tightening our grip around each other as we caught our breath.

"As much as I would love to stay in bed with you today, I really have to start getting ready for work. I can't be late today," my wife broke the silence as she softly stroking my cheek.

"Ok, fine. I'll let you go. As long as you promise me that we'll continue this later," I said, giving her a look and a wink that told her my intentions. I could feel her shiver slightly at the implication.

"Of course! I promise," she replied, giving me another small kiss on my lips before I rolled back onto my side of the bed as she stood and headed for the door. "You better start getting up too. Those kids won't get themselves up you know," she added with a smile, before opening the door and exiting the bedroom, heading for the bathroom.

Now that she had left, I slowly sprawled myself back out on the bed, thinking about what just happened. It went from playfully to sensual really fast, and she was ok with it. I really do have the best wife a man could ask for, and I wouldn't exchange her for the world.

I looked down at the necklace lying on my chest. It was a half blue, half red shard of crystal about the size of my thumb, attached to an iron chain by a spiral metal holder surrounding the shard. No one knows what type of crystal it came from, even after extensive studying from multiple professionals, but the cut of it was very precise and looked to have been handled with care. I took it lightly into my hand and held it tight, pulling it closer to my chest.

I sighed to myself and thought about just how much I appreciated my life. I had a lovely family, a comfortable home, and there wasn’t a great deal about that that any of us could complain about.

There was just one problem with it though.

Most nights when I went to sleep, I would have these really weird dreams. But ‘dreams’ wasn’t the right word per say, these were visions of what would happen in the near future. I’d taken to calling them "visions" rather than dreams because of that.

I haven't had a proper dream in 15 years.

While the visions were helpful in changing how things played out, there were occasionally a crap-shoot as to whether the outcome would make things better or worse.

I had told my wife about my visions near the beginning of our relationship, seeing as there was no way I was going to be able to keep that a secret, especially if I was going to be spending the rest of my life with her.

Despite her knowing, however, there was no way I was going to tell her about this, she would never believe me. Despite how comfortable I had gotten with my visions over the years, they had never been this... absurd. Could this really be another one of my visions, or did I finally have my first dream in years? No, that wouldn't make any sense. This had to be a vision. But that didn’t make sense either!

Speaking of which, my mind quickly thought back to that strange vision. It made no sense, a magical talking horse coming out from some bright light and supposedly taking me to its world full of other talking equines. I would probably be sent to an insane asylum if anyone found out about it. It would be more so something that would happen in a normal dream. But that didn't make sense either, I hadn't had a normal dream in years. Why would I have one now, of all times?

"I need to wake my kids up," I said to myself, looking at the clock to see it was 7:30AM. I quickly swung my hairy legs off the side of the bed and got up, going around to Dani's side to swiftly pick up the duvet that had fallen on the floor in our tussle. I opened the wardrobe and slipped into my dressing gown. I heard the shower turn on and the water hit the bathtub, signaling that Dani was beginning her morning routine. I exited the bedroom, trying to keep the thought of the vision from plaguing my mind.

I gently opened the door to my children’s bedroom from the landing, letting the light spill in and destroy the darkness that lingered. It was a small room with everything a child could ever want. Toys, games, and piles of clothes littered the floor while a TV stand with their TV and games consoles was sat by the farthest wall from me.

I should really get them to clean their room when they get back from school today. I inched my way inside, doing my best to avoid the hazards on the floor. In front of me was a large bunk bed with the two sleeping kids I was looking for, their chests rising and falling calmly.

They look so innocent when they are asleep. I kind of wish I didn't have to wake them. Both for their benefit and my own. I reached down towards Harrison in the bottom bunk.

"Harry. It's time to wake up," I said softly, shaking him lightly, disturbing his peaceful sleep.

"Ugh... Five more minutes, Dad..." he groaned, turning away from me.

"Sorry buddy. You have to get ready for school," I said, ruffling his messy curls of blonde hair. The 7-year-old groaned once again and lifted his pillow over his head in frustration. I chuckled lightly at the action, knowing that no matter what I did he wouldn't get out of bed, so I quickly moved on to waking up Scarlet. I stepped a rung or two up the ladder and smiled at her sleeping form.

"Scarlet. It's time to wake up," I whispered again, doing the same action as I did for Harry. Instead of moaning as he had, she slowly opened her eyes and yawned.

"Morning, Daddy," she groggily said in her squeaky voice, looking at me sweetly with her shining brown eyes. Even though she was 6 years old, she still couldn't help but call me Daddy. It was quite endearing, but I do hope she will grow out of it in the next couple of years.

"Good morning, sweetheart. It's time to get ready for school."

"I know, Daddy," she quietly said, stretching as she sat up.

"Well, start getting yourself ready," I told her. Then I looked down at her brother, who looked to be falling back asleep. "I'm having a hard time waking your brother up... again. If he isn't up in the next 5 minutes or so, you know what to do." I pulled a knowing smile as she nodded vigorously.

"You can count on me," she said with a mock salute.

"That's my girl! I need to go get ready for the day. I'll see you soon," I finished, stroking her head full of long brown hair before stepping off the ladder and heading for the doorway, seeing her follow me down wearing her little pink nightgown and started running around to get ready.

Knowing she could handle herself and her brother, I exited their room, leaving them to it. I could hear that the shower had stopped but the door was still closed, meaning that Dani was still there. Knowing this, I hastily made my way back into my bedroom and grabbed some clean clothes.

As I left, I passed Dani on her way to our room from the bathroom. Knowing that Dani was done in the bathroom, for now, I immediately entered and closed the door, breathing heavily as the hot, moist air smacked me in the face, steaming up my glasses slightly.

I took off my dressing gown and boxers, the former being hung up on a hanger on the door and the latter being put in the washing basket in the corner of the room. I turned on the shower, put my glasses in their case so they don't get steamy, and carefully stepped into the bathtub, letting the warm water soak me thoroughly.

As I washed, I still couldn't get my mind off the vision. It just keeps tormented me, like it was the most important thing in the world. There is no way that could possibly happen, right? The visions have never lied to me before, so why would they start now?

I need to stop worrying about it and just wait and see if it comes true. I reasoned in my head as I finished washing my body and hair, turning the shower off and stepping out of the bath.

Grabbing a towel off the rack, I dried myself off, making sure to get every nook and cranny. I threw the towel in the washing basket too, just barely missing because of how bad my eyesight was without my glasses, and started dressing. My clothes consisted of navy-blue jeans, white summer socks, my favourite green t-shirt with a Trowel and Hand Fork crossing over in the middle printed on it and my favourite black leather jacket.

After being properly suited up and putting my glasses back on, I had a quick look at myself in the mirror. Wiping away the condensation that had collected there, I admired the way I look for a second. My twinkling blue eyes stared back at me, looking at my medium length curly brown hair sticking out at all angles. I rubbed my chin, feeling the brown stubble that was slowly growing there. I never liked having a big, bushy beard, but I didn't like not having a beard either, so did my wife. She would kill me if the beard disappeared. This was a happy medium.

I also made sure my necklace was resting on top of my shirt between my open jacket. I made sure to never take it off under any circumstances. It was way too precious to me to lose, so I never let it leave my sight.

I saw my muscles being defined by my shirt in my reflection and I couldn't help but flex them slightly. After having been a landscape gardener for the last 7 years of my life, I had started to gain quite a bit of strength from lifting bags of cement for walls, and large planks of wood for fences. Realising that I was being a bit arrogant and my appearance was nice and tidy, I exited the bathroom and started heading downstairs.

As I was going down the stairs, I heard a grunt and a shout of "Ok, Scarlet! I'm up! I'm up!" I glanced into the kid's bedroom to see Scarlet sitting on top of Harry in his bed, him groaning in obvious pain.

She takes so much after her father. She's such a good girl. I thought with a mischievous grin as I went downstairs, each step creaking as I made my way down.

I moved through the hallway, taking in every little detail to try to get my mind off of recent events. I stopped at the end of the corridor, where the back door to the garden was, and looked into the room on my right to see the living room. It was quite spacious, with a TV, two sofas, and a large coffee table in the centre of the room. There was also that bloody vase in the corner of the room. It was such an eye-sore, but I tolerated it because Dani insisted that we kept it as it was a gift from her mother.

Instead, I turned left and went into the kitchen. It was also quite roomy, not as big as the living room but still quite large. It was fully equipped with all of the essential kitchen appliances and a dining table in the centre that was only used for special occasions and holidays such as Christmas.

I instantly started making breakfast. I could cook just fine, but there is never enough time in the mornings to make something like a Full English Breakfast, so I usually just stick to making a plate full of toast and crumpets. I brought out the four-slice toaster, the bread, crumpets, and butter, placing two pieces of bread in one side and two crumpets in the other and started toasting.

After putting breakfast on the plates, I heard the creaking of someone coming down the stairs. Turns out it was two someones, as Harry and Scarlet came racing into the kitchen dressed in their school uniforms.

"Ha! I beat you!" Harry shouted triumphantly, hands on his knees trying to catch his breath.

"No fair! You had a head start! Cheater!" Scarlet yelled back, just as tired as he was. They are both very competitive. They definitely get that from their mother: I don't have a competitive bone in my body.

He crossed his arms defensively "Liar, liar, pants on fire! You're just a sore loser!" This comment definitely struck a chord with Scarlet.

"You take that back!" She screeched, looking ready to claw his eyes out, anger clearly etched on her face.

I think it's about time I stepped between the two before Scarlet decides to choke her brother to death.

"Hey! You two behave, or do you want to go without breakfast today?" I asked sternly, going into strict parent mode. They instantly calmed down and looked at me with sad expressions.

"No, dad."

“No, daddy."

They both told me this, their heads hanging low.

"Now, what do you say to each other?"

"I'm sorry," they both said, giving each other apologetic looks.

"Good. Now that that's over with, let's eat some breakfast," I declared, grabbing the two plates from off the countertop and turning towards the two rowdy kids. They immediately brightened up at the prospect of food, quickly grabbing a piece of toast and a crumpet each.

"Looks like someone's been busy," a voice abruptly said from the hallway. I instantly recognised the melodic voice of my wife, I had somehow not heard her coming down the stairs. She entered the room, now wearing her business attire consisting of a black suit jacket, a light blue skin-tight dress showing off her feminine curves, and black high heels. Her hair was now one big braid and she carried a small black handbag that she put on the unused dining table.

"Well, someone has to keep them in line," I replied with a grin.

"And I don't?" she retorted, putting her hands on her hips and giving me a look that said 'You better watch what you say next.' That look always sent fear running up and down my spine.

Trust me, you do not want to get on Dani's bad side. I had learnt that the hard way. "W-What I mean... is... s-someone has to keep them in line... w-when you aren't here..." I stuttered, watching my words carefully as to not say something I would regret later. Her expression immediately softened.

"Ha ha ha, you're so adorable when you're scared of me," my wife chuckled at my behaviour, walking over to me and kissing me on the nose softly. "I've got to go, alright? I'll see you later."

"...But what about breakfast? I made enough for all of us," I questioned, gesturing with the plates in my hands.

"Because of the fun we had earlier, I'm running a little late. Don't worry, I'll get something on my way. Besides, it means more for you three," she answered, giving me a smile as she ruffled Harry and Scarlet's hair. "I really need to go. I love you!" she gave me a quick kiss on the lips before leaving the room, me saying I love you back as I heard the front door close behind her.

"Bye Mum!" Harrison shouted after her as I took the plates into the living room with Scarlet and Harry following behind me. We still had 15 minutes before we needed to leave, so I usually plonked them in front of the TV while I worked on my laptop.

When the 15 minutes were up, and the plates were emptied, I told them to go get their bags. They went upstairs, with a little bit of hesitation and moaning, while I waited by the front door. Once they were back downstairs, I grabbed my house and car keys and we left, making sure to lock the door on our way out. We hastily got into my red Ford Focus and drove off to their school.

The drive was quite uneventful; we had taken this route so many times by now that I could probably name every street we went down without even looking. Harrison and Scarlet were silent for the most part, talking about random topics every now and then. Once we were at the school, they shuffled out of the car, Scarlet giving me a kiss on the cheek, and walked into the school building.

Once I had gotten home, I locked the door and opened up my laptop to continue my work. Filing invoices, making orders; even on my day off, the work of a landscaper still presses on. I would say the saying 'No rest for the wicked' is a very appropriate description of my life nowadays, but I really wouldn't have it any other way.

After finishing all of my little work tasks, I decided to switch the TV on and watch some shows for a while. The TV flickered to life before the previous channel, which was the kid's program Harry and Scarlet were watching before school, blared in my ears. With a grimace, I quickly changed the channel and sat back and relaxed.

I had been watching TV for the past hour or so now, and the thoughts of the vision were slowly coming back to the forefront of my mind. I knew I had to just wait for the dreaded moment to happen and not let the thought rule me, but I needed to do something productive, otherwise I'm going to go insane from the wait. I hastily turned the TV off, went out into the hallway, and put on my steel toe boots.

When we bought this house 6 years ago when we realised that we were going to be having kids; we couldn't live in a dinky little flat anymore, I made sure that we had a big garden for us to enjoy and for me to work on. The last owners must not have cared about the garden very much because when we moved in it was in complete disarray. Overgrown grass, weeds everywhere, broken down shed, it was in real need of some love and care.

And that's exactly what I gave it. Over the course of our first year living here, I weeded, strimmed, mowed, planted, and built to make the garden the best it could possibly be. The end result was nothing short of incredible.

The garden had been given a complete makeover, a nicely trimmed lawn that the kids could play on, finely turned flowerbed to plant all of my flowers, fruits and vegetables, a well-built shed to store all of my gardening equipment when not in use and greenhouse to store my indoor plants, trees and shrubs planted in specific places around the garden to make it look aesthetically pleasing, freshly built fences and walls, a nicely laid patio with outdoor furniture for me and my wife to chill on. That love and care had really made all the difference.

I decided now would be a good time to work in the garden, to keep my mind off things. I stepped out onto the lawn and shuffled over to the shed to collect my tools. As I opened the wooden door, I noticed the absolute disaster that was the interior. While the outside may look tidy, the inside certainly was not. It looked like a bomb had gone off in there. I guess Harry and Scarlet got their messiness from me. I definitely needed to organise this at some point soon, but I was thinking of doing other things right now.

I sighed to myself as I got to searching through the crime scene for the equipment I needed. I managed to free my mower from the shed's grasp without too much trouble, as well as some other essential tools, such as a spade, a fork, a rake, ECT, but I still needed one more thing: my secateurs. I usually keep my three-inch long pruning knife on me at all times, but sometimes it just doesn't cut it. I knew that they were at the bottom of the pile of tools that I had gotten most of the others from.

"Ugh! This is going to be a nightmare. Why can't it just appear at my feet," I audibly groaned, looking up at the ceiling with my hands sliding down my face before hanging loosely by my side.

As I stared up at the ceiling, I could feel my right-hand tense up slightly, but I just chalked that up to my body instinctively limbering up for the chore ahead of me and being frustrated. I could also swear I saw a faint green light at the bottom of my eye line, but I thought I was just seeing things. I quietly sighed and closed my eyes. I was just about to look down and start my search when I suddenly felt something hit my foot.

I abruptly opened my eyes in surprise and confusion and slowly looked down to see, to my utter shock, the secateurs I was looking for at my feet. Those definitely had not been there before. I shakily knelt down to pick up the suddenly appearing pruning tool and examine it. I turned it in my hand, looking to see if there were any strings attached to the handle or something of that nature; unfortunately, not finding anything.

"The hell? How on earth did this end up by my feet? It couldn't have moved on its own," I questioned out loud, scratching my head in bewilderment. My head was starting to hurt from trying to think of an explanation, so I decided to leave the questions up in the air for now. I'm sure the answers will come in due time, but for now, I wasn't going to question it and got on with my work.

Suddenly, I heard a loud clang from outside the shed, and possibly a gasp as well. I stepped out of the shed to find that the tools I had placed against the fence had fallen over. That wouldn’t be cause for concern, if it wasn’t for the fact that I was sure I had placed them up carefully and they were now laying all over the pavement, like someone had bumped into them. I had a tiny inclination that I knew what had happened, but I didn’t want to face that prospect right now, so I grabbed the tools off of the floor, put them back up, made sure they were carefully placed this time, and got to work on the garden.

So, for the next few hours, I mowed the lawn before it got too tall, planted outdoor and indoor plants for the next growing season, and did general maintenance of the whole garden; including the pruning of each tree and shrub. You would be surprised how much of the lawn gets torn up after two hyperactive children have played on it for a couple of weeks.

After making sure that the irrigation systems were working properly so I didn't have to keep watering the plants every day, I looked at my watch to see it was almost time for me to pick up the kids from school. I dusted myself off, having gotten used to getting my clothes dirty from all of my years of working in gardens, and made my way back through the house, grabbed my keys, and left.

At Harrison and Scarlet's School...

Soon enough, I drove up to the school and parked in front of the gates, not intending on staying for very long. They would be leaving in 5 minutes, so I waited... and waited... and waited... I watched all of the other kids coming out of school to greet their parents, but there was still no sign of either of mine after 15 minutes. Wondering what was taking them so long, I quickly parked in a proper parking space and got out of the car.

Harrison and Scarlet's school was a huge modern looking building with large glass windows all along the front where you could usually see all of the children being taught by their teachers. To get into the school, you had to go through the playground. I was just about to head into the school building, thinking that I would've noticed them if they were outside, when I heard a sudden scream, sounding distinctly like a little girl's.

I crept up beside a wall and peeked around it quietly, what I saw made hatred boil in my body. I saw Harry and Scarlet backed up against the wall, infuriation inscribed on their faces. In front of them was a boy that I recognised as Walter Martinez, a Spanish 11-year-old boy in Year 6. He's a spoiled little brat that gets whatever he wants; his parents are really wealthy and they pretty much built and own most of the buildings in our city, including our house, unfortunately.
"LEAVE US ALONE, WALTER!" Harry shouted in his face.

"Well, that's no way to treat a friend, is it?" Walter replied condescendingly in his posh accent. I saw him glance at the piece of paper that Scarlet had clutched in her hands. "What have you got there?"

"Nothing..." she whimpered, shying away from him.

"It can't be nothing if you're holding it as if your life depended on it. Give it here!" he reasoned, snatching the paper off her to examine it. I could just about see that it seemed to be a picture of our family. I smiled at the sweet sentiment but immediately clenched my fists, realising who had it in their grubby little hands at this moment.

"Hey! Give it back!" Harry yelled, trying to lunge for the picture but Walter yanked it away before he could reach.

"Is this your family?" Walter asked, ignoring the last comment. Scarlet nodded slowly and Walter seemed to look interested for a second. "This is so bad! Why would you draw something like this, and think that anyone would like it? Your precious 'Daddy' would never cherish this! This filth should be ripped up!"

At that, he took the top of the drawing by two hands and started to slowly tear it down the middle, revelling in the torture he was inflicting on them. "NO! STOP! PLEASE!" Scarlet screamed, tears rolling down her face; she probably spent ages drawing and now it was being destroyed right in front of her!

"HEY! What do you think you're doing?" It was my turn to step in now. I stepped out from my hiding place and strode towards them. Walter stopped ripping the top of the paper, his face instantly turning from horrid glee to utter shock and dismay.

"Um... Mr Walker! Fancy seeing you here...! I was just admiring the artwork that you daughter drew for you..." Walter lied, laughing nervously.

"By ripping it up?" I said quizzically, raising an eyebrow.

"Y-You saw that?" he asked, a little fearfully, hastily throwing the page at Scarlet's feet.

"Yes, I did. What makes you think you have ANY right to torment my kids like that?!" I said, raising my voice as I looked down on him.

"...Do you NOT know who I am?! I am Walter Martinez, son of Diego Martinez, head of the City Council, who owns most of the buildings all around here, even yours!" he replied as if he had been insulted, returning to his normal attitude.

"Yeah, I'm well aware of who you and your father are, and that he owns my house. That doesn't mean you can go pushing people about like you're above everyone else."

"Yes, it does! It means I have authority! If I don't like someone, I can get them evicted from their homes with a snap of my fingers!" he snapped his fingers to prove his point, trying to seem older than he actually was with his "eloquent" vocabulary. This kid didn't scare me in the slightest.

"Well, to me, you're just a spoiled little brat who doesn't know anything about the world he lives in! Relying on your dad for everything isn't going to get you anywhere. It's just going to make people hate you. But I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, does it?!" This child has no right to talk to ANYONE like this! He needs to be put in his place.

"Excuse me?! You dare insult my family name! I was just trying to give some honest critique but that just seemed to blow up in my face!"

"You call that honest critique?! You dismissed it almost immediately and started ripping it up! She's six! You're just a bully who doesn't care about anyone but himself! I saw your face when you were ripping the paper up in front of them. You were loving it!"

"That art was a piece of rubbish! It was a waste of paper, just like they are a waste of space that shouldn't even exist!" He stared daggers at my two kids, then back at me. I saw them both tear up at the comment.

That was the last straw. I had had enough of this selfish brat. My fury had reached its peak. With steam firing out of my nostrils, I lurched towards him, gripping the front of his jumper and hoisted him up into the air. He was shocked, to say the least, and tried to struggle out of my grasp, but I held firm.

"YOU DO NOT SAY THAT ABOUT MY KIDS! I WILL NOT TOLERATE THIS SORT OF BEHAVIOUR! I have half a mind to smack you right here and now, but I won't; I have morals, unlike you! Now, I suggest you get out of my sight before I RIP YOUR FUCKING HEAD OFF!" I roared, spitting in his face, frightening the life out of him.

At that statement, I dropped him from the height I was holding him at, which wasn't high enough to hurt him, unfortunately. He landed ungracefully on his butt but quickly got up and dusted himself off. He looked furious, but I could see there was quite a bit of fear in his eyes. I had done my job.

"HOW DARE YOU! No one speaks to the Martinez family like that and gets away with it. I will be letting my father know about this encounter and then you will be sorry. You haven't heard the last of me, Darren Walker!" with that, he stomped away, ice cold stare on all three of us.

"Yeah, you go do that! See if I care!" I finished watching the disgraced boy go, tail between his legs. "Are you two alright?"
"W-We're fine, Daddy," Scarlet sniffled, wiping her nose on her sleeve.

"That... was... Awesome!" Harrison cheered. "You sure showed him, Dad! You even used a bad word on him. So cool!"

"No, not cool. I let my anger get to me again. What I did was very wrong, especially to someone like Walter. He may act mature, but he's still a kid like you. I'll probably pay the price for it later. Don't ever do what I just did, got it?" I interrupted, giving them a stern look.

"But he won't bother us again, right?" Scarlet asked, hope in her eyes.

"I don't think so, sweetie. He sounded pretty angry. But I will protect you from him, at all costs, alright?" I promised, getting on one knee and stroking her cheek softly.

"Ok, Daddy," she said sweetly, melting into my hand. I looked down to see the drawing that had started this ordeal. I picked it up and examined it.

All of the people that were drawn were stick figures drawn in various different colours. In the background was a drawing of our house, with a bright yellow sun and luminous green grass. It was very endearing. The tear in the top was only a quarter of the way down the page and could be easily fixed with sticky tape.

"...Do you like it?" She questioned, looking up at me with pleading eyes.

"I love it. As soon as we get home and we fix it, I'm putting it straight on the fridge," I complimented. I could see her light up immensely at the comment. It always seemed like putting their accomplishments on the fridge was the highest form of reward for kids.

"Hey, how about we forget this ever happened and head out?" They nodded at the suggestion and we started heading for the exit. "But we need to head to the supermarket first to get some dinner," they nodded again in understanding as we got into the car and skirted out of the school premises.

At The City Centre...

It only took us ten minutes to get from school to the supermarket. Once we got there, it didn't take us long to find a parking spot in the marginally busy car park in front of the building. I stopped the car and started to grab my wallet.

"Ok, kids. Let's go get some f-" I started to say as I opened the driver side car door, but I was stopped as something incredibly strange happened. My body froze and my vision started to cloud up with a blue fog. I didn't know what was going on. I couldn't see my natural surroundings anymore and it was starting to freak me out. For a moment, I thought I had somehow gone blind, but suddenly, my vision started coming back. The fog was still there, but I could see something, and I wasn't inside my car.

I was outside of my car; more specifically, behind the boot, and it was open. I was placing the shopping inside and the kids were just about to get back into their car seats when I suddenly heard a scream.

"HELP! THAT MAN STOLE MY BAG!" a feminine voice shrieked as I saw a man who I think was in his mid 20's, wearing all black clothes, carrying a red handbag and running towards me at light speed. I looked behind him to see the woman in a red designer dress with long blonde hair trying to chase after him in her high heels.

I didn't have any time to react so he sprinted past me, nearly bowling me over. I knew I had to go after him, but I hesitated because I didn't want to leave Harry and Scarlet alone.

"Stay here. Don't move until I get back," I quickly said to them before turning back to the day-light robber. "HEY! STOP!" I shouted as I started to run off after him. He sped up his run at my shout, me following suit, thankful that I had a job that required good leg strength and stamina.

The thief turned a corner down another street with me following hot on his heels. Unfortunately for me, he seemed to have back-up, as he got into a car that was parked by the pavement before it skidded away, leaving me in the dust.

"Crap!" I shouted, hands on my knees out of breath. There was no catching up to them now. So, I started walking back to the car park defeated.

"-ad. Dad. DAD!" I heard a voice shouting to me as I came back to reality. Looking behind me, I could see Harrison shaking my shoulder, concern lacing his eyes. I was in a shocked daze; did I really just have a vision during the day? That had never happened to me before, ever. Why was all of this weird stuff happening today? First the pony vision, then the suddenly appearing secateurs, now this!

"Dad, are you okay? You spaced out there for a second," Harrison asked, a worried look on his face.

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine. J-Just lost in thought, that's all," I lied, trying to put on my best smile for him. I didn't want to scare them.

"OK..." he replied, not looking convinced but not questioning it. All the while, Scarlet looked oblivious to the world around her. "Are we going shopping or what?"

"Yes, let's go," I finished, watching them get out of their seats and exiting the car, me following suit.

We walked up to the car park towards the supermarket, thinking about what had just happened. "How can I have two visions in one day? This day just keeps getting weirder and weirder. It's starting to scare me," I said to myself, guiding my children into the shop to buy all of the items we needed.

Ten minutes later, we had found all of the products and had paid for them at the till trying to put the second vision out of my mind. As I was starting to put the shopping in the boot of the car, I realised something. This is the exact same place I was in the vision!

"HELP! THAT MAN STOLE MY BAG!" a feminine voice shrieked suddenly. I didn't need to turn around to know what was going on, I had already lived through this. I knew I had to change this somehow. I had to stop this guy! I didn't want to have to get my pruning knife out of my pocket if I could help it, especially in public.

As soon as I knew he was going to pass me, I quickly spun around and put my foot in front of his path. He had no time to react and tripped, sending him sprawling to the ground in pain, handbag flying a few feet away from him. He started crawling towards the bag, dragging his toes along the ground. He was very determined to get away with this bag apparently, so I swiftly shuffled over and scooped it up out of his reach.

He looked up at me with a growl, appearing like he was about to lunge at me, so I booted him in the face for good measure, knocking him unconscious. I pulled out my phone and called 999, telling them about the situation. They got here five minutes later to arrest the man. I also hinted at the fact that this guy had some accomplices parked up around the corner waiting for him to show up. I handed the bag back to the woman, who thanked me profusely and gave me a grateful hug before we got back into our car and drove home.

Back At The Walker Residence...

The drive home was full of praise and amazement from my kids, saying how cool I looked stopping the robbery. I tried not to have a huge grin on my face as I thought about how I changed the outcome of the situation for the better. Once we got home, I quickly got to work on fixing the picture that Scarlet had made. Putting it on the fridge really brightened her spirits.

We all tried to relax after the majorly long day we all had. The three of us play board games like Monopoly, and card games like Uno, for the next hour. Unsurprisingly, the kids won most of the games seeing how competitive they were, but it's always so much fun to play with them. I love these two rascals so much.

Deciding that we needed to get away from the games after a particularly rough game of tag out in the garden, I switched on the TV and let them pick what they wanted to watch. They decided on a cartoon, as expected, and we sat down on one of the sofas together and watched it. It was a very basic show, but Harry and Scarlet seemed to enjoy it, so I wasn't complaining.

Half an hour later, the show was over and the kids were bored again. They quickly thanked me for spending time with them and rushed upstairs to find something to do. I smiled at their child-like innocence. I kinda wish they didn't have to grow up.

I went to change the channel so I could relax for a little while before Dani got home, when I noticed the show that had started while I was talking to my kids. It looked to be a brightly coloured cartoon starring pastel-coloured... horses. I believe it's called My Little Pony if I remember correctly. I had heard about it before, mainly that it was tailored to little girls around Scarlet's age but that young men that were my age were enjoying the show as well. I didn't really see the appeal myself, but it’s not my place to judge.

This usually wouldn't be cause for concern; this show would usually come on after my kids watched TV and I would change the channel, but today, in my now tired state, I looked at the show more closely. There were currently two characters on the screen, one was a small light pink horse, possibly a filly, with a light blue curly mane wearing a sash and saddlebags, the other was a... purple horse with wings and a horn with a star tattoo in its lower back.

She was getting panicked that she was late for a class field trip, getting some saddlebags out of a cupboard while hopping back and forth on her hooves. The filly calms her down and tells her not to worry. I gasped as I realised something.

"That's the same horse from my vision." I whispered to myself in astonishment. Speaking of which, I also realised that I was now in the same position I was in my vision too.

"Crap! This is actually happening," I said to myself again. I looked over to the corner of the room to see, unsurprisingly, the same bright purple light from the vision.

Knowing what was coming, I covered my eyes with my arm to make sure that I wasn't blinded and braced myself for the blasting force. Unfortunately, the force was too strong and I fell back onto my ass nonetheless. Once the light was gone, I looked up to see the thing I had been waiting for all day. Standing before me was the same purple horse that was just on TV. She was giving me the same smile she did in the vision, with the same grimace.

"Ugh, even after a whole week, it still hurts my head to use magic… Hello. My name is Twilight Sparkle. Nice to finally meet you," The purple equine introduced herself, extending a hoof out just like she did in the vision.

"H-Hello." I stuttered, not accepting the hoofshake, still bewildered by the fact that I was talking to a purple pony from a little girl's TV show. I'm so glad that I know what's going on.

“Oh, where are my manners? Let me help you up.” I saw her horn start to light up, but I stopped her.

“No. Don’t. You don’t need to use your levitation shit, or whatever the fuck it is. I can get myself up.” I said, maybe a little too aggressively, pushing myself to my feet.

She gave me the most bewildered look. “Wait, how did you-” She stopped herself, before realisation seemed to dawn on her. “You saw this coming, didn’t you? You had a vision of this interaction.”

Now it was my turn to bewildered. “Huh? How do you know-”

“How did I know that? I've been watching you for a little while now, Darren. I also know that you are a family man, living with your wife, Dani, and two kids, Harrison and Scarlet. I’ve been studying you and your kind, learning what makes you tick," she stated, making me even more baffled as she sat on her haunches.

"So, you were basically stalking me?!" I asked, not truly believing what I was hearing.

"No, no, no, no, no! Nothing like that! Think of it more like a scientist observing a test subject. It was really fascinating to see how you talked and interacted with others. How different your kind is to mine is amazing," This was getting a little weird now, not that we weren't already living in Strangeville. This pony had been watching my every move, probably taking down notes like some weirdo, while I was none the wiser.

"O... kay. I'm just going to forget the fact that that's a little creepy. For now. You seem to know so much about me, but I don't know anything about you, apart from the fact that you're a magical talking pony who has been watching me for God knows how long."

"Oh, of course. As I said, I am Twilight Sparkle. I am the Princess of Friendship, one of the ruling Princesses presiding over the Kingdom of Equestria."

"Equestria? I've never heard of it before?"

"That's because it doesn't exist here. It's in a parallel universe where ponies replace humans."

"Ok, I guess that makes sense. Wait, you said you were ONE of the Princesses?"

"Yes, along with Princess Celestia, the Princess of The Sun, Princess Luna, the Princess of The Moon, who rule from the capital city of Canterlot, and Princess Cadence, the Princess of Love, who mainly governs over The Crystal Empire."

It took me a moment to process this information. "...What about you? Where do you 'rule' from?"

"Oh, I live in the small town of Ponyville, with my friends," Equestria? Canterlot? Ponyville? Way to be completely obvious with these names. I noticed that she seemed to have a more sombre tone of voice at the mention of her friends.

"Hey, what's wrong?" I decided to kneel down and get more on her level.

"Nothing... It's just that..." She seemed to have a hard time getting the words out, she couldn't even look me in the eye. "I miss my friends. I've been stuck in your world for a week now... They must be really worried about me."

"A week? Why can't you get back? As a matter of fact, how did you get here in the first place?"

"I used my magic. Magic is a major part of my world. It took a lot of energy to cast the spell to get here. I've only just gotten all of my magical ability back; I can go back home now whenever I want to, but it still hurts to use it."

"Why haven't you then?"

"Because I wanted to make contact with you first," she gave me a small smile, beaming at me with those huge eyes of hers that just couldn't help but make me smile at just how cute she looked.

"But out of the 7 BILLION people on earth, you chose to 'observe' me? You chose to make contact with me? Why?"

"Darren, from the moment I saw you, I knew you were somepony- someone... special. After observing you, I've seen how much of a nice person you can be. I saw you protecting your kids earlier, and how you stopped that mean thief too. I may not completely approve of your methods, but you were doing it for the right reasons."

"It was nothing, really. I was just doing right by my kids and that woman. Anyone would have done it," I blushed at the compliment.

"But you're not just 'anyone,' I said you were special and I mean it. I think it's obvious why I picked you." What does she mean by 'special?' Whatever she found so obvious wasn't to me.

"How so? I'm no one that special. I'm just Darren."

"Wait, you don't know? You're more special than any of the other humans I've seen. Your visions! Haven't you ever wondered why you have them? Where they come from?"

"My visions? No, I haven't. I've had them almost all my life. I never questioned them, until today... How are these relevant?" Now I was more confused than ever. How do my visions have anything to do with this?

"You really don't know. How can you not know!?"

"Know what!? What are you going on about?! Get to the point already!" I was starting to get angry that this pony was beating around the bush like this.

"Ok, Ok!" She sighed, clearly having a hard time getting the words out. “You might find this hard to believe. Darren... you have magic!"

…

"Ha ha ha ha ha! That's funny...! 'I have magic.' Please..." I laughed. That was complete rubbish. There is no way I have magic. I looked at Twilight's face to see her expression hadn't changed. If anything, it looked even more serious than before.

"...Wait, you're not joking? That's not possible! Magic doesn't exist here!" I am a firm believer that there is no such thing as magic or ghosts. They make no sense in my mind and I don't know why people believe that nonsense whole-heartedly.

"But what about what happened earlier today, with your pruning tool? It just appeared at your feet out of nowhere."

"It was probably just at my feet all along and I didn't notice it straight away. That doesn't mean I have magic."

"No, it wasn't. You used Equestrian magic, more specifically levitation, to pull the tool from the pile. I saw you do it. I know you wield Equestrian magic. I'm the Element of Magic for Celestia's sake! I know magic when I see it!" she stomped her hoof to assert her point.

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about, but we're not in your world, are we? Magic is non-existent here. There is no way for it to exist. You should know that if you 'observed' me for so long."

"I got here by using my magic, didn't I?! What if somepony, or something, used magic to get to this world. I've seen it happen before." She stood back up and stepped towards me almost aggressively.

"Again, I don't know what you're talking about, but you're wrong about me! There is no such thing as magic in this world, and there is no way you are changing my mind!”

"I'm not wrong about this! I know, with absolute certainty, that you have magic!" I had had enough of this craziness for one day.

"Just stop! This is ridiculous! I suggest you go. Go back to your world. You're wasting your time," I turned away from her with my arms crossed, adamant on my opinions and viewpoints, hoping that she would just leave.

"But... Darren..." she tried to continue, but I was done. I was at my boiling point with this... pony.

"I SAID GO!" I yelled, suddenly spinning around and putting my right hand out in front of me. I don't know what I was planning to do but I never managed to do it; suddenly I felt a buzz of energy in my head and a luminous light green aura type bubble came out of my hand and was sent flying across the room, straight past Twilight, hitting Dani’s vase. The vase was covered in the aura and sent soaring off its podium and onto the floor a few feet away, luckily not broken on the soft carpet.

Dani would have my head if that thing broke. I stood there in pure shock, processing what had just happened. My mind was blown. Twilight was right. I had magic. I gasped as I suddenly remembered something.

I could also swear I saw a faint green light at the bottom of my eye line, but I thought I was just seeing things. I quietly sighed and closed my eyes. I was just about to look down and start my search when I suddenly felt something hit my foot.

Twilight looked shocked at first, looking at the vase that had been forced to the ground, but then she looked back at me with a massive smirk on her face. "HA! See, I told you! But you didn't want to believe me!" she gloated. I was flabbergasted. I had managed to shoot an otherworldly aura from my hand and send a vase flying to the floor, all without touching it.

"What was that?!" I asked in utter disbelief, looking down at my hands with a little fear of the unknown.

"I would say that was a small but powerful burst of a levitation spell. It's one of the simplest spells for a normal unicorn back in my world to master. Seeing as you didn't know how to control it, it was sent out in a burst of energy that sent the vase across the room instead of taking hold of it so you could move it," she explained matter-of-factly. As if to show her point, I saw her horn lit up with the same sort of aura that was just released from my hand, except it was purple instead of green. That aura surrounded the vase and it was levitated off the floor and back onto its podium.

"I did that!?" I said, more so to myself than Twilight. I was scared now. "What about with the secateurs?"

"That was a more concentrated levitation spell. You actually took hold of the tool and moved it yourself, as opposed to pushing it away with a burst of energy."

"But I didn't even know I could do that yet!"

"You did wish for it to appear at your feet. You must have done it subconsciously, without even thinking."

All of this new information, about alternate dimensions and magic was giving me a headache. I needed to sit down, so I slumped down on the sofa in a sort of numb daze. "H-How do I control it?"

"You would have to train yourself to master your magic. I can help you with that."

"You would do that? After only just meeting me?" I gave her a sceptical look.

"Of course. I wouldn't still be here if I didn't want to help you," she gave me a smile, probably recognising the fear in my eyes. "Besides, I've watched you for long enough now that I can consider you a good person."

"…That's still a little bit creepy... And you've only been watching me for a week. I don't think that's enough time to fully trust someone, and I only just met you! I'm not sure I can trust you," Twilight's face fell at that comment with an almost hurt expression. This caused me to pause. She seemed to have good intentions, even if her methods are... unorthodox at best. "...But... I have no idea how to control this... magic. I guess I have no choice. Let's get started!" I rubbed my hands together, ready to get this done.

Her face lit up again for a second, before becoming serious again. "Great, but I don't know whether it's a good idea to do it here..."

"Why not? The kids are busy doing whatever upstairs, Dani won't be home for at least half an hour, we're alone. I don't see a problem."

"It could be dangerous. You could hurt somepony- someone... in an environment like this, and I don't really want to be spotted either. I would feel a lot better about this if you... came to my world?" I was surprised that she would make this suggestion.

"You can do that?"

"Yes, if I can come here, I don't see why I can't take you back with me," I was definitely uncertain about this, especially with what I had seen from the vision this morning.

"...How long would I be there for?"

"That's the thing. I don't know how long it'll be before I can transport you back. It will take even more energy to get both of us there, so it could be a lot longer than a week. It's nowhere near permanent, but it could still be a while," this had me severely worried. What about my wife, my kids? They would be lost without me.

"Wait, I can't just leave my normal life for god knows how long. What about my family. Dani, Harry, Scarlet. How do you think they would feel if I just suddenly disappeared?"

"I know how you feel, but this is the only way this will work out. I've been here long enough as it is."

"T-There has to be another way! Can't they come with me?"

"That's not a good idea. I don't think I would have enough magical power to send four people and myself to Equestria all at once. It was hard enough to get myself here as it was."

"...Then I'm not going. I'm not leaving my family alone! You’re just going to have to stay here." I stood back up, adamant in my decision.

"But, Darren, you have no idea how to use your magic properly. If you don't come with me, then literally anything could happen. You're getting stronger, Darren. I don't want you hurting anypony!" She stepped towards me aggressively again, forgetting to correct herself. “And I can’t stay here! I’ve been here long enough as it is! I have duties back in Equestria that I can’t leave behind, and they’re important, as am I. What if Equestia is attacked and I’m-”

"I don't care! I'm not going and that's final! If you’re not going to stay, then I can figure it out on my own. I work better alone anyway. I'm sure I can figure it out somehow... Now would be a good time for you to leave. You've done enough," I interrupted, turning away from her once again stubbornly, hoping she would actually leave this time.

I had never really been one for "teamwork." I've worked alone all my life, apart from my family. They are the only people I trust. I only considered going with this pony because I was scared of whatever this magic was. Where did it come from? Why did I have it? All of these answered I would have to find out on my own. The room was silent for a moment. I almost thought she had left.

"...Fine. I get it. You can't bear to leave and let your family be alone without knowing where you are..." I smiled to myself, knowing I was finally getting through to her. "But I can't just sit on the sidelines and watch you possibly hurt somepony you care about with magic you don't understand. So, you've left me no choice. You've forced my hoof."

I realised that those words sounded all too familiar. She had said that in my vision. I knew exactly what that meant. I turned back to Twilight to see her eyes were closed and her horn was shrouded in her aura again. She was concentrating on the spell would take her home and, based on the vision and what she just said, she was taking me with her whether I liked it or not.

"Twilight... You don't want to do this..." I warned her.

"I'm sorry Darren, but I'm doing this for your own good," she replied with her eyes still closed. I could see her horn glowing brighter and brighter, getting closer to the apex of the spell. I can't let her do this! I wasn't going to be trapped in her world as the vision had said. I was going to change this outcome if it was the last thing I do! I did the first thing I could think of.

"Oh no, you don't! I'm not going with you! Not this time!" I shouted as I sprinted across the room and tackled her to the ground, grabbing her by the horn. She yelped as we collided with the hard floor, taking away her concentration from the spell. Unfortunate for me, I was too late as the spell was cast before she completely lost her focus. We were suddenly shrouded in the same white light that had appeared when Twilight had shown up. Before I could do anything else to stop this process, the spell took full effect and I blacked out.

Act 1:1 - Welcome to Equestria

View Online

Darren
Location: ???

I groaned as I felt myself come back to the world of the living. The first thing I noticed was that I felt like crap. It was like my head had thrown a party and I wasn't invited. My body ached all over and I couldn't muster any amount of energy. The second thing was that I was laying on a hard surface, feeling what I could only assure was grass between my fingers.

"Ugh... What happened?" I moaned to myself, trying to gather enough strength to at least open my eyes to see where I was. After a few tries, I finally managed to partially free my eyes from their dark imprisonment, but they could only squint. It was a big mistake; I winced as I was blinded by the cruel light that surrounded me.

As my vision cleared up, I was able to open my eyes completely and see my surroundings. I was staring up at the slowly setting sun shining brightly down from the almost cloudless sky. I had somehow found myself lying in a grass field of sorts, a fence surrounding its borders. On the other side of the fence was a dirt road that followed the fence line and just past it was a drop off to what I could only assume was a cliff.

But that wasn’t the weirdest thing about the environment I was in. Everywhere I looked, everything had an almost cartoony look to it, with colours so vibrant that they almost hurt my eyes from a single glance. It was almost like I had been pulled into a cartoon show.

As I looked around in confusion, I grimaced and rubbed my head as the pain throbbed through me again. "Where the hell am I? Why do I feel like I was hit by a train or something?" I tried to get to my feet on shaky legs, only to fall on my ass multiple times. I felt quite disorientated. I managed to stand and walk around the area, albeit unsteadily. It felt like I was learning to walk again.

"Now, to figure out where I am?" I thought the best place to start would be to look over the cliff to get a better idea of where I had ended up. I gradually made my way over to the fence, clumsily clambered over it until I fell over it and landed on my back with a thud.

“Well... That’s just great...” I groaned, shakily pushing myself back to my feet and very slowly inching my way across the dirt path to another patch of grass that led to the edge of the cliff. I didn't like what I saw.

There was nothing I recognised. The large expanse I saw before me was mostly countryside, but I did see a small town at the bottom of the huge mountain I had somehow ended up on, but I couldn't make it out too well because of how far away it was. It would be quite a long trek if I ever wanted to make it there.

"Wha- how did I get all the way up here? And where is here exactly?" I question again, looking to see if there was anything I could recognise, like a landmark or something.

Suddenly, I felt a large gust of air as something flew up the face of the cliff and right past my face. I staggered back from the force, once again falling on my back with a thud and a yell of “Woah!” I shook off the ache I now felt in my back, leant up on my elbows, and glanced up at the blazing blue skies to see what had just whizzed past me. My jaw literally dropped at what I saw.

"I-Is that... a pegasus?!" I stuttered as I stared up into the atmosphere from where I lay. It was an orange Pegasus with a black mane, but I couldn't discern any other features since it was way too high up in the air. It joined other pegasi that were flying in the sky that I hadn’t noticed before.

"W... h... how...? What is going on?!" I shouted, throwing my arms straight up in the air, my head laying back onto the grass. They stayed up there for a second before they fell back down by my side in exasperation. I stared up into the clear sky for a while, just trying to contemplating how this could have possibly happened.

As I thought about this for a bit, it felt like there was something pinching the back of my brain. Like there was some important information that I was forgetting about. That pinching started to grow, and grow, until it became a giant slap in the face. I remembered everything.

The weird day I had, the visions, when Twilight suddenly appeared, when I found out that there were alternate universes and that I had magic somehow, Twilight trying to persuade me to come to her world with her but I refused, her deciding to force me to go 'for my own good' before I intervened. I understood what had happened now. I was in Twilight's world.

I was in sheer disbelief. There was no way I was in an alternate dimension. But here I was, in a cartoony world full of magical ponies. The vision had come true. I sat back up, looking at my surroundings again to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating. I tentatively crawled back over to the cliff and hung my legs over the edge. I put my head in my hands and let out a groan of frustration. I still felt like shit. You would think that interdimensional travel wouldn't make you feel this rotten.

Wait a minute... this is different from before. In the vision I didn't feel THIS horrible, and I was laying on a soft surface, a bed to be exact, not a solid surface with grass covering it. I had ended up in a completely different place than the vision had specified. So, I did change my fate after all, even if I didn't actually alter much. Don't know whether it was for the better or worse, but at least I tried to do something about it.

For a moment, I just sat there, swinging my legs over the cliff edge, watching as the Pegasi flew across the sky at high speed and... destroyed clouds by kicking them? How can they even do that? That seems like it would be an impossible task, even for a flying pony...

I probably shouldn't question how this world works.

I reflected on today's events as I watched the sun started its descent towards the horizon; specifically, how I’d gotten here in the first place. My mind wandered to my family, sadness welling up in my body, tears starting to form in my eyes as my hand moving down to my necklace. I held back the tears, however, knowing that I couldn’t let my emotions get the best of me. I’m not the type of person to cry my eyes out over everything; I'm not that weak minded. Instead, my thoughts quickly turned to why I was here, and my sadness quickly turned into anger as my blood started to boil and my fists clenched on reflex, holding the crystal tightly in my hand and pressing it against my chest.

That pony... Twilight... When I find her, I'm going to make her pay. She's going to wish she never brought me here. My hands flew to my head to interlock with my curly hair, ready to pull it out at any moment. My thoughts were so morbid. I know I shouldn't feel like this, but I couldn't help it. She took me away from my family, my home, my LIFE, and I wasn't too happy about it. Knowing that I should calm down, I used some breathing techniques to calm myself, only marginally working. I promise I'll make it back to you. I promise you'll see me again, if it's the last thing I do.

"Well, there's no point in sitting here and making myself angrier. I guess my next course of action should be to go to the nearest town or city and see if I can find her. She is going to send me back whether she likes it or not!" I reasoned, slowly pushing myself to my feet. I looked out upon the landscape below the mountain, only noticing the town I saw earlier. There was no way I would be able to get there before nightfall.

But, just then, I looked up and saw the Pegasus from before suddenly fly to the right and dive bomb towards the mountain. I was scared for a second that they would crash into the side of the mountain, but that concern quickly evaporated as I noticed them dive behind the walls of a large city built into the side of the mountain down the dirt path. "Huh... how did I not notice that before? For that matter, how is that city even holding together. Oh well, it's a place I can go that's close at least," I said to myself, cutting my losses and heading for the city, hoping for the best.

Twilight
At Twilight's Castle, Within The Library...

I could start to feel myself come to. I wasn't sure what had happened to knock me unconscious, but I did know that my head was pounding in my skull, my horn felt like it was on fire, there was ringing in my ears, and I had absolutely no energy. I couldn't even open my eyes. I could feel that I was laying on the hard floor though. As I lay there, the ringing started to lessen and I could actually make out voices, two in fact, but I couldn't define who they were.

"...Is she going to be alright?" the first, distinctively young male voice, asked with worry in his tone.

"She'll be fine. Things like this happen to her all the time. She doesn't have any cuts or bruises, luckily. I just wonder how she managed to get herself in that sort of situation this time," the second, clearly female voice, replied in an effort to console the owner of the first voice’s uneasiness.

"She probably just fell asleep while reading again. She can get like that sometimes," the male voice said.

"I wouldn't be surprised. Although I'm surprised it managed to knock her out," the female voice replied. I groaned as I started to feel my energy come back to me, the pain seeming to worsen and spread around my body as a result.

"Hey, I think she's coming too," the male voice said. I slowly opened my eyes, momentarily being blinded by the bright sunlight hitting my eyes. After a few moments of adjusting, I was finally able to make out who the ponies that were standing other me were.

On my right stood Spike, and on my left, Starlight, their eyes of green and purple, filled with concern, stared back at me. I looked around and saw that I was in the castle library, books filling the shelves in the wall from floor to ceiling. I noticed that there was a messy pile of books on the ground a few feet away from me. I shook my head to try and get rid of the pain, but it only seemed to make it worse.

"Ow... my head... what happened?" I moaned, just about managing to move a hoof up to my head with the little amount of strength I had in me.

"We were hoping you could answer that question. We were starting to get really worried about you; you've locked yourself in here for the last week," Starlight answered.

"We heard a loud bang, so we rushed in to see what had happened. We found you under that pile of books knocked out cold," Spike continued, pointing towards said books as Starlight started to put them back on the shelves with her magic. "Are you alright?"

"Not really. My head is killing me, my entire body hurts and my horn feels like it was cooked over a hot stove," I responded. Even moving my head to look at them was causing me pain.

"Do you need to go to the hospital?" Spike asked.

"...No. I'm sure the pain will be gone soon. No need to worry, Spike." I gave him a comforting smile. His tense body relaxed at the gesture.

"What were you doing in here anyway? Must have been important for you to be in here for a whole week. You hid yourself away so suddenly. Just be glad that the students are away for the summer," Starlight inquired, trotting back over to us after having stacked the books. I racked my brain for the answer, but try as I might, it just wasn't coming back to me. It's like the pain was mentally blocking out the memory.

"I... don't know. I remember arriving home from Canterlot, rushing in here not long after I got back, and looking through lots of books and scrolls, 'cause who wouldn't want to study piles of books for days on end..." I saw Spike roll his eyes at that comment. "I remember being really excited about something."

Starlight looked at Spike and me with a confused expression. "Why were you so excited about A Study of Alternate Dimensions and Parallel Universes: Truth or Fiction? The last time something happened involving other universes... it didn't end so well." She levitated the two respective books off of the table, downcast look on her face. She really shouldn’t keep beating herself up about that.

"Alternate dimensions?" Why was I so excited by alternate dimensions? It's not like we haven't been to them before. Why would it be so special now? I could feel my memory start to clear up. I remembered casting a spell that let me go to an alternate universe. There I discovered the human race and I met...

DARREN! I gasped as I suddenly remembered what had happened over that time period. Realising that he was nowhere to be seen, I hastily tried to get to my hooves and run around like a mad mare to search for him, but with how little energy I had, I immediately crumpled into a heap on the crystal floor, almost falling into a bookcase. My ex-student and my number one assistant rushed over to me to check I wasn't hurt.

"Whoa, Twilight! Are you ok? What's the big rush for?" Spike asked as Starlight checked me for any injuries.

"No! Where is he? I have to find him!" I shouted, trying to get to my hooves once more, but ultimately struggling and falling, out of breath. Starlight said something, but I wasn't paying attention.

"Where could he be? I'm sure I cast the spell properly, unless his little 'interruption' made me lose my concentration. What in Equestria was he thinking doing that? Maybe I shouldn't have brought him here. He did say that he didn't want to come, but I thought that I was doing the right thing. Oh, this is all my fault!"

“TWILIGHT! Calm down... breath..." Starlight said, befuddled by my frantic behaviour. I was surprised by her loud voice, but I took her advice and tried some breathing techniques to calm myself down. Once I had sufficiently calmed down, Starlight continued, "Now, what are you talking about? Who's 'he'?"

I signed. I don't know how they are going to take this. "I guess you two have the right to know... the truth is... I haven't actually been here the whole time."

"But we saw you run in here with the biggest smile on your face, and you haven't come out since. Where could you have possibly been?" Spike asked.

"...Would you believe me if I told you that I've been in an alternate universe for the past week?" I gave them a nervous smile, waiting for their reaction.

To my surprise, they didn't seem all that fazed by this revelation. "Well, it's not like we haven't been to other universes before," Spike mentioned.

"But this is so much different than those times. Nothing like those timelines where evil won!" I asserted, Starlight cringing at my harsh tone.

"Come on, what could be more bizarre than Canterlot high?" Spike doubted with a wave of his clawed hands.

"Yeah, from what I heard of this 'Canterlot high', I don't really see what could be any weirder than that," Starlight chimed in.

"How about a human world where some of them have so much malice and hatred towards each other that they will literally do anything to get what they want?" I growled, thinking back to some of the horrible things I had seen and heard that those humans have done.

I could almost see their blood run cold at my harsh words. "T... they can't b-be that bad... right?" Starlight sputtered.

"Starlight, if someone even tries to disagree with what they believe in, they can go to some extreme lengths to 'rectify it.' Even to the point of starting a world war and... k... kil..." I couldn't even bring myself to say it. It was just too horrible.

Starlight immediately knew what I was trying to say. "Whoa, ok. Spike does not need to hear about stuff like that." She quickly covered his ears, laughing nervously.

"Hey! What is it? I can take it," Spike defended, using his wings to push himself out of her grasp.

"No, she's right Spike. There is no need for you to hear about these things."

Starlight gave me a questioning look. "Wait, how were you in such a horrible place for a whole week? Couldn't you just transport yourself back?"

"No, I couldn't. The spell to take me there and back takes a lot of magical energy. I had to 'recharge,' so to speak, so I had no choice but to stay there."

"Really? Well, you're back now. You don't need to worry about those dreadful things anymore," Starlight reasoned, putting her hoof on my shoulder.

"A-About that..." I hesitated, looking away from the two ashamed.

"What did you do this time?" Spike sighed warily.

I couldn't look them in the eyes as I thought about my next words. "I may have brought a human to Equestria."

…

"YOU WHAT?!?!?!" they both shouted, before Starlight continued. "But you said..."

"I know what I said, but he's not like that. He's kind, selfless and insanely loyal, especially to his family. He'd put everyone else's well-being over his own and would risk everything just to save the life of a complete stranger."

Starlight continued to have a very confused look plastered on her face. "But how can you possibly trust him, especially after what you've seen from his species? You don't even know him very well."

"Sometimes, actions speak louder than words, and I've seen him help multiple people out of the kindness of his heart, even if they are bad people and are mean to him afterwards. I trust him like I would with any of my other friends."

"But you didn't know him until a week ago. For all you know, he could have been really bad before you met him."

Before I could formulate a response, Spike butts in. "She trusted you, didn't she?" That comment definitely struck a nerve.

"Spike! You shouldn't say things like that!" I scolded.

"No, Twilight. He has a point. I wasn't very nice before you met me, but you trusted me anyway..." She sighed in resignation, and a little hesitation. "...Anyway, back on topic. Where is he?"

"That's the thing. The spell should have sent us both here, but he's nowhere to be seen. I swear I cast the spell correctly, so I don't know what went wrong."

"What happened before the spell was cast? Maybe if you recall what happened, you can figure out why the spell didn't work as intended," Starlight suggested.

"That's not a bad idea," I replied, thinking back. "I offered him the chance to come to Equestria, which he outright refused because he didn't want to leave his family, I tried to cast the spell on him anyway, against my better judgement, but then..." I paused, quickly realising what was wrong.

"Then... what?" Spike urged on expectantly. I did notice that Starlight had a thoughtful, yet confused look on her face.

"He... tackled me, in a last-ditch effort to stop me. I must have lost my concentration and cast the spell before it was finished charging up. It sent me all the way, but not him," I finished, a worried look on my face.

"And that means?" Spike asked, not completely getting what I was saying. Starlight had become suspiciously quiet.

"It means it only sent him halfway! It was supposed to send us both here, but I’m the only one here, meaning that the spell sent him to a random location. He could be literally anyway in Equestria right now and we wouldn't know!" I clarified.

"...W-wait a minute..." Starlight finally spoke up. “You took him AGAINST HIS WILL?!”

I shied away for her harsh tone and glanced at the ground sheepishly. “Well… yes, I did…”

“WHAT?! So, NOT ONLY did you bring an unpredictable and possibly dangerous creature to our world, you also KIDNAPPED HIM?!” I nodded my head in shame. “Why?! What possible motive could you have to bring him here?!”

I didn’t know how to answer that. How would they react to the knowledge that he had Equestrian magic at his disposal. Starlight already thinks he might be dangerous, that would just add fuel to the fire. Maybe I should just keep that our little secret for now. “It’s… complicated. But that’s not what’s important right now. What matters now is finding him, before something bad happens." I started to get up again on shaky legs, still majorly struggling.

"Whoa whoa whoa, you are in no shape to go on a full-scale search across Equestria, especially to find somepony like him. You shouldn't overexert yourself. You need to rest," Starlight advised, putting a hoof on my side.

"No, I need to find him! It's my fault he is in this mess, I should be the one to fix it," I asserted, once again trying to get up, with mixed results. After a few more failed attempts, I finally managed to stand on four hooves, albeit quite wobbly. Starlight gave me another worried look, still clearly angry at my stupid decision.

I needed to appease her concern somehow. “I know that I’ve made a stupid decision, but I can rectify this. I know that Darren is a good man. I wouldn’t have brought him here if I thought otherwise. If we don’t find him, who knows what could happen. I need you to trust me on this one. Please.”

I silently hoped that she would understand as she pondered my words. After a few seconds, that felt like minutes, she finally responded. "There's no way we're persuading you otherwise, are we?" I shook my head adamantly. She sighed again. “Fine… but I’m coming with you.”

“That’s fine. The more ponies, the better. Now, let's go find him," I finished with a smile, slowly making my way towards the door, Spike and Starlight close behind. As we got to the castle entrance, I tried using my magic to open the door, only to walk right into it, with Spike bumping into the back of my legs as a result. "Ow... what... why didn't my magic work?"

"That spell took a lot out of you, didn't it?" Starlight said alongside us.

"Yeah, but this is different. On earth, I could at least use my levitation spell. It's the most basic spell, so I don't get why it didn't work," I said, trying again, only to start sweating as I strained to use even an ounce of magic. In the end, only small sparks of purple energy emerged from my horn and I gave up, coughing and panting from the exertion of my mind.

"Hey, hey. Take it easy. It probably took a lot more energy to bring this mysterious human here. It would make sense you can't even use levitation," Starlight stated, walking up to the door and opening it manually.

"You're right. We can't be wasting time like this," I said, walking out of the castle and heading into the heart of Ponyville, intent on finding Darren before he got into any trouble. "Please be ok, Darren. Please be ok."

Darren
On The Streets of Canterlot...

After hiking for about two miles up this steep mountain, I finally came to the main gates of the gravity defying city. I could see that the sun had set considerably since I left the cliff edge. I would have made it here a little quicker if it wasn't for the fact that I still didn't have all of my energy back yet, so I had a slow, leisurely walk to the top. As I meandered towards the gate, I noticed a wooden sign stuck in the ground outside the city limits that said 'Welcome to Canterlot. Capital city of Equestria.'

"Wait, Canterlot..." I said to myself as I remember something said to me by Twilight.

"Oh, of course. As I said, I am Twilight Sparkle. I am the Princess of Friendship, one of the ruling Princesses presiding over the Kingdom of Equestria."

"Equestria? I've never heard of it before?"

"That's because it doesn't exist here. It's in a parallel universe where ponies replace humans."

"Ok, I guess that makes sense. Wait, you said you were ONE of the Princesses?"

"This is where the rulers of this land live. Well, who better to find a princess than a fellow princess, right?" I reasoned, striding into the grand city, curious as to what awaited me inside.

What lay inside was quite stunning. The city was massive, with high-class buildings on every inch of the streets, showing off their bright pink, white, and purple colours. Although there were no skyscrapers in sight, you could tell that it deserved the title of capital city of Equestria. Unfortunately, you could almost feel the snobbiness of the residents as they trotted past, noses so high in the air you could see them over the city’s walls, wearing the fanciest dresses and suits you would see in your life, and, unfortunately for me, my appearance hadn't gone unnoticed.

As soon as these ponies spotted me, most of them stopped whatever they were doing to observe me. Some just sat and stared at me, some gave me the dirtiest of looks, others started whispering to their companions, some had fearful looks in their eyes. It was starting to make me uncomfortable. To try and get away from the large glaring eyes of these extravagant ponies, I quickly tried to make myself scarce. It was a fruitless venture, however, as there were classy equines wherever I turned.

I tried my best to ignore the gawking eyes and murmuring voices as I stalked through the metropolis. It didn't take me long to locate the castle, seeing as it stuck out like a sore thumb amongst the other buildings, and I swiftly made a beeline for it.

After going up multiple hills and stairs, I stood at the bottom of the palace as it loomed overhead, glad to be away from all of the prying eyes, and I finally noticed that the castle was HUMONGOUS. Do two princesses seriously need this much space? Seems like a bunch of space would be unused. I get why the Queen of England has such a big palace seeing as she has such a large family, but why do two princesses with hardly any family as far as I know need all of these rooms. Oh well, it's not my place to judge how royalty live.

I scanned the street and saw the entrance being guarded by some ponies in gold armour. I saw another pony just walk onto the premise with a simple nod to one of the guards. Weird that they would just let a pony in without asking questions, but if that’s how it works around here, I wasn’t going to complain.

As I walked towards the entrance, one of the guards, a pony with black fur, suddenly shouted “SPIDER!” before running around like a headless chicken and firing beams of magic in all directions. I had to duck to avoid a stray beam.

The white furred guard standing next to him rolled his eyes. “Seriously, you’re scared of a little spider. Ugh! You’re going to hit someone if you’re not careful.”

“Yeah, like me!” I called out as I approached.

He was able to calm down and brushed himself off without looking at me. “Sorry, sir. I didn’t mean to-” He trailed off as he finally looked at me, freezing up at the sight before him, but I ignored it.

“It’s ok. No harm done. Just be careful where you aim that thing. Now, if you will excuse me, I have some business to attend to in the castle.” I replied calmly. The guards both looked astounded at me as I tried to go through the gate, but I was immediately stopped by a spear crossing in front of me; blocking my path. The white furred guard abruptly gain his professionalism back and stopped me in my tracks.

"Halt! Who goes there!?" the white furred guard on my right demanded in a gruff voice. Really. 'Who goes there.' Could you be anymore cliché. He gave me a scowl, but I could still detect a hint of shock and fear in his eyes. The black furred pony on my left, however, was noticeably shaking with fear now.

"Oh, sorry. I don't mean you any harm. I just wanted to see the Princesses," I answered quickly.

"Do you have an appointment with Princess Celestia?" he asked, trying to keep up his professionalism, which I had to respect seeing as he was having to deal with an intelligent creature that he had never seen before.

"Umm... no. I was hoping I could just... walk in?" I said awkwardly, rubbing the back of my neck.

His glare only intensified. "Then you are not allowed inside."

"But you let that other guy in, and it's really important. Is there no way you could let this slide?" I asked hopefully.

"No. HE had an appointment. You don’t. Unless you have an appointment, you're not seeing the princesses," he repeated sternly.

"Oh, ok then. Thank you anyway," I said, slowly walking away dejected, knowing there was no way I was getting in this way.

As I marched away, I couldn’t help but overhear. "Sir, what WAS that thing?" the black stallion on the left asked the other in a higher pitched voice. Must be younger.

"I have no clue, Rookie, but you need to pony up and stop acting like a wimp. You’re making me look bad."

"Sorry, sir. I'll do better next time," he replied. I think I can just about hear the white stallion reply with "You better," before I'm out of earshot. Asshole.

How the hell am I going to talk to the princess now. I turned around and observed the castle, out of the eyeline of the guards. Just as I was contemplating this, I saw two ponies pulling a large cart with a tarp over it towards the main gate.

"We have a food delivery for the Canterlot Royal Chef," one of the ponies said to the guards.

That's my way in. A mischievous grin formed on my lips. I have a knack for not fully thinking through my plans before I execute them. In hindsight, it was definitely a very bad idea, but I snuck behind the cart, lifted up the back of the tarp, and jumped in anyway. The cart bounced slightly as I got in but it seemed like the ponies didn't notice, because I felt the wagon lurch forward.

If I knew what was going to happen in the next few minutes, I wouldn’t have even tried.

My nose was filled with the delicious scent of fruits, vegetables, baking goods and... hay? The ride was pretty bumpy, ricocheting me around the cart like a bouncy ball. After what felt like an eternity of this, we finally stop, causing me to release a small sigh of relief.

"Is it just me or does the load seem heavier than usual?" a voice asked, who I could only assume was one of the ponies pulling the wagon. I gritted my teeth at that comment.

"…Nah, you're just imagining things. C'mon, all of this pulling and lifting has made me hungry," the other equine replied nonchalantly. I could hear the clicking of hooves on the hard floor slowly fade away until it was gone.

"Phew. That was close," I whispered to myself as I slowly peeked out from under the sheet of fabric. Seeing no one, I jumped out of the cart with a faint thump. I had ended up in a big storage room stocked to the ceiling with food. I quickly identified the way out and slowly inched the door open.

I was now in a long hallway with pristine white walls and a vibrant red carpet rolled down the middle. In front of me was the kitchen, where I could see the chef preparing to make the princesses their meal. Knowing full well that he would be coming this way to get his ingredients soon enough, I swiftly creeped down the hall, checking down every corridor to see if I was being followed.

After a few minutes, having walked down hallway after hallway, I was feeling like I wasn't making any progress. How could anyone figure out how to get around this place without getting lost? I came to a divergence in the path for the umpteenth time, one path going straight ahead and the other turning to my right. I was just about to continue forward when I heard voices and saw two shadows about to come around the corner, and from the fact that they looked like they were wearing helmets, it was more Royal Guards.

Without much thought, I quickly and sneakily moved through the other corridor, hoping to get away before they spotted me. Unfortunately for me, I saw another guard’s shadow coming down the way I was currently shifting through. I was trapped. I looked around the hallway, hoping to find a way out of this mess I had created for myself, until I saw a set of double doors that were decorated quite extravagantly, but I didn't really pay the details any mind. I just needed to get out of that hallway, so I quickly ducked into the room and shut it behind me.

I seemed to have found myself in a bedroom, but I couldn't be too sure since there were black out curtains drawn across the windows that prevented me from seeing too well. It was quite large for a bedroom, with dark walls with white shapes painted on them that I couldn't make out what they were exactly. I could make out various pieces of furniture, including a four-poster bed.

Remembering why I was here and holding my breath, I pressed my left ear to one of the doors to listen for the guards. I heard three sets of hooves converge in front of the door and start talking to each other.

"Is it just me or did you hear shuffling around here?" one of the guards asked the others, slightly muffled by the blockade between us.

"...Nah. You're just hearing things," a second guard answered.

"Did you find anything out of the ordinary?" a third voice questioned.

"No. Nothing yet," the second voice replied.

"Let's go down that corridor. It's the only way we haven't checked yet," the third guard suggested with a bit of authority. I began to hear two of the hoofsteps moving away, but, much to my dismay, the third set sounded like they were coming towards me. I gritted my teeth as the handle slowly turned and the door opened, light pouring through the crack as I slinked across the room and knelt down behind the bed.

"Wait, what are you doing?" the third voice questioned, in a more hushed voice for some reason.

"Checking Princess Luna's room," the first voice answered, leaving the door slightly ajar.

"Do you really think it's a good idea to go in there right now?" the third guard mentioned.

"...Oh yeah. She's still asleep. Duh. Ok, let’s go." The first guard realised his mistake and quickly closed the door behind him as the group left.

"Phew, that was close..." I whispered to myself.

…

"Wait, Princess Luna's room?" I quickly realised what what they said meant, slowly getting to my feet and giving the bed a second glance. To my utter shock, there is a body lying under the covers, breathing softly in its sleep. I couldn't make out any discernible features, but she was definitely bigger than the ponies I'd met so far.

"Crap. I need to get out of here." I carefully tiptoed away from the bed and towards the door, making sure not to step on anything, move anything, or make any noise. I got to the door after an agonisingly slow walk and opened it gradually.

"HOLD IT INTRUDER!!!" A booming voice called out from behind me, stopping me in my tracks. The universe just seemed to have it out for me today, doesn't it? I exhaled the breath I had unknowingly been holding in defeat and turned back around stiffly. The desk lamp next to the bed had been switched on and, on the bed, sat Princess Luna, her night sky blue mane defining physics by flowing in the air like wind blowing through it. She was not happy, giving me the most intensely angry glare I had ever seen in my life.

"I am so sorry Princess! I didn't mean to intrude on your peaceful sleep... I'll just be leaving now." I apologised, hoping to save my ass from getting arrested, before I turned to try and leave again.

"Not so fast!" she shouted in a quieter voice, making me stop once again. "Who are you and what are you doing in my bedroom?!"

"I... e-err... I-I'm... um..." I had absolutely no idea what to say to that question, so I did the only thing I could think of... violently swing the door open and sprint down the right hallway like my life depended on it. In hindsight, maybe I should’ve just answered the question and she MIGHT have understood, but I panicked.

"GUARDS!!! WE HAVE AN INTRUDER!" I heard the princess bellow behind me as I ran. It seemed like every guard in this area of the castle had heard the princess's voice, because large groups of guards were coming from every damn hallway just to catch me, forming a massive horde behind me with Princess Luna leading the pack, beams of magic passing past me left and right.

It felt like I spent an eternity running away from the mob of guards down a labyrinth of endless corridors. When I finally came to a crossroads, I swiftly turned right towards a closed door at the end of the hallway and pushed it open before closed it behind me, pausing to catch my breath and breathing a sigh of relief when I heard the trampling of hooves moving away from the door.

As I rested my hands on my knees, I suddenly heard a gasp come from behind. I slowly turned around to see what seemed to be the main hall of the castle, chalk full of official looking ponies, all wearing fancy clothes and giving me surprised looks. There was also another hallway ahead of me, a door to my right that seemed to lead back outside, and stairs leading up in two directions.

They just had to have some sort of event going on, on the day I decide to sneak into the castle. Just my luck.

"For God's sake! Ok, Excuse me. I need to get through here!" I shouted to the crowd of ponies as I started making my way through the masses. Multiple ponies started shouting and screaming for the guards to get in here and making so much noise that I could hardly hear myself think. I needed to get out of here before-

Too late. The doors on every side of the room burst open to reveal even more guards than before. "Princess Luna! It's in here!" one of the guards on my left shouted back behind him. I saw her fly through the hallway behind the guards and land in the hall before I could even blink.

"STOP RESISTING YOUR INEVITABLE ARREST!" The princess roared, nearly making my ears bleed with how loud she was. There is no way I was going to pony jail.

"Excuse me! Coming through! One side! MOVE OUT OF THE FUCKING WAY!" I shouted aggressively as I pushed more ponies out of my way and moved towards the stairs to the second floor, making ponies fall to the ground, or in some cases fly up into the air, either with their wings trying to avoid me, or from me flinging them upwards in the process. I made my way up the first set of stairs and turned left to go up the second, the guards and Princess Luna on my tail the entire time.

I was back in a maze of corridors, speeding past room after room trying to find a place to hide so I could reach my objective, dodging beams of magic that skimmed past my body. These hallways just never seemed to end. After an almost endless amount of running, I was starting to run out of steam. I needed to lose them, otherwise I was going to be caught for sure.

So, even though it hadn’t worked out too well last time, I ran as fast as I could to put some distance between me and my pursuers, sharply turning a corner to escape their line of sight before then ducked into another side room. I closed the door as quickly and quietly as possible, the creaking of the door sounding like a foghorn to my ears, and placed my ear against the door, hearing the trampling of hooves, practically shaking the whole castle with how many of them there were, running towards my door… only to continue past, and away from me.

I turned around to look at the room I had entered, not wanting to make the same mistake as last time, breathing a heavy sigh of relief when I saw that it was just a vacant bedroom. I was safe… for now anyway. I pressed my back to the door before sliding down to sit on the ground and catch my breath. What a mess I’ve created. This was such a bad idea! Why did I EVER think this was a GOOD idea?! I’m such an idiot… I need to get out of here, before I make this any worse. The main entrance is a no-go, so I need to find a back entrance of some sort.

After I took a few minutes to collect myself, and to mentally berate myself for making such a stupid decision, I picked myself up and inched the door open. Peeking out, I saw that the hallway was empty, so I creeped out and down the corridor, watching every direction for somewhere that the guards or Luna could possibly be.

After what felt like an eternity of sneaking around, narrowly avoiding guard patrols left, right and centre, I still couldn’t find the stairs back down again, but I did come to a set of wooden double doors. Seeing nowhere else to go, I hurriedly slipped inside. When I turned around, what I saw was quite extravagant. I was in yet another corridor, but this one was very different. It had giant windows with intricate designs of various ponies and creatures on them, the light from the sunset streaming through them and casting the room in a huge variety of colours that blended together, creating a heavenly light that gave the room a majestic air about it.

I saw another door at the end of the room that had a sun symbol in the middle with light purple, dark purple, and pink designs, with six blue circles on it. A possible escape route. I strode across the room optimistically and reached for the door, only to find there was no handle. I tried pulling at the crack in the middle of the door and even at the hole in the centre of the sun symbol, but it didn't budge.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me!" I smashed my fist into the door angrily, creating a loud bang. I paused for a few seconds then kicked it, hard, making an even louder bang. I didn’t care at this point. I was on my last legs. At this point, I was ready to call it quits. There was no way I was going to be able to get out of here without help. If I turned myself in, maybe I would be able to gain their forgiveness and finally get to the heart of my issues… Or get nothing solved and be locked up for my crimes...

…

No. I can’t let that happen. I can’t give up now. I’ve come this far, I’m not backing down. If I can’t find a way out, I should charge towards my original objective. If I can just get to the throne room, I can still talk to Princess Celestia, even if I get locked away afterwards. Now with a better goal in mind, I marched towards the exit, determined to achieve my goal.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to me, a certain black furred guardspony had heard the banging and had split off from the main search party to find out what it was...

On my way towards the exit, I couldn’t help but take notice of the stained glass windows out of the corner of my eye. I stopped for a moment to look at one of the windows in more detail, depicting six multicoloured ponies firing beams at a larger, more menacing pony. I glanced at some of the other windows and deduced that these must show different important moments in history. I noticed that one of the ponies depicted in the image looked familiar somehow. I quickly spun around and started examining the other windows with pension and confusion. On each of the windows was the same purple pony. I stopped turning and looked up slowly to see a window depicting the same purple pony ascending into the sky, wearing a crown with a purple star in the middle. It’s details immediately proved my suspicions correct.

“...That’s Twilight. Most of these are Twilight… Is she really that important?” I wondered out loud, staring at the window intensely, like if I stared at it long enough, it would tell me all of it’s secrets.

“H-hey!” I jumped as a male voice rang throughout the room. I turned around to discover that one of the guards, the black furred one from before, had uncovered my ‘hiding place’ and was trotting towards me shakily, the door closing behind him. “W-what do you think y-you’re doing?”

Oh crap! What do I do now? "Look, I didn't want any trouble. I just wanted to talk to Princess Celestia. I didn't want it to turn into this, but I felt like I had no choice." I raised my hands in surrender, trying to keep the situation as calm as possible.

"W-what is so important that you would sneak into the Princess’s castle?" he interrogated, trying to keep his cool.

"Th-that’s none of your business. That’s between me and the Princesses. It's really important. I just need to talk to her and then I'll be out of your hair," I said defensively.

He stomped his hoof, but shied away from me afterwards, like he didn’t want to get me angry. “T-that’s not good enough! You can’t just creep around here without some sort of weight to your actions. I-I’m sorry, but you’re coming with me.”

I couldn’t help but scoff. “Ha! You and what army? I can’t help but notice that you are all alone. You seriously think you can take me on all by yourself? That’s rich!-” I sighed before starting to move towards the door. “...Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to find the throne room.”

He seemed to shake even more as I moved closer, but he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Pony up and stop being a wimp,” I heard him say under his breath, before his horn suddenly powered up and a wave of deep blue energy shot towards me. I had enough time to block the blast with my right arm before it hit me square in my chest, but the impact sent me sliding backwards a few feet across the room, almost knocking me onto my back. I regained my balance and looked at him with a dumbfounded look. “I said you’re coming with me!”

Geez, this guy wasn’t kidding. He’s not moving... Well, I have to get out of here one way or another… “Oh… I see how it is. Well, if it’s a fight you want, it’s a fight you’ll get... Ok, buddy. We can either do this the easy way, or the hard way. One way ends with peace and harmony for all. The other ends with you becoming a bloodstain on this floor, and I don’t really want to mess up the aesthetic of such a REGAL room. It’s your call. I’d choose quick if I were you…” I growled harshly in a low tone, staring dagger right into his very soul. He was definitely quivering more so than before my threat, but he could hold a brave face, I’ll give him that. He didn’t budge an inch. If anything, he stood firmer than before.

“...I see you’re quite adamant. Alright, I’ll give you one last chance. I’m going to count down from five, if you haven’t moved out of the way by the time I reach 0… well, you don’t want to know what’ll happen, trust me.” I continued to threaten, hostility dripping from my lips.

“5.” I pushed on the knuckles on my right hand with my palm, a sickening crack echoing throughout the hall.

“4.” I did the same with my left hand, the guardpony cringing more with each snap.

“3...” I interlocked my fingers and stretched them outwards, ‘limbering’ myself up. You could almost see the inner conflict raging in the pony’s mind.

“...2…" I slowly slid my leather jacket off my body, not wanting to ruin the fabric. The pony was breathing heavily now, shifting his head erratically and his eyes skittishly, before closing them and gritting his teeth.

“...1-” I staggered back as I suddenly received an uppercutted to the nose, almost losing my balance once again. I rubbed under my nose, blood lining my finger. I stood there astonished, staring at the pony who had just punched me with their hoof.

He gave me a vicious look back, which very quickly softened as he realised what he just did. “Wait, no… I didn’t mean-”

“Well… I see you’ve made your choice.” I interrupted, abruptly speeding forward and punching him back, sending him sprawling a few feet away. After that first punch, my anger at being taken by surprise quickly took over. All I could see was red, steam practically coming out of ears, blood freely dripping from my nose.

The pony slowly stood back up, shaking himself off, before turning to me with mock determination on his face. “Ok, I-I can do this… For the princesses… For Equestria!” He shouted before his horn powered up again and he shot another beam of blue magic at me. I was prepared for it, however, as I dodged the blast by rolling out of the way.

Now that’s just unfair… Maybe, if I can just spark up my own magic, maybe this can be a fair fight… I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate. I had no idea how I was going to do this, but what better time than now to try, right? After a few seconds of concentrating, I could’ve sworn I felt a twinge of energy in my head that I hadn’t felt before. I tried to focus on that feeling, but, because I was distracted, the guardspony took advantage of this and jabbed me in the gut, making my eyes pop eyes open and my body slump over winded. He took this extra time to punch me in the face again, this time making me flop onto my back.

Fuck, that was stupid! I can’t let my guard down. I don’t have enough time to concentrate… Fuck it, I can beat this pony without magic. Who needs magic, anyway? I didn’t need it before, I don’t need it now. I pushed myself back to my feet, only to have to duck as another beam of magic came soaring at me again. Apparently he does though.

To not give him a chance to use his magic again, I rushed him, striking him with as many punches as I could, trying my best to overwhelm him. He managed to block some hits, both with his hooves and his magic, but he managed to fire a large wave of magic, hitting me straight in my chest and sending me tumbling backwards again. I touched my chest and felt the tenderness of the burns that the magic had caused.

Starting to shake, I push myself back up, my anger only rising at being bested. As I caught my breath for a second, I noticed that the pony had his eyes closed, horn lighting up with its blue aura again, trying to calm his breathing. I was prepared to start dodging shots again, but nothing happened. Instead, his eyes suddenly shot open with an intense stare, but they now had a blue glow in them, as opposed to the green they were before, just like his magic. I looked at him worried and confused, wondering what the hell he had done, but ultimately pushed those thoughts aside. It wouldn’t matter what he did in the end anyway.

I dashed towards him thoughtlessly again, only for more beams of magic to head my way. I attempted to dodge, but the beams almost seemed to follow my movements, hitting me and pushing me back slightly. I pushed through the pain and inched my way forward, taking hit after hit. I was hit five more times before I even got close to punching range. I eventually was able to attack, making sure to roll to the right to fake him out and then struck him down…

Only to be stopped dead by a hard surface and an almost metallic clang. The pony had somehow brought a blue shield out of nowhere to block my attack. It looked like something out of medieval times, curved slightly downwards on top and angling down to a blunt tip on the bottom, with an embossed symbol that looked like a four leaf clover for some reason. I looked past the blockade in disbelief at my opponent, only to see that he had a concentrated look on his face and the shield was connected to his horn somehow, a blue aura erecting from the tip. The shield was made of magic.

“Oh, COME ON! REALLY!” I yelled, pounding the surface in frustration. Turns out it was very sturdy.

Needing to experience the feeling of flesh against my fists, I strived to be crafty, moving and rolling around erratically to try and get a hand past his makeshift barrier. Unfortunately, he seemed to be able to predict my every move, blocking my attacks with ease. Anger boiling over, I growled as I, pretty stupidly, kicked the shield with my right foot, making the guardpony slide back a few meters. At least that was something. Unfortunately, that had the added effect of feeling like I just kicked a boulder.

“OW! FUCK!” I roared, hopping on one foot and holding the other, before losing my balance and falling on my ass. In all honesty, I probably did look like an ass in that moment. I hissed as I felt the extent of the damage I caused. I could still wiggle my toes, but they were definitely bruised; I could hardly move them properly.

I don’t know how much more I can take of this. How did he get so good all of a sudden? I’m starting to get tired, and he hasn’t even broken a sweat! I slowly wiped the sweat from my brow as I picked myself up for what felt like the thousandth time. I was getting sick of being beaten. Sadly, it wasn’t about to get any better.

I looked over to my enemy to see that, instead of the shield, he now had a fucking CUTLASS that had the exact same style as the shield. I could even see the four leaf clover on the side of the blade, close to the tip. “SERIOUSLY?! Now that’s just plain dirty!” I was in utter astonishment at what I was witnessing. Why can’t I do that? I want to be able to do that! This sucks!

He started galloping towards me, the intent to cut me to ribbons clear in his eerily blue eyes. “Hey, wait a minute-” I couldn’t even utter another word before he struck, sword moving like lightning as he swung. I could do nothing but just take swipe after swipe, searing pain screaming at me with every blow. He left no area untouched, no opportunity to retaliate. His onslaught was almost unending, and ruthless. After an eternity of suffering, he turned around and bucked me in the stomach, making me soar in the air and crash into the wall on the opposite side of the room, before landing on my front, defeated, my clothes shredded, my body burned.

I creakily looked up to see the winner trot over to me, looking proud of himself. “Wow. I actually did it! YES! FINALLY!” He saw me glancing at him from my position on the floor. “U-um, I mean, ‘You’re under arrest for breaking and entering, and for the intentional harm of a royal guard.’” His horn lit up once again. I flinched, thinking he was going to hit me while I was down, but instead I felt a warm and almost comforting sensation. I was suddenly lifted up in the air by nothing and led towards the exit.

...I guess this is it. I’m going to be spending the rest of my life behind bars, in a world that I don’t belong in… What a degrading way to go, dying in the cell of a PONY prison… Why me? Why did it have to be me, out of all the people in the world? What did I do to deserve this...? I’m sorry. I guess you’re going to have to go on without me… Thoughts of my family started coming to me, memories of kids laughing and late night cuddling playing through my mind like a movie. I hung my head in shame, hoping they would be able to manage life without their husband and father…

…

No. No! I couldn’t give up now! I had to be close. I HAD to be! I made a promise to get back to them safe and sound, and that was what I was going to do, no matter what. I started struggling, trying to find someway to get out of his magical hold. The guardpony seem to notice this and scoffed. “You still have some fight in you? You’re like a bug that can’t be squished. Trust me, you’re not going to be able to release yourself. Try all you want. You’re not getting away this time.” I continued to struggle, only being able to wiggle my limbs ever so slightly, pain rising within me from the effort. I stopped for a second so the pain didn’t become unbearable. He was right. There was no way I was escaping his magic, not without hurting myself any more. But there had to be some way I could escape, right? I had to think of something before we left this room...

Bug, huh…? Maybe I can’t release myself, but YOU can. A mischievous smile appeared on my lips as an idea popped into my head. I prepared myself, before saying, “Hey dude, there’s a spider on your shoulder!”

The effect was instant. “WHAT?! GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!” He screamed, trying to swat the imaginary spider away, before running around in circles again. In his haste, he lost his concentration on the telekinesis holding me up and I came plummeting to the ground, falling on my knees. Ignoring the pain as best I could, I shakily stood up and observed the guard’s mad dash around the room, screaming his head off. I’m surprised no one has heard us yet.

“Don’t worry, buddy! I’ll get it for you!” I said, winding my arm back and punching him in the face as he ran past.

He stumbled backwards in a daze, swaying back and forth. “W-what…?” He slurred, trying to shake away the pain away, but just ended almost losing his balance.

I moved closer and grabbed his shoulder to stop his stagger. “Oh, wait, I don’t think I got it. Let me try again.” I quickly hooked him swiftly with my right hand, then with my left and finally finished off with a hard kick with my right foot, sending him flipping back across the room, bowling along the floor for a few feet until he came to stop, sprawled out flat on the ground close to one of the windows, the one with the six ponies ‘fighting’ the menacing pony.

I carefully hobbled over to him, making sure not to agitate my injuries. My everything still hurt, but it was bearable. I had been through worse. I peered over his body. He was facing away from me, so I couldn’t see his face or the extent of the damage I had done, but I could see that he was still breathing, but he seemed to be out cold. “Yep, I think I got it this time. You can thank me later… Now, to find that princess,” I joked, turning toward the exit, and back on my goal.

However, a sudden yell stopped me in my tracks and caused me to turn back around. Apparently, he hadn’t actually been unconscious, so I was now looking at a pony leaping straight towards me. I had no time to react before I was tackled to the ground with hooves holding my shoulders down to restrain me. I could see that the pony now had a bloody nose like me and the start of a large bruise on his left cheek. We tussled for a bit, trying to win in an all out battle of strength, but neither one of us were budging an inch.

“GET OFF ME!” I yelled, slamming my fist into his face, distracting him long enough for me to overpower him and chuck him off of me, sending him flying through the air again...

And towards the window in front of us. I suddenly realised too late what I had just done as the pony crashed through the window, smashing it into millions of sharp pieces, before disappearing from sight, his scream echoing in my ears.

"OH MY GOD!" My angry haze cleared immediately as I limped towards the edge. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no." I stared over the precipice, seeing the jagged rocks at the base of the mountain. I was scared that I was going to see a red blotch on the unblemished landscape below, but, as I scanned the wall, I glimpsed the pony hanging on to a small ledge, hooves clasping on for dear life.

Oh God. Oh no. Fuck, fuck, fuck. What have I done! How had things gone this far? I have to save him! I assessed the wall of the castle and noticed that there were some grooves that I could possibly use. They didn’t look all that stable and seemed like they could crumble at any moment. But they were my only way down, no matter how precarious it looked, so I did the first thing I could think of. After making sure I had no extra dead weight to weigh me down, and with my heart beating heavily in my throat, I turned around and slowly inched my way out of the window, not caring if glass cut my arms to shreds, finding purchase on the ledges.

...Maybe not as much purchase as I thought, as the moment I put weight on the ledge nearest to the window, it collapsed under me, making me lose my balance. Luckily I was only halfway out of the window, so I was easily able to stop myself from falling, but it didn't half give me a heart attack. Once I had calmed my shot nerves, I started lowering myself again, breathing heavily to keep calm.

It felt like an eternity before I felt a ledge again, and to make matters worse, I could only just touch it with the tips of my toes. It was large enough for both of my feet to stand on, but it was too low down for me to just lower myself onto. Feeling like I had no other choice, and steeling myself, I let go of the window and landed on the lower ledge with the front of my feet, wobbling on the edge before regaining my balance. I paused to seriously recollect myself, before very slowly crouching down and placed my foot on the next overhang down.

I gradually scaled my way down the side of the castle, pushing my aching body to its limit. I had never been more scared and determined in my life, my heart pumping at a million miles an hour. As I descended downwards crack by crack, my right foot slipped, causing me to lose my footing completely...

If I hadn’t been gripping onto the ledges for dear life, I would’ve fallen. It took most of the energy I had to pull myself back up.

Knowing that one false move would result in me ending up skewered on the rocks below, I tried to imagine that I was just descending down a rock climbing wall, with a soft mat to cushion me if I did fall, harness strapped tightly onto me making sure I wasn’t going to. Now with that image in my head, and a little more confidence, I shakily continued my descent.

I somehow managed to clamber down until I was level with the guardpony, my whole body feeling like it was on fire, more so than before. You could tell from the way the pony looked that he was losing his energy. He was really struggling to hold himself up, face scrunched in pain as he put all of his effort into staying alive. It didn’t help that he had cuts all over his body from the glass, some of them looking quite deep, I could even see some glass shards sticking out of his skin, the reflection of the sun’s light standing out against his bloody fur. Luckily he was using his magic to give him some extra leverage, but I could see that the glow was weaker than before. He wouldn’t last if he stayed here for much longer.

I extended my right hand and reached out to him, struggling to hold myself up with the other. I wasn’t close enough to reach him, so I couldn’t grab him. “Hey! Take my hand!” The guard seemed like he hadn’t even noticed that I had climbed down. He looked at me with shock, as if I was crazy.

“What?!” he said, trying his best to hold himself in place.

“I said take my hand! I’ll pull you up.” I stretched out my arm a little farther, wiggling my fingers, expecting him to reach out and grab it.

Instead, he gave me a very sceptical look and tried his best to pull himself up so as to latch onto a higher ledge and climb up himself. “No way! How do I know you’re not… just going to throw me off the edge yourself?!” His efforts to get up only succeeded in causing him to lose his grip slightly and almost fall, resulting in him scrambling to reestablish his hold.

“FOR FUCK SAKE, BE CAREFUL!” I stressed, ready to launch for him if he did let go.

He now gave me a disbelieving glance. “Why do you care all of a sudden!? You didn’t when we were fighting up there… Why care now? You could easily… leave me here and continue on your way.”

He did have a point. I could’ve just left him to die and went back to finding the princess. He had been my roadblock, one that had been metaphorically destroyed by a wrecking ball....

But that wasn’t me. That’s not what I wanted to become. I knew my answer immediately.

“Look… I NEVER intended for this to happen. It was NEVER supposed to go this far... I just wanted to scare you before. I didn’t actually expect you to punch me… My anger took over after that, it clouded my judgement... I didn’t know what I was doing! All I knew at that point was that I had to get past, and you were in my way...

“All I wanted was for Princess Celestia to help me get home. I was cruelly taken from my world by some stupid pony who thought she was helping. I thought I could stop it. Fix it even! But now I’m in a world I don’t understand. And look where we are now! You’re hanging on for dear life, while I’m just grasping at thin air, all because of my dumb decisions!

“But I can still make this right! I know I can! And I can start by saving you. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I was the cause of someone’s death. You can trust me. Please... Take my hand. I can’t hold on for much longer… and neither can you…”

I reached out my hand again, seriously hoping he would take it this time. I could feel my fingers slowly slipping away from the outcrop, whispering the promise of a painful death if I didn’t do something about it. The guardpony looked conflicted, still straining to hold himself aloft. After a few seconds, I was ready to try and climb back up to go find help, even at the risk of being sent to prison afterwards...

But I felt the fur and hardness of a hoof as he shuffled along the ledge and placed it in my hand, giving me a weak smile. “Ok… I trust you.”

I gave him a smile back as I pulled him off the ledge sharply, both of us wincing as I placed him on my back, his hooves hugging my shoulders tightly. With both of our conditions, it would still be a miracle if we both made it back up to the stained glass hall. “Thank you…”

“No… thank you.” He repeated, lightly nuzzling into my shoulder as I started clawing my way back up, being careful about my foot and hand placement. “...Sorry for ruffing you up back there.”

“It’s fine... I deserved it…” I grunted as I climbed. I was really struggling with the added weight, but determination pushed me through the agony. “We can sort out everything… when we get back up to the hall.”

I looked up and saw that we had actually gained an audience of guardponies, watching with a mix of emotions on their faces, from worry, to confusion, to anger. Huh. I guess people did hear us after all. I must not have noticed, being so focused on this pony’s, and my own safety.

It felt like I would never get back to the top, but with persistence, or perhaps stubbornness, I got back up to the last ledge before the window, the one I could actually stand on, a nice respite from the agony of rock climbing. I was running on tiny scraps of energy and my whole body felt like it had just risen from the grave. One more climb and we would be home free.

But it wasn’t over yet. Because of my little slip up earlier, there was no way for me to actually reach the window, no matter how much I stretched. I didn’t know how I was going to get up… but I had an idea of how to get the pony up. “Hey. I need you to climb up my back and get yourself up.”

“Wait, what about you? I’m not going to just leave you down here,” he replied, sounding genuinely concerned for me.

I pushed aside the feelings of confusion. “Don’t worry about me… I’ll be right behind you. I promise…” I could tell that he was still nervous, but he nodded nonetheless. He pushed on my shoulders, me groaning from the added weight on my burns, and thrust himself into a standing position, before jumping hard towards the window, where the other guards grabbed him and pulled him to safety. I sighed with relief, knowing he was finally safe. I looked up at the guards, seeing them turn back around and get ready to help me up too…

But it turns out that the ledge I was standing on wasn't as sturdy as I had originally thought. I could do nothing but yell as it started to give out from under me, sending me towards an early grave.

"NOOOOO!" The pony I had saved shouted out as I fell, other ponies stopping him from foolishly jumping back out to somehow try and save me. He slowly became a smaller and smaller dot in my vision.

Freefalling through the air to my demise felt kind of surreal. I felt like the whole world was passing by me in slow motion, but also in an instant, but at the same time, time had stopped, but also like every second was an hour. I was in a vacuum, destined to be falling for eternity.

Then reality came crashing down when I noticed the ground approaching me rapidly, and suddenly, I felt like my head was going to explode. But then, a weird warmth seemed to surround me. It hurt like crazy, but I tried not to pay it much mind in my last moments.

I then heard the sharp crack of my bones breaking on impact and felt a searing pain as I hit the rocks. I felt myself bounce off of more rocks as I tumbled down the base of the mountain, more bones breaking as I landed.

I finally came to a stop on something softer. I felt blood pouring down my legs and arms, every synapse in my head was telling me I wouldn’t be able to move, but I had enough strength to open my eyes. I saw in my blurred vision that I had landed in a grassy field at the base of the mountain. It was actually quite serene. I tried to enjoy the scenery as the life slowly drained from my body and my soul started soaring to the heavens.

My mind was slowly starting to shut down, I was starting to feel weaker and weaker by the second and I couldn’t hold my eyes open for much longer.

I started to think about my family. Dani, Harry, Scarlet. I felt a small smile prick up on my lips thinking about them, but I knew they would never see me again.

The image of that pony crossed my mind as well... Rookie was what I heard him being called. He seemed so full of life and had an incredible job, one that he would certain die for if push came to shove. My smile grew bigger as I thought about how I had saved such an inspiring youth.

"I'm sorry... I broke... my promise..." I whisper slowly, my resolve breaking as I feel a single tear streak down my blood drenched face, making my cuts and burns ache. I didn’t want to die, but knowing that I might have saved a life made it all worth it. I suddenly saw a foursome of dark blue hooves land in front of me, but before I could look up to see who it is, I passed out from blood loss and pain, my final thought being that I hoped that I'd see my family again in the afterlife.

Act 1:2 - An Audience with Princess Celestia

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Darkness. That was all that was around me at that moment. My mind was numb and my body was weightless. I was in a void, floating aimlessly with no end in sight. There was nothing, and everything. I was nowhere, and everywhere, all at once. There was something about this place that felt familiar to me, like I had been here many times before… Like I belonged here. That familiarity gave me comfort in this black abyss; allowed me to relax as I drifted.

As I was getting used to the emptiness of this limbo, I noticed a small light off in the distance. I would’ve just stayed in the comfort of oblivion, if it wasn’t for the fact that the light seemed to... attract me, like a flame to a moth. I angled myself so that my floating sent me towards it. As I got closer, I discerned that the light was blue and it was actually moving. A glowing fog seemed to be coming out of the back of the light as it swirled gracefully around the darkness. The light seemed to have a figure, like some sort of being was the one illuminating the area, but I couldn’t identify it.

The light got ever closer… and closer… until I could almost touch it. I reached out to grab it, but it darted away from my fingers just moments before I could touch it, turning tail and gliding away, leaving behind the blue fog in its wake. Before I could even think, the fog shrouded my face and obscured my sight. I expected to start coughing my lungs up, or at least make me panic, but I could breathe just fine. If anything, I could breathe even better than before, and it calmed my breathing to a crawl.

The fog lingered, but still parted to give me my vision back. But what I saw wasn’t the darkness of the abyss, but an actual scene, unfocused as it may have been. I could see myself running through what appeared to be a hedge maze, with what I could only guess to be a pony galloping beside me. Strangely, the blue unicorn wearing armour looked vaguely familiar, but in my calm, relaxed state, I didn’t have the brain capacity to even put a thought together.

The scene kept flashing away, showing different scenes of us running through the maze. A turn here, a straight away there, almost never ending flashes of running... Or maybe it seemed longer than it actually was. Finally, it showed a scene of us stopping and cautiously looking around a corner, almost like we were trying to sneak, before I quietly gestured for the pony to follow me.

We came to a dead end, where we found another pony that was scrabbling around, looking like they were looking for an exit. It was a sky blue pegasus stallion with an off-white mane and tail, both tied up in ponytails, with a crimson red streak along the side of the mane and going down the middle of the tail respectfully. My lackadaisical mind, along with the fact that the images were moving so fast and were becoming blurry, meant that I couldn’t get a good jist of who this pony was.

He feebly attempted to fly out of the maze, but turns out he had an injured right wing, so he just ended up faceplanting the floor. The pony shakily stood up and turned to us, his expression fearful but determined, and stood his ground, knowing that he was cornered. We stood in the pathway, squaring up to the stallion, looking like we were preparing to fend him off from escaping. However, before anything else could take happen, my vision was once again obscured by more fog.

The fog dissipated completely to reveal the black void again, a sea of darkness attempting to swallow me whole. There was no passage of time here, so it gave me time to think, even if my mind didn’t have the capacity to conjure up more than wonders and fantasies at the moment. Where am I? What is this place? What was with that light and fog? Was that another vision I just saw? What does it mean? Not much made sense, but it felt like, in this place, it didn’t need to.

As these musings passed through my mind, the light from before had reappeared in the distance… and it looked like it was getting larger, consuming the abyss in its wake... No, scratch that, it was actually getting closer, flying in my direction like it was attracted to me. It draw closer… and closer… heading straight towards me. I didn’t run. I didn’t hide. I wasn’t scared. I wasn’t worried. I was calm. I accepted the light, like a loving embrace.

I heard a faint, distance, but primal roar as I succumbed to the blue light.

Darren
Location: ???

Pain. That was the first thing I felt as I awoke and shot upright, panting and sweating my ass off. I groaned, feeling the constant aches and pains throughout my body. I tried to get comfortable on the soft surface I was sitting on and get control of my breathing. "The fuck!? The hell!? What's going on!?" My surroundings were quite dark, but I could see that I was in what looked like a prison cell with stone walls, floor, and ceiling.

In my panicked state, I tried my best to rack my brain to find the answers I sought. It took a full minute of searching before it smacked me in the face… once again. Ponies, Twilight Sparkle, sneaking into the castle, getting caught, fleeing and fighting a guard, pushing him out of the window and climbing down to save him… and the subsequent fall.

“...Ugh, I need to stop getting myself in these types of situations... It's going to be the death of me one of these days.” I cringed at the thought. Now I know what it feels like to die… Wait, shouldn’t I actually be dead. Last time I checked, no one alive should be able to survive a fall like that. What the hell is going on here? This world is so fucked.

I was lying on a thin bed that was far too small for me, attached to the wall by two thick chains. There was a white sheet over me that only just covered my whole body. There was a toilet and sink to my left and a heavy steel door with a barred window in the top for the guards to look through. I did sneak into the royal castle, but come on, I saved one of the guards from dying. I could hear the beep of a heart rate monitor next to me. At least these ponies had the decency to try and keep me alive.

On a table to my left, I could see what looked like a pile of clothes, but what surprised me was that the shirt on top of the pile had the same trowel and fork logo on it as the shirt I was currently wearing. I then noticed that I could feel the sheet against my skin.

By shifting around, I discovered that I could still move my arms, so I quickly flung the sheet off of me to check if my suspicions were correct. To my horror, they were. I was completely naked under the sheet, my hairy body exposed for all the world to see, meaning that whoever took care of me removed my clothes and repaired them. What I found surprising was that, apart from a few scars on my arms, legs, chest, and probably my back as well, I was completely fine. How was that even possible? I fell thousands of feet down a mountain onto sharp rocks. I should be DEAD right now.

Suddenly, the multiple locks on the door, and by multiple I mean an excessive amount, started unlocking, and it slowly inched open to reveal a small rose red furred, black maned unicorn wearing a nurse's uniform, a stethoscope, and glasses. I quickly covered myself back up with the sheet, trying to not blush.

She gasped when she noticed I was looking at her. “Oh, you startled me sir. Glad to see that you are awake. I'm Nurse Freeheart and I've been looking after you while you have been asleep,” the nurse told me as she trotted over to the side of my bed and lifted a clipboard that I hadn’t noticed before off of the end of the bed with her magic. I'll never get over the fact that magic exists in this world.

“How long was I out for?” I asked her, sitting myself up, making sure to keep myself covered.

"Three days. You took quite the fall, didn't you?" Nurse Freeheart replied, chuckling lightly.

"You could say that," I said with a small smile, trying to make light of the situation. "Speaking of which, how am I not... you know... dead?"

"From what I've heard, you shouldn't have survived that fall. You had a broken spine, fractured tibias and humeri, multiple cracked ribs and various deep cuts that definitely would've caused blood loss. Not to mention having first degree burns all over your body. You were just lucky that the Princess got to you when she did and healed you with her magic. She doesn't just do that for anypony, you know," she answered, glancing down at the clipboard.

Princess Luna saved my life? Why would she do that? Last time I checked, she was hell bent on capturing me. She was obviously successful, seeing as I was in a cell right now, but I creeped around the castle and woke her from her sleep for reasons that she doesn't know about yet. She could have easily left me for dead. Why didn’t she?

"We also found some trances of magic where you landed. Do you happen to know anything about this?" the nurse continued.

"...Yeah. I might have an idea," I answered vaguely. That caught me off guard. So that's what that weird warmth around me was. It must have been me subconsciously using my magic again. I really need to figure out how to control that.

Speaking of which,"Is that stallion ok?" I asked urgently, hoping that he wasn't hurt too badly from crashing through that window.

"You mean Rookie? He's fine, thanks to you. None of the cuts he had were fatal, even if some of them were quite deep, before the princess healed him that is. He's been through a lot worse though. But you saved his life. You should be happy!" she replied with a look of admiration. How could he have gone through worse. He almost died because of me! What could be worse than that? Also, why does everyone keep calling him Rookie? That’s all I hear him being called. Is that some kind of sick nickname?

"Yeah, well, the only reason he was in danger in the first place was because of me. All because I had to sneak into the castle to try and talk to the Princess. I'm such an idiot." I put my head in my hands in shame and groaned audibly.

"You snuck into the castle?! I was wondering why the Princess insisted on you being put in here. I would have liked it if you were in a hospital bed instead, but I can't really argue with the Princess of the night."

"It was probably the dumbest idea I've ever had. I ended up being corner in a room full of stained glass windows..." So I briefly recounted the events of that day, trying to stick to the most relevant information.

"Wow, you're so brave. I don't think I would be able to do something like that." She paused and gave me a long look up and down my body. "You seem like a good enough... creature. I'm sure you had your reasons for breaking into the castle." I gave her a look of confusion back. Why are these ponies so trusting? I literally BROKE into the ROYAL castle, FOUGHT one of the royal guards, and almost got him KILLED, and she pushed that aside because I seem like a good guy for saving him...! This world is so backwards.

"I'm not sure how the Princesses are going to interpret it though. They're probably getting mixed signals from me. I snuck into the castle, caused harm to one of the royal guards, broke a window that looked quite important, and almost killed a living being. But I also saved that being's life by putting myself in danger to do so. I haven't been here long and I'm already making enemies. I wouldn't be surprised if I get put away for life." Nurse Freeheart put her hoof on my shoulder reassuringly.

"The princesses can be quite reasonable. I'm sure you'll be fine." She gave me another small smile, which helped calm my nerves slightly.

I saw the clothes out of the corner of my eye and I had to ask. "By the way, did you repair my clothes?"

"Oh yes, I did. I was thinking that you wouldn't want your clothes to be ripped and burned to shreds, so I took the liberty of sewing them back together."

"Thank goodness you did. They are the only clothes I have at the moment, but you didn't have to do that you know. You don’t even know me."

"It's the least I could do for you after you saved Rookie's life. He's been going through a lot lately, and he can be quite reckless at times. I'm hoping this will be the wakeup call he needs to start looking after himself more."

Suddenly, the cell door opened once again. I glanced behind the nurse to see a royal guardpony standing there, stern look on her face. She had brown fur and purple eyes. Unlike the other guards I had seen, she was wearing gold trimmed grey armour with a sword in the stone symbol in the centre on her chest.

"Looks like it's time for you to see the princesses. Let me detach you for the heart rate monitor.” She quickly unhooked the tubes and wires from the machines around me before she turned and started to walk away. “I'll leave you be now. It was nice meeting you."

"Hey, Nurse Freeheart." I called out to her quickly. She looked at me and hummed in acknowledgement. "I just thought you should know, my name is Darren Walker."

"Well, I hope to see you soon Mr Walker." She gave me one more small smile.

"I would hope not." She gave me a confused look at that comment. I guess that sounded a little mean. "I'm not planning on getting hurt anytime soon."

She realised her mistake, giggling lightly. "Let's hope not. Goodbye, Mr Walker." With that, she left the room, hoofsteps slowly fading away, leaving me alone with the guard.

"Ok, creature, let's go. The princesses are waiting for our arrival," the guard ordered, her voice gravelly, intense eyes glaring daggers at me. I winced at her harsh words.

"Um, can you leave the room so I can get dressed please?" I asked, hoping that she wouldn‘t get angry at me.

She growled, shaking her head lightly. "...Ok, be quick! We can't keep the princesses waiting," she relented, slowly leaving the room. I hurriedly got out of the bed, feeling no pain whatsoever except for my aching bones, grabbed my newly stitched and apparently clean clothes, and slipped them on.

I noticed that everything was here except for my leather jacket. They must have confiscated it after I took it off before my fight with Rookie. I should ask for it back when I confront the Princesses, especially seeing as I keep my pruning knife in one of the inside pockets.

As I got dressed, I thought back to what I saw while I was unconscious. The dark void with the weird light that seemed to comfort me. The fog that seemed to reveal a vision to me. I thought for a moment that was the light you saw when you die, but the fact that I was still here, and the vision, proved otherwise. Nothing made any sense anymore. Ever since I saw that vision of Twilight bringing me here, everything became so crooked and warped, and I don’t know how I feel about it right now. It’s like a jigsaw puzzle that’s missing some pieces.

Once I was dressed, I left the cell to see the guard waiting patiently for me. "Done? Good, now move! We haven't got all day." She yelled, nudging me harshly in the direction of some stairs with his head, poking me in the back with her horn.
"Ok, ok, I'm going. Jeez," I said, quickly following the direction she was pushing me.

After going up an almost infinite number of stairs, I was back in the maze of hallways, except this time I was being escorted by a guard, about to be judged by the Princesses of this land that I don't belong in. I looked out of the window as we walked to see that the sun was high in the sky, maybe around Midday. Guards patrolled the corridors, giving me glances as we passed. Castle staff stalked around, doing their assorted jobs.

To say that I screwed up would be an understatement, and now I was about to pay the price for it. I didn't know what they would do with me, but I couldn't help but hang my head low as I took the walk of shame.

It's funny; just a few days ago I was waking up with my wife in my arms, my kids sleeping next door, just enjoying my life. Now I'm waking up in a world full of magical talking ponies and being prosecuted for crimes that I have committed in said world. I almost laughed out loud at the thought.

As we walked the halls, it looked like we passed Princess Luna's room, the very same room that I got caught in. It was very ornately decorated, painted dark blue and littered with star patterns. The handle in the middle of the door had a bright moon on it that split when the door was opened. How I didn't notice and realise the significance before was beyond me.

Suddenly, after turning another corner, my vision started to fog up again. I started to internally panic but I eventually calmed down when I realised that I was having another one of my visions...

The fog cleared to reveal I was in a grand hall, the ceiling a mile high. In front of me, two thrones sat on an elevated platform with intricate patterns around them, one was empty, the other sat Princess Luna, her majestic mane waving furiously in the non-existent wind, dark blue body sitting proudly. To my right, looking out one of the stained glass windows that looked like a sun high in the sky, stood another pony in the same sort of attire as Luna, but with white fur. That must be Princess Celestia.

I looked up at Princess Luna and she gave me a strained look. "About that..." She started. Princess Celestia turned around sharply and gave her sister a slight shake of her head and I could have sworn I saw her mouth "no" under her breath. "He needs to know, Tia."

She sighed, a resigned look on her face. "You're right. I shouldn't be hiding anything from you. Not something that would be this important to you. That incident I just mentioned, was the main reason why we locked the scroll away. It was because..." Suddenly, out of nowhere, a beam of what I could only assume was magic shot from my right and hit Celestia in the head and partially on the horn, knocking her back a few feet.

"PRINCESS!" I shouted, quickly rushing over to her lifeless form and checking for a pulse. She was still alive, but unconscious. I was pretty sure if we didn't get her to a hospital soon, she wouldn't be in good condition any time soon. I looked to where the beam came from, the main throne room door, and I saw a figure move away from the door like a blur. Before I could do anything, however, the fog started rolling back in, obscuring my vision of the scene.

"HEY! CREATURE!" a loud voice shouted out, nearly bursting my ear drums as I came back to reality. Looks like we had still been walking while I was having my vision, and now we were standing before a giant set of double doors, with two guards standing either side with eyes staring straight ahead.

"What...? Sorry, must have spaced out there for a second." I half lied.

She gave me another stern look. "Well, pay more attention! As I was saying, you are about to have an audience with the Princesses. You will give them your utmost respect and do as they say. Don't try anything, otherwise we will have no choice but to incapacitate you. Do I make myself perfectly clear!" She continued, her voice raising as she talked.

"Completely. You won't have any more problems from me." I answered, giving her the most serious look I could muster.

"Good. We shouldn’t have anything to worry about then," she finished before turning to the guards posted at the doors and giving them a quick nod, letting them know to open the doors, which they did at once with a salute.

What awaited me beyond those doors was the giant throne room, similar in style to the stained-glass hallway. On either side of the room, more stained-glass windows were present, but not as intricately designed as the others. A red carpet lined the floor, leading up to the two thrones from my vision, except with Princess Celestia sitting in it proudly, her blue, green, purple and pink mane flowing just like her sisters. Sitting on her right was Princess Luna, who was still glaring daggers at me, but not as intensely as before. A large circle stained glass window hung above the thrones. This room only seemed to make me even more nervous.

Several guards were standing in a line down the carpet and around the throne, looking as stern as the British royal guards do when patrolling Buckingham Palace. I wonder if they get the same grief from the general public as they do. They did however give me some strange looks, mostly neutral, but some of them angry, as I walked past, only serving to make me feel more nervous. Standing up near the throne, to my surprise, was the stallion I saved, Rookie. He wasn’t wearing his helmet, showing off his azure blue mane with alternating lighter blue streaks that hung down in front of his eyes. When he noticed me, he looked absolutely ecstatic to see that I was alive and well.

As we approached, Celestia regarded me with gentle eyes that somehow seemed to be searching my soul, almost like she was looking through all of my darkest secrets and working out what makes me tick. I couldn't help but rub the back of my neck from nervousness.

The guardpony who brought me here bowed low before the princesses, before addressing them. "Princess, I have brought you the creature that snuck into the castle."

"Thank you, Captain. You may return to your duties." Princess Celestia commanded politely. Captain? Why would she have the captain come and get me? Doesn't she have other more important jobs she could be doing? She bowed once more before turning around and marching out of the room, leaving me with the Princesses. "So, you’re the one my sister has been telling me so much about."

"Yep, that's me... The guy who always seems to have trouble follow him wherever he goes," I laughed anxiously, rubbing my neck so much that I felt it would start smoking. "My name is Darren Walker and I'm a human."

"I'm Princess Celestia, and this is my sister, Princess Luna, and we rule over this fair land," she introduced herself and her sister, even though I already know who they are, in a calming voice, making me relax a little. "Now that the introductions are out of the way, we would like to know why you broke into the castle and what you were planning on doing?"

"And what you were doing in my living quarters?!" Princess Luna added, a lot louder than Celestia, making me tense up once again.

"It was never my intention to sneak into the castle. I just wanted to talk to you. I felt like I had no choice." I started to explain. Luna looked at me with confusion evident on her face, while Celestia remained emotionless, listening to my explanation. "I needed to see you as soon as possible and I didn't know you had to make an 'appointment'. I couldn't wait and I didn't know what else to do, so I hid in a food delivery cart and snuck in."

“We should start checking the contents of the carts that enter the palace from now on,” Celestia muttered to herself.

"I only ended up in Princess Luna's room because I needed a place to hide and that was the closest room available. I didn't know I was entering your room while you were sleeping, it was just a coincidence," I continued. Luna still didn't seem to happy that her private bedroom was infiltrated, but she seemed to accept my answer.

Celestia nodded in understanding. "Ahh, I see. So you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time." I nodded my head in agreeance. "That clears that up. Now, about the events that took place in the great hall. Rookie here told us that you got into a fight-"

I winced audibly. "Ok, I know what you're going to say, and I know it seems bad, but I wasn't actually planning on doing anything bad. My anger got the better of me, and before I knew what was happening, he was crashing through the window. And it ended with me 'dead' at the bottom of the mountain. I guess I got what I wanted, but in the worst way possible, and for that, I am sorry. Do whatever you wish with me. I deserve to be locked up for what happened to Rookie," I held my head low in guilt.

There was a long pause as everyone in the room digested what I just said. I could hear the guards whispering amongst themselves. Rookie gave me a sad smile. Princess Luna seemed to have calmed down significantly and Princess Celestia looked to be thinking.

"Now why would I do that?" she finally replied, shocking me. That seemed to surprise Luna too.

"Wait what? You're not going to arrest me? Even after I snuck into your castle and intentionally harmed and almost killed one of your royal guards?" I questioned, looking at her like she had gone insane.

"Of course not. You may have tried to harm one of my guards, but you made amends by saving his life, and I can't thank you enough for saving one of my little ponies." She smiled down at me brightly.

"Well, I can't just sit back and watch as someone gets hurt, especially if I'm the one that caused it. I had to do something and I would do it again in a heartbeat." I saw Rookie grin widely at that and I could swear I saw him start to tear up.

"But sister, shouldn't he be punished in SOME way for his actions?" Luna inquired.

"I actually agree," I admit, surprising Luna. "I shouldn't just get off scot-free for sneaking into the royal castle, especially seeing as one of those stained-glass windows was smashed. I'm guessing that window commemorated something important, right?"

"Yes, it was important. It was to commemorate The Elements of Harmony and the defeat of Nightmare Moon," Celestia answered. The Elements of Harmony? Nightmare Moon? What is she talking about? I'll have to ask later. Now's not the time for small talk. She sighed, looking between me and Luna. "If you both think that it is necessary, then you could do some community service."

"Sister, don't the work ponies need help renovating the royal garden," Luna suggested.

"That's perfect. I'm a landscape gardener back where I come from, so I know everything there is to know about that sort of thing."

"It's settled then. You can help with the work in the royal garden for the next few days until it is completed," Celestia declared. She got up from her throne and started to descend down the red carpet towards me, her pristine white fur reflecting the light of the sun off of her body. The guards seemed to be prepared just in case I attacked. "Now that leads me onto my next question. You just said 'back where I come from,' but where do you come from exactly, and how did you get here?"

"That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about. You could say that I'm not from around here. I'm actually from another world," I answered, Celestia standing right in front of me now, small smile on her face. She was the same height as me and was actually quite intimidating up close. I couldn't help but step back a little as she approached.

"And you want to know how I got here. Well, you should ask your fourth princess. You know her as Twilight Sparkle?" I said, a smirk on my lips and a twinkle in my eye. Luna looks stunned by this news, but Celestia looked unfazed, expression unchanged.

"I figured as much, but I didn't expect Twilight to be responsible. It would explain why she left Canterlot so abruptly."

"But sister, didn't we lock that spell away for everypony’s safety? How could Twilight Sparkle possibly have found it?" Luna questioned, much to my confusion.

"Wait. What are you two talking about? Twilight did say something about a spell, but what exactly is this spell?" I asked. They hesitated for a second, glancing back at each other before addressing me.

"I don't see the harm in telling you," Celestia started, walking around me until she's standing on my right looking out of the window. "The spell in question was created by Starswirl the Bearded, a powerful unicorn and mine and my sister's personal teacher, over 1000 years ago. It allows the caster to transport themselves and others through dimensions. We locked it away so that it couldn't be used by evil beings that would use it for their own selfish reasons."

"Apparently you didn't hide it well enough, if Twilight was able to find it so easily," I said, more thoughts running through my mind. A thousand years ago?! Wait, are the princess's immortal? This land is in safe hands- uhh hooves, with all of the knowledge they must have.

"I guess you’re right. Sometimes Twilight can be too curious and smart for her own good," she agreed, shaking her head in exasperation, smile on her face nonetheless. "Anyway, after a certain incident, we were all sworn to never learn or use it again. Something could go wrong, and It would be way too dangerous in the wrong hooves. They could do terrible things to creatures in the many multitude of worlds out there."

"And that event was...?" I asked, waving my hand in a circle as a gesture for her to elaborate.

"It... isn't all that important," she replied with a hint of hesitation. Luna gave her a puzzled look, like she was asking ‘What are you doing?’

"O... k. Anyway, I need to get to Twilight so that she can send me home, seeing as she brought me here against my will!" I stated, my voice rising in anger, scrunching up my hands into fists. I quickly breathed out heavily to calm myself down. "I have a family that are probably really worried about me."

They both seemed surprised by my sudden anger. “That’s unlike her to do something so brash. What reason would she have to do such a thing?” Celestia asked.

Should I tell them? Can I really trust them with this kind of information? I’ve only just met them. They may be the rulers of this land, but that doesn’t mean that I can trust them as far as I can throw them.

“...That’s not important right now. All that matters is getting to her as soon as possible so that she can fix this mess she’s created.” I answered vaguely, Celestia giving me a pensive look, almost like she was trying to get an answer out of me just by looking at my eyes and body language.

Luna gave me a strained look. "About that..." She started. Princess Celestia turned her head sharply and gave her sister a slight shake of her head and I could have sworn I saw her mouth "no" under her breath. "He needs to know, Tia."

"Wait a minute..." I whisper to myself under my breath, getting a sense of déjà vu. Celestia started talking, but I already knew what she was going to say. I didn't even need to look around to know what was going on. There was absolutely no way I was going to let this happen, not on my watch.

"PRINCESS, LOOK OUT!" I instinctively sprinted toward Celestia and tackled her out of the way just at the beam fired, skimming my hair ever so slightly. We ended up in a heap on the throne room floor, with me on top of the solar diarch. She, and all of the other ponies around us, looked at me in utter shock. I had just saved one of the rulers of Equestria from what could be considered as an assassination attempt.

"Are you alright?" I asked, hoping to god that I didn't hurt her as I tackled her to the hard floor.

"I'm... fine," she said, shock still evident on her face. I gasped, quickly realising that the assailant was still here, and looked at the double doors to see a glowing horn hastily power down and slink away, then a dark figure swiftly galloping out of sight.

"Oh no, you don't!" I yelled, hurriedly lifting myself to my feet and sprinting towards the doors. I felt the same major headache overcome me again and I could have sworn I saw a tint of green flowing below me, but I paid it no mind. All that mattered was that this pony was captured and brought to justice.

I swung the doors up, almost breaking them off of their hinges, and made my way out into the maze of hallways. I could see that the two guards that were posted on either side of the doors were slumped down onto the floor. Luckily, they were still breathing, but unconscious. I surveyed the branching corridors, looking for any sign of the 'assassin,' until I suddenly saw a dark purple tail flick down the far corner straight ahead of me. I sped after them without hesitation, seeing the guards from the throne room gallop out behind me, but quickly being left behind.

Thanks to Luna healing me, I was back to full health, and quickly gaining on the criminal, who appeared to be wearing a brown tattered hooded clock. I could just about reach out and grab their tail, but before I could, they turned their head to me and fired a beam of magic at my feet, hitting the ground and missing me by mere inches. This made me stumble and lose a few feet of distance, but I was able to keep my balance and continue the chase.

This continued for a few more minutes, with me slowly catching up to the fleeing pony and them firing magical beams at me, which pushed me back. I even started to be able to dodge their attacks and kept my speed, but they always seemed to predict my every move and keep me at bay, swerving left and right at the right moments and taking corners when I least expected it.

We eventually made it down to the main hall, but unlike when the guards were chasing me, there was no one here, not a single pony. So, when you’re chasing someone who isn’t that big of a threat, there are guards absolutely everywhere, but when there is someone who is an actual threat to society, there’s no one around. Now, how is that fair? I descended down the stairs three at a time.

The criminal rushed through the hall, making a beeline for the front door, but before they even had a chance to open it, it burst open to reveal hundreds of guards on the other side, all armed with spears. The assailant skidded to a halt, turned on their hooves and galloped towards the door on their right, which unfortunately for them also swung opened to reveal more guards. They turned around once more and headed towards the left door, and what would you know, more guards there too. They were trapped on all sides. And I instantly take back my thoughts.

“We got you now, bitch! You’re trapped. There is nowhere for you to run, no way for you to escape.” I declared as I got to the bottom of the stairs, seeing the guards from the throne room trotting up behind me, most of them clearly out of breath from trying to keep up with us. I couldn’t see the culprit's face under the matted hood they had up, but I could just about see their blue muzzle. The strangest part about this was that they didn’t look defeated. They were actually smiling.

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that.” The pony rebutted, calm feminine voice echoing around the room. “A storm is coming, and no pony is prepared for it.” Under the hood, I could see a faint blue light. I knew immediately what it could be.

There was no way she was getting away. I sped towards her, hoping to stop her before she could use a spell to get away. Unfortunately, she suddenly disappeared in a flash of blue light before I could grab her. I did, however, manage to grab her hood as she teleported away, meaning that it hadn’t teleported with her and I now held it in my hands.

So, here I was, standing in the middle of the main hall of a royal castle surrounded by guardponies, who were all after another pony who had just tried to assassinate one of the reigning pony diarchies who I had just saved. Let's just say that my day so far had been... interesting.

“We need to find her. Now! We’ll split up and search Canterlot. She was rushed, so she can’t have teleported far.” I ordered the guards, who gave me confused looks.

“Umm, you can’t order us around.” One of the guards from the throne room stated.

“Do you want to find her or not?!” I shouted, causing some of the guards to flinch back. I quickly got responses of ‘yes’ and ‘of course.’ “That’s what I thought.”

The ring of guards disbanded, forming groups varies sizes and heading out into Canterlot. I quickly saw a pony I would probably have ingrained into mind for the rest of my life. “Rookie!” He looked at me with green eyes full of surprise. “You’re with me.” I usually work alone, but we needed to find this pony, and two pairs of eyes are better than one. He looked even more shocked, if that was even possible, before being filled with sheer joy and bounding towards me like a dog after not seeing his master for years. I gave him a look of pure confusion. Why was he so happy to be with me?

“Yes sir. We’ll find this fiend if it’s the last thing we do.” He said enthusiastically, rushing out of the door at top speed.

“Hey, wait for me.” I called out, stumbling over my own feet trying to keep up with him. We needed to find this pony before she does anything else bad. This is not only for Equestria’s benefit, but mine as well.

I still need to atone for my mistakes.

Act 1:3 - The Search for a Criminal

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Darren
Canterlot

Rookie and I had ended up back down in the heart of Canterlot, the streets bustling with fancily dressed ponies constantly giving me strange looks, blissfully unaware of what had just happened at the castle. I’m kind of envious of everyone else right now, wishing I wasn’t involved in such a big incident. If you would have told me last week that I was going to be transported to another universe and save one of their ruling princesses, I would have laughed in your face. Not to mention that I had saved the stallion that was currently trotting next to me. This “experience” just keeps getting weirder and weirder.

I glanced down at said equine. I had never really taken in many of the finer details of him, mostly because I was too focused on other more pressing matters at the time. I did, however, noticed that he was smaller than the other guard ponies I had seen so far, but after what I’d seen, I knew he definitely wasn’t a pushover. He may have been smaller in size, but his build really showed his training, the gold armour highlighting his muscles for everyone to see.

He had put his helmet back on, but with his mane being so long, you could still see some blue strands hanging down his face, obscuring his eyes slightly. I also noticed that his mane acted as the crest on the top of the helmet. Weird design choice, but I guess they were probably made out of horse hair on Roman helmets, so I guess it makes sense. His blue eyes sparkled with an expression of determination with an odd hint of feverish anticipation as he looked down every street and alleyway. It made me smile knowing I had saved someone like him. He still had his whole life ahead of him. I couldn’t help but notice though that he also seemed to be deep in thought.

Suddenly, he walked in front of me and paused, making me stop in my tracks. I was about to question him until he jumped up and sucker punched me in the face, albeit softer than when we were fighting, but still hard enough to make me stagger back a little. I could feel my nose throbbing again. I gave him a look of bewilderment. “Ow! Why always the nose? What was that for?!”

“You promised!” My look became even more confused. “You promised that you would be right behind me before I climbed up, but you ended up falling off the edge and getting yourself killed! If Princess Luna wasn’t so merciful, you’d be dead right now!”

“Well, sorry I didn’t anticipate the ledge falling out from under me. Nice to know I’m appreciated.” I said sarcastically, wiping the blood from my nose.

“Don’t say that! Don’t twist my words. I never said I didn’t appreciate you. You scared me back there. I thought you died! You were unconscious for three days! How could I not be worried!? I worried that I wouldn’t be able to say thank you to my saviour again.”

I thought for a second about what he was saying, and then about what I was saying before calmed myself down. “...You’re right. You’re right. I’m an asshole. I’m sorry… But why thank me? You wouldn’t have been in that situation in the first place if it wasn’t for me. I basically chucked you out of that window myself. I shouldn’t have even tried to get into the castle that way, let alone not surrendering when I was caught. You should be hating my guts, not praising me.”

“You really aren’t from around here, are you?” he arched his eyebrows.

“No, really? How did you guess?” Sarcasm laced my tone.

“I’m just saying. You don’t know what our society is like, do you?” he replied.

“Of course not. I only just got here. The only reason I’m still here is because I was stupid and was out cold for three days. I shouldn’t even be here in the first place! I should be at home, with my family, but nooooo. I’m stuck in this godforsaken world picking fights I can't win and almost getting myself and others killed left, right and centre!” I explained, trying to avoid eye contact with all of the staring ponies around me.

“Well, we believe in the magic of friendship, and I personally believe that there is some good in everypony." I rolled my eyes. "You may have broken into the castle, but you didn’t do it for a bad reason. And yes, you did try to hurt me by throwing me out of that window, but you were backed into a corner with me in the way, of course you were either going to run or fight. And you risked everything, even your chance to go home, just to save me. That shows that you are a good... human, was it?” I gave him a small nod. “Not many ponies would risk their own life to save somepony they don’t know.”

“Well, thank you, I guess... That doesn't atone for anything I've done though.”

“Well, if I’ve learnt anything from Princess Twilight and her friends, it’s that your friends are one of the most important ponies in your life. They'll forgive you when mistakes are made and they will help you out whenever you’re in trouble.”

“Princess Twilight? You mean the same one who brought me here in the first place?”

“Well, yeah. There IS only one Princess Twilight after all,” he gave me a cheeky smile, nudging me with his shoulder, which I shrugged off.

“Yeah... Whatever. Anyway, what does she have to do... with...” I started to ask, but then just remembered something Twilight had said which I must have glossed over before...

"Oh, of course. As I said, I am Twilight Sparkle. I am the Princess of Friendship, one of the ruling Princesses presiding over the Kingdom of Equestria."

“Oh yeah, she did say something about her being the... Princess of Friendship, whatever the hell that means,” I said, almost uncaringly.

“You realised she said that to you just now?!” Rookie sounded genuinely surprised that I forgot such a seemingly important detail.

“Well, a magical talking pony did just suddenly appear in my living room, so sorry if I wasn’t really paying attention to the finer details of our conversation,” I gave him a deadpan look. “Besides, I think family is a hell of a lot more important than friends. Family members are by your side throughout your entire life. They birth you, feed you, look after you, raise you... Love you. Whether it’s your mother, your grandparents or even your significant other, they will be there for you and support you.” I involuntarily grasped my necklace. Rookie seemed to see this, but didn’t question it.

I could have sworn I heard him mumble “Not everypony,” under his breath as we walked. “What was that?” I asked, making sure I heard him right.

“O-oh, it’s nothing,” he said hastily, not looking me in the eye. I gave him a weird look, but left it at that. Maybe I was just hearing things. “Hey, why do you still have that cloak?”

“Cloak?” he lifted a hoof to point at my shoulder. I looked down to discover that I still had the hood that the criminal was wearing before they got away draped across it. “Oh, that! I’m not sure. I grabbed it off of the pony before they teleported away. Guess I forgot to leave it behind,” I thought about it for a second and suddenly had an idea. “Hey, do you guys have forensic investigators?”

“Uh, yeah. We do have ponies that are specially trained in forensics. Why do you ask?” He tilted his head like a dog.

“If we don’t find the culprit, we could take this to them and see if they can get some DNA from any strands of hair or saliva,” Rookie’s face lit at this revelation.

“Oh yeah! That’s a great idea. We’ll get them for sure!” he cheered, running a circle around my legs in happiness. He was like a child who had just come out of a sweet shop... It was kind of endearing. He is so innocent and... naïve.

“Calm down. We should be focusing on finding this pony first before we get too excited. We don’t want them getting away, do we?” I reaffirmed, blocking his turn circle. He stopped running circles and gave me a firm nod, before we intensified our search.

For the next 10 minutes or so, we searched high and low, in every side street and around every corner, trying to find hide or hair of a suspicious looking pony trying to escape... but all we could see were ponies wearing suits or dresses that would send dirty and scared looks in my direction. I had never really minded being to centre of attention before, but now it was just getting annoying and obnoxious.

I groaned audibly, wiping sweat from my forehead before I stopped Rookie in his tracks as we came to a T section in the road. “We’ll never find her like this. This is taking far too long. She could be long gone by now! We should just give up at this point.”

“No! We can’t give up now. We need to find them. They have to be around here somewhere. W-We can get them...” Rookie said with confidence, but his body started to slouch and he was dragging his hooves. His expression suddenly became thoughtful. “How about we split up. You go one way; I go another way.”

“I don’t know. What if one of us actually finds her?” I asked sceptically.

“Well, just try your best to capture them then. I’ll go this way and you go that way. We’ll meet back here in a little while.” He pointed in the direction behind him for himself and in the direction behind me for my direction and started galloping away.

“Rookie! Wait!” I turned, shouting after him, but he was already out of earshot before I could say anything else. “For God sake! Stupid four-legged ponies, being able to outrun me and my stupid two legs,” I had no choice but to do what Rookie said if I had any change of finding this criminal before they left town. I grumbled as I turned on my heels and headed in the opposite direction to the fleeing Royalguard.

So, I continued the routine of looking in every nook and cranny, hoping to find ANYTHING that could lead me to the pony I was looking for. All determination I had to find this pony was being sapped out of me the longer I spent searching. After another 15 minutes of finding nothing down this straight road I had ended up on, I came to a dead end. I was about to give up, turn around and meet back up with Rookie, when I saw movement down an alleyway out of the corner of my eye across a T-junction within the alley.

I made sure that no one was around before I crouched down and inched my way into the back alley, making sure to make as little noise as possible. This had to be her. It HAD to be. Who else would be sneaking in an alleyway? As I got to the end of the T junction, I didn’t give myself, or them, any time to think about a plan. “Aha! I’m got you now!” I rushed out bullheadedly, ready for a fight...

Only to find the largest raccoon I had ever seen looking up at me from where it was rooting around in a rubbish bin, before it loudly hissed at me and scurried farther into the darkness of the alley. All hope and fire I had left was instantly extinguished, my search derailed indefinitely. I had been looking for the last half an hour with absolutely no luck whatsoever. There was no chance of me finding her now. Let’s just hope that any of the other guards found her, where we had failed.

Once I got back to the T-junction, I found that Rookie had not finished his search yet, so I waited, my foot lightly tapping against the stone impatiently. Fortunately, it wasn’t too long before I saw him trotting around the corner.

“Hey, finally! I thought you weren’t going to show. Get lost?” I asked, cheeky smile playing on my lips.

“No! I was just very careful in my search,” he replied, but I could see the blush on his cheeks. I raised an eyebrow. He cracked immediately. “Ok, maybe a little, but it wasn’t for long, I swear.” I couldn’t help but laugh, his blush only intensifying.

“Anyway, back on topic. Did you find anything?” After a moment, I shook my head adamantly. “Yeah, me neither. Maybe you were right. At this rate, she would’ve probably skipped town by now. There is no hope of us finding her, if nopony else has yet.” His head was hung low in shame.

“Glad you can see some sense. Let’s head back to the castle, reconvene with the other search parties and hope that they found SOMETHING,” I agreed. Rookie nodded and followed me down the path.

As we walked, I couldn’t help but notice that there were more ponies around than there were before. Now that I looked around, we seemed to be in some sort of commercial district. Shops, restaurants, and cafes lined the streets from top to bottom, which meant more ponies to gawk at me. Just what I needed. I continued to walk, trying my best to not let the looks get to me, but it was really starting to make me uncomfortable.

It seemed Rookie had noticed me grinding my teeth down to nothing from trying not to call out for them to stop, because he turned and moved towards two mares who were standing outside of a cafe whispering to each other while giving me glances, and said, “Hey! Why don’t you mind your own business! We have an important job to do and we don’t need you two, or ANYONE ELSE, whispering behind his back!” They gave him shocked looks, before shying away from him, saying apologies as they backed away.

I looked around and saw most of the ponies averting their gaze. I walked over to him while giving him an amazed look. “Wow. That was impressive. You didn't have to do that, you know? It wasn't that distracting,” I praised.

“Your face said otherwise. What can I say? Sometimes it pays to be a royal guard. Now, let’s get back to business,” he said, turning to continue on through the commercial district. I moved to follow him, but was brought to a halt by a fog clouding my sight. I started to internally panic, but I eventually calmed down when I realised that I was having another one of my visions...

I looked to see some foals having fun kicking a football around, or I guess in this case a hoofball. I saw one of the foals, a colt with light red fur and a short black mane with brown streaks curling around on his forehead, kick the ball particularly hard, gaining height and flying in our direction. I had no time to react before it hit Rookie square in the face, the force knocking him off his hooves and making him fly a few feet from where he was standing with a yell of pain.

“...Darren. Are you ok?” I shook my head as the fog parted and I heard Rookie expressed his concern, looking to see him stood beside me with his head tilted in confusion. Then, suddenly, I heard the sound of children’s laughter. I looked down the path in front of us to see the foals dashing towards us with the ball racing along the ground ahead of them.

“Rookie, DUCK!”

“What?” Rookie exclaimed as I yelled, looking over in the direction I was peering to see the red colt start to wind up his hoof to send the ball flying. Knowing that something was up, he literally jumped to the ground, laying his legs out flat so he was spread eagle, landing on his stomach, gasping as the high speed ball came shooting over his head by mere inches, the mane coming out of his helmet fluttering wildly in the backdraft, swearing I saw some strands of his mane catching alight with how fast it was going.

“Buck… that was close,” I could just hear him mutter under his breath, slowly picking himself back up.

Was that a swear word? Did he just… swear? It sounded like it, but I didn’t expect that. I gave him a knowing look, and he gave me a blush in return. “You good?”

“Yes, I’m fine, but let me just get readjusted to being in my body again,” he replied with a chuckle, his muscles relaxing, but I could see that the gears were turning in his head.

He was so distracted he didn’t see the colt who had booted (or maybe hoofed) the ball trotted over timidly. His friends, a unicorn and a pegasus, grabbing the infernal ball and trotted over to the side nervously. His tail hung between his legs like a dog knowing it did something wrong. “I’m so sorry, Mister. I didn’t mean to. Honest!” he apologised in a high-pitched voice, crossing his hooves in front of him in shame.

“It’s ok, bud. It was an accident. I’m sure Rookie knows that, right Rookie?” I answered for him, getting down on one knee to get down to eye level with the foal.

“Yeah… Of course...” he confirmed, giving the colt a small smile, but seemed more interested in staring at me with a pensive and puzzled expression.

“So, I’m not in trouble?” The colt asked, eyes wide in shock.

“Of course not. He’s not going to put you in prison just because you hit him in the face with a ball. And between you and me, I think he might have needed a smack in the head to sort him out anyway,” I said, leaning in close to whisper the last part. The colt giggled at that comment.

“Hey... I heard that! I’m still here, you know?!” Rookie said in his defence, lifted from his thoughtful trance. The colt and I laughed at that.

I sighed as my laughter died down. “You know, that was quite an impressive kick. Have you been practicing?”

He shrugged. “I-I guess. Me and my friends play Buckball with each other all the time. Was it that good?”

“Well, yeah. You would’ve knocked Rookie clean off his feet. I know that for sure. You may need to practice your aim, but if you keep at it, you might be able to do something with that in the future,” I encouraged with a smile. I could see his whole face light up at the prospect.

“Really?! You really think so?! I can finally find what I am destined to do!” He hopped around on the tip of his hooves, glancing back at his flank with anticipation for some reason. “Thanks, Mister!"

“No problem, kid. Now get out of here, before we change our minds,” I finished, ruffling his mane before he trotted off with his mates to practice some more.

“You know, you’re really good with foals,” Rookie stated simply.

“Well, I have two of my own at home. It comes with experience.” Images of Harry and Scarlet crept their way into my mind, a dark cloud forming over my head at the thought of me not being able to see them.

Rookie seemed to notice my downcast look and realised what I might be thinking. “Oh, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“No, it’s ok. It’s not like I can take them off my mind... They are the only things keeping me going at this point… I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have them to push me forward.” I sighed deeply through my nose, trying my best to keep them in the back of my mind in favour of more current matters.

Rookie’s reflective look suddenly came back with a vengeance. “So, how in Tartarus did you manage to warm me about that incoming ball? He was just winding up his shot as I looked over, so how did you see it coming?”

“...Well… I-I…” I stuttered, about to tell him to not worry about it. However, I was stopped by more fog obscuring my vision.

“Let’s just get back to the matter at hand. We should get back to- AHH!” My vision self was interrupted by someone barrelling into my legs at full speed, making me plummet to the ground like a brick, moaning as I landed on my back with a thud.

“OW! FOR FUCK SAKE!!! Jesus… and there goes MY luck,” I sighed, sitting back up rubbing my now throbbing head.

“Hey! Not cool! You could’ve seriously hurt somepony!” Rookie shouted after my ‘assailant.’ “Are you ok? That was quite a fall.”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just got a headache now, no big deal,” I winced through clenched teeth. I suddenly noticed a distinct lack of weight on my shoulder. I looked to see that the hood that had been there this whole time had suddenly vanished. “Wait, where’d the hood go?!” I frantically searched around for it, not finding it around me anywhere.

“Didn’t you just have it? I don’t… Wait, I think that mare had it in her magic!” He exclaimed.

“Wait, mare?” I glanced at the path in front of me and suddenly saw the mare, a navy blue furred, purple and white maned pony, with the hood in her blue magically aura who was running away quite fast. “Hey! That’s her! That’s the pony we’ve been looking for! Why didn't you say anything?!”

“WHAT?! I didn't realise!” Rookie looked shocked as I swiftly pushed myself to my feet, giving myself a headrush. He quickly cleared his throat and gave me a firm nod, trying to stay professional, even though his eyes showed otherwise. “I-I mean, Sir, yes sir!”

I ran briskly, trying to make up for lost time after my tumble, with Rookie pulling ahead of me because of his four legs. The criminal ran across a crossroads, managing to avoid ponies coming around the corner, as did Rookie. I approached the crossroads and tried to cross it as quick as possible, but I was quite close to the buildings on the right side, so I couldn’t see if anyone was coming around the corner.

Unfortunately, a pony had been coming around, and the two of us collided, sending us both onto our ass along with an assortment of shopping that the pony had been carrying. When I looked up after recovering from the accident, I saw Rookie continue running off into the distance, having not even noticed I had fallen.

“Oh my God! I’m so sorry. Are you ok?” I asked, brushing the book off my head and picking myself up quickly.

The pony, a yellow furred, orange maned unicorn mare, had recovered quickly and was already trying to grab all of her shopping off the ground.“It’s fine. Really. I wasn’t watching where I was going.”

I glanced back down the path to see a purple tail slink around a corner and Rookie gallop after it. “I’m sorry, but I’m in the middle of something really important at the moment. I promise, if we see each other again, I will make it up to you. Rookie, wait up!” I promptly started sprinting down the path after the culprit and Rookie.

“Rookie?” I heard the pony say in surprised confusion before I ran out of earshot. I brushed that aside to focus more on my primary objective.

“...Darren! Equestria to Darren! What's wrong with you!?" I heard Rookie exclaim as the fog lifted from my sight again, clapping his hooves in front of my face.

Knowing what was about to happen, I pushed him away from me so I had space. "...You want to know how I knew you were going to get hit by that ball?" He nodded his head. "You see, I'm not going to tell you… but I am going to make you even more confused."

He gave me a perplexed look, before I abruptly spun around and held my foot outstretched, until a certain pony ran by and tripped over it, sprawling out in a heap on the stone path in a daze, groaning in pain. Rookie expressed his disbelief by staring at me and the criminal, awestruck. "Wha… H-how… Who… Huh… WHAT! HOW THE EVERLIVING BUCK DID YOU DO THAT?!” He smacked a hoof over his mouth when he realised the language that just came out of his mouth, peering around to make sure no one had heard him.

I shook my head with a smile, but didn’t address him. Instead, I gave my full attention to the criminal, finally being able to see her appearance. I was right in the gender department, she was definitely a mare, a strong one at that, seeing the muscles clearly defined on her body. She looked like she could be as strong, if not stronger, than Rookie. She had Navy blue fur and a short purple and white mane, just as the vision had shown me, with the purple and white swirling around each other to the end point on top of her head. I could see that the symbol on her flank, which everyone seems to have for some reason, was a brain with a lit lightbulb above it. Interestingly, she also had what looked like a burn scar on her right cheek as well.

“HA! Nice try! Nothing gets past me, bitch! You couldn’t get this if you tried,” I gloated, with an almost maniacal laugh and a pat on the hood on my shoulder. The mare growled through gritted teeth, obviously annoyed that she was bested again. “Maybe next time you should take your time and pick your moves carefully. Now, how’s about we get you back to the castle so you can pay for your- AHHH!” She suddenly whipped her head around and sparked up her horn again, firing out a powerful flare of magic straight at my chest, sending me flying back straight into a wall, before crumpling to the ground, my glasses clattering to the ground next to me.

“DARREN!” Rookie exclaimed, feeling his presence over my weakened body. It felt like my whole body was tingling and convulsing, I could hardly move. My glasses were abruptly placed back on my face by Rookie’s magic as I managed to creek my head upwards to look at him, seeing the most terrified face I had seen on his face since I fell off that cliff. I saw the mare who attacked me quickly get up and rush off with another annoyed growl. “Oh Celestia, no! What do I do? Um… Oh, I know. Don’t worry Darren, we’ll get you back to the castle and get you healed right up.”

“Don’t worry… a-about me…” I strained, my chest screaming in pain just from talking as I lifted my right arm slowly to point after my assailant. “J-just… don’t l-let her… g-get away…”

Rookie glanced to the fleeing pony, then back to me, biting his lip so hard I was sure it was going to bleed. He did this a couple more times before adamantly shaking his head and stirring up his magic. “Oh no you don’t! I’m not going to lose you. Not on my watch!”

I felt the comforting sensation of his magic surrounding me again, except less intense than last time, the energy soothing my body a little, and saw the ground slowly pull away from me as I felt my feet lightly plonk flatly onto their heels again. I tried to release myself, considering the spell holding me up was a lot weaker than last time, but I could hardly stand, let alone release myself from a magical hold that I didn’t have the first clue about.

I slowly managed to grab a door frame on one of the buildings before blinking at him. “Why do you… even care…? G-getting her… locked up… i-is a lot more… important… than saving me…”

“No, no it isn’t,” he stated bluntly, giving me this look that seemed genuinely concerned.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have the mental capacity to comprehend that at the moment. “I-if you really care… you’ll g-go after her… For me… We can’t let her… g-get away again… Please… I’ll be fine…”

He started biting his lip again, once again looking between me and the mare, who was just fleeing around a corner. If he continued doing that, I was going to have to insist that he was a starving vampire. After a few seconds, the mare getting farther and farther away with each passing second, I heard him growl lightly and sigh deeply before I felt the field around me lift, the ache coming back with a vengeance as I almost crumpled against the wall of the building, pushing my hand out to stop me from falling. “...Fine. I’ll do it for you. Only because you insist. Don’t go anywhere. I’ll be right back.”

“Yeah… l-like I’m going anywhere...” I breathed, trying my best to alleviate the pain as he hurriedly galloped after the culprit, quickly dodging any pedestrians and disappearing around the same corner. “Just great… Why can’t… anything be easy…”

After what felt like an hour, but was only a couple seconds, I tried to push myself off of the wall and stand up myself. I don’t know why I tried, but maybe in my weakened mind, I was going to try and stubbornly get back to the castle. I managed to stand up properly, but my brain lurched in my head, feeling like it was rattling around in my skull. My vision started to become blurry, and even though I was still wearing my glasses, the hustle and bustle of Canterlot became muffled in my ears.

The next thing I knew, the ground was suddenly launching towards my face. Turns out the ground wasn’t firing towards me. I was racing towards it. I landed with a heavy thunk, hearing my glasses clatter to the ground again as they flew off my nose. I laid there as my body started to shut down again, not knowing what was to come this time around.

All of a sudden, I heard muffled shouting before being gently turned onto my back by soft hooves. I tried to make out who the pony was, but in my dazed and weakened state, there was no way that I could even make out a solid block of colour, let alone the shape of a pony. My hearing didn't help either, so trying to tell whether they were male or female was out of the question.

But I didn't have long before once again succumbing to the darkness, welcoming the embrace like an old friend.

Act 1:4 - A Home Remedy

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Rookie

Streets of Canterlot

“I can’t let her get away. I can’t let Darren down!” I repeated to myself as I galloped down the streets of Canterlot after my target. I dodged ponies left, right and centre, hearing gasps of shock and exclamations of anger as I passed. I kept profusely apologising to everypony I passed, but my true concern was on the escaping unicorn.

My golden guard armour clattered loudly as I ran, but did little to hinder me thanks to the years of adorning it. I needed to catch this criminal as soon as possible so I could get back and help Darren before his condition got worse. This pony had landed a massive hit on Darren, and I wasn't going to let her get away with that, not after Darren had trusted me with this.

I was closing in on her. It didn’t take her long to notice that she was being chased and pick up her pace, using the dirtiest tricks in the book to get me off her tail; tipping stands full of fruits and vegetables, throwing tables and chairs with her magic, and firing various magical beams at me, all of which I luckily evaded, but it still slowed me down.

After taking several corners, most so fast that I skidded past them and had to turn around, we ended up on the outskirts of a less populated part of the city, one that most ponies, including myself, wouldn’t normally pass through. It was a small portion of the city that hadn’t completely been restored after The Storm King and his army tried to take over, a small blemish on an otherwise gorgeous and secure city.

Fortunately for me, that meant that there were fewer objects for her to toss about to distract me. As she fired off one more blue beam of magic to slow me down, I fired my own magic, hitting her squarely in one of her forelegs and causing her to stumble. However, this didn’t stop her, as she promptly limped into an alleyway next to what looked like an abandoned warehouse. Yes! She’s trapped! I didn’t screw something up for once! I swiftly slipped into the alleyway after her, only to be hit square in the face with a full trash can, sending me sprawling back into the street covered in filth. Right on cue.

I pushed myself back up in a daze from the pile of garbage, shaking my head to clear the stars from my vision. I was determined to catch this pony and began stumbling unsteadily towards the alleyway, until I heard voices.

“Is that Rookie?” I turned to see another party of guardsponies that were hopefully looking for the same pony as I was. At the head of the party was the captain of the royal guard herself, Double-Edge.

Ever since Shining Armour left Canterlot for The Crystal Empire, Double-Edge had been put in charge, keeping an iron hoof over us regular guards. Her brown fur, short red mane with pink highlighted tips, custom made grey armour with gold trimmings, and sword in the stone cutie mark on the crest on her chest made her stand out in any battalion. Not to mention her signature icy glare which always seemed to be aimed at me.

She always thought that Shining Armour was way too relaxed with us, and that Canterlot wouldn’t have fallen under enemy control so many times if we’d have been trained more strictly, and, to her credit, her methods, while… unorthodox, did work, for the most part. The performance of the guard stations and patrols were higher than ever. and no one goofed-off as much, but only because they didn’t want to get on her bad side. Her temper was legendary and will lash out at you at a moments notice.

You could hear her exasperated cry from a mile away. Her steely scowl homed in on me as she marched towards me like a mare on a mission. I looked on sheepishly as she carefully examined the situation I had ended up in and tried to keep her composure at how bad my luck was. Nothing new there. “Rookie?”

“Yes, ma’am?” I hastily responded, trying to stand up straight and dust off as much dirt and trash as possible as her gravelly voice rang bells in my ears. I couldn’t get rid of the smell though.

“What exactly do you think you’re doing?” she asked in a dangerously calm voice.

“Look, I know this doesn’t look great, but I don’t have time to explain. We found the mare that attacked Princess Celestia, and she ran into this alleyway.”

“Rookie, this is a very serious situation. This is no time for jokes,” she responded dismissively. One of the male unicorns behind her, Duty Calls I believe, snickered at my ‘joke,’ before another stallion that I didn’t quite recognise slapped him on the foreleg to shut him up. “Now, would you PLEASE explain why you’re really down here.”

“I’m not kidding! I’ve really trapped her in this alleyway. Trust me, if you go in there, you’ll find her backed into a corner with an injured foreleg! I’m telling the truth. You have to believe me, for once!” I refuted desperately.

She sighed heavily, rubbing her hoof against her chin vigorously. “Ugh, fine! If you’re going to be so insistent, I guess I have no choice. Duty!” She pointed a hoof at the guard who had been laughing at me. “Go check the alleyway for this ‘attacker.’”

“Urr… Yes, ma’am,” he hesitantly replied, moving slowly towards the alleyway.

“Um, I don’t think it’s such a good idea to go alone. She could easily-” I muttered anxiously, only to be cut off by Duty.

“I can handle myself.” He gave me a sharp glare as he passed by and headed into the alleyway.

I couldn’t help but nervously watch him enter the alley, remembering what the attacker had done to Darren. “Be careful! She’ll probably launch a sneak attack!” He gave me a grunt in response, almost like he wasn’t listening.

I watched with bated breath as he rounded the corner out of sight, waiting for the inevitable magic dual to break out and for us to rush over to help him fend her off. However, nothing happened… at first anyway.

“AHHHH!” A sudden yell echoed from the alley, along with a flash of bright blue light.

“Oh Celestia, no!” I exclaimed, racing in at top speed with the rest of the patrol following quickly behind me. When I turned the corner, I saw something I was not expecting…

Duty rolling around on the ground, laughing his flank off. We should have known. Despite Duty Calls not really standing out within the battalion, having grey fur and a brown mane, he was one of the many ‘jokesters’ of the Royal Guards. Or maybe I should say bully, because most of his ‘jokes’ were insults made about the other guards. Most of them being aimed at me.

“Ha ha ha ha ha! You should’ve seen your face. Absolutely priceless!” he cackled gleefully, a little too happy that he had scared the Tartarus out of all of us.

“Duty, that was uncalled for. Leave Rookie alone.” The same stallion who had smacked Duty earlier, a pegasus with light purple fur, exclaimed, catching me off guard. Did he just defend me? That’s a first.

“Asshole,” I mumbled under my breath, quickly noticing that only Duty was here. The criminal was nowhere to be seen. That makes no sense. It looks like there’s only one way in or out, and we’ve been guarding it the whole time. How in Equestria did she get away again!? So much for me finally doing everything right for once…

Duty stopped laughing immediately, pushing himself back to his hooves and squaring up to me with an angry scowl. “What did you just say about me?!”

“O-oh, n-nothing. N-nothing at all. I-I was just wondering where the a-attacker went. T-that’s all.” I stuttered, not wanting to get a face full of hoof.

Obviously, he wasn’t convinced. “Yeah right! You said something about me, didn’t ya? So help me, Celestia, if you said something about me-”

“Duty!” The shrill of our commanding officer’s voice echoed through the alley, causing us all to stand at attention, even though she wasn’t addressing all of us. “I think that’s quite enough out of you for one day. We will discuss this little… ‘incident’... after this has all blown over.” Duty’s ears drooped as he realised he was going to get in trouble. Is she actually siding with me for once? Today is just full of firsts, isn’t it?

“Rookie?” Oh, nevermind. Here it comes. “What did I tell you about lying to me? Lying to try and make yourself look better isn’t going to work on me.” Her glare grew more intense by the second. If that was even possible for her.

“Ma’am, I have never lied to you! You know how unlucky I am. If something is bound to go wrong around me, it will. But I swear on my life that the attacker was here. Honest!” I pleaded.

“Well, you better be prepared to lose your job over those words, because, after all the trouble you’ve caused, I am so close to kicking your sorry flank, OUT OF THIS BATTALION!” she shrieked, flecks of spit hitting my face.

She never believes me! Why do I have to be the unluckiest stallion in Equestria?! There has to be some way I can prove she was here… Wait, I know. “Wait, she was constantly firing her magic at me, and I actually managed to hit her with my own magic. I can go back out to the street and use my magic to detect any energy signals in the area.” I didn’t give her a chance to reply before I started to head back out to the street.

“Ugh, Rookie-”

“I’m sure I can get you to believe me. The evidence is right here. You just can’t see it.”

“Rookie!”

“I just need to concentrate and all will be-”

“ROOKIE!” I jumped from that shout and landed on my flank with a thump, flinching away from her as she approached. I could hear Duty quietly snickering to himself again, causing Double-Edge to glare back at him, which quickly shut him up. “Just stop. You are only digging yourself into a bigger grave. I suggest you stop this charade before you get yourself in any more trouble. Capiche?”

“But she was right here! I swear!”

“Capiche?” She had that dangerously calm tone again, intense eyes that immediately told me that I should choose my next words carefully, or risk losing my job.

Knowing I had no choice but to comply, I hung my head low and muttered, “Capiche.”

“Good choice,” she smiled coldly, lapping up my submissiveness as she used her magic to forcefully lift me back onto my hooves. “Now, shall we get back to the search?”

“But Captain, we’ve been looking for the last 45 minutes and found nothing.” One of the female guards rebutted.

Double-Edge wasn’t too impressed with that. “And we’ll keep looking for another hour until somepony finds them.”

“But what if somepony already found them and we just didn’t know about it?” Another male guard suggested.

“I’m sure I would’ve been told and we would be back at the castle right now, celebrating our victory.” I really wanted to keep saying that I did find her, but I knew how that would end if I did.

“I’m sure they would’ve already fled the city by now if nopony’s found them yet.” The female guard said.

“What about that… ‘hooman…?’ Wasn’t he searching too?”

“He’s all bark and no bite.” Duty finally spoke up. “He let them get away.”

I couldn’t help but defend him. “He didn’t let her get away. Nopony expected her to teleport. Anypony could’ve caught her.”

“Also, ‘no bite?’ He survived falling a few hundred feet down a mountain.” The pony who defended me added, surprising me once again. “And am I the only one who seemed to notice that he was running faster than any of us back there, for a bipedal creature, anyway?”

“Barely survived. He still had to basically be revived by Princess Luna. AND he was in a coma for three days straight. And he couldn’t even beat this ‘Rookie.’ Like I said, all bark, no bite.”

I really wanted to counter his ‘argument,’ however, I realised that I forgot something really important. “OH NO! DARREN!” Without explaining myself, I sprinted back the way I came, trying my best to retrace my steps to get back to Darren as soon as possible.

“ROOKIE! GET BACK HERE…! MOTHERBUCKER…!” I could hear Double-Edge screech and her and her troop following me, but, at this point, I didn’t care. All that mattered was getting back to Darren and getting him the help he needed ASAP.

You idiot! How could you be so stupid?! You should’ve never left him behind. You knew you could never catch her to begin with, and yet you went after her anyway. All because he insisted. You really are your namesake, aren’t you?!

Once again back to dodging ponies, I raced back into the commercial district, past all of the shops and restaurants, until I made it back to the street where I had left a barely conscious Darren. Turning the final corner, I noticed lots of ponies still going about their daily business, almost like nothing happened here not even ten minutes ago. I immediately realised why as there was no sign of Darren anywhere. He wasn’t leaning against the wall where I had left him, he wasn’t on the floor unconscious, there wasn’t even a blood trail indicating that he’d wandered off somewhere.

“What? Where is he?!” I started to search every nook and cranny of this street. Every corner, every alleyway, even every restaurant and cafe to see whether anypony had dragged him inside to give him some first aid. “This makes even less sense. He can’t have gotten far in the condition he was in.”

At this point, Double-Edge and her patrol had caught up to me and were looking on in bewilderment as I searched around like a detective looking for their next clue to solve the case. “For the love of Celestia, Rookie!” Double-Edge fumed as I passed, instantly causing me to stop. “What did I JUST say?! Is this some sort of game to you?!”

“Absolutely not, ma’am! I couldn’t be any more serious if I tried.” I responded, standing to attention.

“So then, what is the big idea of you running around like a HEADLESS CHICKEN?!”

I flinched once again at her harsh tone and cringed at the crude analogy. “D-Darren was i-injured while we were s-searching. I-I wanted to stay with him a-and take him back to the castle to get healed, b-but he insisted that I go after the attacker. I-I didn’t know what else to do but follow his orders.”

I could see her physically cringe when I said I took orders from him. The guard who had stood up for me spoke up again. “Oh yeah, didn’t you and Mr Walker go out and patrol together.”

I was going to happily reply until the Captain butted in. “Well, he had no authority to order any of my battalion around! You all should’ve waited until I had given you your next orders! Nothing happens around here without my say so! That is my job, and you will all respect and obey that!”

I couldn’t help but whisper in a low voice, “You were nowhere to be seen when you were most needed. How is that doing your job?”

“What was that?!”

“Nothing.” I started kicking a stone nervously with my hoof.

“Ok, I think that’s quite enough out of you as well. Rookie, I will reiterate. You did not find the attacker. You did not injure that attacker. You did not trap the attacker. Mr Walker was not injured by the attacker, and even if he was, I’m sure he would be completely fine, seeing as he survived jumping out of that window. You can’t tell me otherwise.”

“But-”

“But nothing! You do not talk back to your commanding officer! I make the rules around here, and you will follow them to the letter, whether you like them or not! The only reason you are still here is because you were recommended by Princess Celestia after Nurse Freeheart and her daughter persuaded her. You will OBEY ME or get KICKED TO THE CURB! Do I make myself perfectly clear?” I was very hesitant to say anything. I knew I was right. I saw her with my own two eyes and I know Darren is out there somewhere, badly hurt. “DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR!”

“YES, MA’AM! Yes, you do!” I cowered under her overpowering presence.

Having effectively scared me, she maliciously smirked again. “Good, glad we’ve come to an understanding. Now, can we finally get back to the search?” I hesitantly nodded, head low in shame at my weakness. As we started to trot away from this cursed street, she held me back. “Not you. You need to go back to the castle immediately and clean yourself up. You smell like a pig.”

I nodded again, not having the willpower to say anything against her anymore, quickly turning back the way I‘d originally come, ignoring all of the disgusted stares and glares. As I trotted back shamefully, tail between my legs, there was only one thing on my mind.

Where in Equestria could Darren have gone?

Darren

Location: ???

Weightless. That’s exactly what I felt like. Stuck in this endless void of nothingness. Suspended in midair like I was in space. In this place, there was nothing to feel. Nothing to see. Nothing to hear. Nothing to smell. Nothing to taste. Nothing existed here, except for me and my thoughts. It was almost peaceful... Almost.

I felt at ease here, but, unlike last time, I had enough clarity to form some coherent thoughts. I slowly and calmly shifted my head around, looking for anything inconsistent in my environment. A fruitless venture, but one I did nonetheless. “What is this place?” I had intended that to be in my head, but my thoughts spilt out anyway.

Well, I guess my search wasn’t completely fruitless. I noticed a small light in the distance, the same light as before in fact. However, instead of me moving closer, it slowly approached me… until I could almost touch it. Strangely, it then began soaring around me in circles, creating a thick barrier of blue fog around me, until the abyss was no more. I swam over to the cloud-like wall and pushed my hand against it, discovering that it was solid. Impenetrable.

I felt like I should be panicking that I was being trapped, but I wasn’t. Yes, I was slightly anxious, but I was more curious than anything. While it was somewhat spacious, it was nonetheless claustrophobic. “What’s happening? What’s it doing?” Again, those statements were only meant to be thoughts, but came out of my mouth before I could stop myself. Luckily, my question wasn’t going to be unanswered for long.

The fog suddenly started pulsating. Twisting. Warping. Almost like something was trying to break through them. They were slowly morphing and changing colour, becoming even more solid than before. Eventually, the fog began to form a sort of cube as the ‘walls’ developed a pattern of large white and red stripes. Not only that, but objects were forming and rising out of the ground, slowly turning into furniture; sofas, a TV and stand, a vase, and various other furnishings. Two holes opened up on opposite walls before becoming windows. A lightbulb and shade protruded from the ceiling, which slowly developed a bumpy surface. The floor grew fuzzy and became crimson. Another hole developed and shifted into a closed door.

Suddenly, my anti-gravity stopped and I fell onto my stomach with a yelp. I groaned as I pushed myself to my feet and examined my new surroundings. The room built of fog had now transformed into a living room. But not just any living room. A very familiar living room.

MY living room, back home.

“What…? This can’t be right,” I said to myself, gazing around the makeshift room in bewilderment, hoping to find something that differentiated it from the real thing. I examined every object, testing them to see if they were still made of fog or something like that. I even picked up the remote to turn the TV on, surprised to find that it worked perfectly, lighting up and beginning to show the BBC. It was a perfect copy, even down to the pictures of my family on the walls and mantelpiece and the children's toys on the floor. “How is this possible?” I don't know why, but it was like the dam keeping my thoughts in my head had burst.

Feeling very confused and nervous, desperate to figure out what was going on, I quickly made my way to the door, threw it open and stumbled through, thinking I would see the rest of my house, or maybe even get some answers, only to be met with the dark abyss. Grabbing the doorframe and pulling myself back inside with a grunt, almost falling on my ass again, I tried to compose myself. I should’ve figured that was the case seeing as that was all you could see though the windows.

Wanting to test something, I snatched one of the sofa cushions and held it out over the precipice, before letting go. Just as I expected, it didn’t drop like it should. Instead, it floated in place outside of the door. Having proven my theory, I quickly grabbed it before it could fly away, slaming the door, and chucking it back on the sofa where it belonged before sitting down myself.

“What the hell is going on? I was just in the world of ponies, and now I’m stuck in a dark void in a replica of my living room. This doesn’t make any sense.” I groaned, putting my head in my hands and rubbing my face rigorously. The room was almost indistinguishable from the real thing. I could even smell the faint hint of Dani’s perfume and Play-Doh from the kid's previous night’s play session in the air.

Before I could process any of this and explore my surroundings more, the door I’d just closed burst open, causing me to jump out of my seat, and the same light soared into the room, filling the whole room with smoke. My sight obscured once again, I was about to start panicking until the fog parted and a scene started playing, showing me a vision, like last time.

The vision started in what appeared to be the middle of a fight between two ponies, a unicorn wearing armour and a pegasus. Looking closer, I could tell I had seen these two before. I immediately recognised the unicorn as Rookie, the blue fur and armour giving him away easily, while I hadn’t seen the pegasus before in person, but I vaguely recalled him from one of my previous visions, the one I had in this very abyss, his blue and red ponytail making him stand out.

Speaking of which, it appeared that this vision was a continuation of the last one. From the look of things, Rookie had decided to take on the pony we were chasing on his own, and Rookie was losing badly based on how unsteady he was on his hooves. The pegasus zigzagged left and right to avoid Rookie’s beams of magic before crouching down and landing an uppercut on Rookie’s stomach, sending him flying upwards. For someone who had an injured wing, he was still very agile on his hooves.

The pegasus spun around on the tips of his hooves and bucked Rookie hard in the chest just before he landed. I could swear I heard Rookie’s ribs crack as he was sent soaring… right towards me. He collided before I could react, causing us to land in a heap on the other side of the maze. The pegasus quickly landed, smiling smugly as he proudly dusted himself off before rushing back the way we came.

With a silent groan, I pushed Rookie off of me, being careful not to injure him further. I checked to make sure he was okay, finding that he only had some broken ribs and was unconscious. Knowing that I couldn’t let that pony get away with this, I ran after him, leaving Rookie to rest where he was so I wouldn’t be slowed down...

But of course, I ended up getting lost. Unfamiliar sections of the maze rapidly flashed through my vision, even a scene of me ending up back where I left Rookie. Eventually, I could see the exit up ahead, and the pegasus was waiting there for me, even giving me an innocent wave, almost like he was mocking me. This caused anger to course throughout my body as I pushed myself to run faster and catch him while he was acting cocky.

Unfortunately, there was a reason why he was waiting for me. As I exited the maze, out of nowhere, something exploded to the right of me, flinging me off to the side and causing me to land face-first on the grass. My ears began ringing from the explosion, silencing all other sounds. It was a trap. The scene slowly faded away and my 'living room' came back into view again.

The fog quickly filtered out of the room through the open door, leaving me in the room with the ominous light floating in the centre, ethereally. I cocked my head, studying the light and as much of its intricate detail as possible, which wasn’t saying much, unfortunately. As I had observed before, there was definitely some sort of figure, appearing animalistic in nature, but the brightness of the light still obscured most of it. It looked around the same size as the ponies of this world, with what looked to be glowing yellow eyes staring right through me and thick fog flowing freely from its muzzle.

With trepidation filling my body, I reached out to touch it, but once again, it flew towards the ceiling with a growl before fazing through it and out of sight. I quickly rushed towards one of the windows, opened it, and stuck my head out, knuckles turning white as I gripped the window frame to keep myself from floating out into the abyss.

The creature of light rose higher and higher into the air, seeming to get brighter as it ascended. It stopped at a certain height, almost a pinprick in my vision, but I was able to see it elevate its head and give an almighty roar, causing a shock wave of light to spread across the ‘sky’ and vibrate the walls of the ‘living room.’

I promptly extracted myself from the window and covered my ears, trying to make sure my head didn’t implode. The light was encircling me, creating a dome that was quickly contracting. I could hardly react before I was consumed by the light once again, the creature’s cry ringing in my ears as I returned to the land of the living.

An involuntary groan escaped my lips as my senses returned, and with them, the all encompassing pain that criminal’s spell had enveloped me in. My chest felt like it was on fire, and my head felt like it was being run over by a lorry. That was starting to become a regular occurrence now. “... Ugh! Why do I always do this to myself?! Ponies have magic, you dumb-ass… I need to stop taking them head-on…”

I noticed that I was once again laying on something soft, although it felt like my legs were hanging off the edge. I also noticed that an odd smell was lingering in the air, almost like… perfume and… antiseptic? I slowly opened my eyes, getting blinded once again. Keeping my frustration in check, I waited for my sight to return, which eventually revealed that I was somewhere new. I was in an intricately furnished bedroom with flowery pink wallpaper covering the walls. I was laying on a comfortable bed that was clearly too small from me.

“Where am I? How did I get here...? Wouldn’t Rookie take me back to the castle...?” I wondered out loud. “Actually, where is Rookie? Did he catch that pony?” I started examining the room to see if I could figure out what type of pony lived here. A dressing table sat against one wall with a small number of makeup items atop it. They didn’t look like they saw much use though. On the bedside table was a first aid kit with various medical supplies strewn around. Now that I was looking, there were a lot of medical supplies around the room, including some pictures of x-rays, models of various organs, bones and body systems, and other miscellaneous items. A possible medical background?

Quickly realising that the gauze roll in the first aid kit, which looked like it was almost depleted, was most likely used on me, I lifted my head and glanced down to assess the damage that crook had inflicted on me. I was shirtless once again, and slightly blood-stained bandages hugged my chest, covering up what I could only assume were some serious cuts and burns.

I took another glance around the room and discovered that what must have been my shirt was on the chest of drawers, though it didn’t resemble much of a shirt anymore. The front looked to have been completely cut open so whoever had helped me could get it off of me as easily as possible. I could tell that before my shirt had been cut open there had been a hole where the printed logo should’ve been, with black burn marks skirting the edge. “Fuck sake! I really liked that logo too… I’m going to have to get this repaired… Again! Ugh!” I groaned, flopping my head back on the pillow, my brain arguing with the action.

Luckily I did notice the pony’s cloak sitting next to it, completely intact, so I guess that’s a definite plus.

Suddenly, I heard a creaking sound interrupt the silence. I looked up to see the door slowly open to reveal a unicorn mare entering the room with a new roll of bandages, and what looked like aloe vera in her magical grasp. She gasped and almost dropped her items as she realised that I was awake. For some reason, she seemed very familiar to me, her canary yellow fur and orange mane that transitioned from yellow at the taper tipped bang on her forehead to red at the tips down her neck, contrasting with the pink walls. I could also make out the heart with angel wings symbol on her flank.

“O-oh! Y-you’re awake...! Y-you had me worried there for a second,” she said in a soft and timid voice, trying her best to recompose herself, but I could tell that she was very nervous of me.

“...Who are you? Where am I...?” I questioned, getting straight to the point. “How long was I out for?”

Taking a second to collect her thoughts, she shakily replied, “Um… S-sorry. My name is R-Remedy... a-and I’m a nurse in training... Y-you are in my bedroom in my house right now, a-and I would say you were out for about… Twenty minutes?”

“Twenty minutes? Not too bad… but that’s still so much time wasted. There’s no way I can catch her now.” I slowly swung my legs off the side of the bed, causing my chest to flare up in pain. I noticed that I had zero energy, so after what felt like an eternity, I pushed myself onto my feet and took my first step across the room, only for my legs to buckle and collapse under me. I grabbed the bedside unit for support and caused the medical items to fall off and the lamp to wobble.

The mare, Remedy, gasped and rushed to my side, supporting me as I was lifted back onto the safety of the bed, trying my best to catch my breath. “W-what are you doing? W-where are you planning on going...?”

“I need to… get back to the castle… and report back to the princesses…” I hissed out in pain.

She seemed shocked by this, but shook it off surprisingly quickly, getting back to more important matters, at least for her anyway. “I-I’m sorry, but you are g-going to have to stay in m-my care, a-at least until I’ve given you another dressing.”

I wanted to argue and say I was fine, but that was obviously wrong, given the circumstances. I swallowed my pride with a sigh of defeat and laid back down on the bed. Her demeanour quickly changed from reserved to confident as she started undressing my cuts and burns. I glanced down to finally look at the extent of the damage, only to be shocked to find that I only had first degree burns and minor cuts that were already scabbing over at worse.

“W-wait, what…? H-how is that possible…?” I stuttered, wincing as I gently stroked my injuries. Remedy swatted my hand away before gently rubbing the aloe vera on the inflicted areas with a hoof, slightly soothing the skin.

“I healed you with my magic… Fortunately for you, it’s my speciality… Unfortunately, it can only do so much, but it’s better than how you were when I found you… This should help deal with the pain...” she explained. Jesus. How powerful is magic? “You are very lucky that I was walking by after going to the store… You had already collapsed by the time I got to you…”

That comment got my mind turning and whirring, taking me back to the moment I was shot, or should I say the vision that came before it. The vision replayed in my mind’s eye, almost like a movie, until I recalled a part that seemed out of place at the time, but now made a lot more sense. The mare I had bumped into and this mare currently tending to my wounds were the same pony!

My revelation was quickly interrupted by my mind being assaulted by unbelievable agony as the nurse wrapped some more bandages tightly around my chest. I guess just because I was healed with magic doesn’t mean all of the pain vanished. “You were in pretty bad shape… You were hit by a very powerful spell that not only sapped all of your energy, but was also intended to seriously injure you… Luckily, based on the burn marks, they didn’t have enough time to power up the spell fully, so you were able to get off lightly... a-all things considered…”

Lightly?! That’s an understatement if ever I heard one. Try feeling how I feel right now and then try saying I got off lightly. “I guess now it makes sense why my body feels like a wooden board right now,” I replied, keeping my thoughts to myself.

“H-how did this happen...? D-did somepony a-attack you…?” she questioned, mumbling various apologies and trying her best to loosen the bandage’s iron grip so as to not further hurt me.

“Yes, I was. I was chasing a pony that’d attacked Princess Celestia, and when I thought I had the upper hand, she fired the pointy magic wand attached to her head at me. Obviously, it didn’t end too well for me.”

The pressure suddenly disappeared as Remedy stopped. “W-wait… Somepony a-attacked P-Princess Celestia!” Her confident, professional expression was gone, replaced with one of pure horror and distress.

“Shit. Maybe I shouldn’t have said that.”

“W-we have to let e-everypony know that there’s a c-criminal on the loose!” She looked about ready to bolt out of the house and start screaming that out at the top of her lungs. Me and my big mouth, as usual.

“No! We can’t do that!” She shied away from my harsh tone with a whimper. Quickly composing myself, I cleared my throat and continued. “...That wouldn’t be a good idea. We don’t want to cause mass hysteria, do we? And I’m sure someone has already caught her by now if the guardspony I was with has anything to say about it.”

“...Y-you’re sure?”

“Positive. You have nothing to worry about.” She relaxed at that, although she did seem like she could jump at the slightest sudden movement. She slowly went back to attending to my wounds.

We stayed in relative silence as she continued wrapping me up like a mummy, with the odd wince of pain on my end. The aloe vera was definitely helping to soothe the pain, but it wasn’t a cure-all. Once she had effectively covered the inflicted areas, she stepped back to give me some space, giving me a warming smile and allowing me to very sluggishly sit back up on the edge of the bed. “How do you feel?”

“Like shit,” I groggily replied. She cringed at my harsh language. Realising that I was being incredibly rude, I quickly changed my tone. “But I feel a lot better than I did before. I would definitely be in worse shape if you didn’t help me, so thank you.”

She dug her left hoof in the carpet with a blush. “O-oh, it was nothing r-really. It’s my job, after all… I-I became a nurse to h-help everycreature, t-that includes you...”

“Well, not many people would’ve even taken notice of me, let alone actually helped, back where I come from, so I really appreciate the support.” I gave her a small smile, looking over the dressing to see that it was expertly done. How is she just a nurse in training? She’s better than any of the nurses and doctors I’ve had back home. I guess the magic helps, but still...

“What?! How can somepony not help somepony in need?! What sort of place do you live in?!" she exclaimed, looking like I had just said the worst thing in the world.

“Trust me, you don’t want to know,” I mumbled, more to myself than her. I still felt quite lethargic, but I felt like I could at least stand up, so I gradually pushed myself to my feet, legs shaking like jelly, but managing to stay on my feet for more than ten seconds.

“T-take it easy, ok…” She leaned on me to give me some extra support. “That spell had the added side effect of depleting your energy. The only ways to combat it would either be to wait until your energy came back naturally, which might take a while, or by taking a herbal remedy.” I couldn’t help but chuckle slightly at the wordplay, but she gave me a confused look.

“Wait, you didn’t notice the… You know what, nevermind… I can’t wait. Could you please make the remedy, Remedy?” I said, shaking my head lightly, shit-eating smirk on my face.

It took her a second before she finally realised what I said, chuckling along with me. “Oh… I-I see what happened… A-anyway, I don’t completely remember how to p-properly make it… My mother knows how to create it, but she’s currently working at the castle with some patients and is probably very busy-”

“Well, why didn’t you say so? Let’s go already.” I interrupted her impatiently.

Taking a deep breath, I pushed myself away from Remedy and slowly started inching my way across the room. It was like I was learning to walk again, even though I knew it wasn’t like that, but it felt like it. “P-please be c-careful...” She said worriedly, allowing me some space to move on my own, but staying close nevertheless… Not like I needed her.

But obviously, I was about to eat those words. I had agonisingly shuffled halfway across the room on trembling feet, and everything was going well. It wasn’t until my legs suddenly gave out from under me, and I fell forwards again, that everything went wrong. Luckily, Remedy was there as a crutch to grab a hold of, but I could hear her grunt as most of my weight landed on her back. “Ugh... Fuck it...! Are you ok?”

“Y-yes. I’m ok… D-don’t you think it m-might be a better idea to wait until she g-gets back, Mr…” She suggested, struggling with my name as I tried to catch my breath while kneeling on one knee.

“Darren. Darren Walker.” I replied, unsteadily lifting myself back onto my feet, having no choice but to use Remedy for support until I was mostly stable again. “I don’t have time to wait... and why would I wait when she’s exactly where I need to go… I’m sure I can make it.”

She obviously wasn’t convinced, looking at how unsteady I was, but she could see I was a stubborn mule, and I did have a point. I could see she was very hesitant, but she sighed. “O-ok, if you are sure. L-let’s go.” I went to try and walk again, only to find a weird tingling and warmth suddenly appear under my left armpit and down my side. Looking down, I saw a distinctive red magical aura supporting me coming from Remedy’s horn.

“What are you doing?” I questioned.

“I-if you’re not going to wait, t-then I’m going to help you g-get to the castle safely. Y-you can also use my back for support too, i-if you want.” She motioned to her back with her head.

“I d-don’t need your help,” I responded stubbornly, making a move forward towards the door, only to almost fall on the first step, the magical aura luckily keeping me upright.

“Obviously,” she said sarcastically, the first emotion I’d seen out of her that wasn’t fear or worry. I gave her a small glare which put a stop to that. “I-I’m not going to just l-let a patient walk out of my care without being cared for properly. I would be a b-bad nurse if I did. So, I will accompany you to the castle and give you help when you need it.”

I wanted to rebut, but I didn’t know where I was, and how far the castle was away from here. I could easily get lost in this bustling city and, in the state I was in, probably wouldn’t even get a yard from here before I started eating dirt again, and I had already done that enough this week. “...Fine. You can assist me. But I don’t have to be happy about it.”

“Don’t worry. I’m here to help. Anytime,” she said, giving me the warmest smile as I firmly grasped her back, making sure not to put too much pressure on her so as to not hurt her. With her aid, I was slowly able to exit her house, grabbing my ruined shirt and the attacker’s cloak on the way out and putting them on my shoulder, and start the gradual ascent back to the castle.