A Little Too Far
Twilight awoke in a dark forest, her head still spinning from the desperate teleportation spell she’d just used. She looked around, trying to gain her bearings. She listened for her friends, but there was no sign of them nor the monster that had suddenly attacked.
Nothing but the sound of crickets.
“Spike? Rainbow?” she called, getting unsteadily to her feet. She tried to flap her wings, only to cry out in pain. Her left wing was damaged. She examined it and found parallel claw marks across her shoulder where that thing had raked her. They weren’t deep, but they hurt very much. She only hoped they weren’t also poisonous.
She looked around again. These trees were different from the ones she usually saw in the Everfree. She noted that they were coniferous pines, which further confused her. Evergreens had never been seen in the Everfree, as those trees mostly consisted of deciduous oaks and spruce. So this couldn’t be the right forest, she concluded. Where in the world could she be?
Now her worry for her friends increased. In desperation, she had performed a teleport on all of them at once, but she had never done a simultaneous teleport before. She doubted she could have done it if she hadn’t been a princess, but she wasn’t sure where they’d all ended up. Even worse, she didn’t know where that creature was. She seemed to be alone for the moment, but that thing was like nothing she’d ever seen nor read about. She had to find a way home quickly and warn Princess Celestia before somepony else got hurt.
Twilight wandered through the unfamiliar trees, seeking some kind of landmark. Above her, the moon appeared as the clouds scuttled past. She froze. That moon was much smaller, and she could not recognize any of its craters. She looked closer and realized the stars were also out of alignment. None of the constellations she knew were in view. Fear crept up on her as she realized she was somehow no longer in Equestria.
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Applejack gave an involuntary shudder as she remembered the recent events. They had all spent the day doing further repairs, and had been walking back from the Castle of the Two Sisters. The hour had grown later than they’d realized as they had put further efforts into restoring the castle. The only warning they’d gotten before the attack had been a low growl. The creature had leapt from the shadows, all claws and teeth, and had raked at them as they had stood there rooted with horror. Just at the last second, she had pushed Fluttershy aside, as she had been closest to the monster, but she feared she had been a second too late as she’d heard Fluttershy cry out in pain. All pandemonium had broken loose as they’d scattered for cover.
Then Twilight had taken charge.
“Rainbow! Grab Fluttershy! The rest of you, get out of here! I’ll hold it off!”
“No way, Twilight!” yelled Applejack. “We’re not leaving you!”
Twilight blasted the creature with multiple energy bolts, but they only slowed it down.
“There’s no time! GO!!” she yelled.
Then the creature emitted a high-pitched scream, which made them cover their ears. It leaped at Twilight just as there was a flash, and then everything went black.
All was silent as Applejack got up and looked around. Rarity, Pinkie and Spike were with her, but there was no sign of Twilight, Rainbow, Fluttershy or the creature.
“Y’all okay?” she asked, as the others got to their feet.
“I think so,” said Rarity. “Wait, where is Twilight? And that thing?!”
“Ah don’t know,” and here she took a good look at their surroundings, “but where in the hay are we?”
Pinkie spoke up. “Twilight must have teleported us away. I hope she’s not hurt!” She noticed some flowing water nearby. “I know where we are. We’re on the southernmost edge of the forest. I recognize that stream with the big rocks next to it.”
“That means we’re at least a mile from where we were,” said Spike. “We gotta get help! Twilight and the others need us!”
“But none of us can fly, dear, and I don’t know any teleportation spells,” said Rarity.
Applejack stood on her hind legs and cupped her hooves around her mouth. “TWILIGHT! FLUTTERSHY! DASH! ANSWER ME!” They listened for a reply, but none came. She turned to the others. “Looks like we’re hoofin’ it. On my back Spike, we need to git a goin’!” As soon as he was seated and had tightly gripped her mane, she took off in the direction of Ponyville, with Rarity and Pinkie running closely beside her.
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Rainbow Dash held an unconscious Fluttershy as she called out to the others.
“Applejack! Pinkie! Rarity! Spike! Where the heck are you guys?!” She looked down at Fluttershy, hoping the wound wasn’t as bad as it had first seemed. It was worse. She was bleeding slowly, and her yellow coat was now stained. Dash didn’t know how they’d all gotten separated, but she knew she had to get Fluttershy some medical help. Where was Twilight? She could have teleported them both to the hospital in an instant, but even she was gone.
Dash was torn with indecision. If she took the time to find the others, Fluttershy could get worse or even…even die. But the others may need her help as well. She couldn’t hear them, but there’s no way they could’ve have all gotten out of the Forest in so short a time. Just then Fluttershy gave a little moan, and that decided her.
“Hang in there, Flutters. I’m taking you to the doctor.”
As she spoke Fluttershy winced as she tried to open her eyes. She just managed, then quietly asked, “But...but what about our friends? Whe…where are they?”
“I don’t know. I’ll find them, don’t worry, just you hang on. Can you fly?”
“I…I’ll try.” Weakly she flapped her wings, but only made it a few feet before collapsing back to the ground and holding her side. “I can’t make it.”
“Then there’s only one thing left to do,” Dash said as she bent down and gently cradled her friend in her forelegs. Slowly she took flight in order to jostle Fluttershy as little as possible while scanning the ground below hoping for a glimpse of her friends.
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Twilight had limped painfully along for almost an hour before she finally noticed some lights in the distance. She was coming to the edge of the strange forest, and by squinting she could just make out a clearing ahead of her. She stood at the tree line and gazed out.
She was at the top of a valley, and she could see many lights from the houses spread out before her. They weren’t the kind of houses she was used to seeing in Ponyville. Wherever this was, the dwellings were much bigger.
Then it hit her. She remembered the buildings she’d seen when she had gone through that enchanted mirror not so long ago. It had teleported her to a strange land where equines were not the dominant race and was ruled by beings who had called themselves “humans.” She now noticed those funny things the humans had called “cars” sitting in front of the houses. She hadn’t liked the cars because they were noisy and smelly, but she felt some relief as she now knew where she was. She wasn’t sure, but this did not look like the same town she’d visited before. She hoped that wasn’t the case, because if this was somewhere else she would have a difficult task finding that mirror again. Plus, the last time she was here she herself had been a human, and as such, she’d little trouble going unnoticed. Though equines existed in this world, she didn’t suppose these humans had ever seen an Alicorn. Even so, she’d have to find some way to reach that mirror, for it may be her only way home.
She sat and thought. She couldn’t just walk down among the humans and ask her way. She considered using a transformation spell, but she hadn’t practiced one and she had no idea if she could duplicate the appearance she’d had before. She still had her magic, so that was some relief, but she couldn’t fly with her wing in the shape it was. She sensed she wasn’t permanently damaged, but it might take some time before she could fly again. For now, she needed to find out exactly where she was while staying out of sight.
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Rage. That was its name now, a name that suited it best. A being from neither Equestria nor Earth, it was the dark embodiment of a single emotion.
Find it.
It had existed for millennia, long ago trapped with others of its kind when the universe was a much darker place.
Track it!
Through cunning and stealth, it had made its escape and had fled to the first planet from which it had been banished.
Seek it!
The six hunters had been smaller than its captors, and all but one had been less powerful. The purple one, with the searing beams, it had been the real threat.
Sense it!
And now, the purple hunter was here with it, with Rage, on this unknown world. If Rage would stay free, there was only one thing to do.
Kill it!