> Chronicles of an Unknown World - The Awakening
>  by Blue Blaze {COMET}
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


-PROLOGUE-


“Thanks Applejack, for letting me take a shortcut.”

“Daw, there ain’t no favor too big for a friend,” Applejack answered, grinning. “So where ya'll headed off to again?”

“There's a library that's a kilometer or two away from Ponyville that has a book on arcane kinesis I want to take out.” Twilight responded. "It's a bit faster to take a shortcut across your farm instead of taking the main road. Now before you ask, I don't know why somepony would build a library in the middle of nowhere, but from what I've read it gets a lot of visitors from the crossroads."

Applejack's response was almost lost in the beauty of the day. Sun rays crept in-between the branches and leaves of the apple trees, creating a dark-green like shade over the scene. There were many different kinds of apples they was passing, each looking healthy and strong. With such a wide variety of types, Twilight was quickly reminded how well the apple family tends to their fields, and how hard they try to keep their crops looking juicy and ready to eat. The sky was a clear, light blue, probably because of the Cloudsdale Weather Team’s cloud control duties. Twilight wondered if Rainbow Dash was up there right now, helping to clear out the white pillows, or if she was sleeping on the job as usual. A flock of cyan and beige birds were flying among the clouds, singing their songs with cheery bravado.

The vast array of apple trees ended abruptly, leaving Twilight from the sudden glare of the sunlight. Twilight shielded her eyes, letting herself adjust to the bright rays. When Twilight lowered her hoof, she was taken aback by the gorgeous nature before her.

She stood before large emerald stalks of grass swaying in the soothing south breeze. The sun’s rays shone brightly off the prairie plants, causing a magnificent but glaring shine effect. The grass seemed to dance underneath the soft, calming whispers of the wind. On the horizon you could see a single, lonely tree, standing in what seemed like the middle of nowhere. Behind the tree was more cerulean sky, clearer to observe than before. Twilight could barely spot a few stray clouds floating in the distance, left there to add balance to the atmosphere.

“Ah, this here’s a new plot of land we’ve just bought. We’re gonna use it to expand our apple tree line so we can get more produce.” Applejack clarified. “We're hopin' to plant more Gold'n Delish' here. They've been growin' more popular as of late, and mah family could really appreciate the extra bits. Ah know I would.”

Twilight looked towards Applejack while she continued her explanation. Once again Princess Celestia did a fine job position the sun in just the right spot so everything within its reach could prosper from its energy.  The two of them traveled all the across the plain to the sole tree hanging on a hill that marked the boundary of the newly created Sweet Apple Acres boundary. Taking refuge underneath its leaves, Twilight close her eyes and took a deep breath of fresh air. It made her feel like a new mare. When she opened her eyes, something sparkled in the distance. She raised her eyebrow, checking her field of vision for what she saw.

There was something in the sky: a dark blue-like dot, just floating in the open air. She squinted and tried to mentally zoom-in her sight, making sure she wasn’t just seeing things. It was in the same spot, but now, she noticed that it was flickering different shades and colours of blue.

“Hey, Applejack, do you see that blue thing in the sky?”

"See what?” Applejack said.

“That blue flickering dot in the sky. Do you see it?” Twilight repeated, pointing towards the blue dot so her friend could see it.

“What dot? Ah don’t see no dot…” Applejack replied, looking in the direction that Twilight was. “Wait…”

Applejack looked a little bit closer.

“…What in tarnation is that?”

Twilight had no answer. While pointing to applejack, she noticed that the blue dot was moving slightly to her left, curving itself across the sky. It's size was progressively getting larger, and after Twilight got a better look she could see ultramarine flames flickering off the sides of the anomaly . Also, it had a strange brown circular object in the center of it, with a veil of azure covering it up. After a few seconds, the blue object got to about the size of her hoof. Twilight felt like she's seen something like the blue ball in the sky before, but couldn't tell what. She was rapidly searching the depths of her memory to try and figure out what it was. It seemed to be a lost air mail package or a pegasus trying out a new trick. It couldn't have been Rainbow Dash though, for the shade of blue it was emanating was too dark to be her colour.

Then, it suddenly hit her. It was very strange to see it during the middle of the day, but not unheard of. In fact, she believed that Luna would have been on top of such matters to prevent ponies from getting hurt, but she thought she was wrong. The purple unicorn recalled seeing similar flaming objects tear through the night sky through her telescope. It had to be some kind of meteor, no doubt about it. Flames encompassed the object due to air friction as the main mass, the lump in the center, fell at immensely high speeds.It came to her that it was becoming larger and larger in perspective, and her eyes widened in fear and shock.

It was headed right towards them!

The sapphire comet was approaching the two mares at an alarming rate. Twilight reasoned it must have been flying at a very extreme angle to have been heading directly towards them. It was then that she realized that the object was longer than it was wide, which should not have been the shape for a normal meteor.

The two mares stood there, gawking at the shining blaze before them. It took a few seconds for one of them to register the danger at hoof.

"RUN!" Twilight screamed as she turned tail. Applejack was not far behind her.

They both ran across the clearing, trying to reach the treeline. Twilight, checked over her shoulder and made the horrifying realization that they weren't going to make it. The meteor was traveling just too fast for them to pass the distance in time. She began making frantic calculations in her head, planning out the situation in front of her as it unfolded. She could try teleporting the both of them, but it would be difficult because both of them were two different objects with two different velocities and masses. The only reason she was able to teleport with Spike was because he was on her back and she was able to do the extra math for the extra mass, but since Applejack was definitely not on her back and they didn't have the time to completely stop for the teleport, well, jumping across planes was out of the question. Twilight passively placed a motor enhancement spell on the both of them, but it could only do so much. She briefly considered casting a barrier, but they would still get squashed by several thousand Newtons of force all too easily.

Twilight wasn't watching and she accidentally tripped on a dirt mound while Applejack leaped over it with ease. When it occurred to her that her friend hadn't followed, her sprint ground to a halt and the farm pony turned around.

"Twalight!" she called out and ran back to try and pick up her friend.

"Keep running!" Twilight screamed, pointing in the direction behind Applejack. Her rear legs were jarred from impact and she bumped her chin when her head hit earth.

Suddenly, there was a large flash of light, and a deafening *BOOM* coming from behind her. Twilight’s senses did barrel-rolls; her sense of direction thrown off, her balance tossed upside-down and her nerves were squeezed by an intense pressure. The only thing that the unicorn knew for sure was that she was currently soaring in midair, launched by the explosion and impact of the meteor. Pain erupted from Twilight's back as she did a small, pitiful bounce off the bare dirt. She rolled on the ground, unable to stop her momentum. Small rocks and piles of dirt did not stop her, and crashing through them added small nicks to her quickly deteriorating coat. Small pricks of stings started to poke at her sides and a steady soreness appeared in her right front leg. Large rubble fragments from the explosion pelted at her. She continued to act as a pony wheel for several gruesome seconds until she slid to a stop.

She didn’t move. Her torso was so jarred she couldn't will her lungs to breath, and instead they sat stationary while her brain was screaming for her nerves to respond. The rest of her mind was trying to get past the fuzzy haze that was born from the impact. When she did wrestle grasp of her body again, she inhaled and got multiple clouds of dust and dirt. Coughing and sneezing, she slowly opened her eyes to a squint while trying to focus on the surroundings before her. Her eyes immediately started stinging as her eyelashes were not enough to keep a wave of soil from settling on her eyes. She groaned as she painfully rolled to her stomach. Her first coherent thought was that she needed to get up. She wanted to get up as fast as possible. She needed to get up so badly. The urge to rise from her current position despite pain and injury was overwhelming. Only her calm collective mind kept her from listening to her instincts and instead take it slow to further address the situation. Her vision faded in and out while she carefully got to her hooves, almost falling forwards from imbalance in the process.

When she was standing, she shook herself out of her stupor and got her head to work. Her eyes focused themselves on the devastation around her. The area was a vast barren brownness, stretching as high as the eye could see. Dirt was everywhere, filling up craters in the ground, floating steadily in the air and otherwise took up most of the volume of space around the purple unicorn. Dirt piled to several feet high in some places. The lighting around Twilight was very dark. With the sun nowhere to be seen, there was just barely enough light for her to see more than 20 feet in front of her. She realized that there was a strange blue glow coming from the direction that the meteor hit. She immediately started walking in the opposite direction, biting her lip and keeping a sharp eye for what she was looking for next.

“App-Applejack! *Hack* Appleja-*cough*jack!” Twilight called to the surrounding area. The dirt in the air caused her lungs to clench in detest.

Twilight looked around the newly formed wasteland with anxiety in her eyes. There was nothing left alive in the path of the explosion.The natural ambiance of the world screeched to a halt, and birds sung no more. It was virtually silent, except for some pebbles and dried up mud pieces creating crackles on the ground. Sweat was dripping off of Twilight's forehead as her heartbeat pounded against her temples.

“A-A-Applejack!?!”

Her head whipped wildly around, turning to try and take a better look through the polluted fog. Her eyes dilated rapidly and she began to get dizzy from spinning so much. Ignoring her subconscious's urges to stop, she took a few steps forward and immediately a burning sensation in her back leg. It didn't matter to her. Twilight's eyes darted from place to place, desperately examining every single detail along the desecrated field.

“APPLEJACK!” she cried out again.

Halting her movement, she craned her ears and listened hard while catching her breath. Nothing but the void of darkness around her answered back to her. Her eyes started to hurt from all the tears they were producing.

“Ah-*cough*-ah’m here!” a familiar voice shouted from a distance. Twilight saw Applejack arise from a nearby pile of dirt, covered in multiple bruises, scratches and mud-spots with her hat missing.

“Applejack!” Twilight ran towards her friend despite her restrained leg. Both of the mares embraced as they were delighted to be reunited with each other.

"Twalight!"

“I’m so glad to see that you’re ok!” said Twilight.

“Ah’m glad to see ya too.”

“For a second I-I thought th-that–” Twilight stuttered while choking on her emotions.

“Shh.” Applejack hushed, petting Twilight's mane. "It's all right. Ah'm here. We're both here. We're both safe."

The two friends stood still for a minute or two, thanking Celestia that the worst didn’t happen. Twilight took a moment to forget all the scrapes and bruises and cracked bones her friend of she had and drink in the most important fact to them: they were safe. They made it though the explosion. They were alive.

But then the Twilight remembered the meteor. The scholar in her started asking all kinds of questions. What was it, exactly? Was it something truly alien? Was it a botch science experiment from Canterlot that had found it's way to Sweet Apple Acres? Was it something from a completely different world? Why was it glowing blue? Was that magic? Was magic envelope the object? And if so, why? Why was is surrounded in blue? What purpose did it have to be imbued with such power? Was it charged with energy by design? Did it get enchanted by mistake? Was the glow an aftereffect of a violent spell hitting the meteor? Was it specifically aimed her at this exact location at this precise time? There were too little facts, and too little answers for the mare to make any conclusions.

But the biggest question was, was it dangerous?

Nervousness caught Twilight's throat. She ended the hug and gazed deep into Applejack's emerald eyes.

“Applejack… About that meteor...”

Applejack suddenly remembered that a meteor landed in the first place. All of her worries melted away when she saw her friend safe and sound. She tilted her head and looked back, giving all of her attention to Twilight's next words.

“W-we need go find where it is. We need to go and figure out what it is and where it came from. I understand that it might be a better idea to get the royal guard to handle the situation, but we shouldn't leave it here unattended. If somepony stumbled onto the crash without supervision, who knows what will happen to them!" said Twilight.

Applejack didn't need to consider Twilight's logic for long. "O-ok, let's be quick about it then."

Twilight nodded her head. “Ok. I, uh," she looked from side to side. "I think it landed somewhere over there."

She pointed to her left and started walking. Their line of vision hadn't improved much in the last few minutes, so she couldn't exactly tell where it was, especially since her sense of direction was thrown out of the window while soaring through the air. The dirt was thinning, but bits and pieces of earth were still raining onto the ground, rocks and clumps of soil lightly buffing the two mares and their coats. But Twilight was following her gut, and her gut told her that the impact site was somewhere along the lines to her East side. Still, she was only going out on a whim, and was hoping they'd get lucky enough to somehow stumble across it accidentally.

Applejack trotted behind Twilight in the silence. The Apple farmer forced herself to calm down a bit, and her heartbeat stopped pounding on her temples after a few moments. Applejack's heart broke as she observed the meters of plain, grassless earth on the ground. The land was obviously ruined, and any fertile soil that previously existed had been blasted out from the ground and scattered everywhere, making the dirt absolutely useless. Her ears folded back and her pace slowed down. She just bought this land with her family's hard-earned money! How was she ever going to get its worth with it in such a terrible state? How was she going to break it to Big Macintosh and Apple Bloom? How would Granny Smith react?

Twilight only had about a minutes trip before she caught a glimpse of a blue shine in the corner of her eye. Her eyes widened and she started to gallop (to the best of her injured ability) towards the light. Applejack saw this and started to run after her, briskly figuring out what caught Twilight’s attention. Soon enough, they came to a large ledge with a steep slope that the two slid off of a few times before managing to stay at the top.

There, lying in the center of all the heaps of rubble,

Was the meteor.

The luminescent meteor glowed a soft blue, eerily sliding back and forth between various intensities of light. It lay dormant and unmoving like a cut sapphire crystal, its edges smooth and accented with poise. It was easily twice the height and width of Twilight and four times the length. The sight of the lights the meteor was displaying was somewhat hypnotizing to the two mares, but the brightness  made it hard to stare at for too long. It sat at the bottom of the humongous crater that it had just created seconds ago. This crater was easily a few meters deep, and even then some all around the perimeter. There was nothing but scorched earth and pebbles around the sides of the crater. Twilight bit her lip. At her current distance, she couldn’t exactly tell what the meteor was made out of, or what contents it held, but she did know that she would find out soon. Taking precaution not to slip and tumble head over hooves, Twilight stepped over the lip of the crater and began sliding down a steep slant towards the meteor, her limbs locked and steady.

“Now ya’ll be careful down there, ya hear?” Applejack called from above.

“I will!” Twilight answered back. Hastily arriving at the bottom of the slope, Twilight dusted off her ankles and legs and looked up to her target.

She slowly approached the blue sphere with her magical senses extended and her ears pointing straight up, just in case something alien might jump out and attack her. As she got closer, she began noticing a magical presence coming from the meteor. At first it was fairly faint, barely noticeable to the normal unicorn, but then it became stronger and stronger as she took her time towards it. The light became more intense as well, forcing Twilight to squint her eyes before she could get any closer. She held her front left hoof up, trying to further shield her eyes from the magical glare of the meteor.

She was about seven feet away from the meteor when she was suddenly truly aware of its presence. Right before her was a possibly alien object that had fallen from outer space! It most likely was dangerous and crawling with extra-terrestrials, waiting to devour her insides! Maybe there was an highly technologically advanced security system inside the meteor that would turn her skin into particles the moment she got too close! Maybe it was poisonous to even breathe the air that was around it! Twilight never felt more naive in her life. Her mind betrayed her, briefly thinking back to that one time at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns when she was seven, but that was at a completely different setting, in a completely different circumstance! Never the less, Twilight felt the pressure of finding a meteor from Luna's outer domain hit the back of her head like a ton of bricks. She could feel her head pound, her breaths quicken and her heart nearly burst out of her chest. She took one more step towards the meteor.

The meteor abruptly toned down the intensity of its light, smoothing out its curves to the point where it became completely spherical. Twilight then realized that there was no rock or metal sealed inside the orb, but instead an object that was floating inside! Twilight put the puzzle pieces together and realized that the orb wasn't some kind of cosmic gem, but instead a immensely powerful arcane shield. There was no doubt about it. The round before her was magical. She had seen her brother cast one so many times before that there was no way that it couldn’t be a shield. But she still couldn't believe it. This was the strongest, most durable shield that Twilight has ever seen! Not only did it fly through the atmosphere at several hundred kilometers per hour while on fire and still stay intact, but it also flew head-first into Applejack’s farm, and still had enough power to leave a residue of light and seemed to be settled down at the bottom of the crater, still pulsing with energy! She could feel the magical pressure against her horn it was that vicious! No everyday unicorn could of cast this powerful of a spell; it would have taken dozens, maybe hundreds of extremely powerful unicorns to have put their magical reserves into a shield in order to make it this firm and sturdy. Not even Shining could do this himself, even though the magic was the colour of his Magical Imprint.

The shield was only in such a dim state for about three seconds. Without warning, it flashed outwards, filling the entire crater with blue light. Twilight was knocked to her rump, covering her eyes with her forelegs while squealing. At the edge of the crater, Applejack shut her eyes while putting her hoof in front of her, wishing she had her Stetson to help her against the brightness. The meteor gave out a wave of focused and pure magical energy, almost rendering poor Twilight unconscious from the sheer force and power that came from the meteor. Of course, the wave had no effect on Applejack. Twilight was seeing stars beneath her eyelids and her balance wavered. The magical shield then shattered into a thousand pieces, shedding the brilliant light it once had. The shards harmlessly turned to pixie dust when pieces collided with the purple unicorn. When Twilight opened her eyes, she could see some of the remaining shards floating in midair, slightly twirling in position. Twilight held her breath. Then, the shards flew back into the object in the center of the shield in a blink of an eye, traveling faster than it had been while mid-air. The floating object that was in the shield began to give off a blue glow of its own, except it was substantially softer than the magical shield’s glow. After a few seconds, it seems that gravity seized control of the meteor and let it hit the ground with a whump. It seemed like the magic show was finally over; the object ceased to glow, and there was no telekinetic grip holding it.

At last, Twilight got to take a look at the true form of the meteor without light nor shield blocking her view. She was slightly horrified, yet intrigued at what she saw. She never had seen anything like it before. Countless pages on information filed within Twilight's deep brain were rendered useless as Twilight could not match up the creature with the known species of Equestria. While focusing her eyes on the creature before her, she could hear Applejack slide down the crater and trot up behind her.

“… What in Equestria is THAT thang?”

Twilight shook her head, having absolutely no ideas herself. The object appeared as if it came from a great work of fiction, from a mind so unattached to reality it should not have existed within the bounds of the laws of life and quantum physics. It appeared to be either unconscious or asleep for now. Whether it was hostile or not, she could not tell. So far, all she could classify it as was an alien. It made sense to call it that; it came from the sky, it didn’t look like anything she’s seen before, and she might have seen something similar in a sci-fi movie before.

The creature in front of the two mares was easily at least a few feet in length and a foot in width. Twilight was assuming that the alien was bipedal, considering that its legs were lying completely perpendicular to the ground and also resembled Spike's body type: Two legs and two arms. It wore two pieces on its arms and another on its legs. Twilight could only identify the top part as a red sweater with a golden zipper running along thin strips cutting through its centre. Beneath the sweater was a dark blue shirt with an outline of an object right beside the opening for the neck. The librarian remembered that she'd seen a object like it before when DJ PON3 came to town a while ago, and briefly recalled the outline being called a pair of 'headphones'. Stretching down its legs was a black material that wrapped themselves around the creature. There was a long white stripe running down the left leg. On it's bottom feet were two white sneakers, with a black check mark embedded into the side of the material.

Its skin was a light peach colour, with uneven patches of tanned skin adorning some areas of its arms and face. Its head was much smaller than any natural being in the known realm of Equestria, being less than half the size of its body. The mane that stuck to the top of its head was in several brown curls and ringlets, which was a strange mixture between Rarity's beautiful and well-kept mane and Pinkie Pie's crazy poof. Its hair stretched down to the bottom of its ears, which jutted out from the sides of its skull, but also was sticking up in every direction, akin to some sort of half-afro. The organism’s minuscule eyes were separated by an equally small nose, which sat right above some blood red lips.

Both Applejack and Twilight let themselves take a minute or two to soak in the visual information that their eyes were sending. The creature that was stored inside the meteor definitely looked as if it came from another planet. An alien. At one point in time, Twilight did relate the creature to several species of apes that were identified on Equis, but quickly dismissed the thought, seeing as there were too many differences. After a few more moments, an earth-shattering crackle shook the air. Twilight and Applejack immediately shot their heads up to see that the dirt in the air had cleared enough to reveal an ominous, dark sky, crammed with storm clouds that probably created the thunderclap that the two mares heard. There was a blinding flash that came from the sky, followed by another window-shattering kaboom.

“Now where the hay did those thangs come from?” Applejack asked, hints of annoyance in her tone.

Twilight looked back at the still alien. The gears of her head rapidly turning, trying to determine what would be the next best step. She considered the fact that it might be dangerous to approach it, even though the alien appeared to be asleep or unconscious. There still could be ancient, unknown magics still in place around the creature, even if they weren't visible by mortal eyes. They could be assaulted by arcane powers they've never witnessed before! She did not want to approach the centre of the crater any more than a good seven feet away from the meteor.

Just then, Twilight felt something tap on her muzzle, bringing out of her brainstorm. Her eyes went to the sky. She felt another tap on her back, and she turned around. Her coat was a little wet where she felt the tap drop. More patters of sensation began touching her all across her body. They were raindrops.

“Huh?” Twilight said aloud, looking skyward once more. She felt more and more rainwater drop on her head, back and flank, slowly increasing in number. the storm accelerated at a breathless pace and soon there was a total downpour or rain that showered the weary young mares.

Applejack frowned. “Well, now that’s just DANDY…”

Twilight huffed, blowing the bangs hanging over her forehead upward. She looked around to the wall of trees behind them, searching for a solution. "Applejack, where is your nearest barn?”

“Well, if mah sense of direction is righ', it should'n be more than a few ways that way.” Applejack directed, pointing back to the orchard Twilight was gazing upon.

“Ok…"

Twilight let herself pause for a second, biting her lip while re-considering her possible moves. The rain continued to pour all around her, steadily turning the crater they were standing in into a bowl of mud. At this point, Twilight’s mane and tail were drenched in water and slowly had strings of water fall through her fine purple coat into the ground below them. Twilight's bangs were slightly blocking her vision and she began to lift her hoof out of the brown slop she was standing in to fix them, but decided that she did not want pieces of mud falling onto her forehead and getting in her eyes.

“Applejack, I need you to lead me to that barn while I telekinetically carry the…" Twilight looked back to the sleeping creature. "… meteor behind us. Is that ok?”

Applejack tried to go through the reasons why Twilight would want to bring the creature with them. "Can' y'all just put a magical shield 'round the thang and leave it there while we go git th' royal guard or th' police or somethin'?"

“We don't know when it will wake up," Twilight reasoned. "And if it does wake while we're away, who knows what kind of mayhem it will cause! If I trap it in a shield, it might get mad and start wrecking Sweet Apple Acres. If I can somehow get the alien to the library I might be able to subdue it long enough to calm it down. From there, we could start trying to communicate with it and see what it's doing here.

Applejack let out a short breath of air. "Sounds like a good plan as any. Ah'm with ya all the way, Twalight."

Twilight smiled, glad that she had someone to watch her back. She began to activate her magic and her horn cut a purple light through the massive downpour they were experiencing. The creature was lifted up in the air, mud sticking to its clothes and skin. Twilight tested the weight of her haul and decided that it wouldn't be much of a hassle to get themselves to where she had in mind. She was just hoping that the alien wouldn't wake up while they were on their way. Then she thought back to what Applejack said about deadly traps and her blood froze. She gazed up and down the sleeping monster slowly, suddenly ready to cast a shield spell and throw the object as far away from her as possible at a moment's notice.

"Um, Twalight? You alright?" Applejack asked behind her.

Twilight let out a breath that she hadn't realized she was holding in. "The alien hasn't reacted poorly to my telekinesis yet, so so far so good. I mean, I already grabbed the darn thing, so the worst it could do is attack us while we're making our way down to the barn."

"Yeah, I'm fine," Twilight said, forcing a grin on her face while casting a shield spell over her cargo. "Let's get going." 

Twilight led the climb up the crater with Applejack following close behind her. The two of them wanted to get out of the bowl as fast as possible before it became too muddy to climb and they would end up swimming in a slog of wet dirt. 

"First, we need to get to your barn. We need to put the alien in one of your apple carts so we can carry him through Ponyville without raising too much suspicion. I don't think the other ponies will react well when they see me carrying a large, otherworldly creature all over the place." Twilight explained, lifting herself over the lip of the crater with a huff.

"Ah agree with that. Ah can just imagine how Lily would react at a sight like this." Applejack pondered.

Twilight stopped to make sure the alien was still where she sensed it was behind her, then saw Applejack clear the rim of the circle too. She thought back to the pink mare in Ponyville that was a little bit overdramatic at times…

The two friends looked at each other shared a small snicker, taking a break from their constant onslaught of stress. The moment was quickly ripped away when another thunder struck again, causing both ponies to jump.

“Er, let's get goin' before we get any more soak'd.”

The two mares briskly trotted over the empty, ruined field and entered the apple orchard once again. The pitter-patter of the raindrops hitting the trees’ leaves could be heard all around the setting. Twilight felt a bit safer once she was under the protection of the leaves of the apple trees. The creeping fear of darkness and the unknown steadily filled Twilight's mind, the bright flashes of lightning making her heart jump up her throat. The echo of thunder bounced back and forth between the bark of the trees near them, warping the sound and making it difficult for the pair to determine where the electricity was hitting exactly. Twilight gulped, and hoped that the barn was closer than she thought it was.

The unicorn timidly checked behind her to see if the meteor was still following her, and if it was still unconscious. To her relief, it was. When she looked back, she could see the outline of her orange cowgirl friend, right in front of her. Twilight wondered if Applejack was as scared as she was. To Twilight, Applejack always seemed like a pony with her head screwed on straight. She had a rock hard determination to her that no pony could shake, and her Earth Pony strength was second to none. Twilight bet that Applejack has experienced storms like the one they were in before, because unlike Twilight who lived in Canterlot all her life, Applejack lived a farm pony in Ponyville, where weather like this was essential to keep Pony valley growing and prosperous. Their journey kept silent as the both of them decided to not speak.

Not soon after Twilight had that pondered that thought, Applejack started to increase her pace, forcing Twilight to a brisk trot with the sounds of her hooves hitting puddles playing beneath her. Twilight caught Applejack quickly checking her sides and searching off in the distant trees, searching for something. When the purple mare looked, there was nothing there. Not a few moments after, Applejack began to break into a light gallop, forcing Twilight to exert even more and making her nervous in the process. Twilight tried to process why Applejack was moving faster all of the sudden, but then Applejack suddenly broke into a full-tilt sprint. She almost left Twilight in the dust before Twilight managed to call out:

“Applejack, Slow down!”

Applejack immediately slid to a stop and stood still for a moment, catching her breath even though she wasn’t legitimately tired. When she heard Twilight catch up to her, she turned around to face her equally exhausted friend.

“Ah’m… Ah’m sorry, Twilight, ah-ah don’t know what got into me…”

Twilight gave a sympathetic look to Applejack, taking a moment to catch her breath. “That’s ok. I've got your back. Remember, we're in this together.”

The farm girl smiled. “Thanks, Twi,” But then, she looked around wildly, realization hitting her as her eyes went wide. “Oh! Wait a second!”

Applejack turned to her right and walked a few steps forward. When Twilight followed, she began to barely make out an outline of a building. Her spirits lifted instantly when she recognized the outline of the barn, with Applejack's house behind it. Both ponies rushed forward towards the massive building, carefully making their way down a small hill before reaching the large double doors of the red wood. Applejack swiftly jutted to a halt, grabbed one of the door handles and hauled it back just before Twilight could ram herself into the entrance. Twilight ran through without stopping and jumped into a pile of hay at the other side of the barn while placing down the meteor beside her.

Applejack pulled the door shut behind them and heard a sigh of relief come from Twilight.

"Ahh, thank goodness we're out of the rain!" Twilight said, not caring that bits and pieces of hay were getting stuck in her damp coat.

The weary Apple took off her hat, shook it to get some of the wetness out of it and flicked back the ponytail tied into her mane. "Hoo wee! That was one heck of a downpour! So, what's next, Twalight?"

Twilight put her hoof to her chin. "Well, we're gonna need one of your apple carts now."

"Oh, yeah," Applejack said, her eyes lighting up. "Now ah remember! Hang on, let me just fetch it."

Applejack went off into the background somewhere behind a wall of shadow where Twilight couldn't see. The unicorn closed her eyes and leaned back her head, relishing in the moment of peace while the rain fell down on the sturdy barn walls. It was relaxing, and she felt her mind slowly sink back into a nap even after the rush through the apple orchard. She had trouble opening her eyes again when her ears picked up Applejack's hooves along the ground, heading towards her again.

"Will this be big enough?" Applejack inquired, pointed to a wooden apple cart with a tarp on top of it that Applejack attached to he back.

Twilight’s face broke out into a wide-eyed grin. “This is perfect, Applejack! Fantastic! Now, let me just lift the meteor into the thing and we’ll be on the road in no time.”

Applejack nodded as Twilight lifted the tarp off of the cart, carefully lifted and placed the alien into the open box and placed the tarp back over it. Twilight hoped that it would have enough air under there to breath, but then thought about if the alien was actually breathing their air or not. Then she thought about if it was even alive after impact. Her memory showed her the chest of the creature moving up and down while it was still in the centre of the crater, before it started raining. She figured that if there were any problems about it's health then the two of them could figure it out after they got to the library. 

"So, what are y'all plannin' to do once we get to th' library?" Applejack asked as she opened up the barn door.

(Well, I am considering getting Fluttershy to help me identify the meteor. We don't even know if it's an alien or not.) Twilight thought to herself. "I have a few ideas, but my main concern is—"

Twilight stopped when she saw the heavy rainfall that assaulted the outside world.

"…is getting us something to wear. Do you have any spare rain jackets?" 


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------




The world has turned
The land has grown
From dusk till dawn
And through the Void

Comes a boy without meaning
A boy without purpose
To learn his light
And find the way

Through pony pairs
And perilous trails
The seven will walk
To never see again

Against the ravaging wrath
Of the empty path
In the face of the storm
From the light of the moon

His awakening.



Chronicles of an Unknown World: The Awakening






-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Make sure you comment, track and rate before you leave this page!

Also, be sure to check out my blog for updates, author's notes and much, much more!

> Chapter 1: First Encounters, Part 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


-CHAPTER 1: FIRST ENCOUNTERS-



{*First-Person, Main Character*}


Sleepy.

Not the 'not-enough-sleep' sleep, nor was it the 'it's-way-too-early-for-this' sleepy. I just felt plain tired. Like hadn't slept in a few days. Maybe a month or two. Maybe a few years. It was hard to tell, and yet I had just been asleep and I was currently waking up from something very, very deep. My head pounded in rhythm with my heartbeat against my chest and I could briefly sense air moving through my nostrils. There was a tingling at the back of my head, but I couldn't tell what it was. It was like a little pinch at the top of my neck, a tickle that stimulated the nerves around the top of my spine with a relentless fury that I just couldn't place.

Then, for the first time, I smelled. I smelled freshly cut pine in the air around me, wet and woody. I smelled the rainwater that was tapping on the window in the distance, and detected the scent of dust getting washed away with Mother Nature's natural cleaner. I smelled a bit of ash in the air with a bit of burnt candle off somewhere to my right side. I smelled, and I suddenly felt alive again.

And that's when the sharp side of an axe rammed into my skull.

Not literally of course, but there might as well have been, because I'd finally figured out what that tiny buzzing in the back of my mind was. It was a head-splitting headache, and the only thing that was keeping it down was the lure of sleep and the chemicals that made my limbs numb during sleep. But now that I was awake, I could feel the pain slowly reel back and hit me with the force of ten, five-pound bricks to the forehead. I groaned, then tried to move my hand up to massage my temples. I felt a cold, fleshy rod slap against my face, then realized that I couldn't feel anything from my limbs. It was if I had no arms, no legs, no toes or no fingers. Then it occurred to my that the dead weight that slapped me was actually my arm, and I hadn't even realized it.

That scared me. The fact that I couldn't feel my limbs and I was awaking from what felt like a really long sleep scared the piss out of me. I should be thankful that I had been able to move my arm at all, considering the circumstances! What happened to me? What occurred to cause this? Also, on that note, where am I? My room does not smell like newly cut firewood! I'm pretty sure I don't have a candle in my room as well. Who brought me here? 

The first thing I wanted to do was open my eyes to try and figure out what was going on, but that was actually easier said than done. My eyelids felt like they were stapled to the bottom rim of my eyes. I huffed with my nostrils, not even able to open up my mouth. This was nuts. Was I drugged? Did someone drug me in my sleep? That would explain all the numbness coming from me. Then, a metaphorical hammer slammed into the back of my head and I took a deep breath in. Turns out that whatever drugs they gave me weren't good enough, because I could still feel the headache that drilled into the back of my skull!

Then, a rushing, tingling sensation flowed through my body starting from the bottom of my chin to the rest of my limbs. It was if I sat on the toilet for too long and the feeling in my leg disappeared just to have it brought back when I stood up from the porcelain seat. Blood started flowing through my veins again and I felt myself regaining my strength slowly but steadily. I tried parting my lips and the dried, red skin stuck together fast before I ripped them open with more mouth muscles. A little bit of pain came from the edges of my mouth. I tried to convince myself pain was good. Pain meant that I was feeling things again. Then my temples throbbed and showed me more about pain then I ever wanted to know. I hissed, and was pleasantly surprised that I could form my tongue in such a manner that allowed me to hiss.

Speaking of tongue, the tasting muscle under my teeth felt like it had been through a cheese grater then stuck in a bag of uncooked rice. The dryness of my mouth was disgusting and I could feel a small trickle of saliva seep underneath my tongue, my brain trying to rectify the problem. Why was my mouth so dry? I never get this dehydrated! Not before I fall asleep. Was I at a party? Did I get drunk? Oh god, did someone drug me, haul me off to a party then got me smashed off my ass? What that it? Jesus Christ I hope not. I was not one for parties, or drinking. None of my friends that I knew would do such a thing. What happened to me? I couldn't remember.

My arm was still on top of my nose. With another groan I slid it back off of my face and it bounced on some buoyant material beneath me. Curious, I flipped my hand around and gripped the sheets that I was lying on. I was on a bed. Then, pangs of soreness came from my knees. I winced, then tried lifting up my legs. For somewhat reason, my shins were hanging off the bed. Whatever kind of surface I was lying on, it was tiny. I was not that tall! I had to be on a tiny child's bed in order for the end of my legs to hang off the edge like that. Where was I? Where was I going to find myself?

I finally managed to open my eyes and let light onto my pupil. It was dark in the room, save for an orange glow to the right of me. I couldn't focus on anything, so the ceiling stayed a indistinguishable brown blob to me. It almost hurt to look because I knew the ceiling should have more detail but my eyes were incapable of delivering. I blinked once and lifted my head a bit, staring down the blankets that lay on top of me to where my feet were and managed to kick my legs up enough to see the unfocused forms of the edges of my toes. I kicked a few more times, getting a sense of momentum and blinked again. This time, I could see a bit better and tried posting myself on my elbows. I got on one elbow and used my right hand to wipe away the dry tears from my face. My fingers still felt a little numb but I could feel the tiny particles of skin peel off the bottom of my eyes and get jammed between the side of my index finger before falling to the floor.

I opened my eyes wider and tried to get a sense of my surroundings. On top of me was a light blue quilt that draped over the tiny bed that I was on. I was correct about the size of my commemoration, by the way. It was super short! Like, something only a rich 6-year-old would have! It was ridiculous! Who would sleep in this thing. But back to the point, I was in a small bedroom that had a very strange theme to it: Books. There were books all over the walls. Heck, the walls were, in fact, bookshelves, so they were perfect places to house all kinds of books. Books about nature, books about science and books about adventure could probably be found in this miniature library of a room. The only problem was that I couldn't read any of the titles. The scribbles printed along the spines of the various novels scattered through the shelves had to be in some kind of Arabian or something, because it did not look like English at all. I would have loved to have browsed through a few of these if I could actually read some of them.

I blinked. There was something that irked me about all of this. My surrounding seemed a bit off somehow. It was strange. There was a tiny bit of mist in front of my mental eyes that I could not get rid of, but something about the bed I was on, something about the room was terribly suspicious. I couldn't tell what it was, however. The answer evaded me like a forgotten word or moment in your past, something that was right at the tip of my tongue but could not pass the barrier that was the human brain. I tried looking around some more to see if that would help job my head a bit better.

The ceiling had a very unique style to it. It was all wooden and smoothed out to fit the room, as if the bedchamber was carved from a very large tree or something. Swirls of Cinnamon and burnt reds curled up on the upside-down surface and I found myself counting the tiny rings in the wood to see how old the tree was when the material was cut. Either the architects were geniuses or the tree that the oak came from was really, really, really old because the circles never stopped. They just kept going and going and going until they reached the outer wall. For all I knew, the rings didn't even begin to occur in the room, as towards the inside wall there were rings that seemed to slip beyond the bookshelves that marked the boundaries of the room. How old was this place anyways? How old did it have to be to smell like wet tree?

I peered over my bed to see the same smooth cut applied to the floor as the ceiling had. At the far end of the room were several more bookshelves and a wooden chest that sat right against the wall. To my right was a small set of drawers that had a burning candle on top of it, creating a pleasant warmth around the room with the light it provided. Beyond that were a pair of curtains that covered a double window that was arched at the top. The drapes of cotton had a tiny space in-between them, and through it I could barely make out minuscule raindrops sliding down the glass slowly like snails trailing down a damp garden. Everything beyond the windowpane lost me, and I couldn't see past it.

Then, my breath hitched up in my throat. I couldn't believe it. I finally figured out what was wrong with this place. Desperately hoping I was wrong, I looked down at my hands which were gripping the edges of my sky blue quilt. They were pale and pasty, as usual, but it had a few key features missing. The tiny hairs that covered the tops of my fingers were gone and my fingernails were only a simple outline. The rash that usually appears on the top of my wrists were gone too. I flipped my hands over. Details in my palms were completely missing, my lifeline gone in the wind and the creases where the skin folds over itself were absent. My limbs were simplified versions of their past selves, almost as if they had been drawn in a cartoon.

A cartoon. This is what this place looked like! A freaking cartoon! It all made sense now! The colours were unnaturally bright, the level of detail in my surroundings was severely lacking and the whole place had its own defined art style! That also meant, to my horrifying conclusion that I had somehow was bent to the rules of this place and my body was changed as well! In a steep well of rising panic, I flung the blankets off of me to see my black pants, shoes and blue shirt on as normal, but without any signs of wear and use on the material. My red sweater was on me too. Now who the heck puts someone in a bed with their clothes on? That makes no sense!

Was I going insane? Maybe those drugs were stronger than I thought and I was just see the butt end of what it does to my vision. Maybe it could have been worse if I had woken up earlier. Maybe not. Either way, I had to be on something, because this… My surroundings did not make any sense at all. Why were all the colours so bright? What could happen to the visible light spectrum to cause all of this? Real life should have much, much more detail in its surroundings! Was I asleep? Was this all a dream? It couldn't be, otherwise I'd never ask the question in the first place, or I'd be aware of my lucid dreaming. If this was a lucid dream, than I'd least be able to change the graphics or get the heck away from this place!

I had enough. But before I swung my legs off of the bed and got out, I noticed that the blue quilt I threw off myself was floating in mid-air to my right and was leaning against a surface that was translucent pink. It looked like some kind of invisible wall or something. Curious, I leaned over and poked the colour with my finger. The surface ripped with energy and made a low hum of a bell. It was completely solid. I tried pushing against it with one hand. It didn't budge. I got to my knees on the bed and tried both hands. All that accomplished were more colours around the area I was putting pressure to. I clenched my fists. What the fuck. What the fuck is this.

I flipped on my back and tried kicking the damn thing. It rang out with a deeper resonance but nothing. I tried getting off the bed, but my feet did not touch the floor. Instead, the pink wall curved inward towards the bed in a steep oval, preventing me from getting anywhere. I lifted my hands up to try and feel for a ceiling. Sure enough, there was a pink forcefield on top of me. No matter where I tried to find a hole, there was something covering it, and despite what it may have looked like, I was trapped in some guest bed on a LSD trip in a library where some bullshit forcefield was blocking my way!

What. The fuck.

I punched the side of the shield. It hurt, but the membrane seemed to flicker and that spurred me onward. I threw another hook and my left knuckles gave very loud and painful feedback. I yelled. Every fist I threw at it just reflected my force and sent my arms backwards. I screamed at the top of my lungs. What the fuck. What the fuck. Where am I. Where have they taken me. I banged on the forcefield with the bottom of my hands, kicking and thrashing out at the object. I hoped that I was doing damage to it. I prayed that I was affecting it somehow, anyhow. I wanted to get out of here so badly.

I threw one last punch as hard as I could. This time, instead of deflecting the damage, the shield solidified and suddenly I found myself in one giant pink crystal. The room looked a large percentage more magenta and the air around the bed seemed to close around on itself. I slowly felt my breath stir up up what oxygen was contained and heat up the area, making it very stuffy within my prison. I searched around wildly for a way out, some kind of hint to let me escape. There was no technology nearby to channel the shield. There was no one tending any kind of controls or power, and if there was someone I couldn't see them.

This is bullshit. Where the fuck am I? Who the fuck put me in here? Why the fuck has my world suddenly gone sci-fi on me? Am I high, am I low, am I just asleep and dreaming? I wish this was a dream, oh I truly do! This is fucking madness! Here I am, stuck in some kind of stupid fucking pink shield prison with no where to go, no one to talk to and no answers? WHO THE FUCK PUT ME IN HERE?

"WHAT THE FUCK!" I screamed, throwing one last punch at my shield.

"WHAT THE FUCK!"

> Chapter 1: First Encounters, Part 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


{*Omniscient point of view, Ponyville Library*}


Twilight had her forehead to the books, once again. She leaned over in her wooden stool, peering over an age-old text while searching for answers. The desk she sat at was surrounded by stacks of difference books, scrolls and pieces of parchment. She absent-mindedly used the top of her quill to stimulate the bottom of her chin. Her magic flipped the page over and she mulled over the new content, scratching down notes on paper right beside the text.

The Ponyville library was cozy and lit for the night, although the sign on the door clearly said 'closed'. Bookshelves on the walls were filled with all kinds of tombs, texts and works from various authors during different moments in pony history. The flames that burned in Twilight's magically enchanted fireplace (enhanced to not burn down the entire wooden, paper-filled building) covered the several chairs and sofas that sat in front of it with a soothing warmth. Fluttershy say in a green recliner with a blanket over her head and a cup of hot chocolate steaming in her hooves. Three puffy marshmallows idly floated in the substance while Fluttershy rocked the chair back and forth in front of the coffee table set in the centre of the semi-circle of chairs around the fireplace. The fire had orange light reflect all around the room and was the only source of light, save for the pairs of tiny candles lit on the walls.

Rain continued to pour from outside, the storm that the meteor had brought in full in effect. Thunder and lightning occasionally crashed down with a large boom bang, flashing the library with a blaze of startling white and reverberating their powers, making Fluttershy squeak and shake to the bone. Twilight paid no mind to the disturbances and kept scribbling notes only she and Spike could read, for her hoofwriting was horrendous. When Twilight first sent her a letter, Princess Luna could only wonder how her sister possibly read such a mess of wavy lines and scratches in the first place.

"Oof, here's the books that you were asking for, Twilight." Spike said, waddling into the room with three tall hardcovers wrapped around his purple, scaly arms. He plopped them down right next to his bigger, more equine sister with a huff and tried to peer over to examine her notes.

She paid little attention to his presence and mutter a small "Thenk you." under her breath.

"Why do you need all these encyclopedias on the animal kingdoms anyways? You brought in an alien, not an animal! It's like issue number 27 of the Starline Saga, where Captain Moondust recovers an unknown alien species on the planet Zebes-"

"Spike," Twilight interrupted, pulling her attention away from her work and turning to glare her number one assistant. "This isn't some kind of comic book! This is real life! He could, in fact, be a lost species of Equestria and we just found him out after a number of years! Maybe it existed from the times before Equestria was establish and we've forgotten about them by now! Maybe it has been living under the ground, like the Diamond Dogs do and he hasn't seen the light of day for years and years! We don't know anything about it, so there's no sense in making assumptions too early. And even if, by chance, he was an alien, these books would still be helpful to try and locate some kinds of behaviour patterns between the races of Equestria and the creature in the guest room!"

Spike folded his harms and gave a doubtful look. "Do you really think that something that fell from the sky came from underground?"

"Anything could have sent it flying, Spike. It may have gotten itself in a situation where it got into a lot of trouble and the only way out was by launching magic. Maybe another spellcaster sent it here in a hurry for some mysterious reason! There are a million reasons why it could be here!" Twilight stressed, throwing her hooves in the air.

"Umm…" Fluttershy began from under her green blanket. "I agree with Spike, Twilight. I would have recognized it if it was an animal from this planet. I mean, I've seen and read about a lot of animals before…"

Twilight looked back at her bashful friend. She was probably right. Since Fluttershy is the local expert on animals, if she couldn't identify it at a moment's glance that maybe it wasn't in animal. Maybe it was an alien from outer space. Maybe it was sent here to observe and colonize Equiss, but something drastic happened to it along the way.

"Still," Twilight said, pulling a book from the pile the Spike delivered. "I need to be absolutely one-hundred percent sure that we did not bring in an animal into the library in order to start calling it an alien. There are references and leads that need to be checked, double checked and triple checked."

Spike held back a groan. He wasn't one to complain about Twilight's numerous checklists, but she was getting a bit overboard lately, even for him. "Well, if you need anything else, give a holler."

Twilight smiled at Spike. "Thank you, Spike."

The baby dragon began to walk away when at thought occurred to him. He stopped in mid-stride and remembered a question that he wanted to ask Twilight ever since she got back with Applejack and the Sweet Apple Acres cart.

"So… When do I get to see the alien?" Spike inquired, zipping back to Twilight whilst speaking over his shoulder.

"Spike!" Twilight cried, dropping her quill into the ink pot on the desk. "Should you even be up at this time of night? I think it's past your bed time, young man!"

Spike grimaced. "Aww, come on Twilight! I really want to see it live and in action! As soon as it wakes up, I want to be there to see it all! I want to be the one to say 'I met an alien in Ponyville and was there when it first woke up!'"

"Spike. Bed. Now." The librarian demanded, pointing to the side room where both their beds lay.

Spike sauntered off to where Twilight was gesturing to, muttering something inaudible about how Twilight never let him take part in anything fun.

"I'll be there to tuck you in once I'm done with these next few pages." Twilight said as Spike reached the door.

"If I'm still awake by then…" Spike grumbled as he opened and slammed the door behind him.

Twilight frowned. Maybe she had been a little to hard on him. Maybe she should have given him more credit for all the hard work he has been doing lately, and that giving him one tiny look wouldn't hurt much. He deserved to have at least one little desire fulfilled in that dragon mind of his, didn't he? She shut him down so easily, and he had been so sour about his denial that, ooh, it broke her heart seeing him upset like that.

Twilight shook her head and tried to collect her thoughts back into place. She had to remind herself that there was a reason why she said no. It was too dangerous. Sure, keeping an alien in your guest bed isn't the greatest idea in the world, but it certainly wasn't hers. If she got her way, then she would be containing the creature in a magic circle down in her basement! That would be the perfect place to trap any kind of malicious intent the creature may have and prevent it from doing any harm to her, her friends, Spike or Ponyville! But no, Fluttershy wasn't having any of it. She said that it was Twilight's duty as host to give him a proper bed in her guest room. She didn't however, stop Twilight from putting in a strong shield spell around the alien to make sure he didn't go anywhere without her knowing. If it escaped, she could only imagine what kind of chaos and destruction it could cause in it's wake! If it fell from the sky and landed untouched by a magical barrier so strong it rival one of her brother's, then playing the caution card was a small price to pay for peace in their little town.

Twilight was about to go back to her work when a flash of lightning shot out from the dark, cloud-ridden night above, quickly followed by a loud bang of thunder. It cracked and practically shook the tree they were in by the roots! She flinched and brought her ears back, but gave her attention to the high-pitched squeak that came from her recliner that sat in front of the fireplace. Fluttershy had placed her cup on the coffee table and was trebling under the blanket as she folded it over herself. There was another intense instance of light and flowery Pegasus squealed again, trying to press herself into the material of the chair and make herself as small as possible.

"The storm is getting really intense out there." Fluttershy noted, wrapping the blanket tighter around her.

"I know." Twilight acknowledged, tapping the bottom of her chin while looking up thoughtfully to one of the library windows. Masses upon masses of raindrops continuously assaulted the building and anypony outside who hadn't gotten themselves to a dry place already.

"I mean, it's getting really, really intense!" Fluttershy repeated.

Twilight turned to address her speaker. "What are you getting at, Fluttershy?"

"Well, we're safe and cosy inside the library while Rainbow Dash is still outside, fighting the storm…"

Twilight frowned. "I'm sure Rainbow Dash will be fine, Fluttershy. It's her job to control the weather and keep natural storms from causing too much damage. She's a paid professional. A large storm like this once in a while probably won't hurt her. If anything, she would enjoy a challenge like this."

Fluttershy was anxiously switching her gaze between the various windows around the room. "But Ponyville hasn't experienced anything this bad before. Not ever."

"Fluttershy," Twilight began as she got up and approached her friend, putting her hoof on Fluttershy's shoulder. "Look at me."

Fluttershy hesitated, then brought her eyes from the window to Twilight.

"She'll be alright, ok? Rainbow Dash will be just fine."

The nervous flier bit her lip. She twisted her hips and swung the recliner away from Twilight's touch. Twilight backed up, startled by the sudden action. "I just can't shake this feeling, Twilight. There's something telling me that this storm is a doozy, and I know it."

Fluttershy got off the chair, shedding her blanket and leaving it on the seat. She hastily landed on the floor as the recliner rocked back and forth in place. "M-My stomach's doing flips, a-a-and there's a tingling feeling in the tip of my ears. Oh Twilight, I have never felt this bad about anything before."

Fluttershy turned around to face Twilight, and Twilight's eyes widened when she saw her friends deep blue pools threatening to let loose the dams to a shower of tears down her yellow cheeks.

"Never."

Twilight had to digest the thought for a bit. She bit the inside of her cheek, considering every single word said by her friend over and over again. Fluttershy wasn't one to predict anything; that was Pinkie's forte. But since Pegasi have an inert connection with nature and weather, maybe Fluttershy's instincts were telling her something that Twilight couldn't pick up. Maybe they were trying to give her a message, and only now Fluttershy was recognizing it. She wasn't even outside and she could tell that there was something horribly, fiendishly wrong with the black clouds that trapped the night sky in all its glory. Fluttershy only understood that there was evil in the clouds, and she may be right, but until Twilight got some data on the situation, she had no idea what to think.

Suddenly, there was a pinch of pain in the front of Twilight's skull. She winced, and held her hoof over the area. There it was again. It felt like something was tapping the side of her sensitive organ with the blunt side of a hammer. The pressure wouldn't break her or cause permanent damage, but was a warning. Twilight knew that pain was the body's warning of damage to the system, and she may not have been casting any spells at the moment to cause her the pain in her horn, she had cast a spell in the past. Right over the alien.

"Twilight!" Fluttershy exclaimed, rushing over in a fit of wings and feathers. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Twilight answered, glancing up to her friend who hovered over her in her low and vulnerable stance. She rubbed the base of her forehead, trying to get some more blood flowing into her horn. "I just got a message from my shield spell. The creature has woken up."

Ignoring the annoying tingle in her head, Twilight ran over to the staircase on the far side of the room and rapidly climbed the steps. 

Fluttershy met her at the top, already looking at the door to the guest room. Twilight reached the peak and flinched again as the alien shot a fairly powerful blow against her shield. She could feel the energy in the other room waver as it took more and more damage. The alien was strong, that's for sure, and that's what Twilight was afraid of in the first place. She was thankful that she attached the spell to a strand of magic that came from her horn, but wished that her brother was here to cast the shield spell instead of her. He would have done a much better job.

"Fluttershy, stay out here," Twilight order, putting her hoof on the doorknob. "I don't want it hurting you with anything that could possibly penetrate my shield, and I want to knock it out before it does any real damage or escapes."

Fluttershy put her forelock over Twilight's ankle and softly pressed on it, sliding Twilight's grasp off of the doorknob. "No, Twilight. It's angry and upset, and if you go in there and knock it out, it might be even more upset at us once it wakes up again."

Twilight silently stared at Fluttershy, coming to the conclusion that her quiet friend was right. The two waited, and from beyond the door they could hear inaudible words come from the creature as it smashed into Twilight's barrier. Twilight could not pick up anything it said and doubted that she would even understand it's language anytime soon, but she swore she could hear it say the same three words over and over again.

"Let me go in first," Fluttershy urged. "I can try and talk to it and calm it down. If it's still angry then you can go and put it to sleep."

"But what if it hurts you?" Twilight asked.

"I know how strong your shield spells are, Twilight," Fluttershy answered. "You don't give yourself enough credit. I'm sure it will keep me safe long enough for me to talk to it."

Twilight kicked herself in her head. Fluttershy was so forgiving, but in situations like these...

"I'm coming in there with you. If the alien gets out or does anything drastic then I can protect you and put it to sleep again."

"No. If we both go in at the same time, we might make him even more nervous and stressed. He will feel threatened that there is two of us and only one of him. We need to do this one at a time. I need to go in alone." Fluttershy reasoned, landing carefully on the floor with a clop.

Twilight bit her lip. "Well, at least let me put a shield on you. That way, if something does go wrong you won't get hurt."

That was something Fluttershy couldn't disagree with. "Ok." she answered, backing up to give Twilight enough room to cast the spell.

Twilight nodded at took two steps back. She closed her eyes and started forming the energies needed to cast a sufficient barrier for her friend. A pink light formed on the tip of Twilight's horn and she felt the energy surge up her spine and through her head. After a few seconds, Twilight cast the spell and Fluttershy saw the air around her shimmer. Her coat started to stand on end as there was a tingling sensation that ran over her body. She shivered, not used to having enchantments cast over her very often.

Twilight opened her eyes and examined her work. There wasn't a visual difference to Fluttershy, but if somepony looked close enough they would be able to see a tiny membrane of bent light that kept itself as a circle half a foot way from Fluttershy's centre. It surrounded her entire body and even sunk into the floor. It wasn't perfect, and wouldn't be able to block anything too extreme, but Twilight made sure to cast a shield spell as she would cast one on Spike or herself. Twilight watched as Fluttershy looked around herself, fluttering her wings and sensing the disturbance of air around her.

"It'll only last for about thirty minutes. After that I'm coming in to see if you calmed him down. I'll be down here, continuing my research." Twilight directed, pointing to the desk with dozens and dozens of books piled on and around it.

Fluttershy nodded. "Ok. I'll try not to be too long. Well, unless he has something he wants to talk about for a really long time, but I'll make sure that we go through this as quickly as possible."

Twilight forced on a smile on her face, despite her feelings about sending Fluttershy in alone, by herself. "Fluttershy, I—"

"Don't worry about me, Twilight," Fluttershy reassured. "I'll be fine. I mean, you can worry, if it makes you feel better…"

That got a giggle out of Twilight. "Ok. I'll try not to worry too much. Just keep yourself safe, ok?"

"Ok, Twilight." Fluttershy said, smiling.

The two shared another moment together before Fluttershy approached the door. Twilight backed up a tad and stared as Fluttershy put the utmost care into grabbing the doorknob and turning steadily and carefully to the left, making sure to make the smallest amount of noise possible. After, Fluttershy pushed it forward with the tiniest amount of strength, and the door inched open bit by bit. The creature wasn't saying at this point, but Twilight could make out it's heavy breathing in the next room. It was tired, angry and willing to do anything to get out of it's prison.

"Umm, hello. Do you mind if I come in?" Twilight heard Fluttershy say as she leaned in and peeked around the corner of the door. The organism exclaimed a few profanities that Twilight could not make out. Fluttershy jumped and flicked her tail up, her wings unfolding upward as she hastily shuffled backwards. She turned around and lowered her head to meet Twilight with an embarrassed smile.

"Umm, I highly suggest we talk to him later. He's kinda riled up at moment and I think he wants to be left alone." Fluttershy explained a little too quickly.

"Fluttershy!" Twilight exclaimed.

"You're right, you're right." Fluttershy acknowledged, and she opened the door again to quietly make her way in. Her glossy tail almost got caught when it was shut.

Twilight sighed. "Fluttershy, I hope you know what you're getting in to…"

> Chapter 1: First Encounters, Part 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


{*First-Person, Main Character*}


"Grrraa!"

I hit the shield one last time with all the strength in my arm I could muster. My knuckles hit the forcefields and the room reverberated with a low hum. There were blue tinted spots on the shield where I punched it repeatedly. It was a nice contrast to all the pink around me and you could see it even if you weren't putting any weight on the barrier. If you backed up for a moment, all you would see is a spray of aqua floating in mid air on an invisible surface. I liked to think of it as a good sign that I was actually making progress on the damn thing and that I was not slowly but steadily breaking every bone in my hand.

My breath was ragged and a bit laboured. That's what happens when you punch something for three minutes straight. I'm no god-damn boxer, I don't have unlimited stamina! I could feel my body hear radiate off the top of my head and the centre of my chest. Sweat was building on the top of my brow and my tongue went back to behind unbearably dry. Jesus fucking christ, why do I have to get so hot and sweaty when I do anything above leisure level? It's like I'm a god-damn obese factory worker or something. Which I'm not. I'm a relatively healthy 15-year-old thank you very much.

With my back hunched, I leaned forward and took a few deep breaths. my knuckles were still against the shield and the candle and window in my vision in front of me were shaded with a light magenta colour, like I was seeing through some weird-ass glasses or something. I swallowed. Good, Griffin, good. So far in the past five minutes you've managed to wake up in an entirely different room other than your own, learn that the physics of light are all screwed up, that you've possibly been drugged hard and freak out like the little bitch you are. Good. That's good. Ten out of ten, right there. There is no way that I could have reacted to this any worse.

There was a sudden squeak to my left. I tilted my head to see the door at the far end of the room slowly open up, the light on the other side escaping into my selected chambers. There was a wide but short mass pushing the entrance from the opposite end. I stared with wide eyes and watched as both hope and fright leaped into my panicked mind. I puckered my lips in, getting them wet in anticipation to actually speak to someone. With some luck, I'll be able to find out where I am and how I got here, and why everything around me looked like it took a nuclear bomb of paints to the face.

Then, something creeped around the corner of the door.

No, seriously, that's the only way I can describe it.

There was a bit of pink that made its way from the other room, followed by a lot of yellow. Huge aquamarine eyes peered into my prison, examining its surroundings all around until its gaze dropped right onto me, who, by the way, still hunched over with my fist onto the shield. There was a large, furry ear that stuck out of its head and around the centre of its face was a tiny, tiny muzzle. An arm with a lump at the end of it wrapped itself around the door corner and was placed on the wood that made most of the door. Its eyes widened, and its petite mouth made an 'o' shape.

"Umm… May I come in?" it said completely in understandable, sensible English.

Now, I'm not sure about you, but it's not everyday I see a strange colourful creature that does not hail from earth speak an actual human language. So, like every sane and sensible young man, I reacted accurately to reflect the situation.

"HOLY SHIT JESUS FUCKING CHRIST WHAT THE FUCK!"

I immediately got off of the shield and stood up in a crunched position so that my head wouldn't hit the ceiling. I backed up to the head end of the bed and firmly planted my butt against the wall, my arms up in front of my face while flinching towards the thing staring at me. The mattress all but collapsed under my weight and sudden movement and I could feel my balance waver as the squishy material under my feet folded to the command of gravity. It felt really, really weird to stand on a bed with shoes on, three-year-old shoes none the less.

The yellow thing squeaked (what?), jumped in surprise and backed up faster than I reacted to it. It closed the door behind it, but not completely. It's arm was still around the corner of the door, holding on to it somehow even though it didn't have any hands. I could hear voices in the other room. There were two of them, and they sounded female, but frankly at this point I have to consider they possibility that they were not female. Yes, now that I've landed in unknown territory on a different planted filled with aliens I've never seen the likes of before, There are many, many new angles that I have to think about and plan around.

But serious. What the fuck did I just see.

Was that a fucking miniature horse? 'Cause it looked like a fucking miniature horse. The tiny muzzle, the wide ear on the top of its head and the lump at the end of its leg: It all made sense. Of course, no horse could curve its foreleg around a door like that and there is no way in hell that an equine creature would have eyes the size of dinner plates like that, but the closest thing I could relate the alien to is tiny, really colourful donkey. Yes, a donkey. That is what I shall call it from now on. A donkey. An alien that looks like a donkey.

WHAT THE FUCK.

Now, I like to consider myself as sane as any other teenaged boy, but god damn, there's something really fucking wrong with me. I'm seeing all these colours that should not be possible in real like, exact details in the scenery are all gone and that fucking donkey. Ooh, that fucking donkey. What the fuck. What the actual fuck. What was it doing here? Am I under its capture? Was it here to execute me? Was it here to lead me to an execution? What? Who? Why? Where am I? What is life? Is this death? I don't understand!

And then, the door opened again. This time the yellow donkey decided to actually enter the room fully and had shut the door behind it. It shuffled towards the front of the bed while trying to hide its eyes behind its hair. Why was it doing that? Why was it avoiding eye contact? Is that a species thing? Is it hiding its deadly gaze until it can get close enough to finish me off? Is it holding something back? What is it doing? Oh lordy, so many question and counting.

Finally it sat down on the floor, its haunches against the wood and its forelegs between its backlogs. It kept hiding beneath its mane, but tried to inch up its head little by little to peak at me. When it did and saw that I was looking at it, it made a little "Meep!" and went back to ducking down. My butt was so hard against the wall it was actually splitting a little. My stomach churned and it did not feel pleasant. A little bit of sweat dripped down my cheek and when I wiped my forehead with the sleeve of me sweater it returned soaked. I was really in for it now.

Then, it paused. There was a silence in the air except for the rain slamming into the window outside. Thunder crackled in the distance. At least this planet has a few familiar things going for it. The books, the bed, the candle, the windows and the rain almost made it seem like I was on Earth. Almost. It took a deep breath in through its nostrils and out through its mouth. Then again. And again. Suddenly I felt very relaxed and chill compared to moments before. Then I realized that I had actually been mirroring her actions subconsciously. What the crap? What caused me to do that?

I heard it mutter something under its breath. Then it tilted its head up and flung its hair out of the way of its face so I could see the grin upon its muzzle.

"Hello." it spoke.

"Uhhh…" I answered intelligently. I could not believe it spoke English. "Hhhi."

"My name is Fluttershy," it began, pointing towards itself, which I do admit is a very 'human' gesture. I wonder if body language translates itself to all four corners of the universe. "My friend found you crash landed into a field a few hours ago. We took you here so that you could rest and get comfortable with yourself once you woke up. What’s your name?"

Fluttershy? What kind of a name is that?

“My name? I asked, scratching the back of my head while trying to reel in my brain after it decided to jump off the deep end. “I’m, uh, I’m Griffin. Griffin Pearsons.”

“Griffin?” she said incredulously, her eyebrows raised. Her ears peeled back for a split second and her pupils shrunk a bit. It was very dramatic and expressive to the point that I could practically read her emotions as if her face were an open book. There was a little hitch in her breath and could feel the panic and stress radiating off of her. “Your name is Griffin?”

“Yes. Yes it is.” I replied without a beat.

She briefly looked to her left, biting her lip and bringing her left hoof to chin-height. A tiny squeak came from her again, which made the guy in me retch and detest while squealing in delight. It really couldn’t decide on one or the other.

“Uh,” I enunciate. “Are you ok?”

Her eyes went back to me in almost an instant. She seemed to realize how she was acting and caught herself from acting anymore stranger, putting her hoof down while swishing her tail back to the other side. “O-oh, um, yes. Yes, I’m fine. It was just, uh, a little bit of bad memories coming back to me.”

I almost felt insulted. She was mad at my name for no reason! Then I realized that it would be wrong to feel insulted. What is wrong with me? “Was there another Griffin in your world that ticked you off or something?”

“Yes, well, no, um,” she tittered, not deciding on which answer to take. “It’s not your name. Well, it is, but it isn’t at the same time. Oh, how can I explain this?”

I realized that I might have been stepping out of my boundaries here. “Wait wait wait, hold on. You don’t have to tell me anything if you don’t feel comfortable with it. I mean, I’m fine, just sitting here and talking to you. You don’t have to say a thing.”

“Oh no no no no! It’s not like that at all! I’d be happy to tell you about, uh, your name, but I don’t know how to explain it…”

She somehow scrunched up her face and rubbed the bottom of her muzzle with her hoof. Her eyes traced down for a few seconds before landing back on top of mine.

“Are you, um, are you from here?” she asked me.

“What?”

“Are you, um…” She was having trouble with her words.

“Are you from this land, I-I mean. This kingdom?”

“Kingdom? What do you mean? I’m not from any kind of kingdom, I’m from–” I began, remembering exactly where I was at that moment. I could feel the warmth draining out of my cheeks as reality distanced itself from me. My gaze dropped to the sheets below me. “No. I’m… I’m not from here at all.”

She perked up at my words, but then frowned, her eyes widening in realization. “Oh. Oh, I didn’t mean it like that. I’m sorry, I didn’t think about your predicament at all. I’m so, so sorry.” 

“That’s alright,” I reassure her, which it wasn’t. My stomach decided it was a good time to practice for the circus again and started doing triple backflips off of the rim of my ribcage. “You couldn’t have known. It’s not your fault.” My attention went back to her. “But what made you guess?”

She bit the inside of her cheek, not knowing what to do. Her hoof grazed the wooden floor as she started tracing a circle with the toe of her limb. “You, um, don’t look like any creature we’ve ever seen before. I’ve seen many kinds of animals before, but you don’t look like any of them. My friend Twilight said that you flew and crashed into my other friend’s farm on a blue comet.

“She did?” I exclaimed, leaning forward. I was assuming her friend was female, if these donkeys are associated with gender at all. Then again, “Fluttershy” seemed to be pretty feminine to me.

She nodded. “Do… Do you remember how you got here?”

I looked down at my white Nike shoes and stared fiddling with the frayed, old laces. “No. I don’t remember at all. I think I was in a classroom at my school in the morning, and it was the very beginning of class, but everything after that is a blank.”

“Oh, um, which school did you go to?”

I raised my eyebrow. I wasn’t from here. Why would it matter to her? “River Bell High.”

She tilted her head to the right. “From which kingdom?”

Here we go with the kingdoms again. “I told you, I’m not from here. I’m from out of this world, from a different planet, maybe an entirely different dimension.”

Her eyes widened and made their best dinner plate impression. “A different planet?”

I nodded, rubbing my arms while a chill ran down my spine. “Yeah, a different planet. I’ve definitely never seen anything like you before. And everything around me looks really, really weird. It’s like light has a mind on its own and the colour spectrum has eaten five tons of Fun Dip.” I craned my head up to the ceiling. “Nothing looks the same. That’s why I also think I might be in a different dimension. Light should be constant throughout the universe, no matter how far you go, right? So if the light here is so different from what I’m used to, well, that means that the physics of light has completely changed, which shouldn’t be possible.”

We said nothing for a few seconds. She had nothing to say to me, and was digesting the information. Silence reigned throughout the room except for the ambiance of rainwater tapping against the windowpane in the right side of the room. Lightning struck in the distance and illuminated the room for a split second. Fluttershy squeaked and shivered a little when the rolling thunder came a moment after. The lightning must be really close. How far did the storm cover? I looked over to where the source of sound arrived from. The rainwater looked so fake and cartoonish from where I sat, and the reflections off of the glass that made the window were incorrect and did not look right at all. I could feel my ears flex slightly while the tips of my fingers went numb.

“I guess I really don’t belong here. I’m out of place. I probably stick out like a sore thumb.” I say nonchalantly while I continue staring at the outdoors.

“That’s not true,” Fluttershy mentioned in the background. “You don’t look out of place at all, and if the other ponies found you and actually met you, I think that they could accept you for who you are.”

A spark ignited in my mind and my head raced back to meet hers. “Ponies? You call yourselves ‘Ponies’?”

Her eyes were bashful under the veil of her head of pink hair. She wasn’t like that before. She seemed to have lost some of her courage sometime during the conversation. I could hear her mutter a tiny “Yes.” under her breath.

I couldn’t help but chuckle. It started out as a small giggle, but evolved into something much, much bigger. A rumbling laugh came from the center of my chest and rang through the rest of the room, reflecting off of the spines of books that surrounding us. I laughed and laughed and laughed and couldn’t stop. Tears were trickling out of the sides of my eyes and I was clutching my stomach with one hand while the other was slapping the edge of the bed. My butt slid down off of the pillow and I curled my legs, cackling uncontrollably. It was too funny. Too funny. I could only imagine the look on Fluttershy’s face as she backed away from me slowly and approached the door. Just when I thought I would stop, I would take another breath and continue. Ponies! They called themselves ponies! Now that I think about it, they kind of look like very, very tiny horses, but ponies, not horses? Somebody call up a toy company, because I think we have a winner here! Miniature horses, colourful and female, all in a tiny splendid and oversaturated cartoon environment! It’s just too rich!

They wouldn’t believe me. Teleported to a world with talking ponies in it? They would call me crazy. It was too hilarious of a concept to take seriously. Comedy gold, right there.

The laughing. I couldn’t stop. My mind wouldn’t let me.

It hurt like hell. All over the place.

I felt like I was going insane. I am insane! Am I insane? Everything around me was just a scrambled mess of mysteries and non-answers. The colours were too bright and made my head hurt just looking at them.  I couldn’t see the world around me from what I remember of Earth, but instead had to subject my conscious to the saturation dump that was this page-filled room. My short-term memories were getting replaced with this cartoonish riff-raff, and I briefly wondered if all the images of my past memories would get replaced too. Would I forget myself after time? Would I fail to find myself? Am I sleeping? I must be sleeping. I simply cannot accept the fact that this is real life. This is what I’m experiencing. This has to be fantasy, it just has too! It cannot be any more real than this pink forcefield surrounding me.

I don’t know how much time had passed, but I ended up crying softly to myself with my head under the bed’s pillow. I held the soft material in place with my hands and tried to muffle out the sounds of my sobbing through the feathers. I couldn’t take it anymore. The sensations were just too terrible to take. I’m not sure if I want to live anymore. I might be in a dream, I might be unconscious, I might be tripping the fuck out, but whatever it is, I want out! I want out of this stupid place! It hurt too much to exist! I wasn’t at my home planet anymore. I wasn’t anywhere near my home planet anymore. I wouldn’t be able to see my friends, or my family anytime soon. Do they know I’m gone? How long have I been gone for? If I traveled across the universe, how long did that take me? If I got back to Earth, what year would it be? What If I traveled across dimensions? How would time would from there? How the hell did I even get here?

Would I ever be able to get back?

I wanted to go home already.

I heard a soft bell ring in front of me. I lifted the pillow off my head just enough to see what was going on. Fluttershy tried to approach the bed that I was on, but that stupid fucking forcefield was in her way.  I assumed she already left the room after I started laughing my head off. Anyone sane would have left already. She clearly didn’t get the memo, as she was pushing her front hooves on it like she wanted to get in. The shield wasn’t giving one inch, glowing a translucent pink that hardened the harder she pushed. Her frown grew and for the first time in our conversation I could see a tiny spark of annoyance and frustration in her eyes.

“I’m going to go get Twilight. She’s just in the room outside. She’ll be able to help you out. We can talk to her and she’ll be able to find a way to get you back to your home planet. We’ll figure something out. Would you like that?”

I said nothing.

“Griffin?”

That was my name. That was me. I peeked up from above my soft sleep-shield. I hoped that my eyes weren’t too red. She looked at me with such a calm and collective stature that a little bit of wonder trickled into my being. Her smile was soft and warm, like a mother comforting children that weren’t even her own. That was when I realized that Fluttershy was someone special. She was a caring individual that was soft with her words but extremely brave. She could look past her shyness and speak to another with a level of kindness that only the best of us could be able to show.

“Everything’s going to be alright. I’m going to help you get home. We’re both in this together. You won’t ever need to be alone, or feel alone. On this planet, on this world, I will be with you. If you need to talk to somepony, I…I will be there for you. First, we need to get you out of the barrier, but after we can talk all you want. That’s all we need to do. Ok?”

Silence. The rain seemed to be so far away, and as far as I could tell it actually lightened up a bit.

“…Ok.”

She closed her eyes and gave me the most sincere, calming smile I’ve seen in a long time. The way her eyes curved upward into semi-circles both soothed me and creeped me out at the same time. This would be so much easier to handle if I was looking at this through a TV screen. Then, without another word she quietly but gracefully approached the door of the room, opened it and let it shut behind her, the hinges on the old entrance creaking as the slab of wood swung to and fro. From there, it was just me, the storm and the candlelight dancing on the backdrop of books at the opposite side of the room. The wind howled in tandem with my high-pitched wheeze as I tried to get the last out of my sorrow out of my body. 

Crying in front of a pony, god. What is wrong with you Griffin? Have you no integrity, no sense of self-image? So much for first impressions! You’ve just met with an alien species and one of the first things you did was sob up a sorry storm right in front of them! You’re acting like a complete baby here! Get it together man!

Or, at least, that’s what my subconscious was saying. I just wanted to crawl up in a corner and die right there and then. I peered to my right and the bed squeaked underneath my movement.

The candle was at its legs. The wick was at the bottom of the candle and most of the wax had melted, formed a pool and dripped down to the base of the aged bronze. The room was already dimming by the second. I took a few breaths to try and stop all the hiccupping I was doing. In, out. In, out. With every intake, the flame seemed to grow smaller and smaller. Soon enough most of the light in the room came from outside, and even that wasn’t much.

Then, the ember burned out, leaving a tiny trail of haze in its wake. Thunder rippled in the distance and I was left alone in the dark.

I didn’t want to be left alone.

Suddenly, the candle was lit again, but there was no one there to light it. I sat up in the bed, wiping the stray tears off of my cheeks and sat up to a sitting position. How did it light up again? What happened? Was there some kind of mechanism that the candle’s attached to that re-lit the candle? It didn’t look like it, as the drawers that the candle was on did not appear to be attached to the wall. Everything in here looked too old to have that kind of technology implemented in its furniture.

The oddest part about it? The flame was blue.

> Chapter 1: First Encounters, Part 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


{*Omniscient point of view, Ponyville Library*}


She didn’t get it.

Twilight Sparkle couldn’t get it.

Fluttershy had come down from the guest room and told Twilight about everything she knew. About how Griffin, was in fact, an alien from a different world, and that he felt out of place and that he obviously wanted out of his prison. But the librarian just couldn’t get it. She had too many questions, and still considered him to be dangerous even though Fluttershy calmed him down. She was glad that there wasn’t a warning ping in her head for the damage to her shield every two seconds now, but he shouldn’t have been able to hurt the shield in the first place. It was too strong for him. It should have been too strong for him. And now, she found herself walking up the stairs to the guest room with Fluttershy leading the way reviewing her questions that she absolutely must ask the alien.

She just couldn’t get it, and she was fiddling with the two rings that she held behind her back, hidden from sight.

From the top of the staircase, Fluttershy turned the doorknob with care and opened the door a crack. She peeked inside and leaned against the edge of the entrance to support her balance.

“I’m back with Twilight. May we come in?” Fluttershy asked. Twilight could hear some kind of conformation inside the room and Fluttershy turned around to wave Twilight in. The two trotted into the room, and for the first time, Twilight Sparkle met the alien alive and awake.

He was sitting on the bed with his feet planted on the mattress and his knees tucked into his chest. He wrapped his arms around his shins and his hood was pulled down over his head. There was a bit of a dark blue mist coming out of his knuckles and Twilight had to hold her panic at bay when she spotted the neon coloured dents the alien made in her shield. Twilight could see a blue shine reflect in his brown eyes beneath the veil of darkness that his hood cast over him. It brought shivers down Twilight’s spine. He just looked so odd to her that she couldn’t shake off the feeling of dread and fright every instant her eyes were set upon his. His face was too flat, his eyes were too small, his lips were shaded with a murky red for some reason and the shape of his skull overall was simply too tiny. He most certainly did not look like he belonged on Equis at all.

But when things couldn’t appear worse, they did. Twilight’s ears folded back as her eyes grew to the size of dinner plates when she saw the colour of the flame on the candle that was next to the alien. It was a pure, liquid blue. Not a vibrant flicker of orange and red, but blue. The candle was giving off a clean, non-poisonous flame, clear of any extremities a normal fire would produce. But that wasn’t possible. Twilight was certain that it wasn’t possible, but here it was, right in front of her, in real life, proving her wrong. It danced upon the wick like a Waterbird in the moonlight, bending and twisting to the air pressures in the room. There wasn’t enough oxygen around the flame to warrant such a pure fire to appear. There was only one explanation, but Twilight didn’t want to believe it. It only solidified her paranoia even more. 

The alien’s passive magical energies were so powerful that they were piercing through the shield and actively changing the composition of the flame in real time.

Not even Twilight could have predicted such a feat to happen.

This was why Twilight put the alien behind a shield in the first place. This was why she wanted to keep him locked up in the basement where she could monitor his magical energy levels. The first thing the noticed when she and Applejack got back to the library was that the alien had large quantities of magic coming off of him, so much so that it was off the standardized arcane charts. Twilight’s couldn’t put a number to his output without some assistance from tools and magical equipment, which she never got the chance to do. She never realized that he put off enough magic to bend the environment around him. She underestimated his abilities. The only other beings that Twilight knew that could do such a thing were Princess Celestia, Princess Luna and Discord, and they were all known for their godlike strength.

He had too much magic pouring out of him. And curiously, he barely used any of it. Twilight then realized with all the power that he had, he could have easily leveled the street block and then some. The wimpy little shield Twilight put up shouldn’t have been an obstacle for him. The alien should have blasted that aside the moment he woke up. He barely would have had to begin a thought before the shield exploded into a million shards. But he didn’t. He chose to hit the barrier repeatedly instead, outputting the most miniscule amount of magic possible. Why was that?

“Umm, so Griffin, this is Twilight, Twilight, this is Griffin.” Fluttershy opened up with, gesturing back and forth between the two.

“Nice to meet you.” Griffin said in a gruff, not entirely honest voice.

Now that truly puzzled Twilight.

 “Jesus, I know I look and sound weird to you, but would it kill you not make that face when I speak to you?” Griffin thought to himself as he witnessed Twilight’s bewildered expression.

“I… I can understand you.” Twilight pointed out.

“What?” Griffin uttered.

“What?” Fluttershy repeated as she moved to see Twilight’s face better.

“I can understand you. I can process every word that you say. Uh, say something again!” Twilight urged, stepping forward in a mixture of excitement and weariness.

“Uhh, banana, apple pie, coconut cream, pineapples.” Griffin recited, shrugging his shoulders.

Twilight’s jaw dropped. “Oh my goodness.”

“So Twilight,” Fluttershy began, hovering in place in front of her friend. “You’re saying that you can understand what he’s saying?”

“Yes! Yes I can!” Twilight exclaimed exuberantly.

“Wait, so we’re not supposed to be speaking the same language here?” Griffin asked. “’Cause I just thought you all spoke English. Somehow.”

“English? What are you talking about, we’re all talking in Equestrian–“ 

Twilight’s brain completely stopped at the implications behind what it all meant.

“Uhh,” Griffin uttered, pointing at Twilight. “Is she always like this? Making weird slack faces all of the sudden?”

“N-No, b-but everything just got a lot more complicated than I thought. U-Um, how can I explain?” Fluttershy said bashfully, losing focus in her courage. Twilight stood beside her like a doe caught in headlights. “Twilight wanted to come in here and meet you first when you woke up, but uh, I convinced her that I should go because I have a language affinity with animals.”

“With animals.” Griffin repeated.

Fluttershy nodded. “I live and take care of a lot of animals, and I’ve learned how to listen to them carefully and patiently, so that I can talk to them so that I know what they’re telling me. I hoped that my skill would help me understand you too.”

"Well now, I am insulted." Griffin chided with himself. He snorted. “That makes no sense!”

Fluttershy blushed. “I-I don’t know how it entirely works either. You just have to listen really really hard and the animals will start to make sense after a while.”

 “Holy crap. This place is starting to seem less and less futuristic and more like some kind of weird magical wonderland.” Griffin noted, slapping his palm to his face.

“I-I’m not entirely sure, but I think that you were speaking Equestrian the entire time I was speaking to you and I wasn’t translating anything, b-but…” Fluttershy trailed off as she took a look at her stunned friend.

Griffin had a light bulb moment. “But that might not apply, because I recognize my language as English and you recognize yours as Equestrian!”

Fluttershy nodded, biting the tip of her hoof.

Griffin finally flipped his hood off his head, revealing his messy mane to everyone in the room. “But how does that work? How can I understand all of you and yet there’s still a weird sort of language gap between us?”

“It’s your magic.” Twilight said, surprising the two others.

“I’m sorry, my what?”

“Your magic. There’s a buffer floating around you from the energy emanating from your inner magicks that’s causing an automatic translation between us to happen.” Twilight explained as her horn glowed and she fidgeted with the rings behind her back.

“I’m not sure what kind of stuff you’re on, but magic doesn’t exist.” Griffin countered, lifting his hands up shoulder height and making a shoving motion. Then, he saw the blue mist coming out of them. He jumped. "Oh shit!"

“Maybe not on your world, it doesn’t” Twilight stated as she got closer to the bed, and the shield. “But on ours it most certainly does, and from the looks of things, your body’s full of it.”

“Twilight!” Fluttershy exclaimed. “I didn’t even realize! Why didn’t you tell me before?”

“Because I didn’t completely realize just how dangerous he was.” Twilight answered, bringing out the rings into Griffin’s view.

Her statement made Griffin’s stomach sink. He found that once the subject of magic came up, the horn on Twilight’s head became alit and started glowing.

 “Well that’s some funky-ass magic shit she’s got going here.” “What’s with the rings?”

“I understand that you want out of the barrier.” Twilight began, holding up the stone hexagonal pieces in her telekinesis. “But in order for me to do that, you’re gonna have to put these onto your fingers first. One on each hand.”

Griffin stared back at her cautiously. “Why?”

“These rings will inhibit your arcane energies so that you can’t use them. That way, you won’t accidentally set a book on fire or something when we go downstairs to talk more. Also, you need to agree to keep them on for the rest of your time on our planet, or else I’ll have to confine you in this room again.”

Griffin’s eyebrows rose at the bluntness of the statement. “O-Ok.”

Fluttershy could not believe this. “Twilight…”

Twilight turned around to address her fluttering companion. “Fluttershy, this is something that needs to be done. It won’t hurt him and it’ll prevent anything bad from happening in the library or to Ponyville. We can work our way up from there.”

Fluttershy nodded, but the tiniest hint of a scowl on her face did not come off.

“Now, I’ll send these rings through the shield. Once you put them on, then we can get downstairs.” Twilight instructed further.

“Ok.” Griffin said as he shifted his butt closer to the headboard of the bed.

Twilight slowly floated the rings towards the shield. As they touched the pink outline, ripples in the shield began appearing from the entry points of the objects, creating the illusion that the shield was made of liquid. Sounds of tiny bells rang out in the open air and a pleasant, lightly-toned hum strung in the wooden room. Griffin stared, searching for any sign of a runny pink substance on the rings. They were clean, but were still highlighted pink from Twilight’s magical grip.

 “Now that’s just all kinds of freaky and wrong.” Griffin noted as he held out his hands. The rings floated above his palms and fell softly into his grip. He picked up one with two fingers and tested the texture of the object. It was ancient for certain, but was also a good size for his index finger. It definitely wouldn’t fit his middle and it would probably slide off his ring finger. He expected runes to be carved into the stone to indicate that magical powers were imbued in the object, but was disappointed to find none. Shrugging, he put one on.

The effect was instant. A thick fog around Griffin’s mind lightened up and suddenly he could observe his surroundings with more clarity. The lingering rage he felt before when he found himself in the pink cage weakened significantly and he found that he might be able to hold off a lot more rude quips this time around. His chest didn’t feel so tight and he could breathe a lot easier. He slid the other one on. The stress of being pulled to a different planet was lifted off his shoulders and he could finally rest easy again. The rest of the haze was lifted and Griffin could feel himself getting smarter by the passing moment.

 “These things are actually pretty good.” he concluded, taking a deep breath in and out. "If only I had these a couple of weeks ago. Then maybe I wouldn't have gotten so angry at my dad for spilling our dinner when we went camping." 

“These rings are normally for Unicorns only, but I noticed that the majority of your magic is coming from your hands and that the rings looked like they’d fit, so I thought that I would try them. They would still have the same principle of blocking out magic, so they wouldn’t have an adverse effect on you or anything. However, they won't prevent passive magical effects from occurring, such as changing the colour of flames around you and the automatic translation spell, but at least I'll prevent direct casts. If this didn’t work I’d have to disarm you myself, and that wouldn’t have been easy.” Twilight explained.

Griffin’s eyes met Fluttershy’s who could only give a sympathetic smile. Twilight’s horn began to glow and the sound of pixie dust sprinkling all around the room emitted from Twilight’s being. There was a sizable beacon of light coming from the tip of her horn and the shield around Griffin disappeared in an instant with a suction sound. Twilight opened her eyes and gave the first friendly expression Griffin had ever seen from her. He slid his legs to the side of the bed and got up, stretching his arms and ankles. Twilight backed up without realizing, but Fluttershy stayed still.

“Now, let’s go downstairs. There are a few more things I want to ask you. Would you like some tea?” Twilight asked as she began leaving the room.

 “I hate tea.” “Yes please.”


{END OF CHAPTER}

> Chapter 2: Chasing Answers, Part 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


-CHAPTER 2: CHASING ANSWERS-



{*First-Person, Main Character*}


I sipped my tea with dignity, keeping my back as straight as possible despite my behind sinking into the red sofa I was sitting on. I shifted forward in my seat, moving to the edge of the cushion so I could try and not sink in as much. I held the handle of my teacup in one hand with the place being held by the other directly beneath. I had already removed the teabag and put it on the place, but the water was still as warm as when Twilight initially brought it out. I’ll be honest with you here. I really don’t hate tea that much, it’s just that I don’t drink it often, and it’s such an odd taste that I’m not exactly used to it. I still consider it better than drinking hyper-caffeinated coffee like many of my peers do, and the feeling you get when you drink it and you experience the warmth run down your chest is absolutely enjoyable. But, when it comes down to hot drinks, I’d rather have a hot chocolate. I know, it’s very childish, but there’s something really satisfying when you drink that sweet hot chocolate with triple marshmallows, caramel sauce and whipped cream with cocoa shreds on top in a mug large enough to serve three.

…I’m not obsessed with sugar. Really.

Shut up.

“Ahem.” Twilight announced, clearing her throat. I dunno why she did that. I had my attention on her the entire time.

She shuffled a few papers in her… magical grip, and tapped them twice on the coffee table right in front of her. She was sitting on a hard wooden chair, which makes no sense considering there are bean bags, recliners and another sofa around the fire place, but I’m not one to question it. But let me reiterate: A pony is sitting on a wooden chair. Now that’s not something you see every day, and if I didn’t know better her back is as strong as steel because it should have broken by now. Fluttershy sat back in a green recliner, too worried to really make small talk with me. Well, it might not be her, it might just be me not saying anything. But what is there to say? “So, how’s the weather today?” No. There is nothing to say, and there is nothing that I want to say. I guess I could potentially ask about the customs and traditions of this world and how it will affect me, but I could hold back my thoughts for a bit. I just wanted Twilight to get on what she wanted to talk about.

There was a large flash of light that invaded my vision. Not two seconds later, a booming crackle of thunder rang out through the building, slightly shaking the seating I was on. It was powerful and really sounded like it hit the ground with a splitting snap. Scared the crap out of me, really, but not as much as it did poor Fluttershy. She immediately squeaked and tried to bury herself into the lining of her chair. I shook my head as I could see her rump sticking high into the air as she shivered in fright. There was another wave of thunder that came through, but it wasn’t as nearly as loud as the first one. It was definitely more far away, and didn’t actually shake the foundations of the library.

Yes, we were in a library. Or, at least I thought we were. Initially I thought I was placed in a book-filled guest room or something, but when I actually took a step outside into the main room I realized that there were books everywhere. Everywhere! They aligned with the North, West, South and Eastern parts of the room, and all of the bookshelves were filled to the brim with novels, Encyclopedias, factual books, collections of poems and more! The bookshelves were actually integrated into the walls themselves, so books stretched up as high as the ceiling. There were some tall oval windows that displayed the outside world in gaps between the books, and healthy looking plants were places on some of the windowsills, but otherwise this place was all paper and wood, which seems kinda odd to me because there’s a freaking fireplace made of wood dug into the base of the wall. Why hasn’t the building burned down by now? I have no clue. I bet it’s magical or something.

Actually, now that I think about it, I haven’t really gotten any time to think about the whole magic situation. After taking another sip of my tea, I glance down to my fingers and observe the rings around them. They both gave off a soft blue glow, but that was pretty much it. I just can’t believe that magic is an actual thing in this universe. I mean, the change in graphics was a lot to take in, and I felt like fainting when I saw Fluttershy for the first time, but magic? It’s a little bit much for me. I already know that I’m trying to avoid thinking about it, but at the same time I want to think about it. It makes no sense. How does it occur? How does one harness magic? Is it a test of one’s wills and the way he or she directs it? Is it all a flourish of magic words and incantations? Can everybody here use it, or is it limited to only the gifted? How well spread is it? Is it commonplace to see magic take place? Is it taboo?

There were some many questions and so little answers.

I didn’t want to think about it.

“So, as you already know, I’ve brought you down here to talk.” Twilight said, holding up a single piece of parchment in a pink aura with a quill beside it. I then noticed an ink pot was set on the table for when she needed it. What kind of a world is this that still writes with quills? “But that’s not all. I need to ask you a few questions in order to get a sense of who you are and what kind of abilities you have.”

Abilities? I think she’s expecting too much from me. I mean, she already knows that I have no idea how magic works, so what can I prove to her?

“Sure, go ahead.” I answer, encouraging her that I’m open of any sort of conversation. I just want her to lighten up on me, god damn it.

“Now in normal circumstances I would have you fill out an application for Ponyville Residence because that would cover many of the questions that I would like to ask, but unfortunately your translation spell I don’t think covers writing, and it’s guaranteed that we both don’t have the same writing, so I’ll ask these questions verbally.”

She’s right. Even though I would love to browse and see what this library has to offer, I can’t actually read any of the titles on the spines of the books. The language looks like a strange mixture between Arabic and Russian.

“Question one: State the name of your race please.”

“Uhh,” I begin completely and utterly competently. “Do you want a scientific definition, or…”

Twilight’s eyes light up. “Could you do that?”

“Sure. It’s Homo Sapiens.” 

Twilight got ready to write, but stopped and scratched behind her ear with the end of her quill. “I was about to ask you how to spell that, but forgot already that I would have no idea how your alphabet works.”

“How do you know that?” I ask. “We could try.”

Twilight smiled. “Sure, let’s try. Start by stating the first few letters.”

“Aye, bee, see, dee...”

I could already tell from Twilight’s face that my recital did not bode well. “That doesn’t sound like anything from the Equestrian alphabet at all.”

“Well, it was worth a shot.” I noted, trying to look at it with a more positive aspect.

“Just out of curiosity, how many letters does your alphabet have?” she enquired. She made the cutest face of curiosity I think I could ever see from an alien pony.

“Um, I think it was 26. Or was it 25? I forget.”

“Hmm, interesting,” Twilight said as she scribbled on a separate sheet of paper. “Ours has 31. I wonder how close the difference really is.”

Then, she looked up.

“What am I doing? We can talk about language later! Right now, I need the name of your species.”

“I already told you.” I stated.

“Oh!” she exclaimed. “What was it again? Homo Sapies?”

“Homo Sapien.”

Don’t ask me how I know that.

“Got it!” she declared as she wrote it down. “Next, I need your name.”

I squinted at her. “You already know my name.”

“I need your full name!” Twilight clarified, exasperated.

“Why should I give you my full name? Is this going on any official records or something?”

Twilight, peered upward, rubbing the bottom of her chin. “Well, probably, eventually. After I gather enough information I have to send it off to the Princess. She might have a better idea of what to do and how to get you back home to your planet. This in turn may run your records into the royal archives. After all, Equestria has never encountered a real life alien before, much less communicate it to the point where they know its name and species.”

My jaw dropped. “You’re sending it off to the top of your hierarchy!?”

Twilight frowned. “Well, of course. Why would I hide this from the princess? This is the discovery of a lifetime!”

My poor little heart felt like it was going to stop. “No no no no no, ok! Hold on a second! You haven’t told me anything about your government! I thought you were run by a government! Who’s this princess, and please don’t tell me that you can actually send off your documents to her directly by skipping the rest of the mailing process.”

Twilight had to mull that over for a second. “We’re actually a constitutional monarchy, so even though we elect mayors for our cities and provincial representatives, ultimately all Equestrian law has to be approved by the crown.”

Well, good to know Equestria has so many similarities with Canada.

“And our princess, Princess Celestia, is a loving and caring ruler that takes care of her kingdom with equality and humility.” Twilight continued to explain, a soft grin creeping up on her face. “She’s been in reign for over a thousand years now and raises the sun every morning to signal Equestria of a new day."

I dropped my tea. The teacup and plate fell to the floor with a loud clatter. I could feel the water soak into my pants, but I didn’t really care. It wasn’t that hot anymore, anyways.

“For… a thousand… years?” I ask, barely managing to will my conscious to actually work my vocal cords to make the sounds necessary to speak.

“Yeah.” Twilight confirmed, as if it were common knowledge.

“And… she raises… the sun?”

She nodded.

I collapsed and fell to the floor. Then, I curled up into the fetal position. It was the only way to comfort myself through my insanity. I began muttering under my breath how Equestria was all just a dream and that I would wake up any moment now and that magic did not exist and that in reality I was really back on Earth. My vision dipped between darkness and the light of the fireplace reflecting off of the wooden floor. My body was shivering, but I wasn’t cold. I was sweating, but I wasn’t hot. After a while I couldn’t even tell what I was saying, it was all nonsense to me. I didn’t care enough to listen.

A thousand years.

A thousand fucking years.

Frankly, I wouldn’t believe her if not for the fact that so far I’ve been trapped in a pink bubble and talked to a sentient pony with wings and a pink mane. Coupled with the fact that life has been painted over by a cartoonist and that I had to wear a stupid pair of rings to keep myself from blowing up, and well, you could say that I could believe anything at this point.

“Oh my goodness!” I heard a soft voice cry out in the back of my mind. There was a rush of wind that got swept down the back of my neck and then there were two pressures on my body. I could see a yellow figure peer down on me from the corner of my eye. “Are you ok?”

I sat back up, forcing Fluttershy off of me. She stumbled backwards, but gave me enough space to turn and face Twilight. I could feel tea soaking into my pants legs. “You’re kidding me. You’re kidding, right?”

Twilight was wide-eyed at my reaction. “N-no, I’m not kidding you. She’s lived for a thousand years and is essential to our survival ever since she took over raising the sun from the unicorns of old.”

“I–But–What–” I sputter. “You know what? I don’t even care anymore! Nope! Not a care in the world! Let’s just keep moving on and forget that you ever said that, alright?”

Twilight tilted her head quizzically. “Griffin, how long does the average Homo Sapiens live?”

I cross my arms. “80 years. Not to mention that you’re implying this lady–no, this princess is immortal! That makes no sense. Absolutely none.”

Twilight frowned. “Griffin, the average pony lives up to 110 years, sometimes even a little bit more. My friend’s grandmother is already 126. Princess Celestia is by no means immortal, but she lives a lot longer than any of us because of the magicks she controls on a daily basis.”

“Moving. On.” I growl, gritting my teeth.

Twilight sighed. Fluttershy slowly backed up into her seat once again, not making a peep. I don’t care what she tells me, it’s unhealthy for anyone to live for more than a thousand years! How has she not gone insane by this point? Think of all the loved and cared ones she’s lost so far! How can she cope with the guilt? Any lesser man would have succumb to the taunt of peaceful death by then, but I guess if she can raising the fucking sun every fucking day of the year, I guess she has to be made of some pretty tough stuff! I realize that Twilight’s telling the truth, but I can’t believe it. I refuse to believe it.

“Griffin,” Twilight began. I almost forgot she was even there for a moment. “How old are you?”

My head was a mess. It was difficult to try and wrap my brain around so many subjects at the same time. I almost blurted out “Swifty-five”, but held my breath until I could control myself. “I’m 16.”

I watched Twilight ponder that for a moment before scribbling it down on her parchment. I wonder how old she is. Given the age of her voice and the fact that she probably works in the library, she has to be at least 21. Also, if the has direct connections to the monarch of the land, I could easily see her being old enough to attend some kind of ‘University of Magic” or something like that. She’s the one that made the shield, I think. She’s the one that knew about my magic, even though I didn’t. Have I had the ability to use magic all my life, just not knowing about it? Is this a new thing, or have I performed magic before, but just can’t remember?

”You’re a wizard, Harry!”

Shut up, subconscious.

“What gender are you? Assuming that your race is identified by gender, of course.” Twilight asked, considering the differences that could be possible with a race that exists halfway across the cosmos.

“I’m male.” I reply simply, not offended. She quickly scratched a mark on her paper and began caressing the back of her ear with the feather of her quill again. She really couldn’t have known. Based on her question, I can assume that the pony (ugh) race has both males and females, it’s just that I haven’t seen any yet. I wonder if I’ll ever get to meet one before I leave this place. I peer out the window. The outside world is still being drowned in an endless onslaught of rain. I guess I won’t be going out the doors anytime soon.

Speaking of doors, someone was knocking on them.

Fluttershy sunk into her seat. Twilight perked up from her musings and glanced over the front entrance. She mumbled something about being closed but immediately said “I’ll get it.” right after.

Getting out of her seat, Twilight trotted over to the wooden door and grabbed the door handle with her magic. She could have just as well have done that from where she was sitting I’m pretty sure, but then again it might have been rude to open it from such a distance. It would be like someone knocking on an office door and the person inside saying “Come in.” as if you weren’t worth the energy for someone to open the door for you, or that the other person was too lazy to open the door themselves.

As soon as Twilight opened the door, a blast of fresh rainwater was swept into the building and Twilight backed up, her muzzle scrunched up in surprise. That shouldn’t be physically possible, but at this point I’m starting to get de-sensitized to everything that doesn’t make sense in general. Never the less, there were two dark figures standing in the doorway, probably getting soaked to the bone.

“Applejack! You’re back! Come on right in.” Twilight announced. I heard Fluttershy’s chair squeak as it shifted and an orange pony walked into the library.

She was so western you could practically feel it emanating off of her coat. Her brown, Stetson hat drooped over her equally wet head, with a blond ponytail (agh) sticking out of the back and curing around her neck. She had emerald green eyes and white freckles adorning her cheeks. Her tail was tied into a ponytail too, which in itself is confusing to think about, but here I am observing it with my own two eyes. Her expression was distinctly grumpy, but not necessarily unthankful. I could only bet her mood was reflected off of the weather she had to trek through just to get here.

For somewhat reason there was an image of three red apples grouped together on her flank. Maybe that’s why Twilight called her Applejack. Hey, Twilight has a picture too! Except hers is a starburst of white and pink! I never noticed it before because she was always looking directly in front of me, but now that she’s kind of sideways, I can see that she has one as well. Does Fluttershy have one? Is it normal for every pony to have an image near their backside? Was that some sort of branding? It looked so odd that I couldn’t think of it as anything else. It kinda looked like a tattoo. Now that’s something you don’t see everyday, a pony with a tattoo on the side of her butt. I don’t think I could tell anyone at home anything about this. They would ship me off to a mental institution for sure.

“Thanks, Twi.” Applejack said, her expression swiftly easing up to express her gratitude. “It was getting’ kinda heavy out there.”

Jesus, that’s the fakest southern accent I’ve ever heard. Or at least, that’s what I want to think, but I really don’t know what a proper ‘southern’ accent sounds like. It just sounds southern to me. I don’t know the details of such an accent to properly differentiate between fake and real, but it really doesn’t matter. She would hits the farm girl stereotype right on the nail if not for the fact that she’s a pony and not a human being. But maybe that doesn’t apply here. Maybe she doesn’t have to be human to still work on a farm. Maybe there are farm ponies here. I’m probably just being discriminating about it. I don’t want to be species-ist.

“Hello, Twilight,” a voice called out from the other figure standing in the doorway. “I don’t suppose that you mind me coming in as well, do you?”

Another pony stepped in. 

> Chapter 2: Chasing Answers, Part 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


{*Omniscient point of view, Ponyville Library*}


Griffin watched with slight curiosity as he traced the pompous-sounding female voice back to the figure of a mare standing outside the library doors. He couldn’t tell much about her from the angle and the light. Light from the fire reflected off of some glistening surface on her, and she was clearly wearing a flat hat, but he couldn’t notice anything else.

“Rarity! It’s good to see you! Please come in!” Twilight greeted, a smile on her face. Griffin switched his focus to try and gauge Twilight’s expression before the guest took two steps into the room.

A pearl white pony stood on top of the welcome mat, her blue eyes vibrant and her eyelashes long. She was wearing a white rain jacket that was a tad bit tight but kept well to the curve of her neck and lengthened to drape over her deep purple tail. Her mane was curled in a single swirl that hanged over one side of her head and carefully poked out beneath her white rain hat. The very bottom of her hooves appeared to be shined and smoothed by some kind of polish even though the bottom of her legs were wet with water. Surprising Griffin, it appeared as if she barely walked through the storm, much less trekked through it with Applejack to Twilight’s home. The soft sound of magic rang in the air as a light sapphire glow surrounded her cap and grabbed it off her head, revealing a horn underneath that was currently ignited with energy. The buttons of her jacket undid themselves under the influence of Rarity’s spells and she began wiping the bottom of her hooves on the mat.

“Thank you, Twilight.” Rarity said, subconsciously stepping out of her jacket as her clothes and her hat were hung on a wooden coat hanger near the entrance, dripping wet.  “It was getting quite cold and dreary out there.”

“The weather’s pretty bad, I have to admit.” Twilight agreed.

Applejack sat on the floor and began wringing out her hat, being careful not to wreck it in the process. “Ah’m sorry Twi, but ah couldn’t shake off Rarity. She just had to see what was goin’ on and follow me back to eur place.”

“Applejack!” Rarity exclaimed, taken aback. “Your bluntness is truly cutting! Do I not have the right to go out and see one of my dearest friends on a horrible, rainy day like this?”

“You have the right, alright.” Applejack muttered under her breath just loud enough so that her listener could hear it, a scowl on her face. “The right to keep eur trap shut.”

“How rude! Why, I never!”

“Applejack, it’s ok. She’s welcome in my house any time of the day.” Twilight reassured, trying to defuse the situation.

Rarity smiled. “Thank you, Twilight. You’re too kind.”

“So you saw Applejack out in the street, I’m guessing?” Twilight asked.

“Yes, well, I was sitting in my workroom, planning out the next dress to sweep up the market when I spotted poor Applejack trodding outside in the pouring rain heading back to her farm with an empty apple cart attached to her back, missing her hat! That struck me as odd, seeing that the market today would be closed on account of the terrible weather, and I would have never have thought that Applejack would lose her Stetson of all things, but I thought nothing more of it. Then, about twenty minutes later I find Applejack again trotting outside towards inner Ponyville, this time without the cart and with her hat sitting properly on her head. That’s when I just had to know what was going on. I managed to put on my rain jacket and catch Applejack before she left sight of the Carousel Boutique.”

Griffin noted Applejack’s downcast, if not grumpy, appearance.

“When I asked Applejack what was going on, she refused to tell me anything, but there was nothing stopping me from following her, so I did. What I didn’t know was that it would lead me to your house, Twilight.” Rarity explained as she approached the ring of cushioned seats beside the fire.

Twilight released her gaze from Rarity as she saw Griffin nervously glancing in Rarity’s direction, the unicorn quickly approaching his position. “Rarity, you’re welcome in my home and all, but before you go in any further there’s just one thing we have to–”

Rarity made a blood curdling scream as she backed up a few steps after noticing what was already sitting on the red sofa. Griffin had his hands on his ears, wincing as he tried to make the ringing in his eardrums cease.

“What in dear Celestia is that!?” Rarity exclaimed, flinching away from Griffin but keeping her eyes on track.

“Greaaaaat.” Griffin thought to himself.

“Rarity, Applejack, this is Griffin. Griffin, this is Applejack and Rarity.” Twilight said, gesturing to each other with a forced smile. Fluttershy rested her empty cup on the coffee table, letting go of the blanket that was wrapped around her and watching the situation play out intently. Applejack stared at Griffin, the realization sinking in that the alien had woken up and was sitting in Twilight’s living room.

“It looks like some kind of hideous, malformed Diamond Dog!” Rarity noted, still backing away from the human.

“Hey!” Griffin shouted, flipping his middle finger up and showing it to Rarity, much to the confusion of Twilight. “Up yours, lady!”

“Griffin!” Twilight countered, shooting him a glare before apologetically smiling at Rarity. She had no clue as to the meaning of Griffin’s words or the gesture he just displayed, but she knew it was without a doubt rude. “I’m sorry Rarity, but we have a bit of a situation at the moment. Griffin here came from outer space and landed in Sweet Apple Acres, and we still have to figure out what to do with him.”

Griffin could not believe what he was hearing. “Figure out what to do with me? Excuse me? That topic is not up for debate! We’re finding a way to get me off this crazy planet A.S.A.P.!”

“S-So that thing, sitting right there on your couch, is an alien?”

“To put it simply, yes.” Twilight answered.

Griffin scowled. “I thought we were past this ‘alien’ thing already!”

Rarity turned to look at Applejack. “Applejack, was… Was that why you had the apple cart with you? You were carrying an ALIEN from Sweet Apple Acres to the Ponyville Library?”

Applejack gave a solemn smile, shutting her eyes. “Eeyep. There ain’ no lyin’ about it.”

Rarity’s legs gave out and she sat on her flanks, grabbing her face. “I don’t believe this!”

“Trust me Rarity, I found it hard to believe too.” Twilight reassured, walking up to Rarity and putting a hoof on her shoulder. “But once we started talking to him and got some questions answered, it became a little bit easier to handle.”

“Hellooo!” Griffin yelled, grabbing the two mares’ attention. “I’m right here, you know! Could we please stop acting as if I’m some kind of horrific realization?”

“How rude.” Rarity stated, glaring at Griffin.

“Well, excuuuse me, but when I have someone in disbelief, pointing fingers at me and shouting ‘He’s a freak! He’s a freak!’ I think that I’m allowed to get a bit ticked off!” Griffin said, folding his arms. Applejack struggled to keep her laughing to a minimum as she covered her smile with a foreleg.

“Griffin,” Twilight began, her patience wavering as she tried to handle the increasingly stressful situation as best as she could. “I’m asking for a little bit of your patience and time. Do you think you could give a little bit more while I sort things out?”

Griffin rolled his eyes and turned to look at the fire, resting his head on his fist that was perched up on the rim of the sofa. “Fine. Do what you need to do. Whatever. I’m sorry.”

Twilight wasn’t completely happy with his response. “But I’ll be good enough for now.” she reasoned with herself. Her attention went back to the collapsed white unicorn sitting in front of her, staring up into Twilight’s eyes expectantly.

“Rarity, I know this is a lot to take in at the moment, and learning that aliens do actually exist is something quite literally out of this world, but I need you to keep this a secret. This is something that we cannot afford to let out. If ponies in Ponyville found out that we were keeping a real, live alien in the library there would be a mass riot on our hooves.”

“Have you sent Princess Celestia a letter already?” Rarity asked.

“We already tried,” Twilight began. “But something kept the message from reaching her. The Dragonfire spell wasn’t working, and instead kept sending the message back to Spike every time he sent it. There is no way Pegasus Post is delivering any letters today, so I can’t really reach the Princess.”

“But isn’t there some kind of emergency back-up that you and the Princess set up just in case something like this happens?” Rarity questioned, her tone growing desperate.

Twilight scratched the back of her head. “No, not really. I’ve already have Spike to send my letters for me. When I was younger we would always be together, so when I needed to tell Princess Celestia something I would just have him send the message. The Dragonfire spell isn’t supposed to fail, but I think there’s something in the storm that’s messing it up.”

“There is one way,” Twilight noted in her head. “But that would be a one-way trip and would require a lot of magic, not to mention that I would be leaving Griffin all alone with Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, and Spike.”

“I knew that the storm was, to put it in the words of Pinkie, a doozy,” Rarity said after thinking it through for a moment. “But in reality, of all of the things that could possibly happen, this is the.”

“Oh, heavens.” Applejack complained, tilting her hat over her eyes.

“Worst!”

“Possible!”

“Thing!” Rarity finished as she grabbed a couch out of nowhere and collapsed on it.

“Where the crap did that come from?” Griffin wondered, jaw loose at the antics before him.

“We’ll get through it, Rarity.” Twilight reassured her friend. “We’ve got it all under control. All we have to do now is gather a little more data and format it so that it’s ready to be delivered first thing as soon as the storm ends. With a little luck from Rainbow Dash, hopefully that time will be soon.”

Rarity sat up from her position. “Oh yeah. I guess Rainbow Dash is up there trying to calm things down. I’ll bet you a bundle of gems that she is giving that storm two for! Although, it is a bit strange that the Pegasi in Cloudsdale would let the weather accelerate to such a disastrous degree.”

Twilight gave an uncertain look to Fluttershy and Applejack, who all gave it in return. “Uh, Rarity, I’m not sure if this is the Pegasus Ponies in Cloudsdale’s fault.”

“Now what would give you that idea, Twilight?” Rarity asked, one of her eyebrows raised.

“I have my hunches, but haven’t had the time to test anything out. For now, my main concern is with Griffin over here and how we’re going to send him back to his home planet, if we can do it at all.”

“Hmm, I didn’t actually think she had been considering the thought.” Griffin pondered. ”I thought she was considering to throw me into some deep, dark dungeon, to be honest.”

Rarity smiled, getting off of her fainting couch. “Well, yes. I suppose that is the most logical point of action at this point, isn’t it?”

Twilight trotted back to her spot near the coffee table. “We have to continue questioning, but you’re welcome to stay and watch. You too, Applejack.”

Rarity tapped her chin, pondering the offer before her. She traveled over to a large white chair that was right beside Griffin’s sofa near the fire. “I will happily accept, Twilight. But would you mind getting me a spot of tea? I have become a tad bit parched after my march over here.”

“Oh, yeah! Certainly Rarity!” Twilight said, picking up the tea pot that was already set on the table. She frowned as she pulled the pot towards her, opened the top and took a look inside. “The water’s gotten cold already. I’ll be right back.”

Twilight quickly made her way towards a doorway on the far side of the room opposite to the front door that led to the kitchen. Applejack trotted to the front of the fireplace and plopped herself right down in front of it, taking off her hat and setting it beside her right side. She grinned and let out a happy sigh, closing her eyes and enjoying the warm waves of the flames dry off her soaked body.

Rarity turned to Griffin, clearing her throat. “So, from what I understand, you come from a different planet?”

“Yes.” Griffin acknowledged.

“How did you get here?”

Griffin’s eyes trailed downward to the wooden floor of the tree. “I don’t know.”

Rarity tilted her head. “Don’t know?”

“Don’t know? Don’t remember? There really isn’t a difference.” Griffin clarified, shifting on the couch so that he was sprawled out on his back with his arms and legs spread out but still able to sit up with ease. “There’s just a big blank spot in my head between the events of yesterday and today. Almost makes me wonder if I got hit on the head or something. Brain trauma would be a lot easier of an explanation of how I got here.”

That made Rarity even more confused. “Why would you want to have a head injury be your explanation as to your arrival here?”

Griffin smirked, folding his arms. “Because right now, this very moment, feels surreal to me. The colours of my surroundings are all wrong, light has different physics in this world, most of the detail in my vision has all but disappeared, and magic exists. Magic actually exists! On my world, magic is nothing but stage tricks done by the sleight of hand, smoke and mirrors. I still can hardly believe it, even after seeing it with my own two eyes. If I were to tell anybody at home about this, they would never believe me and I would have been sent off to the loony bin.”

The mention of a stage with tricks reminded Rarity of a certain deep blue Unicorn that briefly turned her head into the fashion disaster of last week. She shuddered and opened her mouth for a rebuttal, but the kitchen door slammed open for Twilight to come trotting into the resting room with a tea pot filled with steaming hot water. She got to the coffee table and started pouring into one of the clean, empty cups on the surface while picking up a teabag from a plate. She placed the bag in the cup in which the scolding hot water was entering and stirred it lightly. Once Twilight was finished, Rarity picked up the tea cup with her own magic and sniffed the mixture.

“Mmm.” Rarity hummed with satisfaction. “Thank you, Twilight.”

“No problem, Rarity.” Twilight responded. “Now, where were we, Griffin?”

Griffin was interrupted by his thoughts by Twilight’s call. “Huh? Oh, uh…”

Just then, something hit the window with a loud slap, rattling the glass hard enough to almost make it pop out of the frame.

> Chapter 2: Chasing Answers, Part 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


{*First-Person, Main Character*}


“What in tarnation was that?” Applejack inquired, shooting up from her spot on the floor.

We all began looking up and around, trying to find the source of the racket from the window. Well, except for Fluttershy. She just threw her blanket over herself and started whimpering. Poor thing, she’s so scared of everything! But anyways, I quickly spotted a dark outline imprinted on one of the high up windows, one that was just to the left of the top of the stairs to the guest room. I couldn’t make the figure out, but it looked like a giant frog with wings had gotten itself caught in the storm and was flung right into the window pane.

Look! Over there!” I called out, pointing to the figure. Everyone turned to look at my beckoning.

“Huh, interesting…” I heard Twilight mutter to herself as she wrote something on her piece of paper. I think she might be referring to my pointing gesture, since the ponies have no fingers. I still managed to draw their attention, never the less. Pony body language in this universe is very similar to human body language. I have no doubt that ponies have the same pointing gesture available to their actions, except without the actual digits part.

There was a crash of thunder and lightning swiftly lit up the situation, the flash allowing us to see just exactly what hit the window. The creature was a light blue, not entirely unlike the colour of the open sky. Its wings were the same colour of her, although now that I think about it those wings look way too small to be able to support anything that size. It had the strangest tail I have ever seen, with the hair decorated in the colours of the rainbow. The hair atop its head perfectly matched the hue scheme of its other end. It was completely squashed up against the glass, its stomach and limbs pressed hard on the surface. It had no fingers of any sort, and instead all four legs ended in little stumps like the rest of my company here in the library. Its head was tilted up as its neck leaned up against the window and its tongue stuck out and forward, red as a cherry. It was a pretty funny sight to observe. I heard Applejack snort in the background.

“Rainbow!” I heard Twilight call out as she leaped out of her seat and rushed into the kitchen.

“My goodness! What happened to her?” Rarity questioned.

“Ooh, I hope she’s ok…” Fluttershy trailed off.

It appeared that she hit the window pretty hard, but if anything that window must have been reinforced with something or other, because it somehow managed to keep together against that mass slamming into it straight in the center. Rainbow Dash’s coat didn’t hold I guess, and I watched as she slowly but surely slid down the clear surface, creating a loud squeaking noise the entire way. I winced as she finally fell off the window and landed in something that made a loud clatter outside.

“Ouch.” was all I had to say about that.

Then, there was silence in the room except for the crackling of the fire nearby. No one wanted to spark up any kind of small talk until Twilight got back with her cargo. I wondered what kind of pony would have wings like that, and how the heck they could attain flight with such small things. How would they even managed to preen and take care of their feathers? Then again, these ponies can bend their bodies and limbs like no one I’ve ever seen before. I mean, not only does this world look cartoonish, but apparently their citizens are also act like they’re in one too. I briefly glanced over to my right and noticed behind Rarity that there was a door slightly ajar that was closed before. Rarity must have noticed my gaze and turned around to see what I was staring at.

“What’s got your attention, dear?” Rarity said, clearly not putting the pieces together like I was. She didn’t notice before that the door was certainly closed before.

Then, I saw it. There was a little bit of movement behind Rarity’s chair and I barely managed to catch a purple blur disappear behind the fabric. I got up and laid myself straight flat on the floor on my stomach, peering beneath Rarity’s chair. There were two purple feet with tiny, sharp-looking green claws on the end. My mind spun in circles trying to figure out exactly what I was looking at.

“Rarity, I think there’s something behind your chair.” I informed her.

I heard a cry of alarm come from Rarity’s location, but Rarity didn’t actually say anything.

“Huh?” Rarity iterated, turning around and craning her neck around the chair. Shimmying around the direct opposite side of the chair was one of the strangest beings I’ve ever seen before. It had to be no larger than two feet tall, and was scaly all over the place. It adorned a deep shade of purple with emerald green eyes that had slits for the irises. It stood on two legs and had clawed hands with four fingers on each one, but still had a tail that ended in a single pointed triangle. Its head was very large, it had fins traveling from the top center of its skull all the way down its back and had these green flap-things that sat where ears would be on a human.

It initially wasn’t paying attention to my direction, and instead focused its worries staying away from Rarity’s sight. But, when it turned its head slightly to the right, its eyes met mine.

Seconds passed.

“Waa!” It yelled, jumping back and out of its cover.

“Spike!” Rarity cried out. “What in blue blazes are you doing?”

“I, uh,” it began, quickly tossing its head between Rarity’s stare and mine. Spike shot up to his feet and put his hands together near his stomach, fiddling with his thumbs as he tried to think of something else to say next. I was strangely touched by observing such a familiar action be played out in this alien world.

“Twilight sent me to bed after she got back from Sweet Apple Acres with Applejack but I couldn’t fall asleep and I couldn’t just wait while a real life alien was in our house so I got out of bed and watched Twilight talk to him until you and Applejack came in.” he rapidly said, seemingly on the verge of tears. His voice was so young and was wavering of its confidence. “Then I wanted to get a closer look but without being seen so I snuck out and hid behind your chair and then Twilight left so I thought it was save to take a peek but then he noticed that I left the door open!”

His mouth closed shut, but he wasn’t completely finished. It took him a moment to gather up strength to say his next two words. “I’m sorry!”

Rarity really couldn’t settle on an expression and set her face to ‘shuffle’ until it stopped on empathy. She got off her chair and walked up to Spike as Spike peered up at her, looking as if he was ready to faint.

“Oh, Spiky-wiky…” Rarity cooed, trailing her hoof against one of his cheeks.

Uh, what.

“You know you should follow Twilight’s rules.” she continued, pulling him into a hug that he happily accepted. I could see the inner conflict in his eyes, his will fighting against the tears that were threatening to fall down his face. “But I can understand that young curiosity is a powerful motivator. I’m sure Twilight will accept any apology you give her. However, you need to listen to her more carefully. Do you understand?”

He signed, closing his eyes and accepting his fate. “I do.”

But while still in the hug, he glanced over to me. I kept my vision on him, still trying to figure out what he was. He certainly wasn’t a pony, but no lizard I know walks on two legs, talks and is coloured purple. Wait. His name was Spike, right? And Twilight spoke before about a Spike before and how their ‘Dragonfire’ spell failed…

Holy crap.

I got off the ground onto my knees and began backing away very slowly.

“What?” he voiced out, grabbing the attention of Rarity who looked in my direction as well.

“Holy smokes,” I said, still moving. “You’re a dragon. Holy smokes, and actual, living, breathing, real dragon.”

“Well, yeah, I am.” he stated, breaking his hug with Rarity. “So what?”

I shook my head, a smile on my face. “Dragon’s aren’t real on my world. They’re works of fiction, disciples of tales and legends centuries old.”

“Wow, really?” he said with childlike wonder.

I halted, realizing I had no reason to fear Spike. He acted just like a little kid. “Yeah, really. There are many stories created in Human lore about the might of dragons, how they breathe scolding hot fire and have enough strength to take down a castle single-handedly.” I purposely left out the part where they capture medieval princesses as an antagonistic monster and the princes has to slay the beast, cutting its head off by the neck. He didn’t need to know that. Rarity looked like she was in just much shock as little Spike was.

“But they don’t exist on your planet?” he asked, taking a few steps towards me.

I got up off the palms of my hands and sat up, sitting with my knees still on the ground. “No, they don’t really. But every single story with a dragon is memorable and famous and magical in such a way that humans can’t even begin to comprehend.”

“Wow.” Spike uttered. He slowly inched his way closer.

“Magic doesn’t exist on my world, Spike,” I started. “So every single ounce of fantasy that humans read about, that humans hear about, is a world of fantasy on its own. The tales of dragons have stood the test of time, because even though they’re believed to be a myth, they’ve lasted for over a thousand years, and stories can be found on every single corner of the planet.”

There seemed to be a sparkle of pride coming from the young drake’s eye. “Wow.”

He finally managed to move himself within my arms reach. I gave him the warmest smile I could you give. “Hello, Spike. My name is Griffin.”

“My name’s Spike!” he shouted enthusiastically before catching himself. “Although, uh, you already just said that. I mean, you already knew.”

“Spike?” Twilight asked, leaning in from the kitchen door. She was completely soaked head to tail and had to have been casting something due to the glowing coming from her horn. She trotted into the living room towards the fireplace with a bit of a furrowed brow, and I could see an unconscious blue pony following her close from behind floating in mid-air. “I thought I told you to get to bed!”

“Aw, but that’s no fair, Twilight!” Spike complained. “It’s the one time in the entire history of Equestria that an alien lands on the planet and I’m the only one in this library not to see it?”

Twilight magic’d Rainbow over Applejack’s head to the front of the fireplace and plopped her down on the floor, the water from Rainbow’s coat shedding off and casting a shiny orange reflection off of her body. Her horn lighted up a bit and there was a strange pink aura that went over Twilight’s figure, drying her as fast as a large heated fan would. “It’s the principle that counts, Spike, not the reasoning! What if Griffin was dangerous? What if he escaped the shield back up in the guest room and was rampaging all over the library? He would have never known that you were here and wouldn’t attack you!”

“But then you would be in danger!” Spike said.

“I can handle myself, Spike, you know that. The girls and I have been in plenty of dangerous situations before. We know what we are doing. You, on the other hoof, don’t need to worry about us, and instead need to focus on your safety. I worry about you, Spike! I don’t want to see you get hurt!”

Spike sat on the floor and folded his arms. “It isn’t fair.”

Twilight trotted up to Spike and scooped him into a hug. “Life isn’t fair, Spike. I wanted you to stay out of sight for your safety. I would have introduced you to Griffin if I found that he meant no harm, you know that! You gotta promise me that you’ll head my words more often, ok?”

Spike sniffed. “Ok.”

“That’s my number one assistant.” Twilight said, nuzzling the top of his head with her chin.

“And for what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”

“That’s ok Spike. Nothing came out of it. No harm, no foul, right Griffin?”

The glaze over my eyes that had been building slowly over the past minute quickly dissolved. “Right.”

Spike was just a kid. He was just a kid! A kid dragon that lived in a library full of flammable objects with a perfectly functioning fireplace. That totally goes hand in hand. But what about Twilight? What does Twilight mean to Spike? It’s obvious that they’re really close. I mean, Rarity is just a neighbour that really likes Spike (Right?), but Twilight was the actual one to give the orders to Spike. Spike, go to bed. Spike, you can’t see the alien. Spike, go cast the Dragonfire spell. Twilight has a certain amount of authority over the guy, but how far does that extend? Is Twilight taking care of Spike for a certain amount of time? Are they living together, or is Spike just visiting from somewhere? Is Twilight Spike’s mother? I didn’t think that Twilight would be old enough for that kind of thing to happen, or rather, be the kind of person, err, pony, to let that kind of thing happen to her. Was it an accident? Was it a spur-of-the-moment kind of thing?

Because if it was, what happened to Spike’s real parents?

“Aw, that’s so sweet! Isn’t that right, Rarity?”

I turned to my right, a new voice shocking me out of the moment. I could feel everyone’s gaze turn over to the source of the words, whoever that may have been. There was a pink pony with a very curly mane hanging upside down right beside Rarity.

What.

“Gah, Pinkie!” Rarity exclaimed.

What.

“”Pinkie, what are you doing here?” Twilight simply asked, not looking twice.

Whaaaaat.

The pink monster gave a wide smile. “Well you see Twilight, I was sitting at home in Sugercube Corner when I got all jittery and jumpy! It was a doozy alright for sure, but I couldn’t tell where it would be or if I would be there to see it. Then, the storm started, and I got a flappy eyelash, itchy hoof and creaky knee combo, which means that there’s an extraterrestrial at my friend’s house! So I jumped on over to your house and sure enough, there he is right there!”

Aaaaaghpgt.

She was pointing at me. I could not function the correct muscles to pull the bottom of my jaw back up. What am I even looking at here?? I glanced up. There was a suction cup attached to the ceiling that had a rope tied to a hook in the middle of the rubber which hung down to a few feet above floor level, where Pinkie was hanging. Upside down. How was she even doing that without ankles? How did get here without making any noise?

“Hi, I’m Pinkie Pie!” she greeted me. “What’s your name?”

“Haaaaaaa.”

“Ah think you broke him, sugarcube.”

“Oh, that’s alright! I know how to fix him!” she declared, flipping off of the rope and onto the ground, landing on all fours with the grace of a cat. She reached into her mane and started scratching her head.

Glomp

Oh. Nevermind. She wasn’t scratching her head, she was reaching into it to grab a cupcake which she promptly shoved into my mouth. I fell over with the force of her rocketing foreleg when she slammed the delectable halfway into my esophagus, my back landing flat on the ground.

Mmm, frosting. Delicious.

I heard a lot of trotting as ponies approached me from every direction. Six figures leaned over my head, trying to assess whether or not my situation was dire.

“Oh dear. Are you alright, Griffin?” Rarity asked me.

“Darn, that didn’t fix anything.” Pinkie observed. “Usually cupcakes cures speechlessness.”

Holding my breath, I carefully reached into my open mouth and plucked the cupcake from my inner throat. My hand made slimy noises as it pulled out and all the girls cry out in disgust and back up from my form. I held the baked good in front of me, its top covered in my saliva. I swallowed, tasting the pink frosting that was once on the top of that cupcake as it went down. I allowed myself to breathe again.

“Eww! Gross!” Twilight shouted.

“Ugh! Disgusting!” Rarity voiced.

“Dang nabit, Griffin!” Applejack exclaimed.

I glared at the offending pink pony who almost choked me with a treat that came from the depths of the hair on top of her head. She gave me a sheepish smile as she put her hooves behind her back, knowing that she was in trouble but really didn’t care. She thought it was worth my reaction.

“You are one strange character.” I said, taking a bite out of the cupcake.

> Chapter 2: Chasing Answers, Part 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


{*Omniscient point of view, Ponyville Library*}


Griffin’s mind was still trying to process the events that occurred before him, even though he was taking great pleasure in consuming the cupcake that the offender had given to him. He chewed slowly, his eyes lost to the upper left corner of his vision, wondering just what fraction of his adventure thus far had been true and what had been just a trick of his mind. All the girls around him, save for Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, were absolutely appalled and disgusted on how he ate the slimy delectable with such lack of care.

“Ok, I’m pretty certain that I’m high and that this is all just a dream now. One-hundred percent sure.” he mused, gulping down the bits of sugar he bit in to.

“Silly billy!” Pinkie Pie cried out, jumping up and putting a hoof around Griffin’s shoulder from behind. “You’re not dreaming! We’re right in front of you, after all! What kind of a crazy person would dream about ice cream coloured ponies in a bright world that looks like a six-year-old’s scrapbook?”

Griffin’s expression became neutral in an instant. All the mares gave concerned looks at each other as they witnessed Griffin’s sudden reaction. Rarity raised her eyebrows, finally realizing the reality that Griffin was experiencing at that very moment. Fluttershy took a few steps towards the biped cautiously, her head low but her gaze high. She watched as Griffin stared straight ahead, not reacting to anything. There was a brief flash of light in the room and thunder crashed after a few second of silence, the pitter-patter of rain against the windowpanes filling the room.

“Griffin? Are… Are you ok?” Fluttershy asked.

He said nothing. After a few brief moments of tension, he took a deep breath in, and back out slowly. Twilight couldn’t help but use the moment to float over her notes and a quill to start writing down notes on human breathing behaviour.

“I’m done.” And with that, be approached the front door.

“Griffin! Where in Equestria are you going?” Rarity inquired, worry reflecting off of her eyes.

“I’m done! I’m fucking done!” the human announced, bending over and placing his hand on the doorknob. “This is bullshit! This is just complete and utter bullshit! After I finally get a hold on this place’s physics and mechanics, something else happens that blows my mind.”

He opened the door. A blast of chilling wind and rain slammed into his figure, blowing his face and hair back and causing him to squint. As he felt the warmth of the fireplace rush past his ankles to the outside world he swiftly closed the wooden barrier.

“Never mind.” he said, turning around. “But Applejack! You’re another pony that neither has wings nor a horn! Surely you can’t be able to appear out of nowhere too!”

“Er…” Applejack iterated, adjusting the hat on her head.

Twilight took a step forward. “It’s just Pinkie, Griffin. Pinkie can do things that no pony can understand. You can’t let yourself think about it too much.”

“But this makes no sense!” Griffin pointed out, gesturing over to Pinkie Pie, who was swatting at the empty air with an annoyed expression.

Twilight held her hoof up in admission. “I know it makes no sense. But it isn’t supposed to make sense. You just have to take it at face value. I once tried to figure out why Pinkie’s so random, and none of my data or research got me anywhere except in a wheelchair.”

Griffin was thoroughly shocked.

“I-It wasn’t that bad!” Twilight exclaimed. “I recovered quickly! I wasn’t permanently injured or anything! I swear.”

He gave a shifty expression to Pinkie.

The hyperactive baker pouted. “You’ve being no fair, Griffy-Griff! You barely know me and you’re already making conclusions about the way I am!”

Griffin sighed, his shoulders slumping. “You’re right. But this… this…”

Twilight decided to take her turn again. “Don’t. Think. About it.”

“Fine! Fine. I give up.” Griffin announced, throwing his arms up in resignation. Twilight took notice on the rings around Griffin’s fingers, as they were glowing blue more harshly than before.

“Uh oh.” Twilight thought, turning towards her the door to her own room to get another pair of inhibitor rings. Before she could get anywhere however, another crazy event occurred in her slowly deteriorating peaceful home.

“Yiiikes!” Rainbow Dash cried out, launching out from her lying position on the floor and up into the air.

Several stacks of paper that had been sitting on Twilight’s table had been swept upward with the wind coming from Rainbow’s powerful wings. Open books on Twilight’s nearby work desk flipped pages rapidly, quills were taken with the powerful air currents and ash from the fireplace blasted forward, the flame raising in height and intensity from the sudden influx of oxygen. All the mares and the single dragon screamed as they were blasted by a storm of soot, paper and feathers. A window beside the stairs burst open with a shutter, the chilling outside air flooding the library and quickly carrying the warmth out of the chamber. Rain mixed with ash and there were suddenly tiny puddles of mud appearing on Twilight’s usually pristine floor.

Twilight was holding her hoof over her eyes, trying to keep several flying objects out of her face. “Rainbow! What’s wrong?”

“Haaa! Hot! Hot hot! Yeeowch!” Rainbow cried, slamming against the floor and promptly started rolling around.

Rainbow’s landing allowed Twilight a split second to see what all the hubbub was about. The end of Rainbow’s tail was a host to a flame that was slowly eating up the hair. It was traveling up the line of rainbow strands at a frightening speed. Rainbow flailed about, trying to put out the heat that was lit quite literally under her butt.

Twilight focus her magic and her horn was ignited with energy. The girls behind her were still screaming, running around in a panic except for a certain human and farmpony. She focused on the fiery end of Rainbow and the air around her tail distorted, killing the flame instantly. There was a tiny trail of smoke that was left of Rainbow’s smoldering behind, which was too squashed out by Twilight as she cast a cold spell around the area. Rainbow stopped, having realized that she was no longer in danger, and laid on the floor, panting. The objects around the room continued to fly around, although with less ardour since the Pegasus creating the wind current in the first place was now firmly grounded. Twilight watched with growing frustration as some of her stray notes flew right into the fireplace, burning them to dust instantly. A symphony of thunder and lightning played in the background, making Griffin see stars from all the sudden bursts of light. The open window was shut and latched, the outside air rapping against the glass aggressively. The pieces of paper, quills and ash quickly decent onto the floor. One by one the mares stopped panicking, with Spike to be the last to realize that there was nothing left to panic about.

They stood in silence, Twilight fuming in the quiet, Rainbow ticked off and Griffin annoyed in general.

“Rainbow Dash,” Twilight began, turning around to face her friend. “After all the chaos and mayhem you managed to bring into my quiet, little home, I have one question for you.”

Rainbow looked up, a scowl on her face. 

“WHAT’S THE BIG IDEA?” Twilight screamed, the Royal Canterlot Voice spell activating to fully display the emotions in Twilight.

Rainbow shook her head back and forth and picked at her ears, trying to get the ringing out. She glanced up at the window. “Who the hay put me right beside the fire? I got my tail burned off for crying out loud!”

Everyone looked at Rainbow’s Tail. It was absolutely ruined, and the stench of burnt hair permeated the room.

“I did, Rainbow, and I was going to dry you off with a spell too, but I got distracted. I’m sorry you got set on fire. I thought that you were already far away enough from the fireplace to not get harmed.”

Griffin gave a sheepish look, glancing around to see if anyone would look at him. “Oh crap. Maybe I shouldn’t have opened the door in the first place. That initial surge of oxygen that hit the fire and set Rainbow alight might have been my fault.”

“Since when do you lock your windows anyways, Twilight? If I had been able to get through, then I wouldn’t have gotten set on fire in the first place.” Rainbow Dash said, rubbing the end of her sore muzzle.

Twilight’s brows furrowed. “You know just as well as I do that there’s an extreme storm causing havoc outside. Only a crazy pony would keep their window unlocked, which apparently happened to my window anyways when you rammed into it. Besides, most of the time when you do enter my home through the window, you forget to actually open it up first, and I have to keep replacing my library window on a monthly basis.”

“But I pay for the damages all the time!” Rainbow complained.

“No you don’t!” Twilight accused, walking up to Rainbow and pointing at her. “You pay for the window sometimes, but other times you forget, or you don’t have the money and you tell me that you’ll pay me back later and then forget anyways. I’ve been letting it go because you’re my friend and you’re accident prone, but I have to put my hoof down somewhere! I enchanted all my windows so that they’re reinforced to not break all the time!”

“That’s a lie!” Rainbow shouted.

“She ain’ lyin’!” Applejack proposed, taking her own steps forward.

“This is none of your business!”

“Like hay it is! All of us in the room were un’er an assault of paper and rain because of you! The least you could do is pony up for eur actions.”

Rainbow got to her hooves. “I got set on fire! Of course I’m going to panic!”

Applejack approached. “It ain’ matter, ya’ll gotta stop bein’ a wuss an’ calm down for a sec!”

Rainbow was muzzle to muzzle with Applejack. “You wanna say those words to my face again, punk?”

“Rainbow! Stop it this instant!” Twilight ordered.

“I dare you to hit me. I double dog dare you!”

“Whoa whoa whoa, let’s just all calm down and think of a way to the solution without pounding each other’s face in.” Griffin said, running up to the two and trying to gently push them away from each other. Applejack kept her deadly glare at her rival, but Rainbow took a few seconds for Griffin’s presence to sink in for her.

Her eyebrows narrowed into a scornful gaze. 

“This is all your fault!” she shouted, tackling the human.

All the mares gasped as Griffin went soaring across the room with Rainbow Dash plowing against his stomach. He hit the wall hard and fell to the floor, a shower of books toppling over him. He put his arms and knees up to protect himself from the onslaught of 500-page hardcovers. Before he had any chance to react, Rainbow jumped onto his stomach and reeled back.

“Stupid monster! Stupid alien monster and your stupid storm and your stupid, stupid, stupid…” Rainbow said as she wailed on Griffin, Griffin trying his best to block her attacks.

“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight called as she enveloped Rainbow with her telekinesis. Rainbow twisted and turned, struggling with the spellcaster’s hold.

“Lemme go! Lemme go!” Rainbow pleaded.

“Ya’ll need to shut up and calm down!” Applejack shouted.

Twilight glared at Applejack. She looked back at Twilight and took the hint. The cyan Pegasus didn’t stop moving, grunting with effort as Twilight lowered her to the ground. Griffin rolled over to his stomach and got up, wiping drool off the side of his mouth with his sweater sleeve. Sweat matted his forehead and the ringlets that once sat dropping over the side of his crown were now sticking out everywhere in a tangled mess. Fluttershy fluttered over to him, whispering “Are you ok?” barely loud enough so he could hear. He said nothing, and the glow from his rings grew.

“Rainbow, what has gotten into you?” Twilight asked. “You can’t attack ponies like that! Just because you’re mad at something doesn’t give you the right to harm it!”

“It’s his fault that it’s raining outside!” Rainbow shouted, still trapped in full-body telekinesis. “I saw him fall from the sky onto Sweet Apple Acres, and then the storm appeared right after it! We couldn’t control it! The clouds went completely out of control!”

The other mares were thoroughly shocked, eyes wide and lips parted. Twilight and Applejack shared a knowing glance. They knew when exactly the storm came, but they didn’t really think about it too much. It had slipped their mind after they were busied with bringing the alien to the Ponyville Library in secret, delivering the apple cart back to Sweet Apple Acres and trying to decide what to do with him. If the Pegasus ponies couldn’t handle the weather, and the storm was acting as wild as weather from the Everfree Forest would…

“Darling, it can’t possibly be that bad.” Rarity scoffed. “I mean, you’re speaking as if he started the end of the world or something.”

If looks could kill, Rainbow would have eviscerated Rarity on the spot.

“Look, if you can’t control yourself, then I’m going to have to ban you from the library!” Twilight warned, advancing towards Rainbow.

“Shut up, Twilight!”

Rainbow tried one last time to escape, and in doing so hit Twilight across the face with one strong backhand swing.

Twilight shouted out in pain and shock and was sent a few feet back. She collapsed on the ground, focused wavering. Her telekinesis was released on Rainbow. The prismatic flyer abruptly fell to the ground, wondering briefly what just happened. Thunder crackled in the distance.

“Rainbow!” Rarity scolded.

Rainbow looked up at Twilight, who was getting up from the ground, rubbing the side of her cheek. “Twilight? I-I’m…”

Fluttershy squealed and raced off behind Applejack as Griffin’s inhibitor rings blasted apart. Bright blue flames engulfed his hands as the ends of his hair and clothes seemed to float with a will of their own. His eyes reflected a chilling light blue and he grit his teeth, blowing hot air from his flared nose. Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity, Spike and Fluttershy all backed up to the wall besides the front door, shivering without words. The fire in the fireplace was snuffed out in an instant, leaving only a small trail of smoke and cinder behind. Twilight’s eyes widened as she realized she was too late.

“Oh no…” she thought to herself.

In an instant, Griffin rocketed towards Rainbow Dash and shot his fist forward right into the side of ribcage. She flew into the opposite bookshelf and her neck whiplashed, hitting her head against the cold, hard oak. A cascade of think encyclopedia fell on her unmoving body and she was buried in a landslide of endless information.

“Dashy!” Pinkie cried out, stepping forward from the corner of the room. Her eyes promptly grew orange. “You hurt Dashy!”

Griffin was hunched over in the middle of the room, his legs slightly bent and his head hanging down with his wrists curved upward and his nails jutting out. The fireballs emitting from his palms flickered and danced upward, swaying in the invisible wind. He glared at Pinkie and shouted from the very being of his soul, shaking everyone in the room to the bone. His voice was nothing like anything Twilight had ever heard. There was the roar of a Manticore, the primal screech of an Ursa Minor, but then there was the utterly horrific scream of a human gone mad. She tried to get up and start up her magic, but as she stood the room started spinning and she had a hard time focusing her eyes on the target.

Pinkie was deterred for a total second before she shook off the fright and pounced at the demon. He screamed again, his head cocked back towards the ceiling and a pillar of fire burst as a circle around him, reaching up to the top of the room. Pinkie hit the barrier and bounced right back into her friends near the front door, the ends of her mane and tail smoldering. She was caught by Fluttershy, and to her spectators’ surprise, managed to not fall over but instead hold her ground and give Pinkie Pie her loving, motherly eye.

“Are you ok, Pinkie?” Fluttershy asked with the pony in her forehooves.

“Ah, so that was the doozy I felt earlier…” Pinkie muttered to herself, having lost all motivation to fight. She started blankly at Griffin, who was still surrounded by flames.

As Griffin’s pillar died down, the flames revealed that his body was completely on fire, from toe to the tip of his head. He was a walking pyromaniac covered in blue flames. Just as quickly as the heat appeared however, it shrunk down and withered out. Griffin was uncovered, his clothes still intact and the glow in his eyes calming down. The room was cast into darkness, save for the light emitting from Griffin’s person. He huffed and his limbs drooped before his head perked up for a second.

“Wha?” Griffin uttered, taking in his surroundings as if he had been asleep in a dream for a long period of time. He saw Rainbow’s tail peeking out from the hill of books that he had inadvertently created. His vision shifted over to the left and he saw Twilight leaning against one of her desks, trying to steady herself as her heart raced. He turned his attention behind him where four ponies plus one dragon were staring at him, shivering and hugging into the back wall as much as physical limitation allowed them. They all huddled into a group, a shaking fear in their eyes rocking their world.

The human looked down at his hands and took in a great gasp. They were still on fire, and right in front of him, attached to his wrists.

“Oh no.” Griffin said, waving his hands around trying to get the fire to go out. 

“Oh no, oh no.” he spoke, backing up slowly. He lost his footing and slipped, letting his foot get tangled beneath him as he sat on it.

“No no no no.” the human pronounced, shaking his head back and forth as he shuffled backwards with the aid of his two legs and his left hand, which was still ignited.

“Nooo…” the alien sobbed, crawling into the corner as the fires dies out and his fingertips smoldered with a fine black mist appearing from his fingernails. He curled his legs and pulled his knees close to his body, his shoulder leaning onto one side of the wall as he held his own two hands in front of him and stared.

“What am I?” he asked himself. “What am I, and what have I become?” Tears started to trickle out of the bottom rim of his eyelids. “Am I some kind of monster, having been cast out upon this land to wreak havoc and dismay? Am I a destroyer, with the power of fire to cleanse and burn?”

“What am I?” he whispered. “What have I become?”

The ponies and dragon that were standing in beside the front door peered around the wall to take a look at where their only source of light had went. Pinkie jumped down from Fluttershy’s hold and got on to her own legs, taking a trot near the seats and trying to get a look. She glanced back at where Rainbow had landed and saw some of the books slid down the slope, Rainbow groaning and moving the thick tombs off of her slowly but steadily. Twilight finally had her head stable enough to make her way to the coffee table, but stumbled forward and had to catch herself on the red sofa. She peered over the edge of the fabric at the poor, pitiful creature who sat in the corner.

Fluttershy took two tentative steps forward towards the animal after hearing its whimpers and sobs. Her ear twitched and she observed onward as the organism hugged its legs and turned towards the wall, shivering violently. She moved over the figure and bent down, trying to make herself as small and harmless as possible while approaching the wounded beast. It barely acknowledged her presence as it muttered insane nonsense to itself.

“I wanna go home. I wanna go home.” it said, hiccupping between sentences. It repeated the same four words over and over again.

Fluttershy gave a sorrowful look and wrapped the monster into a hug. The monster didn’t react to anything, but instead sat there in his own deteriorating mind.

“Where am I? Where? Someone please tell me where I am?”

Fluttershy held him tighter. The others approached him from behind. Twilight could still see the faint glow in Griffin’s eyes remain even after Fluttershy had cover her view.

“Please, someone tell me where I am. Where am I?” it said, accepting Fluttershy embrace into its own.

“Where am I? Where am I!?” It shouted. “Tell me where I am! I’m lost and I wanna go home!”

Twilight got off of the sofa and took cautious steps towards the whipering beast, taking care not to spill over in her own drunken balance. Her friends looked at her and stepped aside, leaving Twilight just with Fluttershy and the alien.

Twilight gave a look at the magical anomaly that no one in the room could place.

“Where am I? No one even told me where I am!”

Twilight stared, feeling queasy.

“Welcome to the magical world of Equestria.”


{END OF CHAPTER}


> Chapter 3: Melancholy of the Sol Goddess, Part 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------





-CHAPTER 3: MELANCHOLY OF THE SOL GODDESS-


{*Omniscient point of view, Ponyville Library*}


“Daw… Now ain’ dat th’ cutest dang thing y’all have ever seen?”

The mane six were gathered around a bright red bed in the guest room of the Ponyville library. Said bed contained the first known alien to every step foot into the peaceful planet of Equiss, home of many creatures including ponies, Griffins, Dragons and much, much more. The mares watched in adoration as the human snoozed with a tranquil snore. Even though his hair was all over the place, it kept from covering his face, allowing the ponies to get a good look at Griffin’s profile.

“He’s such an absolute angel when he’s asleep!” Rarity cooed.

“Yeah! I can’t believe that he almost burnt down the entire tree just a minute ago!” Pinkie Pie mentioned. The smiles on all the others turned into frowns and grimaces. That was a very terrifying moment for all of them: the knowledge that they might have died from the alien’s power if not with the help of Twilight’s sturdy shield.

“Gee, thanks Pinkie…” Rainbow Dash muttered.

“You got it!” she replied, bounding right beside the cyan Pegasus.

“Well, ah hate to leave, but ah fear that somethin’ might have gone wrong while ah wasn’t at mah farm. Ah better take mah leave.” Applejack stated, turning towards the door.

“Applejack’s got a point there. I better get back to the Carousel Boutique before Sweetie Bell make a mess out of my workspace. If, that is, that little rascal hasn’t already…” Rarity seconded the apple farmer’s idea.

“And now that I know that all you girls are safe, I have nothing to worry about! I’ll be heading off back to the Sugarcube Corner!” Pinkie Pie third that motion.

“Oh dear, I’ve completely forgotten about the animals near my cottage! They must be frightened by now! I’ve got to head back as fast as I can!” Fluttershy quietly mentioned.

“Ok, I understand.” Twilight opened the guest room door for the others. Each and every single one of them exited in a single file line so that they wouldn’t get stuck in the doorway with everyone leaving at the same time. As they moved back into the living room of the library, Twilight’s ears flinched when an enormous crackle of thunder shot out across the sky. It just reminded her once again the state of the outside world, filling her with fear for Ponyville’s future. She was thankful that she not only had a strong living tree to protect her from the elements, but a magically enhanced tree, with spells and enchantments both from Princess Celestia and herself. Virtually nothing could get past this tree’s defenses.

Unfortunately, Twilight could not say the same for the Ponyville houses.

Even though houses are built with top-notch, high-quality materials, this storm was in an entire league of its own. She hasn’t looked outside since she was outside, but Twilight had guessed and imagined the roofs of houses flying off from the almighty whirlwinds moving about outside with the house’s foundations collapsing to boot. She thought about going out and helping anypony who needed it, but was stopped due to the fact that she had a sleeping extra-terrestrial in her library, along with her number one assistant. If Griffin were to wake up in her absence and discover Spike, who knows what kind of chaos would brew from that catastrophe! Spike would probably be scared for life seeing an alien up close and personal! There was no way she was leaving her library anytime soon.

Applejack got to the front door of the book occupied room. She opened it, suddenly feeling the rain being sucked into the dry oak tree. Closing it quickly, she gave a sly smile towards Twilight, hoping that the purple unicorn wouldn’t notice her floor being a little wetter than usual. Rarity was gathering her clothes from the coat hanger and the umbrella rack, Fluttershy was trying to gather her remaining courage and resolve to trek through the terrible storm to get to her animal friends, Pinkie Pie was nowhere to be seen and Rainbow Dash was following behind Twilight with a scowl on her face.

“Well, it’s been fun seeing y’all but ah have to get back. Hope y’all have a good one, with all th’ rain an’ all!” Applejack announced, making her withdrawal. Everypony responded with several goodbyes before letting the orange mare off to do her own thing.

“Looks like I’ve got everything. Hope I have not forgotten something. Well, if I have, then be a darling Twilight and drop it off later, please?” Twilight nodded her head. “Thank you. Au revoir, everypony!” Rarity left the library with a wave and a step. The door firmly slammed shut in order to make sure that no extra rainwater accidentally got in.

“Um, yes, I also best be off now… Thank you for having me Twilight.” said Fluttershy, showing her appreciation with a smile.

“No problem Fluttershy. Come on by anytime! Now have a safe journey back home.” Twilight answered back.

“Thank you. Bye!” Fluttershy waved as she softly closed the door behind her. Now there were two, silent in the room.

“Shouldn’t you be going off somewhere too?” Twilight inquired.

“Not really. There’s nothing I have to do that can’t be held off until later.” Rainbow leaned back in midair and relaxed.

“But don’t you have to go back to your weather team so you can guide them?”

“No, since Princess Celestia dismissed us from clearing the storm.”

“Really? That’s strange.”

“Well, it kinda is, but it was cool.”

Twilight waited for Rainbow to explain herself.

“…Go on…” Twilight encouraged.

“What do you mean?” Rainbow asked.

“Why do you think that the Princess dismissing you was 'cool'?”

“Well…” Rainbow began, glancing from side to side anxiously. "I-It's nothing actually, I ju-just feel like it's alright, alright?"

The purple mare raised her eyebrow in suspicion. "And I thought Applejack was a bad liar..."

"I-I'm not lying!"

"Really, Rainbow? Trust me, I can tell that you're straight up lying. But you can also trust me that there's nothing to be afraid of! I'm not gonna make fun of whatever you're nervous about, I'm your friend! Please, Rainbow Dash?" Twi asked, giving a very convincing puppy pout.

The speedy pegasus groaned, turning her head away to avoid the cute gaze that was Twilight's eyes. "Alright, fine..."

“The weather outside... It's unnatural. I mean, we're talking about Everfree Forest unnatural. First of all, we didn't have any showers scheduled for the next week or so, much less a thunderstorm! Meaning that this doozy of a storm came up out of nowhere! I was relaxing, taking my coffee break when the scout of my team reported that a storm was already taking place above Ponyville! It completely took me off guard! Second, the storm clouds were humongous, like castle-size humongous! Third, the wind was really giving me and my team a battering out there-not like it slowed me down, but still, combine fast winds and jumping lighting and you've got one scary situation on your hooves. Except it didn't scare me! No sir-y bob! Nope! Didn't frighten me one bit!"

Twilight felt the pain of her friend in her chest. The pegasus was obviously scarred a bit from fighting the nightmare above, but was it really that bad? It didn't look so from the inside, so Twilight could only being to imagine how terrible it really was in reality.

Rainbow looked towards the rain-filled sky through a nearby window, a certain sadness in her eyes. “We fought off the storm. Believe me, we did. But no matter how many clouds we bucked, no matter how much electricity we discharged and no matter what we did, the storm just wasn't slowing down. In fact, it seemed to be picking up! Me and my team were already half an hour into the battle and we were losing. Half of us were exhausted, the other half injured from stray lightning strikes and there were no signs of the storm giving up! But that didn't mean I was giving up anytime soon! I was still rarin' to go! I could have gone for another five hours if it was necessary! But..."

She looked back towards her listener. "My boss came out from our weathering center and gave me a letter saying to back out of the operation and return to our homes, and ground level if possible. I didn't believe it at first, but when I saw the royal stamp of approval and the princess's signature, I had no choice."

Twilight saw Rainbow grit her teeth in frustration and rage. The unicorn was understanding enough to see that her friend was not only beating herself up, but she was also having inner conflict with herself. Twilight knew that Rainbow was competitive in nature, and since she ran away she might have considered that as a ‘loss’. Rainbow’s pride couldn’t let her lose to a rainstorm, not when she was the best flier in all of Equestria!

"Twilight, I..." The blue flyer began. "I could have stopped the storm. I really could have. But the princess didn't give me enough time! Even if I had ten more minutes to spare, I could have at lease put a dent into that stupid storm! The storm that not only wrecked my team, but also wrecked up Ponyville and messed up Cloudsdale!"

The librarian gasped, hearing the news. "What... What happened to Cloudsdale?"

Rainbow flattened her ears and turned away from the other pony, trying to hide a tear. "You know Twi, there's a reason that pegasi control and schedule weather to come and go. There's a reason. It's because since our houses are made of clouds, stormclouds not only tamper with the infrastructure, but they also cause over-precipitation, turning all the houses into rainclouds themselves!"

Twilight was completely speechless while her friend's voice cracked over the sorrow in memory of the sky city. " We couldn't control the weather Twi, we just couldn't. The storm reached Cloudsdale and turned it into the swirling mess you see up there. There's nothing left of it, just water and dust. I managed to get some of the citizens into my mansion, but... That was all I could do."

Rainbow whipped around, staring at the unicorn with a teary gaze. "That was all I could do! All I could do was just sit back and watch my city get torn apart just because I didn't try hard enough! Just because I let the princess tell me what to do and I followed her like some young FOAL! It was because of my stupid decisions that made the thunderstorm what it is now! Do you understand? Do you understand what I've done? BECAUSE I DON'T THINK YOU DO!"

Twilight flinched at the streak of colours that was screaming at her. She gave a sympathetic look and approached Rainbow to wrap her up in a hug, but failed to do so when she backed away from the welcoming, accepting  gesture.

“I’m sorry Twilight, but... but I just need some time to myself, I think.”

Rainbow leaped off the ground and took off towards one of Twilight’s windows. Her nose met the glass again, the resulting noise making a *smack* sound. Twilight only stared at the pegasus's displeasure. Rainbow blushed, scowled, opened the window and zoomed off into the distance. Twilight used her magic to close it back again.

Before she could do anything else, the door to her room opened behind her.

“Twilight, you got a letter from the princess!”


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------




Make sure you comment, track and rate before you leave this page!

Also, be sure to check out my blog for updates, author's notes and much, much more!

> Chapter 3: Melancholy of the Sol Goddess, Part 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


IMPORTANT NOTE: PLEASE READ FIRST!

This chapter WILL be confusing if you have not read my blog post about my interpretation of magic! Click here to read if if you have not done so already: 

http://www.fimfiction.net/blog/45980/my-interpretation-of-magic-in-the-world-of-equestria

Also, I am taking a HUGE gamble with this chapter. If there's something that you don't like about it, please, PLEASE tell me in a comment!



-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------





{*Omniscient point of view, Ponyville Library*}


Spike stood it he doorway of Twilight’s bedroom, holding a rolled up scroll in his claws. He had a wide-eyed look to him, yet still contained traces of sleep. Twilight guess that the sudden arrival of Princess Celestia’s letter probably woke up the napping young dragon. Both pony and dragon approached each other hastily from two opposite ends of the room. Spike’s stumpy legs leaped from one stair to the other while it only took a few Twilight a few hoofsteps to reach the bottom of the staircase.

“What does it say?” Twilight asked, interest reflecting from the look in her eyes.

“I don’t know, I haven’t opened it up yet. It’s a letter to you, not me.” Spike reasoned.

“Good point.” Twilight was glad that Spike respected things that were not his, or in this case, were not meant to be his. She telekinetically grabbed the letter from his hand and floated it towards herself. Once it was closer, she could clearly see the royal seal on the ribbon that kept the message shut. Carefully unraveling the ribbon, she flattened out the mail and began to read its contents.


[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]


Dear Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student:

I request to see you immediately. There is some important information that I need to address to you in person. Unfortunately, I am busy handling the storm and the catastrophes that occur from it, so I cannot teleport to the Ponyville library myself. Also, I cannot send you a carriage due to the bad weather you most likely have noticed by now. 

Instead, you must use your own skills to get to Canterlot Castle. I believe you have read about the long distance teleportation spell in one of your textbooks, if I am correct. If not, then please review pages 156 to 160 in the book ‘Advanced Arcane Studies, Volume IX’. Once done, you can use rune formations Alpha-099-Orange and Pi-365-Blue to help increase your magical volume. Furthermore, I’ve binded my magical scent to this letter. Use it to lock on to my lodestone easier.

I know that this is a spell you have not tried out yet and may be a bit daunting to attempt. But I believe that you have the strength and knowledge to succeed without my help. In fact, I know, Twilight Sparkle that you have learned and have gained enough magical experience to cast this spell without any trouble. You can do it.

I’ll be waiting for you at the other side.

With love and care,
Princess Celestia

P.S.
Spike, if you read this letter and Twilight is not at home, you must find her as quickly as possible. Getting this letter 
to her is of the utmost importance.


[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]


Twilight almost immediately recognized her teacher’s hoofwriting. She could also faintly smell a strange odor coming off of the paper. Realizing that that must have been her majesty’s magical scent, she began to think about what the princess had said in her message.

“So, what does it say?” Spike nosily inquired while trying to lean over Twilight’s back for a better look.

“It says that the princess needs to see me in person ASAP, meaning that I have to get everything prepared! Spike, could you go get me my rune sand, chalk and candles?”

“Sure.” Spike waddled off into a nearby closet, quickly coming out with a stack of brick-a-brack on his arms. “What are you preparing for anyways?”

“I need to cast an incredibly powerful teleportation spell to get to her since she has to deal with the chaos from the storm and since we can’t fly a carriage in this weather. I know what the spell she’s talking about, but I need to strengthen the altitude of it’s frequency in order for it to cast correctly.” Twilight explained while magically grabbing her supplies from Spike.

“Um… In Equish, please?”

“Gah, I have to make the spell stronger so it will work!” Twilight snapped back.

“Ok, ok! I was just asking a question. Do you know why she needs to talk to you all of the sudden?”

“I dunno, but it must be important seeing as she gave you a small note at the end of this letter saying to get her mail to me as fast as possible.” Twilight took several white chalks in her telekinetic grasp and started to draw circles, triangles, stars and other shape onto her library floor. After a few seconds of focus, she backed up to observe her handiwork. Satisfied, she put away the chalk and grabbed four tiny purple bags of pink sand.

“She did?” Spike inquired.

“Yes, she did.” Twilight opened one bag a smidge and began to lightly pour its contents all over the library floor. She did the same with three other bags. Once they were empty, Twilight examined the various pattern and markings she had drew with pink sand onto the wooden surface. Acknowledging her accomplishments, she floated three different coloured candles towards the patterns. She set them down onto three specific positions, creating a parallel perfect distance between them.

Even though the sets of magical runes were complete, she still double and triple checked to make sure nothing was wrong. She actually wanted to do a quadruple check, but thought that she wasted enough time already getting the spell prepared. The purple unicorn cautiously stepped over the chalk marks and sand to the center of the runes.

“I guess that means that I can’t come with you…” Spike hung his head down.

“No Spike. I’m sorry you can’t go with me, but I can create enough magical energy to teleport one life form, which will be me. Tell you what, next chance I get, we’ll go to Canterlot for a little vacation for a day or two. How does that sound?”

“Ok! Great!” The baby dragon perked up immediately.

“Great. So I’ll see you in a little bit.”

“Yeah. See yeah, Twilight.”

“Bye.”

Twilight sat down on her haunches, closed her eyes and started to focus her magic to herself. Even though performing magic was second nature to her, this spell was barely almost out of her league. It would take all her physical and mental focus to channel enough magic into the spell to make it work. She felt the magic in the air flow around her. Willing herself to gather it up, she began weaving it in a certain way that made the magic into a teleportation spell. She re-hashed the process of the spell one more time in her head while continuing to suck in more magic. The candles on the runes lit themselves from the sheer pressure of magic that Twilight had gathered around herself.

Her last step was to find the princess’s lodestone signature. Using the scent from the letter, Twilight cast half of her consciousness to the eternal abyss that were the plains of magic. Billions upon billions of magical streams could be seen with her mind’s eye floating around portals that could go to anywhere on the face of the planet. However, with the help of Celestia’s letter, it didn’t take long for Twilight to pinpoint the goddess's lodestone. When it was located, Twilight released the magic and hoped that it worked.

A gigantic sucking sound filled Twilight’s ears. There was a massive pressure all around her body before she felt back to normal. She opened her eyes to find herself in the sleeping quarters of the princess. There, sitting on the balcony of the room was the princess herself.

“Princess Celestia!”


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Once again, if you have not done so already, please read my blog post about my interpretation of magic, as I will be using these ideas in the future and I don't want the readers to get more confused than necessary.

> Chapter 3: Melancholy of the Sol Goddess, Part 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


As usual, thoughts are in italics and parenthesis

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

{*Omniscient point of view, Canterlot Castle: Princess Celestia’s Bed Quarters*}


In the city standing side a mountain, Canterlot, the princess of the land thought profusely on the recent events over her land. Not many ponies knew it, but the storm that seemed to wreck and destroy everything it its path was not just in Canterlot and Ponyville. In fact, the downpour reached from Manehattan to Fillydalphia and everything in between! Celestia’s scouts promptly reported that the rain and thunder fiesta could possibly reach past Equestria’s borders and wrap around the entirety of the planet! It was a very troublesome situation, even for the leader who had thousands of hundreds of years of experience.

Princess Celestia stood proudly over her crumbling kingdom wearing a somewhat exhausted and sorrowful expression. Although her eyes threatened to give in to her body’s demands of rest, years and years of practice over ignoring her need for sleep has toughened her up for moments like these. Dark circle ran over her eyelids as she gazed wearily over the chaos that was the countryside of Equestria.

The rain poured down upon thousands of Kilometers in every direction, creating flash floods in areas that were not prepared or protected. Lightning projected itself from the sky, setting ablaze any building or life that was in its way. Wind washed through the landscape, dragging down those not strong enough to withstand its pressure. In the cooler parts of the kingdom, water turned to hail and quickly broke down any and all structures that were unfortunate enough to be underneath its wrath. Thunder echoed against every single surface, making the scene more terrifying than usual.

The old sun goddess witnessed her ruled lands and wondered if this was truly the last days of equine reign. If that the devastating fury of the storm would bring the country to its knees. She would have adored to fly out and take care of the storm herself instead of her loyal Pegasus subjects, but Canterlot and moreover Equestria needed her at her castle as a symbol of hope and leadership. Everypony looks up to her, so she couldn’t imagine all the panic and terror that would occur if she decided to help take out the storm, not to mention all the guards trying to stop her in the process. For a moment she considered that Luna could take her position as ruler for a few hours or so. However, she swiftly recalled that not everypony was at even terms with the moon princess. Furthermore, Luna said herself that she felt like she still wasn’t ready to take full responsibility yet. She couldn’t sneak out of the castle, considering that some kind of messenger or guard needs her assistance every ten minutes or so, she would be missed immediately after she tried anything dodgy.

And then there was the magic to deal with. Somewhere, in the dead center of all the hullabaloo was an enormous concentration of magic. The storm was a great cover-up for the magic to hide in, because she couldn't see it visibly. All she could do is sense it, which was easy enough for the almighty sun goddess. However, it was a troublesome thing indeed, because from what she could tell, it was the most magic Celestia has ever sensed that was all in one place. She could tell that all the magic in the air was swirling and churning into one point above the clouds where no pony could touch. The arcane mass was creating so much magical pressure that it was messing up the amount of magic in the air. Celestia found it a tad bit more difficult to cast any kind of spell. 

Knowing this, all she could do was hope that her apprentice had no trouble casting the spell.

Suddenly, she heard a strong whooshing sound, followed by a flash of light behind her. She smirked, knowing that that was the signs of her lodestone activating. After everything calmed down, she waited and listened, like every old patient caretaker would.

“Princess Celestia!”

She immediately turned around to meet Twilight Sparkle’s hooves wrap around her torso. Embracing the hug, she gave a warm smile over her student.

“It is good to see you Twilight. How are you this evening?”

Twilight gave good consideration over her answer. “I’m ok. It’s been peaceful around the library except for the storm creating disruptive sounds from my reading and studying.” She purposely made her answer general, hoping to avoid some extra-terrestrial subjects.

“I hope that you have been taking breaks from studying from time to time.” The princess mentioned.

“Oh yeah, I have! In fact, I haven’t studied anything in the past two hours!” Twilight beamed.

“Well, that’s certainly a break alright. And I trust that you have been treating Spike and your friends well?”

“Yep! There haven’t been too many problems with my friends, but here and there we get a squabble or two. It’s nothing though, as I’ve learned that sometimes disagreements are unavoidable in friendships, and that once and a while somepony might not agree with somepony else, and that’s ok. No pony’s gonna always have the same idea’s as somepony else. I find a little conflict between friends is a natural occurrence.”

“Well done my faithful student. You have grown much since you left here for Ponyville.”

“Thanks Princess. I guess I have, haven’t I?”

Celestia took a moment to recollect on past memories between Twilight and herself. It only seemed like yesterday that Twilight was showing her what she learned about the basics of telekinesis, one of the simplest spells a unicorn can perfect. The young filly quickly showed her mastery of the skill, and continued to display her magic prowess to Celestia in a display of different spells, conjurations, illusions and jinxes.  The white Alicorn knew from the very beginning that Twilight was a very special pony, and she was only beginning to show her affinity for magic, she just needed somepony to point her in the right direction. The princess decided to not only take the purple unicorn under her wing, but to also treat her with care, kindness and respect like any other guardian would.

	(She’s just so grown up now…)

“So, Princess, what did you want to talk to me about?” Twilight asked, looking up into her teacher’s amethyst eyes.

“Oh, yes, actually, there is something I need to show you…” The princess began, backing up out of Twilight’s embrace. Not taking her eyes off her underling, she turned her body towards the balcony. “Would you care to take a look outside please?”

Twilight looked curiously at her mentor. Peeking around her pearl white body, she approached the dark ocean blue platform that was the balcony. She could feel Celestia’s wing drape over her back, bring her warmth and comfort.

She would need all the comfort she could get. The element of magic dropped her jaw at the scenery before her. Across the hills of Equestria were faint remains of lush, full farms that used to be prosperous. Now, they were either on fire or missing altogether. Twilight was experiencing all the horrors that the Princess was having just a minute ago. She saw the floods, the lightning, the rain, the ruined houses and building, and the overall devastation that was the country of Equestria.

“Princess, I… What is happening out there?” Twilight questioned, fear in her voice.

“These are the full effect of the storm as you see them. The storm lit the fires burning in the trees, washed away the countryside and tore down the homes of many. All this destruction was caused by this single, brutal rainstorm.” the Princess duly answered.

“But why? How? I thought that this was just a usual, run of the mill storm? I thought that the bad weather would pass in an hour or so, yet it hasn’t? Why not?”

“As you might have guessed by now, this isn’t a normal storm. In fact, this storm was created by abnormal powers and forces. For what purpose, I don’t know. However, what I do know is that the storm involves omnipotent magic, some on par to Luna and I’s abilities.”

“Who could have done this? And why? What kind of a monster would want to see out peaceful little Equestria in ruin?” Twilight began to shed tears.

“Who? Maybe the correct question to ask is not ‘who’, but what? Maybe it was an accident. Maybe it came from a force that is not of this world.” Twilight slightly choked at Celestia’s words. “Maybe this is the actions of a spirit that I have long forgotten. I don’t know.”

The now sobbing unicorn glanced up towards her idol. She abruptly noticed that even the sun goddess had a single tear running across her face. That just made Twilight even more terrified. It seemed that for the first time in her life, Princess Celestia had no clue on what to do next. Her mentor, her teacher, her ruler just couldn’t wrap her head around the situation.

	(How is that possible? How is it that she doesn’t know what to do? She always knows what to do! Always!) Twilight panicked in her mind. She looked back at the landscape. (What’s happening to Equestria? What’s happening to my home?)

Celestia gripped Twilight by her wing. She backed up, Twilight forced to follow. Once inside, away from the chilling winds, the regal ruler closed the glass balcony doors with her will and proceeded to kneel down to Twilight’s level.

“Twilight Sparkle, you must be strong. You must be brave. You must be there for your friends when they need you, and they will be there when you need them.” Twilight gave eye contact to her teacher. Celestia wiped Twi’s tears away with the edge of her wings. “And now, most importantly, you must listen to me for what I have to say.”

Twilight nodded her head in attention before Celestia continued. “You must return to Ponyville with this.” Celestia levitated a jewel-studded box from seemingly nowhere. She opened the contents, revealing five stunning necklaces and a beautiful purple tiara.

“The elements!” Twilight cried out.

“Yes. You must take the elements of harmony with you back to the Ponyville library. Then, you have to gather up your friends as quickly as possible and leave Ponyville. Travel down the roads south-east. They will bring you into a kingdom called Ferrasent. You must take refuge until I send you a letter confirming the safe condition of Equestria.”

“What?” Twilight whimpered. “Why do we have to leave? What’s wrong with staying?”

“Equestria is turning into a dangerous place, and I don’t want the elements to disappear when we need them most. If you hide out in a safer place, then I can call you when the time is right.”

“But why can’t we just use the elements to take down the storm?” Twilight pondered, still crying.

“Abnormal or not, this storm is comprised of natural resources, and the magic of the elements of harmony does not affect anything natural because nature itself is harmonic. However, it will be effective as a great source of power. Once I figure out a way to take care of the storm, I will send a letter to you so you can teleport back to my lodestone and power up a spell that my best magicians are working on as we speak.”

Twilight could not believe this. How could the Princess ask her to leave the entire country? Was she joking like she sometimes does? Did she do something wrong to deserve this? Both answers were no, and Twilight realized this. Furthermore, why was Celestia asking only her and her friends to leave and not just evacuate the country altogether? There was something very wrong about the situation and how the Princess was trying to deal with the chaos outside. It just wasn’t how the princess normally reacted. It just wasn’t normal.

But what could she do?  It was her word against an almighty goddess. She had no chance, nor was it her place to question the princess of the land. However, it was her gut feeling talking again, 

And her gut is almost never wrong.

“Princess, I…I…” Twilight rushed up and bawled into Celestia’s chest. The mentor caressed Twilight comfortingly with nothing else to say. “I…I don’t want to leave!”

“I know. I’m sorry. I am truly sorry.”


{END OF CHAPTER}



-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And thus concludes this chapter! I know, short chapter compared to the previous two, right? Well, that's just how it's gonna go for this chapter AND the next one. This chapter and the next one are kinda just interval chapter that move the plot forward. I promise you readers that as soon as we get past chapter 4, chapters are gonna be past the 10 000 word mark again. Whether that's a good thing or not, I dunno. We'll just have to see.

By the way, even this is a short chapter, that does not mean that it is subject to change. I might add a description here or here if I feel it necessary, but it would really help me make a decision if I get some feedback. Do I need more description or a longer chapter? Let me know in the comments below!

> Chapter 4: Journey, Part 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


-CHAPTER 4: JOURNEY-



{*First-Person View, Main Character*}


Have you ever wished for adventure?

What a stupid question to ask, of course you have! I would be very surprised if you haven’t before. I know that I wish for adventure. In fact, I dream of it! If I could just get one glimpse of a radiant overgrown jungle, parachuting my way down into the thick foliage, then I think that my life would be complete. Heck, the adventure I want doesn’t even have to take place in the jungle, it could take place anywhere! The frozen tundra, the depths of the ocean, the intense heat of a volcano; it doesn’t matter. What does matter is whether or not I will actually get my wish granted.

Aw, who am I kidding? Reality does not allow dreams to come true that easily!

It’s not every day that one gets to ride a horse through the Wild West, or take a submarine down to the crevices of the Earth! No, in fact, it never happens unless you’re either crazy or you specialize in some kind of field that give you permission to do that kind of stuff! So if you don’t have that kind of privileges or if you’re not even OLD enough to partake in any adventures, then you’re just plain out of luck, just like I am!

I sit here on an early Monday morning, waiting for the school bell to ring so I can begin my miserably normal day! I’ve been repeating the same process over and over for the past 8 years: wake up, go to school, study, get praised unnecessarily for my work, go home, do homework, go to bed and wake up the next morning just to do it all over again! It’s blasphemy I tell you, BLASPHEMY! Why can’t they just let us teens go and do our own thing? We don’t need to know how to calculate the side lengths of a triangle to survive in the outside world! No! We need to learn how to get jobs and follow our dreams! But will school let us do that? No! Will I ever get to follow MY dreams anytime soon? NO! For the next five years of my life I’m going to have to repeat the same process almost every day, except each additional year getting harder and harder! It’s just so unfair!

I sighed out loud, slamming my forehead into my desk. For the past month or so I have been doing this and my teacher and my fellow classmates have stopped fretting about the well being of my skull. I groaned inside my head, knowing that making notices that everyone can hear will not help my predicament. I grasp my blue Five-Star binder and drag it towards my head. At this point I’m just waiting for my day to start. There’s nothing interesting for me to do in the meantime. All my friends are in other classes, I’m done all my homework so I can’t work on it while I’m waiting and they don’t allow IPods in class! What a load of bull.

Raising my head just enough to take a look around, I observe what has been my homeroom for the past eight months: white walls with a white floor with brown desks and a shiny backboard so the teacher’s annoying squeaking marker can scribble her chicken scratch for all to see. Nothing in this room is worth mentioning except for the fake motivational posters that are plaster against one side of the wall, adorning messages such as ‘learning builds character’ and ‘class is in session, turn your brain on’. After reading them for the um-teenth time, their value of creating some variety in the class wears off.

At this point in time almost everyone has arrived and taken their seats except for those few that either skip homeroom or skip school all together. My peers are either chatting, reading, stressfully doing some last minute homework or are creating some kind of trouble. Since I sit at the back of my class, I more or less get a clear view of everyone else. I can see the four girls in the right front of the class chatting away at some thing or another. At the other corner I could see a group of boys that were mischievously switching spots without the teacher noticing so they could talk to each other in class. Everyone else was doing something in between the lines of acting foolishly and acting responsibly. 

I sighed again. I see no point in going to school at all. Well, maybe I’m stretching my feelings for education a little bit, but still! I learn more by watching TV and hanging around the internet that by sitting in a desk all day while listening to some grumpy scrawny adult at the front of the class mentor to everyone how to make a good poem (and I hate poems!) or how to add two and two together or how the reproductive system works (thanks science class! Now I know more about penises than I have ever wanted!). Of course, I could just not go, but my parents are expecting me to cope with the crap and just do it like they had to when they were teenagers. Also graduating high school will look good on my resume, but that’s a totally different perspective.

A loud obnoxious beeping sound rings over the PA system. Finally, the day has begun! Now I can stop waiting for something to actually happen!

“Good morning River Bell High School!” the office secretary chirped over the poor microphone quality of the PA system. “Today is Wednesday, June first, s day two. Please rise for your national anthem.”

There were disruptive screeching sounds all over the room, signaling that people had scrapped their chairs across the floor to stand up. Some people I noted were late to stand up. Whatever, it’s not like it matters that much.

“Um… Griff? Aren’t you going to stand?” one of my peers to the left of me poked me in the shoulder. I think his name was Jake. I think. But anyways, I thought I have already stood up! I guess not, seeing as my line of sight just connected to a bunch of butts. Normally I subconsciously stand up, but this time I guess not. Well, maybe this time I actually have to make a conscious effort on something. I willed myself to get up. I told my legs, “Get going and stand up!” I asked my back to straighten and I tried to open my eyes more to look less sleepy.

It didn’t happen.

Wait, what? Let me try again… Legs stand up, back don’t slouch, eyes awaken and get the frick up… Nope, nothing. My point of view hadn’t changed from my desktop.

Why? Why couldn’t I stand up? Now that I thought about it, my limbs adorned a numb sensation to them. I really couldn’t feel the surface of the desk with my hands, nor could I move my hands anyways. My arms wouldn’t respond, my neck wouldn’t respond, nothing on my body worked when I told it to! It was like my muscles had just gone up and dies all of the sudden! I couldn’t even move my eyes! What the heck was going on here? I just lost all feeling and control of everything in my body? What the heck? WHAT THE HECK?

Ok, hit the panic button brain, ‘cause shit just hit the fan! Can I talk? Can I communicate still so I can get assistance? Nope, my mouth wouldn’t move! My shoulder was suddenly moving a bit. I could hear Jake say something, but apparently my ears were failing as well. It was like he was talking from underwater or something!... Or maybe it was just my brain shutting down all capabilities, including speech recognition. I completely lost any sense of balance and couldn’t figure out where gravity was pulling me. Of course I knew that it was pulling me downwards, but without any feeling from my nerves it was difficult to tell exactly which direction it was pulling me. I felt as if my mind had completely disconnected from the rest of my body!

My vision was suddenly changing. It was slowing moving downwards at an angle. Oh no. Oh no no no no! Was I sliding off my seat? My vision continued down. Yes, I am sliding off my seat! Holy Jesus, I still can’t move my limbs! Someone, anyone, help me! I heard voices off in the distance, but like I said, it was difficult hearing anything. I could see a few heads turning around to see what was going on behind them. Finally, my point of view dropped rapidly as my body collapsed off of the seat of my desk.

Crack. I heard a crack, then bounced a small amount before settling on the ground. Oh my god. What that my skull? Did my skull just crack? Did it break? Oh god, I hope not. What the heck is going on here? WHAT’S HAPPENING??? The edges of my sight were slowly turning dark. Oh great, now I’m blacking out. I could see kids jumping out of their standing spots to rush over to my location. I could also just barely make out the face of Jack trying to say something to me. Key word being ‘I think’, because his blurry lips were moving but no sound was coming out. There was definitely a sense of urgency in the classroom.

Now, I could barely make out the outlines of other teens running and causing a commotion over my sudden fainting. Although maybe I wasn’t fainting. I wouldn’t know, seeing as I have never fainted once before in my life. Maybe I was dying. Was I dying? Is this what dying feels like? Slowly losing smell, hearing and feeling while you black out? Speaking of blacking out, there was only a sliver of clear vision left in my, well, vision. Everything else was covered with a black, murky area. Oh crap crap crap crap! Stop blacking out, Griffin, stop blacking out! You need to get out of this stupor and back into action! No no no no, go back! Go back so that you can fix this and get back to normal! Why is this happening? WHY IS THIS HAPPENING???

Darkness overtook me.

> Chapter 4: Journey, Part 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


{*First-Person View, Main Character*}


“GAH!!!”

I yelled in the dark confinements of Twilight’s guest room. Well, at least that’s where I think I am. Let me double-check… Yep, I’m still on a different planet. I looked towards the window to the right of me. From what I could tell, the shadows of the storm sere still looming over my situation. Was that what woke me up? Was it the lightning and thunder? No, from what I could tell, I was sweating and my heart was pounding. I felt like I just woke up from a nightmare, and yet… I couldn’t remember what kind of nightmare. Don't you hate that? When you have a dream but you can’t remember a single inch of it? Yeah. I do.

I held my hand up, wiping the perspiration from my forehead. I took a moment to take a breather and get a hold of myself. Whatever that nightmare was, it sure was a scary one! My blood pressure was so high from the experience I could feel my temples pound! What the heck did I dream about to get this worked up?

…Well, It doesn’t matter anymore. It’s all in the past, and I just have to move on. But I’m still curious, what that important? Was my sub-conscious trying to tell me something I needed to know? It certainly felt like it. I can’t really describe the feeling, but my instinct that I was missing something very crucial to the situation. I shook my head and let out a large breath. My legs suddenly cramped up in pain. Since I was cooped up in the library’s extra bed that was fitted for small vibrant mammals, no wonder my knees were aching! I winced in agony as I tried to stretch my lower appendages a little.

Wait, stop. Think. Where was everybody? It came back to me, little by little. I was meeting all the inhabitants of this new world before I feel asleep-no, before I fainted from exhaustion! I met six ‘ponies’ as they were called altogether. I think once was called Twilight, then there was Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie (uuugh god, I actually kinda wanna forget her) and Rainbow Dash (What a BITCH!). Twilight was interrogating and harassing me at the same time while I got comfortable with everyone! She was accusing me of invading their planet as an extra-terrestrial! What an asshole! Sure, the part being an alien might have been true, but that still ticks me off! No, wait, I already got my revenge by swearing at them a million times. Hee hee, that felt really, REALLY good when I did that. A wide smile grew on my face remembering that memory. And then, Twilight wanted to teach me how to do magic, and I…

Oh my god. I almost smoked the entire library! Literally! According to the ponies, I became a big blue ball of fire! As far as I could tell, I was just losing control of the magic! Back when it actually happened, it felt kinda like a dream. Like it wasn’t really happening and I wasn’t really there. But looking back, there was no doubt about it that I performed magic and almost obliterated my lodgings in the process. Did I really do that? Did I really use magic and did I really set my arm of fire? It was just so unreal. It made no sense, like the rest of this world.


Like the rest of this unknown world…


…..


.....


…Hmm.


All of the sudden, there was a loud clatter of noises that seemed to come from out of the room. What was all the commotion about? Was everyone downstairs doing something? Maybe I was missing out on some kind of discussion.  I heard more crashes coming from the door to the living room. Looking cautiously, I realized that normal conversations don’t involve creating a hullabaloo I don’t think. Well, then again, these ponies aren’t exactly a normal bunch, but you know what I mean! There was more than meets the eye. No, that’s a Transformers quote, think of something else. There was more to this situation then it seemed.

I swung my legs from beneath the blankets carefully and planted them firmly on the cold, hard surface wooden floor. My skin crawled at the sudden icy sensation around my heels and toes. Springing out of the bed, I started to creep my way towards the door. I cautiously lowered my ear to the door side and laid my head against the brown entrance. I abruptly heard more crashing and banging. My eyes widened. It sounded like glass was hitting the floor! Something was happening out there, something with trouble! 

I backed my head up, stood up straight, firmly grasped the door handle and swung it open unnecessarily dramatic like. Thankfully I remembered to keep holding the door so it wouldn’t slam against the wall disruptively. The living room was substantially dark and there were no signs of light anywhere. The fireplace had been put out and it looked like all the others left quite a while ago. I could barely see the clutter in the limelight that reflected off the surfaces on the floor, yet I could still make out the rain pelting the windows all around the room. Shockingly, I saw a mysterious and suspicious four-legged figure crawling about on the main floor. It looked like the body of a pony’s. It was currently trying to clean up the mess it created on the floor. I couldn’t see exactly what was on the ground, but it looked really cluttered and disorganized. Anyways, it was taking things from the ground and putting it in some sort of pack it had on the side of its body.

What it stealing? It certainly looked like it. I think it is! It’s stealing from the library! Who would want to steal from a library? What would you gain? Paper? Books? Knowledge? Well, actually that’s a pretty legit reason to steal from a library, but no matter! No one’s pulling any fast ones on my watch! 

“Hey you!” I announced, jumping onto the railing of the stairs and smoothly sliding down them. “Stop right there!”

That definitely got the pony’s attention. I heard a feminine gasp as I saw the outline of her head turn around. There was a flash of lightning that lit up the scene around me for a split second. Fortunately, a second was all I needed. Standing before me in a mess of books, broken glass, scattered scrolls and broken plant pots was…

“Twilight?”

“Um… Hey there Griffin…” She sheepishly squeaked. “What-what are you doing up so early in the morning?”

Whelp, that confirms my theory of it being an unusual time to get up. “I should ask you the same thing. I heard a bunch of COMMOTION down here and thought that with all the stuff on the floor getting TAKEN by a MYSTERIOUS FIGURE, someone was STEALING from the library!” I replied, pushing my point forward.

“Well, I uh, as you can see here, It’s just little ol’ me, organizing the shelves a little bit.” Twilight suggested.

“No I cannot see a thing at all, unless you can shed some light onto our situation?” I asked politely.

A sudden burst of light came from her direction. I had to squint my eyes due to the sudden change of brightness. Twilight’s horn was lit up with a strange white glowing ball. Probably another spell or something. Whatever, at least I could see her face now.

And boy, was she nervous. 

> Chapter 4: Journey, Part 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


{*First-Person View, Main Character*}


“Now why the heck would someone want to re-organize entire shelves in the middle of the night?”

With this statement, I was blatantly assuming it was nighttime. I really believe it is, but if I was the only one asleep, then I am so screwed delivering my point.

“Some-one? What do you mean, some-one? Oh, do you mean somepony? Is that your linguist equivalent of somepony? Fascinating! I need to write this down!”

I facepalmed, hard. Seriously, I know there may have been some kind of language gap seeing as we’re two different species, but COME ON! REALLY? SOMEPONY INSTEAD OF SOMEONE??? Now that’s just all kinds of messed up! Really? Gah, I just can’t believe it!

“Look, you’re getting off topic here.” I grabbed her by the tail before she could get away from me. Yanking her towards my spot, she gave me a cutting glare for a second, probably because I pulled her like a cat. But her glare was soon met and melted by a chilling look of my own. She froze in place, too afraid to move. Ah hah, I love it when I do that!

You see, I have this thing that I can do if someone’s really annoying me or ticking me off and I want to teach them a lesson. I kind of make a look that really slices through their eyes and soul. It’s when I give a blank look towards the infuriating jackass, and yet I still have a disturbing seer through my own eyes. I kinda look angry at the person, but it’s so subtle that they can only notice my matching my own gaze. But by the time they do that, it’s too late and I’ve already taken away any hope and excitement they have left in their pathetic body. They freeze up like a chilling wind had gone and taken their spirits away. Next thing they know, they can’t move from their spot.

I call it: the stare. I know, amazing ability, right?

So anyways, I gave Twilight the stare, guaranteeing that she wouldn’t escape my OWN interrogation anytime soon. She looked absolutely horrified, and I loved every moment of it.

Does that mean I’m evil?

“You haven’t answered my question yet. What were you doing down here late at night?” I demanded.

“Like I said, I was re-organizing the shelves.” Twilight gulped. I could see her anxiety clear as day.

“Nu-uh. That ain’t gonna fly, super pony. What kind of a person-in this case, a pony-would get up in the middle of the night randomly to organize a bunch of bookshelves?” I reasoned, stroking my invisible goatee.

“I-I-I would! I’m the librarian of this library, so it is my responsibility to keep this building in tip-top shape!” she answered a bit too eagerly.

“Hmm, even so, why would you, of all people-ponies, create such destruction in your OWN library?” I reasoned, pointing out the disarray of brick-a-brack on the floor.

“Well-well-well-I-I” Twilight apprehensively stuttered.

“Hmm? Come on, Twilight, out with it!” I pushed forward.

“Well-you see-I-I-I mean-I was-“

“We haven’t got all day Twilight, speak your mind already!”

“I-I-I-I-“

“Just say it already!”

“GRRRRAAHHH!!!” Twilight growled, grinding her teeth in frustration. “Fine, I’ll confess. I’ll tell you what I’m doing down here.

“Great.” I backed up a flopped myself down on a sofa. Twilight stayed in her spot, probably because of the after effects of my stare. “Go on.”




CROSS-EXAMINATION BEGIN.



“You see, after you passed out from overuse of magic, I got a letter from Princess Celestia. She requested my presence at her castle as soon as I could.” she said, avoiding eye contact with me.

“Ok, two questions, one: you’re ruled by a monarchy? And two: who’s Princess Celestia?” I asked, folding my legs over each other.

“WHAT? YOU don’t know who Princess Celest- I didn’t tell you about our Princess, did I?”

I shook my head in confirmation.

“Well, Princess Celestia is the ruler of this land. She manages everything in our kingdom of Equestria. She has a sister named Princess Luna, but she’s been recovering from a series of unfortunate events, and is in no condition to rule beside Princess Celestia.”

She paused graciously, allowing me to soak in the information. “Ok. So who’s the queen and king?”

“…We don’t have one.”

“Pardon me?”

“I said, we don’t have one.”

I frowned, looking at Twilight’s mug for any traces of lying. Is she joking? Ponies are ruled by a princess, but no queen or king? That really doesn’t make too much sense.

“So what, did the parents of the princesses’ die or something?” I inquired, raising a single eyebrow for added effect.

“Oh, no, nothing like that.” Twilight waved her right hoof in a dismissive fashion.  “There just was never a king or queen in the first place.”

“What?” I replied, receiving more questions than answers. “But how is that possible? The two princesses MUST have had a mother or father at some point in time!”

“Well, maybe, but the princess has said she’s never known her parents, so she can’t speak for herself. And there is no documented proof of the princesses having any parents, so we really can’t say that she does have any parents.

I was speechless for a few moments. No parents, and yet still princesses? What is this I don’t even?

“So how do you know she’s THE princess of Equestria if she’s had no known family history? How do you know she isn’t a phony?”

“What? Princess Celestia isn’t a phony! She’s been ruling this kingdom since it was created! How could you say such a thing?”

I knew Twilight seemed like a smart pony, but she was really taking my comment offensively. Can’t she realize that I’m just trying to get some answers around here?

“And how long exactly has she been ruling?”

“Approximately four thousand, six hundred and twenty years.”

“WHAT???” I bellowed, standing straight up. “HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE? You must be joking! No one can live for that long!”

“Well, she can. She’s immortal, seeing as she’s the sun goddess and all.”

“WHAT???” I hollered again. “OK, FIRST SHE’S THE RULER OF EQUESTRIA WITHOUT ANY QUEEN OR KING AND NOW YOU’RE TELLING ME SHE’S A FREAKING GODDESS??? WHAT???”

Twilight cringed at my extreme yelling. “Yes, she is all those things. She has ruled Equestria for over four thousand years without any signs of aging, had kept this place in control and has defended our kingdom from several abnormalities including Dragons, Manticores, Cockatrices, Griffins and other evil gods.” She smirked, very proud at what her majesty had achieved over the MILLENNIUMS. 

“WHA…” I grasped my head in distraught. God, this is yet another what the fuck moment for me. So not only are there GODDESSES in this universe, but also AN INSANE NUMBER OF MONSTERS AND EVIL GODS TO BOOT? WHAT THE FAAAAA…

“Umm, Griffin, are you ok?” I heard the purple unicorn asked, care shining through in her tone.

“Yeah.” I sighed. “I just need a moment to gather all of this in.”

I sat back down, grabbing yet another breather. Wiping off the sweat from my face with my arm, I checked back towards Twilight. From what I could tell, she looked very weary.

“Ok, I think I’ve got it. Two immortal goddess princesses have been looking and protecting Equestria for an immensely long time. Is that correct?”

“Yes.” Twilight spoke while nodding.

“Ok.” I let out another heavy sigh. “So continue with your story on what you’re doing down here.”

Twilight groaned before starting off where she was before. I guess she really didn’t want to be here right now. Well bad luck for her, because she’s not going anywhere on my watch!

“So anyways, I got a letter from Princess Celestia telling me to teleport to her as soon as possible. After reading the message, I quickly got some supplies, drew a magical rune to help me with the spell and teleported to her room in her castle.”

“I’m guessing that teleporting is a spell?”

“Yes, teleporting is a magic spell that is used to travel long distances without walking or flying.”

I know that already. I’m not a dimwit, Twilight. “So why did she want you to see her all of the sudden?”

“Well…”

At this point she started to look a little bit uneasy. She bit her lip, once again not looking at me but instead at the interesting patterns on her library floor.

“In her letter, she made the situation sound very urgent, so I got ready to teleport right as I finished the last sentence. When I got there, I greeted her, traded some words with her and then she asked me to step out onto her balcony and tell her what I was seeing.” she mumbled, bashfully wiping the polished surface with her hoof.

“Really. And what did you see.”

“I saw…”

She looked up.

“Destruction."


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm sorry, but I couldn't help myself but have that song playing in my head while this scene was playing out XD

> Chapter 4: Journey, Part 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


{*First-Person View, Main Character*}


Twilight had just finished what she saw at ‘Canterlot Castle’ as she called it. And wow, what a story to tell.

Apparently, there was a lot of stuff going on outside this library. Mass demolition, annihilation and chaos were all a part of the storm’s payload. The purple unicorn was crying pretty badly after having to describe to me her past experience witnessing all the destruction. Her eyes were bloodshot, her ears were bent back and she was sniffling from all the mucus caused from her sobbing. I didn’t know what to think. I know I should give her my condolences, but should I also try and calm her down?

I didn’t like her crying. It just didn’t fit in into the emotions of this room and was kinda sudden. It’s not like I’m a heartless douche or anything, but I really didn’t know what to do. She obviously needed some kind of outside help to guide her along through her troubled times, but I barely knew the girl! I don’t think it’s in my place as a practical stranger AND an alien to lend out my hand and help her get back to her feet-hooves. What if she felt uncomfortable if I did try to comfort her? I didn’t want to come off as a creepy person getting all touchy-feely with another species! That would end up very badly.

I looked at her eyes again. She just simple looked back at me with her lips trembling, pleading in her eyes for the pain and sorrow to stop. My back was relaxed on the nice soft sofa while I watched another living being wail her eyes dry. What was I doing? She needed help! She was standing all by her lonesome self without anyone! And I’m not gonna just sit by like this and let it all happen! I’m not an asshole! Sure, I don’t even know her, but still, she needs someone, anyone to help her ease the suffering!

Well, fuck.

I launched out of my seat and slid across the floor on my knees towards Twilight. I reached and wrapped my arms around her in a great big hug. Yes, a hug. Now don’t mistake me for those kinds of people that go all mushy every time someone cries, but I felt it was necessary and appropriate for the situation. She returned the gesture by grabbing me in her own well-needed embrace. I could feel her tears soak through my t-shirt. Gross, but well worth it.

It was then I realized how awkward the situation was! I was hugging a bright purple unicorn from another planet that was crying into my arms! Not only was it strange because of the nature of this angle that came to be, but also because normally I don’t hug people I don’t know. It’s just kinda weird. Well, if anything, I guess I’m learning the personality behind the unicorn bit by bit, eh?

I allowed my mind to get back to the present. Twilight was still in my grasp but was slowly calming down. I kept my patience, waiting for the moment when she would be ready again. When her breathing stabilized, she let go of me, shuffled backwards and levitated a hanky out of nowhere. I flinched when she started to blow her nose, creating a trumpet-like sound in the process. Eww, I hoped that none of her snot got on me!

She seemed like she was ready for another go.

“Ok, so what happened after the balcony?”

The unicorn sniffed before explaining her story. “Princess Celestia brought me inside to tell me something. I followed her to the innards of her bed room. Once there, she said…”

Twilight began crying again. “What did she say?” I asked softly.

“She said…” Twilight could barely contain her sniffles. I gave her time to answer my question. I didn’t need to push anything.

“She said that I needed to leave Equestria!” Twilight announced, beginning to bawl once again.

“WHAT???” I answered for the millionth time.

“She-she said that I-I-I nee-neede-ed to leave Equ-Equ-Equestri-ria fo-for my own safe-ty…” The poor, poor unicorn could sparsely get her stammering out.

“But why?”

“She-she said that it was to-to-too dang-er-ous to st-stay in Equ-Equest-ria with the st-storm out an-an-and abou-t, so she-she told m-me-me to ge-get my friend-s and lea-ve the kingdom…”

“So was that why you were down here?”

She nodded, hiccuping from her rampant emotions.

It all makes sense now! Sort of. I bet she was trying to leave while we were asleep because the Princess told her to go gather her friends and leave Equestria for their own safety! But then, obviously she didn’t mean to create such a mess and was trying to sneak away, so does that mean that she was going to ditch me here? Also, isn’t the Princess’s methods a little extreme? Well, I’ve still got a lot of questions, but inch by inch is a synch, right?

“So were you going to just ditch me here while you ran away from your country?” I queried, leaning forward with my arm supporting my head by resting on my leg.

“Oh, no-no! I wasn’t go-going to leave any-anypony be-behind! I-I planned to come ba-back as as-soon as I got every-everyone. I would nev-ever leave you or Spi-Spike behind! Never!”

Spike? A sudden variable into the mix? “Who’s Spike?” I buzzed while at the edge of my seat.

“Oh, he’s my ass-assistant. He li-lives here with me whi-while I run-run the library. He-he-he helps me run err-ands and wri-te lett-letters to other ponies…” Twilight replied, wiping the tears from her face with her foreleg.

“So why didn’t I see him while I was awake and you were interrogating me?”

“He was sl-eeping in my room.”

“The entire time?”

“Yeah. He-he can be a very heavy sleeper sometimes.”

“So why didn’t he wake up with all the screaming and yelling that was going on?”

“I-I cast a sound barrier sp-spell around the roo-room because he-he had trouble sleeping wh-while the sto-storm was going on.”

Well, that was very nice of her. I tried to study her expressions some more and get a sense of what she looks like when what she feels. All I could tell was that she was still a bit blue from all the events she had to go through. I had a few more questions about her assistant, but I had to put them aside if I wanna wrap this questioning session up.

“So… What now?”

“Wha-what do you mean?”

“I mean what are you going to do now? Are you going to still go out and get your friends and just leave? Or have you lost your confidence and you're just going to stay here?”

“Well…” Twilight sniffed. She was once again recovering from her fit of tears, except at a swifter pace. Her eyes lost contact with mine as she gazed off towards the distance. I could see the gears of though churning in her mind, spinning and turning with utter consideration. She was obviously troubled and had a lot to think about, but that’s what I was trying to determine. What kind of thought process does she use to conclude questions and ideas? In what order does she organize her thoughts and how does she use that to create better solutions? What kind of first step does she like to take? And most importantly,

What are you going to do next, Twilight Sparkle?
> Chapter 4: Journey, Part 5
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


{*First-Person View, Main Character*}


“Well, I guess I just have to go with my original plan.”

Twilight returned her gaze towards me, fire lit in her eyes. Even with all her crying and emotions, she still managed to make a decision out of everything. I was actually surprised that she didn’t lose hope or motivation after these recent events. Her words spoke more about her character that she would have even known. This side of Twilight Sparkle I have never seen before. Goal driven. Courageous. Aware. Well, ok I’ve seen her aware before, but not to the extent of what she was about to do!

Whatever that was going to be.

“And what, pray tell is your original plan?” I buzzed,  crossing my arms in earnest.

“I’m going to do what Princess Celestia told me to do and find my friends, gather my belongings and leave, Equestria.” She seemed to slow down at her last words, her stance drooping substantially.

At this point, I only had the simple question to ask, “Why?”

“Because she told me to. And as the leader of Equestria and the goddess of the sun, she is our hope, and I trust her decisions with my life, whether I like it or not.”

Wow, Twilight really idolizes the Princess! She doesn’t seem that great to me. Sure, be a sun goddess, but when you’re telling your subjects to leave the very land you are responsible to defending and taking care of, then there’s something very wrong with that picture. It still doesn’t make sense! Why only send Twilight and the other out of the country and not the entire population? Why not evacuate yourself and live to see another day if the situation is so serious? I’m missing something here, but I’ve asked enough questions for now. Instead, I’ll just listen to what Twilight has to say.

“Does her word have that high prestige?”

“Absolutely! The Princess is the undoubted ruled of Equestria, therefore all her orders overrule any kind of personal goals you have. And it’s not just about her being the princess, it’s also about my trust in her. She has been teaching me magic and friendship for the past twelve years of my life and has never let me down! There is no way in Tartarus that the Princess would be wrong!” Twilight spoke in stride.

Hmm, very interesting. She shows uncertainty even though she claims to have un-feigning trust in royalty. I never said anything about the princess being wrong, and yet she just had to mention it somewhere in her rant. Either I’m analyzing her dialogue too keenly, or she does not have one hundred percent trust in her leader’s actions! I posted my palm on my chin, nodding with a goofy cat face on my expression.

Wait. Back up. The princess has been teaching Twilight magic for TWELVE YEARS???  Since when? Gee Twilight, I guess you can leave important details to the last minute, can’t you? Son of a nutcracker, my question count went up by eighty percent! Gah, I’ll have to find some time later to get that stupid purple unicorn to answer more of my god damn questions…

“So you’re leaving just like that? No goodbye? No farewell? Were you going to pick me and Spike up later, or now after you’ve cleaned up this mess?”

“Well, I originally planned to sneak out without making any noise, but I couldn’t see anything down here, and before I could conger up a light spell, I accidentally tripped on a few scrolls I left lying around last night. Heh, I guess with Spike asleep I tend to forget to actually clean up my own stuff…”

Twilight smirked at her own antics. I gave her a moment before shooting a threatening glare for her to continue before she got off topic again. She caught my look and hastily returned to describing her thinking.

“Anyways, so I tripped on some scrolls and rolled into the wall. When I got up to try and put them back, I accidentally bumped into another wall, causing more book to fall down, but this time on top of me! I was kinda in a daze after, so I stood up and stumbled into yet another wall, except this time with a few jars and glass containers that held previously used experiment materials. Next thing I knew, I was neck high in a bunch of stuff with you yelling at me down the stairs.”

I placed my hand onto my face, groaning at her clumsiness. Geez Twilight, if you’re going to do something, do it right! Sure, it may not be my place to judge her about something so insignificant, but really? Making the same mistake three times in a row and in a matter of seconds? What a screw-up!

“You really haven’t answered my original question. Are you just going to leave? Just like that?” I inquired, shaking my head while shrugging.

“Yes. I have to. The Princess told me to and I have to carry out her order. Oh, and if you have any notion of stopping me, it isn’t going to happen.” She replied, furrowing her brows. I was guessing that her answer was so long and drawn out because she still wasn’t completely one hundred percent positive in her decision. 

“I never said anything about stopping you.” I said, holding up my hands in surrender. “However, that doesn’t mean that I’m letting you go alone.”

“What do you mean?” She challenged.

“I’m not letting a sweet, magic-using unicorn go all alone out there in the blustery weather. I’m coming with you.” I crossed my arms, mustering up the most badass smirk I could make.

“No, you can’t! My orders have nothing to do with you! This is my job and my job alone! You are not going to interrupt my goals, especially since they’re so important!” Twilight snapped back, slamming her hoof down.

“Come on now, think about it. Is trucking through a flooded street through rain, fire and flames a good idea to do ALONE?”

“There aren’t any fires on the streets of Ponyville!”

“Well didn’t you say that you saw some houses catch on fire because of lightning strikes?”

Twilight grumbled. I leaned my head forward in success. I had her cornered; she had nothing to drive her argument! Now it’s my turn to deliver the final blow!

“Even I have to admit, I’ve seen pretty bad weather in my time, but THIS,” I gestured towards the window. “is a freaking nightmare! There is NO WAY in HELL that I’m letting you go through with this without a partner. Sure, leave Spike here or whatever, but just take me with you, please?” I admittedly got to my knees and pleaded for Twilight’s approval.

She sighed. “Fine, seeing as you’ll probably go with me anyways if I do say no, why not.” Twilight spoke, levitating some items off the floor for cleanup.

“Sweet.” I simply replied, a fanfare of victory music playing in my head. Finally, I was getting somewhere! I wouldn’t have to sit around for the next five hours waiting for this storm to pass! I actually get to do something! And besides, it IS safer if Twilight has some back-up with her in the rainstorm, and I know that she knows it. What if Twilight got struck down by lightning or something random like that? There would be no one to help her! Of course, if I somehow got injured in the process as well, then we’d be both screwed, but our survival is not one-hundred percent guaranteed anyways.

Twilight was understandingly grumpy as she tidied up the library floor. Man, unicorn magic makes EVERYTHING easier to do!... Did I just say unicorn magic? Damn, that be screwed up man. So anyways, she was cleaning up and putting everything back to its rightful place, and all I could do was stare and watch! I didn’t even have to lift a finger before she was done!

“Great, now that that’s done…” Twilight turned towards me while saying those words. “Grab any necessary belongings you have quickly and let’s go!”

I frowned. “Umm, Twilight, I dunno if you’ve realized this by now, but all I’ve got’s the clothes off my back.”

Actually, I don’t remember if Twilight had found anything that belonged to me, but I highly doubt it. It’s not like my ENTIRE ROOM came along with me for the ride between planets or anything like that. Nope. No way. Out of the question.

“Oh.” She simply stated. “Well then, let’s get a move on, shall we?”

Twilight slid on some kind of horse backpack onto her sides then began to trot towards the door. I followed her closely, gathering up strength for the journey ahead of me. Once the entrance was opened, I got a face full of rainwater followed by a chilling south wind.

Great. Not even two steps outside the library and I’m already soaking and cold.


{END OF CHAPTER}

> Chapter 5: Donations Due, Part 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


-CHAPTER 5: DONATIONS DUE-



{*First-Person View, Main Character*}


Hot damn. This storm.

I mean, I know that you might be sick and tired of hearing me bitch about it, but seriously! I can’t believe how brutal and relentless the rain is! While me and Twilight trek outside with the wind pushing us about, I get to enjoy the views and features of the streets of Ponyville: all five feet of it. Visibility was so abysmal that I was very surprised that Twilight had even a lick of sense as where to go! Oh sure, at least I could see my hand in front of my face, but anything beyond that was a blurry mess of muddled blues, greys and blacks.

I was literally soaked to the skin in rainwater. Imagine the largest monsoon that could even possible exist. Now multiply that my one thousand. Now you have an accurate representation of how much rain was slamming into my face. Thankfully my long hair kind of made a drape for my eyes so that I can actually open them, but it also meant that strands of hair kept poking my pupils out.  My clothes absorbed water for the first five seconds of the walk, but after it just seemed too full to contain any more liquid. Naturally because of this, I managed to put on five extra pounds from the sheer mass of H2O I had on my body.

Twilight’s glowing horn was the only source of light for miles around. Sure, there would be the occasional thunder flash here and there, but it didn’t mean much underneath the black blanket that were the rainclouds. Both of us continued our path, silent and grumpy. Well, I knew I was grumpy, but I wasn’t so sure about Twilight. However, I don’t exactly think she’s in a peachy mood after having me tag along with her.

I started to wonder to myself why I actually bothered to follow the unicorn on her quest. I swiftly recalled my plan making sense when I first thought of it. By following Twilight, I could get a move on instead of getting stuck in one location. Also, I could also learn more about Twilight as a person- I mean, pony. Besides, this also allowed me to assess the situation much, much better, seeing as I would have had a better grip on the outside world.

Man, was I starting to regret my decision. 

I folded my arms, attempting to contain what little heat I had left inside me. I was already shivering, and yet it hadn’t even been ten minutes yet! Well, it felt like ten minutes anyways. Maybe it was more, maybe it was less. I have no idea. But anyways, I keep mentally telling myself that I’ve been through worse weather, which is true because living in Canuckle land isn’t really the warmest place on Earth. However, in the past I’ve had layer upon layers of coats, sweaters, long sleeve shirts and t-shirts while here, I might as well be wearing nothing at all! My drenched shirt was nothing more than a white rag wrapped around my shoulders.

I can’t believe that Twilight actually didn’t prepare this much! At the beginning of our journey, she brought out a umbrella from her bags that she has on her sides. Well, before you could say “a blustery day”, the umbrella bent backwards from the forces of the wind, broke and flew away, even with twilight’s magical strength trying to contain it! I guess magic isn’t fail-safe after all. I’m guessing that she doesn’t actually own a rain coat of her own, seeing as she didn’t bring one with her, but I dunno. It would seem stupid to go out in the rain and not bring your own jacket.

Since I had ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA WHERE WE WERE GOING, I had to make little effort on deciding which directing to head towards. Apparently, staring at the back of Twilight’s neck was good enough. She knew the way, therefore, she took point.  I felt as if the scenery around me was a bit awkward and a lot gloomy, but once again, I had absolutely no idea how to handle it. I could try talking to Twilight, but she seems focused enough on her job, which was getting us the heck out of here. Besides, what would I say to her? “How’s the weather?” No freaking way.

So based off of Twilight’s planned route that she quickly filled me in on just after we left the library, we were to head towards Rarity’s, pick her up, go to Pinkie Pie’s place (I’m certainly looking forward to that. Not.), pick her up, go to Fluttershy’s, get her, go to Applejack’s get her, and the rest I can’t remember. What? So what if I don’t have perfect memory! It’s good enough. Besides, Twilight’ the one who’s doing all the planning, not me.

I’m gonna have to admit it. I’m in a completely rotten mood. Absolutely dreadful. But who could blame me? This entire situation stinks like a pile of doggie dung mixed with sewage water and morning breath. It’s just a bad combination of elements creating the perfect storm. Funny how that’s a fairly accurate representation of the rainstorm I’m currently in and yet it’s supposed to be a FIGURE OF SPEECH.

“Here we are!” I barely heard Twilight shout out through the roaring blasts of air and water. I immediately straightened my back and looked up, hopeful that she was right.

And she was! Or, at least, I think she was. Both of us stood in front of a large circular white building. It was difficult to make out the details of the structure through the falling drizzle, but to me it looked like the house itself was wearing a gigantic dress on it. Is it even a house? It looks totally different compared the rest of the Ponyville houses I’ve seen!

“The Carousel Boutique.” Twilight randomly commented. She must have been referring to Rarity’s home. So why does her house have a title to it?

The two of us approached the front door. She knocked on it a few times with her hoof. As to be expected, the entrance did not open to her beckon call. We waited patiently, counting the seconds and comparing it the sound of raindrops falling. It seemed like there was a certain pattern to how the water dropped. There was a certain beat. Drop, drop, drop drop, over and over again. It was a little bit annoying, but just a little bit.

This is terrible! Every millisecond standing out here feels like a millennium! What is taking Rarity so long? Did she even hear Twilight’s knock? Frick, I just wanted to go inside already! Away from the wet, cold rain and the painful, agonizing wind! Is that so hard to ask? Huh? Is it? If this ‘Princess Celestia’ Twilight talked about is the sun goddess, why couldn’t she just bring the power of the sun and end this horror? What’s so bad about the storm that a freakin’ GODDESS cannot solve? Is she really even a goddess? I highly doubt it. It’s hard to believe anything anymore.

This is terrible.

I heard Twilight knock again, but this time with more urgency. We waited some more. And then some more. Finally, after what seemed to be an eon or so, the door opened.

“I’m sorry, but we are closed due to bad-Twilight, Griffin! What are you two doing in here?”

I turned around to see a slightly worn out Rarity standing in the doorway, completely aghast. Before Twilight could even begin to speak her answer, Rarity took her turn first.

“You two must be freezing out there! Come on inside, quickly! Before you catch a cold!”

I gladly obliged.

> Chapter 5: Donations Due, Part 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Please be weary that my writing might be a bit sketchy from here on out because I'm trying new techniques and I'm still recovering from writer's block, ergo, I really have no idea which direction to take until I hit point B.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

{*Omniscient point of view, Carousel Boutique*}


The door to the Carousel Boutique closed with a sound slam. The bells connected to the entrance sang with a high-pitched, ring-a-ling sound. Twilight and Griffin were both soaked to the brim with rainwater, shivering from the deadly combination of liquid and brisk wind. The two were starting to leave a trail of puddles as Rarity led them away from the front door.

“Please, make sure you wipe your hooves, and uh…”

Rarity began to instruct before she caught a slight snag in her sentence. She stared at the bipedal’s feet, her hoof tapping her jaw in raw thought and processing. Griffin growled, knowing that Rarity had no idea what to substitute ‘hooves’ for.

“They’re called feet.” he grumbled, hunching his shoulders with arms straight.

“Oh, yes! Right! Feet! Please wipe ‘feet’.” Rarity finished.

The two visitors did as they were told. Griffin took off his drenched foot apparel and cotton socks and placed them on the boot rack right next to the boots that Rarity was wearing previously. Meanwhile, Rarity was patiently waiting at a doorway across the room for her newfound guests.

“Now follow me, if you would please.” 

Twilight and Griffin were lead into the next room. The disgruntled human was finally shaking out of his frustration stupor enough to get accustomed to his new setting. The floor was clean and clear, giving off reflections of the various lights around the room. The wall paint followed various shades of amethyst, with curtains surrounding windows and mirrors alike having a rose-like colour. There were pony-mannequins scattered all around one side of the room, some with interesting outfits and other completely naked. Tables of cloth, threads and other sewing equipment were common objects of somewhat interest sticking to the sides of walls. In one secluded corner sat a sewing machine with some kind of material still stuck in the production process. Griffin spotted a staircase leading up to another floor in another corner.

The boy could take a hint. The cogs of brainpower turned profusely in his skull, deducing that Rarity either lived in some kind of clothing shop for ponies, or she had an unhealthy attraction to stitching stuff.

The fashionista didn’t stop here. Instead, she trotted along to the next room, which was substantially smaller. The space was shaped like a piece of cheese that was at a 45 degree angle. Its outside rim had an unlit fireplace between two windows. In front of said fireplace was a short, glass coffee table with a purple covering and three dark violet couches facing the fireplace.  Once everyone was in the room, Rarity turned to address her guests.

“Please, make yourselves at home.” She gestured towards the couches.

“Umm, no offence, but we’re kinda still wet from all the rain, so I wouldn’t want to ruin your furniture…” Griffin pointed out. He glanced awkwardly at the trail of puddles he and Twilight left while traveling through the rooms.

“No problem!” Twilight exclaimed. She closed her eyes, made a concentration face and activated her magic. Both Griffin and Twilight were surrounded with a shining orange light, filling up the room with its comforting radiance. Griffin squirmed uneasily, not knowing what Twilight was attempting. He felt his skin instantaneously heat up and glow. Smelling pineapples, he observed as his clothes went from damp to dry in a matter of moments. Twilight looked smug as she ended the spell.

“There. One quick-dry spell, hot and ready.” she announced.

“Well, that was quite convenient. Is there anything magic can’t do?” Griffin pondered.

“Well, yeah, lots of things. For example, you can’t turn wood into liquid with magic-“

“Ahem!” Rarity cleared her throat expressively. She successfully got the attention of the alien and the other unicorn.

“Now I don’t mind talking about interesting subjects from time to time, but I do believe that this, isn’t, the time. Would you two please take a seat?”

Griffin and Twilight’s eyes met. They both shrugged, and trotted over to a couch. While Twilight mannerly sat down like a proper mare, the big lug completely flopped himself onto the comfy surface, bouncing in the process. He then continued to lie on his side, absolutely covering the entire area of the couch. Rarity sat in the last remaining furniture.

“Now, would anypony like some tea?” The seamstress offered. Griffin fought the urge to facepalm.

	(Why would you end our conversation just to offer tea?) he protested. 

“No thanks.” Twilight replied simply.

“Do humans even know what tea is?” Rarity asked aloud, directing her attention to the lounging otherworld creature.

“Yes, we do. And no thank you.” Griffin answered begrudgingly. He was having an inner conflict to calm his profound rage.

	(I’m ok, Griffin. I’m ok. There’s nothing to be mad about, absolutely nothing. She was just asking an innocent question, not trying to insult you. You’re out of the rain now. You’re dry. Just calm. The fuck. Down.) he concluded.

“Very well then. First off, what kind of errand have you two been running in order to go out and get soaked like that?” the pearl white unicorn addressed.

“It was a very important order from Princess Celestia. She told me…”

Twilight hesitated. While Rarity looked slightly concerned, Griffin just looked plain understanding.

“…She told me to gather up all of my friends and leave Equestria.”

“WHAT?” Rarity exclaimed.

(Exactly what I thought.) Griffin made a mental note.

“She gave me the Elements of Harmony,” Twilight stated, pulling out the jewel crested purple box from her saddlebags, “told me that it was too dangerous to stay in Equestria and said to gather you, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Applejack to leave.”

Rarity was completely bewildered by the sight of the Elements in Twilight’s possession.

	(Hmm, now this is something that Twilight hasn’t told me yet. What are these “Elements of Harmony”? And could someone pick such a CHEESY name? But most of all, why does Rarity look so surprised?) Griffin regarded, subtly raising his right eyebrow.

“But, but that’s just absurd! Surely the Princess couldn’t have been serious! And what kind of danger? Does she mean the thunderstorm outside? But that’s just a thunderstorm! We have many thunderstorms regularly, so what it the Princess worried about?” Rarity looked nervously both at Twilight and Griffin. While Twilight looked somewhat sad, Griffin gave his best poker face and allowed no room for Rarity to analyze his emotions.

“When the princess told me this, she asked me to teleport straight to her room. I did, and she showed me what she could see from her own balcony. And Rarity, oh, what I saw… What I saw…”

Twilight gave up a tear and let it fall to the fabric of the couch. Rarity sat up, looking sympathetic for her friend’s sorrow.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A cupcake to anyone who can guess the hidden fanfic reference in this chapter.

> Chapter 5: Donations Due, Part 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


{*Omniscient point of view, Carousel Boutique*}


“I saw the end of Equestria itself.”

Twilight was just beginning the second retelling of her experiences with the princess as of late. Even though she had Rarity’s undivided attention, Griffin purposely looked away and started to tune her voice out in order to avoid a repeat of the mournful unicorn’s grief. He looked out the window, just to remind himself that he wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon. All he could hope was that the storm was coming to a climax, and would hopefully end soon.

“Canterlot was in total disarray, Pale Mountain were frozen over by blizzards, Whitetail Wood was on FIRE and the Everfree Forest had more lightning strikes that I have ever seen before.” Twilight said, forcing herself to look at her friend to interrupt her flashbacks as much as possible. “It seemed that Ponyville was getting the better end of it. At lease we only have rain here, while in other locations the elements have gone absolutely wild! I think I saw a tornado somewhere in the mix! A tornado! In Equestria! I have to say, Rarity, it was absolute chaos.”

The young student gave Rarity a moment of reprieve. The white stylist let go of her jaw and just stared at the dull stone floor. She finally looked back at Twilight to receive a glance of sorrow and empathy.

“It’s what I saw Rarity. And it was also what the Princess saw. Over her past thoughts, she deemed that the best course of action to make would be…”

Twilight gave a pregnant pause. She glimpsed at her hooves, reconsidering if this was all a dream or not. Whether it to be true. Whether if the honest situation that was happening outside was the absolute reality of it. When ready, she carried on and looked right back at her listener.

“…to send the Elements away until the time is right.”

Rarity gave up all signs of life in her eyes. Any amount of hope, joy and bliss were drained away by her friend’s horrible report. Her deep ocean gaze quickly lost its glitter and shine. Her happiness-depraved mind showed no aspects of any positive output.

“Wha-what about the Elements? You have the elements, so can’t we use them again and cure Equestria from this ma-madness?”

“I guess we could, but one, we need everypony gathered in order for them to work, and two, that’s not what the princess ordered us to do. She… She firmly stated to retreat until she sorts out the situation.”

For the first time in her life, Rarity had doubts on the Princess. What was she doing? Why wasn’t using the elements her first option? It didn’t make sense to her. Instead, it just made her more disarrayed and distressed.

“I…I…I…I’m speechless! What am I going to do now, Twilight? This is so sudden! What about my career? Will I just have to leave my precious shop behind and hope for the best?”

Twilight opened her mouth to provide an answer, but was not swift enough.

“And I haven’t had any time to pack! Much less any time to think about what I need to pack! And-and what about Sweetie Belle? What am I supposed to tell her? I,I,I… What am I supposed to do?”

Rarity stared at Twilight in desperation. All the poor, purple pony could do was think and return the look with understanding and thoughtfulness. She glanced took a hasty glance to her left, hoping that the lounging human would have any rebuttal. Her eyes went straight back to Rarity as soon as she realized that Griffin had a sudden interest in the fuzzy surface of the couch, him poking at the material. Observing Rarity’s emotions, she considered her options.

	(I can’t smile, that would not be appropriate for the situation. Obviously I have to try and comfort her, but how? What approach should I take? Look directly into her eyes, Twilight. I need to keep eye contact! Gah, I have no idea what to do! I didn’t plan this far in my original schedule!)

Twilight blinked slowly, then affirmed her course of action.

“I’m sorry Rarity. I truly am. The princess said that it wasn’t a permanent fix, so we will probably head back to Ponyville as soon as the problem is fixed. That way, you can resume your shop as soon as possible.” Twilight stated hopefully. “As for what we need to do, I can give you some time to pack and get things ready, but the Princess wanted us to be out of Equestria as fast as possible, so I’m giving you until tomorrow morning before we have to be on the road again and get Pinkie Pie next.”

The curly-tailed unicorn started sobbing on the spot. Twilight silently cursed herself for not successfully calming down her friend. She got off the couch to where Rarity was at and wrapped her up in a pony hug. Rarity immediately took up the offer and wrapped her forehooves around Twilight’s shoulder. The purple pony felt the tears travel down her back and let Rarity’s make-up run onto her fur. Grasping one of her best pals tightly, she knew that Rarity needed this as much as she did when Griffin hugged her.

“I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry. But it’ll be ok. It’ll be just fine. Just you wait and see. With all six of us, there’s nothing that will bring us down. And soon, we’ll be back in Ponyville in no time flat, just you wait and see.”

Griffin in truth was listening to the whole conversation the entire time, trying his best to look conspicuous. When he heard the talking grind to a halt, he turned his head just enough to spot the two out of the corner of his eye. Just focusing on his peripheral vision, he gazed at the emotional train wreck that was Rarity. He even spotted Twilight shedding yet another tear or to. All he could do was return his survey of the conditions outside and shake his head.

Scowling, he thought to himself, (Women. They cry way too much…)

> Chapter 5: Donations Due, Part 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


{*Omniscient point of view, Carousel Boutique*}



Rarity and Twilight sat in the dim candlelight of the Carousel Boutique’s living room. While Rarity cried her eyes out, Twilight kneeled right beside Rarity’s couch and held her in a hug of care and affection. Both were experiencing deep, tear-jerking events that ripped their souls inside out. Griffin laid down on a nearby couch, trying to give them as much privacy as possible. He found himself waiting for the sob-storm from the girls to pass for a minute. Then two minutes. Then five. Soon, fifteen minutes went by without word or acknowledgement between the unusual group of beings. Getting an idea, Griffin decided to break the partial silence.

“Hey, is there a washroom in this place around here?” Griffin suddenly asked aloud. Twilight shot him a dirty look, saying “This is not the right time for a question like that!” with her facial expression. Rarity looked up from her vision of purple fur and saw the tall human stand up, six feet and all. Abruptly reminded of his height, Rarity took a breath of fright before finally answering the inquiry.

“O-Of course! Um, excuse me, Twilight…” Rarity gently shoved Twilight backwards, letting go of the embrace. Sniffing, she promptly wiped her tears and makeup and daintily got off the couch.

“No need to get up Rarity, you can just tell me where it is and I’ll find it myself.” Griffin approached the distressed mare and attempted to settle her back onto her resting spot, but she back up from his reach.

“It would be rude of me to not personally show you where it is. So please, let me.” she simply stated, avoiding Griffin’s chestnut eyes.

“Rarity. Please.”

She looked up to meet her calling. Griffin had a determined, upright stare to his face. Rarity knew that his request had deeper meaning than she previously pondered.

“Help me, help you. Just tell me where the bathroom is and I can find it by myself.” Griffin affirmed, lifting his right palm in front of him and closing it in a tight grip.

Rarity had no idea what the gesture meant, but she guessed it was of somewhat importance. Defeated, she leaned backwards into the soft, plush pillows of her couch and gave a great, tiresome sigh. Taking another breath, her eyes met Griffin’s once more.

“Fine, if that is what you wish, then so be it.” Her right forehoof limply rose up, pointing to a nearby corridor leading to somewhere else in her boutique.

“Go down the hallway, then take a left at the end. Go down that route until you reach the second door. That will be the bathroom.” She let her foreleg rest back on her side. Griffin nodded his head in affirmation. 

“Thank you, Rarity.”

Without another word, he left the room, leaving the two unicorns all by themselves. Rarity broke out another woeful sigh and leaned back onto a pillow. Twilight once again approached her seamstress, not sure what to think of that little interaction between the otherworldly human and one of her best friends. However, one think she knew was that Griffin’s behavior was mildly confusing. 


(One moment he was grumpy to his soaked physical state, then was completely silent when she described her sights at Canterlot, and now he needed to go to the bathroom this very instant? What the heck is with this guy? And just there, he somehow convinced Rarity to let go of her polite hostess ways and let him do his thing even though Rarity doesn’t even know him! I don’t get it. I just can’t wrap my head around the reasons of his actions! Is it because he is a different species? It must be! Note to self, once I acquire my scientific field study notebook, observe human speech and body patterns.) Twilight reasoned. She stared at her fellow unicorn, planning out her next move.

	(Now, to deal with matters that matter most…)

Before she could actually do anything, Rarity beat her to the punch.

“Twilight? Why did you bring Griffin along with you and not Spike?”

The purple pony stumbled both over her hooves and her words. She was not ready for Rarity to ask a question such like that. It just popped out of nowhere, catching her completely off guard. Of course, that didn’t mean that she had an answer prepared beforehoof.

“I-I-I-Well, you see…”

Twilight paused mid-sentence to take notice that Rarity was eyeing her with nothing but sorrow and emptiness. It was as if a major part of Rarity’s being was ripped right out of her existence. The Element of Magic wondered that if she didn’t listen to Princess Celestia at all and had not come to the Carousel Boutique, Rarity might have not been in this kind of state. It scared her, seeing her generous friend be so void of energy and hope.

“I actually didn’t plan for him to come along. My original plan was to go and gather you and all the others along in one single night. As I have explained before, I would get you, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Applejack, return to the library to pick up Spike, Owlowiscious, Pee Wee and Griffin, and finally leave the next morning.”

Twilight turned towards the window. She scanned the outside, as if looking for something before continuing.

“That was the plan. I tried to sneak away while they were sleeping, but I accidentally knocked some things over while trying to gather supplies for the trip. Fortunately, I had my room underneath a sound-barrier spell, so Spike didn’t hear anything. Unfortunately, Griffin did. He found me trying to clean up the entire mess and confronted me on what I was doing in the middle of the night. I had to explain everything to him because he wanted answers. And to tell you the truth, I feel better now that I gave those answers to him. Not only did he deserve them, but I also needed to tell somepony about what I saw with Princess Celestia. I was holding all the emotion in, hoping that I could hold them off and lock them away forever."

She swung her head to face Rarity. With a slight smirk and a hint of happiness, she resumed her tale.

“But then he just appeared and I could let it all out. He was there when I needed somepony. Or, in his case, ‘someone’. He just sat and let me explain myself without having to counteract my thinking or my memories. I could rant all I wanted about my pain and he just sat there, thinking about it"

There was a certain spark in Twilight’s eyes.

“He was a true friend.”

Rarity had a second to conceive Twilight’s thoughts. The purple student wasn’t full of negative emotions after all. Instead, she was a tiny bit happy and joyful, and had room to spare. Rarity saw Twilight like her usual, cheerful self, not her stressed out, busy self that she had been acting as of late.

(At lease somepony in the room isn’t a crying, soppy mess…) she mused.

“So anyway, after I cried my heart out, I told him that I would be leaving. He stood up and said that he wouldn’t let me leave alone. He didn’t want me to be by myself in the cold storm, so he volunteered to be my travel buddy. I didn’t want him to go, but he wouldn’t let me say no, so I just left through the front door and he followed. We trekked through the rain, got here, and you know the rest.”

Twilight appeared to be very distant at this point. She was staring straight into the wall, thinking about something or other. Rarity couldn’t hold back her smile. It was such a nice change of pace to have a peaceful moment in the night. Then, a though occurred to her.

“But what about Spike? Did you leave him at the back at the library?”

Twilight snapped out of her brainstorm to address the question.

“Yeah. Since he didn’t wake up after the racket I caused, there was no need to bring him along. Don’t worry, I left a note saying that I went out to buy some bread and that I wouldn’t be too long, just in case that he would wake up. Since I planned to not take more than an evening, I didn’t worry about any long-term reassurances. But, now that I gave you a night to pack and stuff, I dunno anymore…”

Twilight’s smile faded off of her muzzle. Seeing this, it was Rarity’s time to shine.

“I promise Twilight that we’ll be on the road by tomorrow early morning in the least. And once we are, you can go back to visit Spike while I go gather the others. Then, if I wasn’t done yet and you wished it, you could go and help me get the rest of the gang.”

Twilight looked expectantly at Rarity. “Are you serious? I mean, you wouldn’t have to. I could just do it all myself.”

“Of course I am serious darling! It would be my pleasure to help as much as I can on this little journey of ours.” 

Both mares began to smile. Rushing forward, Twilight yet again dropped into a hug, grasping Rarity in a friendship hold. Grinning widely, her newfound joy knew no bounds.

“Oh, thank you Rarity, thank you! This means so much to me! Thank you!”

“Nothing to worry about, darling.”


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please note that there will be NO SHIPPING in this fan fiction. If you have gotten any notion from this chapter part that there would be some pony x human shipping, then you are WRONG! There is no shipping period! If there was shipping, then there would be a shipping tag. No, I am not going to be a jerk and flip the table on this story by adding shipping. This is a no shipping zone.

...I really hope that I didn't portray that kind of idea.

> Chapter 5: Donations Due, Part 5
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


NOTE:
I added a extra blurb of information that I accidentally forgot to add back when I was writing chapter three. So, for all those who are actively following my story please re-read part three of chapter three. It contains a little bit of foreshadowing to what will happen next, but I mean, it's not anything story breaking.

Still you should really go back and re-read it if you haven't done so yet.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------



{*First-Person View, Main Character*}


I casually walk down the hall of Rarity’s home. My head was barely scraping of the top of the corridor, seeing as these walls were made to house miniature technicolor horses, not six feet tall bipedal aliens that creates an air of awkwardness every time he or she passes by. The walls were painted with the same theme as the rest of the home: a very light purple. In fact, it was so light, one could not tell that it was actually a shade of purple without looking at it very closely.

…

…So what if I took a minute or two to stare straight at a wall? You’ve probably done stranger things before! And I don’t even wanna know, so keep your dirty little secrets to yourself, ok?

…

Ok, I’m sorry that I seem a bit hostile right now, but my last plan didn’t turn out a smoothly as I hoped and things are tense in this situation I find myself in overall. Previously, I asked Rarity where the washroom was to have an excuse to get away so that the two ponies (I will never get used to saying that…) could have some kind of alone time. Obviously me being in that room was causing some kind of communication interference between the two, so I thought that if I were to remove myself from the scene, the problem would be solved. Unfortunately, I did not foresee the factor that Rarity was a complete BITCH- I mean, overly polite person and wanted to show me the bathroom herself. I really didn’t want Rarity to get up just for me, seeing as she had enough on her hands. Or hooves. Or- you get what I mean!

So I would say that plan was a bit of a failure because even though I got out of the room, not only did Twilight shoot me a dirty look for asking such a question because she didn’t understand the nature of my request (seriously? I thought she was smarter than that!), but I also managed to get Rarity to hold back her emotions by getting her to get up, accidentally I might add. Yes, I saw it in her expression and sudden change of demeanor. When she physically sat up and got off of her couch, she took any sadness she was displaying and sucked it all the way back into the depths of her heart, which, I predict will eventually break out at the worst possible moment.

Gah, I screwed up that one.

Following Rarity’s instruction, I turned myself left and the end of the passage and continued until I found the second door, which was to my right. I immediately opened the door and attempted to enter, but ended up banging my head on the doorframe. Using some choice curses, I briskly strode in. The bathroom wasn’t anything special. It was a simple white tiled, run of the mill washroom with the standard sink, toilet and shower. The only things notable were the pink shower mat in front of the shower, the miscellaneous beauty items on a counter all around the sink and the fact that everything was at waist level. It wasn’t anything interesting, but I don’t know what I was expecting from a freaking bathroom.

I leaned against the wall, breathing a sigh of relief. I actually didn’t need to go to the bathroom in the first place, I just wanted to get out of the living room as fast as humanly possible. Ironic, isn’t it? Anyways, at least now I had some time to ponder what life had handed me next. So far, Rarity is a hopeless mess of negative feelings, Equestria is in shambles, the oh-so-powerful goddess of a Princess is not doing her duty and Twilight… I don’t know about Twilight.

I mean, obviously she’s still dealing with the fact that she has to leave, but she is definitely far better off than before. The thing is, I could not only see the physical impact of the whole weight of it all in her eyes, but I could also sense it. I dunno how to explain it, but every time I look at her, she just seems… Sad. And not a normal, saddy sad, but the kind of sad that comes with depression and that creeps along like a hidden shadow, growing every second until it envelopes the entirety of your mind, body and soul! Of course, Rarity was say, but that was a different sad from Twilight’s.

Sometimes, I worry about that girl.

And Rarity. Based on what I’ve seen from her, she has a certain regal air to herself. She’s polite, has a certain speech pattern with “darling” and “dear” thrown around and wears way too much make up. I can’t believe that a pony is wearing make up in the first place! Why? Why make up? I just don’t get it. But enough about trying to wrap my head around impossible things, she was definitely shaken up by the news. I can understand, seeing that if I was asked to leave my country on such short notice I would break down one way or another. I just hope that she has a quick recovery, because I’m not really interested in sticking around.

And last but not least, Ponyville. First of all, who the mother truck makes up these names? Twilight? Rarity? Rainbow Dash? The flying frick? I know my name’s kinda goofy, but this is just pushing it! And now PONYVILLE of all names? Why would someone want to name a town PONYVILLE??? Because it’s full of ponies? Sure, but can’t you at least come up with something, oh I dunno, more creative? I mean, for crying out loud, I want some names that make some freaking sense!

…

…Sorry, I had to get that out of my system. But what Twilight said about Ponyville (uggghhh…) earlier really hit home. If Ponyville was really the lower end of the chaos, then does this mean that this is just the calm before the storm? Aw crap. Please, ignore that pun. Anyways, it sounds like the worst is yet to come, and I’m afraid to find out what’s gonna happen next. What WILL happen next? I really have no way to tell. I don’t think that the storm can possible can get any worse.

And what are these "Elements of Harmony" Twilight was talking about?

*knock knock*

“Griffin, are you almost done in there?” I heard Twilight’s voice call out.

“Oh, yeah, just a second!” I called back. Thinking quickly, I flushed the toiled just for good measure and opened the door. The purple unicorn was standing the hall, waiting patiently for her turn. Without a moment of hesitation, we swapped spots in the hall. Once she shut the door, I was once again all alone, except for the growing annoyance of the rainwater rapping against the windows and my own mind.

“Dang it, what was I thinking about again?”



> Chapter 5: Donations Due, Part 6
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


{*First-Person View, Main Character*}


Once again, I found myself slacking off on Rarity’s couch back in the living room. I sprawled out across the bouncy surface, arms laid about and my back bending slightly backwards. The white unicorn was kind enough to light the fireplace, filling the room with orange rays and comfortable warmth. I was dopey to no extent, feeling brain dead from the lack of sleep and general lack of mental rest. The bothersome rainwater carried on to knock upon the window pane, creating some white noise, yet not soothing enough for me to fall asleep to.

Running though the most recent events over in my head one more time, boredom had finally claimed me its victim. I tried to find activities to do, but my hostess demanded that I not touch anything in her “workshop”. Not like there would be anything interesting to examine, but it ticked me off a bit that she was so forward about it. Still, I guess I would be forward too if I cared enough for it. I was also just glad that her mood was doing a bit better. She seemed to be more cheerful and outgoing than before.

Anyways, I found that I had plenty of time on my hands after Twilight kicked me out of the bathroom, so I’d thought to familiarize myself with the outlook of the building. The entrance Twilight and I had walked through led to Rarity’s workplace, which led to the living room and kitchen. In between the kitchen and living room were two hallways, each with doors to various other rooms such as closets, bedrooms and the bathroom. I spotted a staircase while exploring, but chose not to advance further until necessary. The entire tour only took a mere five minutes, especially since Rarity was so picky on which areas I could go in and which areas were off limits.

Soon after, I realized that while I was puttering about, the two girls were making supper! I quickly found out that in reality it was only six o’clock in the evening, not night time like I had guessed. I didn’t want to be useless and a freeloader, so I asked if there was anything I could do. Rarity told me to do some simple tasks: put out the plates, place down the cutlery, fill up the cups with water, that sort of thing. Once I had hastily finished the task, there was really nothing left for me to do, seeing as I couldn’t cook. I also had enough faith that Rarity and Twilight combined couldn’t possible make a terrible meal. After observing their work ethic carefully, it appeared that they knew what they were doing.

And now we return to modern time, where there is absolutely nothing else for me to do besides wait and count the drops of water on the glass of the window. Even though there was still so much to think about, I’ve had enough brainstorming for one day. And besides, a headache was starting to form in my skull, and using my brain just made it worse. I figured that I was just best off to sit and veg for a while until dinner was served. Just when I thought that I had finally found peace, my loafing around was interrupted by the shrill call of a certain glamorous pony…

“SWEETIE BELLE! DINNER’S READY!”

I lazily creaked my head around my left, trying to find what all the hullabaloo was all about. I saw the rear end of Rarity’s body and tail from the doorway. From what I could tell, she was yelling up the stairs to someone. Now, I’ve heard Rarity say that name before, but I hadn’t really thought about it until now. My right eyebrow rose slightly, sensing suspicious activity. Who was this Sweetie Belle she was talking about?

“Coming!” screeched a very high-pitched voice. I sat up, curious as to what could make such a voice like that. It sounded like it came from a very young girl, complete with a voice crack and everything! No, it can’t possibly be…

Instantaneously I shot out of the couch and made my way to the doorway to Rarity’s work quarters. Cautiously taking cover behind the wall, I lightly peeked around the corner to view any events that might be taking place in the next room. Just mere seconds later, I heard footsteps- no, HOOFsteps coming from the set of stairs with rapid frequency. Then, I noticed a tiny shadow reflect off the wall of the staircase, one with a barely noticeable horn attached to its head.

Then, she came around the corner. Suddenly racing down the steps was not only the smallest pony that I have ever seen, but also the CUTEST LIVING THING THAT I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY ENTIRE LIFE! I’m assuming that she’s a she, but then again, I may be just being an ass. Anywho, WHAT THE FUCK WHY IS THIS THING SO GOSH DARN CUTE??? IT’S ADORABLE!!! I CAN’T BELIEVE SOMETHING SO CUTE COULD EVER POSSIBLY EXIST IN ONE PLACE!!! UNBELIEVEABLE-

Aw crap, am I finally going all mushy and crap after talking to ponies for the past few hours? Shit, I really need to get a hold of myself. I mean, sure it’s cute and stuff, but I can’t let my overreaction be seen by Twilight or Rarity! So looking at the petite pony before me, she was completely white with purple and pink locks of hair on both her head and tail. Her gigantic, grass green eyes complemented her tiny muzzle and awe-inspiring hooves. She hastily raced into the kitchen to grab some grub.

I retracted myself from the doorway, heart racing and head pounding. What the fuck was that? She was just so gosh darn cute, but I mean what? Where did she come from? Was she upstairs the whole time? Is she a young pony, or just really small? And most importantly-

“By the way, Griffin, if you didn’t hear me previously, dinner is ready. It’s in the kitchen, so please make your way there if you don’t mind.” Rarity addressed directly in front of me, catching me by surprise. Dang, I was so focused on the newcomer that I hadn’t even realized that Rarity was watching me stare! Well that’s kinda embarrassing. She turned to leave, but I didn’t want to let her. I had way too many questions and I think that she can shine some light on the situation.

“Wait Rarity!” I exclaimed, tugging on the exiting mare’s tail. She looked back at me, not pleased at all that I tugged at her curled purple backside. I motioned for her to come a bit closer, forgetting that she might not know what I meant at all with my hand motions. Apparently she did and got close enough so I could whisper.

“Who was that?” I simply asked, pointing towards the kitchen that the tiny pony had just entered.

“Oh, that was Sweetie Belle. You two haven’t met, have you? Well, she’s going to be quite excited to meet a being from another planet! But then again, that may cause us some trouble…”

Rarity took a moment to ponder her situation. She didn’t answer as many questions as I had expected, so I pressed farther into the topic.

“So… Is she your daughter or something?”

“Oh, heavens no! She is my younger sister, staying at my place until my parents come back from their prolonged vacation.” Rarity clarified, looking a tad bit flustered.

“Oh, ok then. So how is she going to react to me?"

“Well, she might react with a lot of jumping and hype and ask you question like where do you come from and how did you get here, but otherwise it shouldn’t be too bad.” She concluded. I gave her a face saying that I did not like this idea of introducing me so suddenly.

“Don’t worry, as long as she and you get off on the right hoof, you’ll be just fine.” Rarity started walking away.

“I sure hope so…” I muttered, quickly following suit.
> Chapter 5: Donations Due, Part 7
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


{*Omniscient point of view, Carousel Boutique*}


Both human and unicorn headed towards the Carousel Boutique’s kitchen. While Griffin’s mind was filled with fret, Rarity confidently strode on through her abode. The pair was just about to enter the kitchen when the pearl white pony stopped in her tracks, accidentally causing a collision between the two. Griffin raised his eyebrow at the sudden halt until Rarity turned around and motioned him to the side. Kneeling down, the boy leaned in to listen what she had to say.

“Before we enter the kitchen, let me go first so I can calm down Sweetie Belle. I can talk some sense into her before she overreacts. Don’t say a thing until I give you the signal, got it?” Rarity instructed. The human gave a thumbs up in understanding.

Noticing Rarity’s look of confusion, he answered her silent question. “Oh, when I do this,” Griffin pointed towards his thumb, “It means a-ok.” Standing up again, they continued on to meet up with Twilight in the next room.

Griffin took cover beside the doorway, letting Rarity pass by. There was a table at the center of the kitchen which Sweetie and Twi were sitting at, who were both waiting patiently for the others to arrive. The fashionista flashed a sincere smile towards her little sister before approaching the two.

“What are we having tonight?” Sweetie Belle inquired, eyes shining brightly.

“You’ll see soon enough.” her older sister responded. “But before we eat, there is something I want to tell you. We have a guest that will be staying here tonight besides Twilight. Now, he may look a little… different to you, but trust me he is a very kind and trustworthy being. Please keep your manners while he’s around, won’t you?”

The young filly hesitantly nodded her head, not knowing what to expect.

“You can come in now!” Rarity called around the corner. Griffin sheepishly shuffled into the kitchen, almost tripping on his heels while avoiding the top of the doorframe. Recovering from his sudden stumble, he immediately straightened himself out and set his mind to ‘aware’, just in case he needed to pay attention to something important. He could only smile back to the shocked expression of Sweetie Belle after properly examining her. Before he could even greet her, the eager pony zoomed out of her seat and launched right next to Griffin’s legs faster than you could say ‘pony picked a pumpernickel’.

“Hi! I’m Sweetie Belle! Who are you? Where did you come from? Are you some kind of giant bald gorilla?” the filly squeaked, her immature voice cracking at least once. Rarity magically tugged at her sister’s tail, dragging her backwards and giving Griffin some much needed personal space.

“Sweetie, what did I just say about manners?” Rarity scolded.

“I know, but he’s so interesting! I’ve never seen anything so tall before!” She gawked up at Griffin’s face, eyeing her height difference.

“To answer your questions, my name is Griffin, I came from a different planet and I am not a giant bald gorilla. Well, technically speaking, I’m not.” he said, trying his best to be clear and concise. 

“Wow! He can talk!” Sweetie chirped. When Griffin scowled in insult, Rarity could only provide sympathy from her facial expression.

“Yeah, well I can do many things, talking is just one of them.” the towering bipedal answered politely, ignoring the child’s innocent comment.

“Like what?” Sweetie inquired, craning her neck eagerly.

“Well, I would rather not display my skills in fear of messing up your sister’s household.” said Griffin, adorning a slight British accent. He smirked, having a little fun with the situation.

“So if you’re not from this planet does that mean that you’re an alien?”

“Now that’s quite enough Sweetie. Griffin’s been answering questions all day and needs a break, would you say Griffin?” Rarity telekinetically lifted her little sister back into her seat.

“Yes, a break from questions does sound absolutely exceptional right now. In fact, I feel somewhat peckish, so let’s start eating, shall we?” he suggested while heading towards the dining table.

“Yes, we shall.” Rarity replied, taking her own seat beside Sweetie Belle. 

Just before Griffin pulled out his chair and sat down, a thought occurred to him.

“Umm, I would rather not crush your dining furniture, Rarity.”

“What makes you say that?” she questioned. Griffin appropriately made a ‘are you kidding me?’ expression and gestured towards his seat. Both Twilight and Sweetie had to chuckle at the fact that the chair was not only looked too small, but also could not possible support his weight.

“Oh dear! I did not foresee that problem!” Rarity exclaimed. “Uh, I think I have some extra cushions you could sit on. Hang on…” The white stylist got out of her seat and walked towards the hall.

“No need to get up Rarity, I can just eat on my knees. You don’t have to get anything for me.” Griffin assured.

“Nonsense, I will not have my guests dine without a proper seating device!” she demanded somewhere in the hall. The teenager just shrugged his shoulders and moved the pint-sized wooden chair to the side of the room. Rarity quickly came back with dark purple pillows floating beside her. She stacked the objects on top of each other, creating a makeshift chair. She quickly returned to her spot soon after. Griffin sat down on his newly conceived sitting place, trying to balance himself on the pile of poof-y material while stretching out his legs.

“Now that that’s settled, please, dig in!”

A large steaming pot was sitting in the center of the table the entire time. Griffin duly noted that he didn’t notice it because he was too occupied on making Sweetie Belle’s first encounter with him a successful one. Now that the ruckus was over, he properly got accommodated with the room.

Rarity’s kitchen was a standard one. Its cupboards were a mixture of maroon and Cornell red. There were several pans, metal spoons and other stirring devices hanging against the wall. The dull gold sink had an empty pot in it, but was otherwise void of plates or utensils.  There were a few heart designs cut into the wood and some handles were put together to make them look like hearts. The table Griffin sat at had an ocean blue tablecloth draped over it, covering the brown wooden interior. The top had several sets of spoons, forks and knives, each laid out in their respective spaces. The direct center of the tabletop was the pot of food, along with what seemed to be a bowl of tomato sauce.

The glamorous hostess lifted up the pot’s top telekinetically, releasing steam into the room. Griffin could feel the heat of the freshly cooked food from his seat. A black plastic spoon was grabbed from the wall and put into the pot. Retrieving its contents, Rarity poured an amount onto Sweetie Belle’s plate. Griffin almost instantly recognized the cookery.

(Rotini!) he eagerly thought.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I apologize for the lack of interesting events in these past few parts, but I assure you, they're only building up to something big.

Something VERY. BIG.

> Chapter 5: Donations Due, Part 8
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------



Small note: added a little blurb to part 7, chapter 5 about what exactly was on the table. You might want to review that.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------



{*Omniscient point of view, Carousel Boutique*}


“Wait!” Twilight cried out in the middle of the adequately peaceful evening. Rarity, Sweetie Belle, Twilight and Griffin were all prepared to chow down on some well-deserved supper before the purple pony cried out in panic. They all stared at her, puzzled to her strange outburst. Rarity stopped serving mid-scoop to see what her friend had to say.

“Can you even eat this?” asked the high-prestige student while pointing at the open pot.

“Uh, what, rotini? Yeah, sure I can.” he claimed simplistically, folding his arms and nodding his head. “No, wait, that’s a good question…”

“So you can’t eat rotini?” Rarity was the next one to inquire.

“Well, no, yet yes. I have eaten rotini before, it’s just I haven’t eaten Equestrian rotini before. I dunno if you’ve added any ingredients that I couldn’t digest.” he replied, scratching the back of his head.

“Well what can’t you eat?” Twilight asked next.

“I have no idea. All I can say is that if there’s some foreign plant that you added to the pot or the tomato sauce,” he pointed out the bowl of sauce beside the pot, “then I might get a bit sick later.”

“Oh dear, well we wouldn’t want that to happen, now would we?” Rarity generally stated.

Griffin pondered for a moment before continuing. “Well DID you add anything in particular to your cuisine?”

“Not really, just the standard tomato, mushrooms and onions. In my opinion it’s nothing special.”

“Then theoretically speaking, I should be a-ok…” Griffin analyzed, massaging his chin. Twilight’s facial expression was tense, not wanting to cause any harm accidentally to Griffin’s wellbeing. He noticed the hesitation in everyone’s ability to make a final decision. Sensing Twilight’s stress, the tall sturdy human wisely chose an option before the amethyst equine could make a choice for him.

“Well you know what they say, nothing ventured, nothing gained…” He swiftly grabbed the ladle, slopped on some rotini onto his plate, grabbed his fork and dug right in before any of the ponies could protest. They all gazed at the teen, searching for some kind of response.

“Hmm, not bad!” he munched, taking in the flavor of pasta and butter. All the mares sighed with ease, relieved of their paranoia. The famished ape took his spoon and poured some tomato sauce onto his plate. Rarity taking the hint resumed serving her guest and herself food. They all smirked and grinned, content that there was finally a moment of peace for all of them.

From that second onward, dinner was officially served.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------


{*First-Person View, Main Character*}


I have to say that supper couldn’t have gone better.

Finally after delay and delay we managed to get something done today, that that was dinner. The food was pretty dang good for a first experience of intergalactic rations. The rotini didn’t taste too far off from home. If anything, it tasted a little bit better. How? I dunno, maybe it was something they put in the butter. The ponies definitely enjoyed the meal as well, but I guess that is to be expected. Granted, it’s rotini, it’s nothing amazing, but at least it’s dang familiar in this god-forsaken hellhole.

Ok, so maybe I’m just layering the cake a bit too thick, but sympathize for me, will ya? I would give anything, ANYTHING to be back on Earth. It doesn’t even matter if I end up in Africa or Brazil or something like that, I just want to be back on some familiar ground with my surrounding looking back like the way they’re supposed to.

But I’m getting off topic here. The food was great, the tomato sauce was fantastic (not too thick, just enough vegetables.), and overall the atmosphere was appropriate. Sweetie Belle talked almost the entire time about cutie marks or something? I didn’t even wanna know, so I didn’t ask. Cutie marks… God, I know I’ve said it a millions times by now but I’ll just say it a million times more: the names in this universe SUCK. BAD. So anyways, Sweetie Belle talking about cutie mark-things and her friends and what they had planned to do in the future. Surprisingly, she wasn’t annoying. In fact, she was quite bearable despite her high-pitched immature voice and constant voice cracks. I got to know a lot more about the pony behind the… mare. Yeah, that didn’t come out like I thought it would.

Rarity and Twilight were attentive listeners all the way. I mean, I guess they couldn’t do much else (what are they going to do, IGNORE her? I don’t think so!), but that just shows the extent of their patience. As for Sweetie Belle, she wasn’t exactly a chip off her old sister, but I could somewhat see some family traits in the two. For example, both of them have picked up unnecessary speech habits such as saying ‘quite’ and ‘absolutely’. Also, they were both white. Actually, that may have nothing to do about them being sisters, but the fact just made it more believable. So Sweetie was just like any normal human child: hyperactive, loud and excited for anything that happens in her life. I had to keep reminding myself that I was dining with a bunch of ponies, not actual human beings. It was very strange to say the least.

Seemingly in no time flat our meal was done. I almost single-handily emptied out the pot myself, but I also made sure that everyone else had their fill before I ate the rest. Rarity expressed her concern for not cooking enough, but I had to assure her that I was full. Of course, I was lying. That meal could have been a lot, lot bigger, but I played the politeness card and said otherwise. If I could I would definitely go for a round 4. Yes, that’s how much I ate. And yet I still have room.

At the end of our supper, I leaned back, took in a huge breath and let it back out in the form of a loud intrusive belch. I think that Rarity and Twilight were gawking at me while Sweetie Belle had a giggle, but I didn’t really care.

Because for the first time in this god-damn inter-dimensional trip, something had gone my way.



-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------


I once again apologize for the short chapter part, but I am beginning to get at wit's end with my writing ability and author creativity. Don't be surprised if I slow down in updates a bit. I'll make sure to post something on my blog if I am certain of something. Stay tuned!

> Chapter 5: Donations Due, Part 9
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


{*First-Person View, Main Character*}


This evening has gotten better and better by the minute.

Sure, there have been some things that could have been improved on, but I’m not one to dwindle on the small stuff. The point is everyone is in a chirpier mood, my stomach is full of pasta and I think that the storm has even slowed down a bit, but don’t quote me on that. I guess that the positive mood has made everything in general move at a more leisurely pace. I find it quite enjoyable just being able to smile and say “Yeah. I had a good dinner.”

What’s even better was that I was actually some use to the two mares! Without hesitation, I gladly accepted the task to wash the dishes after everyone was finished. I found myself scrubbing in circles plate after plate with a comedically squeaky yellow sponge, polishing off utensils, scooping out cups and rinsing out a big ol’ metal pot. I felt satisfied to help out in some way this time. Placing various clean items on the drying rack, my progress was swift and without incident. Even with my prune-y hands stinging from the way-too-powerful dish soap, there was virtually nothing that could bring my mood down.

The room was relatively quiet except for the clanging of tableware here and there. Rarity was washing up the table and other surfaces while Twilight went off somewhere to set up her room. I’m guessing that I’ll be sleeping here for the night, but I just don’t know where yet. I’m pretty certain that Rarity has a guest room SOMEWHERE in this huge building, but the question is does she have two? If me and Twilight end up having the same room, I’m perfectly content sleeping on the floor, preferably AWAY from the furry creature. Oh, and Sweetie Belle went upstairs after her older sister reminded her to go finish her homework, which reminded me of MY homework that I still had to finish, which reminded me once again of my current situation.

If it isn’t obvious already, being, no, EXISTING on a completely different planet is just… mind-blowing. Just the sheer fact that I am not only living, but also living perfectly well on an unknown planet to my own is unbelievably astounding. Still, it constantly reminds me of my main task to find a way back home, but that’s kind of running in the background. I try to stop thinking about Earth and my family but it still somewhat looms over in the distance, not leaving me alone. I can try to talk to Twilight or maybe that magical immortal princess she talks to highly of, but right now I have to deal with the issue at hand, and that’s getting all of Twilight’s friends together.

I reached for another dish to surprisingly find that there were no more. Double checking for anything that I missed, I begin to drain out the sink and stop the tap. I wipe my hands with the nearby towel and turn to try and find my white hostess. She was finishing up cleaning the table, perfectly in focus at her job.

“Uh, Rarity, I’m finished cleaning the dishes.” I announced.

“Oh, marvelous. Thank you so much for helping out.” she acknowledged. Her attention turned towards my direction, affirming that my chore was actually done. A slight smile could be seen on her face before she went back to wiping off the dinner surface.

“No problem. Is there anything else you need help with?” I offered, throwing the towel to the drying rack.

“No there is not, thank you. But instead, how about you get familiar with the room I have set up for you? It’s upstairs to the right of Twilight’s room. I do try my best to offer the best sleeping setting I can offer, but I bet that you know what you need to get a better sleep, right? So if there’s anything in your room you want to move or change, feel free to do so.”

“Gee, thanks Rarity.” I said genuinely. Spotting a staircase, I began to casually walk towards it.

“Oh and one more thing…” Rarity’s voice stopped me short from the stairway. “Please take the stairs in my creation quarters, not the one here. The other one leads to the other rooms, while this one leads to my own room.”

“Oh, right…” I murmured, remembering the other set of stairs that I’ve seen previously. Taking my leave, I headed out the kitchen, went to the room full of sewing stuff (which I was guessing was her ‘creation quarters’) and took the stairs there. Step by step, I ascended through the purple stairs to arrive at the second floor. What I found at the top was a long curving hall that reached a few meters, give or take. I’d quickly forgotten exactly how large Rarity’s house was when we were eating! There were three doors on each side with a fabric closet at the end of the corridor. I actually had no idea where Twilight was sleeping, but I had a hunch to progress to the end and hope for the best.

Starting with the right side, I started creaking the doors open a smidge and taking a peek inside. The first door was a closet full of brick-a-brack, so I skipped it to the next. Second on the right was an empty bedroom, possibly mine, but I didn’t want to take a room not designated for me, so I quietly closed the door. As I silently moved to the last door, my attention caught the door behind me. I heard a voice cry out in frustration. No doubt it was Sweetie Belle, but I was curious as to what would make her say:

“Dumb Fractions!”

I cautiously turn around, gazing at the door to the opposite side of the hall. It was a tad bit ajar, allowing some noise to escape the edges of the doorframe. I steadily crept up to her suggested bedroom and took a look inside. At the corner of the room sat cute petite Sweetie Belle, her face attached to the desk. I could see a pencil to her left and a blue folder on the floor. I smiled warmheartedly, remembering the times where I had to sit at a desk at home and do simple homework like this. Of course I still do, except it more involves computers and typing rather than paper, pencil and simple elementary questions. She was definitely still in elementary school, right? She sounded way too young to be in junior high. I still couldn’t make any assumptions about the pony race, but my gut couldn’t lie to me that badly.

She groaned in disgruntlement, banging her hooves on the wooden desk pitifully. I couldn’t just stand back and spectate, so I decided to try and resolve the situation. 

“What’s wrong?” I simply inquired, opening the door and stepping in.

“Oh, it’s you.” Sweetie answered, sitting up probably expecting her sister to come in.  “It’s nothing, really.”

This moment I started to regret my choice. Her problem was definitely something that her older sister could handle better, not a teenaged alien from another, unfamiliar planet. I could hear the doubt and shyness from her voice, suggesting that she didn’t really want me to be there. I really should have thought about it more, but I guess her adorableness drew me in. Still, once I’m in deep water, there’s no turning back. The best I could do was wear my game face and hope for the best.

“Well it doesn’t sound like nothing.” I pointed out while approaching the young pony. “It sounds like you could use some help.”

She frowned, her gesture actively communicating to me her thought process of uncertainty. Her facial feature let up a bit after a few moments.

“It’s my stupid homework!” the tiny horse exclaimed, pointing to the loose-leaf in front of her. “It doesn’t make any sense!”

“Well let’s just take a look here, shall we?” I offered. Reading the writing on her paper, I kneeled to her level and put my hand on her shoulder reassuringly. It appeared to have standard fraction equations on it, nothing I couldn’t handle, but certainly out of a certain filly’s league. Shocking enough, I could actually read the numbers on the assignment! It was all in standard English writing, so at least I could identify the problems. There were five questions, yet she hadn’t completed even one yet. Was she troubled this entire time? It had to be at least twenty minutes since she was sent upstairs! Poor thing…

“Ok, these are fractions, right?” I said, pointing to one of the equations. “This is simple enough. Were you learning this in school?”

“Yeah, but it just doesn’t make any sense! Why do they have to be in fractions? Why can’t they just be in whole numbers? It’s easier for numbers to be whole, not in parts, so why did they even make fractions in the first place?”

I chuckled lightly at her plight. It was somewhat humorous to find the child worrying about the fractions themselves, not the actual questions! I guess that’s one step to becoming a philosopher.

“You know, some things in math just don’t make sense. In fact, a lot of things in math don’t make sense, just like a lot of things in life. You’re gonna have to learn to accept it, or else it’ll drive you completely bonkers!” I mused while pointing at the side of my head and twirl my wrist around to try and get my point across. “But enough about the fractions, what about the questions? What did they teach you about fractions in class?”

“They taught us how to add them together, like this…”

She took the pencil in her mouth (…ok then…) and started to draw numbers on the other side of the equals sign. Her answer appeared to be just the numerator and denominator of both fractions added together. I heavily breathed through my nose, trying to hide a frown. Was this what she learned in school? She couldn’t have been paying attention to the lesson to get this result!

“Ok, you got the right idea. This is an addition question, so you do need to add the two fractions together, but just not in this fashion.” I directed, pointing at her answer. She pouted at hearing my disapproval. Holding out my hand in front of her, I asked “May I please have the pencil?” She dropped the pencil onto my palm. Strange yet surprising, the small wooden writing device was not covered in pony saliva. I gripped the writing device, leaned over the working space and drew one of the equations in a separate space.

“Ok, first, you have to make both denominators either a multiple of each or the same…”


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So why haven't I updated for a month?

Life. That's all. And if you were paying attention to my blog then you would know that I have been swamped with different kinds of events pertained from life. Now, this update doesn't mean that I will be updating more often, however, I really pushed to get this out, so I hope you enjoy this one!

In other news, I did something different than originally planned and I'm hoping that it won't bite me in the butt later.

That is all!


> Chapter 5: Donations Due, Part 10
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


{*First-Person View, Main Character*}


Sensation.

The feeling we all experience, the touch, the odor, the soul, the emotion; they’re all a part of sensation. My thoughts turn towards sensation as I wake up, holding the blankets tighter while I pull my pillow over my head. I could smell the distinct scent of wood and paint along my scanning realization. My mind widens the scope to address the intense feeling of déjà vu: Something was not right. Memories flood back to me and I clench my body into a ball, groaning as I began to recall the past 24 hours of my life.

I woke up in a new, unfamiliar world. A world unlike my own, one filled with different colours, patterns, feelings, emotions and beings. I met Twilight Sparkle, a ‘pony’, as she called herself, as well as her five friends. Together, they pushed, harassed and helped my way through this experience in this place called Equestria. Last night, I went out on a task to help the purple unicorn gathered her friends. We found Rarity first, had supper at her place, and I got to help her cute little sister with her homework.

That’s right. Sweetie Belle.

She was having trouble with fractions, a concept completely unknown to her, yet familiar to me. I guided her and filled her road with hope and resolve. I taught her the basic elements of fractions and then some. I can remember the bright smile on her joyous face when she finally understood the process of making such a calculation. She was giggling, not being able to believe that she didn’t get it in the first place. I can recall her words so clearly.

	“Ahhh! Now I get it, I get it! Wow, thank you so much Griffin! I-I finally understand! Thank you very very much! I don’t know what I would have done without your help! Thank you!”

I grumbled in bed, turning to lie on my back and smell the morning roses. Taking hold of the pillow across my face, I fling it to the side, kicking the blankets off me in the process. I found myself staring at the ceiling of the spare guest room Rarity kindly offered to us. Us being Twilight and I. Hearing disturbing familiar pattering, I look to my left at the side window. It. Was. Still. Raining.  Just dandy. And here I honestly thought when I went to bed that the rain would have stopped by tomorrow, which of course is today. I frown, looking back at the top of the room.

I had no idea what time it was, but I was in no mood to sleep in. Twilight was planning to leave as soon as possible, so I knew that I had to get up before she got ticked off at my tardiness. Sitting up, I swung my legs off the end of the bed, wiped the remaining sleep out of my eyes and got up steadily. The sudden raise of elevation made me lose my sense of balance and refreshed my vision in a peculiar display of colours. I found my pants hanging on the nearby chair, put them on and found my shoes. Before leaving the room, I turned around and considered making the bed. After recalling that Rarity wouldn’t be back for a very, very long time, I didn’t have to lift a finger. I made sure that I hadn’t left anything behind (nothing to really keep track of, considering I only have one pair of clothes) and shut the door.

Walking down the hall, the echoes of my inner thoughts seemed to bounce down the hall. The sole question I had to ask myself was,

“What have I gotten myself into?”


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

{*Omniscient point of view, Carousel Boutique*}


“Rarity! You almost done yet?”

Twilight called down the hall to her white unicorn friend. Currently, the disciple of the princess was checking morning duties of her own, then double checking and double checking the double check of her first check. She shifted her haunches, making sure her saddlebags were secured with the elements tucked inside. A quill and parchment floated a foot away from her face, allowing space for her to look down the corridor for the lingering seamstress. 

“I’m coming!” Rarity called back, rushing out of the hallway door. She hastily trotted over to Twi’s location with a plethora of bags, suitcases and other storage devices in magical tow. The dress designer never looked better for the weather, donning her matching set of a white rain hat, a white raincoat and sparkling polished rain boots. Eyelashes preened and eyeliner properly applied, she overdramatically entered the kitchen, a certain sway in her advance to portray her beauty a bit better. 

“Rarity, I think that’s a bit too much stuff for this journey.” Twilight plainly stated, pointing at the dozen or so briefcases behind the fashionista.

“Nonsense! There is no such thing as too much when it comes to clothes! I need every type of dress, gown, skirt and shoe for every occasion! What if there was a flash dance on the road? Then I will be glad that I had brought my dance clothes for such a very occasion!” She flicked her hair, emphasizing her need for excess formal wear.

“I’m sorry Rarity, but I’m not carrying all that baggage, Sweetie’s not gonna carry all that baggage and I highly doubt that Griffin will even consider it. Besides, It’ll only slow us down if you have to keep lugging all that stuff and keep track of it at the same time! Unless you have some kind of carriage, you’re gonna have to leave it behind.”

“Come on Twilight, be reasonable! I have enough in here for all of us! So if you ever want a simple dress to go out in or if Pinkie wants some more pink to wear I’ve got it all here! Can’t I just keep a bag or two?” 

“Once again, I’m sorry, but no means no. We can only take the bear essentials with us, and that means food, water and a tent or two. I’ve already got some of our supplies, but you need to pull some of our weight in consumables, not fashion.”

“Aww…” Rarity groaned. She began dragging her hooves back to her closet when a squeaky voice called out from the other side of the kitchen.

“Rarity, are we leaving now?”

Both mares turned their heads to Sweetie Belle, standing uncertainly at the bottom of the stairs. An indescribable emotion in her eyes, she looked at her bigger sister for answers.

“Yes, we’re leaving quite soon, dear. I have all your clothes packed already. Have you gotten any toys and belonging packed in your bag just like I asked?”

“Yes, they’re up in my room.”

“Do me one more thing and go bring your bag downstairs. Me and Twilight have just a few things to work out, so wait a little bit longer, ok?”

“Ok.” She replied, traces of weariness in her voice. As Rarity was turning to go back to her tasks, one more question hung in the air. “Where are we going?”

Rarity flinched at her sister’s question. “I’ll tell you once we get on the road.”

“Ok.”

Sweetie stared at the steps almost her size and began climbing up. She spotted a pair of large white feet as glanced up to see Griffin, slightly surprised at almost stepping on her. He got out of her way before she continued trudging. The room was entirely silence, save for the rain and the sound of Sweetie ascending.  The human read the filly’s face, recognizing the hint of negativity in the scene around him. He met eyes with the other two ponies, all sharing looks of concern with one another. As soon as Griffin was sure she was out of earshot, he stepped down the stairs and struck up a conversation.

“Did I come down at a bad time?”

“No, not at all dear, not at all…” Rarity began, looking along the floor for something amiss. “I’ll be taking my leave for the time being, unpacking my belongings and whatnot. If you need me, you know where to find me, right Twilight?”

“Yeah.” Twilight replied, her voice softer than normal. The white unicorn levitated her items back off the floor and traveled down the hall. Once the sound of a door closing rang out, Griffin turned his eyes away from the fleeing sibling and looked towards answers.

“Twilight, what happened?”

She hesitated, pretending to triple check her double check-list before answering. “Nothing. Nothing big. Rarity’s just gotta deal with big sister issues, that’s all.” She turned her back towards him, trying to avoid the subject.

However, Griffin wasn’t going to have any of that. “Please Twilight, tell me what really happened. Tell me all of what happened. Please?”

The stressed librarian sighed before gathering her thoughts. “Last night, after you went to bed, Rarity had to go to Sweetie Belle’s room to talk about moving out. Unfortunately, she waited too long and picked a bad time to tell Sweetie: while she was asleep. During the time I was still awake, however I still heard the entire thing.” Twilight swiveled her head to meet her converser. “After Sweetie woke up, Rarity began to explain that they both needed to go out for a ‘vacation’ for a little while, and that they would be returning to Ponyville for quite some time. Every time Sweetie asked a question, Rarity dodged with the vaguest answer you could give. It was painfully obvious to pick up the pain in her voice, and I think Sweetie figured out something was wrong.”

Twilight turned to the kitchen window and observed the drops of water spreading down the canvas before continuing. “She tried her absolute best to hide her feelings, but those kinds of feelings you just can’t hide properly, especially to loved ones. It didn’t help that Rarity wasn’t answering any of Sweetie’s questions except for ‘we need to go out tomorrow’, but I don’t blame her. She tried her best, and she did it before it was too late. If Sweetie was told to today and not yesterday I think the stress would have broken her little heart. Still…”

Twilight’s eyes once again met the boy’s. “She is so sad. She and her big sister. It’s like a domino effect: I got moody, then Rarity got moody, and now Sweetie got moody. It shouldn’t be this way. All this sadness, all this pain; it shouldn’t have to come to this. I don’t know why it does, but it shouldn’t.”

The true emotions of Twilight Sparkle reached Griffin.


“And I feel like it’s all my fault.”

> Chapter 5: Donations Due, Part 11
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


{*Omniscient point of view, Carousel Boutique*}


“No! It’s not your fault! It’s not! Twilight…”

Griffin was dealing with the troubled unicorn and her guilt trip. The pair stood in the creepily still kitchen, working out the mare’s problems. The constant ambiance of rainwater constantly reminded the teen of how negative the situation was.

“Well, maybe, it’s not but…” Twilight began, unsure of herself. “I just wonder what would have happened if I hadn’t gone to Rarity’s.  What would have happened if I stayed at home and took care of you and Spike. Would we have avoided all this sorrow and punishment? I feel like this could have been avoided if only if I just said no to the princess for once and stayed in the library.”

Griffin, speechless, allowed Twilight to cast her gaze to the waxed kitchen tiles. “What right do I have to cause this much grief to my friend in order to protect her? Am I really preventing disaster to happen? It feels like I’ve created more pain then preventing it.”

Her eyes closed, feeling the pangs of defeat wash over her body. Griffin finally found his voice after considering Twi’s words. He slowly stepped towards the purple pony, taking care in his approach both verbally and physically.

“It’s not your fault Twilight. It was out of your power that this would happen. You did the best that you could. You did what you knew and that was to loyally follow your leader with bravery and stride. I bet most people-I mean ponies wouldn’t have enough courage to accept such a quest you’ve taken upon yourself! Give yourself a little credit.”

“But I still could have prevented this!” Twilight snapped, tears breaking through her mental wall. “I had the choice to go and break the news to my friends who had nothing to do with this or to stay and let the storm roll over! I had that choice! And I used it the worst way possible!” She collapsed to her knees.

“I used it to hurt my friends…”

The tall biped loomed over the sobbing, distressed mare. He smiled weakly, advancing with care and consideration. Kneeling, he placed his palm on the top of her head and stroked soothingly. However, she continued to lie on the ground, covering her face with her forelegs in absolute confusion and stress.  Griffin took a deep breath in his nose before grinning further and letting out a chuckle.

“Heh, now this sounds familiar…”

“Wha-what?” Twilight sniffed. “Why’s that?”

“You sound just like me. Too hard on yourself for things that you can’t control. I remember that when I was younger I would go crazy for making small mistakes that don’t even matter. Heck, I still do, except now I actually have better control over how I react. You sound just like I would if I made an error such as this.”

Twilight looked up into the human’s gaze. She wiped her tears before controlling her breathing and grinding her crying to a halt.

“You may have had that choice Twilight, but you also tried your absolute best to meet the quota for the task. It was inevitable. You can’t have both parties happy with this kind of news.  You were placed in a perfect storm: a situation that was bound to cause pain and sadness. But, that doesn't mean you need to beat yourself up for it! As long as you tried your best, answered the call and know that in your heart that it was right, you are golden.”

Twilight sniffed before casting her look to the left, away from her speaker.

“Hey. Look at me.” She did. “You do know that you did what felt right in your heart, right?” After a pregnant pause, she nodded. “Well then. That’s all your friends can ask for. To try your best. Ok?”

“Ok…”

Griffin continued to pet Twilight until she was willing to get up. Her head in a storm of it's own, The element of magic analyzed the human's words carefully. She found balance in his phrase, one that made sense and gave her brain clarity. Her body felt a newfound strength to move forward and onward. Wiping her tears again, she got to her hooves, slowed her pace of thinking and started right into Griffin’s eyes.

“You’re right. I can’t let this get the better of me. I need to keep going and persevere. If not for me, for my friends!”

The amethyst unicorn took a deep breath, exhaled and let the life flow to her eyes.

“Thanks, Griff.”

His response was a soft smile. He was content, his goal to aid Twilight's woes completed. The experienced teen felt that once again, everything turned out alright for the moment. And although the conflict of the two sisters loomed in the distance, the short break until then was greatly savored by the savior. The rain wasn't a bother to him anymore. Instead, he focused on what was to come, and how to deal with the future situation. Furthermore, he thought about home, and what kinds of events he would have to push through to reach it.

"And I still have no idea how to get back to Earth!" he mused ironically. 

All of the sudden, the heartwarming moment for the two was interrupted by a horrible gut-wrenching screech that rang throughout household. The shrill note was so loud it caused ringing in Griffin’s ears. Both Equine and Sapiens flinched and flicked their heads upward to meet the strange sound. It sang again a mere moment later, except with more intensity, The windows began to rattle and shake against the frames, the pots and pans shook against each other and the wind substantially picked up speed. The air outside could be heard by a distinct whistle, the sign of extreme wind speeds communicating itself to the beings inside. Griffin got onto his feet and spread out his stance, almost mentally hitting the panic button.

Rarity rushed into the room, her rain apparel nowhere in sight. She yelled, trying to throw her voice over the deafening groaning of metal. “WHAT IS GOING ON?”

“I DON’T KNOW!” Twilight replied, struggling to get her message clear and across. All three of them looked at the ceiling detecting the sound coming from somewhere above. Griffin noticed that the walls around the house seemed to be shifting and stretching upwards. There was another loud grinding sound and a pit fell into Griffin’s stomach.

“Oh no…” he muttered inaudibly. 

“RARITY!”

The trio looked towards the kitchen stairs. Standing at the bottom was a panicking Sweetie Belle. Her eyes were wide with fright as she looked at her sister.

“WHAT’S HAPPENING?” she asked, a question no one knew the answer to.

Suddenly, the sound of breaking wood could be heard, and the ceiling was ripped right off of its infrastructure. The entire top of the Carousel Boutique was sent flying skywards, bits of wood flying along with it. Twilight watched in disbelieve as she saw the wires and pipes of the main and second floor get severed from each other. Now, jutting out of the walls were a couple of water pipes, gushing out water which was being sucked upwards as well.

The sound of rushing wind blew through everyone’s ears as they were exposed to the elements. The air pressure was very high all of the sudden, much so that the ponies and human ears popped. Griffin was surprised that they weren’t getting rained on, but had second thoughts when he noticed that in the distance rain was falling down, but was getting sucked back up into a single space right above them!

He glanced up for a single second to catch what was the strangest sight he as ever seen in his life. A circular black abyss of nothingness was floating right above Ponyville, spinning perspiration around it. The hole was placed right above the storm, but at the same time could still be seen because of it sucking up any nearby clouds. In fact, the only thing it was doing at moment was sucking things in. There were other houses and buildings in the distance flying towards the spinning dark doom. Statues, trees and other bits could be seen getting attracted too.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

{*First-Person View, Main Character*}


I was lifted right off my feet.

And it wasn’t like I hadn’t seen it coming. As soon as I saw the roof right above my head, I knew that I was screwed over by gravity. And by screw over I mean gravity not being there. That said, it still took me a few second to hit the panic button and actually take action. First thing that happened was I completely flew off the tiled floor. Time slowed as my mind thought of a way to survive. Before I got too far out, I reached towards the now slightly decimated wall and grabbed a swaying pipe. My legs got flung towards the black hole as my grip tightened on my literal life anchor. Almost forgetting someone, I shot out my other hand to grab Twilight, barely catching her tail in time. The pain went straight to my elbow; the only thing that was keeping me attached this god-forsaken planet. I winced at the sudden discomfort while grimacing at the irony that was ‘hanging on to dear life’.

“RARITY!”

I looked behind me towards the skyline (which was a strange experience) to spot a distressed tiny Sweetie Belle flying away in the suction of the black hole. She was reaching for her sister in vain, her being trapped in the infernal hold of the  vacuum. It was then that a small part inside of me died. That poor, poor young girl-pony was dead meat, and there was nothing I could do about it. However…

“SWEETIE BELLE!”

I turned my attention to my immediate left, to which I recognized Rarity grasping the remaining part of the wall with both of her forelegs. Before Twilight or I could say a thing, she let go and gave herself up to the force of inverse gravity.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?!” I screamed, for obvious reasons.  At the same time, Twilight had a call of her own.

“NOOO!!! RARITY!!!”

The purple pony struggled under my grip to reach out to her friend. I pulled her closer to my body, making sure she wouldn’t copy Rarity’s actions. I could see her face wilt as she witnessed the white-coated unicorn make herself smaller in attempt to reunite herself with her little sibling. Twilight’s horn faintly glowed before disappearing in a shower of sparks. Twilight looked exasperated. I watched her mouth the word ‘no’. Holding my breath, I saw Rarity rocket towards Sweetie and tackle her in a grip of love. Both were hugging each other, soaring towards whatever fate lied for them in that hellish ball-o-destruction.

Horrifyingly I watched their tiny spec get absorbed into the unknown. It was then I saw a bunch of other tiny specs follow shortly after. I wondered if they were other ponies too, or just my insane imagination. But I digress. The wind picked up from its impossibly fast speed and threatened to rob my grip from the cold metal pipe. I could feel my fingers slipping right underneath my grasp, my palm sliding down the length of the pole. I just barely managed to grab hold onto the last ring of bolts attaching one pipe to another. I checked my behind to see exactly how far we were from death. I then remembered that I had a unicorn with me, who was currently staring into the direction Rarity exited off to. She looked so cold inside. But enough of that, I needed to survive!

“TWILIGHT!!!” She didn’t respond. Not a reaction, not a look, not even a flinch. She just hung there like a dead carcass getting battered by the intense wind. I tried again. “TWILIGHT!!! DO SOMETHING!!!”

That seemed to do it. She, blinked closed her eyes and her horn glowed once again. I found myself dropping downwards forcefully. Land with an “Oomph!” I sat up, and looked at the pony that just saved our lives. she was on the ground as well, belly first. Her eyes were still closed, except they leaking with tears… again. I didn’t blame her. From what I could tell, both unicorns were very good friends, and now... she was long gone. Long gone. There was no was she would could possibly come back from that black hole of doom.. Well, that’s the best I could describe it anyways. I know what a black hole is, and if that was a proper black hole I’d be dead by now, but it was literally a black hole of darkness that sucked things up. Anyways, it would take a miracle for this to all reverse and go back to normal.




Well, at lease Rarity didn't have to worry about leaving Equestria anymore...


END OF CHAPTER




-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Done. End. Finite. Got that pressure off of my chest. Now, all I have to do is slowly go back and edit while dealing with my life. Fun!

Don't expect anything new soon.

> Chapter 6: Bittersweet Sour, Part 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


-CHAPTER 6: BITTERSWEET SOUR-




{*First-Person View, Main Character*}


The storm.

For a mere moment of my life, those two words were the only thing that floated around my head. The storm, how it twists and turns the otherwise peaceful clouds into a malevolent spiral of destruction. How it not only brings down rain, darkness and destruction, but also the spirits surrounding the grim event. The storm, being one of nature’s hands, showers the land with both nurturing elements and heart-breaking emotions.

I was lying down on the cold, hard floor that used to be Rarity’s house. The chill of the naked stone ran across my spine, but I shrugged off the sensation and let my mind take a break from the stress and pain I was currently experiencing. I dragged my palms up to my forehead and let them paint across my face, groaning in the process. My eyes were staring into the lightless unknown abyss that was the black hole. The object that killed Rarity and poor Sweetie Belle and countless other citizens of Ponyville, if the flying house parts were any hint.

Yet, why was I still alive? Why was I still stuck to the ground and everything else was taken to the sky above me? I had to remind myself that I wasn’t alone, that I wasn’t the only one suffering. In a fit of panic, I immediately sat up and exclaimed:

“Twilight!”

She was lying a few feet away from me, unmoving. Her horn was lit with a strange but alluring purple light, her body soaking from the rainwater and her eyes closed, tears running freely. Flipping over to my stomach, I tried to get to my feet. The oddest prickling ran through my entire being and I found that my limbs felt like Jell-O. It felt as if I had just come back from an intense work out and my muscles were shot! I grunted, inhaled and brought my feet underneath my body. With that step done, standing up was less more of a struggle and more of a step-by-step process. As my back straightened, my legs screamed in protest because of a newfound weight put onto my knees. I winced and got steady on my feet.

Why did I feel so heavy? Did I gain a few pounds while Rarity’s home was torn apart? Getting a better look, I realized that my arms, legs, feet and hands were enveloped by the same indigo light that had covered me when Twilight threw me against the wall of the library. It finally occurred to me that she was casting a spell that kept me planted to the planet, thus explaining the sudden weight change. I turned around and dragged my heels through the pooling water towards the unicorn. Reaching her figure, I collapsed to my knees and sighed wearily. She needed to tone down her power a little bit; my body felt like it was getting slightly crushed!

But enough about me, I had turned my attention to Twilight. Her being was still limp and lying on the ground. I picked up her head and whispered into her ear. “Twilight? Twilight, are you ok?” She didn’t respond. I turned her skull upright and lightly tapped the side of it. “Come on Twilight, wake up! Open your eyes! Make some kind of reaction!”

Suddenly, it dawned on me that there were small sobbing noises underneath the roar of the storm’s wind. I picked up the notion that she was quietly crying to herself, and in fact, not un-conscious. She muttered something incoherent, and proceeded to turn away from me. With great care, I cautiously pulled her muzzle towards me again. “Twilight, it’s gonna be fine. It’s gonna be just fine. I just need you to open your eyes for me, ok? Please Twilight, open your eyes?”

	“Rarity…”

The weak, violet pony allowed her eyelids to rise. What I saw next just plain scared me. Her eyes were there, but her iris was a discoloured purple. Slightly greyer, the normally cartoonish eyes were now just lifeless copies of their previous form. There was no shine or glimmer to her complexion, just immense sorrow and hopelessness. An entire piece of Twilight’s personality and push was cut completely out of her soul. 

	“Rarity, I’m so sorry…”

Her gaze looked right past me. Sure, she heard my request to open her eyes, but the meaning to such an action evaded her brain. It was like she was blind: looking, but not seeing anything. I heard her softly whisper out her friend’s name as if she was going to come back the more she said it. I absolutely understood that I wasn’t staring at the same Twilight Sparkle I was conversing with five minutes ago. She was just a heavily mentally scarred unicorn, sanity lost and spirit not included.

	“I’m so sorry, Rarity…”

All I could do it peer into her broken being. Where would I go from here? Now that she’s in capacitated, how was I supposed to continue? I had no idea where Pinkie Pie lived, or where Fluttershy was hanging out, or even where that farm girl had headed off to now, so I couldn’t get any help of any kind. I had no idea where I was, or how to get out! There were so many questions unsolved, yet is my journey ending already?

I looked back down at what mattered most.

“And what am I supposed to do with YOU?” I asked aloud, shaking my head at the tiny unicorn in my arms.

	“I’m so sorry…” was all she replied. I frowned, losing all sense of progress. There was no chance of me getting anywhere anytime soon, not without getting this stupid lump of meat out of her stupor first.

But why should I? Why should I care for her? She’s been nothing but annoying and way too sentimental! I mean, she’s cried at least what, four times in the past twenty-four hours by now? I somewhat understand her pain, but Jeez n’ crackers, get a grip! You need to let go and move forward! You need to get up, brush yourself off and smell the roses, because life isn’t going to stop for you! You need to grab life by the reigns and never give up hope!

Hope…

Her horn was still glowing. Both of us were still sticking to the ground without falter. Why? I finally realized that she may be crying up a storm, but she was still hanging on! She had a drive! She had hope! For somewhat reason, this silly mare still had hope and refused to let go! That had to mean something! Whether or not I understood it, Twilight kept us living by her little gravity spell!

	“Rarity…”

I glanced at her eyes again. They were still empty, but mine were still filled with fire. I started grabbing the bulk of her torso and lifting her up from the ground. It was a slightly strenuous effort due to the added weight from her magic, but there was no room to complain. Once at my feet again, I carefully slung her over my right shoulder, sort of in a fireman’s carry. I looked around at my surroundings. Even though there was a black hole in the sky, not all of the buildings were flung into the darkness. Some swayed and wavered, but otherwise held their position. I was glad that at least not everyone was screwed over by such a freak of nature. Of course, the wind was still trying to pick both of us up, but I was certain that Twilight wasn’t giving up anytime soon.

“Griffin?”

I looked to my right. Speaking of Twilight…

“Um, can you put me down?” she inquired, squirming in my grip.

“Sure.” I slowly let her get back to her hooves. When she was steady, she turned her back towards me and stared off into the distance. “Are you ok?” I simply asked.

“Yeah. I’m fine. I’ll be fine.”

Those words gave spark to a smile on my face. Even though she couldn’t see it, I was very, VERY happy to see that she wasn’t completely broken. Well, not yet, anyways. For now, I didn’t have to worry about that. Instead, I would let her do all the thinking for now.

“So, where to now, boss?” I queried. She chuckled at my wit.

“Off to Pinkie’s.” She said, not leaving her straight gaze.

“Ok. Lead the way.”

> Chapter 6: Bittersweet Sour, Part 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


{*First-Person View, Main Character*}


We walked towards Pinkie Pie’s without a word, the wind buffering our clothes and fur respectively. It would have been worse it Twilight hadn’t selflessly cast a heat-up spell while we traveled. I was grateful for her kindness, considering the powerful freezing combo that was wind and rain, even though the rain was still flying upward towards the black hole. Still on the subject of dark black objects, the hole was still in the smack dab of the center of the sky. Nothing about its manner has changed; it was still sucking up a butt load of clouds, trees and houses, however it seemed to shrink and recede a bit, causing the force of suction to reduce. That didn’t mean it was still dangerous however, and Twilight kept up her artificial gravity spell, except will a little less power to it by my request. My muscles sighed a mental sigh of relief that it didn’t have to carry any fake weight with it.

Even though the rain had technically stopped, we were still up to our shins in water, the aftermath of the fierce flash of moisture the storm threw at us previously. It pained me to see that the water was draining out underneath cracks of some remaining houses, no doubt flooding and ruining the infrastructure. Sure, there were still drains and manholes slowly emptying the streets, but the progress was so slow that I wasn’t surprised that rainwater was leaking into other places. 

Of course, we were the only ones outside. I’m assuming that since this is a town there are other ponies around, either hiding in their homes, ran away already or met a similar fate to Rarity. Twilight and I tried to ignore the blood-curdling screams that rang out above. Instead, we trekked forward, looking forward to the warm company of Pinkie Pie. I have no idea what we’re going to do after, but for now I’m content to go with the flow, no pun intended. 

Speaking of Pinkie Pie, I haven’t thought about it too much, but she’s kinda a nut. First of all, she appeared out of nowhere, and of all things hung from the CEILING of the library! What’s worse is that she stayed upside-down for a good minute or two! Maybe that’s why she was talking so much, the blood had to have rushed to her head! Wait, do ponies have blood? I mean, they’re not Earth’s ponies, so what are they made of? Flesh? Ectoplasm? Cotton candy? But I digress, I’m just hoping that Pinkie can accept out need of hospitality on such a short notice. Oh, and the hanging-from-the-ceiling thing, I’m not gonna question it. She might be a unicorn, ‘cause her hair might have been covering her horn or something. Whoa, now that I think about it, both of our heads’ have the same hairstyle! We both have very curly, un-controlled hair! Well, her hair actually looked a bit tamer than mine and was obscenely pink, but that’s beside the point.

My thoughts were stopped when I bumped into a unidentified object. I looked down to see that Twilight stopped in the middle of our journey, lowering the front half of her body.

“Huh? Twilight, are you ok?” I honestly buzzed.

“Yeah…” she mumbled. “Just a bit tired, that’s all.”

“Ok…”

She got back up and we resumed. That was a strange occurrence. Well, maybe not considering that it’s believable that she’s tired, but at the same time it was only like an hour ago since we woke up! We haven’t even been walking for thirty minutes and she was already tired? What gives? Not that I’m gonna badger her for being out of shape, but it’s not like she was chubby or anything, so it doesn’t really make any sense. I had a sinking feeling that her sudden exhaustion was out of my understanding.


---


It was another fifteen minutes before anything else happened. Most of the journey was silent safe for the swiftly moving air and the slush of our feet and hooves in the water. I’m not sure about Twilight, but I didn’t want to talk right now. Sure, there were a lot of things that needed to be talked about, but I was scared. Scared that if anything was said she would break into tears again and something else bad would happen. I was scared to confront the situation. But you see, the thing is, I didn’t have to. Instead, all I had to do was continue following Twilight as she light up the surrounding area with her luminescent horn. 

That said, she stopped once again and I actually noticed it this time before bumping into her rear.

“We’re here.” she announced, her words carrying wear and tear. I glanced up, looking for what she was talking about.

“Which one’s her house?”

Like I’ve said, there were some houses still standing. As such, there were at least five houses in front of us. She pointed to the one that looked peculiarly like a life-sized gingerbread house. I raised an eyebrow even though she couldn’t see it.

“Is that building EDIBLE?” I asked, the confusion hanging in my tone.

“No, it’s just for aesthetics. Welcome to the Sugarcube Corner!”

“What, she gave a name to her house?”

“No, she lives inside a bakery. She also works there as a baker. Her cupcakes are the best, maybe we can get some once we get inside.” she plainly stated.

I said nothing. Approaching the building, my eyes glazed over the multiple features of the structure. Frosting shingles, candy cane doorframe, chocolate roof, no doubt this was some kind of bakery, and a well-advertised one too. How peculiar it was that a hyperactive pink pony to not only sleep and eat here, but as well as make a living to pay to live here. Twilight approached the front steps and knocked on the door several times, surprisingly forcefully I might add. When no one responded for a few seconds, she tried again. Nothing.

Bob Saget, not the waiting game again! We already did enough of this at Rarity’s! Can’t people-or ponies actually answer the door from time to time? Sure Rarity did, but it took her FOREVER to actually respond to Twilight’s knocking! And besides, why shouldn’t they let us in? If they think we’re salesmen or saleswomen or salesponies or something, them they’re bonkers! No one’s gonna be selling anything at this point of time, so why don’t they just let us in? Twilight attempted for a third time, this time groaning in frustration and really rattling the door. This wasn’t good. Last time, Twilight actually kept her composure, and now she’s getting’ angry!

Weren’t we both.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------



This is a transitional chapter, so I'm sorry that there isn't any major developments occurring. That said, this chapter DID have a purpose.

I hope you enjoyed this part!


> Chapter 6: Bittersweet Sour, Part 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


{*First-Person View, Main Character*}


The loud *clop clop clop* sound echoed throughout the street. This was the third time Twilight was trying to get some kind of answer beyond the Sugarcube Corners door. I heard her groan with frustration and resent, the reaction of a bluntly aggravating cause. For the time being, I crossed my arms and let Twilight do the work and worrying. She was the one that had a slight idea where to head next, so I let her take the wheel and drive us ahead to some vague objective. Tapping my submerged feet against the pavement, my patience for the evening was wavering, and so was Twilight's.

I guess third time's the charm, because not too soon after Twilight's knocking I heard talking behind the pink door. I couldn't make out any words, but it seemed like there was some kind of important, desperate conversation going on. I raised my eyebrow as the voices got louder and louder, proving that whoever was inside was approaching our position. The door was unlocked with a click and opened, the sound of a bell ringing beneath the top of the door frame.

"Twilight? What are you doing out here?"

The pony that answered our call was a light cerulean colour. She (I think) had a yellow apron wrapped around her front with light purple earrings. Her hair was probably the most ridicules thing I have ever seen (even more so than my hair), but was also pretty impressive. The tip of the hair was whipped upwards in a swirling fashion, causing a whipped-cream like effect. She was a bit paunchy, but otherwise was the only other pony I've seen beside Twilight's friends.

And oh, what an impression she gave me.

"Get inside, you'll freeze out there-AAAAAAAAHHH!" she screamed. Holy god, my ears! "Twilight! There's a monster behind you!"

"Hello Ms. Cake. This is Griffin. He's from a different planet. Now, can we please see Pinkie?" the unicorn rebutted, irritation lingering in her tone.

"Does that mean he's an ALIEN?" Ms. Cake squealed, backing up slightly from my figure.

"Yes, it does. Now can we PLEASE see Pinkie Pie?" Twilight quickly responded.

She slammed the door on Twilight's face. I facepalmed. Adorning a neutral face, Twilight knocked for a fourth time. Ms. Cake edged the door open, shaking as she glanced outside. With a "meep!", the coward attempted to shut the door again before Twilight stuck her hoof out and stopped the entrance. The baker panicked and looked at Twilight. I could see her silently pleading for Twilight to let her shut the door!

"Please let us in, Ms. cake?"

The blue pony's pupils widened, seeing Twilight's face. I realized that Twilight was making a fairly convincing puppy pout. Thankfully, from my angle I couldn’t see all of it, thus protecting my cuteness shields. It took the baker a few seconds to make a decision. Finally, she sighed, gave me one more look and opened the door wider.

"Fine, you can come in. However, I trust, Twilight, that you'll keep your alien in control, right?" she requested, her posh stature hiding her insecurity and panic from seconds ago.

I deadpanned. "For your big fat information, I’m not a pet”

"Eep! I-It can talk?” she screeched while backing up and flinching. I facepalmed again before Twilight could do anything to calm her down.

"Yes, he can. He’s very smart. Please show him some respect." the magician stated, cutting into Ms. Cake’s subconscious. Thank you Twilight! Score one for the unicorns!

We entered the tasty-looking building, allowing myself to absorb the inside decor. My jar slightly loosened as I spotted the several displays of cookies, cupcakes, brownies, cakes and other Delicious delights. Each good was pasted in some kind of bright shade of red, pink or blue, enhancing the urge to gorge myself. The main counter stood several feet away from me, with a cleanly polished window housing more divine treats. Around the room were etched carvings of lollipops and candies, a fantastic complimenting the overall theme of sugar. If there was one thing to note, however, it was the fact that darkness covered every corner of the room. No lights were on and the storm outside didn't add anything to the lighting, so the designs kinda gave off a grimmer sense of being then they were probably designed for.

I stopped myself from grabbing a cup-sized cake after noticing Ms. Cake still cringing in my direction. Her eyes were absolutely focused on my form, still grasping the fact that I was walking on two legs. I made a bad poker face before increasing my pace to catch up to Twilight. She took a look around, gave a sigh and approached a set of stairs to her left. I was about to follow suit before a voice stopped me.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!! WHAT IS THAT THING??"

Really? That's what they call me when they see me? A 'thing'? Out of all the words he could have used, the one he chooses is ‘thing’? Wow, these insults are wearing my patience very, very thin. With a disgruntled face, I turned around to see what the hubbub was all about. Behind the counter was another pony sprawled across the floorboards. He was heaving at my sight. He scrambled back a bit before knocking his head on the back wall. I noticed several boxes that were scattered along the ground from where he fell initially. He pointed at me (with his hoof, I might add), gawking at my presence.

"You st-st-stay away from me, ya hear? G-G-Go back to where ever you came from and don't come back!"

"Mr. Cake, calm down!" Twilight exclaimed before I could retaliate. "He's not going to hurt you!"

"Twilight? What are you doing here? And why were you hiding behind that 'thing'?"

"His name is Griffin. He's with me, but right now I need to see Pinkie as soon as possible." she answered, pointing up the stairs.

"Don't worry sweetums, he seems ok for now." Ms. cake said as she helped what I assume is her husband off the floor. Both had scared eyes and a facial expression that told millions. They embraced each other while backing up towards a door behind them.

I then realized the weight of the situation. They were looking at me. AT. ME. Not some kind of monster or nightmare, but me. Just little ol' me, a human being stuck in a world that it doesn’t belong in. Of course, I didn’t see myself as an alien, but they did, so that begs the question: what did they really see in me? Did they see a cruel, heartless slaver that came to take them away for my own kinds' purposes, or did they see me as the last thing they would ever see in their entire life before dying at the hands of my cosmic powers? What exactly was it they saw in me? 

This realization filled my conscious with a newfound resolve. If I could just wait ten, maybe twenty more minutes, then I could probably straighten some things out and teach them that I'm not the alien they think I am to be.

Twilight looked at the two, groaned and turned to proceed up the stairs. Her mane was getting a bit messy, sticking up in some places where it shouldn't. I guess that's inevitable after being in a storm like that, but if that's what her hair looks like, then I can only imagine what mine looks.

"Twilight, wait!" I heard Ms. Cake call out. The purple unicorn looked back, her venomous gaze cutting the tension like a laser. "C-C-Could we talk for a minute?"

"Fine." she plainly stated before walking around the front counter to get to the duo. I followed her until I was stopped by yet another request.

"Alone?" the baker bluntly added.

Twilight looked back at me, searching for some kind of confirmation. I gave her a nod of approval, then backed away from the small horses. She followed Mr. and Ms. Cake into a back room behind the counter, but not before Mr. Cake peeked out of the doorway and gave me a dirty look.

"Yo-you ju-just stay there and don't try any funny business, ok?"

He didn't even give me time to answer before he slammed the door shut. I sighed, turned around and sat on a bench too small for my behind.

"Yep, left out of the conversation again..." I muttered to myself.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------


-Sidenote: Second edit
> Chapter 6: Bittersweet Sour, Part 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


{*Omniscient point of view, Sugarcube Corner*}


The kitchen door inched shut as the blue pony behind it kept a weary eye on what was outside. She stared at Griffin through the tiny keyhole underneath the door handle, making sure he didn't pull any funny business. Meanwhile, her husband was giving Twilight an glare a few feet away.

"Twilight, care to explain where you got an ALIEN in the middle of nowhere?" he interrogated.

The unicorn looked back at her speaker with tired, pleading eyes. When Mr. Cake stared further, she sighed in defeat and let her ears droop. "Well, Applejack and I were traveling across Sweet Apple Acres when he crash-landed into the planet. It was just him. No spaceship, no companions, just Griffin and his clothes."

She glanced up at him, making sure he was following. "After that, I really had no clue what to do. We couldn't have left him there in the middle of the field, he would have waken up sooner or later and might have caused a ruckus in Ponyville! I decided to take him into the library with the help of Applejack. Once that was done, I sent Applejack to go find Fluttershy. I figured that with her talent with animals, she might have been able to help to control him once he'd woken up."

Twi turned her back from Carrot, looking at the cloud-ridden sky outside the window. "And he woke up alright. He had so much of a panic that I panicked and almost killed him. Thankfully, he didn't die, and instead, made a full recover, sanity intact. From there I started to... Ask him a few questions. I wasn't sure if he was still safe to interact with, so I had to use a bit of magic to make some rules clear..."

The young mare hesitated, recalling and regretting her decisions a mere day ago. It was dragging down her mood that she actually acted that way towards Griffin, when he just arrived at the planet and was clueless to what was going on. She reflected once again that she should have acted with kindness and welcoming, not like the aggressive display she began with. "It was a bit rough, and I did some things that I'm not happy about. I later learned that what I did only angered him, instead of accepting me as his first contact from Equestria. It also didn't help that all of my friends caused a little bit of trouble too, but..."

She looked back and smiled. "Thankfully, everything turned out alright. Everypony calmed down and apologized for verbally and in some cases, physically attacking him. To make it up to him, I..." She paused, wondering if telling Mr. Cake was the right thing to do. Trusting his judgement, she continued. "I wanted to teach him magic."

"WHAT???" Mr. Cake exclaimed before Twilight could go any further. "Why would you want to do that? Isn't he dangerous enough without magic under his control?"

"Mr. Cake! He is not dangerous in any way, shape or form! I thought we already established that!" Twilight counteracted. The mustard-coloured earth pony glanced towards the door, unsure of himself. Cup Cake was still keeping a straight eye on the outsider inside their bakery.

"By communicating with him, I found out that his species, 'humans' did not know how to perform magic, and yet he seemed to be a living, breathing source of it!"

Mr. Cake was speechless at her statement, his jaw agape at her news.

"There was just so much untapped potential that could have gone to waste if I didn't encourage anything! So I did. I taught him the basics and the results went, uh, much higher than I expected." Twilight finished, sheepishly blushing with that last sentence.

"I'm not sure if I approve of you teaching a 'human' such a powerful power..." he commented.

"Well, with all due respect, Mr. Cake, I wasn't looking for your approval." Twilight snapped back.

"But are you certain that you can trust him? I mean, he is from another planet, right? And he just appeared out of nowhere, without any warning?" Then, Mr. Cake had a thought. "When did he appear, before or after the storm started?"

"Before." The lavender-coated student answered.

"And you found him when?"

"Yesterday."

"Right before the storm started?"

"Well..." Twilight hummed, hesitant to tell the truth. Sure, Griffin had told her that he had no idea what was going on, but at this point she wasn't sure that the Cakes would believe her. They were being strangely aggressive today, and that wasn't going to win her any favours any time soon if she flat out spoke the honest word.

"No, actually n-now that I think about it, I may have found him a few days ago. Ye-yes, I in fact, did find him a few days ago. Yesterday was Tuesday, right?" Twilight said, closing her eyes purposely to not have to look at her speaker while nodding.

"No, yesterday was Wednesday. And Twilight? You're a terrible liar." Mr. Cake deadpanned. Twilight reeled back in shock, having seen her fib get caught so easily.

(Oh my gosh! I don't believe it! Didn't Griffin warn me about my lying skills already?)

"Tell me the truth, Twilight. Did he appear before or after the storm?"

Seeing no way out of the inevitable, Twilight dropped her head and replied with a defeated tone, "Before."

Mr. Cake gritted his teeth in anger. "Darn little bugger... He probably started this entire storm too!"

"Mr. Cake, what has gotten into you?" The librarian asked. "I know for a fact that he had nothing to do with the storm! What's causing you to be so mean to him? He's done nothing wrong!"

"Are you positive that he's done nothing wrong? Because I don't think that you realize the situation here, Twilight! This is a real-life, honest to Celestia ALIEN we're talking about! One that could probably take over the entire planet with just one call to his alien buddies up above! What makes you so certain that he isn't biding his time, waiting for his moment to strike?" the baker questioned, puffing his chest out and standing tall over the slightly cringing unicorn.

Twilight had had enough. Mr. and Ms. Cake's behavior was definitely unusual, but she wasn't going to let them get away with ridiculing and insulting her friend like that! She stood up and proud before continuing on.

"Because, Mr. Cake," she began, "Applejack, told me so. And Fluttershy, and Rarity, and Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash! They were all with me one-hundred percent that without a doubt, Griffin is not planning anything sinister! And before you say anything else, Applejack told me that he was telling the absolute truth. I would think that means a lot, coming from both the Element of Honesty and one of my dear friends, wouldn't you?"

Mr. Cake turned away and said nothing. He saw in the corner of his eye that Ms. Cake had stopped looking through the keyhole and turned her attention to the scene behind her. Concern in her eyes, she had the helpless look of not knowing what to do in this type of situation. The mother of two waited for a response from her husband, searching for some kind of direction towards this hopeless situation.

"Ok Twilight, I believe you." he affirmed, directing his gaze back at Twilight. "And if you have the support of others, then I can trust this... Alien, too."

Twilight smirked, the rush of victory running over her mind.

"But, please, try and keep him in control?" he requested, calming down all of his emotions and thoughts.

"For the last time, he is not a PET!" Twilight roared, causing all of the objects in the kitchen to rattle slightly. Her eyes glowed with a creepy violet light before dimming to a scowl. The Cakes flinched back before leaning their place in the household and nodding in acceptance. Looking towards his wife, Mr. Cake was actually somewhat glad that that matter was over and done with. He approached the door to the front room, a small grin stuck on his muzzle.

"Honeybun, I think it's time we go back and apologize..."

> Chapter 6: Bittersweet Sour, Part 5
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


{*First-Person View, Main Character*}


Here I sat, in the somewhat uncomfortable wooden bench beside the front door of a pony-run bakery. I guess this bench was here for customers to rest on just in case lines got too long, but that doesn't really matter now. I could barely hear the chatter between Twilight and Mr. Cake beyond the door behind the front counter. Whatever they were talking about, it sounded like a heated argument. I hope that Twilight's giving in a good word for me, because by the looks of it, the owners weren't too keen of an otherworldly being staying in their slice of business (no pun intended). 

Since the black hole was sucking up any and all precipitation, no rain hit the windows, creating and eerily quiet environment. Sometimes I could hear the foundations of the building creak under the tiny sucking forces of the hole, causing me to look around and fidget in nervousness. I really didn't have any options on what to do, considering the current situation. I don't think it would be a good idea to explore this store, just in case that I find something that I shouldn't have found in the first place. Besides, I think that Mr. and Ms. Cake hate me enough without another excuse to kick me out of their safety zone.

I sighed loudly, hoping that for the love of god, my future would turn alright this time.

"Hiya Griffy-Griff!"

"Whoa!" I exclaimed, falling off my seat from the sudden view of pink intruding my view. From the floor, I looked up to see Pinkie Pie looming over me with the widest grin I've ever seen. There was a strange sparkle in her eyes, which knocked my creepiness meter upwards by several points. "Hey Pinkie."

"What'cha doing on the floor?" she asked innocently.

"Playing dead." I deadpanned.

"Why would you want to do that?"

"So I can hide from the boogieman." I said while getting to my feet.

"WHAT? THE BOOGIEMAN? WHERE?" the pink poof squealed, jumping and hugging onto my torso in fear. While she shivered and actively searched for said culprit, I face palmed. She had to be joking. This had to be some kind of joke. I'm joking! Can't she understand that, or is this pony too innocent to actually comprehend my dry humour? I tried pulling her off, but she was stuck like bubble-gum underneath a desk. Every time I pushed, her body would move but her hooves stayed right where they were.

"Pinkie? There's no such thing as a boogieman. I was kidding."

"Oh, really? Woo, that's a relief!"

Thankfully, with that statement she got off of me.

"So, what'cha doin' in the Sugarcube Corner?" she asked, looking happily towards me.

"I dunno, I was following Twilight and she led me here."

"Twilight's here? Where?"

"She's in the back talking with the mister and the missus."

"Oh, wow! Why is she doing that?"

I let out another sigh, mentally preparing my mind for another of onslaught of questions. Before progressing, I took a seat on the bench once again and leaned back.

"Apparently, aliens aren't exactly welcome in their bakery. They hate my guts, so Twilight's trying to convince them to let me stay until she can do whatever the heck she wants to do here."

"Why do they hate you? You're the nicest, peaceful-ist, most super-fantas-gristic alien I've ever met!" she complimented, strangely hopping up and down.

I didn't know what to say. That was the nicest thing anyone has said to me ever since I got to this stupid planet! "Well, thank you, Pinkie." Actually, I'm probably the ONLY alien she has ever met, but I'm not one to turn down compliments because of details.

"And I really mean it! You've been nice to all of us despite Twilight interrogating you against your own free will, Rarity treating you like an animal and Rainbow Dash knocking the BEEJEEBEES out of you! Thank you so much!"

She leaped up and hugged me. I awkwardly smiled in response, creep-o-meter teetering between ‘friendly gesture’ and ‘oh god bad touch get out’. I didn't realize it before, but she was one friendly pony! Much nicer than the bakers that live here. Didn't Twilight say that she works for them? Talk about a tough break! She couldn't be working for meaner people-I mean, ponies! I couldn't believe the sudden change of treatment that I had gotten. First, I was being shunned, but now, I'm being hugged? Sure it’s a bit creepy, but I'll take hugs over racism ANY day!

"So, why did Twilight want to come here for?" the hyperactive horse pondered, backing off of her grasp of me.

"I dunno, this place was the first thing on her mind after-"

I cut myself short, running myself into a verbal trap. Crap, what do I say now? And even if I have a good answer, Twilight might straighten it out later, letting Pinkie know that I lied!

Well, shoot.

"After what?" her voice rang out.

"...After the storm got worse." I plainly acknowledged, nodding my head in a silent agreement towards the fib not really being a fib. The storm DID get worse, I just wasn't planning on mentioning Rarity or Sweetie Belle any time soon.

"Oh yeah, it did get worse, didn't it? I mean, the wind was all like 'whoosh!' and Sugarcube Corner was all like 'creak!' and I was all like 'yikes!' and the rain suddenly disappeared!"

My mouth was in a 'oh' shape. She said that really, really fast.

"Strange weather, huh?"

"...Yeah..." I managed to get out after that sudden rant.

"So I guess Twilight was thinking of me so much that she just had to check up on me after the storm picked up! Wow, how sweet! I gotta thank Twilight later for her concern!" the pink, poofy pony concluded. 

"Uh, yeah... That's what happened." I confirmed. That was one of the worst lies I've ever agreed with, but my mind was moving at a snail's pace because of all of the information being thrown at me. Jesus Christ, how can this girl be so gosh darn hyper? It's insane! One moment she's talking about the weather and the next she's making up lies for me to use! What's the deal here? Is she just crazy? Heck, is she downright INSANE? I mean, I made an obvious joke a while back and she STILL didn't get it! What the flaming fire truck is wrong with her? Is she trolling? That has to be it. I bet she's trolling. She has to be!

"Want a cupcake?" she suddenly asked, bringing up a small, delicious device to my eye level.

Suddenly, I heard a door open. From behind Pinkie I could see the kitchen door open to the mister and the missus and Twilight, all walking out with slightly tired expressions. All three of them stopped to gawk after seeing the cotton-candy-coloured pony right in front of my figure.

"Pinkie Pie? What are you doing?"
> Chapter 6: Bittersweet Sour, Part 6
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


{*First-Person View, Main Character*}


The group that consisted of Twilight, Mr. and Ms. Cake stared at me suspiciously. Pinkie was giving a wide grin back in greeting. Me? I just stood there, shrugging my shoulders at Ms. Cake's question. I actually had no idea why Pinkie Pie was here. I mean, of course she lives here, but I'm not sure why she choose to speak to me instead of avoiding me altogether. Is she really that friendly? Did she see a lonely human being on the bench, not  some kind of monster like the Cakes do? Whatever the answer is, I'm not sure how much it matters.

"Hi Mr. and Ms. Cake! Hi Twilight! I'm talkin' to Griffy-Griff here. He's a really swell guy!" she answered, wrapping her arm around my shoulder like two buds might. My eyes widen at the sudden gesture and close contact. How the heck is she even doing that? I'm almost twice her freaking size! 

"Please don't call me that." I state, silently pleading for Twilight to get her off of me.

"But Pinkie..." Ms. Cake began before Mr. Cake gently moved his hoof over her mouth. He smiled softly, both bakers' eyes met, and they had some kind of inner understanding that I could never comprehend. The yellow pony looked back at my direction, a determined expression adorning his muzzle.

"I believe sweetums and I owe you an apology, Griffin" He said, eyes trailing the edges of my own. "We're sorry."

I grinned. And not just a simple, happy grin, but a grin filled with victory and pride. See? What did I say, Griff? Patience prevails throughout all! All I had to do was wait and everything would be sorted out sooner or later and I would get my apology! Genius! Fantastic. Then, I looked downward to the short couple, whose gazes were locked with the floor in shame. I was suddenly a bit tentative, curious as to why the sudden change of heart. What would make then say sorry? What exactly did Twilight say to them to get a reaction such as this? Is this a truthful bout of words? Well, if I didn't trust them, then who would? Besides, I’m not one to hold on to grudges.

…Ok, I am, but this one time I think I can make an exception.

"Ok then." I stated, shrugging.

"So you forgive us?" Mr. Cake asked expectantly, his entire stature shooting up in anticipation.

"Mmmaybe. You racism know no bounds, after all." I commented while folding my shoulders and glaring through the corner of my eye. Their ears flattened and their heads lowered at the sound of my sentence.

"Nah, I’m just kiddin' with ya. I forgive you." I spoke, chucking at my expert trolling technique. The reaction was instantaneous. They smiled honestly at me, glad that they were able to make amends. I glanced over to Twilight, who nodded and smirked in secret approval. I winked. It just goes to show that some things can be said without words.

"So, did you want to see Pinkie, Twilight?" I brought up, breaking the silence. Her ears fluttered before her mind raced back to her senses.

"Oh yeah, that's right! Pinkie..." The unicorn remembered. Her voice got substantially less energetic halfway through that sentence. I suddenly had a notion as to what she wanted to talk to Pinkie about. Uh oh. My expression was shot, having calculated the resulting confrontation in front of me. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Why did I have to bring up such a heavy topic at such a cheerful time? Why couldn't I have waited and asked later instead of bringing it up now? Why? Fuck, why am I so stupid sometimes?

Twilight turned towards the offending pony. "Pinkie, I need to talk to you. In private."

Her face and overall demeanor was absolutely negative. Her shoulders lowered, her back slumped, her hooves dragged along the ground when approaching Pinkie Pie and her eyes looked very, very tired. Strangely, she seemed to lose colour in her coat. Yes, her coat, not her face. Her purple had gained a few darker hues, appropriately reflecting what was probably going on in her mind right now. I could see the look of concern between the two Cakes in the corner of my eye. Pinkie Pie slightly tilted her head at Twilight's abrupt change of emotion.

"Why's that?" she simply inquired. There was so much innocence surrounding her voice, it was killing me. I wanted to punch myself for forcing Twilight into a situation such as this after she so selflessly gave her good word towards my well being. Fuck me! 

"It's... about very important things." The sorrowful magic user replied. She tried to smile to sell the conversation, but to no avail. If anything, she just gave off the sign that everything was NOT alright, like it had been just a few seconds ago. Pinkie seemed to ponder before hopping (what?) towards Twilight.

"Okie dokie lokie! Follow me to my room!" she lightheartedly requested. Twilight's posture slightly straightened before following the hopping bundle of hyper. They reached the stairs to the right of the front counter and Twilight gave me a look of immense grief before going up the steps. I responded with a sympathetic look.

I'll see you soon enough, Sparkles.

Both ponies left up the stairs, leaving me with the two slightly confused yet alert bakers. I knew that they were actively looking for any clues as to why Twilight was so sad while that entire conversation was running. They looked questionably at each other, before staring at the bottom of the steps. I scratched the back of my neck, feeling awkward as distant ambiance filled the room once again.

"So... How 'bout this weather we're having?" I commented, trying to get the conversation going once again.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------


{*Omniscient point of view, Sugarcube Corner*}



Twilight followed Pinkie Pie into her room, noting the change in decor from the last time she was there. She'd only seen Pink's room during Gummy's birthday, but otherwise, she would never get to visit the hyperactive pony's sleeping quarters. The space was shaped in a semi-circle, with the door cut into the flat side of the wall. The room itself was quite sizable, spanning several meters in length, width and height. There was a small staircase to her immediate left that led to a small platform, spanning the edge of the room. A pink oval window adorned the upper space, but not much else was on the second floor. On the main floor was Pinkie's light-blue bed sitting in the middle of the room, her wardrobe in the back, a wooden chest underneath the stairs and several jars of candy placed on the rightmost wall. There were multiple groups of balloons tied to, well, everything. From the bed posts to the candy lamp and on the underside of the ceiling, the colourful floating objects were littered everywhere.

Twilight perked up, hearing Pinkie shut the door behind them. The playful earth pony hopped over her friend, spinning to face the right direction. "So, Twilight, what did you want to talk about?" she asked unknowingly.

This was it. This was Twilight's chance to let out her feelings and get all of her stress off of her shoulders. All she would have to do was spill the beans and let Pinkie know what happened and she would get some well deserved friend support. Pinkie Pie would understand the situation. That's all she had to do. Besides, isn't that why she got Pinkie's attention in the first place? To notify her of the fate of Rarity and many other Ponyville citizens? If there was any time to do action, it was now.

"Pinkie, I..."

Twilight found that she couldn't continue. Her emotions started to bottle up as her confidence failed her. The stressed out unicorn began to doubt herself and her original intentions. She couldn't bear to look at Pinkie directly in the eyes, the guilt would have killed her before she started saying anything. Among the ideas bouncing around her youthful bright mind, questions of doubt filled the majority of her consciousness. She asked herself, 'should Pinkie know this?', 'does she deserve to know this' and 'what right do I have to bring down her mood?'. She couldn't tell one of her best friends. She wouldn't.

"Are you ok, Twilight?" Pinkie Pie queried, concern threading through both her voice and her expression.

Twilight lied. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just fine."

The librarian closed her eyes. Not knowing what to do next, she had gotten so close yet so far. Even she didn't want to face the truth. In fact, she never did. She put away her feelings to get Griffin to safety, but now, there was no holding back. And yet, she couldn't bring herself to make Pinkie miserable with the news she wanted to give.

"Are you sure? Because you're crying."

"What? I'm not..."

Twi instinctively wiped her eyes. Her hoof returned wet. She was suddenly aware of her blurry vision and clogged up sinuses. Her breathing was ragged and full of hiccups.

"Oh, Pinkie..." the lavender sorcerer began.

"Twilight?"

"Yeah?"

Twilight then noticed Pinkie Pie lowered her head enough so that her eyes weren't visible from her angle. Her colour also looked disjointed and unusual.

Pinkie looked up.

"Did something happen to one of our friends?"


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Just a side note, Pinkie Pie's room is based off of the German and Swiss designs of the Nickelodeon MLP web pages.

Also, I might have been a bit fast with this one. If I have, please, please tell me in the comments!

> Chapter 6: Bittersweet Sour, Part 7
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


{*First-Person View, Main Character*}


For the sixth time in these past two days I found myself lying down on another comfortable, supported object. The object in question was the Cake's living room on the upper floor of the Sugarcube Corner. Just like Rarity's house, it was bigger on the inside than it looked on the outside. Not only was there space for both Pinkie's room and the Cake's room, as well as the huge-ass kitchen downstairs and the store itself, but also had enough feet to spare a living room, a baby room and two bathrooms! This place is pretty cool!

But I digress. I was casually lying down on the sofa in the living room. Interestingly enough, this room was peculiar to Rarity's living room. The set-up was mostly the same, with two sofas surrounding a coffee table beside a fireplace in a semi-circular room. The only thing that was different was that the room were painted to accustom the different theme the shop brought on. Vivid reds, bright pinks and contrasting dough colours were splattered across the walls. Oh, and the fireplace was also lit. Ms. Cake was kind enough to light it while I had my stay here. And stay here I would, because Twilight was out like a light.

Yes, the little purple horse was sleeping in a different room. More specifically, the Cake's room. They were also kind enough to let Twilight sleep in a proper bed. I sighed, envious of her successful attempt at resting. I thought it was a good idea to try and get a nap too, after all that's happened lately, but no matter what I tried, I just couldn't fall asleep. There was just too many things to consider and too much to think about. Twilight's state of being after leaving Pinkie's room especially disturbs me.

She was in there for a long time, and I mean a LONG. TIME. I had no idea what time it was when she got in, but about ten minutes later I check the clock in the kitchen to start counting. An hour and a half later, Twilight slowly descended the steps carrying very red eyes, a look of over exhaustion and an absolutely negative demeanour. She was sniffling and I could spot traces of many tears along the canvas of her face. She sounded stuffed up when she talked to me, and after I asked her how her talk with Pinkie went all she told me was that she was tired and needed to take a nap. The unicorn then proceeded to talk to the Cakes about a room and that's how she ended up sleeping in their bed.

That said, this is the worst I've ever seen her. And I thought her state was bad in the library, no! She's an absolute train wreck! She couldn't even muster up the strength to look at me when I spoke to her! Her fur coat was so discoloured it was like she was an entirely different pony! Twilight Sparkle? Hah, there was no sparkle in this Twilight! I couldn't get my mind off of her, so half an hour ago I peeked into the room to see if she was still sleeping or not, and by god, even when sleeping she looked sad! And not just sad sad, but terribly, awfully sad! So sad it made my heart ache! I think she might have been having nightmares, because after seeing your friend die like that, I don’t think it’s possible to NOT have nightmares.

This is bad. No, this is beyond bad, this is terrible! I don't know if Twilight will ever recover from this! I mean, I know that people deal with death all the time, but losing a friend like that? And it wasn't like she had to hear the news from somebody else, she was right there to witness Rarity’s demise too! Twilight had to witness the death of one of her best friends and her little sister! That's just awful! I’ve never lost any of my friends before, so I can’t possibly imagine what Twilight’s going through right now.

And Rarity. I don't even know what to think. Sure, I knew her for a few hours, but... I just don't know. She's gone. Just like that, in a blink of an eye. One minute I'm talking to twilight about her sibling issues and the next minute she's dead. And me and Twilight couldn't do anything about it. Well, Twilight could, and I think she tried, but something happened to her magic, I just know it. It was as if her spell got interrupted or something. I dunno, it's hard to recall what exactly happened to her, it all happened so fast. But most importantly (well, to me, anyways), Sweetie Belle died as well.

I got to know her better than her sister. She was a sweet young pony, one that definitely looked towards the future and wasn't hesitant to do whatever it took to reach her dreams. She told me about her adventures with her friends and how they were looking for their 'cutie marks'; their calling. They were so close and yet so far, so they just kept searching, hoping that one day they would find it. And they would try virtually anything, whether it be simple or just plain stupid. But she didn’t even reach her goal! She didn’t get to live to see the day where she got one! What's worse was that she wasn't in best terms with Rarity! I mean, Rarity didn't get a single chance to make amends before her fate was sealed!

I sighed out loud.

She was so young, and she was just trying to find her place in life...

Fuck.

I'm not sure how Twilight's sleeping through all of this. She must have been at the very end of her stamina to actually fall asleep. I can't tell how much sleep I'll be losing tonight, but I guess I’ll just have to see.

"Knock knock, party coming through."

I sit up, looking for the source of the words. In the doorway was Pinkie Pie, giving a slight grin.

But at the same time, it wasn't Pinkie Pie. It couldn't have been. There was just too much of a difference between the Pinkie Pie of the past and the Pinkie Pie before me! Her mane was drooping down, her colour several shades darker (just like Twilight) and there were large, black bags under her eyes. Speaking of her eyes, they were very red too. But most disturbing, she wasn't hyper. She just stood in the doorway, smiling softly. I was surprised that she wasn't tackling me at this point, but no, she was calm. Now, I've only known Pinks for a day, but man, that couldn't have been natural for her. Or healthy.

"The Cakes told me you would be in here." she stated, entering the small living room.

"Yeah. I've just been chillin' for the last hour or so." I answer back. she walked to the edge of the sofa, looking at me over the arm rest. Why would ponies need an arm rest for? Stay on subject, Griffin. "What happened to you?"

"What do you mean?" she curiously spoke.

I gave her a 'really?' look before realizing that she honestly had no idea what I meant. It's kinda sad that she's so innocent. Or maybe being oblivious is apart of her personality. I dunno.

"I mean, why do you look so... dark? Your coat is kinda, sorta, really dark. And I mean a dark pink, not just a dark dark."

"I don't look dark." she responded in denial.

"And you're manes fallen straight." I countered, pointing with my arms crossed.

"Is it?" She glanced up and lifted up the front of her hair with her hoof. "Oh. I guess it is."

I almost face palmed. Almost. She just acknowledged it like it was an everyday fact! Does her mane do that THAT often? Or is she too mentally shot to realize what's in front of her?

"Griffin, can I ask you a question?"

Ok, sudden change of subject. Strange. "Sure, go for it."

"Do you care for Twilight?"

I jumped, completely not prepared for the question. I waved my hands frequently in denial. "No! No no no no no! That's just wrong! Why would ask me that?"

She giggled, but not the same giggle she was giving me before. "Silly Griffin, that's not what I mean. What I mean is do you care for her as a friend?"

"Well, I..." I hummed, calming down. I put my hand to my chin and started rubbing it in thought. I mean, of course I cared for her, but I wasn't sure as to what level of care I put into her.

"I guess I do." I respond whole heartedly. "I mean, I just met the girl, but we get together pretty well. She seems a bit too factual for her own good, but otherwise I have no problems with her. Well, besides the fact that she basically took me hostage and threw me against the wall magically, but that's all in the past, and I really don't want to focus on that. That said, she HAS saved my butt once, but I also saved hers. Yeah, I think that it's save to say that we've got each other's backs."

"Wow." She said, accepting my answer. "You really do care for her."

I gave her an incredulous look. I'm not sure if she still means 'care' as in care for a friend or not. It's hard to tell with the crazy pony. Well, it's actually hard to tell ANYTHING with her! Maybe that's just how she is. Random and hyper, but at least she was sane.

"Hmm. Good to know. Now that that’s settled, I think that it’s nap time for the twins. I think that I’ll need to put them to sleep..."

She took her leave. All of the sudden. Really? That's all she had to say about my answer? Bullshit! That’s very suspicious of you, Pinkie! She's not telling me something! And that single question must have had some kind of great importance! I had to know what she's up to, especially if Twilight's somehow involved in it! I leaped from the couch, vaulted over it and dashed to the hall, ducking my head underneath the doorway. "Pinkie, wait!" I call out. As I checked both directions in the hallway, I realized that there was no one to call out to.

She completely disappeared.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------


> Chapter 6: Bittersweet Sour, Part 8
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


{*Omniscient point of view, Unknown Location*}



A single pony sat alone in the forest of dark destinies, her knowledge of how she got there unknown to her. The sky was painted a terrible purple, one colour that projected the term 'omen' perfectly. The ground was an equal shade, but duller, and with less life, if one considered it to be possible. All the grass was dead and gave way to the cold earth. No cloud was visible to the naked eye. A sole tree sat on a hill in the distance, dead and contorted. A large hole in the trunk gave the oak a mouth, with the dancing wind carrying its scream.

A reflection of the pony's past stood tall in front of her; a tombstone with words unreadable to the mind's eye. Several other stones and signs littered the nearby area, a thick dark mist swirling around each one. She didn't have to turn her head to read what they all had to say; she somehow knew every single one of them. Rosemary. Aloe. Bell Perin. Berry Frost. Lyra.

Rainbow Dash.

Applejack.

Fluttershy.

Spike.

Mom.

Dad.

She wept for the ones she had lost. The ones not found. The ones she could not see for one last time.

"Why..." she cried. “Why did this happen? All my friends... My family... Everyone I knew and loved..."

She wanted to stop crying, but her eyes didn't listen to her. She wanted to collapse, but her legs didn't budge. She wanted to set everything right, but couldn't. She wanted to drop dead and join the others, but fate had other plans for her.

"Twilight!"

The pony in the graveyard looked up. Leaning on the grave was Rarity, one of her very best friends. One that used to be her very best friend.

"How could you?"

"Rarity? I... What?" the pony squeaked between her sobs.

"How could you let me die? How could you let me die like this? You could have saved me! You could have saved me and Sweetie Belle!"

Sweetie Belle was suddenly standing on Rarity's back, a discoloured mess of black, white and grey. The filly gave the pony a sorrowful look.

"I'm sorry Rarity. I'm sorry..." she stated, as if those words would make everything better. Her eyes closed, not accepting the fact that was standing right before her.

"You could have used your magic to save me? So why did you save an alien but not your best friend?" Rarity demanded.

"I tried, Rarity, I honestly tried, but..."

"This is all your fault! You could have saved us Twilight! You could have saved us all! You could have saved us! You could have saved us!"

Rarity's last sentence repeated several times over. The pony couldn't bear to open her eyes, and yet she was still seeing what was before her. Rarity leaned over her tombstone, drilling the words into the pony's being. Soon, other voices joined her. Eyes still closed, she saw Fluttershy appear from the right.

"You could have saved us!"

Then Applejack approached from the left.

"You could have saved us!"

Next, Rainbow Dash from the sky.

"You could have saved us!

She collapsed due to the sudden weight on her back. She turned her head, seeing a certain purple-scaled individual.

"You could have saved us!"

The royal princesses descended from the heavens.

"You could have saved us!"

"Princess..." The pony muttered. Her eyes could not stop the water works.

All the ponies she met in her life slowly surrounded her in a circle, anger in their expressions.

"You could have saved us!"

Finally, her mother, father and brother appeared right before her.

"Mom... Dad... Shining..." she whispered.

"You could have saved us all!"

"I'm so sorry..."


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------



{*Omniscient point of view, Sugarcube Corner*}



Twilight awoke to a startle. She didn't scream, she didn't jump, she just lifted her head slightly. The purple unicorn pony concluded that that was the worst dream she ever had. Vivid images of said dream replayed in her mind several times over. She shuddered, getting over the emotional aspect of the thoughts. Her body was still slick with perspiration, slowly soaking the covers of the bed and making her clammy. Her skull pounded like a thousand punches. She winced, holding up her hoof to her horn and quietly wondering what was making her head hurt so much.

Her eyes were slowly adjusting to the dark confines of the room. She scowled in realization, her memories catching up to her. Groaning, she flipped over in the bed and covered her head with a pillow, wishing to go back to the dream world and not the horror she woke up to be in. The walls around her suddenly made a terrible, deafening groan. Cracks and splinters from the wood inside the infrastructure could be heard all around. The room seemed to twist in pain as a lightning-fast wind battered the building from the side. The windows rattled, trying to keep the raging storm from coming into the house. Twilight lifted up the pillow and watched in horror as the the wall before her seemed to stretch sideways. 

"Oh no..."


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------



{*Omniscient point of view, Sugarcube Corner*}



The human ran. Dashing down the hall, his sub-conscious urged him to find Pinkie posthaste. He had no idea where she went or how she dissipated so fast, but he had a feeling that he needed to find the pink poofball, no matter what. Reaching a door to his left, he steadied his breath as his heartbeat before reaching and twisting the doorknob. Inside, he found a supply closet.

(Huh. Go figure.) he mused. Swiftly shutting the door, he continued onward, taking only a few steps before he reached the next location. The bipedal took a right and grabbed the door handle firmly before turning and swinging open. Another supply closet.

(What? Now this house is just messing with me!)

His feet quickly turned around and off he went again. Turning a corner, he spotted the doorway to the Cake's bedroom, where Twilight currently slept as of that moment.

(I'll just skip that, don't wanna disturb Twilight from her rest.) he analyzed. The bipedal figure slowly tiptoed across the door, but stopped an inch after. (Wait, what if Pinkie Pie is hiding in the Cake's room? Then I would have missed her completely!) Retracing his steps, he carefully took a hold and spun the door handle, flinching as it squeaked. (Damn it, stupid old door handle!)

Griffin opened the door just enough to peek in. There Twilight was, in the middle of the bed with nothing around her that was unusual. A red clock on a small shelf beside the bed softly ticked to the beat of time. There was no sign of any crazy, depressed pink pony anywhere in the room. Satisfied, he cautiously shut the door and silently sprinted down the hall once more.

The next door showed itself to the desperate alien. He grabbed a hold of the handle, praying silently that this would be the last door he would have to check. As his hand turned, the door knob didn't seem to budge. Confused, he tried again. He let his frustration get to the better of him and started rattling the handle and hitting the door, grunts of scorn escaping his breath.

(God damn it! If out of all the other doors this one's locked, then that must mean that Pinkie Pie's in here! She must have locked herself to keep me out!) Griffin concluded. He swore under his breath ramming the door with his shoulder, having no success.

"Occupied! Occupied!" a female voice shouted from behind the doorframe. Griffin immediately backed up, realizing what he had been banging on the entire time. "If you really need to go that badly, there's a bathroom downstairs!" Ms. Cake said.

"Oh!" Griffin exclaimed. "Uh, sorry! I didn't know that this was a bathroom! I'm sorry for bothering you!" He immediately shot off down the hall, not wanting to worry about encountering Ms. Cake on what he just did. The baker made a puzzled hum before shaking the strange occurrence off of her.

(Fuck, I'm running out of doors!) his head swore, swiftly running across the hall at an unmatched speed. He remembered two doors before the stairs to the first floor. (What did Pinkie Pie say before? Something about the twins? Mr. and Ms. Cake have a son and daughter, don't they? I remember them mentioning it after Twilight went up to talk to Pinkie. But which room is the baby room again?)

Suddenly, the floor beneath him shook violently, causing him to lose his footing. He quickly reacted by rolling, but the action didn't help keep his balance from the sudden vibrations beneath him. He laid down, trying to get a grip on the carpet to say in one place. The roar of the earthquake wrecked his eardrums.

(What the fuck is going on now?) he wondered. The walls around him began to creak and groan in distress. He could hear the timber beyond the walls crack in distortion. The ceiling seemed to stretch up higher, as if something was pulling it upwards. When the shaking stopped, he could clearly hear the wind outside whistling furiously against the outer surface of the building.

"Aw crap."

> Chapter 6: Bittersweet Sour, Part 9
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


{*First-Person View, Main Character*}


Fuck, again?

Really, fucking AGAIN?

I thought we were done with this black hole bullshit! Really universe? You just HAVE to force this down my throat at this exact moment? I’ve got way too much to worry about without YOU sending me a big ‘fuck you!’ in the form of a swirling mess of darkness! Well fuck you too! Fuck you and your tendency to send every single bullet at every single moment of my life! Can’t I get a break? Fuck! First I wake up in a different universe, then Twilight needs to gather up her friends during the biggest shit-storm I’ve ever seen, then Rarity and Sweetie Belle die, and now this? WHAT THE FUCK.

I wanted to sigh, but there was no time for that. The hallway walls began to crack and split apart, reminding me that time was of the essence. I still had no idea where Pinkie Pie was, so it was too much of a risk to try and find her before the black hole got through. I’m not sure if Ms. Cake’s still on the can or not, but that’s won’t help unless I find her husband too, which by the way, I have no idea where he is either! And Twilight. Oh shit! She might be still asleep! I have to go wake her up! Well, on the other hand, the creaking of the house could probably wake up a mammoth, but at the same time, Twilight fell dead asleep as soon as she hit the mattress! Who knows how deep in sleep she is! And if I can manage to find Twilight, she can use her magic to fortify the house while I go find the others! Genius!

Ok, that’s the plan.

I began to sprint towards the opposite direction. I barely got a few feet where I heard a familiar voice call around the corner. Out came a galloping Twilight, bedhead and hot on her hooves. We almost ran into each other but was saved by my quick reaction. I slowed and caught the rushing unicorn in my arms. She hastily backed up, realizing who exactly caught her.

“Griffin! It’s happening again!” She yelled, fright lingering in the edges of her tone.

“I know! I was just about to get you!” I answered back.

“We need to find Pinkie Pie and the Cakes!” the unicorn pointed out.

“I know! Ms. Cake’s in the bathroom, but I have no idea where Mr. Cake is! Also Pinkie Pie completely disappeared! I think she went to the baby room, but I don’t know!” I informed her. She started running in the direction I was going before this whole mess started. I think she wanted to find Pinkie Pie first, because she certainly wasn’t headed towards the bathroom! At this point I considered that I could go get Ms. Cake and she would go get Pinkie, but if we ran out of time before we found each other, Ms. Cake would be screwed anyways, and I would join her along to boot!

"Wait, Twilight, we need to-" I got out before I was interrupted by an enormous crackle. I felt a fresh freezing wind blow down my back and inflate my shirt. Looking up, I noticed that the roof was completely missing! “Well, Jesus.” I nonchalantly muttered. Bracing for any kind of suction, I grabbed Twilight by the tail before she could get to me and lowered my center of gravity. Strangely for a few seconds there was no sensation of getting pulled up, until the wall to my right completely broke apart as well.

“Wah!” Twilight squealed, the first to leave the floor. I felt my arm get pulled along with her as I grabbed the side of the carpet. It wasn’t exactly the best material to hang on to, and it soon got ripped right out of the floor. The purple magician behind me cried out again before I found a stray pipe sticking out of what was once the outside wall of the Sugarcube Corner. Focusing, I reached out and grabbed the pipe before we were past the point of no return. My forearm screamed in pain as the skin stretched to accommodate the sudden pulling pressure. I winced. Knowing that I still had Twilight in my other hand, there was absolutely no way I was letting go anytime soon. She was practically my lifeline! But ironically at the same time, I was her life line. Keeping her connected to something was my job, and her job was to secure our gravity to the planet side.

I think I'm starting to understand the purpose of Pinkie Pie's question.

My grip was slipping. The cold metal slowly rubbed against my palm, creating pangs of discomfort in my wrist. I looked down to see Twilight doing something magic-related, with her horn glowing purple and all. But whatever she was doing, it was not getting us out of the black holes pull!

"TWILIGHT!" I screamed over the loud wailing of the wind. "WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? BRING US DOWN!"

"I'M TRYING TO GET PINKIE BACK!" she retaliated. I looked up to see a familiar square-shaped object glowing with the same glow that Twilight was emitting. It was a significant distance away, about fifty, maybe a hundred meters away. Still, Twilight somehow managed to grab onto it with some kind of magic spell and hold it in place. I was impressed, but that feeling quickly dissipated when my grip loosened even further. Craning my neck upward, I looked to see that we were at the end of the rope, or in this case, the pipe. My hand was dangerously close to the dangling end of the object, and steadily approaching our final destination. Thinking quickly, I grabbed Twilight's tail with my two feet, crossed my legs and used my now freed hand to grasp the pipe for double the grip. Twilight squeaked when I had to let her go for a split second to get a hold of the lifeline.

My fingers were in agony. The fact that Twilight hadn't done anything to help at this point were causing even further pain to my excruciating to my wrists. I'm guessing that magic takes a certain amount of skill and energy to pull off, considering she hadn't reeled in the room yet. I thought that it would be as simple as one, two, three! No, I guess it had to be much more difficult than that, nothing in the real world is that easy. Then again, am I still in the real world? I have to consider the fact that I'm on a completely different planet, and moreover a different universe! Never the less, I was living on a prayer, hoping that the unicorn would retrieve the item by now and get us to safety.

But why was it taking so long? My mind raced to find some sense in the situation. It appears that the black hole in the sky is no ordinary black hole, as it doesn't absorb light like the normal black hole would. Sure, it's really dark, but every time something flies in front of it I can see it clear as day, while standard black holes would render the object invisible. In addition, at this close range the black hole should have sucked up everything by now, the planet and then some! And yet it has barely managed to scrape the world’s surface. Obviously it’s a very weak black hole, considering that I'm still holding on the pipe and still managing. But it’s still sucking things up! Wait, if it’s sucking up the buildings, trees and the like, it must be sucking up the room too! So then while Twilight's pulling, the black hole is sucking, creating a tug-of-war of epic proportions! Wow, Twilight might be a little over her head right now! Can she really beat the gravitational force of an unnatural object? Does she really have enough magical power to do so?

Well, it's not like she has any choice. Pinkie and the Cakes' kids could be in that room! Although, we're not one-hundred percent sure that they're in there. I mean, Pinkie Pie dropped a hint, but she seems to be kinda random. Who knows where she could be! Maybe she's safe somewhere, wondering where her purple friend and that human went. Or maybe she's a floor beneath us, safe until the suction of the dark circle rips the second floor in two! No matter the answer, it still doesn't matter because the kids are in that room! I can only imagine how they're gonna be scarred after this! If we get the opportunity to save lives, then we need to take it!

...Although I'll be honest with you. I kinda, sorta want Twilight to change priority from saving those kids to saving us. I'm not saying that I don't want to save the twins, but if we're putting this much effort towards two babies, aren't we putting ourselves more at risk? The longer we linger here, the more our chances of living deplete. My grip's slipping, Twilight's struggling to keep a hold, and we aren't going anywhere but up if I screw up! Sure, we get to FREAKING SAVE LIVES, but... Is it worth our mind and souls? We aren't going to end up saving anyone if we get sucked into the black hole before we can make a sensible about saving ourselves! 

I guess I make a pretty crappy hero. And a terrible human being to boot.

"TWILIGHT, YOU NEED TO DO SOMETHING, AND FAST!" I shout will all my might, hoping that Twilight will look in my direction to see the severity of the situation. She didn't, and instead kept her eyes closed in concentration.

"I ALMOST GOT IT!" she hastily replied. There was no way to move her. That stupidly stubborn horse is going to get us both killed at this rate!

Something needed to be done. My hands were at their very and this wasn't going to end well if I didn't do something about it. I couldn't reach Twilight's common sense, because apparently she was outright hell-bent on getting that room back! I wanted to smack her, but my hands were tied at the moment. I can't loosen the grip on my legs for any reason, otherwise she might slip and fall into oblivion! There was literally no solution to the predicament without the aid of Twilight's magic, which I can't do. So what was I supposed to do? There was no way out!

Is this is? Is this the end of my life? Is this how it's supposed to end? I die via black hole of doom? Really? Wow, reality's such a flatterer. Well, if there's one way to meet death, it's to get sucked up into an extremely dense mass of nothingness. I guess I'll never see my parents again. Or my classmates for that matter. Heck, I'll never get to see Earth before I freaking die! I still can't believe that I meet my end at the hands of a space vacuum on an entirely different planet than the one I was born on! I expected myself to die of natural causes or cancer or something, but this? This was too outrageous! This was completely from left field! This was insane!

I don't want to die!

I barely glanced up to see that a part of the second floors floorboards had been ripped loose and was flying right at me. My head moved slightly to the right, just in time for a racing two-by-four to zoom past my head. Unfortunately I wasn't fast enough to get away completely. The pointed side of the wood scraped my left cheek, leaving a stinging sensation within all the madness. Looking back at the passing board, I realize that I was lucky. If I hadn't looked up at that exact moment, I would have got hit, and my grip would have faltered for sure! That would have been bad. 

My eyes widen when it occurred to me that that piece of wood still was a potential threat. Time slowed down as I watched the danger head right towards Twilight's noggin. I flinched, having nothing to do to prevent the event. All I could do was observe Twilight get smacked right up across the face by a big wooden plant. She exclaimed in surprise when it connected. Her face whipped back and her neck craned from the force. The purple glow from her horn diminished as her facial features relaxed and the room lost its purple light. I helplessly watched the room go, go, and disappear into the black hole.

Whatever was in that room was totally obliterated. It was gone for good, and I knew it. Pinkie, the twins, and any personal belongings were just... gone. There was no getting them back. They were dead, and nothing would chance that. I took a moment to forget that Twilight may have been unconscious to look back on my own feelings. I shouldn't have been so critical and selfish. Three lives have been lost because of this specific development! If Twilight had enough power to reel them in, we could have saved lives! Lives! With a plural! And we didn't. We failed. I felt like a jackass, wanting Twilight to let go in order to save ourselves. That was an asshole move, Griffin! I'm a real jerk, not strong enough to overcome my instinct of survival and instead encouraging Twilight to do what she needed to so. Wow, I suck.

My fingers reached their limit. The rims of my fingernails barely latched on to the corner of the end of the pipe. My wrist was writhing in pain and strain. In just a few seconds, I would let go for sure, and be released to my doom above, along with Twilight. Poor Twilight, she lost two friends in just a fore night, and good neighbors that she probably knew well. Speaking of Twilight, from the corner of my eye I saw her shake herself awake and realize the gravity of the situation. Her horn glowed and...

...I felt extra weight on my body! My fingers finally gave and we both fell to the ruined earth below. I landed on my stomach, shielding my chin with my hands to prevent and jaw injury. I groaned, having the feeling of internal pain from my abdomen area. Oh shit, do I have internal bleeding? I grasped my stomach, moaning and rolling off to the side. Thankfully we didn't land on anything sharp and instead landed right in front of the entrance to what used to be the Sugarcube Corner. Taking note of my injuries, I had a sore stomach, numbed knees, disjointed fingers and possibly internal bleeding. All the pain was rushing to my head, but the adrenaline was still in effect, creating a somewhat effective painkiller.

And that's when I saw it. Twilight, at my feet, unmoving but her horn still glowing. "Twilight?" I call out, seeing as the wind had significantly died down and the background noise dimmed. She didn't move or respond. "Twilight?" I tried again. No effect. Oh god, what has happened to her? Did that spell knock her out? Did she hit her head on the pavement? Her spell was still in effect, but... What if... I need to get to her! She needs help!

I tried to get to my feet, but the sudden weight on my knees caused me to collapse. Settling to crawling, I slowly but surely shuffled to Twilight's unmoving body. Getting to her stomach side, I put my palms on her neck and back and softly shook her. "Twilight?" She didn't respond again. "Twilight, please! Please wake up! Please wake up, Twilight!"

"Griffin..."

I inhaled deeply. She whispered! She whispered weakly, but it was a whisper! She was alive! Oh god she was still alive! I tapped her on the shoulder some more, trying to get more of a response. "Twilight, get up. We need to get up!"

"Griffin, I..." she said, raising her head and placing her front hooves. I then realized that she was crying, tears and all. Her eyes were a red as could be, her breathing erratic and her nose slightly oozing. "I lost her..."

"Twilight..."

"I lost her, I lost another one! I let her down! I let Rarity down! I let everypony down!" she cried, letting her head fall to the ground. I frowned, moved in front of her and scooped up her head, resting it on my lap. She accepted the offer and pushed herself onto my being, her face buried in my stomach and her hooves wrapping around my torso. I placed my hands on her head, brushing her soft mane back and getting her bangs out of her eyes. There was a loud ripping sound behind us, and a huge shadow passing over. I looked up to see the remains of the Sugarcube Corner fly right over and towards the black hole. I took a glance behind me to see a gaping hole of where the building occupied. The suction took the entirety of the structure, basement and all! Whatever was left in the bakery was gone for sure.

But that didn't matter now.

"I lost her... I lost another friend..."

I wrapped my arms around her crown.

"I know. I'm sorry."



-{END OF CHAPTER}-




> Chapter 7: Brash Instinct, Part 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


-CHAPTER 7: BRASH INSTINCT-



{*First-Person View, Main Character*}


On the road again.

The howling wind did nothing to calm Twilight's nerves, or mine for that matter. We were cold, tired and weak as the wreckage of Ponyville passed us. Entire plots of land were either completely destroyed, sucked up into the black hole from their roots or on fire from angry lightning strikes. On my right I could see the flames spread with the help of the sweeping air that ravaged the area. East Ponyville was steadily becoming an inferno of lost hearts and broken dreams. To my left were the empty shells of what were once homes for the pony folk. These building held warmth, love and hope once upon a time, but now they were just mere piles of wood, glass and ash.

The echo of our foot (or hoof) steps rang out into the open air. The sky couldn't have looked any darker, the pitch black storm clouds covering up the horizon. The hole of doom itself took up the direct center of the mess. It swirled and turned, occasionally devouring a tree or a piece of construction or two. What really creeped me out was the translucent mist that outline the edge of the giant vacuum, spiralling around it but yet not getting sucked in. It appeared to form some sort of barrier that defined the black hole better but did not prevent anything from getting pulled in. The way I looked at it, with the mist skimming the top and bottom of the hole yet connecting at two ends far away from the left and right side of the circle, it looked like a single eye. Yeah, an eye. The black hole itself was the iris and the mist was the outline of the eye socket.

And I could swear it was staring straight at me.

Twilight shivered under the bright purple glow of her horn, a sure sign that we were safe under the effects of her spell. Whether she shivered because of the freezing temperature or because the looming danger above us, I could not tell. What I could tell however was the fact that her stamina was draining at a substantial rate. Her pace lacked a sense of urgency, her head dipped slightly lower than normal and her hooves barely left the ground enough to take a step. I would offer a break, but there's nowhere safe that's within a one-hundred meter radius that we could stop at. Besides, it was her decision to keep moving, not mine, and considering she's the one who knows where everything is in Ponyville, it's best that she kept being the leader of the trek, of course me following not far behind.

Both of us opted not to talk. These kinds of situations are not for pleasant conversations, or any kind of conversation for that matter. It was just us, the black hole and the desolate landscape, which in a more positive view allowed me lots of time to think.

How long had the black hole been here? By the way Twilight has acted lately, I can conclude that it's not a re-occurring event. So when did it get here? Did it just appear out of nowhere? Something must have spawned the stupid thing, because there's no way such a dense ball of mass would appear out of thin air! Was it magic? Did magic have something to do with it appearing? I bet that there's some kind of 'dark' magic out there, and at this point I wouldn't be surprised if evil spells were at work here. I mean, if there was some kind of evil-doer out there, it would totally be in his best interest to create a black hole and destroy everything! Although, now that I think about it, It's kinda stereotypical, and doesn't make too much sense considering he or she doesn't get anything out of it. Well, unless I'm wrong and by ripping the ground apart the chaos will cause some kind of obscure prophecy to happen. I don't know. I don't want to think about it too much, because I have way too many things to worry about without adding 'foretold apocalypse ' to the list of items of concern, which, by the way, consists of 'getting to safety', 'finding food and water', and 'caring for Twilight'.

Twilight...

That poor girl really has been through a lot lately, hasn't she? She virtually lost everyone she held dear to that stupid black hole, including Rarity and Pinkie Pie. Those three were close, weren't they? Twilight risked her life to save Pinkie and beat herself up for not saving Rarity... And what's more to come for her? More pain? More suffering? Where's Fluttershy and Applejack? Have they lost their lives to the vacuum too? I have no idea, and once again, I don't want to think about it.

Gah, none of them deserve this! Not Applejack, not Fluttershy, not Rarity, not Pinkie Pie! They all should have lived a prosperous life, not find their end in the middle of a cosmic anomaly! In fact, the rest of Ponyville shouldn’t have had this fate! This is a fate worse than death! To know that not only your life is going to end but possibly the rest of the world’s, that’s just horrible! This is bullshit! If someone was responsible for this atrocity and I find him or her, I’m gonna kick their ass to the next dimension! For all the ponies that were lost! For Twilight, Rarity and Pinkie Pie!

Pinkie Pie...

I bet there was more to her than meets the eye. She was pretty hyper and random, the way she popped out of nowhere upside-down. She could talk very fast too. She spoke her mind but respected Twilight when she was told to be quiet. Then she just sat there with the utmost obedience! Obviously she was some kind of genius, and granted she might have been a tad bit annoying at the Sugarcube Corner, but otherwise she had a very pleasant and upbeat personality! Yes she did.

...

...

...Jeez, is that ALL I know of Pinkie Pie? I mean, come on, I just barely met her, yet now she's dead, meaning I'll never get to know the rest of her! In fact, I'll never get to know Rarity or Sweetie Belle or anyone else who has died! For the moment I'm mostly concerned about Pinkie Pie, because she definitely had something going on behind the scenes. That question that she asked about Twilight and I threw me for a loop for a second or two, but there was some kind of meaning behind her words! Furthermore, it was like she knew when the black hole was going to act up again, because she plain out disappeared as soon as it hit! Did she know, or was it dumb coincidence? And if she did know, how?

I have no idea, and will never find out at any rate.

We were walking for a straight ten minutes. I had no idea where Twilight wanted to head next, but where ever it was it certainly wasn't close by. Never the less, I kept my mouth shut from complaining, since she was the leader and had a better idea of the scope of Ponyville. As the blowing winds occupied the otherwise eerie, quiet landscape, I sensed a large, shiny object in the corner of my eye. Turning my head left, I spotted a very strange sight not too far off from our location.

From what I could tell, it was a huge building completely made of metal. A great mechanical door was placed on a big, rectangular infrastructure, with two circular chambers sticking out of both sides of the building. The main section was very tall compared to the rest of the town’s houses. There were at least three, maybe four stories to the metal beast. Several circular windows adorned the outside walls. They kinda looked like windows you would see on an old submarine: compact in design, but solid and resistant to the outdoor elements. At the direct center of the building was a single tower, build not taller than six stories but still had to be a fantastic vantage point. A single circular window stuck out of the tower like some kind of glass pimple. It was round on the outside, and appeared to be a small extra room that was made of glass. At the top of the tower were two things. First, a flag that showed both a sun and moon circling each other on a black and white background, and second, many speakers that pointed in all directions. Inside the glass room I could slightly see a silhouette surveying the area who might have been spying on us.

"Uh, Twilight?" I begin, tapping on the mare's shoulder to get her attention. "What's that building over there?"

"Hmm?" she hummed, craning her head to where I was pointing at. I saw her face lit up with a smile and a sudden flare of energy.  "Oh! That's Lockdown's house!"

"Who?" I asked.

"He's an old stallion that's been living here in Ponyville for quite a long time now. He has a severe case of paranoia and always ranted about the 'end of the world', and how it was coming closer and closer every day. As such, he fortified his house with several metal plates, walls and added extra rooms just in case he needed to hide an entire town in his 'safety bunker' as he called it. According to... Rarity... he had everything one would need to survive in an apocalypse, including a power generator, a cellar full of food, a giant refrigerator and plumbing!" she explained, clearly proud of her knowledge. "Everypony in town thought the old timer was crazy, including me-but I still kept a more open mind than everypony else!" she hastily added to her point, causing my eyebrow to rise in suspicion. "All his preparation must be why it's still the only standing structure in Ponyville! He must have drilled every piece of the entire building together so that they wouldn't fly apart! Heh, I kinda find it ironic that he was the crazy one, and yet he still was right in the end." the unicorn finished, a small blush of embarrassment flushing her cheeks. I rolled my eyes while she took a step in that direction. "I can't believe that I forgot about his house! We must head there right away!"

I nodded. "Ok."

As I got up from kneeling, the wind picked up once again. My shirt flapped like crazy as a chill ran down my spine. The sensation of panic left my being when I felt my weight move several dozen pounds lighter, sweeping me off my feet. I lifted off the earth by several feet before the gravity turned itself back on, causing my butt to be the landing padding. I grunted and got to my feet, annoyed that such a random thing would happen like that. Suddenly, the purple sorceress in front of me barely took two steps before she collapsed, her horn flickering for a moment.

"Whoa, are you ok?" I said, concerned and lowering myself to see if she was or not. On her knees, she grunted and looked up at me.

"Yeah, I'm ok," she answered, placing her hooves on the ground. "The gravitational pull from the black hole skyrocketed all of the sudden. I had to adjust for overall magical output, and ended up overcompensating."

She sighed.

"I'm just tired."

And tired she looked. Not only the huge dark circles under her eyes were a sure sign, but also the fact that when she tried to get up, her strength failed her and she just fell back to the ground again.

"We need to get to safety as soon as possible. Can you walk?" I asked, helping her to her hooves and supporting her weight until her legs stopped wobbling.

"Ye-yes, I can. Just give me a second."

Standing upright, she teetered a bit as if she lost her balance. Getting steady with her center of gravity, she winced and exhaled a breath she was holding. She continued to look up and me, nod and start walking to our next destination. Getting about thirty meters from the building, I noticed the silhouette in the tower move about, as if something was going inside the building. I took the possibility that she saw us and was taking some kind of action. I grew nervous, wondering if she would consider us hostile and give us an ultimatum or something.

"Twilight! Get into the building! Quick!" a voice coming from the tower speakers echoed.

Twilight's jaw dropped and her vision scanned upwards. "Carrot Top? Is that you?"

"Yes! You're in danger out there! I'll tell Time Turner to open the door, just hurry!"

We approached the entrance as a slightly faster pace. "What are you doing up there?" Twilight queried.

"Lockdown told me to keep an eye out for stragglers!" she cheerfully responded, her tone doing a complete one-eighty. Isn't 'stragglers' a rude way to put it? 

Just then, there was a flash of lightning, quickly followed by an ear-splitting thunderclap. I heard a huge gasp through the speakers, then a high-pitched squeal as this 'Carrot Top' smacked her microphone. My palms immediately went to cover my ears while Twilight's ears folded back. We both flinched as the annoyance carried volume throughout the area.

"Twilight, there's a huge ugly monster behind you! Run!" she cried, her voice more urgent than last time.

"What?" I spoke out loud. The both of us turned around to see nothing. "What is she talking about?"

An abrupt increase of air pressure caused Twilight to moan and collapse once more. I grabbed her side and hefted her up. She appeared to be in a daze, and sparks were flying out of the slowly diminishing light of her horn. That could not be a good sign. I saw that that the huge mechanical door of Lockdown's house creaked open, a welcoming sight indeed.

Repeating Carrot Top's instructions, I yelled "RUN!" at the top of my lungs.

We both started sprinting. The scenery around us was a blur as we closed the twenty-five meter gap in a few seconds. If I didn't know any better, my feet were leaving the ground as we ran, which could have been all possible if Twilight's spell was wearing off as fast as I thought. The two of us dove through the entrance and landed in a heap in what appeared to be a small circular chamber. The door behind us quickly shut, leaving a loud *CLANK* over the tiny room. I took a few breaths, knowing that for the first time in two hours, I got a break.

We were safe.

> Chapter 7: Brash Instinct, Part 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


{*First Person View, Main Character*}


My ears popped as the air pressure changed in the entrance chamber me and Twilight were situated in. The dull hum of electricity rang overhead. I looked up to see an orb of light giving off a dim glow, sufficiently lighting up our surroundings. The clanks and titters of gears could be heard beyond the door in front of us. The walls were made of pure metal, but not in the fashion that you would see in a futuristic movie, and instead formed with sheets of aluminum hammered together in a crude manner. I had a slight moment of panic due to the sudden change from the loud and dangerous outside world to a creepy metallic house. A moan behind me knocked me to my senses and caused me to turn around to see Twilight sprawled out on the ground. Her horn was no longer glowing, but instead shooting purple sparks.

"Griffin..." I heard her mutter before her head fell to the cold metal floor.

"Twilight!" I cried out, getting to my knees and grabbing a hold of the mare's body. Flipping her from her stomach to her back, I shook her head lightly and tapped on her temples. "Twilight? Twilight! Wake up!" I tried prodding on her ribs. No response. I tried messaging her ears. No response. I even tried tickling her stomach, but still nothing! I slid her right eyelid open. It dilated, but otherwise I didn’t notice any other changes. She was knocked out cold.

What was I supposed to do? She was the one that knew Ponyville! And what was I going to do without someone to watch my back, especially if there's another paranoid pony in this establishment! I don't think they'll take kindly to creatures they've never seen before. Is she even ok? She was still breathing, which is a good sign, but her sputtering horn didn’t look too good! Maybe she's sick! Oh man, now that would be bad! I wouldn't know how to treat horse sicknesses! Twilight, for the love of god, please wake up!

I tried brushing her bangs out of her face and ended up smacking her horn with the back of my hand. Bad move. As soon as I pulled away, a spray of bright, sizzling sparks sprayed in my face. Turns out that sparks, no matter whether they’re from heat or magic, are hot. Really, steaming hot.

"OH GOD! AHH, HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT!!!"

My face thoroughly stung as I tried to brush off the pieces of energy. The end result gave me injured hands, a pained mental conscious and a slightly melted face to boot. I realized that my scream of utter agony and shock was so loud that anyone living in the building probably heard me. Heck, that shout could have woken the dead! Jesus Christ, why did that have to happen to me? Haven’t I already gotten through enough shit and piss without having a miniature volcano shower all over the front of my skull? I think my eyebrows were singed off! Fuck this!

“Grrrr!” I growled out loud, shooting off some steam. It seemed like one bad thing after another. My life had turned a complete three-sixty, going from relatively peaceful high-school life to running-in-the-midst-of-an-armageddon life! What the fuck, destiny, what the fuck!

Man…

…

…This rage wasn’t getting me anywhere. I needed to calm down. Taking a deep breath, I relaxed, closed my eyes and let myself simply listen to the surrounding ambience for a few seconds.

However, amidst the various clanks and hums, there was the sound of breathing.

I opened my eyes and let my gaze fall to the pretty little unicorn lying in front of me. Her face was slightly wincing, an odd sight for one who is unconscious. I couldn’t take that as a good thing, considering when she was asleep in the Sugarcube Corner she didn’t look as nearly disturbed as she was here. At least her horn stopped sparking, but that might necessarily not have been a good thing. I couldn’t tell what would be considered ‘good’ for a unicorn’s health. I’m no god damn pony doctor.

Twilight. Poor, poor Twilight. She keeps trying and trying to save everyone she cares about, and yet she can’t. Every time, her friends are barely out of her reach, taunting her until she’s lost them for good. How many ponies have died that Twilight has known? How many have died without Twilight’s knowledge? That lavender mare was fighting for lives, a fight she was sure losing. It didn’t matter to her if her life was on the line, as long as she had a chance to save someone, she took it. She may have acted like a hero, but she’s just one unicorn. She’s one unicorn against the world, against odds that are well stacked against her, against threats that are far beyond her understanding! She tried to save Rarity and Sweetie Belle! She tried to save Pinkie Pie and the twins! She tried! She honest to god tried!

And yet, she’s only successfully saved one.

Me.  


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------



{*Omniscient point of view, Lockdown's Bunker*}


Carrot Top manically rushed from the top of her outpost to the bottom entrance of Lockdown’s steel abode. Her breath was laboured as she dashed through yet another metal hallway, trying her best to remember the inner workings of the complex. All the halls looked alike, and with several floors of white-painted iron halls, it was very difficult for her to keep track where she was. However, one resolve kept her going. It was a reason to keep running without stopping, and a reason to keep working until she found the entrance!

It was the reason that she found Twilight Sparkle.

And not only that, it was the reason that she was in grave danger! For not only was she fighting the elements of the storm, the cold and the black hole, but also she was being followed but a horrible, hideous monster that wanted nothing to eat the unassuming magician! There was only one pony that could save her! Well, technically two, but that detail did not concern the orange mare! It was Carrot Top (the otherwise useless farm pony) to the rescue!

After turning another corner, she spotted what she was looking for. The front entrance never looked better, with its shiny metal exterior flashing against the inside lights of the rectangular room. She hopped over the metal doorway and spotted her assistant, Time Turner working the controls to the entrance behind a console of buttons, switches and sliders that she had absolutely no understanding of. The brown stallion seemed to press and flip in a panic, desperately watching a glass screen (which she heard Lockdown call a ‘monitor’) with a careful eye.

Carrot Top voiced her thoughts. “Has she arrived yet? Is she safe?”

“She’s entered the stabilization chamber. I’m just levelling out the air pressure and locking up the front door.” He steadily answered with an accent that for the life of her, she could not place. Carrot Top simply nodded in response, having no idea what he just said. She bit her lip nervously, watching the cogs that attached to the door turn. The system of gears, chains and other moving parts attached to the entrance door ran along the wall and extended to the main control console Time Turner was working at. The mechanized system seemed to work well enough, if not a bit uncontrollable in some situations.

There was a large blast of air that exhaled from the stabilization chamber. The door gradually opened with a loud disruptive squeak that bounced around the room’s flat and round surfaces. Carrot Top couldn’t tell who was inside; the entrance chamber was too dark to determine anything. Suddenly a figure entered through the doorway. Carrot Top gasped at the unconscious form of Twilight, but was more shocked and frightened at the one who was carrying her body.

“Eek!” she squealed, racing over the console of controls and hiding behind a stunned brown stallion. “Time Turner you goof! You let the monster in!”

“What monster? I don’t see any monster.” he innocently responded.

“What, are you kidding me? Look at the size of that THING!” she shouted, pointing at the confused human.

Time Turner tried to defuse the situation before Carrot Top said anything she would regret. Looking towards the tall organism, he said “Now before you do anything, calm down. She didn’t mean anything when she said-” 

“Wha-what have you done to Twilight?” Carrot Top demanded, shakily stepping away from Time Turner and moving around the console. She approached and stood in the center of the room, her legs still shaking and threatening to collapse with fright. “P-put down Twilight this instant! Or-or else!” she demanded, stomping on the ground for extra effect. Time Turner was about to interject when he noticed the expression on the bipedal. The old earth pony made a neutral expression, lowered his head and allowed the situation to unravel.

Carrot Top was surprised at the look the ‘monster’ was giving. His frown was so emotional… So full of feelings… So… ponylike.  It shook her attention for a moment, but her hard gaze returned when she recalled who she was dealing with. A monster was a monster, no matter how many ways you slice the carrot. It would still rampage, it would still create chaos and it would still devour, even if it just looked a little bit different than the average monster. More so, if said monster was threatening a life, well there was no excuse! That monster had to be dealt with and dealt with quickly!

She saw a single tear slide down its face. Her protective look was replaced with shock.

“Please…” it muttered, taking one step before falling to its knees.

Carrot took a timid step back.

“Please, save her.” he pleaded, holding out Twilight’s body. His tears were freely streaming over his face.

(WHAT???) the mare yelled in her head, her jaw dropping.

“Please, I don’t know what’s wrong with her, but you have to save her.” He asked, shuffling a bit closer to Carrot.

“I…I…” Carrot stuttered, unsure how to respond.

“For the love of god, please…” he continued. “She has helped me through thick and thin. She had supported me as I have supported her. She has kept me company through this whole ordeal. So please, I beg of you, save Twilight Sparkle!”

Carrot couldn’t answer. She was completely taken aback by his request, as well as his actions and physical movements. Monsters didn’t cry! Monsters didn’t care for others! So why did this one?

“Certainly.”

Both the orange mare and the human directed their attention to Time Turner, who, with a serious expression, pushed a stretcher through a door that was behind the console. He directed the bed-on-wheels to the center of the room, ignoring Carrot Top’s appalled stature and strolled right on up to the monster in question.

“Put her on here, I’ll rush her to the medical ward right away.” he stated.

“Thank you…” the creature replied with a smile. He hoisted the unmoving prodigy onto the stretcher. "Thank you so much..."

Time Turner strapped Twilight onto the device then took a hold on the side, ready to move. “Are you going to help or what?” he forcefully quizzed. It took a few moments for Carrot Top to register that the question was directed to her. Her head snapped back to reality as she took a look at Twilight, unconscious and lying on the stretcher. A sudden feeling inside of her told her to take action. A calming warmth filled her belly, rejuvenating the earth pony with a newfound strength and resolve. Taking a breath, she grabbed the other side and shot Time Turner a nod.

“Ok. Let’s go.”

The two were off, down the hall and well on their way to the medical ward. Carrot Top actually had no idea where that was, but trusted the clock engineer to guide their patient to the correct room. She yelped when a burst of speed suddenly overcome the rolling stretcher. While still galloping, she glanced behind her to see the monster push from behind, his strength easily creating enough momentum to propel all three ponies. Even though tears ran from his cheeks, his goal would not deter him, as his expression showed. Carrot turned back and took a right. They carried Twilight down the hall with a burst of speed. With the human at their backs, there was no way they would be slowing down. Right. Left. Left. Right. Right. That was the route that Time Turner directed them to. Shut doors, slight moist pipes and hanging lights all pasted by them as they zoomed through the halls.

Eventually they came to a stop at a large circular room. The ceiling stretched four stories tall, each story with two dozen door litters around the wall. A large light was posted at the very top, shining down all the way to the bottom. Several smaller lights were adorning the walkways on the different floors. There were three exits to the room: one behind them and two on the east and west sides of the wall. Carrot remembered the chamber as the main hub for all the dorms that the ponies housed in. Hundreds upon hundreds of ponies had taken refuge in Lockdown’s home when they believed that the end of the world was coming during the great thunderstorm. Many cried on his doorstep, begging for forgiveness for when they mocked the old stallion for making up such uncanny foresights of doom. Carrot could remember seeing Lockdown smirk, chuckle and then let everypony in. When she asked what made him let them in, he replied “If I didn’, then I would’ave made a bunker fer nuthin’!”

“Over there.” Time Turner instructed, pointing towards the corridor to his right. All three began pushing that direction, but hastily stopped to avoid a collision with a certain cyan Pegasus. Rainbow Dash came flying down the hallway and burst into the room. Spotting Carrot top, the athlete went into a moment of excitement and giddiness.

“I heard Twilight was here! Where is she?” she asked desperately. When she saw the mare sleeping on the stretcher, her posture wilted. However, when she saw what was pushing said stretcher from behind…

“You…” she spoke, her voice a deadly tone as her eye narrowed and her breath quickened.

(Oh no…) Griffin thought.


> Chapter 7: Brash Instinct, Part 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


{*First Person View, Main Character*}


“What have you done to Twilight?” The rainbow Pegasus in front of me wanted to know. Flapping in position, her face gave a scowl full of scorn, resent and murder. Her left forehoof pointed to Twilight, unconscious and asleep. The flying one’s tone was obviously not a happy one, and in fact had a certain edge to it that one might consider murderous. With all these negative factors radiating from her form, one would be very lucky to not take part in the events that might transpire involving said mare.

Unfortunately, that was unavoidable for me, because she was looking straight into my eyes.

“I haven’t done anything!” I answered back, bending my knees a bit and balling up my fists in precaution.

“Liar!” she accused, swooping in for the tackle. Her speed went unmatched as she closed the distance between us in a colourful blue blur. I remembered that she did the same attack back when I was in the library and when Twilight was scrubbing me for information. But this time, I was at a different location at a different time with a different circumstance. This time, I was ready.

I swiftly ducked, allowing her to harmlessly soar over my back. Once she passed, I immediately turned around to meet the potential threat.

“You wreaked Ponyville by sending this giant thunderstorm after us! You and your stupid alien technology screwed us all! You probably even made that strange hole in the sky too!” she ranted, taking another go at me.

“I did no such thing!” I counteracted, ducking again to avoid her sweeping blow.

“The weather, Ponyville being in a mess, everypony getting sucked up into that weird circle-thing… That was all your fault!” For a third time she dashed towards me. I promptly stepped to the left instead of ducking to not get predictable. I had many defensive options at the moment, the difficult part was choosing the right one.

“And now, you had to take out Twilight? That is where I draw the line!” she shouted, her eyes ablaze with rage. To my left I could see the orange and brown ponies standing beside Twilight’s stretcher, not being sure what to do. The two stared at me with deep, shining eyes, completely confused about what was going on. I bet that the orange one was probably not happy about what Rainbow was saying, but she was probably more concerned about Twilight, so I had nothing to worry about. I motioned over with my head to tell them to get a move on. Surprisingly, the brown stallion seemed to understand, as he nodded his head, whispered something to his companion and went off into the hallway we were about to go into before we got so rudely interrupted.

My eyes went back to the fight scene. Instead of blindly rushing towards me, this time she carefully approached me with her hooves raised in some kind of battle stance. I could see the fire alit in her eyes, an unwavering flame of scorn in her iris.

“You can mess with the weather, you can mess with Ponyville, heck you can mess with the rest of Equestria for all I care! But you…” she said, her shoulders rearing back with her right foreleg. I raised my own arms in preparation.

“Do!” She took a swing. I blocked it, my arms covering the majority of my face.

“Not!” A second punch flew in my direction. I defended.

“Mess!” A third. Blocked again.

“With!” This time, she threw a roundhouse kick towards my skull. I ducked, preferring to avoid such a high-octane attack.

“My friends!” she cried. Her entire being extended as her back legs kicked out forcefully. The attack was lower than expected, and she crushed my stomach inwards. I stumbled backwards and forcefully exhaled. She flew away a distance, which was a wise move from her perspective, getting out of my range of attack like that. I was pissed because after that move my stomach was as sore as FUCK. I hovered my left hand over it before bringing it back in front of my face. That hurt! A lot! Two hooves lashed out into my stomach did NOT feel good! Not at all!

I took a moment to calm down. Anger wouldn't get me anywhere, especially in a fight. Anger leads to blind rage, which leads to pain, which leads to much more severe consequences. To win this encounter, I would have to use my wit to subdue Rainbow, which will be a challenge considering she is hell bent of attacking my guts. Offensively, it would be a bad move to violently attack her, because Twilight might get mad when she finds out. Sure, she might understand my position, but I don't want to take any risks, I need her to be on my side if I wanted to survive in the god-forsaken world!

If I absolutely had to, I would have to shove her away just to keep her subdued. I couldn't punch, or retaliate, and if I did, I would have to do it in the lightest way possible. Sure, it didn't help that I had to be on the complete defence and she was on the all-out attack, but I do have one thing up my sleeve. As far as I saw it, her advantage was her speed, but my advantage was her rage.

It was then I noticed that some of the doors around us were ajar. Ponies of different kinds, shapes, colours and sized peeked into the room, checking out what all Rainbow's shouting was all about. Looking up, I saw more ponies on the upper floor looking down on the main event. There was no doubt that a lot of them were staring at me in fright, confusion and concern all at once. I could see a bunch of young ones getting corralled back into their room by their guardians. For the most part, they were silent, but I wasn't sure what they were thinking to do next.

It was almost amazing. I had no idea how many ponies lived in Ponyville. Well, I mean, obviously besides the town name being ‘Ponyville’, I hadn't gotten a good idea of how many there were exactly! Come to think of it, the only ponies I've really seen on this planet were Twilight, her friends, Sweetie Belle and the Cakes! Otherwise, I haven't seen any other living soul until now! And boy, were there a lot of ponies here! There must have been at least forty peeking at the fight! And there were probably more behind doors that haven't come out yet! I think that ponies are truly the dominant species of this planet!

"I'm not done with you yet!" the tomboy called to me. I twisted my head around, seeing her gritted teeth approach me. I raised my arms and started to block more of her blows.

"Rainbow, think about this!" I spoke, deep in thought and battle. "What would I have to gain by attack Equiss?"

"I don't know!" she replied, throwing a left kick which I promptly deflected. "I don't know what you sick, twisted creatures are up to, but it can't be any good!"

"I'm not insane, Rainbow! I know right from wrong, and I know not to randomly attack other planets for no reason!" I corrected. She tried to charge head-first into my being, but I took her crown and threw her aside. She flew a few feet before flipping and regaining aerial control. "My kind haven't even met any other sapient beings yet! We've barely gone out of our planet’s pull! We didn’t know that you even existed!"

"You're lying!" she huffed, backing up and catching her breath, which I didn't mind, because for a few seconds she wasn't attacking me. Besides, I could catch my own breath too. "There must be something here you want! Something here you need! Something that would drive you to attack Equiss!"

I backed up. Now, more ponies were coming out of their dorms, and now were slowly surrounding us. There was a thin circle of unicorns, pegasi and normal ponies watching the event, and more were trickling from both of the exits. The pegasi in the air from the upper floors decent into the group of spectators. This wasn't looking too good. If they're listening to what Rainbow is saying, they aren't gonna be happy with me, and I can deal with one slightly disgruntled Pegasus, but fifty of them was way out of my league.

"And what, Rainbow Dash, would that be?" I ask. She growled and went in once again. I kept parrying, defending and blocking until she tried something different. Spinning in mid-air, her tail whipped right in my face, poking my eyes and rendering me blind temporarily. I felt a sharp pain on my right cheek as she punched me in my moment of weakness. For a second, I thought I heard some of the ponies watching cheer a little bit. I hoped I was hearing things.

Through watering eyes, I saw her smirk at her successful hit. "You know, everything was fine until Twilight found you in Sweet Apple Acres!" she stated. The ponies around her murmured. Damn, that bitch! Not only was she avoiding my previous question, she was also feeding the crowd information!

"It was, huh?" I said, wiping away the spittle from my lips. "I wouldn't know, because I wasn’t awake at the time!"

"Yeah, it was going to be a totally awesome day! Clear skies, light wind, not too hot, not to cool either! I would know, I'm the captain of the Ponyville weather team."

"What?" I questioned. Weather team? What's a weather team? What the heck would a weather team even do? Control the weather?...

"But then YOU and your STUPID ALIEN RACE had to go and MUCK IT ALL UP!" she accused, pointing at me. All the ponies gasped in surprise at the revelation. I nervously looked around, spotting the several scowls growing on their faces. "You had to bring the biggest thunderstorm in equestrian history!"

Some of the pegasi got to the air. Their angry looks and aggressive posture did not help keep me calm. 

"You had to bring about the dang apocalypse!" she continued. More ponies moved from their spots, closing the circle around both me and the neon-coloured Pegasus. Their eyes seemed to shoot daggers, which was very close and accurate when compared to the utterly murderous looks they were giving. 

"YOU HAD TO HURT TWILIGHT!" she shrieked, going in for the kill.

That's it. That's the last straw. Rainbow could have kept it between the two of us, but instead she decided to bring others into it. The ponies around me don't know the truth, and instead are following this bitch’s lies! They have no idea what they're getting into, and neither does Rainbow! She needs to shut up and learn her place before someone beats her to a pulp because she said something MORALLY IDIOTIC!

She approached again, getting into my range. Without any hesitation, I threw an uppercut to her midsection. She wheezed, holding her stomach and bending down while floating in the air. I followed up by grabbing her mane and pulling her down to meet my knee. I let go as it connected, knocked her back a significant distance. To keep that distance, I let loose with a roundhouse. She went flying, lost control of her aerial movability and hit the ground, sliding from the force of my legs.

All the ponies gasped at my actions. Rainbow sat up, holding the tip of her muzzle with her eyes tearing up. They suddenly looked very, very mad. More mad than before, definitely. They slowly closed their little circle on me, approaching my positing, although taking enough care to avoid stepping on rainbow dash. I whipped my head back and forth, looking for an exit. It was a fruitless effort, as they had tightened the gaps around me. Pegasi took to the air and made punching motions while normal ponies stomped harshly on the metal floor, snorting and breathing hot breath all over the place. Unicorns lit up their horns and I quickly realized just exactly how screw I was.

My vision was suddenly filled with many colours as my feet left the ground. My limbs were constrained in mid-air and I found myself unable to move. The circle closed further, with the unicorns in the back powering the spell that kept me in place. Rainbow was up in the air again. Her eyes were darkened and she was slamming her upper forehooves together.

"You are soooo going to pay for that!" she declared, flying directly at me.

This was it. Whatever happens next, I'm screwed. I couldn't break free of the unicorns and Rainbow was going to beat me to a pulp for no good reason besides my self defence! I couldn't rely on Twilight to bail me out, she was still unconscious, and the brown and orange ponies were with here, so I had no allies to trust at the moment. There was no getting out of this!

Jesus, what have I gotten myself into? First I appear in another planet, then there was a thunderstorm I had to truck through, then Rarity and Sweetie Belle, then Pinkie Pie, then Twilight got knocked out, and now this? What the fuck? Was I just about to get beaten the crap out of me by a bunch of bright, crayon-coloured ponies? If I did make it home, they would never believe me. I guess a man's last thoughts before death should be of home. Well, I'm guessing their roaring to kill, but I've never seen ponies as the murderous kind of folk. They're probably making an exception for aliens that, according to liars, sent entire planets to hell and chaos.

Rainbow Dash wound back. I closed my eyes, waiting for the inevitable...














…All of the sudden, there was a bright flash of purple light in my vision, even with my eyes closed. A sharp sound of distortion revolved around my ears. I flinched, thinking that they were shooting a spell to end my life. But when I heard a group of gasps come in front of me, I thought differently. My vision returned to me when they let go of their magical grasp and I fell to the floor. I opened my eyes just to catch the metal floor inches away from my face. Landing with a harrumph, I looked up to see why exactly they stopped their advance. The circle of ponies all had wildly shocked faces as they backed up from the source of the bright light. That's when I noticed the big blur blocking the right side of my vision. Standing no more than a few inches from me was…

"DON'T YOU DARE LAY A HOOF ON HIM!" Twilight ordered. Her mane was disheveled and unkept, as was her tail. I could see sparks fly out of her horn, an after result from her recent spell. Speechless, her appearance most certainly surprised me. Not that I wasn't happy to see her, but my gaping mouth kept my smile from forming properly.


"Twilight? You're ok?" Rainbow exclaimed in disbelief.

"DON'T ANY OF YOU LAY A SINGLE, CELESTIA-FORBIDDEN HOOF ON THIS POOR SOUL! IF YOU DO, I'LL PERSONALLY SEND YOU STRAIGHT TO THE MOON, PRINCESS LUNA STYLE!" the raging magician spoke. All of the ponies swiftly backed up to the edges of the rounded room. “AND IF YOU WANT A PIECE OF HIM, EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU WILL HAVE TO GO THROUGH ME FIRST!"

"Buh-but Twilight, he wrecked Ponyville! You must have seen it yourself, the outside world's a mess! And that's all because of him!" the light-blue whiner explained, pointing an offending hoof at me.

"NO HE DID NOT!" Twilight screamed. Anyone that was in front of her verbal assault had their manes blown back in an ironically humorous manner. "THAT WASN'T HIS FAULT! I KNOW IT! MY OTHER FRIENDS KNOW IT! APPLEJACK, THE ELEMENT OF HONESTY KNOWS IT! WHAT MORE PROOF DO YOU NEED!?"

Rainbow hovered in place, not sure what to say next. Knight to eff-nine, checkmate! Thanks a lot, Twilight!

Twilight… She came back for me! But I thought she was out for the count! Is she healthy now? Oh man, am I happy to see her! She's bailing my butt again from this crazed group of rainbow ponies! Thank god! It looked like her breathing was a bit laboured, but otherwise she was fine! Although her eyes were glowing a creepy light, and her mane was floating in mid-air, but that's probably because of the magic or something! Never the less, it looked like Twilight was to the rescue…Until she collapsed in a crumpled mess. All the ponies gasped as she fell on her stomach, her hair following gravity and her eyes normal once again. I rushed up to her, fearing the worst.

"Twilight? Twilight!" I desperately yelled, attempting to shake her awake.

"You ponies keep away from Griffin…" she muttered in a more than stupefied voice. She was definitely still recovering. I took a glance around the room to see that everyone else was too confused and/or shocked to make a move and seize me again. Rainbow was about approach Twilight before I gave a glare of my own. I silently said "you've done enough." through my eyes to her. There was an awkward silence for a few seconds, probably because the ponies were figuring out that I did care for Twilight's well being, unlike a certain loudmouth had claimed.

"Miss Twilight!" I heard someone call behind me. I craned my neck to spot that brown stallion that got Twilight that stretcher earlier. He rushed down the hall behind me, quickly approaching the room. All eyes were suddenly on him and his abrupt interruption of the current situation.

"Uh, hello everypony." he nervously chatted, clearly noticing the tension in the air. "Has anyone seen Twilight Sparkle as of late?" Everyone pointed towards me while I held her in my arms. "Oh dear." he mentioned. "Ooh, I leave the medical ward for one bloody second and she goes wandering off! It's not good for an injured unicorn to force herself to move, especially if she's recovering from magical exhaustion!"

All the attendants gave me another dirty look. I was hoping that I wouldn't have to deal with them again, but the way the conversation's going, I'm not sure anymore.

"Time Turner, have you found Twilight yet?" a voice called from the hall he just entered. Through the doorway came the same orange mare that almost denied me entrance to this stupid place. She looked to be a bit stressed, her mane disheveled and signs of sweat drying on her canvas. She looked down to what I was holding in my arms. "Oh dear!"

"Look what the monster did!" Rainbow said, trying to pin the blame on me.

"Miss Dash, I highly doubt that this creature had the motive to hurt anypony. He seems to be a very friendly fellow, and only cares for the well being of other around him." he cleared up, leaving the flier with a dumbfounded face. Wow. I don't believe it. That's the first time someone on this planet has stuck for me besides Twilight and Fluttershy. What a new development! But why does he trust me so much? And why does he have a different opinion comported to everyone else? Normally, I would consider pressing further, but I'm not going to be rude to the pony that's gonna save Twilight's life… and mine as well.

"And I highly suggest you get the injuries that you've sustained from your… argument, checked out." he advised, turning back towards me.

"But-but-I-I-I-" she stuttered, not believing just how freaking denied she was.

"Well, we best get her back to her room…" 'Time Turner' decided. He looked towards the crowd of ponies, who were still glaring at me. He shook his head, as if disappointed or unimpressed with something. "Mister creature, could you possibly carry Twilight to the medical ward with us? As you can see, I'm not a unicorn, and neither is Carrot Top."

"Sure." I swiftly replied, wanting to get out of the room as soon as possible. I stood up with Twilight still in my hands and followed 'Time Turner' and 'Carrot Top' out of the room and back down the hall again.

Through it all, I could still feel the ponies staring daggers down my back.

> Chapter 7: Brash Instinct, Part 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


{*Omniscient point of view, Lockdown's Bunker*}


There he sat, waiting patiently for the results of Time Turner's examination.

They were in the medical ward, which, to his surprise, was vastly different compared to the rest of the building. Unlike the main hallways, which were metallic, solid and cold, the medical ward was just like any other hospital, except a bit smaller. The stone floor was tiled and polished to a bright shine, the flimsy walls were painted a plain white and long overhead lights adorned many parts of the hallway. A low hum could be heard throughout the ward; the sure sign of fans working in the background to keep the air circulating.

There were two chairs right outside the ER, one occupied by a human. Besides said being, the medical ward was dead empty, safe the doctor and the unicorn that were occupied in the ER. There were doors to other patient rooms, but all were empty. At one point in time the human wondered why Twilight was in the ER even though her condition didn't seem too fatal. Time Turner briefly explained that she deserved to have a room for herself, because the other rooms had several beds that were meant to be shared by other occupants to save space.

The overly bright lights were starting to give him a headache. He longed for the natural sunlight, even the light from thunder strikes from the outside storm. But for reasons unknown to him, not a single window was built into the medical ward. There was no sight of glass for meters around, and the only sources of light were the ones stuck to the ceiling. He had been sitting there for twenty minutes. Twenty minutes since he had an almost unfortunate encounter with the rest of the ponies in the hub area. Twenty long minutes to worry about the well-being of his seemingly only ally and their future. Closing his eyes, he sighed and told himself to patiently wait just a little longer.

The worry was starting to pain the boy. Twilight's health was obviously his main concern at the moment, but with no experience with equine health, all his conclusions drew a blank. All he could do was wait until Time Turner gave him the go. The stallion confused the boy. He swore that he heard that voice before, even with the British accent he so cleverly recognized. It seemed that the other ponies had no problem with him, so he was just a denizen of Ponyville for all the human knew.

The 'operation' light that sat above the ER doors turned off with a ding. Griffin sat up back up in his seat, fixing his slouched shoulders and driving himself back to attention. His hands clamped together in his lap, his thumbs twiddling with each other nervously. He lightly chewed on his lip, an action his has seen his mother do many times when she was stressed out. The ER doors slid open, revealing Time Turner with a stethoscope around his neck.

"How is she?" the bipedal blurted, eager to know the answer.

"She's fine. You can come in now." Time responded. He walked back through the entrance while Griffin got to his feet and hastily followed. Taking a mere two steps away from the door, he heard them firmly slide shut behind him. But that didn’t matter to him, for the lavender unicorn that was situated on the bed exhaled softly in slumber.

Twilight laid underneath the blankets, her forehooves sticking out of the fabric. Her face was a peaceful one, one which granted the human a great amount of relief. She slept deeply, her breathing slow and un-laboured. Griffin took a glance towards Time Turner, who was standing beside the bed watching the outsider's actions. He silently pleaded to the doctor permission to approach the patient. The pony nodded in approval. Slowly but surely, Griffin walked to the bedside, kneeled down and rested his palms on the bed. Reaching out, he carefully brushed the bangs out of Twilight's face. Once satisfied, he asked the question that had been hanging around his head ever since she fell asleep at the Sugarcube Corner.

"What happened to her?"

"She was suffering from magical exhaustion." Time Turner answered. Griffin's gaze turned from Twilight to his speaker, and the stallion continued. "When a unicorn uses more magic than his or her magic threshold, they become magically exhausted. This causes the body to go unconscious to recover the lost energy."

Griffin raised an eyebrow. "So every unicorn has a limit to what he or she can cast?"

"Precisely." Time Turner began, picking up a clipboard on a table near the bed before reading its details. "Every unicorn has a certain magical stamina. This stamina is just like mental and physical stamina; it decreases with use and strain. When a unicorn runs out of magic, he or she will need to take a break to get it back. Depending on how much magic was used, more of a break is needed. Twilight used up so much magic that it rendered her body weak and tired, which is why she is unconscious."

Griffin's eyes went back to the being in the bed. (So is that was happened to me when I tried magic back in the library? I used so much that I fell unconscious?) he analyzed.

It was Time Turner's turn to raise an eyebrow to Griffin. "Twilight's the local magician. But not only that she’s the Princess’s personal student, and a protégé of her own accord. I know for a fact that she’s one of the most powerful unicorns this side of the century, meaning that it’s a rare occurrence for her to fall asleep like this. She must have been either using a very, very strenuous spell or many small spells with little to no rest to leave her this tired." he commented, closing his eyes and turning to face the door. The teen twisted his head to meet the back of Time's mane.

(I didn't know it was that bad! Sure, I knew she was casting a lot, but I… I just had no idea that it would have come to this!) 

"By the way…" Time Turner began, catching Griffin's attention once again.

"Huh?" he spoke, his focus getting back to real life.

"…That was some great acting you did there." Time commented.

Griffin paused, startled by the sudden reveal. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

The stallion turned around to address the supposed liar. "You were fake-crying in front of Carrot Top back at the entrance."

There was no use hiding it. Griffin did in fact fake-cried to the best of his ability when he entered the bunker, but he thought that it was done so well that no one noticed. He secretly hoped that someone did notice, and Time Turner did. However, it was a tab bit disturbing to him that Time Turner picked up on his acting. "Ok, so maybe I faked the crying a little bit. That didn't mean that I wasn't sad for Twilight, I just wasn't emotionally moved to cry for real."

"I see." Time responded. "Well, never the less, I have to commend you for doing so. Otherwise, we might not have had Carrot Top's help."

"Yeah. I figured that if they thought me as a monster, I just had to do something very un-monster-like."

The doctor grinned. "So you showed one of the most powerful emotions to pony kind. Compassion."

A smirk squirmed its way onto Griffin’s expression. Finally someone understood him at a higher level of thinking. It gave him relief that someone around here had enough of a head to put the puzzle pieces together but it also kept him on his toes that Time Turner actually figured it out in the first place. He doubted not that Time was an abnormally smarter than the average horse, much so that Griffin decided to choose his next words carefully.

"If I showed anything else then the end result would have been… Unsavoury."

"I agree. Good thinking." Time acknowledged, nodding his head.

"Thanks. And thanks to you, you saved Twilight."

"Well, she was going to be fine all along. She just needed someone to identify what was wrong with her." the doctor said, showing a sly smile in recognition that went with his good deeds. "Although, to be perfectly honest with you, I'm not a real doctor."

"You're not!?" Griffin exclaimed, shooting up from his kneeled down position. 

"Well, I do know the standard pony anatomy, and many kinds of health conditions, sicknesses and diseases, but the title of 'doctor' here in Ponyville goes to First Aid." he explained, enjoying the boy's confusion.

"So where's First Aid?" Griffin questioned, adding  (First Aid, Time Turner… These aren't even real names!) to his queue of thoughts.

"Well, he's not here, that's for sure." Time Turner answered, his tone turning slightly dark. Griffin knew what he meant, which was the fact that First Aid was most likely lost to the black hole in the sky.

Suddenly, the ER doors opened. In came a neon Pegasus, one with gauss wrapped around her mid-section and a bandage on the tip of her muzzle. She entered grounded, with her wings wrapped up, preventing any kind of flight. Her eyes lit up when she spotted Time Turner standing to the right of her, completely missing the now angered alien perched beside Twilight's mattress.

"Loveluck told me that you were taking care of Twilight in here?" she quizzed, addressing the not-doctor.

"Yes, I was." he simply answered. Rainbow turned her head towards Twilight, but spotted Griffin in the corner of her eye. When the two stares met, the dirty looks they gave each other clashed in a fury of pupil fire. It was Griffin's icy-cold stare against Rainbow's alit rage. Neither one faltered, but neither one budged.

"I'll be back. I need to go check on something." Time Turner notified, turning away from the pending conflict and choosing to leave the room. With the clipboard in his teeth, he approached the door and exited. The passage slammed shut, leaving a slightly injured Pegasus and an exhausted human boy to do battle with each other. They both held their ground, waiting for the other to make a move. The ambience of Twilight's breathing and the hum of the lights was just the calm of the storm.

"What are YOU doing here?" Rainbow queried, keeping here stare locked on target.

"I was checking on a FRIEND. Seeing if she was ok." he responded, taking a step away from the bed. Griffin didn't want Twilight to get caught in the crossfire.

"Friend? Hah, she would never consider you to be a friend!" the vibrant pony snorted in amusement.

"Well, considering that she WOKE UP to SAVE ME from your UNJUSTIFIED BEATING, that's saying something." the human commented, bringing his right fist closer to chest area.

"Unjustified? You know what you did!" she yelled, her rage only beginning to grow.

"Here we go again, spreading unnecessary lies to cover the truth you're too stubborn to accept." Griffin stated while folding his arms.

"Too stubborn? Are you kidding me? You're the one who's too stubborn!" Rainbow ranted. She took a step closer to Griffin.

"Oh, well do tell, Rainbow, how exactly I’m the one who’s too stubborn, preferably with a sentence that's more than 'HURR DERR I BE MAD FOR NO REASON HURR!'"

"You're askin' for it, bub!" she called out, getting a mere foot away from her rival.

"Oh look, a tiny blue horse says I'm asking for it. I'm really. Fucking. Scared." Griffin sneered, putting emphases on every corresponding word. He stepped up to the plate, sticking his face closer to Rainbow.

"This won't be the first time I've kicked your sorry flank!" she called out, raising her forehoof in preparation.

"Yeah, considering you haven't done so in the first place!" he growled under clenched teeth, about to punch Rainbow's face in.

"Stop… It…"

The two paused. They were about to trade blows when a weak whisper rang in the background. Looking at the bed, they spotted Twilight, fragile as she were, conscious and watching both of them with a careful eye. Her eyelids were half open, her breathing was rapid and sweat her coat was slick with perspiration. For her, staying awake was almost an impossible challenge. Almost.

"If…I…have to… tear you… both apart… with my bare hooves… then I will." the Element of Magic wheezed, trying to keep her breathing stable.

"Twilight!" Rainbow and Griffin called out. The two of them rushed to the bedside, both choosing one side to stay on. The bipedal got to his knees while Rainbow leaned against the mattress, attempting to get a good look at the injured mare.

"Stop talking. You need to rest." the boy hushed, putting one finger against her lips to prevent her from speaking again.

"Yeah, go back to sleep. Don't worry about us, go back to sleep." Rainbow Dash cooed, coaxing Twilight to do as she said.

"You two… You two are the only friends I have left…" the unicorn muttered while glancing at the being to each side of her. Griffin and Rainbow looked at each other with a nervous glance. "…Don't mess it up for me."

The daredevil Pegasus was already deep in thought about the patient’s words. It both confused her and created inner conflict. Twilight called Griffin her friend. Was that right? Was that the absolute truth? Was Griffin a friend to her? Is that what she felt about the alien? It came from the mouth of one of her best friend, it had to be honest! More so, what did she mean by the only two friends she had left?

"Both of you can play nice while I'm around, right?" Twilight muttered under her breath. Griffin barely picked up what she was saying she was so quiet, and gave her a look of concern. Twilight was talking too much. She needed to rest and regain her energy. That was the logic that was going through the human's head.

Twilight, exhausted by her short-lived awakening, mouthed the words "My friends…" before falling back unconscious. The pony and the person stayed by her side, determined to support her all the way until she was back to full health.

They looked at each other. Whether they liked it or not, they had to be peaceful towards one another. That was the solution to their problem. Otherwise, their squabbling would get them nowhere, and it wouldn't help the overall morale inside the bunker. The other ponies were already riled up as it is without Rainbow making more excuses to hate the hateable alien. Besides, what would it eventually lead to? Suffering? Torture? Perhaps even murder? The Pegasus was certain she didn’t want to take that responsibility, so the only way out was to make peace, even if it was for a few hours. And if they couldn’t do it for the good of the bunker…

Rainbow’s expression softened. 

So did Griffin’s.

"Truce?" she asked, holding out her hoof.

"Truce." Griffin accepted, grabbing her hoof in a tight grasp and shaking to the agreement.

They could do it for Twilight.

> Chapter 7: Brash Instinct, Part 5
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


{*First Person View, Main Character*}


My jaws sank deep into the depths of a juicy red apple. I deeply enjoyed the fresh taste while its liquid dribbled down my chin. I wiped it away with my sleeve before it could drop onto my shirt. Content, I suck up the remaining juice, and tilt my head up, basking in the glory that was the Ponyville apple. A few more bites and I was finished, so I threw it to the side where a growing pile of apple cores was forming. Hunger not yet satisfied, I grabbed a cheese sandwich that was on a nearby crate and dug in.

Not too soon after I made amends with Rainbow bitch, my stomach reminded me just how hungry I was. It growled in the ER and it occurred to me that I hadn’t eaten since Rarity’s house, and that was several hours ago. My temporary ally was kind enough to suggest getting something to eat at the kitchen. I had to disagree, seeing as the most ponies around the place now hated me, and would probably throw food at my face rather than serve it. It took her a moment, but she had another idea. The Pegasus stated I could get a bite to eat in the cellar, where they kept all their food. I was sceptical at the idea of basement dining, but seeing as I was starving out of my wit, I agreed.

She led the way down to the cellar. I stayed close behind her as we traversed the many corridors, hallways and passages throughout the building. I urged caution, just in case one of the other ponies saw me and went into a fit of rage. She understood and we checked around every corner before continuing forward. After several close calls, doors and flights of stairs we reached the bottom of the complex. The basement was just as how I imagined it to be: dank, dark, unkempt and wet. Moisture adorned the old brick walls with moss growing through the cracks of the aging surface. The ground was solid stone, much unlike the other parts of the bunker. Drips of water could he heard splashing the ground all around the room. I bet the storm’s water found its way down here and was doing a number on the moisture content in the air. Several empty shelves lay propped against the wall, each plank rotting and crooked, making the shelves unusable. Cobwebs were scattered along the sides of the room, especially on the corners and the support bars above us. I kept low to the ground, worrying about the chance that a spider might find its way into my hair if my head scrapped the low ceiling. Like everything else in the pony world, all the rooms were made pony-sized, meaning that a tall ceiling to them was a low room for me.

Yes, I was scared. It wasn’t completely dark, seeing as there were dim lights lighting up some parts of the downstairs, but all the cobwebs around the room made me paranoid for spiders. I hate spiders. They are the bane of my existence, and every time I see one I run off like a little wuss, squealing and panicking. I don’t know why exactly I’m so scared of spiders, or where I got such paranoia. All I remember is that I've always been scared of spiders, ever since I was small. Maybe the reason is because it’s the size and the appearance. Spiders seem so hairy, which is very creepy for an insect. They move so fast even though their so small and could cover the distance of a room in mere seconds. They just scuttle so quickly and reach no speed to maximum velocity! It’s horrifying when you see one on the wall, sitting there and then suddenly it’s off, most of the time towards you! At least with ants they have legs close to the ground, but with spiders their legs jet out of their bodies, making watching them run a cringe-worth experience! I hate spiders! They make my skin crawl!

…But I digress. Rainbow led me further from the stairs and deeper into the darkness, brave as brave could be. Me? I was shivering like a madman, with my breathing quickened and my heart pounding against my chest. I tried to be silent as possible so I didn’t give the stupid girl in front of me a single hint about my fear. We only moved a few steps forward when we reached a large metal door. Apparently, this was where the food was stored, according to a certain colourful mare. We tried opening the door, but it was locked. Rainbow put her thinking face on and said to wait here for a minute. She zoomed through the basement and up the stairs before I could object.

There I stood, in the dark humid room with no company except for any creepy crawly that was wandering around. My legs told me to sit down and take a break, but at the same time my brain told me not to just in case there were spiders on the ground. Sitting down would only get me closer to them. Instead, I planted my feet closely together in one spot and kept still, not making a sound or a peep. The ambience around me was soothing, except my subconscious kept playing fake sounds in my head just to scare me. My blood pressure rose extremely, and I could feel my temples pound. It was so bad that I could hear to my own heartbeat! 

It was a gruelling ten minutes. Soon after that time mark Rainbow returned with a pair of keys in her mouth. I relaxed as soon as she saw me and tried to look like I wasn’t standing stiff for the past few minutes. It then occurred to me: how were keys supposed to unlock a metal door? I didn’t see any kind of keyhole on the surface, so where was she expected to put the keys? Apparently I was freaking blind, because I didn’t see the keyhole that was clearly build into the door. She put them in and turned. A blast of cool air launched from the edges of the door, blowing us in the face. It swung open to a room full of boxes and crates, which I assumed contained the food that I was looking for.

Rainbow tossed me the keys, said “Knock yourself out.” and swiftly left without saying anything else. My adrenaline pumping from my fright, I stepped over the doorway and made my way inside. As soon as one foot touched the metal floor, a chill ran over me. There was a huge difference in temperature compared to the rest of the basement. It wasn’t anything terrible, but is still made me rub my arms in reflex. I took a look around the room. It was fashioned like the rest of the bunker, with completely metal walls, a metal ceiling and a metal floor. At first it was too dark to see any colour, but I spotted a peculiar switch on the wall, which I flipped. The lights turned on, and I found the walls to be painted, what else, white. What was interesting to note was that the crates and boxes has signs of frost on the edges, giving more evidence to conclude that this was more of a freezer than a cellar. But that led to even more questions. How could they make a freezer, much less sustain one if their technology is sub-par? I haven’t seen any signs of televisions, computers or electronics around Ponyville! In fact, this building seemed to be the most technically advanced in the town, which is not saying much, so how did they do it?

I took a few more steps into the freezer. I had to find what I needed and get out quick, because the cold was getting to me. I started examining the box labels and moved down the wall, looking for any kind of bread, fruit or meat. Obviously, I wouldn’t be able to cook anything, but if I found some Honey Ham and two slices of bread, I would automatically get some lunch. There were all kinds of plants, vegetables, fruits and spices, but no sign of meat. I guess that would make sense, seeing as they were horses, and to more of an extent herbivores. It still disappointed me because that meant that I wouldn’t be seeing chicken for a long, long time.

Skimming around the edges of the room, I noticed a floating, glowing crystal that was inches away from the wall. It shined with a soft, light-blue light, grabbing my attention and pulling me in. It was so strange, seeing such an object which would fit better in a video game. In here, it seemed so out of place, but then again, I didn’t consider the fact that Equiss was a world of magic and where black holes could appear out of nowhere. As I got near to it, the temperature lowered. I couldn’t get closer than five feet without freezing the tips of my fingers off. That crystal seemed to be the one producing all the cold for the room. Then I realized that there were many crystals on the sides of the walls, all the same shade as the other one and all causing the chilly air. But how? How could a gem emit freezing air? Was it magic? Was magic the culprit again? It seemed to make sense, even though I shouldn’t be making any conclusions based on magic, seeing as that the rules that revolve around it are random and impossible to predict with current knowledge.

After searching through more food, I eventually I found a loaf of bread, some apples, cheese and milk. I took the items to the entrance, placed them on a nearby crate and stepped outside to regain any lost heat. The strange thing was that as soon as I went over the doorway, the cold disappeared and the temperature in the room went back to normal. Frost wasn’t straying from the door. It seemed like the cool air was somehow contained inside the room, regardless of the gaping hole that the door entrance left. It was very peculiar. I guessed that it was another trick of magic, since magic seemed to be able to do absolutely anything.

Now here I sat, my butt planted on the metal doorway in-between the freezer and the rest of the basement. I was eating lots of apples, a few cheese sandwiches and chugging down bottles of milk. Like everything else in this world, the food was proportional, meaning that the slices of bread were smaller than usual, the pieces of cheese tiny and the apples the side of a tennis ball. I found myself making seconds, thirds and fourths after eating my first meals. It didn’t help that I was hungry like the wolf. The sandwiches could have been better with some actual meat, but I don’t mind, because the apples were absolutely delicious. It was like a piece of heaven with every bite. They seemed to have an entirely different taste than Earth’s apples. I have to admit, I’m not a big fan of apples, but I think that these 'Sweet Apple Acres' apples have the potential to change my opinion entirely. They were amazing to chow down on, and I think that I could eat a few more even on a full stomach. Sweet Apple Acres… Hmm, I swear I’ve heard that name before. Well, I only saw it on the side of the box that I got the apples from, but other than that, I just can’t exactly recall why that sounds so familiar.

Suddenly, I could hear clopping down the room a ways. I craned my head back down to see a figure approaching me in the dark light of the basement. A few seconds later and it was revealed to be the brown stallion that helped heal Twilight before. The “not-doctor”. The strangely smart pony that kept me on my toes for what he knew about me that I tried to hide from him. Of course, I was surprised to see him, and also a bit ticked off that he left me all of the sudden alone with Rainbow Dash. I closed my eyes and let him come up to me.

“Hello! Fancy meeting you here!” he started off, too much cheer in his tone. I opened my eyes slightly to see a big wide grin slapped across his brown muzzle. His positive attitude just oozed suspicious behaviour. 

"Yeah." I simply responded, biting into an apple as if he never said hello in the first place. Something was fishy about this, I could tell. What reason would there be for him to go down to this dank, old and musty basement in the first place? None. In fact, as the temporary doctor, shouldn’t he avoid dirty places like this because he would have to stay clean for his patience? I see no reason for him to be down here at all! I decided that I wanted him away from me as fast as possible. I could achieve this by acting anti-social like, with a negative tone and dismissive sentences while acting as if he was invisible. If he wanted something from me, then by gosh, he's going to have to work for it! Besides, if he was as smart as I thought he was, he's gonna have to play his cards a bit better for me to cooperate!

"May I ask why, pray tell, are you down here in this dark, stuffy place?" he inquired, gesturing with his forehoof to our surroundings, which I will add was very human-like. By that I mean that it was a gesture that I would never guess a pony would do. I mean, then again, these ponies are nothing like Earth's ponies, and they have a high enough intelligence to add body language to conversation, but I can't help shake off the feeling that he wants to talk as if we were equals. As if we were both the same species, when we're not. And although that would be nice, he wouldn't do it for a specific reason, and I highly doubt that he's doing it just to be straight-up friendly. He has to want something.

"I should ask you the same question." I state calmly right before tossing another apple core to the side.

"A ha, but I asked first!" he pointed out. "I will answer after you answer yours."

"Fine." I grumble, sporting a pout. "I got hungry and Rainbow bitch led me down here to chow down on the food of the freezer."

The stallion raised an eyebrow. "I take it that you and Rainbow have made amends yet?"

"We have." I answer, as a matter of fact.

He looked confused. "Well then why did you just call her, that, uh, certainly inappropriate name?"

"Because it's a temporary truce." I begin, grabbing a bottle of milk from behind me and popping the cap off. "As soon as Twilight's healed and we're out of this stupid mess, I'm sticking that rainbow tail of hers right up her ass!" My right fist clenched up in a ball while my eyebrows narrowed as my point was made. I clenched my teeth and barred them to prove even further how aggravated I was with her, when in truth, I gotten over it already. I was trying to discourage him from talking to me by showing my anger. Doing so might scare him and turn him away from the conversation.

"Oh dear. Well, at least she showed you some food, right?" he offered as a positive. I grumbled in response before downing the cool beverage I had in my hand. "But why are you down here? I thought she would take you to the kitchen where you could at least eat in a suitable environment?"

I gave him a 'are you serious?' look. "I've already pointed out to her that I'm not exactly in good standing with anyone in the bunker, and it was more likely for them to run me out of the building than serve me anything." I explained, my scowl piercing his concerned face.

"Oh, well that makes sense…" he pondered, using his hoof to tap his chin.

"Now answer my question." I quire, a small smirk growing on my lips.

"Pa-pardon me?" he stammers, clearly not expecting the question.

"I said now answer my question. What are you doing down here for?"

He looked around nervously with the worst poker face I have ever seen in my life. His eyes darted around, focusing on everything in the room except me. Visible beads of sweat ran down his cheeks as he wiped his forehead with his foreleg. "We-well, I was just uh, down here to, grab some extra onions from the cellar! Yeah! That's it! Onions from the cellar!"

I was almost positive that you don't store onions in a cellar. He was about to trot past me when I stuck my leg out and rested it on the doorframe, stopping his advance. "But this a freezer, not a cellar." I corrected. Once again he avoided my gaze as he searched for another lie to feed me.

"Freezer, cellar, same thing! Point is, this is where they keep the onions and thus why they sent me down here. Because they ran out and they wanted me to fetch some." he finished, hopping over my little obstacle and swiftly entering the cold room. I rolled my eyes, not believing that he was still going on with this fibbing spree.

"But why would they send you instead of someone else? As the temporary doctor, I would think that you would have doctoring duties to attend to?"

He ignored me and pretended to look for the 'onions' that he was requested to look for. I was having none of this. He wouldn't ignore me. I needed some answers from him! I stood up, and with a frown I stepped over the doorframe and entered the freezer once again. He was browsing the large metal shelves of the ingredient he was looking for, acting all innocent and as if he was oblivious to my presence. 

"Hang on, answer the question! You can't just jump up and ignore me like that! I answered your question, so you-"

"You know, Rainbow Dash isn't all that bad." he stated, interrupting me without turning to face me.

"Wha-are you serious?" I yell, approaching him. "Ne-never mind, just answer my god-damn-"

"I mean sure, she wasn’t being the BEST pony she could be, but otherwise she’s a very respectable mare with many many talents and has very many positive aspects to her." the doctor continued, pulling out a box and shuffling through its contents.

"God fucking damn it, stop interrupting me and-"

"And as the Element of Loyalty, she does have her pros."

"FUCKING SHIT-wait what?" I begin to scream, before actually listening for a second for what he has to say. This time, he turned around.

"She's the Element of Loyalty, meaning she can be pretty loyal to the other Elements sometime, especially Twilight. Probably why she was so hostile to you before." the brown horse simply explained.

"Ok, now you're not making any sense! What's this 'Element of Loyalty' crap? What the heck are you talking about?" I rant, throwing my hands up in the air.

"The Element of Loyalty is one of the six Elements of Harmony. Didn't Twilight tell you about this already?" he queried.

"Well…” I began, thinking back to when we were in Rarity’s house. “I heard her mention it, but now that I think about it, I forgot to ask her." I respond, an awkward grin replacing the angry form of my mouth.

He hummed for a second, digesting the information. "The Elements of Harmony are the most powerful magical artifacts in Equestria. Well, most ponies keep it in that regard anyway. The Elements, as they are most commonly called, is the power of positive personality traits packed into five small necklaces and one crown. The magic they can create has the ability to purify, so as such they have been used during great times of need to keep evil at bay. It has been said that the Elements are powerful enough to move the calculated mass of three planets, however that’s actually a common misconception. They can actually move five."

My jaw dropped and my arms fell slack. Five planets. FIVE PLANETS??? The power to move five planets at the same time? That's insane! That's unheard of! Who would have thought that there was something that existed that could hold so much power? We haven't even been able to get that kind of power without containing it safely, not mention containing it into FIVE NECKLACES AND A CROWN. Think of what the human race could achieve with the power to move FIVE FREAKING PLANETS AT THE SAME TIME! WHAT THE FRICK!

That clever son-of-a-gun smirked, obviously satisfied by my reaction. "However, to use them, one must gather both the spiritual and physical representations of the elements in the same place at the same time. From there, the being that contain the spirits have control of the magical power and can achieve virtually anything if they put their mind to it."

He turned away from me, facing the glowing blue crystal that I had seen before. "This is where Rainbow Dash comes in. She is one of the spiritual representatives of the Elements. As I have stated before, she represents loyalty. In total, there are six powers in all: kindness, laughter, honesty, generosity, loyalty and magic. Gather the jewels and the right ponies for the job and you've got yourself the ingredients necessary to move worlds." Getting close to the cold crystal, he pointed right at it and continued. "The Elements contain one of these kinds of magical crystals in every one of them, each with a different colour and design to reflect the spirit that represents them."

I couldn't lift my chin off the floor. It sounded like a very powerful group of objects! I blinked, got my thoughts together and found my voice to ask my next question. "So Rainbow Dash is loyalty? How the heck did that happen? Did she get chosen or something? I mean, is there some kind of process to apply? Why did she get chosen? How come-"

"Whoa, hang on," he said, interrupting me yet again and gesturing me to calm down. "one question at a time! First of all, Rainbow Dash didn't apply to be an Element, it just happened. One must be destined to become an Element of Harmony, not simply sign up for it. Second, she got 'chosen' because it was foretold that she would become one of Twilight Sparkle's friends, who represents the cornerstone of the Elements, magic."

My index finger found my chin as I squinted my eyes and pursed my lips. "So Twilight represents magic? Well, that makes sense, because she IS a unicorn, after all. But who are the other elements?"

"All of Twilight's friends represent an element. Have you met her friends yet?"

"Yeah, I have." I say, tapping my toe to get my mind going. Well, at least I’ve met everyone in her main group of friends, unless I’m missing someone because I haven’t met them yet. But otherwise, I’ve gotten myself acquainted with the other five. Now that I think about it, there are six elements, and Twilight has five friends. Six ponies, six spirits, six elements! That means… But then who?…

"Ok, I think I get it." I begin. "But who represents what?"

"As you know, Rainbow Dash represents loyalty and Twilight magic, but also Pinkie Pie represents laughter, Rarity represents generosity, Fluttershy represents kindness and Applejack represents honesty." he finished, looking at me for a response.

I took a moment to percolate. "Yeah, now I get it. Six ponies, six elements. Bring them all together and you get something magical. But so what? Are you trying to say that because she’s an almighty piece of grand old magical power that she has the right to assault me? Because frankly, I don’t see that it does!" I point out, my anger rising again. The cold in the room was numbing, but I was too heated from my previous yelling to be affected much.

"Well, you see, that's the thing." he explains, approaching me. "As loyalty, she gets somewhat hot-headed when one of her friends is in trouble, meaning that when the black hole appeared she feared for Twilight's life. When she heard that Twilight was seen approaching the bunker, her heart was lifted to see that her friend was safe. However, when she saw Twilight unconscious, she pinned the blame on you because it made sense to her exactly who the perpetrator was."

Now it was all starting to come together. It made sense that as the Element of Loyalty or whatever it’s called she would go to her friend’s need. Also, she would pin the blame on me because the other two ponies on the scene were less likely to have committed the act of knocking out Twilight. Still…

"What I'm trying to get at here is that Rainbow Dash, as the Element of Loyalty, has her ups and downs." he spoke. I nod, waiting for him to continue. "Because she's so loyal, she get protective of her friends, whether it constitutes her common sense or not."

"And your saying is that that's why she's mad at me? Are you trying to convince me that she's not an absolute bitch, but instead a semi-bitch with some reason behind her completely insane actions?" I ask, getting a sense of why he went to the basement in the first place.

"That's not all. Recently, her home town, Cloudsdale was ruined by the storm outside. As the Ponyville Weather Team captain, she was close by when the even occurred-”

It was my turn to interrupt. “She was actually telling the truth about the weather control captain thing?” I exclaim.

“Well, yes she was. I’m presuming that she mentioned it, but never went into any kind of depth as to what it was?” he quizzed. 

“Yeah.” was all I could say for it.

He sighed, a sign that he was getting tired of the drawing out conversation. Unfortunately for him, I was determined to leave the room more informed that I was when I entered. “The Pegasi in this world can control the weather. As such, Equestria has a whole weather control organization so that the Pegasi can regulate and keep the weather in control. This way, they can have constant sunny days for growing season and rainy days when it gets too dry. To perform these tasks, the Equestrian Weather Station hires Pegasi to work in squads to clear out the weather. Rainbow Dash is in one of said squads, and holds a pretty big position too. As the captain of the Ponyville weather squad, she keeps everything about Ponyville in check, whether it be a cloudy day or a hot one.” he proceeds to explain.

“Hmm, that makes more sense.” I comment, nodding in agreement. 

For somewhat reason at that moment I realized how deeply he was staring into my eyes. During this whole conversation, my gaze was darting over parts of his face, but never really focused on anything. Now that I got a good look at his pupils it occurred to me how old they looked. It was definitely strange, seeing as that you can’t really define eyes as ‘old’ without having the person with the eyes being old, but I dunno, when I looked into those eyes, they just seemed… old. That was the only way to describe it. They were old, wise and analytical. And perhaps tired. But maybe I was just seeing things.

“Anyways, with her squad, she fought off the storm and tried to save the city, but failed when she was called back by Princess Celestia. I'm guessing that losing her home meant a lot to her, and she wanted to pin the blame on someone besides herself, meaning you."

At first I was furious that she would do something like that in the first place, but then it occurred to me. "Besides herself? What do you mean, besides herself?"

The pony closed his eyes and started walking towards the exit of the freezer. I guess he was freezing his tail off standing so close to the crystal. But then again, he wasn't shivering or expressing any signs of discomfort, so what gives?

"She was the Ponyville Weather Team captain, Griffin. Being one of the closes squads to Cloudsdale, it was her responsibility to ward off the storm. But she didn't. She couldn’t. Or rather, she was ordered to fall back before she could. Because her home was devastated, she blames herself for the thousands of Pegasus ponies lost in the destruction. Well, I can’t say for sure that they were all killed in the storm, and I’m pretty sure that the princess would have ordered an evacuation for the entire city, but by now the black hole has probably swept up the survivors, and Rainbow Dash still thinks that it’s her fault.

I felt my face relax. His sympathetic expression helped me strive to be slightly compassionate to her. I can understand and respect her sense of failure in her duty. As a leader, it must have been awful to have led her squad into the storm just to pull out and not finish the job. I know that when I play leader and I fail, it sucks really bad, but that’s in small junior high school events, while this… This is a huge scale, massive disaster! We’re talking about the lives of an entire city! And if Earth’s big cities are any correlation, I can only imagine the numbers of lost lives in the chaos! Jesus Christ!

In addition, as the element of freaking loyalty it must have driven her nuts to ditch her home city like that. I can’t possibly imagine the inner turmoil she had to face during the moments when she received the order to retreat. Heh, now that I think about it, I bet she was tempted to ignore orders and go in anyways. But if she was the captain of the Ponyville team, she must have known some kind of weather knowledge, and thus able to do a threat check on the storm. If the storm was so terrible that it completely destroyed a city, I think that Rainbow would have been able to pick up on that and realize her life would have been wasted if she kept fighting. Jesus, it was a lose-lose situation! Leave and live just for the black hole to kill everyone, or stay and die, a suicidal action! Worst of all, there was nothing she could do to stop the storm. It just kind of happened, and there was nothing she could do about it. She couldn’t beat the storm, she couldn’t ignore her superior’s orders and she couldn’t save the lives of ponies she probably knew from her childhood.

The pony lifted his legs over the doorframe and crossed to the much warmer side of the basement, not looking back. His gaze faced the stairs, an obvious hint to where he was headed next. He was done with me, and he believes that I was done with Rainbow Dash. He believes that he made his point, and thus should hang me out to dry. He thought that he succeeded in making me think, analyze and pity Rainbow Dash's plight. 

And he was right. He did succeed.

...

God damn.

God fucking damn it.

…

…But…

"But that still doesn't give her a good reason to go on and attack me like that!" I reason. He turned around with his brow furrowed. "Ya know, just because you failed pretty badly and just because things didn't turn out the way you wanted them to doesn't mean that you can take them out on somebody else! It doesn't mean that you can pick a target and harass and accuse and assault them! It doesn't mean that she can FREAKING TAKE HER MISTAKES OUT ON SOMEONE ELSE!"

I was huffing and puffing from my little scorn spur. I could see my breath foam up in front of me due to the cold room. I was freezing. Slightly shivering. Even my legs were numb a bit. But I didn't care. I didn't care because he was trying to make his point and he made his point and it shook me up a bit, but Rainbow Dash shook me up more. Me being cold didn't affect anything. The world would still revolve if I was cold, and not a god damn living thing on this planet would care. Well, as if they do now. I was chilled to the bone, and I didn't give two shits about it.

Because I was cold in more than one way.

"She's only equine, Griffin."

That was all he said before he headed towards the basement stairs. The image of his old, aging eyes was burned into my mind for a reason I couldn’t decipher. The clip-clop of his hooves rang out into the room with the hum of the freezers lights and the low moan of sound that was coming from the crystal. I stood in the ambiance, thinking about what I've been through, and where I've been so far. I've witnessed so much death since I've gotten here, I'm not sure what to think of it anymore. I've seen Twilight breakdown three times, and seen myself break down multiple times. I think that because I was here, on this planet, in this universe, everything was falling apart. I could surely tell that things were definitely not normal for this place. I bet that without all the rain and thunder and destruction that Equiss would have been a very beautiful place. A place that had life, and lived underneath its own heat. Its own sun, with two goddesses to watch over the land. It used to be a lively planet with ponies frolicking about, doing their own business and enjoying life. That was all before I got here.

But it isn't my fault!

…

…

…Is it?

I grit my teeth and ground them beneath my jaw. This was too much to think about. Too much for a teenaged boy to handle. I tried to ignore my sub-concious's ramblings and listen to the outside world. The stallion just reached the stairs as it groaned and creaked underneath its weight. Drops of water dripped from the wooden bars onto the stone floor below. There was a soft hissing sound coming from deep inside the freezer, invisible unless you really listened. The metal of the structure groaned and shrieked above me. The wooden pillars that made the foundation of the bunker seemed to buckle under some kind of weight. The air pressure popped in my ears as a rush of air swept through the downstairs. Gravity seemed to be lighter, and-

Oh god. Ohhhh god. Oh lordy lordy lordy lordy lord. I had a sinking feeling in my stomach that I've been through this before. This chain of events, this change of atmosphere seems all too familiar. But could it be? I mean, I'm in the basement, so it's hard to tell, but at the same time… It couldn't be. It's too soon! And this place is so well fortified, so why would it happen now instead of just happening before? What is different now that could cause this to happen at this point in time? Oh god, please don't tell me… I don't want to believe it… It can't be.

Suddenly, water burst from the cracks of the walls, tearing down the old bricks that used to make up this place. It surged onto the floor, quickly filling up the room with liquid. The water was absolutely dirty, brown in colour from the dirt and dust it had collected. I wouldn't say it was sewage, but that water had definitely been seeped from the earth. It was pouring into the room. In a panic, I jumped up, shouted "Oh shit!" and started sprinting to the doctor's location. He was currently standing on the stairs, bewildered as to the situation beneath him. I took a great leap over the freezer door and started running through the gigantic puddle, with the water splashing everywhere I was stepping. The room wasn't nearly filled enough to be dangerous, but it was filling, and water already covered much of the ground, so I had to hurry. 

Besides, if my theory was correct, then we were in a whole lot of trouble.

> Chapter 7: Brash Instinct, Part 6
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


{*First-Person View, Main Character*}


The chestnut stallion and I rushed up the stairs, preferring to avoid a wet demise with the quickly flooding basement. As we reach the top, the aging planks of the stairs give way behind me, and I find myself turning around to see the doc hanging on to the last stair for his life. If he fell, there was no way he was getting back up. We were a good fifteen feet off of the ground, so I wouldn't be able to jump down and get him. He wasn't a Pegasus or unicorn, so he couldn't fly or magic himself back up to safety. I knew for a fact that ponies that can't swim, unless Equiss's ponies can, but his eyes pleaded otherwise. That was all I needed know, he need say no more. I carefully stepped down to the last step before the drop, bent down and grabbed his front hooves. I pulled with all my might, and managed to scrape his stomach along the broken wood. I prayed silently that none of the wood shards stabbed his underside. Never the less, his back legs reached the last step and he was able to clear the danger he was in.

"Come on! We have to move!" I urged, waving my hand towards the exit. He already knew that time was of the essence, I just wanted to restate the obvious peril we were in. We galloped (literally, in his case) up the remaining steps and arrived back at the metal hallway of the bunker. Once I was sure he was through the door, I turned and slammed the steel barrier shut, twisting the wheel on the entrance to lock it in place. Hopefully, with enough luck there was no way that any water was going to leak out of this plug. Well then again, with my luck streak that might not happen. Whatever, it wasn't a big deal. At least I had bought myself some time before the entire place flooded over.

With that little event ended, the state of my surroundings suddenly occurred to me. The solid walls of the building were creaking and screeching with an annoying echo that traveled through the halls. Thankfully, they were stable enough that they weren't swaying like the Sugarcube Corner had, but I still had a really bad feeling that the place was falling apart. I whip my head towards my horse companion, who was staring at the basement door as it a monster might leap out of it. He was obviously shaken, and I knew I should comfort him somehow, but at the moment I had much, MUCH bigger worries to think about.

"Where's the nearest window?" I abruptly ask. It took him a second to realize that I was addressing him before he silently pointed down the hall behind me to a window that was literally a few meters away. I felt kinda felt stupid for not noticing before.

"Uh, yeah, of course" I comment before dashing down the hall to the glass. Immediately placing my forehead on the cool surface of the clear material, I gaze outside to see if I was correct. Unfortunately, I could see the burned remains of houses and pieces of the ruined earth fly upwards at an extreme speed. I couldn't look up at the sky due to the angle of the window, but I had a pretty good idea why objects were being sucked towards the clouds. The black hole seemed to be stronger than ever, pulling up humongous rocks and complete barns in the distance. Nothing was surviving the cosmic anomaly. It seemed determined to extinguish every last piece of life on this planet. With its new pulling strength, it was no wonder why the bunker was trembling in its roots! I bet it was barely holding on to its foundations at it were!

I took a few steps away from the window and my back found the opposite wall. This place was going down whether I liked it or not, with at least a hundred of ponies still inside. It was just a matter of how long the bunker could hold out until the black hole did its number. After that it would be game over for sure. It seemed impossible to escape the hell that I found myself in, because no matter where I would flee to, the swirling darkness would follow, inhaling with more and more gusto every time I found one of Twilight's friends. I thought about what the doctor told me about the Elements of Harmony, but we couldn't possibly use them anymore because Twilight lost the bag that contained the jewels at Rarity's house. And besides, two of the six souls were already lost, so that idea was a no-go.

We were screwed. I was screwed. Everything was screwed. There was literally nothing I could do to stop the impending doom above us. I didn't know enough about the local lore to determine any kind of magic that could stop it, and I had no way to contact the two goddesses that might get us out of this situation. Speaking of which, why haven't they closed the hole already? I mean, if they're almighty deities, then why haven't they taken control of the situation yet? If they can supposedly move the sun and the moon, then shouldn't they be able to close a hole in space-time? Well, unless, they're occupied with something much, much more important and can't bring themselves to take care of one of the many issues at hand. Maybe their having trouble controlling their kingdom as it is, with it falling apart and all. But still, I think that a black hole that can rip up anything in its path should take top priority.

This was it. I was getting no help on this one. There was no Twilight to save me, no pipe for me to hang on to and no way of getting out. This is the end. I was dead. Twilight was dead. Rainbow was dead. Heck, everyone around me was about to die, and I couldn't do anything about it! God damn it, why does it have to end like this? Why do I have to die on some foreign planet with a bunch of pony creatures in a colourful cartoony world that is not my own? Why couldn't have I lived a long, prosperous life, making money, creating my own business and having kids of my own? Why do I have to die here? Is this a dream or something, because the entire situation is completely outlandish! I've already established that I am, in fact, NOT dreaming, but still, I wish with all my being that I was, because I am finished. Dead. Kaput. Hung out to dry. I was going to die, and I knew it.



…




…





…




…Maybe not.

A plan steadily formulated in my mind, and I found a glimmer of hope to deftly hang on to. If there was one way out of this, then this was it. Yes! That actually might work! With a little luck and a lot of effort, I might be able to save everyone and get the heck out of here!

I sprint over to the brown pony down the hall, who was STILL staring at the basement door! Seriously? "Hey!" I yell while grabbing a hold of his face and forcefully turning it to me. His wide dinner-plate eyes gazed right into mine, a very creepy aspect. Still, a little creepiness won't stop me from getting to my goal! "Hello! Get a hold of yourself! Wake up and smell the roses, because I need you to do a very important job for me!" 

His pupils dilated and became bigger, which I took as a good sign to continued. "This place is going down." I explained, pointing at the window. "The whole bunker will be sucked into a big black hole in the sky in just a few minutes if we don't do anything about it! Do you understand?" He nodded his head with my palms still slapped onto his cheeks. "Good. Right now, I need you to go around the entire bunker and get every pony out of their rooms and into the hub area, got it?" He confirmed his understanding. "No matter what it takes, whether you shake them silly or knock them out and drag them to the hub yourself, you must get all the ponies to the hub!"

"Ok ok, I get it, let go of me now!" he complained, swatting my hands away. I backed up a bit so that we had some distance between each other. Thankfully, he was still tentatively listening to what I had to say.

"If you find anyone that can help you, like that orange pony that you were with before, what was her name?" I inquire, scratching my head and realizing that I truly did not know her name.

"Carrot Top?" he answers, not completely sure what I'm talking about.

"Yeah, her, whatever!" I cry out, waving my hands in defeat. "Look, the point is, the more ponies you can get to help, the faster you can do your job. Once you think that you've got everyone. Go to the hub and make sure no one leaves. I'll meet up with you in ten minutes. Kapeesh?"

"O-ok, but where are you going?" he quizzed, his expression full of worry and anxiety.

"I'm gonna go get Rainbow Dash." I respond, my feet starting their brisk walk down the hallway.

"But you don't even know where she is!" he shouts after me.

"I think I have an idea." I mutter under my breath and break into a sprint.


-----


It took me a while, but I finally found my way back into the medical ward. It took several flight of stair and a few detours before I finally had an understanding of where I was and where I had to go. Despite all the hallways looking the same, I remembered the route Rainbow Dash took me through when she led me to the basement, and I worked off of that. A few ponies saw me rushing down the corridors and shouted at me, shook their hooves and even tried to pursue me. I didn't care. Instead, I was more focused on where I was going and not what was behind me. Anyone that tried to follow me got lost in the maze that I was navigating in.

Entering the familiar white hallway, my sneakers squeaked off the smooth hospital floor as I propelled myself with all my remaining stamina to the ER room. Reaching the door, I slowed down and let the entrance slide open for me. Inside was Rainbow Dash, who was in a panic leaning over Twilight, who was grimacing. The machines in the room were going wild, the TV monitors flashing red and the heart rate monitor beeping sporadically. Rainbow seemed to be flying in place over the bedside, making stressed-out noises and twitching at the warnings of the medical equipment. Meanwhile, Twilight was sweating, groaning and writhing on the mattress.

"What's going on?" I yell, getting the Pegasus’s attention while trying to digest the situation.

"I-I dunno!" she replies nervously, her hooves performing the seemingly impossible act of gripping the bed sheets and wrinkling them. "One minute she was fine and asleep, the next minute the machines go wild and Twilight's in a lot of pain!"

Oh great. Another thing I have to worry about besides the final countdown. "Move it!" I order, shoving Rainbow out of the way to get closer to Twilight and try and see what was wrong with her. The horn perched on her head was emitting a soft purple with sparks shooting out of the end of it periodically. Her moaning coped with limbs slowly shuttering was a sure sign of torture for the poor unicorn.

"Twilight! Wake up!" I demand, tapping the sides of her muzzle to get some kind of response from her. No such luck. Apparently she was still asleep, or in a state of so much pain that she couldn't hear me. Regardless, she wasn't getting out of this on her own. All of the sudden, the walls crack and distort while the metal beyond the ER squeals even louder than before. The room seems to stretch in many directions at once, trying to deal with some kind of invisible force massaging the plastered surfaces.

"Oh shit!" I swear, knowing what might happen next. Mentally bracing myself for the consequences, I rip out the various tubes stuck in Twilight body and pick her up. The equipment around the room start to spaz out, and for a second I fear that my end would not come as a black hole, but instead a giant explosion caused by electronics. Thinking quickly, I plop twilight in a stretcher near the door and align the device perpendicular to my exit.

"What do you think you're doing?" Rainbow screamed, trying to pick up Twilight off of her temporary transport unit.

"We need to get out of here ASAP!" I call back. Before she can scoop up Twilight and make a rebuttal, I zoom out of the room, pushing the stretcher forwards from the back. Getting to the hall, I turn a corner and race towards my escape. I knew I had mere seconds before the medical ward got ripped a new one, so I had to make this sprint count! Suddenly, Rainbow comes chasing after me, screaming bloody murder at what I was doing. That was a good stroke of luck, because now I don't have to drag her unconscious body with me to save her sorry ass. Thankfully she was hot on my tail the entire time so, I didn't have to worry about slowing down for her. With no moment to waste, I pumped my legs with all my might and allowed adrenaline to fill my system. An annoying bop to my head gets my attention behind me. Rainbow's shrieking at me, trying to slow me down and demands that I return Twilight to the ER immediately. No can do, sister.

In a mere millisecond, the ER several dozen feet behind me explodes in a light show, changing the air pressure drastically. I go deaf for a small moment as I am slightly propelled forwards by the aftershock by a very small amount. The extra speed provided helps calm my nerves despite the fact that the ER is now missing and the black hole is sucking in the entirety of the medical ward. Rainbow Dash shrieks and charges forward, completely passing Twilight and I while heading towards the metal door at the end of the hall. I took a moment out of my sanity to say what the fuck. She has THAT MUCH SPEED and instead of saving her friend she's ditching us both? Ironic, considering she's supposed to be the ELEMENT OF FREAKING LOYALTY. Seriously, who had the hot idea of putting her in charge of such a responsibility? Freaking morons.

I was slowing down. The suction of the black hole was getting to me, and I was losing momentum on the stretcher, which, by the way, looked like it was about to collapse due to all the shifting that Twilight was doing on top of it. She looked like she was about to die, but I couldn't worry about that at the moment, because we were ALL going to die if I didn't get to the end of the hall. Regardless of my efforts, I was still losing speed, and fast. The gravitational pull of the lightless circle was just too strong. There was no way in hell that I would be surviving this one, random pipe or not.

Suddenly, the stretcher in front of me lost a lot of weight, and I soon felt like I was pushing something that was hovering about the ground. Looking up, I saw Rainbow Dash lifting up the front while flying. I grinned, knowing that she had enough sense in her to realize that she left Twilight behind and went back to get her. Granted, she's probably not here to save me, but if I get saved in the process, that was fine with me. With Rainbow eliminating the weight of Twilight I could accelerate much better and provide the motor power needed. With teamwork, we plough through the rest of the ward, not intending on stopping. I didn't look back, because I could hear the hall behind me crumble and succumb to the black abyss above. The edge of the splitting floor was right at me heels, and if I didn't haul ass then all would be for nothing.

We were just mere meters away from the end until I realized that the oval-shaped doorframe of the exit was sticking out like a sore thumb from the floor, and the stretcher would not clear it properly. I guess that's what you get when you design a bunker like, well, a bunker. There was only one solution, with only one chance and a requirement of timing of epic proportions. 

"LIFT!" I scream with all my might, my lungs tensing up because I forced myself to shout while straining them from all the frantic running. Before I gave her a chance, I lifted the bottom of the stretcher, hoping that she got the memo. Sure enough, Twilight's ride soared right over the doorframe, with me hopping over it and Rainbow Dash narrowly ducking to avoiding the top of the door. Immediately I stopped in my tracks, let go of the stretcher and let it roll, turned around and slammed the solid door shut. In a panic I twisted the metal wheel as fast as I could, hoping that I wasn't too late and it would lock in place in time. After it stopped turning, I waited for death. When it didn't happen, I slumped over on the wall, and gulped in generous amounts of oxygen. That was probably that fastest I have ever ran in my entire life, and now I was paying for it. The edges of my vision were starting to darken and my thoughts felt far away. My mind held on for dear life, because if I fainted from exhaustion now, I wouldn't be waking up.

"That. Was. AWESOME!" I heard a certain colourful pony cheer down the hall. Apparently, cheating death was worthy of being 'awesome'. "I can't believe that actually happened! We got Twilight out of there! We survived! Woo hoo!" I saw her do a little loop in mid-air through the corner of my eye. When I turned my head down the hall, Rainbow was with the stretcher not too far away, with Twilight softly sleeping in much calmer slumber than before. Granted, she wasn't completely peaceful, with her horn still glowing and her face still sweating, but compared to her crazed flailing before, it was much better. I guess that means that she's still sick and she needed more time to recover. But what caused her to freak out like that? Was it the black hole? She was having a bad reaction to the suction before, so that has to be it. Twilight was freaking out because her body knew that the darkness was striking again! Sweet, now I have a living, breathing black hole detector to tell me when we are about to be screw over again.

"…Great…" was all I could muster. My mind was returning to the conscious world, but that still didn't mean that I was out of breath. The whole event was just one more reminder of how much my cardio sucked. Panting, I gave myself a moment of reprieve before I had to move again. I found Rainbow and got Twilight, so now all I needed was to get to the hub.

"Rainbow…" I summon, getting the excited pony's attention. She quickly flew to my being in a blue flash. Her confused expression was kinda cute, seeing as she looked like an actual animal with her ears folded down like that. "We need to get to the main hub as soon as possible. There's a hole in the sky that has been drawing up buildings all night, and I fear that this one is next. I'm getting the doctor to round up the whole place in one room, but for now, we need to work on getting there as fast as possible."

"Ok!" she acknowledged, flying back to the table on wheels and leaning on the edge, ready to go. I wearily get to my feet and trudge to her location. In a few more seconds we were off to a brisk pace through the shortest route possible to the room that could save our lives.


> Chapter 7: Brash Instinct, Part 7
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


{*First-Person View, Main Character*}


"God fucking damn it, open up!"

My fists pounded on the cold steel of a bunker door. It was firmly shut, just as the ponies inside intended it to be. I already tried to turn the wheel attached to the door, but it was locked tightly from the other side. The metal barrier rattled and shook with every punch I gave it. I knew it was a meaningless effort, but I didn't care, because we absolutely needed to get inside. It was imperative for everyone's survival!  I wasn't just going to stand by and let everyone die. I had to do something, and I had a plan to do that exact something. However, I couldn’t pull out the stunts if I was stuck behind some stupid pony's idea of safety!

"Well this bites." Rainbow Dash nonchalantly muttered behind me. She was flying in place, with her forehooves crossed. The cocky tomboy already tried opening the door, but no effect. I wasn't sure if the door was sound-proof or not, because I'm pretty sure they would have heard her voice otherwise.

I couldn't believe they could do this! I mean, they down right DEADLOCKED the door! No one would be able to get in! What if they forgot someone when the doctor rallied everyone to the hub? What would the poor soul do? Would he or she be locked out until their ultimate demise? What if several ponies were still locked out? This makes no sense! They just endangered their lives by making this decision! Not only because of my plan not able to work out at this point, but because if there were ponies trapped on the outside hall of the hub, they would be screwed over once the black hole suck up the building! This is bullshit! Why in the world would they want to do this? Wait, scratch that, I don’t even wanna THINK about why they would do this!

"Fuck…" I wheezed, giving up hope on ever opening the entrance. My body slumped to the ground, my arms pushed against the cold metal surface. This was it. I couldn't see a way past this. If Rainbow Dash, the pony who everyone respected and followed couldn't open this door, than no one could. It was a lost cause.

"Let me try again." the flying horse behind me offered.

"It's no use…" I replied, shaking my head in defeat. I could hear the majority of the building groan under the force of the black hole. The clock was ticking, and I had no way to progress.

Just then, I hear a sharp squeaking sound about me. I look up to see the door's wheel glowing with a certain purple light. There were vibrations and sounds of various mechanisms spinning and moving beyond the steel door. A few seconds later there was a loud click. I perked up, got to my feet and tried turning the wheel clockwise. It turned, the door unlocked! A large toothy grin grew across my face as I turned around, looking at the lavender unicorn that was lying in the stretcher a few feet behind me. Her horn stopped glowing, as if to acknowledge that her deed had been done. It looked to be that she was still unconscious, but at the same time was listening to our predicament. Rainbow Dash noticed what direction I was staring at and took a hint. She craned her head to gaze too at our saviour, who apparently dispute the barrier of sleep still managed to lend a hand.

I returned my focus back to turning the door wheel. I took care in handling the device, to make sure that anyone on the other side would not hear the squeak of the aging door handle. "Thank you, Twilight…" I muttered, my eyes getting blurry and wet. She saved us! She saved our only chance to get to safety! That's amazing! It seems that time and time again, when I need her she's there for me! Wow. Just wow. Well, I can't let her down! Not now. I have to pull through and do my best to save all these ponies!

All of the sudden, there was a ton of rattling behind me. The wheels of the stretcher clattered against the floor, something providing enough force to create the racket. I heard a sharp gasp and a flurry of wings.

"…Twilight?" I began, pivoting my hips to see what was going on. To my shock, the librarian was twitching frantically in her temporary bed. Her limbs flailed uncontrollably, her neck muscles flexing and her head twisting side to side. Her breath was quick and urgent, with her chest falling up and down all too quickly. A small amount of foam was appearing at the corner of her lips. She was groaning and snorting in her sleep, as if she was enduring some kind of invisible torture. Rainbow Dash was shouting at her while trying to hold her down to the stretcher so that she wouldn't fall off.

"Twilight!" I cried, leaping over to help try and stabilize her condition with Skittle hair. I held her torso and arms down while Rainbow took control of her legs. Despite my clear size and weight, strength and size advantage, I still had trouble keeping the mare stable under her invisible stress. It appeared that she was having a major, possibly fatal reaction to something! I thought back to when we narrowly escaped the medical ward and realized that she was acting alike to before, a possible sign that the black hole was growing in power again! We had no time to lose, I had to get through that door, find a doctor and save these ponies!

“Keep her down!” I ordered Rainbow, swiftly leaving the side of the stretcher before she could make a rebuttal. My long legs crossed the distance between Twilight and the door in mere moments. Grabbing on firmly, I twisted the door wheel as fast as I could. It showed a little resistance, maybe because of a lack of oil or something. Never the less, it didn’t take me more than five seconds to open the thing up. After it stopped spinning, I forcefully pushed the door open. Someone on the other side cried out in surprise after the cold steel slammed into it’s behind. 

In front of me appeared to be a mare the size of Twilight, except with a white coat, a blonde messy mane, deep purple eyes and no horn. When she turned around, the utter bewilderment and unease it presented spoke more than mere words. She was just as scared of me as I was of it. Suddenly, to my horror, I realized just how much they wanted to keep me out of their gathering place. Not only did they lock the door and ignore my plea to let me in even though Rainbow Dash was out here as well, but they also posted a GUARD PONY right being the door just in case I managed to bust the door down. Thankfully, I didn’t need to do that, and instead had a super-elite hacker unicorn to unlock the door for me. All of their setup and preparation just screams their wish to murder me. They hate me so much that they don’t even want to see me ever again! They just want keep me out of their lives, and act as if I never happened or existed! The nerve!

She slowly backed away, her jaw moving up and down while her voice failed her. She was the one assigned to this specific door. She was the guard to keep me out. Thankfully, she was failing her job pretty badly.

Fuck this bitch. 

“Get out of the way. We have wounded with us.” I demanded, my voice stoic. Despite her anxiety, she stood her ground, unmoving.  We didn’t have time for this. I called Rainbow over and shuffled to the side of the hall, placing myself flat against the wall to let the two ponies pass. She rushed on through and lifted the stretcher over the small bump that was the metal doorframe. The surprise of the white mare extended even further when her eyes met the frantically moving being on said stretcher. Apparently Rainbow didn’t have any more patience either, because she didn’t slow down one bit before she ran down the white mare positioned smack dab in the center of the hall. The guard quickly squeezed herself against the left wall, making a squeak during her evasive maneuver. I rushed forward to stay close to Rainbow Dash, but not before slamming the door shut behind me and firmly turning the wheel back to the locking position. I was certain that Ms. Scaredy-Cat over here would, in fact, open the door if there was a pony still outside trying to get in now that we were in, so I saw no point in keeping the door open.

I trailed closely behind Rainbow as we traversed down the hall. In case anything happened, I wanted to have insurance, which in this case was my Pegasus escort. I was glad I made this decision when the corridor was suddenly filled with many ponies, all of different colours. Many of them didn’t notice us at first, because something caught their attention further down the hall where we could see the opening to the main hub area. I saw some of their ears flicker and twitch in reaction to the squeaking wheels of the stretcher. When they turned around, they pretty much had the same reaction as the white mare, except in a different order. They were shocked to see Twilight Sparkle injured and having a seizure, but even more so that a huge ape-like thing was following closely behind.

My heart began to race at the fact that all the ponies gazed me down with murderous intent. 

“What’s HE doing here?” I heard a female voice call out. That brought more attention down the hall, directing more eyes to our location. You could cut the tension in the air with a knife.

"I thought that he ran off to lick his wounds!" another female voice taunted.

“This guy’s a no-good back-stabbing freak!” one gruff sounding stallion shouted out.

The insults of the ponies went from quiet murmurs to loud exclamations in a matter of seconds. The rage stricken visage of the various unicorns, Pegasi and others could be seen throughout the crowd, their eyes filled with dark intent and twisted thoughts, or so it seemed. Ponies in front of Rainbow that were previously getting out of the way were now purposely moving back in place to halt our advance. In fact, ponies in the hub were moving into our hall just to try and get a good jab at me! It made my stomach churn just to think about how much I’ve just screwed myself over.

My fingers clenched as I shuffled closer behind Rainbow Dash. I was conflicted on deciding between two feelings: fright and scorn. On one hand, these ponies are downright bastards, scoffing and calling me names. I heavily considered which ones I specifically wanted to save and which ones I DIDN’T. Some of them had such a cocky look on their face that I wanted to shove my fist right into their kisser. But even if I did that I was so outnumbered that I would get overwhelmed easily. Only a numbskull would even CONSIDER attempting a stunt like that.

Still, that red Pegasus in the back is asking for it…

The two of us jumped back when the threats became an uproar of activity. Ponies in front of us pushed down the hall, forcing us to move back. Nervously looking behind myself, I see the white mare that I gave the stare earlier. She didn’t look too happy with me. I had to put out my arms and stop Rainbow from bumping into me. It quickly occurred to me that we were sandwiched in the worst way possible. The path forward had an army of bloodthirsty horses waiting to tear me limb from limb, and the path backwards, although only guarded by a single being, would only lead us to the black hole’s eventual wrath as it tears the building down while I’m helpless to do anything about it.

Suddenly, there was a very loud and high-pitched whirling sound that rang through the metal corridor. It echoed, bouncing across the chrome surface of the hall. At first it had me confused as all hell. Who was making the noise all of the sudden? However, after a few seconds the note it held began to feel like a drill piercing my skull! I threw my hands over my ears, trying to block out the pain. A weakness befell on my knees and I collapsed to the ground. I pressed my palms harshly against the upper part of my ear, trying anything to keep the racket out of my head. For a moment, there was no hallway, there was no threat of immediate danger, there was just the utter pure pain of the disorienting screech. It was hard to think without having my thoughts scrambled up directly after. The interference with my brain waves rendered me helpless.

It seemed like forever, but I realized that the sound eventually stopped. I removed my hands from the sides of my heads to find out that they were shaking. Badly. In fact, it seemed like a lot of my muscles had some kind of overreaction to the whirling scream. My lower thighs twitched uncontrollably, my wrists felt numb and my toes were stuck extended, cramped up and frozen in position. I was clammy, my cold skin mixing with a large amount of sweat. I felt all my blood rush to my head for some strange reason, my face filling with heat. My chest finally relaxed and I released a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. Getting a grip, I rolled on to my stomach and prepared to get up when I realized that everyone around me was grounded too. All the ponies around me laid unmoving on the ground, their eyes closed and their expressions empty. I looked beside me to see Rainbow Dash knocked out. Even Twilight, who previously was in a fit of movement was down for the count again.

My eyes were abruptly attracted to a green light down the hall. It glowed in the center of the hub with a certain brilliance for a second before dimming quickly and disappearing altogether. My eyes had to switch gears again and I found myself temporary blind. Next thing I knew, there was a moan beside me. My ears flexed in reaction and I looked to my right side. The cyan Pegasus was stirring from her sleep and appeared to be waking up from the shrill ringing that left all of the ponies momentarily unconscious. More groans and sounds of pain could be heard down the hall. Slowly but surely, everyone was waking up at the same time.

I took the moment to get to my feet. With one knee planted on the ground, I pushed up with my legs and tried to get steady. I had trouble finding my balance, and my calves were surprisingly weak still from my temporary incapacitation. An all too familiar soreness sprouted from my right knee joint. I had my worries for a second or two, but bit on my lip and tried to ignore the pain as much as I could. Staring down the hall it occurred to me that there was still one pony standing above all the others. Whoever this personality was, he or she had the strength and ability to withstand the waves of the sound! What power! The question was, who exactly was it? I took a few shaky steps forward and squinted, trying to see what kind of a mortal could withstand such a blow.

To my amazement, I found myself staring at a familiar brown coat with a chestnut mane and an hourglass cutie mark. His legs were locked in place, his posture strong and his gaze looking directly into my own. He stood, unmoving except for his thoughts darting around behind his eyes. This crazy nutcase was thinking and planning at a hundred miles per minute, his mind calculating all the possibly and angles of advancement. He was considering what could be, what has been, and what will be. He was taking a glance at space and time as if it was his own backyard pool.

His eyes told it all. I’m a good eye reader, and I have to say that this guy’s pupils freaked me the heck out. They looked freaking old, despite just how young the rest of him looked in comparison. Well, how young in pony terms. I’m not sure what old ponies looked like, but he didn’t look a few years older than Twilight and the others were. Never the less, he was an impossible pony. Youthful, yet aged. Silly, but also distinct. Wise in his age with a childlike obliviousness. He was a living, breathing, oxy-moron.

My eyebrows furrowed. What kind of a doctor was this guy?

More moans cued me that everyone was getting up. Ponies lifted their heads off of the ground, shaking themselves awake and getting to their senses. Their eyes dipped in and out of focus to their surroundings. A few of them scratched their heads, wondering what the heck they were doing on the floor. Some looked distant, as if they were in some kind of awakened dream. Others looked sick to the stomach, their dizziness overwhelming them and causing them to burp up in preparation of puking. However, if there was one think that was constant about the bunch was that they turned their attentions to Time Turner instead of lashing out at me. I couldn’t believe it as I watch them slowly twist their heads towards the only pony standing, completely ignoring me in the process. They seemed to be pretty damn out of it if they were actually missing the giant alien standing in the midst of their kind. There was definitely something supernatural about it. Just the thickness in the air and the silence that lingered with the situation; it screamed unusual. Now, whether it’s magic again, I’m not sure. And to tell you the truth, I don’t really wanna think about it. This magic mumbo-jumbo is just leading my brain in circles.

“Well, glad to see that I’ve got all of your attention.” He announced as more ponies got up and looked at him. “Gotten a good nap? That’s good, because there is a lot that needs to be discussed, and a lot that needs to be done.”

Most of all the ponies were awake by now. They stood, facing the doctor in the center of the room down the hall. A tap on my shoulder reigned in my attention. I twisted my head to see Rainbow Dash flying in place beside me. For somewhat reason, she wasn’t affected as severely as the other ponies and wasn’t reduced to a zombified state. She silently signaled with my eyes at Twilight, who resumed a small amount of movement on her stretcher, and then pointed down the hall into the main hub. I nodded, understanding her command. As quietly as she could, she took a hold of the moving table from behind and started slowly down the hall, with me crouching closely behind her. We shifted through the crown, their attention directed to the speaker in the middle of the room. Even though we physically shoved them out of the way, they STILL didn’t notice that I was there! Then I realized that despite their eyes being open, their eyes weren’t open, if that makes any sense. A certain light was absent from their watching gaze. It was if they were truly still watching a dream, but not within the realms of the comforting dream world. The point is, they were down-right brain dead.

> Chapter 7: Brash Instinct, Part 8
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


{*Omniscient point of view, Lockdown's Bunker*}


“Right now, all of your lives are on the clock.” the brown stallion began, glancing all around the room. The ponies close to him backed up and gave a good two to three feet of space around the speaker in a seemingly perfect circular formation. “There is a large concentration of magic in the sky that is sucking up Ponyville, and to more of an extent Equestria, into a big black hole.” He paused. No one gasped at the news. They were all out of it, too much in a stupor to form a correct response. “Within the next five minutes or so, it will suck up this building and everything in it, including us. The black swirling mass is deadly, and we will not survive getting sucked in.”

A few whispered and mumbled about the subject. Griffin looked around and saw that the light that was gone from the ponies’ eyes was starting to return. A certain dull shine reflected from the corner of the pupils as their eyes dilated at the current information given. The curious, almost innocent creatures took a glance at their surroundings, finally coming to the conclusion of where destiny had placed them. Idle conversation turned to nervous mutterings to concerned tones and panicking glances.

“However, we still have a way out of this mess.” Time Turner continued. Everypony went silent, eager what he had to say next. "There is someone in this room who can save us. Someone who has a plan to get us out of Ponyville as save the rest of this kingdom."

Gossip spread from pony to pony, everyone wondering who the brown stallion was exactly talking about.

"That pony, or should I say person, is standing right there." he concluded, pointing to Griffin. The bipedal mammal gulped as he watched the others eyes glide to his figure. Scowls appeared on the populace, remembering who he was and what he did to the city.

"Hey wait a minute!" one mare called out in the crowd. "Isn't he the one that gave us the storm in the first place?" Many around her agreed, their thoughts coming together. There were many murmurs of uncertainty around the hub, with ponies looking left and right for an alternative.

Rainbow Dash looked pensive before flying out of the hall and into the centre circle. "Now hold on just a minute here!" she commanded, swooping down right above Time Turner. "Just because he's an alien doesn't mean he's bad or anything! He's just here coincidentally, not because of the storm!"

"But I thought you said that this was all his fault." a gray Pegasus called out from one of the above levels. There were nods of agreement.

"I, er," Rainbow stammered, feeling awkward that they were all being sent to their doom because of her propaganda. "That-that was before! In the past! Now I understand that this wasn't his fault!" she shouted, more because she wanted to ground the fact into herself than try to get through to everypony. Griffin wore shock all over his expression, trying to fathom Rainbow's true change of heart.

"You know, if he risked his life to save Twilight, then we can't knock him off as evil!" she explained, gesturing to the human. "He kept Twilight safe out in the storm and saved her from getting obliterated in the medical ward!"

Everypony in the room gasped at the news. "And Time Turner wasn't lying about the black hole stuff! There really is something out there sucking everything in like a big vacuum! It tore apart the medical equipment upstairs and made a huge explosion! Griffin pulled Twi out of her room before it was too late!"

There was a large discussion going on in the background, the citizens slowly changing their opinion of the once supposedly evil monster. "I didn't even realize the danger at hoof here, but he did!" continued Rainbow Dash, her adrenaline ablaze. "He saw the threat, he made a plan and he went out and saved the life of my best friend!"

Griffin couldn't reign in his emotions properly. He was filled with confusion, relief and nervousness all at the same time while the colourful equines around him discussed in detail the pros and cons of his existence. The crowd was particularly curious as to why Rainbow was suddenly sticking up for him.

"You know, despite all my efforts and protection, I still couldn't keep Twilight away from danger, but he could! He did something that I couldn't, and that was to keep her from getting hurt!"

The young mare looked down for a second to try and stop the tear that was escaping her eye. It slid down her face while she muttered her next comment under her breath.

"And that means all the world to me."

She looked back up, strong and proud while wiping the tear off with her foreleg. "So all of you need to shut up and listen! Because he's been out there longer than any of us have, and he has a good idea of what the storm brought to Ponyville! He knows all about the hole in the sky, and he has a plan to get all of us out of here!"

The ponies around in the room started cheering. They were not only cheering both for Rainbow's moving and engaging speech, but also for the relief that they could get out all in one piece. Griffin stared wild-eyed as earth ponies pushed him from his back, urging him out of the hallway and to the centre of the hub. He reluctantly complied, slowly making his way to the destination. The citizens that made the circle moved out of the way for him and granted him entrance. He got shoved into the leader's ring and more ponies cheered. The boy looked around anxiously, unsure what he got himself into.

"Welcome to the big leagues." Rainbow Dash said, tapping Griff on the shoulder. He looked up at her with a forced smile, laughing nervously to himself. He saw Time Turner in the corner of his eye nod in approval with Carrot Top smiling right beside him. He took a glance at what he had in front of him. There were tiny horses everywhere, of all kinds and of all types. They were all looking up to him. They were all looking for advice and reassurance that everything was going to be alright.

They were looking for a leader.

He gulped, took a deep breath and raised his hands. "QUIET!" he commanded, trying to get some peace in the somewhat cramped room. Somehow, over all of the noise, every single being heard him and immediately stopped talking. Griffin smirked, drinking in the power and responsibility he had just received. He let his arms lower and started pacing around the outer rim of the circle.

"First things first." he started, making sure that he had their undivided attention. "We need to stay calm. I know how messed up this situation is, and how you ponies can get riled up very easily, but if we panic nothing will get done. So what I need all of you to do is stay absolutely quiet and calm unless you need to without a doubt talk to me, Rainbow Dash, Time Turner. The only reason that you should be talking to someone is if you are immensely stressed and need to talk to someone about it. I don’t want any of you breaking down while we are in business, got that?”

He paused, searching for agreement in his audience. They all nodded in acceptance and continued to listen. "Next, I need you guys to-"

There was a sudden rattling sound down one of the halls. Everyone in the room craned their heads to the disruption. Griffin raised an eyebrow, wondering who would disrupt him during such an important gathering. His eyes widen as he remembered who they left behind. There was a movement of panic as ponies stared at Twilight, wildly thrashing on her bed once again.

"…Get Twilight to safety. Doctor! We need a doctor!" he shouted, his mind racing. The ponies started talking once again, agitated yet concerned to the wellbeing of one of their national icons.

"I'm right here!" Time Turner shouted besides Griffin. The human turned to meet the stallion, remembering that he was there the entire time.

"Oh, right." he muttered to himself before rushing past the pony crowd to Twilight. They all moved out of the way for him and let him passage to the one in need. She almost fell out of the stretcher before Griffin caught her and placed her back on the moving table. A strange foam was leaking out of her mouth again. He took a hold of the side of the stretcher and began pulling backwards, trying to get the patient to a better location.

"Get out of the way!" he ordered. The ponies scrambled aside, allowing the stretcher to slide effortlessly to the centre circle. Time Turner immediately jumped to attention, taking out the strange metallic device he used earlier. He held it in his teeth as he bit down on the button along the middle of the steel. It started shrieking in a high-pitched tone and glowed green. The doctor hovered the piece of steel over several areas of Twilight's body, leaning on the stretcher for support with Griffin being the counter weight. The boy wondered several things, such as where the brown stallion got such a piece of technology, how long did he have it and how it exactly was going to help Twilight's situation. He noticed the remainder of Ponyville was deep in conversation, with tones of worry and dismay reflecting off of the circular shape of the room.

(Great, two minutes in and they've already stop listening to me.) he thought begrudgingly. (This is definitely not calm behaviour. I'll have to stabilize the room before something bad happens.) He glanced at Twilight, who was still struggling in her sleep. (But first I'll have to take care of this.)

Time Turner turned off the electric wand and shoved it in-between the straps of a watch he wore on his right hoof and the appendage itself. He shook his head, finding the right words to convey.

"This isn't good." he reported, still looking at Twilight. "Her condition is deteriorating, and this overly crowded environment isn't helping either. With all the ponies in the room, her body is having trouble handing the germ overload and at the same time keep her magic in stable condition. The combination of the two jobs is heating up her body temperature up too high. We need to get her out of here as soon as possible, or else it won't matter what kind of procedure I apply to her."

Griffin took a gander around, tense to the situation. (Where the heck are we gonna move her?) he wondered. (I'm certainly not going to move her out to the hall, and I'm not sure-)

There was a sudden, gut-wrenching screech that called outside of the room. Everyone went silent as the sound of metal being ripped to pieces was heard from beyond the central hub. The teenager could feel their chances of survival slipping away.

(And if I move her into one of the living quarters, then there's a chance that the room will be ripped out too! Gah, we're running out of time, and I'm running out of options!)

Griff looked back to the pony with the hourglass cutie mark. The stallion was giving eye contact back, loyally waiting for his next order. The human didn't know what to say. There was just no safe space that they could move the unicorn to.

"…What was that?" Carrot Top finally asked, breaking the silence that had dominated the space for the past few seconds.

"That was the outside halls being ripped from the very foundation." Griffin put bluntly. More ponies brought panicked words into the room. (I'm not gonna lie to them.) he reassured himself. (They need to know what is happening. Nothing's gonna get done if there's icing on the cake. This is an active threat that we need to work against, and this is something they need to know. I just hope that they don't panic too much about the situation…)

"What are we going to do now?" the orange mare asked, trotting over to the doctor's side.

"Well, I can't bring Twilight out into the hall now, that's for sure." Griffin answered. "And bring her into one of the side quarters is kinda out of the question…"

"There's another room that you could bring her." Carrot Top informed.

The boy's attention snapped to her. "What? Really? Where?"

"There's a boiler room right beneath us that has lots of space and is away from everypony."

His fist hit the top of his palm, a sure sign of success. "Great! We can bring Twilight there! Where's the door?"

"We're standing right on it." she informed. The grouped all looked down to see a circular plate of metal that had been placed on the direct centre of the room. Examining it further, he realized that there were hinges on one side of the circle and a padlock securing a deadbolt shut on the other, with a handle built into the metal beside the deadbolt. There was an outline of several bolts holding something down, and the more he thought about it the more it looked like a door in the floor.

"D-Do you have the key?" Griffin inquired, holding out his hand to Carrot Top. She shook her head.

"I think I may be able to help with that." the stallion beside them said. "Rainbow, hold down Twilight for me please."

Rainbow swapped places with the doctor while he jumped over to the padlock and pulled out his green piece of metal from underneath his watch. It stuck out along his leg ending at his hoof, allowing him to point it wherever he pleases. After a few seconds it started glowing and emitting a shrill sound again as he extended his foreleg towards the lock. He looked at the door with determination, and the lock was released. Time Turner began to put away his device when the teen beside him asked the obvious.

"What is that thing?"

"Oh, this?" the doctor responded, holding up his watch which had the wand still attached to it. "It's a sonic screwdriver. It emits sonic waves at any pitch or density I wish, and although it can be very useful doing sonic things, I find that using it as a screwdriver isn't as nearly as effective, funny enough."

"Where did you even get that-oh never mind." Griffin dismissed, wanting to focus on more important things. He motioned for Time Turner to get off of the door as he removed the padlock and manipulated the deadbolt to unlock the door. With that the ponies around him watched as he grabbed the handle and pulled with all his might. The large entrance swung open and the teenager caught the piece of steel before it could slam onto the floor. He took care putting it on the ground and took a look inside the newly created hole. There was a set of stairs that led a few feet down to a new metal floor. The surroundings at the bottom of the stairs were concealed by darkness.

Griffin got up and grabbed the end of Twilight's stretcher, looking around with a distressed expression. He saw the ponies around him immersed in their own conversations, temporarily forgetting the imminent danger outside. They seem to not care for the sudden hole in the middle of the room. He then saw Carrot Top staring at him with her own concern. It took him a moment to find his voice to respond.

"I'll be right back." he said, pulling the stretcher towards the entrance.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



{*First-Person View, Main Character*}


Rainbow and I walked through the boiler room entrance with Time Turner trailing. She pushed the cart from behind while I took the latter half of the stretcher and pulled it through the door. I didn't want it rolling down the stairs with Twilight's head first and thought that I could carry the weight much better than a Pegasus half my height could. It was a tight fit through the door, the dimensions clearly not made for medical equipment to fit through.

Once we got to the bottom, it was impossible to see anything except the light coming through the entrance and the faint purple glow of Twilight's horn. I made sure to move the stretcher out of the way for Time Turner as he closed the entrance behind him, and I ended backing up into something metallic. A loud clang echoed throughout the chamber and I wondered truly how big the boiler room actually was. I also hoped I didn't break anything.

"It's quite dark down here, it's it?" the chestnut stallion thought aloud. "Here, let me help."

There was a whirring sound and a bright green light for a few seconds, then all the lights turned on. The doctor used his strange pen contraption again. I still had my questions about his painfully out-of-place electronics, but that was not the time to address them. With our path enlightened, I took a brief moment to survey my surroundings.

It was quite dank and dark down here. The temperature in the room was much hotter than it was above ground. The humidity made my sweat start sticking to my arms and made for an overall less comfortable atmosphere. It made me being to doubt that this was really the best environment to move Twilight in. Then again, it was my decision to move her down here, and it’s better than staying in the hub where bacteria could have been flying everywhere. Never the less, the ceiling was abnormally low, even for Equestria's standards causing me to hunch over my head a bit. The lights were a bit outdated, shining a darker shade of yellow instead of a pure white. The floor was somewhat grungy and had hints of rust in the corner of the metal tiles that littered the ground. Large tanks of gas were placed throughout with a complete system of metal pipes. Even though the engineers of the place made sure that each boiler was accessible, some of the pathways in-between the tanks were blocked by an array of pipes. It hurt my head thinking about which pipeline when where, to which part of the building and was connected to which tank. Needless to say, it looked like it would be easy to get lost in here.

I guided Twilight's stretcher a few meters away from the entrance so we didn't stray farther than necessary. "Is here good?" I asked the medical expert.

"It's fine." he answered, approaching the twitching patient. "I just need a little bit of space and time to work."

"Of course." I complied. Rainbow and I got out of the way while Time Turner got to the stretcher and grabbed a side lever, lowering it to a more suitable level. I looked at the flyer, who was still airborne despite the low ceiling and heated air. She looked as jumpy as I did. I frowned, and got an idea as to how to calm both her and the other ponies above.

"Rainbow," I began, grabbing her attention. "I need you to go back up top and try to get everyone to calm down."

"What?" she exclaimed before I could explain further. "I'm not going anywhere! I'm staying here with Twilight until she gets better!"

"No, I need you to be up there and making sure they don't do anything stupid." She opened her mouth to object, but I put my fingers on her muzzle. "Rainbow, you're the only one that they listen to. Time Turner needs to be down here to heal up Twilight, and I’m not even their favorite leader anyways. You saw how they started talking again after I just told them not to. You’re the only one that can do this."

She looked away. I knew I was asking something big of her, especially since she was the Element of Loyalty. If she wanted to stick to Twilight, then gosh darn it, she would! But I had to get her mind off of Twilight for her own good, and I had to also attempt to create some kind of order in this mess that I've made.

"Please Rainbow." She turned her head towards me. “They look up to you. You have to be their leader. You just have to."

I struck a chord when I said those lines. The small grin on her face was a sure sign of the home run I hit. She gave a big sigh and looked at me low in the eye.

"Fine." she agreed, smiling slightly. "But you better make sure that Twi comes out of this ok. I swear to Celestia, I'm going to pound your face in if she… If I wasn't there when she needed me…"

"I'll make absolutely positively sure that Twilight survives, ok?" I re-assure. She nodded in response. I watched as she flew to the entrance, pumped her forelegs in determination and opened it up to a plethora of different voices. Apparently the local populous took it into their own care to start talking up even more of a storm the twelve seconds we were away from the situation. I heard her call "Ok! Everypony listen up!" as the door slammed shut behind her.

It was up to her now on what to do next. The mental state of her fellow Ponyvillians was in her hooves now. Even though I still didn't trust her completely, I could give her enough credit to compete the job I'd given her. And I had to admit, even though she could be huge douchebag AND asshat AND selfish moron, she did have one thing going for her. She was absolutely dead-set to do whatever it took to get Twilight to safety. Her courage and mindset were very admirable. Twilight's incapacitation was the main reason she was still supporting a crazed doctor and an alien from outer space, not because of her own ideals or goals. Even if it meant co-operating with an extra-terrestrial, she was still prepared to get the job done and keep her best friend safe.

I guess that's what it meant to be loyal.

I turned around to face the good doctor while his device whirred in his hoof over various parts of Twilight's torso. "Is there anything else I can do to help?" I ask.

"Not at this moment, no." he replied, still focused on his work. "The best you can do now is wait until I’m done."

I took a moment's breath. Nothing to do. Ok. I could live with that. I first thought of sitting down, but my legs were too charged with adrenaline that it would have been uncomfortable doing so. So instead, I began to wipe the sweat off of my forehead with the bottom of my t-shirt. I wanted to hide my face in my palms for a minute or two, but my dirty hands counteracted my desire. Well, they weren’t dirty in the sense of touching unclean materials, but I could’ve only imagined how many surfaces I had touched without washing my hands. I was a little bit OCD about clean hands, and had a great displeasure of touching my face without cleaning my fingers first. Never the less, the warm air in the room was clogging up my thoughts and the stress I'd been experiencing lately has been layering the fog thick on my head. It was getting hard to think, after thinking so much these past few hours.

To tell you the truth, I just wanted to lie down and take a nap. Or at least try to. I wanted an escape. I wanted to crawl to the corner of the boiler room and sleep, because sleep would’ve been a good way to get away from all the madness. I’d never wanted this, you know. I’d never wanted to be shipped off to a different planet and experience the end of the world as the denizens of the place knew it. I’d never wanted to meet semi-intelligent, overly colourful ponies which the major population of wanted my head on a platter. I’d never wanted to be here in the first place! It was so aggravating! You know, what kind of a crazy basketcase would want to wish this in the first place? No one! Especially not me! So what in the wide wide universe decided to pick me up and plop me on this ridiculous spinning mass of matter? Who the fuck thought that this was ever a good idea?

I growled in the darkness, pure frustration coursing through my veins. All this stress and anxiety and pain… It made me so angry. I writhed in place, with my hands finally meeting my face and my back arching as air hissed between my teeth. I was here, I was experiencing the apocalypse, I was slowly being torn apart by my surroundings, and there was nothing I could do about it! There was not one single thing that could change my place or time, not one single thing that I could do to fix everything and not one single thing that I could do in my absolute power that could place me back on Earth with my family! It was stupid! It was so stupid! I hated not being in control! You feel so helpless and unworthy! How could I control my life if I had not the power to do so? It was absurd! This planet was absurd! Everything was so fucking absurd!

I yelled, falling to my knees and letting a fraction of my scorn out. It was so hard to keep it in control, to keep in inside and to myself. I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs and break the tanks with my fists and wreck the pipes and punch the face of every single fucking pony that tried to murder me! But I couldn't. I just couldn't. I wouldn't allow myself to stoop that low. Not yet. I had to keep a straight face and move on, because if I didn't who else would? Time Turner had enough on his plate, Twilight was unconscious, and Rainbow Dash… She didn’t even know her friends are dead, did she? Oh god, we didn't even tell her! I didn't even tell her! Ha, she didn’t even know!

I squirmed, falling to the ground. It just hurt so much. To keep it inside and safe from others all hurt so, so much. I wanted it to stop. I wanted it to let me be and leave me alone, at peace. I wanted the emotions to stop flowing and go to someone else, preferably someone who could handle it. I wanted to go to sleep, and just forget all this nonsense. Is this what life was truly like? To feel agony every second you draw breath? I was not even out of high school, and this was the taste of my future I'm going to get? I hadn’t even scratched the surface! I hadn’t even gone and got my first job, or paid my first bill, or bought my first home! And this is what life was like?

…

…I wanted to go back home…

…

…I was so alone…

…

I cried, sitting against a boiler tank. My sense of time was lost as the tears flowed freely along my face. It felt so good. It felt really good, but at the same time it still hurt. Of course, the sorrow didn't heal much, but it just felt… nice. I needed it. And heaven forbid that I didn’t find time to myself to just cry. Of course, I had just cried two days ago in the library, but this was different. This was a situation that was unavoidable and was totally different from whatever experiences that was in the past. So I sat under the dim lights, crying my heart out and finding somewhat peace. It felt so damn good.

I didn't know how long I stayed like that. It must have been a pitiful sight, and it definitely wasn't my proudest moment. At some point in time I wondered if Time Turner's opinion turned for the worse after seeing me in a sorry state like that. I got my answer when I finally started to calm down and had enough sense to stop sobbing. I had managed to bring the tears to a minimum and wipe the snot onto my sleeve when I heard his voice call over the ambiance of the working boilers.

"Hmm… Well this is no good." he commented. I looked to my left, and saw him back up from Twilight's stretcher with a frown. He put away his green-rod-thing and started trotting towards me.

"Wha… What's wrong?" I asked, licking my lips. My initial stutter was due to the fact that my brain had shut down all kinds of communication functions, making it a little bit more difficult for my mouth to find the right shapes to forms syllables.

"I can't help her any further without some proper medical equipment." he announced, eyeing me with a careful stare. I knew that he saw my wet, red eyes. I did nothing to hide it.

"So you didn't bring your doctor bag when we got down here?" I questioned, a bit miffed that he couldn't foresee such a shortcoming.

"Unfortunately, no." the stallion responded, approaching the stairs to the door. I took a glance at Twilight and saw that her breathing finally stabilized. The foam from her lips was wiped off a long time ago and her eyes looked peaceful underneath her hopefully dreamless sleep. "I left it upstairs in Carrot Top's care." he continued.

"Ok. I'll watch over Twilight while you go get it." I stated, getting up from the ground, dusting myself off and approaching the patient. My hands found the side of the mattress and I grabbed on tight, wishing that Twilight would wake up healthy.

"I'll be quick." he finished, moving up the steps. The loud resonance of the old steel made a clang with every step. I looked back at Twilight and brushed the bangs out of her eyes. I found it to be somewhat strange saying this, but she was beautiful sleeping like that, with her expression calm and her eyelids relaxed. She was pretty cute too. In fact, all the ponies around here had a cute look to them, especially the mares and young ones. That was probably due to the nature of their gigantic eyes and small muzzles. 

I caught myself with a smile when the doctor's voice addressed me again.

"Griffin." he said. I brought my attention to his words. His old eyes looked directly into mine. "Listen carefully what I have to say." He took a deep breath and continued before I could ask what he meant. "The rest is up to you. Everything that you do, every action that you choose will determine your future. I know you're a smart boy, and that I can trust you with this responsibility. Make the smart decision and save this world."

Before I even opened my mouth, he tapped the surface of the metal door. "You will understand in time." he mentioned before the door was ripped right off its hinges and flew into the wide open sky. I already knew what was wrong with the picture and my eyes widened. Time Turner followed the entrance not too soon after, soaring right out of the door frame and into Equiss's atmosphere. I felt my ears pop as the air pressure got crushed and a vacuum was formed between the room and the outside world. I found myself launched towards the exit at an extreme speed.

Not worrying about the possible physical injuries, I stuck out all my limbs out and caught them along the door boundaries. They were sore and numbed over from the contact, the freezing steel causing my skin on my hands to stick to the surface in a painful manner. I barely had enough time to crane my neck around to feel Twilight ram right into my back still attached to the stretcher. My feelings went out to the poor unicorn as she was sandwiched between two heavy objects, but I quickly switched priorities to address more important matters. The relentless wind whistled around my head, the sound directly smashing against my eardrums. My muscles cried out in pain as the stress of holding three objects against such a powerful force took its toll.

My thoughts raced to find a reason why the top layer of the bunker was missing. Did the boiler room get teleported to a different location? Did that stupid doctor teleport the whole damn room with his magical wand or something? Of course not. That's not the sensible conclusion. The thing was, I didn't want to believe the more likely solution. I didn't want to believe that I had failed so badly, and I had failed all the ponies that were trapped like little lost lambs in the cramped hub or the bunker. I didn't want to think for one blippin' second that I had screw up so badly.

Were we really down there for that long? I really didn't feel longer than five minutes. Then again, I lost time when I started blubbering like a retarded baby. But it couldn't have taken that long for Time Turner to realize that he didn't have his doctor's bag, did it? And how did he now about this anyways? How did he know that this was going to happen and that the hub would be sucked up already and that we were too late and that Twilight and I were going to be the last ones alive AGAIN?

How in the hell did he know? That sneaky little bastard! He played the innocent little underdog, following my instructions and helping me calm down everyone. And then he did this! If he knew that this was going to happen, why didn't he tell me? Why didn't he inform me so I could have done something and save everyone? I could have saved tens of thousands of lives if he just fucking told me in the first place! Jesus Christ!

...

Everyone was dead again.

I had let Rainbow Dash down.

I had let Twilight down.

Everyone was dead!

I found the chilling wind cooling my face as tears flowed down my cheeks once again. Couldn't I do anything right? I couldn't save Rarity, I couldn't save Sweetie Belle, I couldn't save Pinkie Pie, and so far I've been having a tough time with saving my own skin without sacrificing others! When will I learn to suck it up and put others over my own safety? They needed it, not me! This is their world that was dying! I’m an alien to this world! I meant nothing! Why couldn’t I save others besides myself?

My grip was breaking. My skin stretched to its limit. I grimaced in pain as muscles functioned past their capability and bones bended under the influence. Twilight was unconscious, everyone in Ponyville was dead and I had no way out of our own doom. Was this how I die? Was this the end of my life? Was this the end of the road, as dictated by destiny? Was I supposed to die on a different planet of my own by a giant black hole of destruction? It felt strange in a sense. All sensations faded as I began to succumb to my fate. My vision was darkened, my limbs further numbed and my hearing dampened to a great extent. I felt relaxed, ready to take up death on his offer. With one last breath, I let go of the doorframe.

I fell. I fell through the opening and out into the open air, the wind beneath my arms. I let them carry me as they spun me a complete one-hundred eighty degrees. My eyes widened as I remember just who, exactly was behind me. Twilight, the purple unicorn that took me in after landing on an unknown planet slept, without knowing the imminent doom that befell her. She was still attached to her stretcher, despite the lack of securing straps or blankets. The force of the hole above made sure to keep her stuck to her personal platform of warmth and comfort.

Was this really it? Was this how it's really going to end? Was I really going to die, just like this, without a fight? Although my closing senses disabled most thought processes, one idea fought through the darkness and shouted out loud and proud. I was not going to go down without fighting a little bit longer! I made a promise to Rainbow Dash, and I would not let her death be in vain! Not while I still have someone to protect! Twilight Sparkle left me with her life, and I plan to protect it with every last will of my being!

"TWILIGHT!" I screamed at the very top of my lungs.

Her horn suddenly was lit with a purple glow. My body's functions came back to me in a rush as I caught her on the stretcher and wrapped my arms around her upper barrel tight. I felt my indication of direction change wildly as my momentum did a complete flip, changing gravity from upside-down to the proper downside-up. My legs kicked off the stretcher, changing its propulsion and getting it off of Twilight. It soared upwards and outwards to the great beyond. Instincts running, I tucked in my feet and hunched over my shoulders preparing for impact.

I landed with a slam, but it was not as nearly as painful as it did when we were at the Sugarcube Corner. I realized that we were only mere feet away from the ground before Twilight responded to my call. I flicked my head to attention and loosened my grip on the mare. Hoping that I didn't squeeze her too tight, I placed my palm against the back of her head and leaned her back to check for any kind of physical response. Her horn was glowing with a mild ferocity that I hadn't seen from Twilight yet, but that meant that the spell was working. It was doing its job and keeping us alive.

Twilight's eyelids fluttered open. I saw her pupils dilate until they focused on mine. "…Griffin?" she muttered in a weak voice that I could barely hear. I cried even harder and wrapped her in a big hug, all my emotions pouring into the action. I rocked back and forth, joyed to an indescribable extent that my little pony woke up and saved us both. I felt her forehooves wrap around my shoulder blades and tap my back. I release my grasp, allowing her to get some breathing room.

"Griffin, what happened?" she asked her eyes traveling to her hooves. My eyebrow raised in confusion. "Where are we? A-A-All I remember is us traveling from Sugarcube Corner, a-a-a-and then feeling weak and seeing Lockdown's house and rushing towards it and…" She gazed into me, uncertain. "Then everything went dark. What happened?"

"Oh Twilight…" I began, the wetness on the corner of my eyelids not going away. "Twilight Twilight Twilight…" I pull her into my hug. She didn't remember. She clear out did not recall saving me from that angry mob or helping me and Rainbow Dash make amends or unlocking the door for us. She didn't remember any of it at all.

"I-I-I remember seeing Rainbow Dash…" she suddenly continued, catching me off guard. I stopped hugging for her to continue. "I remember seeing Rainbow Dash and you, a-and you two were yelling, a-a-and I hated seeing it and I couldn't stop it…" Her stare turned downwards, her ears folding backwards in disappointment and sadness. I forced a smile and ran my hand softly against the top of her head.

"Oh Twilight. But you did. You did stop us. You spoke up and stopped us from fighting and you made us make up and make amends. You made us a team, Twilight."

Her slightly shocked expression said everything. Maybe my words would help jog her memory a bit, and she would remember all the wonderful things she did for us.

"I-I did?" she asked.

"Yes. You absolutely did." I responded, my grin turning sincere.

"But then," she began, gathering her thoughts. "Where's Rainbow Dash?"

I kept my smile as best as I could and wrapped my arms around her again. I rocked back and forth, comforting both her and myself. There was nothing we could have done. There was nothing I could have done. She was there one minute, and then gone the next. She ventured off, doing her duty, protecting and staying loyal to her friend, and aimed to defend until the very end.

"Griffin?" she asked. I said nothing. "Griffin what happened to her? W-why aren't you saying anything? Griffin?"

I kept rocking, unable to keep myself in control. I held my breath as best as I could to save the sobs from getting out.

"What aren't you telling me? Griffin!" she shouted, her words getting more desperate. I held my voice steady. It wasn't until she tried shoving me away with her hooves…

"Oh no. Oh no no no no! Griffin! Griffin, please tell me!" she shrieked, pushing me harder and harder. "Tell me that she isn't… That I hadn't…"

I said nothing.

"GRIFFIN!" 

She began to pound on my sides, begging me to let her go. I didn't. I kept swaying.

"GRIFFIN! WHY! WHY WON'T YOU TELL ME! WHY DIDN'T YOU WAKE ME SOONER! Why!" she sobbed. The wind whipped around us, moaning and calling us to the black hole. I gripped her tighter, feeling cold. So cold.

"Not again!" she cried in defeat. Her struggle ceased, and she slumped in my grip. "I lost another one! Rainbow d-d-d… I wasn't there! I wasn't there for her when she needed me! She was there, and I wasn't there for her, and all my friends are falling apart!"

"I'm sorry…" I whispered in her ear, stroking her mane. "I'm so, so sorry…"

"I… I can't keep this up Griffin, I just can't! Everypony is d-d-d-disappearing around me and I can't save anything! I can't do anything right! My friends are d-d-d-DYING right in front of my hooves!"

I kept her in my grasp.

"I just… I don't know if I can live with myself anymore! I… I can't stop this storm, and I can't save anypony! I'm useless! I… I can't go on!"

"SHUT UP! JUST SHUT UP!"

I released my hug and grabbed her shoulders tight. Her eyes were running with fresh tears and she clearly was crying as hard as I was right now. Her nose had a fresh strand of mucus trailing down her muzzle as her shocked yet frightened expression looked directly at me. 

"Listen! Listen to me, Twilight Sparkle! Don't say you can't! Don't say you can't go on even though we've been through so much! Look up at the sky! Look at you're hooves! We're still alive! You're still alive! That's all that matters right now! You're still alive, and I'm still alive, and we're going to keep going! You know why? Because we are still living, breathing survivors!"

I took a moment to catch my breath. Yelling two inches away from a pony's face took the wind out of me. She continued to sob, disoriented, and didn’t get the point.

"What would your friends say if you just got up and gave up, just like that? What would they say after they gave their lives for you to live? What would your parents say? What would Spike say? What would your princess say?"

Her eye widened in realization. That caught her attention, and was only the first straw.

"You can't give up now, Twilight! You still got so much to live for! So much potential! And everyone's not dead yet! There are still people, still ponies living around the world and thriving and populating, so don't you dare say that everypony's dead!"

I swallowed, realizing how dry my mouth was at that moment.

"There are people who still care about you, Twilight! Your friends cared about you! Fluttershy still cares about you, and so does Applejack! You've got ponies that love you and care for you and would never want to see you like this! So Twilight! Wake up, smell the roses and hold your head up high, because I am not, in any living daylight, letting you give up like this!"

Her pupils shrunk to microscopic levels. I heard her gasp, slightly lifting up her posture and straightening her back.

"I care about you Twilight! I care that you are still alive and breathing and well! So you are not giving up on me! Never in a thousand years! Do you understand?"

The sounds of the moving air in the background died down. Silence reigned as our surroundings disappeared in a black haze. It was just me and her now. The human and the pony, a one-on-one understanding of what was, what is and what will be. It was just us two and our faces doing the talking for us. I had a furrowed brow, my mouth twisted into a serious scowl. Her lips were slightly agape, and her eyes re-focused back onto my being. The two of us sat for a minute, then another, and another, trying to keep the wordless conversation going.

Something clicked in her head. Reality rushed back to me as she wrapped her hooves around my torso once again, crying against my chest. I openly welcomed the gesture, making sure to avoid gouging myself on her horn and leaned over her head, stroking her fur gently. We rocked back and forth in the storm, the raging elements racing around us.

(Heh, you're such a hypocrite, Griff.)


{END OF CHAPTER}




> Chapter 8: Compassion Distorted, Part 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


-CHAPTER 8: COMPASSION DISTORTED-



{*First-Person View, Main Character*}


We were on the road again.

I didn’t know how long we had been walking for, but it couldn’t have been more than fifteen minutes. The whole time, Twilight refused to speak to me. She refused to look at me. Heck, when I asked her where the heck we were going, she didn’t even flinch. To her, it was like I wasn’t even there. However, I can sympathize, because I understand her plight. If I was her, I wouldn’t like me either. Not in the slightest. In fact, right now I hate myself pretty badly, because no matter how you roll the dice, or chop the carrots, or flip the pancakes, it still leads to one, pure and unaltered fact: I screwed up.

I was kidding myself before when I was comforting. Rainbow Dash DID die, and there WAS something I could have done about it. For crying out loud, there was something that I could have done to save all the ponies if I wasn’t crying like a selfish, wimpy bastard at the time. It wasn’t fair. It just wasn’t fair. I was so freaking stupid! I was not paying attention and I paid for it. Everyone paid for it. So now, we have an even higher death count from the black hole than before Twilight and I entered the damn building! Fan-freaking-tastic. I bet the remaining population of Ponyville was taking shelter in that building. And I let it get destroyed.

And here we were, stepping on the cobblestone streets, houses and buildings around us either wrecked, missing, destroyed, on fire or a combination of the above.  The wind whipped around us once again, trying to sweep us off our feet and into the black abyss above. It howled in my ears, and I could barely hear our foot and hoofsteps on the solid pavement. The sky was the same as it was for the past several hours: dark, intimidating and full of storm clouds. Actually, now that I think about it, it was actually a bit darker than it had been except for the times when lightning jumped from one cloud to the next. The black hole sat in location atop the world, swirling and churning in a malevolent mess of destruction. Old brass streetlights, the ones that you would see in London, were surrounding us at the edges of the pavement. They stood tall and occurred in pairs of two every few meters or so. It reminded me once more how horribly out of place objects of electricity was in this universe filled with hay, magic and talking ponies.

I was cold. So cold, and getting colder by the minute. My hands wrapped themselves around my arms and rubbed them, trying to create heat from the friction. It wasn’t helping much, but the fact that there was something actively covering my arms from the wind created a little breathing room in the tornado-like weather. The tips of my earlobes were freezing to the touch, and every time I felt them with my fingernails an odd sensation would run along the edge of my fingertips. I was also tired. Cold and tired and sore from all the bumps and bruises that I gotten from running away from the storm. I wanted to just curl up into a nice soft mattress underneath several layers of covers and blankets and take a nice long snooze. I wanted to get out of the chilly temperature and the foreboding atmosphere and the mark of death above us and escape to happier times. To go back into the world that I once knew as Earth and see all the familiar marks of cars, phones and humans all over again. I wanted to go home.

But who the hell didn’t? I knew Twilight was suffering as much as I was, if not more, but it was hard to cope with it all. The average brain was not meant to handle the apocalypse, think about past moral choices and plan what to do next all at the same time. It was wearing me down and proved to be more than a match for what my mental capability could handle. My eyelids felt heavy under the cold lavender light that Twilight’s horn was emitting, but I kept as alert and aware as I could be at the moment. She was barely ahead of my by a hair and I found it easy to keep up with her pace. I could tell that her walking was laboured by the way her hooves dragged on the ground on occasion and how she couldn’t keep her head up one-hundred percent on the time. The fact that she had to keep casting the artificial gravity spell over and over throughout these past two day and that she hasn’t eaten anything for a long time didn’t help either. Between getting knocked out and awaking to find that your cyan friend was left in the dust, she hasn’t had a chance to get something in her stomach. Her last meal was at Rarity’s, and that was about eight hours previous in the morning. We need to get to the next safe house and/or destination before Twilight collapses from hunger!

As the adjacent streets passed us by, Ponyville was starting took look the same to me no matter where we went: dying, dead and desolate. But as we approached the edges of town, a small orange glow appeared not too far off in the distance. It shined through the darkness, cutting through the air and filling it with a strange sense of warmth. The pulse it gave of was enough to make me slightly smile. It looked to be some kind of magical spell that gave off so much energy that it created such bright light to combat the unknown. It could have been a rescue team, or a group of unicorns, waiting to pick up Ponyvillians and drop them off somewhere save. Maybe it was the familiarity of seeing light in the darkness or the comforting hue it gave of, but whatever the reason was it, I found a small amount of hope within myself. I had a feeling that despite all the chaos and danger we would get out of the storm fine, get Twilight’s friends and get out of the danger zone. Awe-inspired, I kept following Twilight towards what looked like to be our salvation. 

When we got closer however, my predictions were shot down. Hard. In front of us was in actuality a firestorm of massive proportions. A blazing inferno reached across the skyline and continued to chew down on what used to be multiple houses and other wooden buildings in the distance. It reached an extensive width and the flames seemed to dance, leaping from building to building in destructive glee. Even being the several hundred meters away we were, I felt as if I could feel the sparks of the fire melt my skin already.

“Uhh, Twilight?” I began to ask, shuffling closer to her ears. “Where are we headed?” I know I already asked that a while ago, but that was, as I said, a while ago, and I was hoping that she would actually tell me now that there’s something that may have caught her attention.

“To Fluttershy’s house, which is outside of Ponyville.” she simply answered. I waited a heartbeat for her to follow through with an explanation, but none was given.

“But, uh, shouldn’t we go around the big flaming ball of inferno that sits right in front of us?” I inquire.

She gave a patient yet calculating sigh. “We can’t. The longer we take to get to Fluttershy’s house, the high the chance that she won’t be there anymore when we get there. Plus, I can’t keep this spell up for much longer. We need to get to safety as fast as possible.”

I nervously gazed at our upcoming challenge. Her logic was severely lacking. If we needed to get to safety, I didn’t think that prancing through a firestorm would help us any. In addition, she forgot, (perhaps purposely) to mention that Fluttershy’s house might not even BE there by the time we get there. It could have flown out and away like all the other establishments had. We were taking a huge gamble sticking our heads into a boiling pot like this.

“Is there any other way we could get to house safely?” I queried.

She looked at the ground, closing her eyes for a second and stopped. Like I said before, she looked tired. Real tired. And hungry, and thirsty, and beaten up. My questions were not helping the situation, and it probably hurt her brain to process a coherent answer due to having to balance her mental satiability with the spell she was casting and staying in the conversation all at the same time. It was hurting her to go through this. But she was insane if she thought that going through that death sentence was a good idea. I had to try and talk some sense into her.

“No, there really isn’t.” Twilight said in a big puff of exhaled air. She lifted up her head and started walking again. I hung back a few feet. Think Griffin, think! What would make Twilight reconsider?

“Why don’t we go find Applejack first?” I suggested. 

Bad idea. She turned her head and gave me such a dirty glare that it could have made the bravest of men run away squealing. “Applejack’s house is at the East end of Ponyville. Fluttershy’s is only a kilometer or two away. I don’t think that I could hold the gravity spell long enough to get to Applejacks. Besides, We’re close enough to Fluttershy’s, and I need to check if she’s safe.”

Her pace increased, and her eyes went back to the road ahead of her. I could see her jaw chew the inside of her cheek in annoyance and frustration, a clear hint that she wanted me to stop trying to persuade her into going with her plan. I was getting worried. She was absolutely crazy! We were walking into a living, breathing firestorm and she wanted to march on through like it was nothing more than a park or something. The heat of the flames was right there and she didn’t even bat an eyelid. Either she’s really loyal and determined to get to Fluttershy or she’s too tired to mentally recognize the dangers that this could cause. Never the less, we continued onwards. I say ‘we’ even though really I had no choice in the matter. It was either move along or get left behind and let the gravity spell deactivate. Or maybe she would pull me along with her freaky telekinesis like she did in the library. But that would use up the rest of her magic… Whatever. Point is, I had to keep moving on.

The transition from ruined buildings to burning buildings was actually a quite interesting one. From a distance, the light from the blaze actually reflected off of the storm clouds, creating the illusion that there was a big, fluffy, and dark ceiling over the entire town. However, when we got close enough, the brightness killed our sense of light depth and the sky disappeared altogether, including the black hole. There was a clear parameter to where the fire was reaching and where it was extending to. First there were houses that weren’t on fire, then there were houses that were slightly on fire and then there were houses that were drenched in the inferno. Planks and pieces of wood from the buildings were falling apart from getting devoured, slowly crippling the structure the material was supposed to support. Sparks and cinders flew up in the air, creating a would-be magnificent light show if there wasn’t the fact that if they touched us they would burn our skin or light us on fire. We both tried to keep away from the flames, but you can’t do much when fire is on both sides of the street. We only had four or five meters of elbow room, so we traveled in a single-file line through the center of the road, keeping to ourselves and trying to maintain a steady speed.

After a few minutes on inferno avenue, I was beginning to get hot. The temperature grew up to steaming and I found that my previously freezing arms were now starting to cook under a light temperature of 200 degrees. Ok, that’s stretching it a bit, but I couldn’t deny that it was heated under all the fire around us. The light slowly became so intense that I had to squint and give my eyes a second or two to adjust. All the smoke that came from the houses rose up into the atmosphere, but it didn’t stop the nearby environment from being very stuffy. A few minutes later, the fire was rising up to the horizon and it was getting almost impossible to move without having to urge to sprint back. It was like putting my feet near a campfire- it felt good and warmed you up, but you couldn’t do it for long unless you wanted some smoked toes for dinner. So take that feeling, and apply it to all around your body constantly and robbing you the ability to take away your feet from the fire. That’s what it felt like. I was supposed to be sweating all over, but I think that the hot air kept making the moisture on my skin evaporate almost instantly, preventing from any kind of cooling down. My mouth was getting pretty dry too and I could taste the dehydration settling in. What was worse was that the wind from the storm was not sprinkling any kind of relief on us, but instead making the problem even worse. It would mix and churn the heat in the air and then set it all flying towards us at full tilt, making it feel like I was getting bombarded by a furnace on full blast.

And then, it all stopped. The heat dimmed down to a temperature close to a coziness that you find under blankets. I wasn’t cooking anymore, but instead pleasantly enjoying the simulation of being in a soft, comforting mattress. The glaring light around us diminished too, lowering down to a volume where I could actually make out the small details of the houses that the flames were snuffing out and burning to the ground. That’s when I also noticed that my vision had gained a slight tint of thistle and there was a faint but still distinguishable purple aura around the outline of my body. My eyebrows rose as I took a look at Twilight’s horn. It was glowing a bit brighter, and her face was a bit more strained and etched with struggle.

I knew what was going on, but before I could say anything I suddenly heard a loud pop behind me, followed by the sound of pieces of glass hitting the ground. Both of us turned around to see that several feet down the road one of the streetlamps had its glass explode from withstanding too much heat from the environment around it. The surrounding area was covered in a sheet of tiny but deadly shards of glass embedding itself in the nearest surface. It appeared that electricity tried to jump out of the source of illumination too, but only got as far as the glass flied, which was actually pretty darn far. Not five seconds after, the light right across the street from it suffered a similar fate, where it exploded into a million pieces. Then, the next ones from it exploded too. Then the next ones. One by one the lights were being obliterated, creating showers of crystal daggers in the process. I turned my head back towards Twilight. She gazed back at me, an expression of bewilderment and fear on her face. Without having a second thought, I shouted the absolute genius idea that we were both thinking at the time.

“Run!”

And we kicked off from the starting line. Twilight had a head start because she was in front of me in the first place and her body was more tuned to traveling fast in a pinch. That didn’t mean I didn’t have my own speed. I was easily taller than her by two feet, meaning that my legs were even taller than hers. The long strides that I took without a doubt matched the double horsepower that she had over me. Still it wasn’t a race, and the fact that I could keep up to her sprint actually worried me. If she was a real horse and she put the pedal to the metal, she should have gain a good five to ten meters off of me. But I could tell that her overall motor movements were sluggish and she had been slower to react to the popping lamps that I had. Her magic, hunger and overall exhaustion was killing her speed. That wasn’t a good thing.

So we ran. Not even three seconds after we dipped and already I could hear the glass breaking right behind my back. The rate of pops was steadily increasing, and I could actually make out a slight sizzling sound after each one. I began to put on even more speed, and I assumed Twilight could hear the danger too because she slightly sped up as well. The houses around us became a blob of orange that melted together into some kind of glowing mess. At the road was slightly curving, We had to tilt our weight to keep in the center. Or at least I did. I’m not sure if Twilight had to. Never the less, the shards were hot on my heels and I was worried about getting impaled by several thousand tiny needles of pain. As we passed an intersection, I looked to my right to see if we could escape the explosions down the street. Apparently fate had it on us, because the streetlamps were also blowing up at the same time as the ones behind us. Come to think of it, the street lamps ahead of us were fine until the ones behind us began the downhill snowball. So why did it all start at once, all at the same time?

I began to overheat, and I think I know why. Besides the obvious fact that I was running full speed down an alley full of fire, the glow around my body started to dissipate and fade a little. Twilight’s horn also stopped glowing as intensely. I figure that she either had to put powering into her magic or power into her legs, but she couldn’t do both. Not while running on empty. My lungs started to cook as the stuffiness of the air got to me. Just as my track time couldn’t get any worse, to my horror I stared at a large cloud of smoke in front of us. I tried to brace myself and close my eyes while holding my breath, but it only lasted for a second or two, as my screaming lungs wouldn’t have any of it. My brain forcibly took a breath for me and I tasted all the ash and soot lingering within the oxygen. My reaction was immediate. I started coughing and hacking up a storm, with Twilight joining me. My eyes watered and stun in pain because I forgot not to open them while running through smoke. All of the sudden I lost all power in my muscles, and my limbs shut down. I found it almost impossible to give them any kind of willpower, so I stumbled on my feet while I tried to keep my balance under the momentum until I finally flopped over. I tried to suck in more air and to my surprise I actually could since the smoke lingered above me but not on ground level. After a few deep gulps of almost fresh air I began crawling army-style underneath the darkened mist. Twilight was nowhere to be seen and I didn’t trip on her, so she must have gotten out of the smoke safely or at least cleared it without collapsing in the middle like I had.

It didn’t take me more than a few seconds before I cleared it. The air above me was suddenly smoke-less and had the normal hot air that it had before. Now that had me confused. First, why was there a wall of pure, black smoke in the middle of nowhere, especially since smoke rises and that there was no fire on the road? Second, how did physics allow it to abruptly start and stop at the same time? It was like some kind of rectangle shape that just stretched across the length of the road, completely ignoring any kind of logic that has to do with gases! It made no sense. Maybe it was another act of magic? But was it truly random? Did someone else cast it? Did someone who we didn’t see who is following us cast it in an attempt to slow us down enough for the glass to impale us? Did the same person also start the chain of explosions with some other magical curse? Unfortunately for the thinking part of my mind, I had to put those thoughts away because the popping noises that were absent during the smoke sequence were now rapidly catching up to us. I quickly got to my feet and took one step just to find that I stepped on Twilight’s tail.

She was lying on the ground right in front of me, not moving. Her eyes were closed, and I feared the worst. Sure she was still breathing, but the smoke must have knocked her out even after she cleared all of it. I felt lucky that I didn’t share the same fate, because then we would be truly screwed over. I immediately knelt down beside her and started tapping her sides, shaking her and screaming in her ear “GET UP GET UP GET UP!” The tiny explosions were getting closer. I looked to the cloud of smoke, realizing that we only had mere seconds left if Twilight didn’t get a move on. It was time for desperate measures. I lifted up her head with one hand and slapped her right across the face with the other. That got her to it, and she woke up in a groggy state, oblivious to what was going on. I had read on the internet that when you wake up after fainting you don’t remember what caused you to faint or what happened before fainting. It didn’t take her long to get a clue after seeing the large columns of fire around us and hearing me yelling right in her vicinity. With a forced hurry she got to her hooves again and dashed off with me following right behind.

The pops were as close as ever. I could almost feel the force they exerted when they went ‘kaboom!’ and didn’t dare look back just in case so I wouldn’t get a stray piece of glass to the eye. My adrenaline was acting as my main fuel source now. I’m not a good runner at all, and I have trouble keeping up with one-hundred meter sprints, so going full tilt down several blocks of streets was taking its toll on me. I was also beginning to feel a bit funny from all the hot air around us. It’s hard to explain. I was having chills, with Goosebumps sticking out of my skin and my muscles shivering even though I knew and I felt like it was one-thousand degrees out. My body felt many times more tired from it, and I was aware that my fight-or-flight mode was doing all the work for me. I was worried that I would get beaten by my own stamina instead of flying daggers of doom.

If anything, Twilight was worse off than I was. At least I was still going. I hadn’t felt the pain that the overheating and exertion would soon cause, but she was already experiencing it. We were going at almost half the speed we were when we began running, and she was almost tripping on her own hooves. She head was down almost the entire time. Yet, despite all this she still managed to keep her gravity spell going. At this point, I wonder if it was actually still worth it to still have it on. I mean, if she de-activated it then we would go flying upwards, right out of the explosions and the firestorm. We would be out of the danger. But then again, there was the matter of getting back down to the ground without getting squashed from Twilight’s homemade gravity. Maybe she could ease us down, but that also doesn’t help the fact that we have no way to steer our decent. We could go up and end up right back down where we started, and that wouldn’t help one bit.

As we curved slightly to the left, I spotted ahead of me that the road had ended with two large building that had collapsed onto the track. There was no way getting over the fifteen feet of flames it was giving off, so I made a split decision and pulled Twilight to our left where there was an open street waiting for us. Suddenly there was an ear-shattering boom and I felt a sharp pain on my left side, right underneath the rib cage. I hissed and felt the wound sting and dig into my skin, a warm sensation pouring over the area. I grabbed it with my right hand while sprinting and when I pulled it back there was blood all over my fingertips. I took a brief glance down at my shirt and saw the white fabric quickly turning crimson. Little nibbles of pain reached across the left side of my torso, reaching tiny peaks of annoyance every time my heart beat and blood came coursing over the cut.

After stumbling on my feet for a second I regained my balance and doubled my pace, regardless of twilight’s speed. I started to run right beside her, and I saw her take a glance at me before her gaze went back to the ground. She was putting all her effort into running and applying the spell constantly, so I had to be her eyes, ears, nose and brain. Every move I made agitated my wound, and I knew that my adrenaline was making it feel much more mild then it actually was. I was taking quick sips of oxygen, trying to steady my breathing as the stress of an open injury hit my psyche full force. I felt tears reach my eyes then race down my cheeks, blurring the bottom of my vision. 

And that’s when it got worse. I was wincing when I barely saw the wall of debris blocking our path once again. I managed to stop by simply throwing my feet forward and dropping to my buttocks while hauling in Twilight’s torso with my right arm. She yelped and we halted a few feet away from the blaze. I could feel my sneakers melting, so I edged away as quickly as possible while dragging the unicorn with me. Then it occurred to me that the explosions had stopped by then. I took a hurried gander at our surrounding to find that there were no lamps of any sort anywhere in the nearby vicinity. I gave a great sigh of relief, knowing that we wouldn’t have to keep running from danger. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could keep going anyways. My heart felt like it was ready to jump straight out of my chest it was beating so hard!

Not a moment later and I heard a loud crash behind me, followed by the sounds of planks of wood mashing and collapsing on each other. It was startling, and my ears started to ring after the fact. I turned around, and found that the path behind us was no longer accessible. Now, it was covered with several layers of building materials as a deadly blazing inferno that blocked any kind of means getting out of this hellhole. I had to process my thoughts for a moment to realize that we were now stuck inside a burning ring of fire. 

I looked back at Twilight. She stared ahead of us at the wall of pain, and seemed to have the kind of fear that would be found in young children scared out of their mind. A second later she turned her head towards the ground, closed her eyes and weakly stomped at the ground.

“Ah! No no no no! We were so close! We were so close…” she yelled, her voice directed at the earth beneath her. Her gaze went up at the sky, and the dark circles under her eyelids were highlighted in the fire’s light. I looked up too, wondering what got her attention. There was nothing there except for the thin white outline of the black hole above us. I took a second to connect the dots and realize that that’s what she was looking at. The demeanour she gave off suggested that she was cursing inwardly on how the tiny ball screwed us over.

I laid down on my side and let my head sag onto the ground. It was hard to control my breathing to a slower level. The rush of danger was flushing through my system and giving me the power to conquer anything, even though we wouldn’t be going anywhere anytime soon. There was no way go get out of our mess. We couldn’t wait for the fire to die down, because that could take days, and Twilight only had a few minutes at best. Like I pondered before, we couldn’t go up into the air because it would take too much effort to aim our direction. We certainly couldn’t go through. We had no water, nor the unicorn power to make some kind of drill. It was just Twilight and I, two in one, alone in the depths of this hellish deathtrap.

I felt something press into my calf. Lifting up my head, I twisted my shoulders to see Twilight putting her hoof on me with an expression of extreme concentration while her horn glowed like nothing before. The lavender light that shined all around steadily grew in intensity, making my eyes squint and water. A small whirlwind started to swing around the purple magician and had our hair flail in all directions. A steady, high-pitched whistle came from her energy and became louder the longer she charged whatever she was charging. She lowered her head, grit her teeth together and yelped.

There was a sudden flash of light. My eyes were filled with white, the background a blank slate of nothingness. Just as quickly as it appeared, it vanished, leaving me staring at a flat patch of grass four feet above the air. Before I could get my bearings, I landed on my stomach with a *whump*. Abrupt pain erupted from my abdomen, and I caused my back even more suffering when I tried to curl myself and use my arms to feel the front of my torso. For the time being I laid face down in silence, clenching my jaw and hissing through the torment of it all. It took me a little bit for my brain to pass the injury as a minor discomfort and I managed to lift up my head and take a look at our surroundings.

There were trees everywhere, looking down in the darkness. It cast shadows blacker than the night itself, and created a sense of unease in my chest. After looking at pure light for the past half an hour, my eyes were not prepared to focus onto such a drastic contrast of brightness in the setting. A faint orange glow hovered onto the trees leaves, projecting itself from somewhere behind me. When I turned around I noticed the snap, crackle and pop of a massive fire in the vicinity. A good hundred feet away was the perimeter of the firestorm, still lit high and mighty. In between it and us were the backyards of what were once the homes of this place, followed by a deep ditch that extended along the backyards and appeared to contain a small amount of water. The rest of the distance was filled with plain, flat grass. Twilight somehow teleported us out of the danger zone and into some relative safety!

Speaking of Twilight, I heard quiet sobbing somewhere in front of me. I turned my attention again and spotted Twilight lying on her side a few feet away from me.

“Twilight!” I cried out in surprise. I got up as swiftly as I could, ignored the pain from my everywhere and kneeled down beside her. She was crying quietly to herself under the veil that the trees provided. Her eyes were closed and she didn’t bother to lift her head up. Her horn barely emitted any light at all.

“Twilight, what’s wrong?” I asked, putting one hand on her side. She barely opened up one eye before managing the energy to speak to me.

“I… I can’t…” She paused, taking a breath before closing her eyes again. Then I realized she wasn’t just closing her eyes. She was wincing in pain. “I can’t feel my legs. Oh Celestia! Griffin, I can’t feel my legs!”

I panicked. My hands ran down her strong horse legs, while I searched for any kind of cut, wound or broken bone that could have been sticking out slightly. I lifted up her hooves a little so I could get some leverage while checking. After half a minute, I determined that there didn’t seem to be anything wrong. I pressed lightly on one of her back legs. It was warm, and I could feel her heart’s strong pulse through it. Twilight didn’t seem to mind about the process.

“I can’t find anything wrong.” I reported. “You just can’t flat out feel them?”

She sniffed, nodding weakly and biting her lip.

“Are you in pain?”

She nodded again.

“Where?”

“My head.” she replied. “My head hurts.”

“Well how bad is it?” I asked, placing my hand on her forehead and checking for a temperature.

“It hurts. It hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts!” she wailed. Her face was wet with tears and I could hear her nose clog up when she spoke.

“Can you get up?”

She tried to turn her head, but the ground stopped her. Instead she dragged her muzzle across the dirt back and forth. “N-no.”

I looked up. Right in front of us, right in the darkness seemed to be the beginnings of what looked like to be a forest. It was ominous and foreboding, like it wanted me to come in just to rip my innards out. All the trees were either Oaks, Elms or some of kind of Carnivorous plant. I couldn’t see the horizon from here, and instead my view was blocked by a thick wall of foliage.

My gaze went back to Twilight’s face. “Do you know where Fluttershy’s house is from here?”

She tilted her head up and opened her eyelids a bit wider, staring into the distance. After a few seconds of consideration, I heard her exhale a held breath and look back at me. “Y-yeah. I think so.”

“Ok.” I answer. I dragged my knees closer to her. “Now here’s what we’re going to do. I’m going to pick you up and carry you while you tell me where Fluttershy’s house is. Does that sound good?”

She mumbled in response, but it sounded like she agreed.

“Ok. I’m going to pick you up now. If I begin to hurt you, you yell and I’ll put you back down safely, ok?”

She nodded. That gave me the go to move even closer and get on one knee, wrapping both arms around her stomach. As I lifted her up, I felt my core tense up and I hesitated, wincing while a stabbing pain sliced into my left side. I was reminded that I had been injured and was not in any situation to go anywhere long distance. In an ideal situation, I would have stopped, took off my shirt and examined my wound, but there was no time. We had to move. Sucking up the stinging sensation, I lowered my base and thrust my hips forward, using their momentum to help me get up onto my other foot. From there, I could accurately gauge how well carrying Twilight would go. She wasn't too heavy, in fact I thought of her to be much, much heavier initially, but the blood flowing beneath my ribcage made me worry that too much exertion from my left side would hurt me much more in the long run.

I bit my lip. Realizing there was a better way to carry Twilight, I hefted her up and over my right shoulder, her stomach facing down. She squealed and I adjusted my head so that it wasn't digging into her side. I let my left arm fall and relax, allowing my core muscles to calm down a little two. Getting through our journey will be a lot easier now. From the light that Twilight's horn emitted, I could barely make out the multitudes of trees that were between us and our next destination. I glanced up at Twilight. Her eyes were closed, even though I could still see the stress beneath her eyelids. It was as if she was sleeping. I knew she wanted to rest so badly, and she deserved it. After all of the chaos and mayhem that this one girl had to go through, damn it, she deserved a break! She didn't need all of this! I was going to deliver that rest for her! I'm sure of it. 

With that all said and done, I advanced forward, leaving the fire and approaching the woods.

> UPDATE: Chapter 2 Re-written!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 2 has been re-written and posted up here in the correct chapter order for Chronicles. This has been on the back burner for quite some time, and I had finished chapter two about 4 months ago. However, I hadn't really read over it that much, and considered editing it some more later. That later never came, and as I was going through my list of posted stories and checked Chronicles I realized that I had messed up and not posted the re-done chapter. I quickly fixed however, and decided to post the chapter even if there are a few typos here and there. The new version is still better than the old version.

Only 3 more chapters to go until the re-write is complete. But, of course, I'll still need to fix some continuity errors in later chapters still, but one step at a time here. Progress is progress, and progress is slow because Chronicles isn't my main project right now.

I hope you'll understand. Anyways, enjoy.