A displaced human and a small-town pegasus are forced to travel the world to complete Discord's quest
In a desperate situation, Soren must make a deal with Discord by forfeiting his memories and spending the rest of his life in a whole new world. When he falls from the sky into the outskirts of a small trade hub town, he finds that he is trapped in Discord's scheme to recover a long lost artifact with powers unknown. With the help of small town pegasus, River Breeze, he must travel far across a strange land to earn his freedom and learn to deal with the truth.
This story is dedicated to Gracie, my dog. 06/21/08 - 03/07/22. I miss you buddy. I'll see you someday, somewhere.
“Don’t stop!” the pegasus mare shouted, over the hard wind and snow, to the unicorn and pegasus stallion. She pointed up. “It’s just over that cliff!”
“But wait, no,” the other pegasus interjected. “We can’t get up this way without flying. It’s too steep here, we have to find wherever we came from.”
“This is where we came from. It’s a lot easier coming down than it is climbing up” She looked back at the unicorn. “Do we have long?”
“Minutes,” the unicorn answered, trying her best to keep up with the other two. “That’s all I can buy you, without paralyzing myself.”
“Did you hear her, Soren? She can’t use the spell again. I don’t want to get any of us killed. All of this means nothing if you die!”
“Fine!”
As they ascended the steep cliffside, they came across a sizable nook where they could take a second to rest, sheltered from the sharp winds. The stallion peered over the edge, down to where they had come from, but their tracks were no longer visible. For a few moments, the wind slowed down significantly, the snow becoming a simple flurry; a pause in the storm.
“Woah, are you seeing this?” the stallion said to the others.
“Yeah, guys,” the pegasus mare said, “this is our chance. We don’t have the time to climb the rest. Let’s fly.” She received two nods in response.
The two pegasi then stood on either side of the unicorn, and took flight with her held between them. As they gained height and neared the overhang of the cliff, they could see the roof of the structure emerge, but just as they approached the edge the winds changed, and they were slammed into the wall, and plummeted back toward the ground. The deep snow softened their landing, but it still knocked the breath out of all three ponies. As they shook off the impact, the ground rumbled, causing a significant amount of snow to fall off the top of the cliff and create a small bank of snow between themselves and the tundra.
“It broke free…” the unicorn mumbled, her body shrinking with fear. At that moment, they heard it. The guttural roar of the beast. It echoed through the plane, and seemed to pierce through their bodies and deliver a feeling of terror directly into their hearts.
“And now it knows where we are!” the unicorn whined.
Before any of them could make a move, the snowbank exploded into a flurry of fine powder, temporarily blinding all three ponies. They didn’t recover in time to dodge the gargantuan, clawed paw of the beast swiping at them. The two pegasi were lucky enough to be hit by the padded portion of the paw and be knocked down, but the unicorn was not nearly as lucky. The last they saw of her was a dark form thrown out of sight; they did not hear or see her land.
The two pegasi rolled around, their bodies aching. The beast roared once again, rearing onto its hind legs, and then slammed its front paws into the snow as it finished, shaking the earth. Even though they were a distance away, the two pegasi were thrown off balance and knocked over once again. The beast stepped backward, searching for its prey. It turned its head around, cocked its ears, sniffed the air, but it had lost them in the storm.
The pegasus mare managed to regain her bearings first, and frantically looked around - the stallion was with her, and the beast was far behind. Her eyes locked onto a patch of snow, splattered with red. She looked over herself and found that, while she was scratched up and sore, she didn’t seem to have any major cuts.
The stallion groaned. “Hey, shhh,” she urged him, as he writhed in the snow. “Don’t move, and try to stay quiet.” He nodded. She asked him, “Are you hurt?”
He looked himself over and also found no major damage. “Feel like I played chicken with a freight train, and lost, but I can walk,” he answered.
“Look,” she pointed at the splotch of red. “It’s not mine. It’s not yours. She’s hurt badly, we gotta move now.”
The beast bent down and snorted, spewing a cloud of superheated steam from its nostrils before breathing deep, smelling the air. It smelled blood.
“He’s got her scent! What do we do now?” she cried, falling over and clutching her head in her hooves. The beast, now approaching them, sniffed near the patch of bloody snow. It was close - its eyes burned a deep orange, as if the sun itself burned within its sockets. It trudged over to a nearby hill looking over the tundra.
Just then there was a faint blue spark in the distance, under the cover of the rocky cliff.
“I found her!” The mare screamed, pointing to the nearby cliff face. “She’s right there!” This caught the attention of the beast, who looked over at them, but it had also noticed the blue spark in the distance. It snarled as it ignored them, and began to stalk towards the cliff.
“River! I have an idea!” the stallion screamed, through the howling wind. “On my call, lead it away from her.”
“W-What?” the mare sputtered. “How am I supposed to do that?”
“Just - Throw a rock at him, or something, okay?”
“What!?”
“Just do it!” he commanded.
“Roger Roger!” she screamed back at him, looking back over to where the spark had been, not twenty meters away. Any details beyond that were obstructed by the heavy snowfall. Their attention was almost immediately stolen by the third roar that rattled their very cores once again.
Soren made a break towards the cliffside, running up and over the hill between them. He tried to use his wings to help give some extra leverage while climbing, but his fatigued muscles got the better of him. But when he managed to push through enough to just get himself out of striking range of the beast, he screamed.
“Now!”
Almost instantly, a loud scream was heard, and a stone cracked against the skull of the beast. Enraged, it turned its attention toward the pegasus mare and snarled while it beat the ground with its paws, throwing the stallion off balance once more. Within seconds, the beast charged at her, as she tried her best to evade.
Regaining his bearings, the stallion ran over to where the unicorn had been launched. He saw deep tracks through the snow, as she must have tumbled and slid over that way, and eventually a red smear led to a pony. She was busy tightening a makeshift bandage around a series of cuts on her leg when she noticed him. She shivered, while steam rose from the wound.
“You saw it? My spark?” she asked, dizzily, as she noticed him approach. He quickly scanned over her body.
“Oh, god,” the pegasus said. “You’ve lost a lot of… Here, let’s get you on my back. We gotta go now.”
The unicorn spoke, between shallow breaths, “But what about th-”
“It’s not worth letting my friend die. Stop talking, there’s not much time now.” He reached down to lift her up, but she pushed him away.
”No!” she shouted. “Just running won’t work.”
“Seriously, we don’t have time for this!” he screamed, standing up and moving over to her to try and pick her up again. For a second time, she resisted enough for him to stop on his own. Frustrated, he growled, “What the hell? You're gonna just sit here?”
“Let him charge…” - a shuddering breath. “I’ll blast him again… with everything I got this time. While he and I are both paralyzed, pick me up, and get me out of here, alright?”
He looked her straight in the eye. “You’re serious.”
“Soren, it’s our only chance. We can’t… Give it up now. Especially after everything we’ve done to get here.”
“But-”
“It'll work, okay!" the unicorn cried. "It will work. You just have to trust me, like I... trust you..”
Soren stared at her for a moment, then just shook his head and chuckled. “I take it back, I was wrong about you. But I swear, you better be alive by the end of this.” he warned, turning away and running back into the blizzard.
“Hey, wait! That’s on you, you better not let me die out here. Soren? Soren!”
"I said pack your things and get out. I won't ask again, Soren." The tall burly man sighed, a look of sadness in his eyes. "I did my best to convince management that you did what was asked of you, but they wanted you out or they'd fire us both. I'm sorry."
"Are you serious, Mack? You know my situation. I can't lose this job. Please!” Soren cried out, falling to his knees. “You know that I did everything right this time. You know I did!" He grabbed his face and looked up to Mack, who recoiled at the terror in his eyes.
"I'm sorry, Soren," he shook his head. "But, look, this is the best I can do," he said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a silver clip of cash. He paused briefly before yanking out the entire bundle and tossing it over to Soren. Looking up, he reflexively extended a hand and caught it. He looked down at the money in his hand and scoffed.
"You're going to fire me, and you think like fifty dollars is going to fix anything? I… I thought…"
Mack looked away from him, reached over to the handset on the right corner of the desk, and dialed a number.
"Yes, I need security please. Mack Robin, fourth floor. Thank you." With a click, he set the phone down. "Please, just go."
Defeated, Soren rose off of his knees, his face twisted and his fists clenched, but he didn't speak. Throwing open the door of the office, he paused.
"I thought you were better than this. I thought we were friends. Don’t insult me, I don’t need your money." The clip of cash clattered to the ground, leaving Mack alone in his office.
Soren stormed out of the building in the direction of the parking lot. His car was a dingy old Cadillac Seville from the late 70s that had very obviously seen better days, with little of the original maroon paint remaining and rust peppering the sedan all over. He struggled to pull open the jammed door, which he never bothered to lock, and pulled himself inside. As he turned the key, the engine roared to life. With as much grace and dignity as he could muster, he ripped out of the parking lot with tires squealing. As he drove, he let himself breathe and calm down. Soren soon pulled into the bank and jogged up to the self-serve ATM. He inserted his card and dialed in his pin, 0429; his mother's birthday.
Oncology. The sign was decorated with paper hearts and stick-figure family portraits. One of the drawings was of a bald woman, wearing boxing gloves, beating up a crudely drawn circle labeled, "Canser." The room was almost empty aside from Soren, an old man, and a bubbly looking woman wearing a purple pin on her vest that read, "I'm strong!" Though her spirits seemed high, her cheeks sank in a bit and her breathing was ragged.
"Soren, you came! I thought you'd never show up!" The woman exclaimed as she stood up.
"Hey mom! How are you feeling?" Soren asked, jogging over to where his mother was sitting. She smiled and reached out for a hug, which he graciously returned.
"Woah nelly! All those hours lifting those weights must be paying off, huh? My son is so strong!" She stated, letting go and then flexed her right arm at him.
"Heh, yeah I guess." He smiled back, but it fell fast. He didn't hug her all that hard. ‘She must be feeling weaker,’ he thought to himself.
"So how's work been, Soren? Did you get that promotion you've been talking about for the past month?" She patted the seat next to her, and he sat down.
"Well… actually I…" he began, but his tone put a look of worry on his mother's face. "Everything is going really great, actually,” he lied. “I haven't gotten the promotion yet, but I'm hoping that soon I'll be making the big bucks. And then I promise I'll get you that old Volkswagen Bug you've always wanted," he said, feeling an ache in his chest.
She smiled back at him, her expression changing to one of pure glee. "The seafoam green one?"
"Yeah mom, the seafoam green one."
"Miss Daisy?" a nurse called from the reception desk. "We'll be seeing you now, this way please." She gestured to the door next to her, which opened automatically.
"Come on mom, let's go." Soren said as he helped his mother up. "And hey I'm sorry that I couldn't drive you here earlier. I hope it wasn't too much trouble to get here.”
"Oh no, not at all! I had Mister Kreacher from across the hall drive me. He's been so helpful lately." Soren sighed and relaxed a little bit. As long as she didn't pay an absurd price for a taxi or Uber or something. The pair were led through the door by the nurse, who sat them down in a room with two very comfortable chairs in front of a desk covered in papers, and a small collection of Spider-Man memorabilia.
"Doctor Connors will be right with you." The nurse stated before closing the door and leaving.
"Doctor Connors likes Spider-Man. Ironic." Soren mumbled to himself.
"Soren?" his mother’s gentle voice called out.
"Yes mom?" He replied. She looked at him, a sad smile gleamed at him.
"I know things have been tough recently but I want you to always remember that, no matter what happens, good things will always come to the ones that keep holding on." She reached over and put her hand on his. "Promise me that even when things look bleak, you’ll keep going, no matter what."
"Mom, what are yo-"
"Just promise me, Soren," she pleaded. He paused and smiled back at her.
"Okay, mom. I promise."
The door opened and a tall, lanky man entered the room, nearly hitting his head on the door frame.
"Hello, Daisy. Nice to see you again." He smiled, and turned to Soren. "You must be Soren, I've heard so much about you. Your mother speaks very highly of you." Soren chuckled and looked over to his mom who smiled back.
Doctor Connors cleared his throat. "Well, Daisy, I've got your test results here and, well… they're not promising. Your cancer has stopped responding to chemotherapy, and the tumor in your throat is now considered life-threatening," he said.
"What!?" Soren exploded. Daisy had little to no reaction, and instead just held that same distant, sad smile.
The doctor pulled out two large MRI images and pushed them across the desk. As the pair leaned forward to look, he put his finger on a white bulbous structure in the center of the image. “Do you see this? This is the current state of the tumor. It’s about the size of a nickel now, compared to three months ago-” he indicated its position on the other image “-if you remember, it was barely visible, and shrinking.” He leaned back in his chair and interlocked his fingers. "As you can see, the tumor is on your left primary bronchus where it connects to your trachea." He paused to take a breath.
"I know this is troubling news, but we need to think and act fast. Though a different round of chemo treatments could be viable in the long-term, this has progressed to the point where direct intervention is needed. There are two main options. The first is to try and treat the tumor through radiation. This is non-invasive, but, with the tumor being so close to your esophagus, lungs, and heart, it may cause long-term damage to the area. The second option is to fly you out to a hospital that can remove the tumor with surgery. This is challenging for the same reasons, but can be done with less risk. I have to warn you, however, neither option is cheap.” He pushed another sheet of paper over to them, two lines highlighted. The numbers were… significant.
For the first time since Doctor Connors started speaking, Daisy's smile fell but then recovered. Soren noticed this, but was at a loss for words.
"Doctor Connors, thank you for the recommendations, but I'm afraid we just can't afford this." Daisy stated in a matter-of-fact tone. “We can barely afford chemo as it is.”
"Wait. Wait, no! Mom, it's okay, I'll get the money. I'll do whatever it takes. Doctor Connors, please, give us the information about the surgery. I'll find a way to afford it. I'll live in my car… and…" he stumbled over his own thoughts.
"No, Soren." His mother's gentle hand rested on his face. "It's okay. You've done enough for me. I'm tired anyway, I think I'd like to go home.” She looked back at the doctor. “Thank you, Doctor Connors."
"Why didn't you tell me, mom?" Soren cried, closing the door to her one-bedroom apartment behind them.
"I didn't want to worry you."
"I'm very worried! Mom, I promise I'll find you some way to get that surgery."
Daisy looked away from Soren and leaned on the kitchen counter."Soren, I… I don't want to have the surgery. And I don't want to do chemo again. I'm tired."
"Mom…"
"No, Soren. Please… I just want to enjoy the time I have left. I know that I don't have very long anymore. My body feels like it could just stop at any moment." She turned and walked up to Soren, who was now sitting on the couch with his head in his hands. She sat next to him and hugged him for what felt like forever.
Soren collapsed into his recliner. His studio apartment was clean, but sparse. He had a single table, two chairs, a recliner and a plastic plant in the corner near the door. He brushed his hair out of his face and stared at the ugly shag carpet. A small stack of twenty-dollar bills sat on the coffee table. ‘It’s not enough’ he thought to himself. ‘I can’t keep doing this.’ His thoughts were interrupted by a hasty knock on his door. Soren’s stomach sank, knowing exactly who it was. He took a deep breath and stepped up towards the door, hesitating for a moment before opening it.
“Hey Mr. Roub-”
"You're two months behind on rent, that's it. You're done. Pack up your things and leave by tomorrow night, or I'll call someone to get rid of it myself.” The landlord looked at his watch and then back at Soren.
“I’m sorry Mr. Roubler, I can give you two-twenty but I’ll need some time to-” He was cut off as the man raised his hand and shook his head.
“How old are you, kid? Like 24? You gotta start pulling your own weight. This world isn't built for people who can’t keep their own promises. You signed a contract with me that said you would pay your rent on time every month. I know you’ve been having a rough time, but I can’t keep giving you extensions. It wouldn’t be fair to my other tenants."
"But I can pay you in cash right now!"
"I'm sorry, kid, it's too little, too late."
Soren kicked a rock off of the bridge and watched it fall down into the stream below. The wind stung his cheeks as it whipped him relentlessly, but he was too preoccupied to care. The bridge was a place where Soren could always find some level of peace for himself. It was bypassed by a new highway a few years back and now rarely saw any cars drive through, so he could park in the middle of the road and no one would ever know or care. He kicked the tire of his old Cadillac and let himself fall down next to it.
"I wish I could do something to help her… I would do anything. Anything in the world," he said to himself.
"Quite a pickle you've gotten yourself into hmmm?" a voice said, nearby.
"Huh?" Soren jerked his head up. He was alone on a backroads bridge, past midnight. "Who's there?" he called out. Soren looked behind him, over the top of the car, but saw no one. As he turned back towards the bridge railing, a man stood there.
"Me? Oh, I'm nobody important. I just happened to eavesdrop in the right place, at the right time." said the oddly-dressed man. He wore a red velvet suit with the arms and legs in various odd colors and patterns. He sported a thick white goatee, and very long sideburns.
Soren groaned. "Look man, I'm… homeless too. I don't have any money to give you."
The strange man laughed at him. "I don't want your money. I heard your wish, and I just want to help you out."
Soren rolled his eyes and shot back, "How could you possibly help me out? I'm in dire straits here, man. Unless you can just magically cure my mother's cancer, I don't think you can do anything for me." He flailed his arms dismissively.
The man crossed his arms and smirked at him. "Well, as a matter of fact I can do that for you."
Soren furrowed his brow and very slowly stood up to meet the man face to face. "How could you do that? Pay for her surgery? Well unfortunately that won’t work, though I wish it would."
"I can cure her, completely, with magic."
Soren scoffed. "Magic? Hah, and I guess I'm King Arthur and you- you must be Merlin… Look man, I'm really not in the mood for this, so please leave me alone.
“Are you sure about that, Soren?”
Soren narrowed his eyes. “How do you know my name?"
The man smirked, but then fell out of sight. He reappeared sitting on top of Soren's car, swinging his legs playfully. "I told you, I can do things that you can only dream of, but if you want me to do something for you, you’ll have to do something for me."
Soren stumbled backwards at the man’s impossible movement. "W-what…?"
"It's simple. I cure your mother, and you play a little game with me. No matter if you win or lose, your mother will stay healthy."
"How can I be sure that you'll do what you say? How can I trust you?" Soren shot back, pointing his finger at the man. The man hopped off the car, but before his boots touched the asphalt, he was gone again.
"Well, Soren, my boy, you don't have much of a choice. Either you save your mother, or not, and seal her fate." Soren looked around to see where he had vanished to, but the voice came from everywhere and nowhere at once. "And I can prove you don't have much time to decide. Look at this."
A flat-screen TV appeared in front of Soren and buzzed to life, floating in place. It wasn’t clear at first what he was watching, but his heart sank as the details resolved. Overlayed by a crude “LIVE TV” sign was a static view of his mother’s apartment, and there was his mother, doubled over the kitchen sink. She shook violently as she coughed into her hand, struggling to even breathe.
"Mom!" Soren screamed, as he grabbed the two sides of the TV. He watched his mother move her hand into view, covered in deep red blood. Soren looked away.
The man appeared once again behind him. "I can make her all better again if you play my little game, Soren."
Soren looked back at the strange man, tears in his eyes but with absolute resolution behind them. "I don't care what it is. Cure my mother."
Surprise flashed in the stranger’s eyes. "Don't you want to know what the game is first?" he asked.
"No. I don't care what it is. Cure my mother now."
"Aren’t you even curious as to who, or what, I am?” he whined playfully. “After all, I’m doing this great deed for you."
“No, I just want you to cure my mom.”
“Hmph, aren’t you curious at all?”
“I do not care.”
“Well, you’re no fun.” he pouted, crossing his arms and turning away from Soren. After a few moments of silence, Soren squeezed the bridge of his nose and sighed.
"You’re not gonna do anything til I ask, aren’t you?”
“That’s right!” he sang.
“… Fine. Alright, who are you? And you still haven't explained how you can do all this. Are you a demon or something?"
"To some, I suppose. No, my name is Discord, and I am humbly at your service." He bowed at an impossible angle, the hair on his head nearly touching the ground. "And, my dear Soren, if I told you everything off the bat then my game wouldn't be so fun, now would it?" Discord wrapped his arm around Soren and twirled him around until he landed in a comfortable upholstered chair in front of a large, fancy wooden desk. Discord sat behind the desk, now wearing tiny glasses that were too small for his face.
"Now… let's see. I’ll just go over our little contract here. I will cure your mother of all ailments and GUARANTEE her healthy living until she's in her eighties. That's easily three decades I'll be giving to her. However, you must give me something, as well as play my game." Discord smirked a sinister smile and looked straight at Soren. "In exchange for your mother’s life, you will give me your own."
Soren jumped out of his seat. "You're going to kill me? You're insane!"
"Ah ah ah" Discord scorned. "Don't you know it's impolite to interrupt people? As I was saying, you won't die, but-"
"I'll become your slave or something?"
"Quiet now boy, we're dealing with your fate here. I'd suggest you pay attention." Discord's voice lowered an octave and sounded much more gravelly than earlier. Each word seemed to scrape at something deep inside Soren. He opted to keep his mouth shut.
"Good!" Discord said, back in his normal tone. "As I was saying, you won't die. Instead, you'll spend the rest of your life in a different world - my world, and don't worry. It's not Hell or Tartarus or whatever it is that you think I came from. It’s actually quite pleasant." Still scared to speak, Soren just stared back at Discord.
"You may be wondering: what do I get out of this? Well, not much besides entertainment, so I'm hoping that you're an entertaining person to watch. If I were to judge you by your actions today, I'd say I made the right choice. I had to break out the popcorn for that confrontation with your manager."
A silence followed for multiple minutes as Soren returned to his seat by the desk. They stared at each other for what seemed like forever, until Soren spoke.
"So, if I do this, my mom will be okay? Will I at least be able to say goodbye?" he asked, his voice turning soft. Discord pulled at his beard, deep in thought.
"Hmmm, tell you what. I'll let you say goodbye if I get to take all your memories of your mother while you're gone. You might get them back, you might not. All a part of the game."
Soren slouched back into the chair as he remembered his fifteenth birthday. He had just moved to a new school, and didn't know anyone well enough to invite to his party. Even then they didn't have much money, but his mom always wanted to make him happy, no matter what. She ended up taking him to a movie, going out for dinner with him, and even buying him a cake. Never in his life had he felt so grateful and happy. And now he would forget everything his mom had ever done for him. He would forget everything about her. If he could give her her life back, it wouldn’t be so bad, but… "I can't leave her and disappear without her knowing that I'm gone. I… yes. I need to do this."
"Well, wonderful. Let's have you sign right here, here and here." He pointed at various spots on a long, densely written scroll that he had pulled out of a tissue box. "And I'll have you repeat after me, 'I, Soren, hereby forfeit my life and memories of my mother in order to cure her and keep her healthy, by contract of Discord'"
Soren signed as slow as he could possibly manage, running as many memories of his mother through his mind as he could. This was it.
"I, Soren, hereby forfeit my life and memories of my mother in order to cure her and keep her healthy, by contract of Discord."
"It's been a pleasure doing business with you, my boy." Discord grinned. "Now, as promised, I'll give you an hour with your mother before we go. Understood?"
Soren choked back his tears. "Give me 24 hours." Discord only smiled back.
"Heh. You know, I like you. I like you a lot. I will grant you 3 hours with Daisy, but this will cost more of your memories.” He said, “And that will be all." He snapped his fingers, and before Soren could protest, a bright light blinded him.
Soren opened his eyes and found himself in his mother's apartment again. He scanned around the room in a daze, his vision slightly hazy as if he had woken up from a long rest. Then he heard her. His mother happily hummed from the kitchen.
A happy tune. One he hadn't heard in a long time.
"Oh Soren, could you come here please? I need your help baking this pie," she called. He delicately stood up, as if he were afraid that any sudden movement would destroy this peaceful reality.
"C-coming, mom," he replied as he stepped into the kitchen. He felt his heart ache as he saw his mother. Her skin was no longer pale and her cheeks weren't sunken in anymore. She almost glowed with a golden aura. He could feel relief wash over him.
"There you are hon, I can't make this pie without you, can I? Come on." She gestured for him to come closer.
"You look great, mom. How do you feel?"
She beamed at him, “I feel fantastic! It's like I've never been sick before in my life! I think changing my diet and exercising more has really been helping."
"I can see that, mom." Soren felt a genuine smile creep onto his face for the first time in a while. "Come on, let's bake this pie."
The next 2 hours and 50 minutes were spent in a sense of euphoria he didn’t know he could ever experience. He cherished every last second. They dug into the pie they had made and found that it was the most perfect pie that either of them had ever tasted.
"Ten minutes, Soren,” a voice whispered in his ear. “Time to wrap things up.” His heart sank once again as he watched his mother sing to herself happily. She placed the last piece of pie onto a plate and dropped a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top.
"Hey, Mom, can I tell you something?" Soren asked, looking away, not able to meet her eyes. She looked up at him.
"Of course sweetheart. What is it?"
"I-" he choked on his words. "I have to go somewhere, and I don't think I'll be coming back. This is it."
She laughed, not believing him. "Soren, stop being silly. Here, finish this up.” Her contagious smile hurt him now.
"Mom, no matter what happens, I love you forever and always."
Their eyes met.
"I love you forever and always too, Soren,” she said. “And hey, remember that promise we made. Keep going, no matter what happens."
Not being able to hold back any longer, Soren ran up and hugged his mother with all his might and quietly sobbed into her shoulder.
"It's time to go, Soren," Discord whispered into his ear.
He let go of his mother and smiled at her.
"Bye, Mom. Thank you for everything."
And, with the golden light of the sun glittering through the window, everything faded away.
Oak Ridge was as simple a town as anypony could ever hope for. It sat in the valley of the Green Mountains, between Mount Wicker and Mount Haybale, and was split through the middle by an ancient waterway known simply as ‘The Grand’. The only way to get across The Grand was by boat. The river itself was populated with many floating shops that ponies, zebras and griffons alike all managed. At any given hour, there were at least a hundred boats making their way across, carrying goods and customers alike. The floating shops were diverse enough where one could find wing polish on one boat, books on the one next to it and then across the river find an armory.
It was home to almost 4,000 souls, while roughly another 2,900 kept temporary residence. It was only a two day journey from Fillydelphia, and a three day journey to get to Canterlot, so it was found to be the perfect place for intercontinental mail to be sorted, organized and carried away to its final destination. It was a courier’s town, where all roads passed through.
River Breeze was a simple pegasus, born, raised, and living in a simple town. She often got compliments by residents of Oak Ridge on her well maintained, preened wings, and her eyes, which were a bold, dark emerald green, but she had a difficult time accepting them, often getting annoyed by the attention. She helped run a small wing care store on the river with her older sister. On the days where she didn’t have to work, she found herself hiking up to the peak of Mount Wicker, the taller of the two mountains. Here, she was free to dream about escaping Oak Ridge. She daydreamed about being so much more than just a salespony. Maybe one day she could find the courage to tell her sisters that she didn’t want to live here forever. She would run, maybe get herself a waitress job in a bigger city, and save up enough money to build a home somewhere beautiful. Then she could start up a nature tour where she could expose more ponies to hiking and the beauty of the wilderness. Maybe she’d even meet a stallion that would treat her well, and love her like in the story books she read as a filly.
“Back to it tomorrow, huh?” she sighed as she raised her mug of hot coffee to her lips. River sipped her coffee as she watched Celestia’s sun dip below the horizon. The sky burned a fiery red and orange and faded off into a deep violet. As the stars became visible in the sky, River finished the last sip of her coffee and shoved the tin cup into her worn canvas saddlebag. Emblazoned on the side was a small pin that read “Tomorrow is always brighter,” surrounded by a cartoonish drawing of a unicorn and an earth pony hugging.
River looked up once more into the sky as Luna’s moon took its turn. The stars twinkled in the distance, who knows how far away. “Oh Luna, won’t you give me some sort of opportunity? Some chance where I can get away from here?” River begged, but the still sky revealed nothing. Sighing deeply again, she turned and started her way down the mountain and back home. She still had to make dinner, after all.
TWO DAYS LATER
“These readings are crazy, Spike! I haven’t seen anything like this since… since… Well, ever!” Princess Twilight Sparkle fumbled with the stream of paper being spit out of the machine. “Sweet Celestia, there’s a well of drained magic somewhere and I don’t know where it is!” she cried, running over to another machine in the corner of the Golden Oak Library.
“What? What do all these markings even mean?” The little dragon asked, picking up a wad of discarded paper. It looked to him as if a foal had scribbled all over it with black pen.
“Look, right there.” Twilight pointed to the nearby table. “Those results are the average environmental magic levels in Equestria on a normal night.” She lifted the sheet in front of her and threw it toward Spike. “These are the readings I got this evening. See, the inherent magic levels around two pm are normal, but around seven pm, we were hitting numbers twelve times higher than normal! Then only five or so minutes later it dropped down below the previous average.” She said, turning her attention back to the newest set of results. Spike scratched his head.
“Okay, but what does that even mean?” he asked again, dropping the paper on the floor before approaching and taking a seat on the couch.
“Well, this anomaly is cause for concern. The balance of magic is very fragile. It needs to be kept in check, and whatever this thing is, it just made everything go haywire!” She yelled. Twilight started to hyperventilate, but Spike threw a ball of paper at her. It harmlessly bounced off of her back and fell to the floor.
“Relax, Twilight! Freaking out isn’t gonna help you fix the problem any faster. Just think, if there really is something that's messing up the normal magic levels, how do we find it?”
Twilight took a deep breath.“You’re right, Spike. Freaking out won’t help us.” She tapped her chin. “Hmm, well, I could come up with some sort of spell that I can use as a portable, directional magic sensor or something.” A smile appeared on the corner of her mouth, but disappeared almost immediately, and she groaned. “But there’s no way to know how far this thing even is! It would be easy if it was here in Ponyville, but it could be anywhere! Who knows, it could be on the other side of the planet!” Twilight dropped her head onto the table and covered herself with her hooves. Spike put a claw on her shoulder in reassurance.
“Well, maybe the girls can help you out? Instead of searching, just us two, it could be a six mare and dragon search team! You could cover wayyy more ground doing that.” Twilight turned her head to look at Spike.
“Spike, sometimes I think you might be smarter than I am.” She smiled. “Okay, let’s not waste any time. This could be really dangerous, but I hope to Celestia it’s not.”
“River, you can take the night off,” Sea Breeze called out. “Doesn’t look like we’re getting many more customers tonight, so I think I can handle it.”
River slouched, bored over a large spool of rope next to the piling that anchored their boat to the dock. She sighed before standing up straight.“Ugh, finally. It’s not my turn to cook tonight, so I’m going up to Mount Wicker.” She curtly said, throwing her saddlebag over her back. “I’ll be late again, so don’t wait up.”
Sea Breeze sighed and shook her head. “Two things here: one, why do you even hike? We have wings. We can fly,” she gestured, while extending her own wings to make the point. “And secondly, what do you even do up there? You spend hours and hours up there almost every other day! What could you possibly be doing?” She paused, but then smirked.
River’s face twisted into a frown. “Don’t…”
“Secretly seeing a stallion, hmm?” Sea Breeze cooed.
River leaped onto her sister and started playfully wailing on her with her hooves.“I told you to stop saying that. It’s not true!” she raged. Sea Breeze laughed as she easily deflected each hit.
“Alright, alright. You win. Just be home before it gets too late. And have fun with your little stallion friend,”
River pointed her hoof at her dramatically, wearing a scowl on her face.
“Okay, Okay I'll take it back, sorry!”
Accepting that, River got up off of her sister and then helped her up to her hooves. “And by the way, hiking is fun. That’s why I do it. It’s nice to take a breather every once in a while. Flying isn’t everything,” she reasoned. Sea Breeze stuck her tongue out at her.
“You sound more earth pony than pegasus.”
“Whatever. Just remember that I don’t want any bell peppers in my dinner. See ya.” She waved before hopping onto the dock and trotting towards the mountain.
River sat in her usual spot and sipped her coffee, looking up at the night sky once again. “Oh Luna, won’t you please hear my wishes? Maybe give me a sign?” she whispered. After a few moments, nothing happened, and River started to pack her things away. She looked down at her reflection at the bottom of her tin cup. Her eyes were distant and tired.
“Wait. What’s that?” River snapped her head back up towards the sky. A star sat in a part of the sky that should’ve been empty. It was significantly brighter than the other stars in the sky. “What the?” The star seemed to gradually grow in size, but then she realized that it was actually falling towards the peak of the mountain. River Breeze screamed and frantically looked for a place to take shelter. Seeing a rock formation nearby, she opted to dive behind it in the hope she would survive the impact. Throwing her hooves over her eyes, and cowering behind a boulder, she waited. Some seconds passed, but there was silence. “Did I imagi-”
Suddenly, she was nearly blinded and deafened by a brilliant light followed by a booming crackle. Before she could recover, River was airborne, violently flung backwards by a second explosion. She smacked into the hard rock just as another deafening wave of sound hit her.
The earth-shattering sound rang through the clearing, forcing River to cover her ears from the pain. A few moments passed before she felt safe opening her eyes again. Her vision blurred for a few moments before clearing. Her ears rang, and her entire body hurt. “What in the name of Celestia just happened?” she said out loud, barely being able to hear herself. Trying to get herself up onto her hooves, she stumbled forward, falling face first onto the ground. She groaned before trying again and managing to maintain her balance. Slowly, but surely, her hearing returned as she made her way back to where her campsite had been. She looked around, smelling the air. A very distinct rotting smell lingered, causing her to cringe. Then she noticed it. The crater.
“Jeez. When I said give me a sign, I didn’t mean kill me.”
The crater was massive, and oddly spherical, looking as if a portion of the mountain had been carved out with a giant spoon. As she approached, she noticed that the foliage along the edge didn’t look burnt. A thick veil of fog within the crater made it difficult for her to make out what she was seeing. There was some sort of rock… No. It was a pony in the center of the crater.
“Oh my gosh, uh, HEY! ARE YOU OKAY??” she screamed, standing on the edge of the crater. She hesitated, before lifting her hoof and putting it down on the perfectly-cut stone. Immediately, she pulled her hoof back in surprise. “It’s cold… Freezing, even,” she noted. River took a large breath before stepping all the way into the crater and running up to the mangled pony in the center. The oddly frigid ground stung with every step, but there was no way she was going to let that stop her from saving this pony.
As she came within a few meters of the crater pony, she noticed that it was a pegasus, and with a few more steps she realized he was a stallion. He was all blue; his coat was a muted blue-gray compared to his mane which was a darker navy blue. As her eyes scanned over the body that was covered with cuts and bruises, she noticed that his flank had no mark on it. “What… the?” she began, but shook it off. There was no time to worry about something as small as that. She needed to help this poor stallion. He looked worse for wear.
A gash on one of his legs was her biggest cause for concern. Blood poured out of it at an alarming rate. Acting quickly, River ripped open her saddlebag and emptied the contents on the ground next to him. She found her first-aid kit, thankful that she was always prepared for times like these. She grabbed a wad of gauze and covered the wound before putting as much pressure into it as she could.
“Come on, stop bleeding now, I got you,” she whispered, her coat now stained with the stranger’s blood. After a few tense minutes, the bleeding had slowed down considerably and River relaxed. She noticed that the rising and falling of the stallion’s chest had changed from erratic, when she first got there, to a slow, restful pace. She uncorked a small flask labeled “Feel Fine Brew” and gently lifted the stallion’s head.
“Alright, I don’t know if you can hear me, but drink some of this. It'll help.” She poured a few drops of the dark amber liquid into his mouth, making sure that she didn’t choke him. To her relief, his body unconsciously swallowed it and didn’t inhale it. She slowly and carefully fed him a quarter of the bottle, making sure to pause and make sure he was actually drinking it.
River looked down at herself and noticed that her own hooves were shaking. She had never done something like this before - not to another pony, at least. She had gotten plenty of cuts and bruises herself, but none nearly as bad as that one. River was no earth pony, and definitely lacked the strength to pick up an adult stallion, but fortunately pegasus stallions only weighed about three quarters as much as earth pony stallions due to their lighter bones. It would be an uncomfortable journey back to town especially with the fresh bruises forming on her back, but she would have to manage. She let her thoughts wander before wondering what her sister would think when she brought back this unconscious stallion to town. She could hear her voice already.
“Ohhh, so you WERE seeing a stallion. I knew it! Looks like you were too rough on him, too.” The thought immediately soured her mood. She decided she would kill her if she said anything, and that seemed to satisfy her enough to start her journey back.
Soren’s body ached. It ached worse than it had ever ached before. Barely conscious, he tried opening his eyes, but a blinding light forced him to shut them once again. He groaned and let his head fall to the side. A shuffle caught his attention from somewhere nearby. He attempted to call out, but the words jumbled in his mouth. “Hus ther?”
A clattering sound was heard nearby. He could’ve sworn there was a gasp, and then footsteps into the distance. He heard someone speak, but he couldn’t quite understand what they said. A wave of pain radiated from his side, eliciting another loud groan.
“H-hey…”
Sea Breeze burst into River’s room, startling her. She dropped her mug of apple juice, letting it clunk to the ground and spilling its contents. “Breezie? What the Hay? Haven’t you heard of knocking? Look what you made me do!” she barked, pointing at the mess.
“W-well sorry! It was my turn to cook for the stallion. I was taking some porridge to feed him, and well, he moved! And he groaned! He’s been here for almost two weeks, and we’ve never seen him move like that.” She gestured towards her face, “He opened his eyes, too! Only for a second, but I think he’s starting to wake up.” River’s eyes opened wide as a silence built between the two mares. They stared at each other and then, almost as if they had practiced a hundred times before, simultaneously bounded through the door.
As they reached the guest bedroom, the two mares peered into the room. Sure enough, the stallion was squirming around, groaning and mumbling quietly. River and Sea Breeze exchanged looks before quietly stepping into the room. As they got closer and closer to his bed, his words started to make sense.
“Hello? Is anybody there? Please… Water…”
Hearing this, River immediately trotted over to the side table where a pitcher of water sat. “Shhh, it’s alright, we’re here. Just relax, I’ll give you some water. Don’t move, okay?” she assured him while she picked up the pitcher and poured a small amount into a little porcelain bowl. “Alright, open wide. I’m going to pour this into your mouth now.” It took a moment for the stallion to comply, but he weakly opened his mouth in anticipation. Slowly, River poured some water into his mouth, and then stopped, so he wouldn’t choke.
He swallowed it and managed to say, “more.”
River poured more water into the porcelain bowl and gave him more sips of water, until the pitcher was half-empty. “Alright, that’s enough water for now. Too much at once can be bad for you too, you know?”
Sea Breeze approached the bed, looking at the stallion. “Hey, can’t you open your eyes?”
“Too… bright.”
Sea Breeze nodded and walked over to the window and closed the curtains. The sunlight quickly faded, and the room was left in relative darkness. “How about now?” Sea Breeze asked.
It was still a bit too bright, but he let out a groan, which River interpreted as understanding. Once again, he tried opening his eyes. River watched as the stallion squinted and blinked in her direction. His brow furrowed as he squinted at her. He exhaled sharply through his nose and shook his head as if he wasn’t understanding what he was seeing. He continued to stare at River until she took a step forward and spoke.
“Hey, what’s your name? Can you tell us what happened to you?” Soren’s eyes grew wide, but the stress was too much for him to handle. He fell limp in his bed once again.
“Great, you made him faint. Great work, River,” Sea Breeze jeered.
“Shut up. Just get over here and help me with this.”
It took about twenty minutes before he came to once more, but this time the two mares were prepared. Soren had been propped upright in the bed with pillows on each side to stabilize him. He groaned as he once again opened his eyes to see the two sisters standing by him.
“Look, I know things must be confusing right now, but I need you to stay with me here, alright?” River urged. “I need you to tell me your name if you can. Can you do that?” Soren stared at the two mares for quite some time, but eventually opened his mouth.
“I… My name is Soren. Is this some kind of sick joke?” he asked, genuine confusion on his face. River and Sea Breeze looked at each other.
“Well, nice to meet you, Soren,” River replied. “But what do you mean by a sick joke?”
He eyed them both carefully, slowly shifting his gaze from one to the other and then back. “You… There’s no way you’re real. These have gotta be some sort of animatronics or something, right? Maybe that Discord guy drugged me up real good, huh?”
River stepped back. “Discord!?”
“What, you know him?” he asked, not noticing himself leaning forward.
“Well, no, but I’ve heard plenty of stories of him causing problems over in Ponyville.” River answered honestly, confused by what he meant by if she ‘knew’ him. Of course she didn’t know him. “Do you know him?” she asked.
“Unfortunately,” he sighed. “It seems like he drugged me, and now I’m in a room talking to a couple of animatronic horses. And hey, do you have wings? What are you like, a pegasus or something? And wait... Did you say 'Ponyville'?”
River looked completely lost, so she looked at her sister in hopes that she might be able to explain.
“Um, first of all, we’re ponies,” Sea Breeze said, looking back at River. “And you’re a pony too. In fact, you’re also a pegasus. I don’t understand what you mean by any of this.”
This time it was Soren’s turn to be confused. “What?” With some effort, and pushing through some pain, he looked down at two blue hooves. Soren immediately began to hyperventilate, but River was prepared this time. She reached over and put a hoof on his shoulder.
“Breathe, Soren. Deep breaths, in and out. Once you’re calm I’ll bring in a mirror. I think that you might’ve hit your head. You’re only confused.” He tried to catch himself and slow down his breaths, but felt his breaths run ragged once more. “Come on, In! Out! That’s right.” Soren followed her instructions and his panic slowly faded, but his eyes still glued to his hooves. “Sea Breeze, can you go get a mirror please?” Sea Breeze hesitated, but once River looked her way and frowned, she nodded, and left the room.
“This can’t be real. I- I remember making a deal with Discord… about something.” Soren clenched his eyes shut. “I just know that he wanted me to play a game with him in exchange for whatever he did for me. This is all just part of that. It has to be.” Soren looked down at his hooves and started to hyperventilate again.
“Hey! HEY! Calm down, remember? Deep breaths, that’s right. Good. Soren, I know things are crazy right now. Oh, I just realized that I haven’t introduced myself.” River stepped back so he could see her entire body without having to move his head much. “My name is River Breeze, and I saved you from your crash landing almost two weeks back. And hey, why don’t you close your eyes and just talk for now. That way, we can keep you calm and collected, alright?”
Soren nodded, closed his eyes and leaned back against his pillows once again. “Crash landing?” he said, breathlessly. “I crash landed?” He pulled at his face with his hooves. “This is a nightmare. I don’t know what’s happening! Crash land? Why was I even on a plane?” River patted his shoulder gently as he took it all in. Her presence was oddly soothing. He took a deep breath and then exhaled. “I suppose panicking won’t do us any good right now, huh?”
“No, it won’t.” River smiled. “But I promise it’ll be okay. We’ll have you back on your hooves in no time.” At the mention of hooves, he looked down at his own and snorted.
“It’s nice to meet you River Breeze, and thank you for saving me. You really didn’t have to go out of your way to nurse me back to health.” He sighed. “I apologize for being a burden.”
“No, no it’s okay. Really,” River assured him. “I think you’re just confused right now, and you need some time to recover. And you can just call me River.”
“Why do you keep saying that? I’m not confused. I’m not a- a-” Soren trailed off, not knowing what exactly to call himself.
“Pony?”
“I’m not a pony!” He raised his hooves in the air for emphasis, but regretted it almost immediately when the wave of pain hit him. “Ow!”
“Look, I don’t really know what that means, but we can figure all that out once you’re healed up enough to walk on your own. Ah, there’s Sea Breeze.” Just then, Sea Breeze rolled in a tall standing mirror into the room. It was flipped away from Soren and River, so all they could see was the finished back of the mirror. “Alright Soren, I think it’s important for you to see yourself in the mirror. It might clear up some of the confusion.” She patted his bedside. “I’m right here, so we can take a look together.”
“Alright…” Soren carefully opened his eyes to see River smiling at him, and Sea Breeze with a nervous expression on hers. “Go ahead, flip it. I’m ready.” Soren clenched his jaw in preparation. Sea Breeze flipped over the mirror, revealing to Soren his new form.
Soren stared at his reflection. “No, no I’ve gotta be dreaming,” he cried. “This can’t be real. I’m a person, not a- a- a horse.”
River frowned at him.“Pony…” she corrected. “Listen, I don’t know what you’re talking about, or what a person is, but it probably has something to do with Discord. From what I’ve heard, he’s the type to play tricks with ponies’ minds.”
Soren ignored her and instead stared back at his reflection. His large eyes were an amethyst purple, slightly hidden away by his medium-length hair. He bared his teeth, noticing that his canines were gone, instead, replaced by flatter teeth meant for grinding. Soren’s shoulders sank as he continued to prod and stare at himself.
“Uh maybe we should put the mirror away for now, River,” Sea Breeze said, worried about the dazed stallion.
“No!” he immediately shot back. “It’s fine. You don’t have to do that, just- just let me figure things out for a minute.” Soren turned his body a bit, exposing the wings on his back. “I have… wings,” he mumbled.
“Duh, you’re a pegasus.” River started “Of course yo- wait. You said you’re not a pony, and you don’t even recognize your own wings. You freak out every time you look down at your hooves… You’re really not a pony, aren’t you?”
“No! I told you that already! Oh god,” he moaned, trying to move his wings unsuccessfully. River took a frightened step back, joining her sister who had all but frozen in place.
“Then w-what are you?” she shuddered.
“I’m a person! You know, a human being? A homo sapien?” Soren shouted as he moved his hooves to his face and touched his own cheek. “No… It can’t be. But it feels so real.”
“I’m sorry, I’ve never heard of those things before.” She said, “Where did you say you’re from?”
A sharp pain erupted in Soren’s head. He winced and put a hoof to his forehead, but the pain subsided quickly. “I’m from… Maine.” he groaned.
“You mean Manehattan? I’ve met ponies from there before.”
“No, not Manhattan, Maine,” he repeated. “I live in a little town there called Camden.” Both Sea and River Breeze tilted their heads and furrowed their brows.
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard of that country before,” Sea Breeze admitted, echoing River’s thoughts. “Is it far away?”
“Huh? Country? No, Maine is a state. America is the country.” Soren looked between them, realizing that they had no idea what he was talking about. “How do you not know about America? You’re speaking English with me right now!”
River shook her head. Sea Breeze looked paler than usual and opted to see herself out the door while the other two figured this out.“Uh, I’m going back to the shop… I need a break from this…” she mumbled, but nopony else seemed to hear.
“No, no! We, as in including YOU, are speaking Common Equestrian,” River Breeze explained, growing increasingly frustrated.
Soren’s eyes grew wide.“Where am I right now?”
“Huh? Well, you’re in our house. You were hurt, so we just-”
“No, no,” Sorren interrupted her. “Like, where am I right now? What city? What country?” He demanded. River slowly stepped forward, intrigued by the question.
“You’re in Oak Ridge? Equestria?”
Soren looked down for a moment, then shook his head. “Never heard of it.”
“Oak Ridge?”
“Both. Never heard of Oak Ridge and never heard of Equestria.”
River froze. “Never heard of Equestria!? How is that possible?” She sat on her haunches and just stared at him. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”
“Dead serious. Where on Earth am I?” he asked, rhetorically.
“Earth? As in, earth pony?” she inquired. Soren made an annoyed look back at her.
“Uh yeah, Planet Earth?” He gestured around them. “You know, the planet we live on?”
River’s eyes shrunk to the size of pinpricks and her ears flattened against her head. ‘What did this mean? What was he saying right now? He’s crazy!’ she thought to herself. “I’m not really sure what to tell you, Soren. This isn’t Planet Earth. It’s Planet Equus.”
The Golden Oak Library bustled with activity. It hadn’t taken too long to gather Twilight’s friends since, after all the situations they’d been in over the last two years, they were used to it. Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash didn’t have a way to help at the moment, so they simply lounged on the couch or wrestled while Rarity, Twilight and Spike put together Twilight's latest idea: Portable Magic Meters. It was a relatively simple concept, but after spending nearly three hours making the first prototype that ended up exploding in Spike’s claws, they found that the execution was slightly more complicated. After another two unsuccessful attempts, the group finally managed to put together a working device.
The new design was primitive, but reliable. It was a small wooden plank with two square holes cut out near the top. The cavities would hold negatively and positively charged magical gemstones, provided by Rarity, opposite each other. Under the two holes were seven small light bulbs. The outer two were red, the three in the center were green and the other two in between were yellow. The last feature of the device was a knob on the side which could alter the sensing frequency of the magic. After another two hours of work, six completed Magic Meters sat neatly on the coffee table.
“Alright, girls,” Twilight announced, “like I explained before, these things are very simple, but delicate. Don’t be too rough with them. I’m looking at you, Rainbow Dash…” Rainbow Dash looked away and whistled nervously. “Anyway, they’re easy to use. Just hold them in front of you and the little lights should tell you if you’re going in the right direction. If it’s red it’s the complete opposite direction. If it’s yellow, you’re going on a tangent to the target. And if it- Yes Rainbow Dash?”
“Uh, what’s a tan-gent?” she asked, her hoof raised in the air.
“It’s when you’re moving across from something, not getting any closer or farther away. It doesn’t really matter, all you need to do is try to get a green reading and head that way. Alright?” The group nodded and mumbled in understanding. “Great! Okay, we’ll start with Ponyville and the surrounding area. Fluttershy, you take Whitetail Woods. Rainbow Dash, fly high above the Everfree and see if you can get anything from there.”
Rainbow saluted back. “Roger!”
“Applejack, you know Sweet Apple Acres better than anypony else. It’s a lot of ground to cover, so I trust that to you.”
“Consider it done.”
“Spike and Rarity can take the south end of town.” Spike took a second to pump his fist, unnoticed by Rarity. “Pinkie Pie, take the town center. Finally, I’ll check out the west end of town. Once you’ve done a full sweep, do a second one, just in case. Then head back to the Library to report whatever you find.”
Twilight distributed the Magic Meters once she was finished. “Alright, let’s get to work.”
The past hour had been spent calming Soren down. He had, for a short while, lost his ability to communicate in full sentences, opting instead to speak in strings of gibberish and unfamiliar curse words. Eventually, through breathing exercises, River managed to calm him down. “Alright, let’s try and get you onto your own hooves now. It doesn’t do anypony any good to lounge around.”
“I guess a walk wouldn’t hurt,” he said as he shuffled himself over to the edge of the bed.
River offered a hoof for assistance as he swung his hind legs over the side. “Okay, good. Just take it easy, okay?” she said, unaware that a smile was creeping across her face. ‘Just two weeks ago he was barely alive, and now he’s about to stand up,’ she thought.
Soren lowered his left rear hoof first, and a distinct tap was heard as it hit the wooden floor. He shivered and breathed out before lowering his other hind leg. Then he pushed his body up off of the bed, but his legs buckled below him. Before he could fall onto his back, River caught him and pushed back so he could rest his weight against the bed again.
“What are you doing?” she laughed. “I said to take it easy, no tricks right now.”
Soren just had an odd look on his face. “What do you mean? I’m just trying to stand up.”
“Uh, then why are you trying to balance on your hind legs like that? Nevermind. Come on, four hooves on the ground.” She lightly stomped her front two hooves on the ground for emphasis. Soren breathed sharply through his nose, but slowly put his left forehoof and then his right onto the ground. River bounced up and down in place.“Yay! You did it! You’re standing on your own!”
Soren smiled sheepishly as he wobbled dangerously. His weight shifted from one leg to the next, making him look like he was in the middle of an earthquake that only he could feel. River wasn’t quick enough to catch him the next time he fell, and he face-planted into the floor with a thud and an “oof”. She rushed over and helped pick him up again, but this time held onto him to help keep him steady.
“It isn’t natural to walk on four limbs,” he grumbled.
“Shush. And look, you’re standing again, with a little help. Just try and get used to standing in one place for now. I’ll be here as long as you need.” She patted him on the shoulder. “You’re doing pretty good. Just take it slowly.” Soren looked down at his hooves, which still wobbled, but were holding steady with River’s help.
“Thanks,” he said. “But hey, why are you helping me, anyway? You could’ve just dropped me into any old hospital.”
River scratched at her neck as he asked. “Well, for one, the hospitals around here are usually packed. It’s a trade town so ponies and other creatures from all around travel here and bring viruses and things like that, so I thought it’d be better to just treat you at home. Besides, I used a potion on you that helped stabilize your condition, so you really weren’t in any danger of dying after that.” She looked away. “And admittedly, I was kinda intrigued by you. You don’t have a cutie mark, you fall out of the sky in a crash that should’ve definitely killed you, and nopony around here knows you. Now you tell me that you’re not even a pony and you’ve never heard of Equestria, so, I don’t know, you must be some sort of alien or something.” River turned her face back towards Soren. “You’re the most interesting thing that has ever happened to me, so I wasn’t about to let this pass me by.”
Soren cocked his head. “Well… I guess that makes sense, but what’s a cutie mark and why am I supposed to have one?”
“Hmm, well I guess it makes sense you wouldn’t know what a cutie mark is, if you’re not a pony. I suppose you don’t HAVE to have one, but it’s definitely odd that you don’t. Griffons and hippogriffs don’t have cutie marks so they likely won’t care, but ponies will definitely notice.” River discreetly let go of Soren, letting him stand on his own power. She trotted up in front of him so that he wouldn't have to move too much to see. She turned so her side faced him and lifted up her wing so he could have a better look, revealing a golden feather emblazoned upon her flank. Soren raised an eyebrow. “This one is mine. I got it when a Wonderbolt came into our shop one day, and my dad let me do a preening service on her. She was so satisfied with my work that she gave me a free ticket to their show. At that moment, I felt like I ruled the world, and, well, that’s when I got it.”
“Wait, so it’s not like paint? Or a tattoo or something?” He asked, wobbling again, but managing to keep his balance. River shook her head.
“Nope, it appears through magic. It represents your special talent. And hey! You’re standing all by yourself! See, I knew you could do it.”
Soren looked down at himself again and smiled.“Hey yeah, I guess I am!” He wobbled dangerously, but stabilized himself. “Maybe I’ll get my cutie mark in standing?” he joked.
“Hah, I think we can aim a little higher than that. Go ahead, try taking a step forward. Actually, wait. Watch me first.” River walked slowly in a small circle, with each movement as emphasized as possible. “See, this is how you walk. Left forehoof, right hind hoof, right forehoof and then left hind hoof. As long as you follow that pattern, you’ll be golden! Alright, give it a shot.” Soren observed her walk very carefully. It was almost like how he used to walk, where balance was kept by opposite limbs, except now they all touched the ground. Soren lifted his right forehoof, shifting all his weight into his other three legs. He successfully stayed upright, but his left foreleg shook as he shifted his weight onto it. “Great! Now move that hoof forward…”
After a few minutes and more than a few hard falls, Soren had managed to walk across the entire room all by himself at a snail’s pace. “You know, you’ve got the patience of an angel.” Soren commented, smiling at River.
She laughed. “It’s called having older siblings.”
Just then, River looked up at a clock on the wall, noticing it was well past noon. “Whoops! Time just flew by, you must be pretty hungry. Heck, you haven’t had any solid food in… weeks. I’ll go ahead and make us some lunch in the kitchen. Since you can walk on your own now, I’ll let you make your own way down there at your own pace.” River pulled open the door. “It’s an easy walk. Just go down this hallway and the kitchen is right there.” With a look of determination, Soren nodded, even though he was leaning against the wall. River shot him a dirty look and he took the hint by pushing off the wall and balancing once more.
As River made some cucumber sandwiches in the kitchen, Soren made his way down the hall. The first half took some time, but in the second half of the hallway, he managed to pick up the pace a little. As he finally pulled into the kitchen, River set down a plate onto the quaint wooden dinner table, beside a small vase of glacier lilies.
“I made it!” Soren announced. River looked over and grinned.
“Yeah, you did! And it only took about ten minutes. Faster than I thought,” she teased. Soren rolled his eyes and made his way toward the table. It was very low, with no chairs; instead there were four flat, fluffy upholstered pillows set up around it. River patiently watched Soren move up to the table and take a seat across from her. As he sat down, he addressed her.
“Hey, River Breeze,”
“River. You can just call me River.” She smiled.
“River, I just want to thank you for helping me out. I know that I might’ve been a bit rude or off-putting, but I’ve just been a bit frustrated and scared. I’m sorry about that,” he replied with his eyes downcast. River reached over the table and put her hoof under his face. He recoiled a bit, pulling backwards. A brief sign of hurt passed over her face, but it was gone as soon as it had appeared. She set her hoof back on the table.
“It’s okay. I get it. You’re out of your element. I guess I’d be the same if I were you. Don’t apologize.” Soren looked back up, his eyes slightly softer than before. She continued, “Say, now that we’re here, why don’t you tell me about what’s going on as we eat?” Soren nodded.
As he tried to figure out how to pick up his sandwich with hooves, he explained all he could remember of the events leading up to his arrival, which admittedly wasn’t much. His memory seemed littered with holes. All River was able to infer was that he was in some sort of deep trouble. Bad enough that he made a deal with Discord in order to fix it.
“Well, what deal did you make with Discord, exactly?” she asked, sipping on a glass of water. Soren swallowed his food before replying.
“That’s just the thing! I don’t remember what exactly I’m supposed to do! I can’t even really remember why I even made a deal with him.” He slouched in his seat. “I guess all I can do is hope that something or another jogs my memory.”
“Well, you must’ve been in a really bad place to have needed his help. Don’t you remember anything at all from before that?” River asked.
“Well, I remember I lost my job. Then not too long after that I got evicted from my apartment, so I was basically homeless.” He rubbed his temples and closed his eyes while he tried to think about what else happened, but nothing came. “There’s… more but I just can’t…” River reached out a hoof and pulled Soren's hoof from his face.
“Listen, you don’t need to think about it right now. You’re still healing up and getting used to things. Let’s just focus on walking and eating right now, alright?” she smiled. “Gosh, I know it’s not really the right time to say this, but I’m like the first pony to ever meet an alien!”
Soren stared at her and just laughed. “I guess I am an alien, aren’t I?”
Another three days had gone by since Soren had awoken. River and Sea Breeze still had to work, so while they were gone, Soren practiced walking on his own, and even tried jogging or rather ‘trotting’, as ponies called it. The first day saw plenty of crashes and accidents, but, as the hours passed, he became better at keeping upright, and soon rarely fell at all. Even the two sisters began to notice that he was doing a lot better now that he could walk and even run. Late in the afternoon on the third day, Soren attempted to take a shower, but struggled with cleaning his wings. Any time he tried to scrub them down, he would wince in pain. ‘Whatever, it’s not like I’ll be learning to fly any time soon. I’ll just rinse them down and call it a day,’ he thought as he turned off the water.
At the same time, River pushed open the front door and dumped her saddlebags onto the ground next to the scarf rack. “I’m home!” she called as she shut the door behind her. “Soren?” she called out down the hallway.
“Yeah, I’ll be right there! Just toweling off!” he called back. As soon as he finished drying off his mane, he trotted down the hall into the living room with the towel around his neck. “Hey there, River. How was your day?”
“Eh, slow. Helped a griffon with her wings, had a half dozen ponies come in for random stuff, and then- OH SWEET CELESTIA,” She exploded, looking at Soren’s side. “WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOUR WINGS?” His feathers were matted, twisted, and bent in odd angles. It was an image straight out of her nightmares.
“Oh, yeah I didn’t know how to clean them, so I just left them that way. I guess it doesn’t matter since I can’t f-”
“Zip it! No! No, no no! Not in my house. That is unacceptable.” She leered and pointed at the loveseat against the wall. “Go sit down, I’ll fix this.” Taken aback by the sudden explosion from River, he immediately did as he was told. He sat eyes wide, watching her grumble about ‘wing care’ and ‘respecting yourself’ as she stalked over to Soren and sat down next to him. “Alright, turn around with your back facing me.”
“Uh, okay but what are you OW!” He yelped as she pulled on one of his feathers.
“Hold still!”
“Ow!”
After a few painful minutes, Soren’s feathers looked significantly better, though still lacked the shine that River’s well maintained wings had. “See, it’s easy. Take care of your wings from now on, alright? I can’t stand seeing anypony’s wings like that.” River scolded. “There’s one last thing you need to do before we’re done.” She turned to Soren and lifted up a wing. Pointing with her nose, she said “Look, do you see that little bump at the base of each of your wings? That’s an oil gland. All you need to do now is use your nose to rub the gland and then evenly spread the oil through your wings.” Soren watched intently, intrigued. He reached into the crook of his wing and rubbed his nose against the gland and felt the tip of it get slightly damp. “Good! Now rub it through your feathers, nice and easy.” Slow and inexperienced, he took several minutes to oil his wings, and at the end they also shined a little bit.
“Wow, you were right. This DOES feel a lot better.” He grinned, looking at his newly preened wings. “It’s like living your whole life with a kink in your neck, and when you finally get it out, you wonder how you lived so long like that.”
“Uh huh, and you won’t be living much longer if I ever see your wings in that condition again,” River warned. Soren laughed nervously, unsure whether that was a joke or not. “Anyway, come on. I haven’t been able to hike since I brought you back here. You could probably use some fresh air too, you’ve been locked up in here for a while.” She stood up and extended a hoof to him. Soren accepted her support, and hoisted himself off of the couch.
“Yeah, I guess I could do with a change of scenery, and the walking practice.” River trotted back over to where she had dropped her saddlebags and picked them up again.
“Just give me a second, I need to pack up some stuff before we go.” She grabbed a few bandages, and filled up two large round canteens with water. She tossed them into her bags and then pulled out the tin mug from the cupboard and threw it in there as well. “Alright, we should be good to go, I think.” She paused before running down the hall and back with a gray woolen cloak in her mouth. She draped it over him and fastened the loop with her teeth. “Here, you can wear this so that ponies don’t stare at your blank flank. Come on, let’s go.”
It was the first time that Soren had really seen any of Oak Ridge since he arrived. Most of the windows of River’s house looked into empty streets or forest clearings, though not too far down the road a lot of activity could be heard at most times of the day. It appeared to be late summer in Equestria, as opposed to early spring back on Earth, as Soren recalled. A gentle breeze mosied through the alleys and streets offering a cool sensation against the residual heat radiating off of the ground. The air was crisp and was full of many scents wafting from the center of town. Some were alluring, while others were not. Soren found that he was able to decipher all of the different smells as if his sense of smell in this new body was hundreds of times more sensitive than before.
River walked slowly to allow Soren to keep pace with her as they walked through town. “Hey Soren,” River asked.
“Hm?”
“Why don’t we head back to where I found you? We might be able to figure something out about your situation.”
“Yeah, I think that’s a great idea, but hey, can we stop for something to eat first? Maybe a pastry?”
“Uh, maybe on the way back. We don’t want to be out on the trail too late.”
“Aw…”
The pair strolled through the trees and up the winding path leading to the peak of Mount Wicker. At first, Soren struggled with the uphill climb, but he started to get the hang of it after half an hour or so. His determination not to feel like a burden helped him soldier on through the uneven terrain and slope of the mountain.
Thankfully, the thick foliage blocked out a majority of the warm sunlight, making it cooler on the trail. Birds chirped away all around them, and every once in a while they would see a squirrel dart across a low-hanging branch. Soren noticed that River’s body language seemed so starkly different as she walked around the woods. She had an energy that was oddly both calming and intoxicating. He couldn’t help but smile as she rattled off random facts about the different trees, mushrooms, and animals that they passed by. ‘This mare really loves the outdoors,’ he thought to himself.
“And see that tree right there? That’s a birch. There’s like 60 different types of birch tree. The ones native to here are all paper birches. Their bark is thin and falls off like giant sheets of paper! Oh! And you can drink the sap from a birch tree. Have you ever had it? It’s sooo sweet.” She carried on like this, not caring whether Soren was listening or not. They continued along the trail for another thirty minutes before reaching a clearing of charred and burnt trees. As they finally stepped onto the burnt circle of grass, Soren collapsed onto the ground, belly down and his four legs flayed out in all directions.
“Ah jeez, that really took a lot out of me” he panted. “I’m getting better, but I’m still not completely used to this body. Sorry, just give me a second,” he apologized.
River waved a hoof. “It’s okay, just hang out for a bit. I’ll go ahead and start looking around,” she said, setting her saddlebags on a charred tree stump. She began her search where she had first seen Soren, the perfectly spherical subtraction of earth. She stepped into the crater once again and noticed that the ground there was noticeably cooler than its surroundings. ‘Two weeks later and still cold? Weird,’ she thought to herself. Without the obscuring mist, she noticed that the crater looked almost like a giant target, with the center being burnt the darkest, and concentric rings of lighter and darker earth radiating out to the edge.
Soren’s body protested, but he forced himself to get up and trudge over to River. He wasn’t doing any favors for her by just sitting around. As he approached the edge of the crater, his eyes grew wide. “Woah,” he managed, his jaw falling open. “What the hell happened here?”
“You. You happened here,” River quipped. “I was sitting right over there by that tree when you just fell out of the sky and blew me and this beautiful place up.” Soren’s ears drooped. “I’m sorry.” she blurted out, noticing his demeanor change. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
“No, you’re right, this was your place to come and relax and I just had to ruin it.” He dropped onto his haunches and slumped over. “Even in this new place, I can’t help but screw things up.”
“Aw come on, you know that’s not true.” River hopped up out of the crater and sat down next to Soren, gesturing at the destruction. “This wasn’t even really your fault, I don’t think. You just got caught up in it.” She playfully punched his shoulder. “Look, you and I aren’t so different. I work a dead end job in a town nopony cares about, but sitting around and moping about our situations won’t do us any good, right?” This got Soren to look up at her, a hint of something behind his eyes. “There’s always a way out of the hole, but you’ll never see the ladder until you look up! My dad always told me that sometimes a wrong turn can lead you down the right path and that if you stop moving, you’ll never get anywhere.” Soren smiled at her.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” he chuckled to himself. “You know, you remind me of someone I know, but I just can’t place who it is.”
“Do I? Well whoever it is, they must be pretty smart.” River smirked.
Soren kicked a wad of dirt at her. “Pfft, don’t make me take it back.”
“Hey!” River remarked, seeing Soren double over into laughter. She tried to be angry, but was unable to hold it back. They laughed together until their breaths ran short and their stomachs hurt. Once they finally got their bearings, they helped each other up, and River made Soren brush all the dirt off of her.
“Hey River, I just want to thank you again for being so kind to me. I don’t think I’ve laughed like that in a long time. It… It felt nice.”
She felt her heart hurt hearing those words. In Equestria, laughter was a way of life. It was a literal element of harmony. Not having that just sounded wrong, sounded sad. In that moment, River silently vowed to bring a little more joy, and a little more positivity, into Soren’s life. It was the least she could do. “Don’t mention it,” she beamed.
Soren looked back over to the crater, but something was different. There was an object in the center. A large roll of papyrus, bound by a thick red ribbon, stood up as if balanced on one end. “Uh, hey River? Was this thing here before?” he asked, pointing at the scroll.
She looked over, an unknown feeling building up somewhere deep in her chest. “No. It most definitely wasn’t.” She slowly approached the scroll, eyeing it curiously. Reaching out a hoof, she pushed it over, but it simply bounced back upright. “What the?” She stepped even closer and pinned it flat to the ground with a hoof. Right before their eyes, the ribbon started to unravel as if somepony was pulling it apart. When the knot was released, River was thrown stumbling backwards as the scroll whipped itself open. Soren trotted over and helped River up before they stepped closer to the scroll. Unmistakably, the first line read his name.
SOREN
Their eyes naturally scanned downwards, but the scroll had nothing else written on it. Soren reached forward to touch it, and the moment his hoof touched the paper, more writing began to appear on the sheet of papyrus. Then, from nowhere, a voice spoke. A voice that Soren remembered clearly.
“SOREN!
“I hope you’re enjoying your fresh new start in Equestria. I’m sure it must be a real handful to get used to your new body, but hey! I’m proud of my handiwork. You are one handsome stallion if I say so myself. Seems like you made a new friend, too. How nice.
“Anyway, let’s get down to business. I did something for you, and in exchange, you have to do something for me. There’s a little something that I want, but I can’t get myself. I want you to get me the three different pieces of this item and bring them to me. Once you do that, you’ll be free to live as you wish. My word is law, and I will never bother you again as long as you live.”
Soren heard the familiar laughter echo around him. His ears flattened against his head, while River spun in place trying to find who and where the voice had come from.
“Buuuut, I won’t lie. I do love to play games and I get OH SO BORED around here with those four ‘stick in the mud’ princesses always breathing down my neck. So… I’ve decided that I’ll have a little fun at your expense. I’m not going to tell you anything about what you’re looking for, but since I’m generous I will tell you where each item is located. You’ll be able to tell when you’re getting closer. It’ll be more fun that way.“
Soren tried to open his mouth, but found that he was unable to speak. His mouth was fused shut as if there was never an opening to begin with. With panicked eyes he looked over to River, who was cowering with her head in her hooves.
“The first item is located deep in the forbidden jungle. The second item is in the city of Shanghay. And last, but definitely not least, the third and final item can be found beyond the Great Blizzard Barrier, farther north than any pony has ever been in over two thousand years.” River looked up, hearing the outrageous quest being presented to her new friend, but as she looked over at him she saw a look in his eye that she had never seen on anypony before. A mix of fear and anger, staring at the scroll.
“I’ve got a lot of faith in you, ’Soren’. I have a feeling you’ll do things that all the others couldn’t, and I just can’t WAIT to watch. Good luck, and bye bye!”
Boisterous laughter echoed through the wood as the scroll snapped shut and shot into the air, exploding in a burst of colorful lights. Then there was silence.
As the sun began to dip below the horizon, Twilight was the first to return after finding no leads on her end, so she waited patiently for the others. One by one, they headed back to the library, reporting no leads and only red lights. Rainbow Dash was the last to return a good half hour after everypony else, crashing into the door, knocking it off of its hinges and rolling gracelessly inside.
“Rainbow Dash! Are you okay? You look exhausted.” Twilight asked.
Rainbow Dash, who was panting heavily and covered in wood dust, shook herself off, releasing a cloud of debris into the air. “I’m fine, I’m fine”
“Okay, well, what have I told you about breaking my house?”
“Sorry! Sorry, Twilight… But I got a reading! Way over the Everfree!” She shook her Magic Meter out in front of her. “I flew really, really far out over the Everfree, and beyond, even. Took forever to fly there and it barely glowed, but I got a yellow light, and then I got a green light. Dim, but it was there…”
Twilight’s eyes lit up.“Really? Wow, that’s great!” She exclaimed. “Good work Rainbow.”
“Thanks.” She yawned, dragging herself over to and then collapsing onto the couch.
Twilight trotted over to a shelf labeled ‘maps’ and pulled out a large laminated piece of paper with her magic. Unfolding it in mid-air, she set it down on the long wooden table in the center of the room. The map, titled ‘Greater Equestria’, had clearly not been out in the open for many years, and a thin layer of dust covered the sheet. The girls turned their direction back to Twilight, who was now closely inspecting the map.
“Hmm, so you said about two hours north,” she asked, tracing her hoof to find Ponyville. She tapped the little circle and looked up at Rainbow Dash, who walked over and stood next to Twilight. She lifted her hoof and pointed at a landmark drawn on the map, a tall rock formation sticking out of the forest treeline.
“I remember I stopped and rested by that rock for a little bit, not too long before I found the signal,” Rainbow said. Twilight shot a confused look at her.
“Rainbow Dash, that’s northeast. Anyway, how fast were you flying? This is at least a three day’s journey by hoof, maybe more.” Rainbow just shrugged. “Whatever, that’s fine. Now we’ve got a lead, but I think we have a long way to go.” She levitated her Magic Meter over from across the room and looked at it intently. “I don’t know an exact range for these devices, but judging by the high quality gems that Rarity provided-”
“Those are Triple-A rated gemstones, dear,” she chipped in. “But please, do be careful. Those are on a loan.”
“Will do, thank you Rarity. The detection radius for these should be around a hundred kilometers. Rainbow Dash picked up the signal nearly ninety kilometers away from us. That means that what we’re looking for is somewhere between ninety and two-hundred kilometers away from Ponyville.” She concluded. Applejack whistled, and a few “oh my’s” and “goodness me’s” were heard.
“That’s quite the journey, Twilight,” Applejack chipped in. “If we travel in a group, we could cover maybe thirty kilometers a day if we’re on top of it. I reckon we could get there in a week’s time.”
Twilight shook her head. “Not necessarily. We can take the train up til the last stop in Fillydelphia. After that we’ll have to walk, but we’ll only have another eighty or so kilometers to go. A week’s journey, cut down to three days max!” The room nodded in agreement. “So go ahead and pack your things, team. We’ll leave on the train tomorrow morning. If all goes well, we should be in Fillydelphia by sunset. We can stay the night there, stock up on whatever we need, and then try to find our signal in the morning.”
And so the group split, heading to their respective homes to pack, leaving Twilight and Spike alone in the library again. “Oh Spike, I really hope that this bad gut feeling gets proven wrong. There’s just something that bothers me about all of this, and I can’t place it.”
The oppressive and unnatural silence weighed down on Soren, leaving him unable to move or speak. One simple thought ran through his mind. ‘What have I gotten myself into?’
River was the first to regain her senses. She groaned and moved over to where Soren sat, blankly staring at the otherwise empty crater. “Hey, come on,” she said. “Let’s go home. There’s no use staying here.” She nudged him gently with her nose, snapping him out of his focused gaze.
“Wha?”
“Come on, let’s go home. That’s enough outdoors for today,” she said gently, pulling Soren up to his hooves.
Their return back to Oak Ridge was made in a calmer, more natural silence, only broken by directions given periodically. The sun had fallen below the horizon, with the gleaming moon taking its place in the sky. The town had slowed down for the night, but it was a weekend, so some residents still wandered around the streets, and down the Grand on their boats, heading for their favorite bars and restaurants. The hustle and bustle of the workday was gone, but was soon to come alive again by the sounds of street buskers, laughter and gossip.
Delicious smells wafted through the air as the dinner rush began, and the residents enjoyed their meals outdoors in the lovely weather. As the two made their way through town, they passed a group of musicians who rushed to gather in the center of town under the plaza gazebo. They quickly set up their instruments, and soon the lead pony counted off and the band began to play an upbeat jazzy tune. The empty space between the gazebo and the chairs and tables slowly populated itself with couples and friends alike, dancing along to the music. Located not even two dozen paces away from the gazebo was a small bakery that River enjoyed visiting often. She swore they made the best apple strudels in the city, plus they stayed open a few hours later than the other bakeries. She led the glossy eyed Soren inside, making sure that his cloak was covering his flanks enough.
Stepping inside, the pair were hit by a wave of delectable smells. Apple, peach, cinnamon, and many others. River looked over to the counter, which was staffed by a short, yellow unicorn. Her thick, frizzy, silver mane was pulled up into a high ponytail that looked like it was about to burst apart any second.
“Hi there River!” she waved, smiling. “It’s always nice to see you! You want your usual?” Her eyes were drawn to the cloaked Soren. “Ooh, who's your friend?”
“Hey there Crumbles, this is Soren. He’s from… out of town.” She looked over to him, but he struggled to make eye contact with her.
“Gloomy one, huh?”
“He’s just had a really rough day. I was hoping some of your strudel might cheer him up.”
Crumbles’ eyes lit up. “Ah! I’ve got just the thing.” she exclaimed, trotting over to the oven. “I was experimenting with a new recipe. Apple strudel with cinnamon and nutmeg, topped with vanilla ice cream. If that doesn’t cheer him up, I’m afraid nothing can!” she said. “I don’t mean to brag, Soren, but I’ve got the best pastry shop in town. Most others only make their breads and cakes fresh, and just import frozen pastries from Filly. Isn't that mad? They don’t even make ‘em themselves!” she exclaimed as Soren finally managed to look at her. “My pastries are made fresh every day, and if they don’t make you smile, I’ll eat my apron.” For the first time since they started back to town, Soren’s expression changed as he glanced at River with a skeptical look. The edge of his mouth curled up slightly.
“Well, they do smell pretty good,” he admitted.
“That’s the Spirit! You guys are just in time too, I just finished the last batch of the day.” As she tended to the fresh pasties, River’s eyes met Soren’s once again. He still seemed a little scared, but River remembered the promise she made to herself earlier.
“Hey, it’ll be alright.” she cooed. “Let’s just try and take our minds off of things for tonight. I’ll bring you around town and show you some of my favorite places. How does that sound?”
Soren hesitated, but eventually a smile creeped onto his face and he chuckled. “Yeah, that sounds nice.”
“Alright, here you go guys!” Crumbles shouted, setting two paper plates onto the counter. The beautifully cooked strudels were a glowing golden brown, the cinnamon-coated apples perfectly caramelized. The fresh scoops of vanilla ice cream were already starting to melt and drip down the sides of the strudels.
“Mm! These look great!” River beamed. “How much?”
“On the house. Just let me know how they were whenever you see me later.” Crumbles shot a sly smile at River and winked, causing her to laugh.
“Haha, well, thanks a bunch, Crumbles.” River carefully balanced both plates on her wings, and headed to the door. “I’ll see you later, alright?”
“Mhm, bye bye dear!” she said as she waved goodbye.
And with that, Soren and River exited the shop and headed back towards the plaza gazebo, claiming one of the few unoccupied tables. As they sat down, Soren goofily eyed the pastry set in front of him, generating a hearty laugh from River.
“What?” he asked, looking at her.
“Nothing, nothing,” she managed between breaths of laughter. “Just eat before you kill somepony.”
Soren took that to heart as he took a large bite of the strudel. Immediately, his eyes rolled back in ecstasy, the taste eliciting a moan from his lips. ”Oh my god, this is the best thing I have ever tasted.” Without another thought, he chowed down upon the rest of his strudel, stopping only to grab a few licks of the melting ice cream.
River chowed down on hers too, watching the stallion in front of her. ‘You know, he’s kinda cute’ she thought to herself, but shook it off. ‘Oh yeah, I guess he’s an alien. That’s still kinda weird…’
As they finished their meals, the plaza square filled up with more and more ponies and griffins alike all enjoying themselves with their friends and significant others. While the band finished up their song, a tall and well-built stallion walked up to the microphone and tapped it with his hoof.
“Hello, and good evening fillies and gents,” he said. His voice was smooth like butter, yet deep and powerful. “We're Oak Ridge's one and only 'Jazzophones'. We've got a few new tunes to play for you tonight, so feel free to dance along - and don't be afraid to get a little groovy.” The jazz band immediately jumped into action playing a fast-paced tune, and the makeshift dance floor quickly filled up with bodies as the smooth-voiced stallion began to sing.
I stepped out under autumn sky Didn’t know I had to say goodbye Down the train tracks you go, my dear And how I wish you were still near
River bobbed her head to the music as she watched the residents of Oak Ridge dance along in front of her. She looked back over to Soren, who had also been bobbing his head along with the music. “Good, aren’t they?” she smiled at him.
“Yeah, not bad at all,” he replied, now tapping a hoof along to the beat.
“Um… hey, you wanna dance?” River asked him. Soren looked over and then shook his head.
“No, no I’m not much of a dancer. Besides, I just learned how to walk, and I’m tired from all the hiking. I don’t think I can do much more than that.” He waved a hoof at her. “You can dance if you’d like, though.”
“Aw come on, don’t be such a party pooper. It’ll be fun! And Celestia knows you need fun.” She playfully shoved his shoulder, but he shook his head at her again.
“No, really I’m okay,” he insisted. River sighed and rubbed her eyes with her hoof.
“Well, I don’t want to dance alone. Come on, won’t you do it for me? Pleeease? I’ll treat you to another strudel if you dooo!” she teased as she put on her best puppy dog face. Her eyes twinkled as she blinked repeatedly at him.
Soren tried his best to resist, even turning his face away and shutting his eyes, but his resolve quickly failed as he let out a laugh. “Well, okay. But only because of the strudel.” He smiled at her. “Just don’t judge my dancing skills… I don’t have any.” River trotted in place and put on a smug smile.
“That’s okay, I can’t really dance either. I’ll TRY not to judge you.” She stuck her tongue out at him. Soren just rolled his eyes. “Come on!” she chided, pulling him up from their table and towards the makeshift dance floor as the music continued to play.
When I’m smiling at the stars I might know not where you are So when my heart is blue I can always look for you
The pair found some free space within a crown of dancing ponies, old and young alike. River began to sway her body along to the music with her eyes closed and a smile on her face, but Soren just stood in front of her, awkwardly bobbing his head up and down. He was unsure of how exactly he could dance with four limbs, but to appease the mare in front of him, he tried to mirror her movements. He started by gently swaying his hips side to side, making sure to keep his balance the best he could, and moved on to bobbing his head to the beat, more energetically this time. While Soren focused hard on his dancing, River opened an eye and watched him. He had a look of determination on his face, and he was biting his lower lip. She couldn’t help but giggle at the sight, catching Soren’s attention.
“What?”
“Oh Soren, you’re trying a little too hard. Just try and have fun, nopony here is gonna judge you.”
Soren stopped, and stared blankly at her. “Uh… don’t you remember what I said just a few minutes ago? I just learned to walk. This is a bit more challenging.”
River waved a hoof at him dismissively. “I don’t expect you to tango! Here, lemme help. Just do what I’m doing.” She then started to do the simplest dance she could think of: the square dance. She stepped forward on beat, then to the left, then back, and then forward again. Soren observed intently.
“Okay, that doesn’t seem too hard,” he said, as he began to follow her movements. “I think I can do it.” After a few rounds of the dance, they were both synced up and perfectly on beat. River laughed and Soren sported a smile. They danced song after song, River gradually teaching Soren new moves until the band wrapped up their final song for the night. At this point, more than half of the dance floor had dispersed and the plaza had mostly quieted down. The pair made their way back to their table.
“Whew, I’m pretty tired, aren’t you?” River asked, collapsing onto her haunches watching Soren’s legs wobble as he walked to the table across from her before collapsing as well. “But hey, that was some pretty great dancin’ if I do say so myself,” she said, resting her head on the table, looking over to him. Soren chuckled and returned a smile.
“Well, what can I say? I had a great teacher.” They both laughed. Soren looked up at the now, starry night sky. “I uh… thank you… for the pastry and the dancing and nursing me back to health and just making me feel better. You didn’t have to do any of that, but you did anyway.” River lifted her head off the table and reached over to him, resting a hoof on his shoulder. Soren looked back at her and found himself looking into her kind, emerald eyes.
“Don’t even worry about it. Everypony needs a helping hoof every now and then.” She scooched closer to him until she was only a few hoofs away. “And thank you for dancing with me. I had a lot of fun, and I hope you did too.” They smiled at each other. “Come on, let’s get back home. It’s getting late.” River got up first, and helped Soren up to his hooves.
“Hey, so are gatherings like this common here?” he asked, nodding thanks.
“Umm, yeah pretty regularly I would say.” she shrugged. “At least one show every weekend. The Jazzophones play all the time, we get some other local bands and sometimes the bands of nearby schools will play fundraiser concerts, but the best of it is when we get shows from traveling musicians that end up spending a few days here. Last year, that famous DJ Pon3 came through and played a show, but I missed it because I was working,” she pouted. “Sea Breeze got a chance to see her though. I did see that one stallion, what was his name… Oh yeah… John Mare. Bit of an odd name, but he was really good!”
“John Mare?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Nah, just an interesting name,” he said, wondering where he’d heard it before.
“Well… anyway, did you have things like this back where you came from?” River asked.
“Yeah, I actually lived a few blocks down from a dive bar that had frequent concerts from local bands. Some of ‘em were really good too, so I’d hang out there pretty often.” He paused, and then laughed to himself. “You know, it’s funny that you said you saw a musician named John Mare because where I come from, there’s a musician named John Mayer. I went to at least five of his shows.” Out of nowhere, a dull ache resonated through his head. “I, uh… I went there with someone, but I can’t… I can’t remember who…” he said through clenched teeth.
“Does it hurt when you try to remember things?” River asked, growing concerned.
“For most things, no. Seems I just can’t remember certain people.” he said, rubbing his temple. “Were they important…?”
“Well, I guess for now, just do your best not to think about it,” she offered, not sure what else to say.
“Yeah…” he grumbled back.
Any further attempts at conversation fell flat, and soon stopped completely.
Soren sat quietly at the table staring distantly, River sitting across from him with an open book in front of her. She stared at the pages, but found it impossible to read. She would read the same sentence over and over again until her thoughts ran back to their confrontation with Discord.
‘He’s in some real trouble, isn’t he?’ She thought to herself. She looked up at him, but he hadn’t moved in some time.
“What do I do, River? I don’t know what to do,” he finally said, turning back towards the table. “I’m lost, I don’t remember anything, and I’m- I’m scared. He said I would be free as soon as I did what he wanted me to do, but I don’t know if I can do it. But I don’t have a choice.”
River’s ears flattened. She didn’t know what to say as another silence built between the two of them. A thousand thoughts ran through her mind as she tried to figure out something to say.
It came to her: “You can.”
“What?” Soren looked up, meeting her eyes once again. He could’ve sworn they twinkled in the light.
“You can do it,” she stated with resolve. Soren eyed her up and down in an attempt to detect sarcasm, but found none.
“How do you think I can do it? He wants me to find these… things without even knowing what they are, all by myself. Hell, I don’t even know where they are. I’m totally alone, I don’t have any money, and I don’t know anything about this place. How. How can you possibly say that I can do it?” He slammed the table with a hoof, knocking over the vase and scattering the lilies.
“Well, most of those things might be true… but one isn’t.”
“What?”
“You’re not alone. You’re in trouble, yes, but you are not alone.” she said, locking eyes with him. “I’m here. I know you need help, and I can help you!”
Soren’s shoulders sank down. “Why would you help me? I’m a stranger to you.” He broke eye contact and looked out the open window behind her. “I appreciate what you did for me and all. Saving my life and taking care of me. But… You barely know me. You have no obligation to help me at all, and besides, I have no way to repay you. I’m very used to being in debt, but I hate being a burden.”
River stood up and stepped up next to him. She stood for a second in silence before hitting him in the shoulder, hard. Soren winced and rubbed it with his hoof, but didn’t say anything.
“I don’t think of you as a stranger,” she said. “You’ve been living in my house for over two weeks. I’ve been feeding you, taking care of you. We just danced together! Maybe you’re not exactly a friend, but you’re no stranger to me either.” She was growing increasingly frustrated. “Yeah, you’re right. I have no obligation to help you, but I- I don’t know.” River sighed. “You know, I used to lie in bed every single night hoping that when I woke up in the morning, things would be different. Something would happen and that I could leave this place.” She walked back to her spot at the table and sat down, resting her head on top. “It’s not even that I hate this place or anything. In fact, I really like Oak Ridge… but I can’t stay here forever. I know that this may be selfish of me, but this opportunity literally fell into my life. And now you just learned that you have to make this crazy journey across Equestria, but you know nothing about this place.” River lifted her head up and blew air out of her nose. “It’s like I’ve finally been given a chance. If I can help you earn your freedom, I’ll have a real reason to get out of this place. Do you understand?”
Soren contemplated for a moment, finding it difficult to look at her. “Well, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t understand. I had a rough life growing up.” Soren squinted in pain as he tried to remember. “Though I can’t really recall the circumstance, and for some reason I feel really bad about it; I remember always wishing that something would change. Don’t think it ever happened, though.” he concluded, bitterly. “I can’t stop you, if you want to help me. Though I’ll warn you that I attract bad luck. If something can go wrong, it will go wrong. I urge you to really think it over,” he pleaded. “I don’t have a choice, but you do.”
Without even a second’s hesitation, River answered. “I choose to help you,” she said, as their eyes met once more.
“But what about your sister? You’ll just leave her behind?”
“Breezie… she’ll understand. I hope. I love her and all, and I would bring her along, but she genuinely loves this place. I couldn’t tear her away for my sake. One of these days, we’ll have to part ways.” she paused. “And that day is approaching fast.”
“You don’t have to do any of this for me.” Soren said, shaking his head.
“It’s not just for you,” she replied softly. “My whole life, I’ve wondered if I was really even alive, and hoped that one day I could prove to myself that I am. This is my chance, and it would mean a slow suicide if I let this go.”
“River…”
“I’m going to help you earn your freedom from Discord. That’s my choice.” As she said this, a titanic weight seemed to have been lifted off of her shoulders, and for the first time in forever, River’s soul felt free.
Soren, half expecting this answer, couldn't hold back a smile. “You know, a speech like that belongs in the movies. There is no way I can turn you down after that. Who am I to trample on your dreams?” he laughed.
A soft smile appeared, turning up the edges of her lips. A blush, barely noticeable, was forming on her cheeks. “Heh, sorry. I- I didn’t mean to get all dramatic. It’s just-”
“It’s fine,” he interrupted. “If it’s what you want, I’d be honored to have you with me.” He extended a hoof to her.
River felt her heart beat rapidly, and her soft smile turned into a radiant glow. She extended her own hoof to him and shook. “The honor is all mine.”
River sighed deeply before knocking on her sister’s door. Her heart beat out of her chest as she waited for a response from the other side. Sea Breeze had returned home only minutes before, having been out late with some friends.
“Come in,” she said from the other side of the door. River entered the room and saw her sister spread eagle on her bed. “Riv, it’s so nice to see you! What’s up?” she said, rolling over on one side to face her. River shut the door and approached the bed, cautiously.
“Yeah, it’s nice to see you too, Breezie.” River rubbed her leg awkwardly. Sea Breeze waved her hoof loosely at her sister, gesturing for her to come closer.
“Ugh, I’m exhausted!” she whined. “C'mere, I wanna hug from my li’l sister.”
River hesitated, but obliged. She walked over to the bed and gave her an awkward hug. “Breezie, listen…” River sighed, breaking away from the hug and sitting down next to her sister. “There’s something I need to talk to you about.”
“Of course, what is it?” Sea Breeze asked.
“I- I-” River started tearing up, despite her trying her best to hold it back. “I have to go somewhere.”
Sea Breeze clumsily sat herself up on the bed. “Hey, hey, it’s okay. What do you mean you have to go somewhere?” she asked, gently patting her sister’s back as she started sobbing.
“It’s Soren,” she managed to choke out between sobs.
Sea Breeze raised her eyebrow. “Soren, huh? What does he have to do with going somewhere? Are you two getting married or something?”
“This isn’t the time for jokes, Breezie. Soren’s in trouble and I need to help him. I have to go far away, and I don’t know how long it’ll take, but I have to go.”
“What? Why?”
River spilled out the events of the day to Sea Breeze, who at first made occasional witty comments to try and lighten the mood, but then soon went silent as she listened on. She listened about their run in with Discord on the mountain, about the contract that Soren was trapped in, and finally about what they needed to do to get him out of it.
“So, you see? He doesn’t have anypony else. He needs my help!” River concluded. Sea Breeze stared at her sister, but was at a loss for words. “Look, I know it’s a lot to take in, but you’ve got to understand.”
“Shanghay… That’s literally on the other side of the world. And the Great Blizzard Barrier? River, have you lost your mind!?” Sea Breeze yelled, grabbing her sister by the shoulders. “You’ve never been outside of Oak Ridge by yourself, and you expect to travel halfway across the world to help a stranger break out of some idiotic contract that he got himself into because of his own bad judgement?”
“Hey! He’s not a stranger anymore. And you don’t know why he was in that contract, you can’t assume that!” River defended, shaking free of her grasp.
“That’s beside the point! It’s not safe! I can’t let my only sister run out into the world by herself. You’ll get yourself killed! So what if Discord wants you to go into the forbidden whatever? Don’t you think it’s forbidden for a reason? Why are you doing this, River? Are you really that eager to get yourself killed?”
River’s gut twisted, and her chest tightened, as the words came to mind. She eventually said, “I’d rather die out there than live my entire life here.”
Sea Breeze froze, her eyes shooting open. “Huh?”
“Breezie, we both know I can’t stay here forever. It’s a slow suicide. This is my chance! It’s my chance to get out there and make something of myself. An adventure - you know, like all the books that we would read as fillies.”
“River, those were stories! Stuff like that doesn’t happen in real life. You’re safe here in Oak Ridge. Safe here with me! Ponies like us, we’re not meant for that. We’re meant to live our lives in peace.”
River just shook her head, and looked towards the door.
“Don’t do this River, please. Think about mom and dad. Would they want you to do this?” she begged. River felt her cheeks burn and her jaw clench.
“Don't you DARE bring dad into this!” River spat, wiping her tears from her eyes. “Besides, what do you know? Dad always told me that there’s a big world out there for us. His stories about him and his squad traveling and seeing things we couldn’t dream of just… made me want it even more. He would’ve wanted us to experience it! And sweet Celestia, the way you treated him made me sick.”
“What?” Sea Breeze fumed.
“It was always ‘mom said this, mom said that, dad sucks why won’t he just let me live my life?’ Remember the night you told him you hated him because he wouldn’t let you stay out late at that colt’s party? Did you ever bother to apologize?” River demanded, stomping a hoof on the ground.
“I- I was just a filly,” Sea Breeze stammered. “That didn’t mean anything!”
“You know, I found his journal when I finally convinced myself to go into their room. Do you know what it said? He said that every night after he got sick, he had trouble sleeping because he thought he would die with one of his daughters hating him. He loved you, Sea Breeze, and you know what? I think you did hate him. You let him die thinking one of the most special ponies in his life hated him. You hated him, and that’s why you didn’t bother to cry at the pyre.”
She knew the venom in her voice cut her sister deeply, but she couldn’t stop now - this had been a long time coming. “You may be fine with living your entire life in this town, but I’m not. I am not going to be some small town bum. I hope that what you did to dad follows you around this stupid town for the rest of your mediocre, lonely life, because I have to go, and I’m not coming back.”
The moment the words left her lips, River felt a burning pain deep in her chest. A silence followed which was then broken by the cries of Sea Breeze who had collapsed back down on the bed. She attempted to pull together words, but instead she babbled incomprehensibly as she cried.
River reached out to attempt to comfort her sister. “Breezie- I-”
“Don’t touch me!” Sea Breeze cried, slapping River’s hoof away. “You think I hated dad? You think I didn’t cry when he-?” She shuddered, her voice hitched, and she threw a hoof at River. “I didn’t cry in front of everyone because I was trying to stay strong for you! For us! I know we didn’t see eye to eye on much, and I didn’t do a great job of showing it, but he was just as much of a hero to me as he was to you. And you have the audacity to say that I hated him? What do I know? No, River, what do you know?”
River sighed. She hadn’t noticed before, but her entire body was shaking with adrenaline. She took a few deep breaths to try and calm herself down and at the same time think of a way to deescalate the situation. “Sea Breeze, I uh- look, I’m sorry that was out of line. I didn’t mean that.”
“Just go. If you want to leave so badly, just go. Take your new coltfriend and go get killed out there. I don’t care anymore.”
“Breezie…”
Sea Breeze rolled to face away from her sister. “Get. Out. Just make it easy for yourself and leave before I wake up tomorrow. I don’t want to see you again.”
Not sure what else to do, River stepped away from the bed and began to leave. She paused for a moment to look back at her sister for the last time. She was crying again. “I- I’m sorry…” she said as she exited the room, shutting the door behind her. “Goodbye, Breezie.”
A weak voice called out, “River…” but it was not heard.
Soren snored lightly, leaning on the table. A small puddle of drool formed under his face. River trotted up and sat down beside him. She sniffled and wiped another tear from her eye with a wing. She reached out a hoof to wake him, but she stopped herself. ‘He’s exerted himself enough today, he deserves a little rest,’ she thought. Instead, she stood up and walked over to her saddlebags that were leaned against the wall next to the door. She decided she would pack for the two of them while Soren got some extra rest. If she got it done quick enough, she could catch an hour or two of sleep before they departed on their journey. She grabbed onto the leather strap of her bags with her teeth and carried them over to the kitchen counter.
The next fifteen minutes were spent filling them up with food, medical supplies that River had stocked for emergencies, a map, compass, two full canteens, and various miscellaneous items. After realizing that not everything fit in her own saddlebags, she fished out another pair that had definitely seen better days from her closet and evenly divided the supplies through them all. Finally, River walked into her room and pulled open her dresser drawer. Hidden under a small stack of scarves and hats was a worn purse of bits, roughly two hundred and fifteen. This had been River’s escape fund since she was a filly, where she would throw a few bits in every month in the hopes that if she collected enough, she could just buy her way out. Unfortunately, hard times fell upon the family and years went by without the bag seeing any deposits. Once River had graduated from grade school and started working at her family’s shop, she was able to start putting some extra bits in her fund, but eventually tough times rolled back around, leaving the fund untouched until now.
“Looks like you finally get to see the light of day, my old friend,” River whispered to herself, picking up the coin purse gently and carrying it back into the kitchen to deposit in the lighter of the two bags. Satisfied with her packing, River returned to her spot next to Soren at the table to catch a few minutes of sleep, but no matter how much she tried, the argument with her sister played over and over in her mind as her silent tears flowed once again. Her eyes wandered up to look at the clock and realized that nearly three hours had gone by. She groaned and leaned over to tap Soren on the shoulder. First few taps had no effect, but subsequent taps after that jolted him awake.
“Huh? Whazza?”
“Come on, let’s get going.” River said. Soren blinked and yawned back at her.
“What time is it?” he asked, noticing his drool all over the table and quickly wiping it up with his foreleg.
“It’s fifteen past midnight.” River replied, her voice cracking slightly. She quickly cleared her throat and smiled back as she stood up offering her hoof out to him. He took her hoof and pulled himself up.
“Why are we leaving so late? Couldn’t we wait until the morning?” he asked. She turned away abruptly and shook her head.
“No. It’s best if we leave now,” she said curtly.
Soren noticed her drastic demeanor change, but decided it was best to not ask at the moment. “Uh, alright then. Should we pack or-”
“Already done.”
“Well, okay I guess. You’re the expert.” He shrugged as he followed River into the kitchen. She pulled on her saddlebag and then explained to Soren how to put his own on by himself. To his surprise, he managed to get it on right the first time, and was pleased that it felt pretty comfortable on him. While he admired himself, River draped his gray cloak over his back and fastened the buckle around his neck.
“There, I think that’s everything,” she said, looking around to make sure she hadn’t missed anything. After finding nothing, she motioned for Soren to follow her to the door. “We should be good to go now.” She reached out, but paused before opening it, a distant ache in her chest pounding away.
“Hey, you okay?” Soren said, seeing her frozen in place.
“Huh? Oh, yeah. Just thinking about something. It’s nothing. Come on, let’s get going,” she said, pulling the door open. “We can get a head start now. That way we can camp out somewhere pretty and sleep in tomorrow.”
The cool night’s breeze flowed into their manes. With a deep breath, the duo walked out the front door, taking the first steps of their long journey ahead.
The pair sat in a grassy meadow right off the side of the road. The moon was so bright in the night sky that it almost hurt to look at it. Soren lay casually on a bed of moss while River sat up next to a large, flat rock.
“So… you know where we’re headed right?” Soren asked, looking over to River, who had just pulled out a map from her bag and laid it flat on the surface of the rock.
“Yeah, yeah,” she said, tracing her hoof on the map upwards from Oak Ridge. “The forbidden jungle is the first place we're headed, right? That’s… north.”
“You don’t seem very sure about that,” he said through a yawn. “We’ve been walking for almost three hours now. Shouldn’t we be sure of what direction we’re going in?”
“Hush, don’t worry about it. I can handle it! Aha! There it is.” River pointed at the map. “See? The forbidden jungle is northeast of here.”
“Wait, you said it was north, not northeast.”
“North, northeast, same thing. We’re going in the right direction aren’t we?”
“Uh, no? North and northeast are totally different directions. And it gets worse the farther you go. Did you actually not know where it was before we left?”
“Shush.”
“Uh huh. Whatever, okay then, which way is northeast?” Soren asked. River paused and let her mouth hang open. “Great,” he snorted.
“Hey! I know what I’m doing. We left Oak Ridge by taking the north exit. We should be going in the right direction somewhat.”
Soren sighed, then yawned once again. “Look, I’m too tired to argue right now. How about we make camp here, and then we can use the sun to navigate in the morning?”
“Well, okay, I guess that works,” River said as she packed away the map and made her way to a nice, soft, mossy spot right next to a large oak tree. River didn’t realize how tired she had actually been until she lay down. Her eyelids felt heavier almost immediately, and a wave of fatigue rolled over her body. The last thing she remembered before drifting off into a dreamless sleep was a familiar voice carried on the wind.
“River…”
The whistle of the steam locomotive screamed into the morning sky. A cloud of thick, oily smoke bellowed out of the engine’s smokestack. The bassy chugging of the pistons was nearly deafening. The sun sat comfortably above the treeline as the train hustled down the tracks.
In the first class cabin sat the six elements of harmony, two of which were fast asleep, along with Spike. Fluttershy sat near the front of the cabin, looking out the window at the flocks of birds who had only just awoken to forage for their food. Rarity held two knitting needles in her magic, and worked on the foundation for a new scarf. Pinkie Pie stuffed her face from a cart of confectionaries next to Applejack and, across from her, a snoring Rainbow Dash.
Twilight Sparkle stared out the window nearest her, pointing her own Magic Meter out in hopes she would pick up a signal on the way. With another eight hours to go, she patiently sipped on a cup of tea, waiting for the moment when the red light would change.
“Hey, wake up. The time for beauty sleep is over, we gotta get moving,” River remarked, shaking Soren until he jerked awake. He squinted as the bright morning light pierced his eyes. River shook her head disapprovingly. “Dear Luna, you sleep like a brick. I’ve been trying to wake you for the past five minutes. You’re almost as bad as Breezie when she’s had too much.”
Soren blinked repeatedly at her after rubbing his eyes with his hooves, and groaned as he sat up onto his haunches. “Ugh, sorry about that. I guess all that walking and dancing yesterday really put me out.” He looked over to River, but she had already trotted back to the flat rock.
“Yeah it’s okay,” she said, “I’m just teasing you. Come on, I bet you’re hungry.” She reached into one of her saddlebags and removed two large, ruby-red apples. Soren stood up, immediately wincing as he felt the soreness in his legs.
“Ow,” he said flatly, repeating it with each step he took towards River, to her amusement. “Ow, ow, ow…”
“Sore?” she asked rhetorically.
“Just a bit,” he replied, finally stepping up to the stone. She pushed one of the apples over to him and laughed. Soren picked up the apple and bit into it. There was an explosion of flavor in his mouth; this was the tastiest apple he had ever had in his life.
“Mmm. That’s great! Though the thought of even more walking after this just makes me want to puke…”
“Don’t worry. I thought this would happen, so I packed something to help with the soreness.”
“No more soreness for the rest of the trip? I’ll take it,” he said, taking another bite out of his apple.
“Ah, ah, ah, it’s not that easy,” she said, biting into her own apple. “We’ve only got enough for three or four days. After that, you'll just have to soldier through it. Hopefully, your body will be used to all the walking by then and you won’t need it anymore.”
“Well, alright. Better than nothing, right?” he shrugged. “Well, what is it?” River reached into her bag again and produced a long, thin vial of an amber fluid. The label read ‘Muscle Up!’ beneath a picture of a flexing stallion, who sported a smug smile and the sharpest jawline Soren had ever seen on a living creature. He looked over to River once more and raised his eyebrow. “You’re sure this is safe?”
“Oh, yeah! That stuff is great. I’ve used it before, and it works like a charm. Plus, it’s cherry flavored!” she assured him, gesturing for him to drink with her hoof.
He sniffed the open bottle, and, sure enough, it smelled like cherries. ‘Of course the medicine here would be cherry flavored too,’ he thought to himself. Soren hesitated, but mustered up the courage to pour it into his mouth. As the liquid traveled down his gullet, the effect was almost immediate. His entire body felt warm for about five seconds before the feeling vanished. It did, in fact, taste like cough syrup.
“Woah,” he exclaimed, flexing his legs and shifting his weight around. Not the slightest trace of soreness remained on his body. “You weren’t kidding. This stuff is great!”
“Told ya,” she replied, smiling at him, which he returned. “Well, come on. We should get moving,” she said, craning her head up to look at the sky. The sun peered over the treeline, partially obscured by the slope of a mountain in the distance. “Look, the sun’s rising from over there, so that’s east.” She pointed off into the distance. “So, if we just turn a little bit to the left we should be heading in the right direction, right?”
“I… Wait, aren’t you supposed to be an expert on this? Don’t you hike a lot?”
River blushed. “Well, I’ve never hiked out farther than an hour from home, max… So every step I take now is the furthest I’ve ever been from home by myself. I never really needed to know navigation… at least not much more than knowing that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west.” She rubbed her neck. ”In hindsight, I should’ve learned anyway…”
“Alright, whatever. I’m more blind here than you are, so I’ll trust you. I just hope this isn’t the blind leading the blind.” he mused.
“Ha ha, very funny,” she replied flatly. “Alright, let's go.”
“Wait a second, how far is this place from here anyway?” Soren asked, tossing the ‘Muscle Up!’ potion into his own saddlebag.
“Uh, well it’s a bit of a journey for sure.” She paused, looking back at the map. “If I had to guess, it’ll probably be four days by hoof at a decent pace,” she said, receiving a nod in response. The pair finished packing up whatever they had left, and set off once again, heading slightly left of the rising sun.
The two pegasi walked on throughout the day, passing through the mountainous region as the sun climbed higher in the sky. Once they had gotten over a precariously steep rock face, River found herself in total awe at the meadow before her.
A blue ribbon of river meandered through the meadow, bubbling and burbling, shallow and clear enough that the smooth stones beneath glittered in the sunlight, and running as far as could be seen. The surrounding mountains provided shelter from strong winds, allowing only the most gentle of breezes to flow and kiss the two pegasi, cooling them in the late, summer air. Even the grass here was different from the grass back home. Flowing in the breeze like water, it was a beautiful and rich shade of green, and tall enough to touch their shoulders. Appearing out of a dense patch, a family of swifts flew a figure-eight around an immense tree, before taking to the air.
As she followed their movements, she gradually shifted her focus up into the sky. It was a magnificent and noble shade of blue, seeming to stretch across an infinitely long horizon, and was peppered with massive, fluffy clouds, which sat high above the ground. Almost impossibly so. She couldn’t imagine flying high enough to touch them.
Her breath was caught in her chest; tears formed in her eyes. She had never seen anything like this. It looked like it was ripped straight out of some sort of storybook.
“Wow, this place is so beautiful!” River exclaimed, stepping up to the edge of the peak. She peered over the edge to find that they weren’t too far from the gentle slopes below. A few minutes of making their way down, and they wouldn’t have to climb anything else for a while.
“Yeah, it is. Wow,” Soren added, also looking out over the meadow. He turned his attention back to River, who was basically radiating happiness. He couldn’t help but smile in turn. “Hey, how about we stop for some lunch somewhere down there? We can take it easy for a bit and take in the sights.” River’s attention snapped over to him. Her eyes opened as wide as he had ever seen them go, and her smile reached ear to ear.
“Really!? Yes! Yes!” she cheered, hopping up and down in place.
“Hah, okay, okay. Calm down!” Soren laughed, and then pointed into the distance. “There’s some nice trees down there by that stream. We can sit in their shade and relax.”
“Okay!”
River hummed happily as she splashed in the shallow stream of water. It felt nice and cool on her coat. She felt like a little filly again, with the entire world in front of her. The air here felt fresher, somehow. Even though she spent plenty of time in the wilderness by herself, even the thought of being near home was suffocating. Here she could breathe deeply and freely.
Free…
Free was how she felt, here.
She spread her wings out for the first time in a long time, and it was a sight to behold. Soren looked on from where he sat, a few meters away, and noticed that her seafoam-green wings were woven with a few brilliant, golden feathers. River slowly extended them out as far as they would go, and brought them up and down in a flapping motion. The grass bent and scattered away from her in the sudden wind as she lifted herself into the air, flapping her wings, and twirled in a small circle.
Her laughter from up there was wild, honest, and contagious. As he watched her fly, Soren imagined a great bird set free from a tight cage.
River felt her heart beat harder and louder as she soared higher into the sky. The wind swept through her mane and around her wings. It seemed this moment could last forever. Suddenly her attention shifted towards the sky, at a massive cloud floating nearly a kilometer high. Now with renewed determination, she flapped her wings hard and took off vertically toward the cloud. Even after passing the height clouds would normally be, the cloud didn’t look any closer, though Soren on the ground was but a small speck.
“Huh? Who put this cloud up so high? I can’t even get close!” she said out loud to herself while slowing mid-air and hovering in place. She looked down at Soren and then back up to the cloud and decided that it wasn’t worth it to burn this much energy right now. She folded her wings to her side and let herself drop headfirst toward the ground, and once she was roughly sixty meters away from the ground, she whipped out her wings again as air brakes and transitioned to a blazing horizontal pace just above the grass, before slowing to a gentle glide and touching down over where Soren sat.
“Woah… That was crazy!” he exclaimed. “I’ve never seen you fly before! That was amazing!”
“Heh, thanks, yeah I don’t really fly all that often these days. Never really had much of a reason to fly around Oak Ridge,” she replied.
“And look at that!” Soren pointed at River’s wings, still half-extended. “I never noticed your wings had golden feathers! I mean like… They’re beautiful!”
River collapsed her wings abruptly and looked away, blushing. “You don’t have to say that…” she mumbled.
“Well, why not?” he asked genuinely. “Seriously, those are some really pretty wings. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you move them until just now. Why do you keep them folded away?”
“Thank you, Soren. And… well, I don’t really know to be honest.” she answered, “I guess I just felt stuck back home, and never had any reason to get off the ground.”
Soren scratched his head. “Well, you’re not home anymore. There’s nothing here keeping you to the ground, other than me I guess.”
“What? You’re not keeping me down. Why would yo-”
“I meant literally, I can’t fly,” he interjected. “I can’t even really extend my wings.” He attempted to move the appendages on his back as a demonstration. His wings shook as they started to part from his body, but then snapped back into place at his sides. He panted from the exertion, and shuddered from the unfamiliar sensations, so he opted to lay down in the grass. “At this point, I don’t know if it’s worth trying to fly. It would’ve been really cool, though.”
“Nonsense! Any pegasi can fly! You’re just… a late bloomer?” she offered, smiling awkwardly.
“I’m not even a pegasus though, remember?”
“Sure you are. And I taught you how to walk, didn’t I? I think I can teach you how to fly!” she exclaimed, stomping her hooves in excitement. “Come on, lemme try to teach you. Please?” she pleaded.
Soren exhaled out his nose and chuckled. “Fine, but good luck. I can’t even open my w-INGS” he squealed as River grabbed his left wing with a hoof and opened it manually. “Hey!”
“You can’t fly with your wings closed, silly,” she teased.
“Fine, just watch it! Those are mint condition, you know? Never used?” he shot back, trying to wrestle himself away from her, unsuccessfully.
“Come on, stop being such a foal. Look, can you feel where I’m touching?” she asked while prodding the muscle on the base of his wing. He nodded back.
“Yeah.”
“That’s called your pectoralis muscle, or pec. That’s what lets you move your wings down.” She then moved her hoof to the underside of the base of his wing and poked another muscle. “This is your supracoracoideus, or supra for short. It’s what lets you raise your wings up. Making sense so far?” she asked.
“Uh, yeah I think so.”
“Great! Now, moving up your wing… Obviously you’ve got a bicep and a tricep. You extend and retract your wings with them. You also have some radial mobility.” She brought his wing to a fully-extended position, and pointed out the largest feathers. “Now, see these longer and wider feathers that run from the tip of your wing to about halfway to your body? These are your primaries. They’re where most of your power will be generated. Take really good care of these, because they don’t grow back without extensive magical help,” she warned, wagging her hoof at him. “Then from the end of your primaries and up to the crook of your wing are your secondaries. These help you build lift. They also help you turn and control your direction. Are you getting this, Soren?”
River moving his wings felt very strange. Muscles that he had never had before were being used, and he wasn’t sure if he liked or disliked the feeling. It almost felt natural. “Uh, yeah. Primary power, take care; secondary lift and control,” he rattled off quickly.
“Good!” River smiled. “Okay, next we’ve got your tertiary feathers that run up and over the ‘top’ of your wing. They’re short, as you can see, and they’re mostly there to help reduce drag and offer better control as well. Then, you’ve got your coverts, which just streamline your feathers and insulate you in the cold. Finally you’ve got your alulas and scapulars, but you don’t need to worry about those right now. Make sense?”
“Yes?” he replied, raising an eyebrow. “Well, I appreciate the anatomy lesson, but how is that going to teach me to actually fly?”
“Well, like my dad used to say, ‘Success begins with mastery of fundamentals,’” she replied sternly. “My dad taught me everything about flight way before he let me start my actual flight training. I’m skipping a ton of stuff for the sake of time, but he’s the reason I became such a good flier. He- He…” Tears started forming in River’s eyes, but she did her best to blink them away. Soren noticed her look away and let his tense shoulders drop.
“He- uh… It sounds like he was a great dad,” he said, quietly.
“The best.” River sniffled. “I miss him. I miss him so much.” Soren didn’t quite know how to respond, so he just kept quiet. After a few moments, River wiped away her tears and perked up again. “Anyway, sorry about that. Let’s get back to your flying lesson. Now come on, now that you’ve felt each individual muscle, and you know how they move, try flapping your wings up and down. Slowly.”
“Okay,” he responded, taking a big step back and away from River. He furrowed his brow and tensed his back, trying to get a feel of his wings. After a moment of effort, his left wing twitched. And then his right wing. Beads of sweat formed on his brow as he screwed up his face from the exertion. Very gradually, his wings began to extend outward.
Any trace of River’s sadness was gone, replaced with a bouncy excitement.“Yes! Yes! You’re doing it, good job!” she cheered, as both of Soren’s wings reached full extension.
The sun beat onto his navy blue wings. He could feel each individual feather as they all took in the heat of the sun. A feeling of warmth ran down his back and even through his legs.
“I- I did it!” he laughed, looking back at his own wings. He then pulled his wings closed and extended them again, but more quickly. “Do you see that, River? I’m doing it!”
“I see that! Great job Soren!” River exclaimed, hopping up and down in place. “Now try moving your wings up and down like this.” She demonstrated the motion with her own wings.
Soren looked to his right wing and concentrated hard. His wing shook, but slowly rose higher into the air until it was vertical. After that, he relaxed, letting the wing fall down naturally until its primaries brushed the grass below.
“Yes! Yes! You did it. I’m so proud of you!” River cheered once more. She rushed forward and wrapped her hooves around his neck. Soren blinked, but then wrapped his own hoof around and hugged her back. After a moment they let each other go and stepped back. “Well, do you want to try and get yourself up in the air?” she asked.
Soren cleared his throat. “Uhh... I’d love to, but I think that’s all I can do for now. I guess it’ll be a while before I can actually get off the ground.”
“Oh.” She tried not to look too disappointed. “Yeah, right. What was I thinking? Foalsteps right? Take it one step at a time, just like with walking.” She raised her right hoof in the air. “I promise that I will get you flying someday, though.”
“Thanks.”
The pair rested for a while in the meadow.. After their dinner of cheese, crackers, and apples, they continued through the valley until Celestia’s sun fell below the horizon, then set up camp for the night. Soren gathered wood while River constructed the fire. It took a few tries to light the tinder, but eventually it sparked and began smoking. Shielding it with a hoof, she blew into it to keep the embers glowing as she added smaller twigs on top for kindling. The fire slowly grew until it could sustain itself with its own draft. Soren returned with some larger logs and, with River’s help, neatly stacked them over the kindling to form a proper campfire.
After that they both lay near the fire, enjoying the warmth it provided as well as the gentle breeze that rolled in to cool them down. There were chirping crickets in the grass; crackles and pops of the burning wood; splashes from a nearby pond; the guttural croaks of frogs. Thirty paces to their left was a field swarmed by fireflies - so many of them that instead of an occasional yellow-green blink, they appeared as a faintly glowing cloud. The two pegasi oohed and ahhed, as they watched the lightshow, but eventually grew tired - it had been a long day. Soren lay lazily on his back over a fallen log, looking up into the cloudless night sky. Thousands upon thousands of stars were visible from here, and a cloudy streak of light was painted across the entire expanse, from horizon to horizon, twinkling with the light of countless more stars.
“I didn’t notice last night, but the night sky is so different here,” he said.
River looked at him from across the fire. “What do you mean?”
“Well, back home there was a lot of light pollution. On a clear night you’d see maybe twenty, thirty stars. If you went an hour or so out of the city, you could see some more, but this is on a different level altogether,” he mused. “It’s like I’m looking at a picture from a textbook or something.”
“Wait,” River interjected, shocked. “You’re saying you’ve never seen the night sky like this before?”
“Never,” he said. “Well, not in person, I suppose. I’ve seen pictures and movies, but the real thing definitely beats that by a longshot.”
River frowned.“Well, I won’t lie. That’s really sad to hear. Everypony should be able to experience the wonders of life. The night sky being one of them, thank Luna.”
“I guess so. What other wonders have you experienced?” Soren asked, genuinely, and pushed himself up into a more attentive position.
River rubbed her neck and chuckled nervously. “Well, the night sky… that meadow we stopped in earlier… sunset from the top of Mount Wicker is a good one. Oh, and the view from Cloudsdale! I went to Cloudsdale a few times with my dad when I was a filly. He had some work to do up there every once in a while, so I’d get to skip school and tag along. We’d usually go at least once a month or once every other month, and when we’d get there there was this amazing ice cream stand on the corner of Wonderbolt Plaza. We always got some from there, every time we’d visit. I’d get chocolate mint swirl and he would get butterscotch with caramel syrup on top. Those are some of my best memories with him. It was… great, while it lasted.” River’s voice cracked noticeably as she finished.
“What happened? Do you need to talk about it?” Soren asked.
“I don’t know… It’s a long story. I don’t know if I should dump this all on you,” River replied, shrugging her shoulders. Soren shifted himself to the opposite side of the fire where she sat and plopped down next to her.
“It’s alright,” he assured her. “I’m here for you.” Their gazes met and River smiled at him.
She took a deep, calming breath, and looked down into the fire. “Okay, so, my dad was a soldier. He would travel all over the world helping out creatures in need, when we were foals, but one night he received a letter. I remember it well.” River raised her hooves and gestured in front of her. “It was me, Breezie, mom and dad all at the table having dinner. We had all just come back from the carnival that was in town that week. It was a perfect day, right up until we heard a knock on the door. The letter was delivered by royal courier rather than by a normal mailpony, which was very odd. Dad was retired at this point, or in reserves or something. He shouldn’t have gotten called back to work. I remember his face going pale as he read it. He went into his room without saying a word. I found out later that dad had been conscripted for some war on the other side of the world.” She buried her head in her hooves. Soren offered a supportive hoof onto River’s shoulder. “He had to go,” she continued. “I was angry. I was really angry. I didn’t even let him see me before he left. I locked myself in my room and I wouldn’t hear what he was trying to tell me. Well, he left. He left and he never came home.”
Saddened, Soren shook his head as she finished. “Wow… River. I’m so sorry, that’s horrible. I’m really sorry to hear that.”
“No, I’m sorry. It was too much…” She sniffled, reaching up to wipe a tear that had started rolling down her cheek.
“No, it’s fine,” he reassured her. “I’m here to listen and support you just as much as you’ve supported me. You can be as open with me as you like. I’ll sit and listen if you want to vent, or I’ll try and help you come up with a solution if that’s what you want. It’s the least I can do.”
“You d-” River started, but Soren raised his hoof, cutting her off.
“Nope, you and I are partners on this thing. It’s important that we’re here for each other, otherwise we wouldn’t be an effective team, now would we?” he asked. River didn’t look at him, or answer. “Am I right?” he repeated.
“Yeah. You’re right. Thanks for listening to me, Soren… I appreciate it,” she said, turning to smile at him. She shifted her gaze away again, and mumbled something under her breath that Soren couldn’t hear.
“River?” he asked.
“Could you, umm…” She faced him, but kept looking down. “Could you give me a hug, please?”
He bumbled, not expecting to hear that. “Oh, uh, um, yeah of course. Yeah.” He fidgeted a bit, trying to figure out the best way to hug her in this position, but managed to draw her in from the side. To his surprise, she leaned into him. They each felt the warmth of the other. It was nice. Really nice. They held the hug for a while, neither wanting to let go.
Then a thought popped into Soren’s mind. What if he were to practice moving his wings here, and try hugging her with them as well? He congratulated himself in his mind for coming up with such a fantastic idea, before slowly extending his wings out and then around River’s body. The moment his wings wrapped around her, she sighed and melted further into him, but then she gasped and her eyes snapped open. She looked down to see Soren’s wings around her and practically jumped out of the hug, before losing her balance and falling into the dirt behind them.
“Woah, what happened?” Soren asked “Are you okay? Is something wrong?”
River blushed redder than a tomato. “Y-y-you wing-hugged me…”
“Oh, uhh was I not supposed to do that? Oh jeez, I didn’t offend you, did I?” Soren panicked, folding his wings away. “Oh man, I’m so sorry River, I didn’t kn-”
“No!” she exclaimed, climbing back to where she sat - slightly further away this time. “No, you didn’t offend me. It’s okay. You didn’t know either way. Umm… How do I explain this?” she paused, biting her lip. “Well, generally here in Equestria, giving somepony a wing-hug is reserved for displaying the highest level of affection or love. Like, for example, a mother will wing-hug her newborns to comfort them, or a couple might wing-hug each other when they want to take their relationship to the next level. And… well, it’s commonly used during a proposal.”
“Jeez, I’m sorry. I didn’t know,” he repeated, smacking himself in the face with a hoof.
“Relax, Soren. It’s okay. I’m not offended. That’s the first wing-hug I’ve ever gotten from a stallion though.” She tried to reassure him with a smile. “Look, let’s just forget about it for now and go to bed. According to the map, we should finally be out of the mountains tomorrow and into the great plains. There should be a town somewhere up ahead where we can rest and restock on supplies. I don’t know about you, but I’m kinda tired of eating apples for every meal.”
“Okay… but I’m sorry, again. I didn’t mean it.”
“I… I know. Good night, Soren.”
“...Good night, River.”
After the two lay in silence for a while, the first to fall asleep was Soren. River’s mind kept replaying the wing-hug over and over again, remembering what it felt like. It was one of the best feelings she had ever felt. It was warm, sweet, and cozy. She could’ve stayed that way forever if she hadn’t freaked out. As she started feeling herself doze off, she lingered on one last waking thought: she wished she hadn’t stopped him.
Rain pelted the coats of the two pegasi, and thunder rumbled ominously in the distance, as they trudged through an especially muddy crossing. The weather had turned early in the morning to the surprise of both ponies, and now it was dinner time - with no end in sight. Unfortunately, they no longer had any apples remaining, and only could share bits of a small cheese wheel with some soggy crackers which were also becoming scarce.
“This kinda sucks,” River pouted, finally stepping out of the mud and onto a slightly elevated grassy knoll. She kicked off as much mud from her hooves as she could before wiping the rest onto the wet grass. Soren watched her, and followed soon after.
“Hey, you were the one who wanted to start walking. I still think we should’ve gone into that cave area and waited out the rain."
“I thought that it would stop!" she fumed. "Storms like these usually don't last all day without the weather team giving out some sort of warning!”
“I still don’t understand. How the hell do you control the weather? No one controls the weather where I come from. It just kinda… does whatever it does.” he replied, leading to a look of shock on River’s face. "I dunno, I'm not a weather expert.
“So it’s random? It just rains whenever, and then snows whenever, and nopony can control it?”
“Uh, well, kinda. It doesn’t snow in summer if that’s what you mean.”
“That’s crazy talk!”
“Does… does it snow here in summer?” Soren asked, tilting his head quizzically.
“No, but it could. Like if there was some sort of freak accident at the Cloudsdale weather factory, they could create a blizzard on the summer solstice.”
“No, now that’s crazy talk. Weather factory? You mean to tell me that you guys just make the weather?”
“Well, duh? How else are we supposed to make sure our crops grow nice and healthy? Or make sure that everypony gets enough water? And how are we gonna clean up winter for spring?”
“Ugh, this is making my head hurt,” Soren complained. “Whatever. How much further is this ‘small town’ you were talking about last night? We’re well out of the mountains now, so shouldn’t it be close?”
“I don’t know. But it should be close, yeah. I think we should make our way to some higher ground though.” River said. Soren nodded in agreement.
As the two pegasi finally made it to the top of the next hill, they immediately noticed a mass of light in the distance. After a few cheers and a hoof bump, the rain beat down on them even harder as they made their descent to the town. As they got closer, it looked to Soren like an old, medieval kind of town, with some buildings made from large cut stones, and others built from thick wooden logs, and even some with wattle and daub with thatched roofs above. Most with a stone chimney billowing a cloud of dense gray smoke. The entire town sat on top of a massive rock platform that hung over a blossoming river canyon. The townsponies were nowhere in sight, which made River feel a tad nervous.
“Where is everypony?” She asked under her breath.
“Maybe they’re just trying to keep out of the rain?” Soren offered, with a shrug. They continued through the town, finding the main square abandoned and the streets and alleys empty of ponies, until finally they came across a nicely decorated stone statue of some rough looking stallion, an inscription on the side reading ‘Jagged Step, explorer and philanthropist, founded our town ‘Hanging Rock’ in 492 P.B.”
“Oh, we're here,” she said, reading the inscription. "Hanging Rock."
“Interesting name. I don’t see any rocks being hung, though,” Soren commented.
“Let’s just find an inn or a pub or something so we can get dry,” River said, taking the lead. They headed past the welcome sign and deeper into the town. They passed a nice open area with outdoor seating and a gazebo that reminded them both of Oak Ridge. They continued through the town until they heard some music and laughter coming from a quaint stone building with four chimneys all spewing smoke into the sky. Next to the front door was a small wooden plaque that read ‘Stonewall Pub and Eatery, EST 564 P.B.’
“Huh? 564?" Soren asked, tapping the plaque with a hoof, before he turned to River. "Is that the year? What’s P.B.?”
“It’s the year 1004, of course. And P.B. means Post-Banishment," she explained, pulling open the door and holding it open. "Look, I’ll explain later. Let’s just get inside, okay?” Soren obliged and entered with River following closely behind. The pub was decently sized, and was packed full of ponies and speckled with a few zebras. When they took their first breaths indoors, they were both hit by the tantalizing smell of hot food. Being down to scraps on what little food they'd packed, they hadn’t realized how hungry they really were until just now.
“Hello! You two aren’t from around here, are ya?” interjected a short, gray, and bubbly earth pony. “ Welcome to Hanging Rock! I’m Granite, and I’ll be your host this evening!” She approached from seemingly nowhere, which made River jump, nearly knocking into Soren.
“Oh, hi there. Nice to meet you too, miss Granite,” Soren said, smiling at her sheepishly.
“We’re just passing through here, and we stopped to get some food, rest, and to restock on supplies," River said, and as the words ‘passing through’ left her mouth, many ponies around town turned their heads in interest.
“Well, you’ve come to the right place! Now, unfortunately, we don’t have any tables free, but we do have some open seats at the bar, if you’d like to sit there.”
“Yes please.”
“Great! Follow me.”
They followed Granite through the maze of tables and to the bar in the center of the room. She let them take their seats before circling round the counter. Most ponies stopped their conversations to turn and look. As they walked though, it felt as though the entire building had quieted down into mostly whispers. Soren could feel eyes burning into the back of his head as he continued forward.
“Now, we don’t get many guests ‘round here. What brings you ‘round these parts?”
“Oh, we… uh,” Soren jumbled his words thinking of a good answer. “Uh… we are… just traveling! Yeah,” earning a sigh from River.
“Just traveling, huh? Well, that’s great to hear! Y’all headed up north to that little town? Run by some mare named Starlight? Had more than a few ponies come through here lookin for that place recently.”
“No, no, nothing like that.”
“And only one pony that I’ve seen has gone there and come back. Said it’s full of crazy folk. Honestly, it’s beyond me. I’m a small town mare, and talking to ponies that trickle in is enough of the outside world for me. Anyway, sorry for rambling on. What would you two like?
“No worries,” River replied, waving a hoof. “Uhh, I don’t know, water?” She looked around for a menu somewhere but didn’t see one. “I don’t know what you serve for dinner though.”
“Of course, dears. We’ve got hayburgers, salads, soups, and an appetizer special - cheesy jalapeno poppers.”
“Mmm, hayburgers sound good. Two of those please, and one plate of the poppers,” River said, nudging Soren with her elbow.
“Coming right up!” Granite sang as she trotted away.
Soren furrowed his brow. “Hay… burger?”
“Relax, it’s good.”
River spent the next fifteen or so minutes explaining to Soren the history of Nightmare Moon, and the relatively recent return of Princess Luna, which he couldn’t wrap his head around. He questioned how it was possible for anything to live for over a thousand years, but all River could only answer with “Because they’re alicorns.” Soren wasn’t satisfied with that answer, but after failing to get a different one out of her, he gave up and started questioning her about how it was total nonsense that the princesses move the sun and moon with their magic. River tried her best to keep herself calm, but grew increasingly frustrated with Soren’s cynicism.
“By the wings of Luna, it’s magic, okay? I don’t know! I’m not an expert on magic. I sit and I preen ponies’ wings all day. You can ask me about preening all day long, but if I say it’s magic, just… accept it.”
“Jeez, sorry. I was just curious…”
“Frustrated by magic? I know that all too well,” a voice interrupted. River and Soren both turned their heads to the pale blue unicorn who sat alone at the bar with one empty seat between them to their right. She wore a purple cape, peppered with blue and yellow stars. A matching purple hat sat next to her on the top of the bar. River gestured to Soren as if to say 'don't tell her anything', but he just stared at her inexplicable hoof movements and shrugged.
“I don’t understand your gestures,” he said out loud dumbly. River groaned and facehoofed, giving him a chance to turn and respond to Trixie. “I was just confused about how the sun moves up and down like that. It’s not possible, right? They’re supposed to be in orbit and move on their own.”
“Uh… the princess does it. Duh? What, are you from a different planet, or something?”
“See?” River replied, shrugging her shoulders. Soren groaned and shook his head, a little offended. Soon after, Granite returned to the counter and the pale blue mare called out to her.
“Come on, please? I’m really hungry. Anything! I’ll even take day-old bread. Just give me anything. Please!” the mare pleaded, nearly laying her upper body flat on the bar, eyes as wide as dinner plates with tears building up in the corner of her eyes.
“I told you already, we can’t serve you. You already ate earlier today and didn’t pay for it. You expect us to serve you for free?”
“And I told you that I was robbed. Don’t you understand? My entire wagon was stolen! Bits and all! All I have are the clothes on my back and the hat on my head. Please? I’m so hungry!”
“I’m sorry miss, I really am, but I can’t serve you. I’m sorry,” she returned a sad, sympathetic smile, and with a sigh left for the kitchen. The unicorn groaned and covered her head with her hooves. Soren tried his best to ignore the scene happening just a couple of seats away, but River watched with a pit growing in her own stomach. Soren could feel River looking at the mare, and his internal voice repeated ‘don’t do it’ over and over.
It didn’t work.
“Um hey, you can eat with us if you want.” River called over Soren’s shoulder.
The mare lifted her head up slowly and turned towards them, blowing her mane out of her face.“R-really? You mean it?” she asked incredulously.
“Yeah! We’ve got enough to go around.” River replied, before Soren yanked her down into a huddle.
“Hey, should we really be sharing our food with a stranger? We don’t have many bits as is, and we need all we ca-”
“Soren! She’s hungry. It's always good to help ponies in need. That’s what we do! Help each other. Where would you be if nopony helped you in your time of need? Pay it forward, my dad used to always say.”
“Uh- I…” he stuttered, stealing a look at the unicorn to his right who was very clearly holding back tears and trying to appear calm. “I guess you’re right.”
“Come on, scooch over here miss…”
“It's Trixie. The Great and Powerful Trixie,” she said, stepping off her stool and hopping onto the one next to Soren. “But you can just call me Trixie.”
“Nice to meet you, Trixie. I’m River and this is Soren.”
“So you got robbed, huh?” Soren asked. “That sucks. What’d they take?”
“Everything! They took Trixi- my entire wagon. Everything I had was in there. Bits, performance equipment, food, even my bed! And without my wagon, I can't work to make the money back, either.”
“Oh, that’s terrible!” River cooed. “I’m sorry that happened to you. Who would ever do such a thing?”
Trixie looked between them, then leaned in and whispered, "It was those dogs."
Soren cocked his head and wondered, "Dogs?" just as River gasped, "Diamond dogs?"
Trixie nodded. "The clouds had just rolled in, and I knew it was going to rain, so I went out to collect firewood. I wasn't gone for long, but when I came back, there they were - four of them rooting around my camp. I tried to get them to buzz off, but I guess they decided that I wasn’t much of a threat, and then I tried to at least get them off my wagon… One of them must have gotten me on the head. I woke up face down in the rain. Been out any longer and I would’ve drowned for sure. And, well, you already know - they took everything, everything but the hoof-full of bits I keep under my hat for emergencies.”
"And the hat," Soren concluded, looking at the sparkly number she'd brought over to this side of the bar. River grimaced at him, and he shrugged, before asking, “So, how long ago did you say this was?”
“Two days," Trixie sighed. "I stumbled in here this morning, and they were nice enough to give me towels to dry off with, but I didn’t think they’d charge me for them. After that I could only afford a single muffin for breakfast." She covered the side of her mouth and spoke low: "They didn't catch on until after I ate lunch, so it wasn't a total loss."
“Well, that's a tough situation," River said, actively ignoring Soren shaking his head at her. "...What if we helped you get your things back?”
Trixie’s eyes grew to resemble dinner plates. “You’d do that? I- I mean, no. Trix- I couldn’t possibly ask you two to do that. I can't even pay you back for this.” She gestured to the bar.
“You don’t have to do anything,” River replied with a smile. “Ponies should always help ponies in need.”
“Well, I suppose I do need the help… but I won’t accept your help unless you let me repay you afterwards, somehow.”
“Sounds fair, I guess,” River replied, nodding.
Granite appeared out of the kitchen holding a plate of poppers, two burgers, and two glasses of water expertly balanced on her back. She set them down in front of River and Soren before River asked for a third hayburger and another water for their new friend. She nodded and returned to the kitchen. They sat there awkwardly in silence for a minute until Trixie finally spoke up.
“Say, why are you two here, anyway?” she asked, not hesitating to shove a jalapeno into her mouth.
“We’re traveling,” Soren replied dryly, not sure how to answer her without sounding like a nut.
“Duh, you’re traveling. Where to?”
Soren looked at River, and after a pause, she nodded for him to answer.
“We’re headed to the Forbidden Jungle,” Soren answered. Trixie had to resist spitting the food out of her mouth. She chewed hastily and swallowed.
“Forbidden Jungle? Trust me, you don't want to go there. It’s in the name, you know? Forbidden?”
“We’re on a m-” River started, but Soren shoved a hoof into her mouth.
“We’re searching for something,” he blurted out. River slapped him away and facehoofed.
“I was gonna say, we’re on a mission. We’re missionaries for the church of Celestia…” She looked at Soren and then back at Trixie. “...And we’re searching for enlightenment. Are you a part of the church?”
Trixie cringed as though she regretted getting herself involved. “No, I’m… not religious.” The awkward silence lingered for a bit as Granite returned with Trixie’s food, and they all chowed down.
“Okay, tell you what. If we help you get your wagon, will you take us to the Forbidden Jungle?” Soren asked, breaking the silence.
“Hold on, what makes you think I even know where the Forbidden Jungle is?” She questioned.
“You… kinda made it seem like you did, when you told us not to go there.” River returned.
Trixie's ears fell. "Oh. Right. Fine, I have been there once before, but not by choice. It’s crazy to go there on purpose.”
“Why'd you go, then?” River asked, furrowing her brow.
“I don’t see how that’s any of your business,” Trixie huffed, popping a jalapeno popper into her Mouth. River and Soren exchanged a suspicious glance.
“Geez, sorry. I was just curious. Anyways, our offer still stands. You have until we finish up eating and for the rain to stop to tell us if you’re in or not,” and with that, River turned her attention back to the food and continued eating. The three ponies sat in silence for a few minutes before Trixie butted in again.
“Well, I suppose if you actually manage to get my wagon, I’ll help you with whatever it is you’re doing, crazy as it sounds… I haven’t done anything exciting in a long time,” she mused. “But I have a feeling my things are long gone by now. Probably destroyed or sold off somewhere. Or worse, being used in a Diamond Dog mine.”
“Well, it doesn’t hurt to try, right?” Soren asked.
“I guess not.”
“It’s a done deal then. We’ll look for your stuff first thing tomorrow morning.”
