Man o' the Moon

by Spout

Rating: teen
Tags: Dark, Nightmare Moon, Spike, Adventure, Human, Main 6, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 28790

An imprisoned sorceress gathers strength and plots to free herself. She crafts an evil strategy that requires maneuvering through space and time. Twilight Sparkle must overcome new challenges, including her own self-doubts, to lead an investigation.

For years, an imprisoned sorceress has been gathering strength, plotting to free herself. She crafts a strategy that requires maneuvering through space and time. The spells initially prove too challenging, ending in unpredictable results: a bridging of two worlds that sends a human falling over the skies of Equestria. Faced with new challenges, Twilight Sparkle must overcome her own self-doubts to lead a team investigation to unravel the mystery and try to help the human return home.

Cover Art Source

Published 2013-07-05 22:40:05 UTC
Last updated 2013-10-19 04:29:35 UTC

Book 1

Prologue

For many months, I have gathered my strength in the dark. I do not have eyes, nor a body in any proper sense of the word--my world has been shrouded in total darkness since that terrible night over two years ago. I can still feel the rays of the moon washing over me. I have felt this seven hundred times before. But this time... this time, something is different. Tonight, I not only feel the rays of the moon, but I can now see them! I fix my gaze skyward, and beyond the silhouette of the window arch, amidst the glittering stars, there floats a silvery white orb, nearly full, bright against the dark sky, and it... is... so... beautiful!

But something is missing. I remember what it used to be like to feel the night’s chill breeze against my skin, the cool grass beneath me. These memories, and these brief periods of moonlight, are my only respite from an otherwise constant, stinging numbness, and unbearable immobility. Sometimes I drift along the floor, allowing the rats to crawl over me just so that I can feel something--anything--besides the stinging numbness. I think they have come to like me in these recent months, because they always come back to the same place. But as for me, I long to leave this place. I must be free!

But no, now is not the time for emotions. After seven hundred moons of contemplating, I know how to liberate myself from this terrible prison. I must concentrate. It is hard to stay focused, but the moon is encouraging, and I am not so broken that I cannot still wield magic!

I must concentrate, assembling a ribbon of energy, twisting it into a tight spiral, a tendril to pass through time and space. I still cannot see properly in this realm, but I can feel, through the ribbons, as though they were whiskers. I feel time washing over me like a series of waves, and space... space is like a vast emptiness between the waves. This magic is new to me, and, at first, I am floating without sense of orientation. There is, occasionally, a third sensation, too--it is difficult to describe, but it feels like a delicate membrane, and it reminds me of brushing against a spider’s orb. I know that I must somehow pass through. As an experiment, I press the spiral ribbons gently into the web. It is resisting me, but I can see now, faintly, an image of a mountain forming against the night sky. The mountain is barren and dry: this planet lacks an atmosphere of any kind. This will not do--I need a place that is teeming with life! I ease the ribbons back into the flow, continuing my search. What is this? It looks like a water world. No, there are land masses here. It is easier to move here: the web feels... fatigued. Is this... could this be the fabled world from the histories? Memories that are not my own are flooding back to me--there are many countless creatures here. Some of them have weak wills, which will suit my ambitions. This side of the world faces away from the sun, but it is not entirely dark. There are cities here. As I dive toward the lights, they are blinding. Slowly, the forms of individual buildings begin to resolve, and I can pass through walls with ease to shut out the brilliant lights. The barrier continues to resist me, but it is strained now, and beyond it, I can see the corners of a dark room forming. Yes, it is much clearer now. Against one of the room’s walls, a subtle movement catches my attention--an animal! I can hear its breath and its heartbeat. I cannot believe my luck! Already, I am so close, and this is only my first attempt. I press in closer to see if I can reach out to touch it--

There is a blinding flash, and I cannot tell if it is light or dark. What’s happening? The animal is gone! There is a rushing sound, and now the room is gone too. And then... and then... it is only the moon and stillness. I have failed, and I do not have the strength to try again tonight. But I will try again. I must... be... free.

Derek

A brilliant shaft of sunlight stabs through my eyelids, waking me from a deep sleep. I draw in a breath of icy air and immediately start trembling. Why is it so freaking cold? When I reach out to pull the covers up, there aren’t any. My boxers are the only things protecting me from the frigid air. I open my eyes to see if I can find out what the heck is going on, but the sun is so dazzling--I glance downward, squinting against the sky’s gradient from azure to amber. I guess I’m still asleep, because all I see are clouds. Everywhere, clouds! They feel like a fine mist beneath me, but as I try to sit up, my hands begin sinking into them. A sickening emptiness wells up from my stomach as I start tumbling backward over some kind of precipice. I can’t see the ground--just another sheet of clouds rushing toward me!

In my dreamy stupor, I’m afraid I’m going to smack into the clouds, so I close my eyes and brace myself, but there is no impact--I simply pass through. The sick sensation of falling overwhelms my other senses, but I open my eyes anyway to look down at a brilliant green earth, two thousand feet below, rushing up to meet me. In the past, I’ve always been able to wake myself from dreams like this one by shaking violently. Why isn’t it working? I twist myself around to look upward where I had just come from, and through the impossible clouds that I just fell, I see another ray of light piercing through the tiny hole I had just punctured, and through that, something even more impossible: a blue comet hurtling toward me! No, that’s not right--there’s something strange about this dream--light just doesn’t seem to work properly. Colors are too vivid, and details are difficult to resolve. Squinting to get a better look, I realize that the thing hurtling toward me isn't a comet at all. And it isn't blue, exactly; it is a slurry of colors, and it’s moving faster than anything I’ve ever seen! The emptiness in my stomach finally subsides, and now it’s just the cold wind ripping against my skin, and the noise, and then yet another impossible thing: it rushes past me and unfolds beneath me into an explosion of surreal watercolors: a powder blue pegasus opening its wings. Its rainbow mane and tail flicker in the wind, and it calls out to me in a high voice, raspy, vaguely feminine.

"Grab onto my neck and don't let go!"

Is that really what she said? I can barely hear her against the wind, but her intent seems clear--she has matched my speed perfectly. It is the easiest thing in the world to simply reach out, wrap my arms around her, and take hold.

I feel a sharp tugging on my arms as she whirls around beneath me, and then the crushing force of my own weight against her as she attempts to pull us up and out of the dive. For the moments that we are welded together, I am keenly aware of her body: velvety-soft, powder-blue fur transitions to feathers along a pair of wings sprouting from her back, which are braced against me in a shallow “V.” The muscles beneath them are like iron, but the wings--they’re so impossibly small, they cannot keep us aloft, together, like this. We’ve slowed, but it’s terribly awkward--she’s not even as big as I am, and she can’t pull out of the dive! She can’t save us! The ground is getting closer, and I feel sick again. I don’t want to kill her. I have to let go! I feel my grip loosening. I have to let go, even if it means I’m going to... it’s okay, it’s just a dream...

"Don’t you dare let go!" She shouts above the roar of the wind. "Hold on tight, and brace yourself for impact!"

Impact? What is she thinking!? Squinting against the onrush of wind, I glance over her shoulder just in time to see, in order: the ground, a wood, a lake--a lake!

Dash

Good going, Dashie. Why do you always push yourself? What were you thinking?! This thing is friggin’ heavy! And there’s no one out here to see you. Stupid, stupid, stupid! I sure hope this monkey on my back doesn’t do anything stupid. For a moment back there, I thought it was going to bail. There’s no time left for those kinds of mistakes--that would change our descent angle, killing us both!

Here it comes. When we slam into the lake, I’m prepared. I’ve done this before--the sting of the impact, the water in my eyes and nose--it’s all familiar to me. Easier than any of the countless solid objects I’ve crashed into.

The impact is brutal, and it costs me my passenger, and I know my work isn’t done yet. I circle to locate him and start kicking hard, pushing up underneath of his body. As I’m working my way toward the shore, it’s tricky to keep his shifting weight balanced on the edge of my muzzle so that he doesn’t go floating off to one side, or back down under the water. I can’t tell if he’s awake, and I don’t want him to drown.

I roll him up onto the muddy beach and start laughing. Or maybe I’m hyperventilating--I can’t tell if it’s exhaustion or euphoria. Maybe both. I’ve cheated death again, and I’ve saved somepony’s life--well, some thing’s life. I wonder if there’s a medal for that, even though he’s not a pony. If there isn’t, there should be. I can’t believe he was going to let go!

“That... was... amazing! I saw something fall off of my roof in front of my window. I dived for you. You grabbed on. And then, you were like, ‘I’m lettin’ go,’ and I was all, ‘don’t even think about it!' And then--"

Mid-sentence, I realize that I am so wrapped up in the adventure that I’ve completely forgotten that this thing isn’t a pony. But now that we’re both on solid ground and we’re not falling or drowning, I have a chance to seriously study his form. At least, I think it’s a “he.” And not only is he not a pony, but he definitely isn’t from Ponyville. Two eyes: kinda small. Two ears: kinda round. Legs: only two of them? And a pair of arms--he looks a bit like a gorilla, only with much less hair. I remember back to my days as a filly, from the pony tales my parents used to read, and it finally occurs to me what I might be staring at. “Are you... are you a human?"

He nods, shivering, and croaks out a weak “Yes.”

As he says this, I think humans sound a bit like frogs. And he’s not covered in metal, like in the old pony tales. And he doesn’t look all that scary, which also doesn’t quite fit with the old pony tales. In fact, he really doesn’t look good at all, half covered with mud. Yeah, I’m pretty sure I could take him in a fight. And it would serve him right for falling through my front porch. I’m going to have to repair it when I could instead be spending that time soaking up the last rays of summer! If there’s one thing I’m sure of, it’s that he is a dirty human, and just like in the pony tales, trouble is sure to follow.

"Are you stupid or something? Don’t you know only a pegasus can walk on clouds? How in Equestria did you get up there? "

There’s a long pause, and I think he might be sick. Finally, he asks, “Who... are you?

"The name's Rainbow Dash! And I just saved your life!" I am proud when I say it, having almost completely forgotten my irritation with him. After all, it’s not every day that I save somepony’s life--well, some one’s life--and today is one of those days when I feel like I’ve truly earned my name. Even if he is just a dirty human.

"You’re a pegasus," He says softly, and he sounds disconnected, somehow. And he’s shivering.

"Rain-bow Da-a-sh," I repeat, a bit slower this time, hoping it will sink in.

“I'm Der-ek," he replies, just as slowly. Is he making fun of me? Maybe he really did hit his head. It’s not like we hit the water that hard. I hear a familiar voice shouting from beyond a low ridge.

"Over there, Applejack, by the water!” That’s definitely Twilight Sparkle. She must have seen our splashdown--I can’t wait to ask her!

"I think I see 'em,” another voice replies with a slight drawl, and instantly, I recognize that it’s Applejack. Oh, I really hope she saw me, too!

“Yup, that's Rainbow Dash a’right. An' she's got somepony with 'er."

"Did you see us?" I shout over to her. I must surely have been beaming when I asked. “Wasn't it awesome?! What do you suppose he weighs? I bet I just smashed the old record for controlled splashdown with a passenger!”

"Well I’m not sure I’d call that a controlled splashdown," says Twilight. “If the lake had been a little further away--”

“Are you kidding me? I just saved his life! I had the situation totally under control.” I glance back and notice that Derek’s still shivering from the cold, and up until that moment it hadn’t occurred to me that he wasn’t covered in fur, and he didn’t have much clothing, and now, what little covering he had was soaking wet. It was late fall, and the sun had barely cleared the horizon--even I was shivering a little. I look up to Twilight, and I can’t decide what I want to say. She looks just as stunned as I am, apparently having now realized that this is, in fact, a human, on the ground, right in front of us.

Fluttershy

“No, Angel, you can’t pull the carrots up yet--I want them to grow larger so that they’ll feed you all winter long.” He doesn’t want to hear this, of course. He lets his breath go in a huff and starts tapping his paw against the ground, arms folded.

I can’t help but smile. Even when he’s irritated, he’s just so adorable. “Oh, alright, you can have one carrot, but no more. This is your whole breakfast, alright?”

Angel smiles brightly and nuzzles me, tickling my hooves with his ears. I can't help but giggle. Bunny ears are just about the softest things in all of Equestria. I wish I could pet his ears for the rest of the day, but I can tell it’s going to be very warm, and I need to get all the weeds up while the ground is still soft, soaked with dew.

Out of the corner of my eye, I catch a glimmer of light. I'm certain it’s Rainbow Dash performing her aerial maneuvers again. When I’m less focused, I’ll sometimes watch her practice. I spent over two hours watching her practice once, when she was training for the Best Young Flyer competition. She is an amazing athlete. I wish I could do even half of the things she was capable of. I take a deep breath and stretch my wings, hovering in place for a moment, just above the ground, letting the little eddies tease out my feathers. The air feels amazing--heavy and cold. Perfect for flight. After I touch down, I stretch my wings out even wider, coming to a full gallop. I kick off hard, flying just above the top of my tree. I know it’s not high, but my exhilaration isn’t diminished in the slightest. I slowly circle my tree, the garden, my front yard. I feel brave. As an experiment, I try tilting up for a somersault. It feels wonderful! At the crest of the somersault, though, my speed isn’t enough to carry me through the loop. I stall, upside down, and start falling!

“Oh no! Oh my goodness!”

Angel is below me, waving his arms, running back and forth like a mad rabbit. I can’t get enough speed to get out of the stall--the best I can do is tuck at the last moment and try to land on my side. It works, sort of. But it also hurts. A lot. The impact knocks the wind out of me, and my right wing aches where I landed on it. Unlike my pride, the wing is not broken--just a lot of ruffled feathers, bent up at ridiculous angles.

“Oh, it’s no use, Angel. I’ll never be able to fly like her.” I feel my eyes welling up. I’m such a disgrace! Why couldn’t I have just been born an Earth pony?

Angel hops up on top of me, still chittering and waving his arms. Is he mad because I’ve taken an unnecessary risk? Why does he get to decide what I can and can’t do? I’ll fly when and how I please! I take a deep breath and let it go to temper my anger, my frustration, and then I force a smile and speak softly to him.

“I’ll be fine, Angel, don’t you worry about me.”

Angel smacks his forehead with his paw and slides it down his face. He starts stomping up and down on my belly, gesticulating wildly in the air.

“Ouch! Angel, you’re hurting me! What’s gotten into you?”
He points straight up several times and resumes his angry chittering.

When I look up, Rainbow Dash is falling. Not flying, falling. And it looks like she’s carrying something on her back. She’s coming down at a very steep angle. It looks like she’s aiming for the lake, but is she going to make it? The splashdown is so loud, I can hear it even from half a mile away.

“Oh no! Rainbow Dash!” I nudge Angel off and head away at a full gallop, calling back, “Angel, stay here until I get back.”

Twilight and Rainbow Dash are huddling together. I approach quietly, hoping to avoid notice, but Rainbow Dash looks up and spots me.

“Fluttershy, you’ve got to help us!” she says with exasperation.

“What’s the matter, Rainbow Dash, are you alright?” I quicken my pace, coming up to join them. "Are you hurt? May I have a look at your--"

"I'm fine," she says curtly, slicking her mane back with a hoof, flinging droplets of water to the ground. "But I’m glad you’re here. We need an expert who deals in sick and injured animals.”

“Sick and injured a--” I draw in a sharp and very disorienting breath. “Oh no! Oh my gosh! Is that a...” Even before I finish asking the question, I already know the answer. I remember the stories as a filly. And now I don’t want to get involved, because in the stories, something bad always happens whenever humans are near. I take a step back and spread my wings, preparing to take flight, but then I notice that the human is soaking wet and barely covered! He must be freezing out here, and I can’t just let him suffer. I’ve got to do something! But what if he hurts me? What I wouldn’t give for a blanket right now! I could run back to my house, get a blanket, bring it back, and throw it over him. It’ll only take a moment. The human will be fine. Just fine. But he’s... he’s shivering so badly! Come on, Fluttershy, get it together! He might die! You have to help him!

I stumbled--for that moment of indecision, my hooves were paralyzed by fear--but there is a helpless animal in front of me, and I must do something. He looks wild with mud covering half of his body, and he’s trembling as I approach. Is it from fear, or from the cold? Or both? He could lash out if I accidentally startle him. I steady myself and put on my best smile, drawing from experience with creatures in the forest: I’ve never been able to build trust with fear. I stretch my wing out as far as it will go--I can’t hide my own trembling, but I’m hoping maybe he won’t notice. I rest my wing over him gently, and within seconds I feel the water soaking through my wing. He’s ice-cold to the touch, and the mud is disgusting, and it's all I can do not to pull away. But after a moment, he finally stops shivering, and I know that I’ve helped, at least in some small way.

"Princess Celestia must know about this right away,” Twilight says. “Humans haven’t been spotted in Equestria for generations. Spike! SPIKE!”

"I’m coming already!" replies the young dragon, bounding up and over the ridge. “Jeez, Twilight, where’s the fire?”

“Spike, I need you to head back to the library right away and send a message to the princess. Tell her it’s an emergency! Tell her that a human is here in Ponyville. Tell her that we need her help!"

“Aye-aye!” he says, turning back in the direction he came, tail swinging behind him.

Beneath my wing, I feel Derek stirring. “Was tha.. a drag? Dragon?” he asks. A second later, he goes limp and passes out. I press my ear to his chest. His breath is shallow, and if he has a pulse, I can’t feel it. I try shaking him gently to see if he’ll wake up, but he won’t respond.

“Fluttershy, are you sure that’s a good idea?” Twilight asks nervously.

“He’s freezing to death!” I close my eyes and compose myself. “Do you really want to be responsible for killing him?” I know nothing about humans except what’s in the old pony tales--but I’ve seen these symptoms before, last winter, in fact, when Angel tried to fish my scarf out of this very lake. However scary the human may be, I will not let him die.

Twilight sighs and says, “You’re right.” She furrows her brow in thought for a moment, then asks, “Applejack, I saw your wagon just over the ridge on the way to the shoreline. Is the wagon empty?”

“Yep,” she nods. “I haven’t started deliveries yet this mornin’.”

“Good, please bring it here, and help me load the human into it.”

A significant amount of jockeying is required before we can get him onto the wagon, and his feet are dragging along the ground as we cart him back to my doorstep. He’s barely breathing. I know we’re running out of time.

“Help me get him upstairs, Applejack,” I say. She nods, and together, we are able to awkwardly drag him into the bathtub. I know only minutes have passed, but it feels like hours as I’m fumbling with the spigot to get the hot water to pour. He starts shivering again, and I open the valve as far as it will go. I press my ear against his chest again. I can hear a heartbeat now, and he’s breathing steadily. I’ve done what I can.

Derek

I’m inside of a hollowed-out tree. My vision is fuzzy, and my brain doesn’t seem to be working right. Am I trapped inside of this tree? No, there’s a door just over there, and it doesn’t appear to be blocked. At least, not as far as I can tell. This seems like a nice place, actually: there are round windows decorated with pretty curtains, and the hardwood floors are polished and smooth--it’s a lovely tree, and whoever lives here obviously knows how to take care of it. And yet something about it doesn’t quite seem right at all. The room has some... peculiar features that I hadn’t noticed right away: from the walls and ceiling hang many birds nests with birds in them, and a pair of squirrels darts from one room into the next along a trail of tiny stairways, and ferrets are running across the floor. Beyond an archway, I occasionally see a white rabbit peeking around the corner.

Realizing how absurd this is, I expect to wake up any moment. I’ve never felt pain like this in a dream before--my entire left side is aching. I was covered in mud a moment ago, next to a lake. But now, I’m sitting in a comfortable wingback chair, wrapped in a fleece blanket. I’m warm. I’m clean, too, and dry. Why am I clean and dry? Wasn’t I just on the muddy shores of a lake? And why am I naked? What happened to my shorts? I think I must have fallen--that would explain the pain--but I’m having trouble remembering things in order. At least my long-term memory seems intact: my name is Derek Wells. I’m a Senior at Lincoln High School. I’m 18 years old. I’m absolutely certain that I went to sleep in my own bed last night, after a long night of homework.

There’s a lull in my internal monologue, at which point I become dimly aware of several hushed voices, whispering anxiously, all around me.

“You shore? Only take a second.”

“No, Applejack, you’re not going to tie him up!”

“A’right, but one false move, and he’s hogtied faster’n’ you can say ‘piglet.’”

Was that a threat? They must think I’m still asleep. I must have stirred, because one of them is now speaking to me directly.

"Oh... thank... goodness you're awake!"

The voice is from behind me, and it makes me jump six inches, despite it being low and pleasing. I turn to look toward the nice girl, and I instead see vague features, vivid colors. It’s a... a yellow... pegasus? No, that can’t be right. I shake my head--eyes must still be blurry. I blink a few times. Let’s try that again. To my left is... still a yellow pegasus. She’s looking at me through one enormous, aquamarine-blue eye. She’s smiling brightly at me. Her other eye is mostly hidden by a beautiful, silken mane of pink, flowing over a body covered with pastel, yellow fur. The colors are rich--hyper-real--and beautiful. Even more colorful tattoos mark her flank, and my thoughts and vision sharpen simultaneously. "Are those butterflies?”

"Oh, you mean my cutie mark? Do you like the butterflies? We were so worried when you passed out,” she says.

Her mouth is moving. The sounds are definitely coming from her. But I don’t comprehend the meaning of the words right away--all I hear is a voice, soft, cheerful, and at the same time hypnotic and comforting. She seems so happy. I can’t possibly be in danger anymore, can I? Slowly, I begin recalling events in order now: homework last night, clouds this morning. Falling... sort of. A blue pegasus. A lake. I’m inside a tree. And finally, some of her gentle reassuring breaks through the noise in my head.

“You’re safe here. I promise no one here is going to hurt you. My name is Fluttershy. What’s your name?”

She’s waiting patiently for me to answer. “I... wait, your name is Fluttershy?”

“Yes, that’s right. I'm Fluttershy. What’s your name? Um, that is, if you don’t mind telling us.”

“He said his name was Derek,” said another voice, raspy and feminine. Right. That’s Rainbow Dash. How do I know this? Because she told me after she rolled me up out of the lake. After saving my life. I glance over to the blue pegasus that saved me. Rainbow Dash. What kind of a name is that? The kind you’d hear in a dream, of course. It certainly fits her--a blanket is covering most of her, but I can see a volcano of rainbow colors underneath. Her mane and tail are still a bit damp and matted. She glances over at me briefly before turning away, and I see a flash of color in her eyes. I’ve never seen eyes that color before--they remind me of fuchsia blossoms. From the light in the windows behind her, I can tell that the sun is high overhead.

Fluttershy speaks again. “Would you like some water, Derek?" She glances next to me, and I notice a glass of water sitting on the table beside us. I reach for it and drink most of it down in several rapid gulps. The pain in my head has localized to the left side, and my vision is clearer now, I think. It’s so hard to tell--light still just doesn’t seem to work right in this place.

I stand up slowly and--okay, still naked--very funny. Thank God for this fleece! My head is swimming, and I’m happy to wake up from this dream any moment. But something feels wrong. Something feels so... very... wrong. I’m not asleep. I’m awake. And I’m not dreaming. Maybe my eyes must have been affected by the impact--that would certainly explain the bright colors everywhere. Maybe everything will be alright once I get outside. I don’t think i want to be in here anymore. I think I need to get outside right now.

“I think... there’s something wrong with my eyes,” I say, and my arms are shaking as I pull the corners of the blanket around me more tightly. “You all look so... strange... to me.”

“Something’s wrong with your vision? Can you see anything at all?” It’s another voice--one that I sort of recognize. “Tell me how many lights you see.” She seems genuinely concerned. I turn to look in the direction of her voice, and I see a purple unicorn. There’s a single horn glowing softly on her forehead, and a shock of pink and purple hair splits an otherwise dark blue mane and tail. A red star adorns her flank. An orange pony with a blonde mane is sitting next to her, and she’s wearing... a cowboy hat? Her flank is marked with a bright red apple.

I feel queasy, like I’m going to vomit, and the urge to get outside is now both instinctual and overwhelming. I stand up and start staggering toward the door, and it feels like I’m moving in slow motion. I think I am moving in slow motion.

“Derek, please wait!” Fluttershy calls out softly. "Don't leave yet."

I turn back to her, and she looks afraid. But I am afraid. Not of her, specifically, but of all of this! From the corner of my vision, the orange pony lifts a coil of rope over her head and starts looping it, apparently ready to make good on her earlier promise. No, I can't stay! I can’t be trapped here! I’m almost within reach of the door! So close! If I can just keep moving--

The unicorn says, “Wait, Applejack, no need for that just yet. Let me get this.”

I’m almost within reach of the doorknob when something very strange happens: I literally begin floating off of the ground, and even though I’m scrambling for the door, I can’t gain any traction in midair.

When I cry out, there’s an edge of panic in my voice, my mind clumsily drawing up a name connected with the only brief moment of peace since my waking up to this horrible nightmare. “F-Fluttershy, help!”

Her response is immediate concern: “Twilight, what are you doing to him?!”

“Relax, Fluttershy,” she says calmly, “I promise I’m not hurting him.” Her horn is still glowing when she walks up to me--she stares appraisingly, and her voice is steady and soft, and deadly serious. “When I let go of this spell, you’re not going to run. You’re not going to scream. You’re not going to make any sudden moves, or else Applejack here is going to have you trussed up like an angry goat. Will you agree to that?” She smiles hopefully.

I glance over to Fluttershy, who’s biting her lower lip, nodding fervently at me. All of them are staring, and all of them are holding their breath. Eventually, I nod in resignation. I let out my own deep breath, exhausted and utterly bewildered.

The unicorn’s expression instantly softens, and her smile brightens. I’m still floating when she stands on her hind legs, gently presses a hoof to my shoulder and asks, “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

When i open my mouth to speak, my voice fails completely. I’m sure her touch was intended to be comforting, but instead it only amplifies my building anxiety. The question registers slowly: did she hurt me? Well, no, not technically. I shake my head in reply.

“Good! You don’t hurt us, and we won’t hurt you, heehee!" she laughs nervously before continuing. "I didn’t have much time to react, and levitation was the best spell I could think of. Fluttershy was telling the truth--you’re safe here as long as you don’t try anything stupid. And that includes running off--I don’t know how others in town would react to seeing a human here in Equestria. It might be dangerous for you. Our knowledge of humans is... sketchy."

I nodded.

"Okay, so, I guess introductions are in order. My name is Twilight Sparkle. And this is Applejack.” She gestures to the orange mare with the blonde mane, who’s now standing next to her, next to me.

Applejack smiles up at me, but it’s a cautious smile. “Hey there. No hard feelin’s, right?”

I shake my head. “N-no, no hard feelings.” My head is still whirling, but I can’t tell if it’s from slamming into the lake or--”Um, Twilight?”

“Yes?”

“Could you... maybe--”

“Ohmigosh, I’m so sorry!”

The glow from Twilight’s horn fades, and I slowly drift back to the floor. I’m thankful to be on solid ground, but my knees are wobbly, and I’m still having trouble with balance.

“Maybe you should sit down again, Derek,” Fluttershy offers, nudging the chair under me.

“Oh, thank you, Fluttershy.” My mind is finally working at full speed again, and the questions start coming in rapid fire now. I want to ask about Twilight Sparkle's glowing horn, and the levitation, but those questions seem trivial compared to what I really need to know. “What happened? Where am I? What am I doing here?” I barely manage to keep my voice from cracking. Keep it together. Can’t show weakness. They seem nice enough, though.

“Like I said, you’re in Equestria,” says Twilight, sitting on her flank. “And, honestly, we don’t know what happened, and we’re not sure why you’re here. Maybe you can help us figure that out. What’s the last thing you remember, before Rainbow Dash saved you?”

I shake my head, trying to recall--the details were already fading. “I don’t remember much. Last night, I went to sleep in my bedroom just like any other night. On Earth...” I pause, looking around to see if anyone is confused. They all nod, though perhaps with looks of slight incredulity.

“Yes, we know about Earth,” says Twilight. ”There are still a few books in my library that mention Earth and its inhabitants, but many of those stories have been written off as fiction. Until you showed up, humans were the stuff of pony tales. Some of the older archives--well let’s not worry about that just now, because I’ve interrupted you! Please go on. You were asleep in your bed on Earth, and then what happened?”

“And then I woke up... on a cloud.” As I say this, it sounds totally absurd. How could I have just slept through that? And how could I wake up on a cloud? Clouds aren’t solid. Although, I guess that was consistent with my experience, since I passed right through it.

“You must have been just above my roof, actually,” Rainbow Dash corrects. “And then I saw you fall from the roof right through my front porch.”

I think silently for a moment. “Why did you save me, anyway?”

“I dunno, I guess I just... reacted.” Her enormous eyes are avoiding mine, and I can tell she’s not being entirely honest. My train of thought is derailed by Twilight’s further inquiry.

“And that’s all you can remember?”

I nod, looking down. “I’m sorry. I really don’t remember any more than that. I think I must have been asleep when I...” I can’t bring myself to utter the words. I really am on another planet. The realization leaves me silent, and my heart starts beating faster, my breath growing shallow.

“It’s alright,” she says with a sympathetic frown. “Look, don’t panic just yet, okay? I’m certain that Princess Celestia will help us get to the bottom of this, and we’ll maybe even find a way to get you back home.”

When she says this, I don’t understand how a princess is going to get me out of this fix, but Twilight Sparkle’s confidence is encouraging. In fact, in that moment I was impressed by all of them--and the fact that they were sentient ponies somehow took back stage to my appreciation for their quick reactions and reasoning, without which I probably wouldn’t be alive. I was on another planet with little ponies that talk. Talking, intelligent ponies who saved my life. And they want to help me get home.

Pinkie

“Mmmmmm, this croissant sandwich is amazing!” I say through a mouthful of croissant sandwich. It has all the best qualities of both a croissant and a sandwich. I think all sandwiches should be prepared on croissants from now on. In fact, I’m not making finger sandwiches with plain old bread at my parties anymore, I’m making croissant--”

“Yes, but how am I supposed to enjoy it when I don’t know where our friends are?” Rarity’s sandwich is untouched, and she sighs. “They have never stood us up for brunch like this before. What if something bad has happened to them?” She raises her voice to shout, “Check please!”

“Are you gonna eat that?” I ask.

Rarity rolls her eyes. Her horn glows, and she levitates her sandwich over to my plate just as the waiter brings over the bill. I finish it in one bite, apparently offending Rarity.

“Manners, Pinkie,” she tsks, leaving eight bits on the table.

I wonder why they’re called bits. What are they bits of? A bite to eat, I guess.

“Come on, Pinkie Pie, let’s go find them. I suggest we stop by the library first.

Just as I reach up to open the door, Spike comes barreling out! “Ooof! Hey, where are you going in such a hurry? Putting out a fire somewhere? Or starting one? Heeheehee snrrrkt!”

“Oops! Sorry about that, Pinkie Pie,” Spike replies. “I really need to get this letter from Princess Celestia to Twilight! She wants to ren... rendez...”

“Rendezvous?” Rarity suggests.

“Bless you!” Spike says.

“No, rendezvous. it means she wants to meet with Twilight,” says Rarity, smiling at him.

“Oh!” Spike blushes, looks down, and shuffles his feet. “Well, she wants to meet Twilight later tonight in the library. This letter says something about a book here in Ponyville that’s not in the Canterlot archives.”

“The princess is coming here? Oooh, I’m baking a cake! I need balloons! We should stop at my house and pick up some balloons!”

“Perhaps we’d best worry about that later?” Rarity suggests.

“Aw, you’re no fun!”

Rarity

A human! In Equestria! I’ve been stood up for a human? Or perhaps this is one of Pinkie’s cruel tricks. My temper flares as I glower, first at Pinkie, then at Twilight, standing in Fluttershy’s doorway, and in that moment I just know that she must have something to do with this. “Twilight Sparkle!” I say, perhaps more forcefully than I intended, “Did you bring a human to Ponyville?”

Spike looks down sheepishly and says, “Oops, did I forget to mention that part?”

"Spike, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, I'd like you to meet Derek," she replies. "And I'm flattered that you think my magic is strong enough to open interplanetary gateways, but I honestly had nothing to do with this."

Pinkie Pie bounces up and down. "Pleased to meet you, Derek! I’ve never met a real live space alien before! Wanna be friends? Puh-leeeease?"

"Pleased to meet you, Pinkie Pie,” he chuckles. “And, I need all the friends I can get.”

“That’s super-terrific!” she squeals. “I’ll throw you a huge, space-alien party!”

“Here, Twilight,” Spike says, handing her a letter, “This came for you just a little while ago.”

I notice Derek’s smile fade when Spike begins talking--he appears to be somewhat alarmed. I wonder, has he never seen a dragon before?

Spike offers his hand and says “Nice to meetchya!” but Derek is understandably hesitant. I’m not sure I’d want to shake hands with Spike, either, at the moment--he looks like he’s been digging in the dirt again. Eventually, Derek offers a tentative hand, and Spike shakes it energetically.

Behind him, Twilight begins unrolling Celestia’s scroll and reads aloud, “Dear Twilight Sparkle, Message understood. Keep Spike nearby. Will reply soon. Celestia.” She rerolls the scroll and scowls. “Well, that’s not very helpful.”

Space alien or no, deserves a proper greeting. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Derek," I say with a modest curtsy. After my bow, I glance up at him, expecting a reply. Instead, he just stands there for a moment, staring at me--this is not altogether uncommon, when others first meet me, though he’s still staring, and it’s getting a bit awkward now. Okay, that’s really quite enough! Be calm, Rarity. I clear my throat with a very gentle “Ahem.”

"Uh... Oh! The pleasure is mine, my lady.” He bows, almost in time to cover a blush.

I pretend not to notice. “Why, thank you! It’s so delightful whenever I meet somepony who appreciates manners.” And in that moment I become painfully aware of the hideous scraps that are covering him. "Dear boy,” I ask, “What ARE you wearing? It's ghastly!"

Fluttershy's ears droop, and I know I’ve said something to hurt her feelings. Derek is quick to defend her. "My clothes were ah... soaked... so Fluttershy was kind enough to lend me this lovely blanket."

I’m concerned that my smile at Fluttershy appears insincere, but I can’t worry about that now. I’ve got a fashion crisis to deal with! I turn back to Derek and shake my head, offering my sweetest voice. "Oh, well, that’s very kind of her, but it simply won't do! I insist you come to my boutique straight away, so we can get you into some proper clothes."

"That's very kind of you, Miss Rarity, but I don’t have any money. And I wouldn't want to impose..."

“Hmph! Pinkie Pie and I have had brunch already. You were supposed to be joining us.” My tummy growls just then, perhaps giving away my feigned indignation. I suppose my ambitions will have to be put on hold.

“Oh, sorry about that, Rarity,” Fluttershy says. “I guess we lost track of time. I’ll make some sandwiches for those who haven’t eaten yet. Does that sound alright to you, Derek?”

“That sounds wonderful!” he says.

I’m not exactly impressed by Derek’s table manners, but then he has come from another world--perhaps he’s starving from the journey. It doesn’t take him long to finish the sandwich. Or the soup. Or the other sandwich.

"It's okay,” Fluttershy says, “Eat as much as you want, Derek."

He smiles and nods graciously.

After lunch, the others begin recounting how Rainbow Dash’s quick reflexes were responsible for seeing Derek safely to the ground. With attention to the table slowly ebbing, I slink my way toward the serving plate and grab a couple of sandwich halves for myself.

I hardly remember the short walk to my boutique--only that Derek insisted on recovering a tattered pair of shorts from the clothesline in front of Fluttershy’s cottage, and Twilight insisted on keeping the blanket over his head so that Ponyville’s residents wouldn’t recognize him as human. Hmmph! Running shorts! And ratty-looking at that. Even If he only sleeps in these, it is clear to me that this human has no fashion sense. While I’m considering different combinations of styles and colors, we’ve nearly arrived. I settle on the color palette just as we approach the door. Yes, I think... yes... red and blue...

"It's beautiful," Derek says, and I am flattered as the image begins to form in my mind. Oh, he means my home! Although I love my home, too, it isn’t something I ever think about. I spend most of my waking hours here, so its intrinsic beauty is never something that’s at the forefront of my mind. His stopping before the door gives me cause to appreciate it again, however. It is a rather elaborate, carousel-style building with ornate carvings everywhere. The round windows are my favorite feature--they’re decorated with gold-trimmed curtains, and they remind me somewhat of jeweled eggs.

He breaks the silence, asking, “You live here?”

"Live and work. And thank you, dear," I say, ushering them inside. I can hardly wait to get started! I set to work the moment we’re inside, walking past partially-outfitted models, using magic to lift a tailor's tape. Already, I know that this will be one of my finest creations! First order of business is to get that ridiculous blanket out of the way (mustn’t offend Fluttershy!)

“Let’s get some measurements, shall we?” When I walk over to him and try to lift the blanket away, I see a great scar along his right arm. I can’t hide my reaction--a subtle gasp--and I’m instantly loathing myself for my lack of professionalism. I’m not even sure anyone else heard me gasp. The effect is immediate, though: he throws the blanket back over his arm, drawing away sharply, shouting, "No!"

It's okay, Derek, she IS a professional seamstress,” Twilight reassures. “And I promise we won't watch, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

Unfortunately, Twilight didn’t see the scar, and her comment only deepens the crimson hue radiating through my countenance, reflected back at me from about a dozen different mirrors. For that brief moment, I wished my studio had fewer of them. I feel terrible about my mistake--most of my clients are anything but shy. In fact, I rather wished more of them would keep their clothes on! At any rate, in my eagerness to get started, I have not only violated my own high standards, I have violated his trust, and that is simply unacceptable. “Derek, I’m so very sorry!” He clearly doesn’t want anyone seeing that scar--covering for his violent reaction seems like the only sensible thing to do. “You must understand, many of my clients are far too eager to throw their clothes off the moment they walk through my doors, but I understand completely if you’re... a little shy. I’ll just work around the blanket, alright?” For a moment, our eyes lock. I offer up my best covershot-ready smile, and he slowly nods.

"What will you make for him?" asks Fluttershy, mercifully breaking the tension.

"Hmm, well since he is, as you all claim, a trans-dimensional tourist, I believe the appropriate dress is.... hmmm....” the solution strikes me like lightning. I know instantly what to do! My best pair of reading glasses helps me to refocus. I collect bolts of fabric, scissors, needles, thread, pins, scissors again!

I have no idea how much time has passed. I have been focused on my work, but the focus is starting to ebb, and Pinkie, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash are talking quietly together, while Twilight and Fluttershy keep asking Derek all of these annoying and mundane questions about Earth.

“Well, let’s see. According to our calendar, it’s the year 2012. Our civilization is...” he hesitates, “different from yours. Maybe a bit more technologically advanced, based on what I’ve seen.”

Pinkie Pie snickers and says, “You should tell him about your laboratory,Twilight.”

“Laboratory?” Derek asks.

Her eyes go wide for a moment, and she glares at Pinkie. “Never mind that! Go on.”

“Well, the one thing that never seems to advance is how people on Earth treat each other. You’ve all shown me such kindness--If any of you are a measure for the rest of Equestria, I’d say Earth has quite a bit of catching up to do.”

An awkward silence passes. He continues on, answering whatever questions they might have about his home world. Twilight seems especially interested in physics and astronomy--how dull! What I wouldn’t have given to see some fashion journals from his world! That would certainly make this process easier.

“Do you still enslave and ride around on ponies?” Fluttershy asks.

How inappropriate! Why would she ask such a thing?

“Well,” he begins, but hesitates, blushing, and drawing inward, throwing off one of my measurements over the sleeve length. Damn those mirrors! They’re positively radiating his blush back at him.

“I mean, that’s what they did...” Fluttershy’s voice trails off and becomes almost inaudible, “... in the... stories.”

“Well, most people have cars--uh, that’s a kind of mechanical transportation. But some people still... keep horses--they’re like very big ponies--as pets.”

“I’m sorry if I embarrassed you,” says Fluttershy. “I shouldn’t have asked.”

“No, it’s okay,” he says. “I guess it was a fair question. Hey, speaking of fair, what will happen to me if...” his voice trails off.

“Go ahead, Derek,” Fluttershy encourages, smiling earnestly. “You can ask us anything you’d like.”

“What will happen if I’m stuck here? I mean, I guess I don’t know where I stand. Am I going to end up as someone’s pet here?” He’s looking nervously between Twilight and Fluttershy.

“Well,” Twilight says, “I guess that depends on what Princess Celestia recommends. But don’t worry about that now. I’m sure she’ll find a way to get you home. She’ll probably want us to bring you to her castle in Canterlot, in the meantime.”

Ah, Canterlot! Most of my clients would be thrilled if I set up shop closer to their homes, but I can’t imagine leaving my friends. Just a few more stitches...

“You’re welcome to stay with me as long as you like in the meantime,” says Fluttershy, smiling brightly.

“Uh... thanks,” he says.

"Voila!" My creation is complete! And it is magnificent! A white button-down shirt with two flowers of red and blue wrapping around the front and back, khaki shorts, and a new pair of knit boxers, in green, to replace those awful rags he arrived in. "Ah, and we mustn't forget accessories." I glance up to one of the highest shelves and retrieve a tan hat, sunglasses, and a pair of brown flip-clops--oh dear, these things won’t fit him--he doesn’t have hooves! Well, perhaps I’ll figure out something later. The fit for everything else is easily some of my best work, despite even taking measurements through a blanket. Inspiration does bring out the best in me. Yes, Rarity, you’ve done it again!

Derek’s smile is genuine. "Rarity, how can I ever pay you back! They're wonderful!" When he throws his arms around me and hugs, I’m startled out of my wits, but only for a moment.

I flash a coy smile. "You can pay me back by letting me dress you for a formal occasion. If you’re ever invited to the Grand Galloping Gala, do come back to see me, and I promise you’ll ALL be wearing tails."

Moon

I can feel the moon once again, and I have nearly recovered all of my strength. Last night’s attempt was not a failure, I decide. Instead, it was a valuable learning experience! I have successfully learned how to navigate in space. The remaining tasks are to navigate time with more control, and to create a stronger link between the two worlds so that I can pass objects between them. I was too eager last time--too impatient. I must content myself to work more slowly and tackle these tasks independently. I can see the moon now--it is time to begin.

Once again, I channel energy into a pair of ribbons, winding them together in a tighter helix. Yes, this one feels much stronger than before! Still, this evening I will endeavor only to learn how to navigate time. I must be patient.

The helix is complete--it even looks like a proper horn, which once sat upon my head--the waves of time pass easily before me, and I think I must be looking backward into the past. How far? I am not sure. I need a reference! Twisting around through space, I once again brush up against the barrier of time--this wave is more difficult to pass through than the one before. But I have more control now, and the space beyond is beginning to take form. I can navigate the space now, and I am outside a village. I see a row of dimly lit shops--one of them has a horseshoe over its entrance. From another hangs a leather boot and a hat. What is this? This one looks promising--a clock face is painted above the door. Even though the door is closed, I can easily pass through into the room beyond. I am not alone here--there is a man standing behind a bench, hunched over something. I think it is made of gold!

I glide closer to the golden object. The man stops what he is doing and looks up. He can see me! He is afraid! He drops the object, and it falls to the bench, splitting open. He runs upstairs and out of the room, and I am alone with the glittering object. It is a pocket watch. I read the inscription on the back, and I am giddy in my success! I must take this prize! This will be my trophy, my inspiration to reclaim my freedom! I concentrate harder, pressing the ribbons against the barrier. It snaps open, and I have passed through! With my magic, I reach out and maneuver the locket through the rift in time, in space, and I levitate it back toward me. I can see Equestria below me! The locket is here in Equestria! I’ve done it!

Wait! Something is wrong! There is a great rushing wind, and I cannot hold the locket against the wind. I can’t hold it! The wind carries it away, and it is gone.

Darkness. Stillness. I have failed again, and the fatigue is overwhelming. Where my eyes would be, I feel a burning sting, and I know that tears would be falling if I had any to give. I was so close! But I have learned. I have made progress. So close! There is work to be done. I mustn’t allow anyone to interfere. I must be free.

Twilight

The sun had just dipped below the horizon when I notice Rainbow Dash gazing through one of the boutique’s windows at something in the distance.

“That’s strange,” she says. "There weren't supposed to be any storms scheduled for today's forecast." She’s watching a storm cloud rolling in opposite the sun.

A second later, Spike coughs, and a scroll appears in a puff of smoke, unrolling right in front of my nose!

"Dear Twilight Sparkle," I read aloud, "The approaching storm was not authorized by Cloudsdale, and it is therefore not safe. Forgive my delayed reply--I wanted to do some additional research, but our library does not contain the volume I was looking for. I need you to locate Weather or Not by M. S. Starfall, and I believe it is part of your collection in Ponyville. The storm and the presence of the human may be related, and the book will have the answers. Get to the library if you can do so safely, and I'll meet you there as soon as I am able. Keep the human safe, and do not delay! The storm appears to be moving very quickly.

Urgently,

Princess Celestia"

From the corner of my vision, I see Pinkie Pie twitch suddenly, and she squeals. A moment later, a piercing flash casts the interior of the boutique in a ghostly white, and a slow, rolling thunder sends tremors through the walls.

"Oh my!" Fluttershy cries out timidly.

"That storm doesn't sound too good at all," says Applejack. “We'd better get a move on."

"You all go on without me," says Rarity. "I've got plenty of work to do if Derek is to have more clothes for the next couple of days. Come back tomorrow morning, and I’ll have another outfit ready. Probably rain gear, at this rate."

"Okay, thanks so much, Rarity," I say, "I’m sure Derek appreciates it. We’ll see you tomorrow.” I turned to face him. “Shall we go?"

“Rarity, wait, he says. “I want to pay you back. If there’s anything I can do to help--”

“Grand Galloping Gala,” she says with a dismissing wave. “Formal!” she repeats, focusing again on her sewing machine with what appeared to be a yellow, water-repellant material.

I’m about to insist that Derek cover up with the blanket again, but I don’t have to, because the weather conditions are deteriorating rapidly, he’s using the blanket as a makeshift umbrella, and the streets are completely deserted. It’s only sprinkling, but the storm cloud is so dark, I’m afraid it will begin pouring any second. As if driven by my very fears of a rapid turn, the wind suddenly blasts through the center of Ponyville, drawing a curtain of rain in around us. The gust lifts Applejack’s hat over her head, and Derek quickly grabs onto it before the gust can carry it away.

“Why thank you, pardner,” she says.

He smiles, hunkering beneath the now-soaked blanket.

Another gust kicks up again, and it’s so strong that Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy are having trouble keeping their wings under control. “Everyone down!” I say.

The rain pelts my back, soaking through my mane and coat, but the gust quickly dies back. Five, six, seven--good, we’re all here, and we’re able to move again. Well, mostly--with the blanket flapping wildly about, Derek is bracing himself against the wind, and he’s squinting as he comes up next to me.

“So does the weather always turn this quickly in Equestria?” he shouts against the heavy rain.

“No!” I shout back.

Just then, something golden and round falls to the path, rolling up to Derek, where it lies open against his toes. He reaches down to pick it up. I just barely have time to glance at the inscription on the back before he pockets it. On the back of it is an etching: “Switzerland 1902.”

“What is that, Derek?” I ask.

“It’s... a pocket watch,” he replies, “From Earth.” He frowns in concentration, but Pinkie Pie cringes again, and another lightning bolt sparks along a tree nearby, its blue-white arc spiralling down the trunk and traveling a few inches along the ground. Although the tree does not catch fire, it is clearly scorched, and the air is heavy, with an eerie, unnatural odor that accompanies the ionized atmosphere. There Ponyville skyline is all around us, but it’s clear that we still need to get inside, to safety.

Lightning dances all around us, and it’s all I can do to stay collected--I love watching storms, and this would have been beautiful were we not caught out in the middle of it. Apart from Fluttershy’s periodic squeals of terror, and Pinkie’s tremors, no one speaks for the rest of the walk home. I manage to keep us away from the trees, and close to the low houses, wherever possible. Rarely have I been so happy to see my home.

I throw open the library door using magic, insisting that everyone else is safe inside before going in myself. It hardly seems necessary, but I flip over the door sign to the side that reads “closed.” I slam the door shut, slumping to the floor. I am tired. I am wet. And I am cold.

“This weather is awful,” I say, shaking the water out of my mane, wiping my hooves on the floor mat. “Would anyone like some hot tea?”

Hands and hooves are up all around, and I instantly have my work cut out for me. They’re all soaking wet, too, and tiny pools of rainwater are collecting on the floor wherever they sit.

“Hoh... kay, LOTS of tea, coming right up.” Just as I started for the kitchen, I thought I caught a glimpse of Spike going over to the fireplace. Good idea--that will help everyone dry faster. I remembered a special tea that Zecora had given me one night to help Spike sleep better, and there’s plenty of it left over. I’d been practicing making water freeze and boil with magic, but I couldn’t do an entire kettle all at once yet--I had to settle for one cup at a time, and by the time I went back into the main room, there was already a crackling fire in the hearth.

“Thanks, Spike, that feels wonderful!” I say. He smiles as I levitate the first cup of tea to him.

But as I set down the tray with the rest of the tea, Pinkie’s tail does some more weird things again--I swear she’s faking it--until the lightning strikes. When the thunder reports, it’s so loud that Derek throws an arm around the nearest thing to him--which happens to be Fluttershy, who, coincidentally, has done exactly the same thing with her wing. They glance sheepishly at each other and then look down, pulling away.

“Glad to see you two are coping,” I laugh. “Here, I think this will help. Something special to calm the nerves, courtesy of Zecora.” I levitate each of the remaining glasses carefully, so as not to burn anyone.

“I think we’re all sleepin’ here tonight if this storm don’t let up,” says Applejack, taking the tea thankfully. Outside, the wind was howling over the boughs of the library, making the old timbers creak and groan.

“Oh boy!” says Pinkie Pie. “It’s party time! I’m baking cookies!”

"Can we have dinner first?"

“Great idea! I’ll bake a quiche before the cookies!” Pinkie says.

At some point, Pinkie had carefully set a slice of quiche next to my reading table, but I had only taken a few bites. There’s a plate of chocolate chip cookies being passed around, too, but I didn’t feel like having any cookies. I must have been reading for about half an hour or so, when Derek finally speaks to me.

“Anything useful?” he asks in between bites of cookie.

“Not yet!” I try to sound cheerful in my reply--I didn’t want to do anything that might upset him more--but my frustration was probably obvious by now.

“Hey, why don’t you give her another look at that gizmo you found outside,” says Applejack.

“What gizmo? Oh, you mean the pocket watch?” Derek says, looking up.

“I was wondering about that,” I say.

“I almost forgot about it,” says Derek. He lifts the gold watch out of his shirt pocket and lays it face open on the table in front of me.

“It’s beautiful,” I say, levitating it and marveling at the craftsmanship. “And clearly not from Equestria.”

“That’s not the weird part,” says Derek. “Well, not the weirdest, part, anyway. Look at the date on the back.”

I spin it around and look again at the inscription on the back. “1902,” I say. Then I did the math. “So according to your calendar, that would make it more than a hundred years old.”

“And there’s hardly a mark on it,” Derek says. “Even if someone took really good care of it--”

“Gold is a soft metal,” I realize. “You would expect to see some hairline scratches on it. Or at least some tarnishing.”

“Exactly,” he says.

“Which means this really was brought forward in time from the past.”

“I don’t know how physics works here in Equestria,” he says, “But on Earth, objects don’t time travel like that.”

“It’s not exactly commonplace here, either. Thank you for showing this to me, Derek.” I float the watch back to him, and he stuffs into his shirt pocket. “I’m still not clear how this fits in, but what is clear is that there are supernatural forces at work.” I started to fear for him. For all of us, really. There were strange forces at work, and his presence here wasn’t a good sign. But I decided not to say anything more. I take a deep breath and try to clear away any feelings of anxiety. I looked at my cup of tea, untouched, and sighed. I don’t feel like relaxing. And I definitely won’t be sleeping well tonight.

The storm has finally settled into a steady, pouring rain, and bedtime is approaching. Spike helps me gather every sleeping bag, pillow, cushion, and blanket I own into neat rows front of the fireplace. Applejack offers to tell everyone a story, and even though I feel like we’re a bit old for that (except for Spike), no one objects. It’s fortunate that Applejack opts to sit in a rocking chair, because I’m short by exactly one bedroll. The story is about a little filly who grows up on a farm and dreams of living in the big city. She spends most of her life wishing for a lifestyle that she doesn’t have. And when she finally moves to the city, she isn’t any happier. In the end, she moves back to the farm to be with her family. Her story was probably intended to be a story for little children, but no one silences her. It sounds familiar to me--a variation on her own biographical snippet that she’s shared with us in the past. It wasn’t unlike my own story. There are still times when I miss Canterlot and want to return, to spend more time with my family, and with Princess Celestia, but I know my place is here in Ponyville, with my friends.

Applejack’s story has worked its magic: the other ponies have already fallen asleep on the pile of cushions and blankets, and I, too, am about to faceplant in a stack of books that I had accumulated. I would have gone up to my bed, but I felt like it would have been rude to do so, so I decide to curl up on the far edge of Spike’s blanket, away from the fire. Spike curls up with me, and I smile, happy that everyone is here together, safe. Princess Celestia will be here in the morning. She’ll invite us back to Canterlot and figure out a way to send Derek home. Everything will work out.

“Thanks for the story, Applejack,” Derek says.

“Sure thing, hon,” Applejack replies softly. “Guess we should get some shut-eye, ourselves, huh? Sleep tight.” She yawns and slumps back in the rocking chair, pulling her hat down over her eyes.

Derek takes up an empty space remaining between Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. In less than a minute, he’s snoring. Eventually, I too fall asleep to the sound of Spike’s steady breathing, and the last crackling embers of the fire.

Derek

“Jeffrey, hurry up!” My little brother is sitting next to me at the table, and he hasn’t finished his mashed potatoes. He just keeps picking at them.

“If he isn’t hungry, he doesn’t have to finish,” says mom. She was always defending him like that. I always had to finish my dinner, even if it was later that evening.

“Anyway, we’re going to be leaving for the show soon, so get your things together, both of you.” She heads back into the bedroom to finish getting ready to go.

Jeffrey picks up a fork full of mashed potatoes, and it looks like he’s about to fling it across the room.

“Oh no ya don’t!” I grab the fork and plate away from him. He silently crinkles his face and starts pounding the table.

“Ugh! When are you going to grow up?”

I plunge the dirty dishes into the sink, grab my coat from the closet. When I step out the door, I’m suddenly on the back of a coal-dust colored pegasus. Its form is occluded, wraith-like, and little wisps of black smoke swirl and flow about its skin beneath me. We glide over a darkened meadow on the edge of a forest and touch down in what looks like some kind of arena. Black and purple banners hang from large poles on both sides of the field. Across from me, a knight pulls down the face guard on a blackened helm. He sits atop a pegasus that is a mirror image of mine. His plate armor matches, gleaming like obsidian in the bright moonlight. I reach up and close my helm, grabbing a jousting lance and bringing my pegasus up to the railing that splits the lanes. For a moment, I’m uncertain if I’m staring into a mirror--or even which side I’m staring from--our movements are matched perfectly, and the image is completely disorienting. Without warning, both pegasi suddenly charge toward each other. He lifts his lance. His pegasus leaps, flying toward us. I can only do the same. Our lances collide violently, splintering like glass and sending shards flying around us in a dazzling whiteout. A deep gash is torn in my arm, and it’s searing with pain! And then, the white turns to black.

I awaken with a violent jolt. My heart is pounding, and a bead of sweat rolls over my forehead as I lay there, staring up at the ceiling. I cradle my arm, which is stinging with pain and numbness, though it doesn’t look any different this morning. The fire has died down to a single ember, but the rain still pours heavily onto the roof, occasionally lashing the windows with a shower of drops, and I am shivering in the cool room. I hear a low voice, humming a soft lullaby, and then a wing, yellow and warm, covers my shoulders and pulls me close with a gentle tug.

“Don’t worry little bird,” mumbles Fluttershy, seemingly caught up in a dream of her own, “You’re safe now. In a few days, when the sun comes up, I’ll take you home to your nest and you’ll be good as new. Oh! Princess Luna, you startled me! I was just...” The rest of her words are unintelligible, and after a moment of mumbled conversation, she resumes humming the lullaby. It’s an uncanny coincidence, the timing of our dreams, but her voice and touch are nonetheless comforting. To my right, Rainbow Dash is breathing steadily. Her back is to me, but I can see the gentle rise and fall of her chest. She looks so small and fragile curled up like that. And yet it was because of her quick reflexes and courage that I am still alive. And I might have frozen to death if Fluttershy hadn’t stepped in to help when she did. A cocktail of sensations washes over me: the crippling fear and tension from the dream mixes and blends with the warm and peaceful tones of Fluttershy’s song. And finally, what effects still remain from the tea guide me back to sleep.

End of Book 1

Book 2

Man o’ the Moon: Book 2

Twilight

It’s early morning, and the rain has finally died down to a light sprinkle, though the sun has not risen yet. Spike is curled up against my left rear ankle, and the soft scales of his tail are curled around my right. I don’t want to wake him now, but despite my best efforts to move slowly, he opens his eyes and blinks rapidly.

“What?” he asks softly. “Oh, good morning, Twilight.”

“Morning, Spike,” I whisper, trying not to wake the others. I had hoped the extra reading last night would help me sleep, but instead, it has had the opposite effect. My mind is racing, and I feel compelled to learn more, and find a way to get Derek home. “I’d like to get in a bit more studying before Celestia arrives.”

Spike nods, eyes half-lidded, and grabs a candle from the mantle, lighting it for me with his breath.

“Thanks,” I whisper, following him quietly into the kitchen with my book. Through the doorway, I can see him trembling suddenly—his candlelight casts an enormous shadow against the kitchen wall, with great wings, and an enormous head, looming. He drops the candle, but it doesn’t hit the floor—instead, it hovers and reassembles on the counter. I see the white glow of a horn, and I open my mouth to scream but find that my voice is completely gone! Reeling away, I lose my footing and fall hard on my flank.

Princess Celestia is in my kitchen! Standing behind my counter! The glow softens, and she raises a hoof to her mouth, indicating for us to be quiet. I immediately drop to my knees, but she walks over to me and touches my shoulder, smiling and shaking her head.

“Thanks Twilight, but there’s no time for that,” she whispers, smile fading a bit. “I apologize for startling you. And I apologize again for the spell of silence. But I couldn’t risk waking the others. Listen to me—and this is very important—would you please open the book I asked about and read the last page on chapter nine? Quietly, please. I really don’t have time for a commotion right now.”

I center myself on my four hooves again and nod, channeling energy through my horn to lift the book and open it to the correct page. I clear my throat and begin reading softly, “Atmospheric water vapor condenses and forms into clouds whenever there is a significant drop in temperature or air pressure.”

“Huh?” whispers Spike, hoarsely, as if Celestia’s spell hasn’t quite worn off yet. “What does that have to do with Derek being here?”

“Keep reading,” prompts Celestia. “I need to verify what I remember seeing before.”

“In the modern world, Equestria’s weather has been largely serviced by the pegasi of Cloudsdale, who collect water and form or scatter clouds to replenish the landscape. However, other storm systems have been observed following disruptive natural phenomena, such as a volcanic eruptions or forest fires, and also following supernatural phenomena, such as strong magical spells, or at the opening of gateways to other worlds, which can trigger severe pressure differentials (see Weather or Not Appendix, Volume II). The resulting weather systems...”

My voice falters because the solution is so obvious, and I feel foalish for not having considered this before. I glance over at the pocketwatch, crafted many decades earlier but still in mint condition. Time warping is powerful magic. This just couldn’t have been some random phenomenal occurrence. “This wasn’t an accident,” I realize aloud.

Celestia’s silent nod is a prompt for me to continue.

“Something—or somepony—is intentionally opening gateways between Equestria and Earth. And manipulating time?”

“A very reasonable conclusion, Twilight, and consistent with my intuition as well,” whispers Celestia. “But I wanted to hear your thoughts before I came to my own conclusions.”

“But...” Spike asks, “what about yesterday morning, when Derek was actually brought here? Why didn’t we get a storm then?”

“That’s a very good question, Spike,” I say, considering. “Hmmmm. Well... let’s think about what would have been different. In order for that to happen, the air pressure between the worlds must have been at or near equilibrium. Ah, of course! Derek appeared high up in the atmosphere, but last night’s storm—”

“Quite near the surface,” Celestia confirms in a whisper. “That’s straight from the weather scouts’ reports. According to them, last night’s storm origin was in the canyons, right over the Everfree Forest.”

My head is spinning. I know what’s coming, and I briefly feel sick to my stomach as Celestia continues.

“Twilight, I wish I could help you, I really do, but I’ve been putting out fires all over Equestria,” she says with a sigh. “I mean literally putting out fires—the lightning started them. Trees are blocking the rail lines all the way from Ponyville to Canterlot, and some of the roads have washed out where they were hit by the heavy rains. And I still have to dispatch a full support unit to Cloudsdale before sun up to assist with the cleanup efforts there—many homes there were torn apart by the strong winds.” She levitates a scroll toward me and sets it on a nearby counter. “This map was drawn up by my field scouts. The storm’s approximate origin is marked with a circle. I want you to bring the others and investigate.” She hesitates for a moment and then adds, “And you should bring the Elements with you.”

“The elements?! W-what are we going to find?”

“It’s a prudent step,” Celestia says measuredly. “I do have some ideas about what you will encounter,” she admits, “But you’re a mare of evidence, not conjecture, and I don’t want to raise any unnecessary alarms. ‘Trot slowly in tall grass,’ as they say. Wouldn’t you agree?”

I nod.

“I want you to bring the human boy, too.”

“Derek? But I thought you wanted him kept safe.”

For a moment, she looks uncertain, or perhaps merely lost in thought, looking up at the ceiling. “The ancients used to say that wherever disease is encountered, the cure can be found nearby. Derek is part of the problem—I believe he has a role to play in its solution .” She looks down and levels her gaze with me. “To be quite honest, I can’t think of any safer place than right by your side.”

It’s a compliment. A tremendous compliment and an affirmation of my previous triumphs over adversity. But things are different this time, with the fate of an intelligent, extra-equestrial being in my hooves. My emotions run a dizzying course, from curiosity over the strange set of events, to anger for not getting the help I need from Princess Celestia, to fear of the unknown. My vision blurs a bit with the beginnings of a few tears, and Celestia leans her head down, so that she is looking me straight in the eye. She almost never does this.

“Twilight,” she says, gently, “Remember, you are never alone.”

From behind me, Spike squeezes my leg and smiles. I smile back at him. I remember the challenges that my friends and I had all faced before. Challenges we’d confronted—and triumphed over—together. “Right. That’s right! Okay, Princess, we’ll—” Glancing back over the counter again, I see that Celestia is gone. And so are any feelings of confidence that I once held. I glance down, realizing that I’m wringing my hooves. I have no idea what we’re up against, and Celestia was not particularly helpful. I know, of course, that all of my friends will have faith in me—they would follow me into the deepest and darkest pits of Tartarus if I asked them to. They would understand. But I do not know Derek, and I can’t risk his being unwilling to come with us.

“Oh, Spike, how in Equestria am I going to do this?”

“That’s easy!” he says, drawing a claw upwards along the map in a zig-zagging motion, “We’ll just follow the old forest road up to—”

“No, you silly dragon! I mean how am I going to convince Derek to come with us? We might be wandering in the forest for days before we even find anything unusual, and that whole time we’ll be completely exposed to timberwolves, 3-headed cockatrices, and Celestia-knows-whatever-else is out there! Even with Nightmare Moon out of the way—” My breath catches, and I can’t finish the sentence.

“Twilight? Are you okay?”

“Oh no!”

“What?”

“Nooo, no-no-no-no-no. It can’t be. It can’t be! I’m sure it’s not.”

I hold the map close and take another look at the circle and let go a deep breath in relief. The red circle is on the old forest road, but it’s well beyond the castle ruin.

“What is it?” Spike asks, throwing his arms in the air.

“It’s nothing. False alarm. But I do wish Princess Celestia had given me more information. Why would she want me to bring the Elements of Harmony? And what am I going to tell Derek? I don’t even know what we’re looking for—this red circle on the map probably covers a hundred square miles of forest and canyons.”

Just then, the kitchen door swings open, and I whip around, hoping it won’t be Derek. I’m greatly relieved to see that it’s just Applejack.

Applejack

“What’s with all the whoopin’ and hollerin’ in here?” I can almost feel the tension when I step into the kitchen. I don’t like that look in Twilight’s eye. She gets like this, sometimes, and I know trouble’s not far ahoof.

Her glare softens, she takes a deep breath, and explains, “Celestia was here in my kitchen just a few moments ago.”

“Yore kiddin’! The Princess was here? Does this have somethin’ to do with the human boy?”

“Yes, exactly! Celestia wants us to investigate the origin of the storm, in the Everfree Forest. And she wants us to bring Derek with us.”

That didn’t sound good. Downright nuts, in fact, to bring Derek with us. “Well heck, the boy’s only got two legs, an’ he probably can’t run for—”

“And she said we should bring the elements, too,” Twilight interrupts. “Just in case.”

The thought o’ them timberwolves sets my knees quiverin’. Celestia-knows-what else we’re gonna find out there. ‘Cept that’s just the problem, ain't it? Celestia don’t know! “The elements?! Gosh, Twi, are ya shore about this? The forest is dangerous! What if we run into timberwolves? Or worse?”

“It’s a risk we have to take if we want to get to the bottom of this. But I don’t know what to tell Derek. I mean, I’m not even sure exactly what we’re looking for.”

“Ya mean the princess didn’t tell ya?”

“No. She just gave me this map. See? This red circle right here marks the storm’s origin.”

“Wish I could help ya, sugarcube, but I ain’t never been that far out along the old forest road before. I got no idea what yer lookin’ for.”

“Unfortunately, that makes two of us.”

“You mean, that makes three of us!” says Pinkie, swinging the door wide.

Pinkie

I listened to the whole story. Well, most of the story. Okay, some of the story. The important parts, anyway: Everfree Forest, something about gateways. Elements. Sounds like an adventure to me. That’s more Dashie’s style, but I’m up for it. It’ll be fun! Maybe we can even party it up with Zecora! I wonder what Zecora’s up to, in her tree. Her tree in the forest. Hmmmmmm, the forest has berries in it. I love berries! I hope breakfast is soon, ‘cause I’m starving! Then I realize something.

“Wait, the Elements?!”
“Shh!” shushes Twilight. “Not so loud!”

“What’re we gonna find in there? It can’t be Nightmare Moon again—we defeated her already. Discord? I just saw him in the gardens a week ago. Hard as a rock!” Ha! Moon. Rock. Moonrock. Snnrkt! Hey, why is my tail twitching?

“Pinkie, this is serious!” Twilight glares. “Celestia didn’t actually tell us what we’d find. She just said that we should go there and investigate.”

“Oki doki loki!”

She lifts an eyebrow at me. “Wait, you’re not going to lecture me about the insanity of going into the forest?” She then flashes a nervous glance at Applejack, and back to me.

“No, of course not,” I say. “I’m sure you’ve already come to a sensible conclusion after carefully considering what will happen when we go up against Nnn—hey, are we going to have breakfast? I’M STARVING!”

“Wait, what did you just say?” Twilight’s head twitches rapidly, as if she were suddenly trying to shed an insect. Ha! That’s funny! Her mane goes all frazzled when she does that.

“Breakfast?”

She sighs. “Uhhh.... right. Okay. Breakfast.”

The kitchen is suddenly bathed in a brilliant, flickering, turquoise hue as Dashie floats in and yawns, her fluttering wings barely clearing the door frame. She’s so pretty! I wish I had wings like that. I would love to fly around the way she does. And find some pickle barrels. Hmmm, pickle barrels. Pickle barrel cupcakes. Pickle barrel kumquat cupcakes!

“What’s for breakfast?” Dashie says.

Derek

I awaken to aerosolized oil and butter and cinnamon and apples. It smells like Saturday. My mother often used to make apple-filled pancakes on weekends, and I knew that’s what was cooking. It might even be Saturday, I can’t remem—

I open my eyes and bolt upright suddenly with a flood of new memories, realizing that I’m not home. It smells like home, but I am definitely not home. I wonder if I’ll ever see home again, or my parents, or even my annoying little brother. I’m not dreaming. I’m really here, and this is really happening—a quick glance around the room confirms that much. Like Fluttershy’s cottage, this dwelling has been carved into a hollowed-out tree. But unlike Fluttershy’s cottage, there are bookshelves lining all of the walls. Stairs lead up to a mezzanine, and down to a basement (I wonder if that leads to Twilight’s “laboratory.” Actually, I think I’d prefer not to know). There are smaller doorways leading to other rooms as well. An old horseshoe hangs over the fireplace, and in the middle of the room is a table with a horse’s head, on which several books are either open or stacked one on top of the other. Theoretical Magic: The Fourth Dimension; Quantum Entanglement for Ponies; Historical Accounts of the Everfree Forest. It occurs to me how incredibly lucky I am—if a way could be found to get me home, surely Twilight would be the one to discover it. Never mind this “Princess Celestia,” whoever she was. It’s when I finish taking in the rest of the room that I notice a great owl sits atop a low perch. It's staring at me. It looks like it's stuffed, but suddenly it fluffs its feathers, opening its eyes and then slowly allowing them to drift closed again. A brief thought of escape passes through my mind. But where would I go? Fluttershy’s lullaby starts playing over again in my mind, and I catch myself humming. My arm itches briefly, and I reach down to scratch it. A bird flutters by the window, casting a shadow through the sun’s morning rays.

Twilight arrives from the kitchen holding a tray full of food in a halo of pink magic. There are three apple-filled pancakes and some strawberries and what looks like a glass full of pulpy orange juice. And it looks amazing.

“I hope this is enough food,” says Twilight.

“Wow! That’s... just like my mom makes them.” It’s uncanny. Even the presentation. How could our worlds be so alike when they are so different? “Thank you, Twilight.”

“Oh, well, to be perfectly honest, I had no idea you would like them. It was Pinkie Pie’s idea—”

“No, not just the pancakes. I mean for... well... thank you for everything. You all have been so kind to me, and—”

Twilight’s face momentarily contorts with a pained expression, and she sets the tray down next to me.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.

“It’s been a... stressful morning,” she says. “I just had a visit from Princess Celestia.”

“While I was asleep? Is anything exciting ever going to happen to me while I’m awake?”

She chuckles at my joke, but it’s nervous laughter. “Heehee! You mean like falling from the sky? Well... uh, to be fair, everyone else was asleep, too, actually, except for Spike and me. Celestia was in quite a hurry this morning, so we actually just exchanged a few bits of information before she had to take off again to deal with the storm cleanup efforts.”

“So did you stumble on any clues? Like maybe how to get me home?” I’m scarfing on some bits of apple pancakes and washing them down with a hearty swig of OJ. The food is familiar, and intensely comforting.

She bites her lip. “Well... yes. But it might be a little bit... dangerous.”

“Dangerous how?”

“We have to go into the Everfree Forest.”

“It sounds lovely,” I say through a mouthful, savoring the last few bites of pancake. “So what is it that makes this forest so dangerous? Are the trails washed out? Are there bears? Wolves?” I didn’t have much trail experience, but these all sounded like very mundane challenges, relative to, say, being on another planet.

She nods rapidly, then she says in a high and tense voice, “Probably all of those things.”

“Hmm,” I consider, “Okay, so what’re we looking for, exactly?”

She levitates a map over to me and unrolls it in a pink glow, and having seen this telekinetic ability a few times now, I’m not even unnerved—it just seems normal to me now.

“Celestia’s field scouts identified this region as the storm’s origin.” She proceeds to explain to me what she’d found in the book, and how an interdimensional gateway might trigger the kind of storm that just blew over.

“I see. I guess that would explain a severe weather disruption.” Science was always something that intuitively made sense to me, and in this world full of so many things that seemed nonsensical, it is comforting to talk about the things that our worlds have in common. I actually smile, and she smiles with me, and it is an earnest smile.

“I can't make any promises, but this might be your way home... So... will you come with us?” she asks hopefully.

I nod, finishing my last bites of food and tilting the bottom of my glass up to get the last drops of juice from it. “Okay, sure. Well, I mean it’s the only lead we’ve got, right?”

“Really? I mean... you have
they were behind a fence in a zoo, but—”

“Wonderful!” she says, clapping her hooves together. “And look at it this way—there will be eight of us, including Spike, so I’m sure that if we stick together, we can fend off any... um... animals... that might try to attack us.”

“How long will it take us to get there?”

“Well if all goes well, a couple days or so, at most,” she says, walking over to a bookshelf and retrieving one of the larger volumes.

“What’s in that book?” I ask. It looks particularly ornate and must have been something of great importance at one time.

“Oh, just some gems for the road,” she says, stuffing it into a saddlebag hanging from the railing of the stairwell. The other ponies start to file in from the kitchen, still listening to Pinkie Pie, who was apparently in the middle of concluding a joke.

“And theeeeen, she said, ‘I think so, but how are we going to carry that much cream cheese?’” They all laugh, and she snorts.

Rarity

I must have overslept, because Opal is nuzzling me and meowing very loudly. I’m loathe to lift my sleep shade because I know the sun is going to be much higher overhead than I would like it to be. I stayed up waaay too late working. By the time I’d finished the rain gear, it had nearly stopped raining, and then the yellow slickers just didn’t seem appropriate. And neither did the sweatshirt, or the trousers, or the hiking shoes, or the... well, at least he’ll have a week’s worth of clothing now.

“Ouch! Will you stop that!” Apparently Opal decided that I’ve waited too long, because she's biting my ear. I love her, really I do, but it is the weekend after all, and a little extra sleep isn’t too much to ask, is it?

“Alright, ALRIGHT!” I sit up, stretch, and walk over to window, opening it up for Opal to go outside. On the way back to bed I pass by the vanity: I hate how my mane and tail fall out of place overnight, even while sleeping on the silkiest linens that Canterlot has to offer. Oh well, nothing that a shower and a few hundred brush-strokes can’t fix.

Water temperature just below scalding...perfect! Loofah, body wash, body gel, shampoo, conditioner, all good. My horn seems a bit rough today; I’ll definitely have that looked over extra carefully in the spa. I step onto the stream of water, and a hot wave of bliss spreads through my mane, down my shoulders, back, thighs and tail. Last night's tension is literally washing down the drain, and it feels exquisite. I look forward to a long soak in the hot tub later today at the spa. With a deep breath, I inhale the marvelous aroma of my new shampoo and conditioner—they're like apple blossoms! Not too strong, but if somepony happens to be standing beside me—hmm I think the loofah is too rough this morning; I'll use the soft sponge instead, cleaning the folds of my ears, nose, eyes, and my belly. I just don't know how ponies manage any of this without magic. I feel so sorry for them. I could stay here forever, but I must get on with my day.

Hmm, that's strange: my ringspun cotton bath robe just doesn’t seem as soft as it used to be. Maybe it’s time to switch to bamboo from the forests of Ponri-La.

I step out of the shower, begrudgingly, squeezing excess water from mane and tail. After a thorough thrice-over with the blow-dryer, I use hoof powder, moisturizer, a detangling comb, and finally the brush. Alright, here we go: 200. 199. 198...

Three... two... one... one... one, ONE already! That last curl in my tail is so hard to get just right. There. Now then, let’s see just how well you’ve done, Rarity.

My full length mirror just doesn’t seem to cut it. I’ll have to remember to bring up one of my three-panel mirrors from the studio. There are too many down there anyway, as I discovered yesterday. Oh! Oh dear, is that somepony knocking? Already? Don’t they know it’s a weekend? Don't they know I'm not ready?

A muted voice drifts up the stairwell, “Rarity, open up!”

My goodness, Twilight sounds desperate! It must be an emergency! I wonder, does she need a dress for an event tonight? I wasn’t invited to any events this evening. Why wasn't I invited? I should be there, after all.

“RARITY!”

“I’ll be right down!” I shout down the stairwell. Really, I haven’t even had my tea this morning. It is a bit rude for her to be braying on the door at this hour—well I guess I did get up a bit later than usual. When I eventually open the door, Twilight Sparkle walks straight in, followed by a parade. Well, not really a parade, it just feels like one. All of my friends are with her, and the human boy is here, too. I do hope he likes his new clothes.

“Good morning, Rarity!” Twilight says merrily.

“Um, good morning, Twilight. I was just about to make some tea—”

“Oh, there’s no time for that!” she replies, somewhat hastily. She seems a bit tense. I think a trip to the spa is surely in order now—I know that’s certainly what I want. And she certainly could stand to relax a bit. And now I think I want coffee.

“There’s always time for a morning beverage,” I say. I can feel my eyes narrowing, but I’ve kept my tone even and civil. And I decided in that moment that I want my hooves done, and a mud bath, and a massage with hot stone therapy. And cappuccino instead of coffee. Yes, I think I'll go to Madam Espresso's house for cappuccino this morning.

Twilight’s ears droop, and I feel bad now. And I finally notice something else that’s strange: she looks like she’s dressed for an expedition, and so are all of the others. They look a bit like Daring Do, that silly character from Twilight’s novel series. Is it time for the dragon migration already? I certainly don’t want to go for a hike today! After working all night, I just want somepony to rub my shoulders! Twilight reaches back to her saddlebag and lifts the flap, showing me—

“Oh my!” I would, of course, recognize that book anywhere. It’s the book with the Elements in it, and I know something is terribly, terribly wrong. And yet Twilight is smiling, a little too eagerly, and she looks a bit nervous, too—maybe desperate, even, and I think she must be trying to hide something. “Oh,” I say, catching on. “Oh, well maybe... maybe we don’t need tea after all.” And, now, finally, I know that I am most definitely not going to the spa today.

“I’ve had a little visit from Princess Celestia this morning,” Twilight says. “We think we may have discovered a way to get Derek home." Her voice is unnaturally bubbly.

Damn it! “Oh, that’s marvelous!” I’ve just finished six new outfits for him, and he had better wear every... single... one of them... before he goes home to Earth. Stay cool, Rarity. “Oh, that reminds me!” I say through gritted teeth, a feigned smile.

I walk over to a high shelf where I’ve been storing one of the other projects that kept me up so late last night.

I levitate a white box down and hand it to Derek.

“Here, try these on,” I say, smiling. I’ve never made socks and shoes for a human before, and I’m nervous about what his response will be. He puts them on and looks up at me with a bright expression. “Rarity, they fit perfectly! And they are so comfortable!"

“Oh, I’m so glad!” I say with relief. “I had to guess your size, because I didn’t actually measure your—what did you call them again? Oh yes, your feet! Also, I wasn’t sure how long you’d be here, and I kept coming up with new ideas for other outfits, so I made a total of six outfits for you. I hope it’s alright that there aren’t any more.” I trot over to a rack and show him a variety of outfits on hangers. Most of them are in the dress-casual category, but he seems especially interested in the khaki shirt with pockets, and the matching trousers. I suppose he’ll be going hiking, too. And I wonder if he knows what he’s in for. Likely not, given his expression. And Celestia-damn-it, I want my cappuccino. Sigh.

He looks so happy. In fact, his eyes look a bit glassy; goodness, is he going to tear up? I’m startled out of my wits when he bends forward and throws his arms around me and squeezes hard. But a little wave of pleasure passes over me, too, and I just can’t be angry anymore. I smile and awkwardly put a hoof up over his back. It was worth every stitch, and the coffee and the spa can wait. For a little while, at least.

“Thank you so much, Rarity! These will be perfect going into the forest today!”

“Oh you’re welcome, dear! It was... oh...” The forest?! “Twilight... a word, please? In private? Now?”

“Oh, uh... heehee! Um, sure!”

Twilight follows me upstairs, and when I turn to face her, I can feel my face flushing. “What... is... going... on?!”

Twilight backs away nervously. “W-well, I was visited by Princess Celestia this morning, and—”

“You said that already. What are those!” I pointed to the book of elements in her pack.

“These are the Elements of Harmony.”

I start trembling with anger. Must... stay calm... “I know that! I mean why are you here with them?!”

“Princess Celestia told me to bring them along... er... just as a precaution.” She lowers her voice, releasing any last remaining touches of cheerfulness. “Rarity, I don’t know what’s out there, but I”—and with each punctuated syllable, she nods her head toward the book in her saddlebag—“need... your... help. So, are you with me or not?”

I’m not going to the spa. Or getting a shoulder rub. I’m not getting a cappuccino. I’m not even getting tea. She’s pleading with me. She’s afraid. She doesn’t need to beg—I can see it in her eyes. How can I say no? With a deep sigh, I tender my reply: “Yes. Yes, of course I’ll do it. I will come with you.”

Derek

I don’t have a GPS with me, but it feels like we’ve only been hiking for less than a mile. Twilight’s gear list went on and on and on! And there was some mention of cakes coming to pick up all the animals. How can cakes pick up animals? Well, whatever. I’ve seen stranger things. I think she packed me a spare toothbrush! Not that I’m complaining about that—I mean, the shape is a bit off, but who doesn’t need a toothbrush of any sort after a couple mornings without? I suppose it’s a good thing that she insisted on being thorough. I’m not even sure how long we’re going to be out here. Whenever I ask for a precise timeline, her answer is consistently “a couple of days, I think.”

A little way off the main trail, I see a gnarly-looking tree ahead, with a door carved into it, and I know this must be our first stop. “What’s Zecora like?” I ask.

“She’s daaaaaark and mysteeeeerious,” Pinkie says with a bright and mischievous grin. “And you’d better be nice to her or she’ll shrink your head! Mwuahahahaha!”

“Or turn you into a toad!” Rainbow Dash giggles.

“Oh, cut it out, you two,” says Twilight. “Zecora is sweet and kind, and she would never do anything like that.”

“Why are we visiting her again?” I ask.

“We don’t get out this way all that often, and I thought it would be nice to stop in and say hello,” says Twilight.

“Look, there she is,” says Fluttershy, pointing up the path.

I look up and see her walking toward us from the forest. Her mane is a mohawk of black and white, and the rest of her was similarly striped—a zebra?! She wears heavy golden rings about her neck, her ears, and one of her ankles, her flank is marked with what looks like a spiraling, tribal sun, and her eyes are a soulful blue, intense and deep-set. Memories of images from Earth’s Savanna region come to me in a fleeting rush. She carries a small basket full of some herb that I don’t recognize. She smiles on seeing us, but as soon as she glances at me, I see her expression grow very serious. She greets us with a question and an invitation, in rhyme:

“What events transpire to bring you... human beings

Come into my home, and please tell me these things.”

The others all file in slowly before me, disappearing into the darkened entryway of her tree. I notice a light fragrance of sage, and another unusual scent, coming from the doorway. I can’t explain why, but I’m overcome by a sudden and gripping fear—I’ve never felt this kind of terror before, outside of the occasional nightmare. I don’t want to go in. Maybe Zecora’s and my tension are playing off of each other—she seems a bit reluctant for a moment, but she stares at me and smiles sincerely anyway, reaching out to touch my shoulder with one of her hooves.

“There is no reason to to stand there, dismayed

Please come inside! Do not be afraid.”

Her touch is gentle, and she never breaks eye contact. When I let her lead me inside, the tension doesn’t go away—something in this room just doesn't feel right. Zecora’s hoof, or my shoulder, is trembling. Or maybe it’s both of us. As I adjust to the dim light, my eyes dart around, looking for shrunken heads, or voodoo dolls, or any other signs that I really just shouldn’t be here at all, because that’s what my instincts are screaming at me. Thankfully, I see none of these things—just shelves and cabinets lined with jars and vials, some curious looking masks hanging from the ceiling, and a tiny cauldron of... something... bubbling on a table in the middle of the room—the source of the unusual smell, presumably. The others here in the room clearly trust her—that ought to have been good enough for me. And yet, somehow, it wasn’t. I should be feeling gracious for Zecora’s hospitality—after all, she’s probably never met a human before—and yet I just feel anxious.

“Your human friend is burdened with suspense

It pains me dearly to see him so tense”

“Derek’s kinda been through a lot,” says Spike, and I agree with him, nodding quickly. Zecora nods too, measuredly, and she walks over to a cabinet, pulling down a small vial and a sponge. She pops the cork from the vial and presses the sponge into it so that it sticks out partway. Then, holding the vial gingerly between her teeth, she comes over to me very slowly and presses the sponge to my chest, just above my shirt. As the fragrance from it wafts upward, I recognize it instantly as lavender oil. I’ve read before that lavender sometimes had a calming effect on people, and apparently that's true for other animals, too.

“It’s not as good as steeping tea

But take this as a gift from me.”

The lavender is strong, and it seems to be helping, and I can’t help but smile at her kind act of good faith. “Thank you, Zecora, that’s very sweet of you. Your tea, by the way—I had some of it last night. It really did the trick.”

“He’s not kidding,” says Rainbow Dash. “He was out cold all night long.”

I don’t have the heart to tell them that this wasn’t strictly true—my nightmare had woken me up briefly. But it also didn’t take long to get back to sleep.

Zecora smiles back, re-corks the vial, sets it on the counter, and pushes it toward me with her hoof.

“Zecora, we’ve been sent by Princess Celestia to investigate a weather disturbance in the forest.” Twilight says, opening her saddlebag. Zecora lifts one eyebrow, peering briefly inside. Twilight then floats the map out and unrolls it for everyone to see. “This is the area that was identified by Celestia’s scout team as the origin of last night’s storm. We think it was triggered by a dimensional gateway that might lead back to Derek’s home on Earth.”

Zecora flashes a look of concern, staring right at me.

“About the gateways, you are right

But danger awaits you there tonight.

I fear you will soon find out

These doorways are deadly, without a doubt.”

“W-What does that mean?” I ask, looking at Twilight.

Twilight draws a deep breath. “Well, Derek, there’s no way to know where the gateway will lead. It might drop you off a thousand miles above the ground, or over an ocean, and there will be no pegasus on the other side to save you.”

I hadn’t considered this before. And the sensation of fear was starting to creep back in despite the lavender.

“Just leave that to me!” Rainbow Dash says, flapping her wings so aggressively that some of the random items hanging from the ceiling begin swaying back and forth. “If you want, I will scout out ahead for you. A thousand feet is nothing to me—I can just fly in and fly right back out again. Hey, then you’ll owe me twice, right?” she winks at me.

I was still concerned, but I couldn’t help but chuckle at her enthusiasm.

“Whatchya brewin’ there, Zecora?” says Applejack, pointing to the concoction in the tiny cauldron. Zecora leans over the brew and inhales deeply.

“I’ve been asked by Miss Cheerilee

To help her discover who’s been naughty

Truth serum is in this brew

Sorry, but this is for her, not for you.”

Twilight begins to back away and starts heading toward the door. “Well, it was really good to see you again, Zecora, but we should probably get going, heehee.”

There’s that nervous laugh again. I wonder if Twilight is uncomfortable here too.
“But you and your friends only just appeared
You’re leaving already? It seems a bit weird”

“Well, I had hoped to stay longer, but it would probably be best if we could reach our destination before nightfall, and because we’re starting so late, it’s already going to be a close race.”

“Good thinking, Twilight,” says Pinkie, turning to follow her out the door. “It was nice to see you again, Zecora! Why don’t you come by Sugarcube Corner the next time you’re in town. I’ll make you a free milkshake!”

The others began filing out, but Zecora stops me as I turn to follow them.

“A moment longer, Derek, please stay

There’s something more I have to say.”

“Oh... okay.” I grow nervous again, not sure that I want to stay here by myself. The others are outside already.

An awkward silence passes before she speaks.

“Truth serum allows me to see

That which others may hide from me.

Your friends care for you deeply, it’s true

But one of them is lying to you.”

“I see,” I say, somewhat skeptical. I wonder, why would the others want to lie to me? It didn’t make any sense, what she was trying to tell me. But what, if anything, did make sense here, really? I started toward the door, but I was curious about what she’d just said, and I pause for a moment. “So that truth serum of yours... it kind of... works in reverse?” I ask.

She nods to me, her expression quite serious for a moment. But then she smiles cordially and says in a warm and gracious tone:

"You're safe with your friends if to them you keep near

But friend Derek, always, you’ll be welcome back here.”

“Thank you, Zecora. Friend. I won’t forget you.” I remember to pick up the vial of lavender that she offered me, tuck it into my shirt pocket, and walk out the doorway.

As I step out of Zecora’s hut, I almost slam into Pinkie Pie, who had been waiting for me on the other side of the door.

“What was said was for you, and for you alone,” she says, staring gravely at me.

I blink. “What?”

“Just kidding!” she giggles and dashes off toward the others.

Twilight

It’s no small miracle that we manage to keep lunch brief. Because of that, we were making excellent time, and I knew we’d reach the mark identified by Celestia’s scout team before dark. But as we follow the map, drawing ever closer to the circle, the terrain starts to feel increasingly familiar. We’ve been climbing slowly and steadily for the last couple of miles. This worries me because it means we’re getting closer to the castle ruin. I suppose I’ve never fully recovered from our encounter with Nightmare Moon, despite long since becoming friends with Princess Luna. Worse yet, it sounds like I’m not the only one who’s getting agitated.

“Stop stepping on my heels, Fluttershy,” Rainbow Dash snaps.

“I’m so sorry! I’m just n-nervous because... we’re getting so close to the... to the circle on the map.”

Thank Celestia she didn’t say the word “Castle.” I don’t know what I’m going to say to Derek if anything comes up about the last time we were here. It wasn’t exactly an accident that I neglected to mention our previous encounter with Nightmare Moon, and Zecora’s truth serum had me seriously rattled. If the others are content to use just a bit of discretion when we pass by, well then—

“Hey, that means home isn’t far away,” Derek says

I want to share his enthusiasm, but instead, I feel awful. In fact, I was almost certain now that Celestia had intentionally omitted some critical information, and I didn’t know whether to be upset with her for not telling me, or with myself for not having figured it out sooner. Just then, we reach a clearing, and I can hear the river up ahead. We are almost done traveling, and there’s still plenty of time before sundown.

“Good news,” I say, hoping to cheer everyone up. “I think we’re almost there.”

The effect is an immediate and crippling silence, and I knew then that I should have just kept my muzzle shut. I feel certain by now that everypony knew we were approaching the castle, and no one wanted to talk about it. Well, everyone knew except for Derek, of course, which explained his enthusiasm. The tension somehow seems amplified by the lack of willingness by anypony else to admit out loud what she is feeling. “Okay. Um, I’m pretty sure I hear the river up ahead. Everypony stay close.”

In fact, the river is so low that there are several continuous paths of dry rocks connecting both banks. There was no sign of the serpent we’d met here before. He was presumably in deeper waters somewhere far away. Pinkie starts bouncing across. A rock shifts under her, suddenly making me feel uneasy about this crossing.

“Alright, carefully now!” I shout across the water. “We’ve come too far to let twisted ankles slow us down here.” I consider teleporting everyone across, but although I’m getting better, that spell is still not one that I’ve perfected yet, particularly over great distances. The risks seem greater than simply hoofing it.

“I don’t understand the problem,” Rainbow Dash says with a wink before turning to a flash of colors arcing across the water.

Fluttershy hovers lazily a few feet off the ground, helping Rarity to cross beside her.

“You first, Derek,” I say as he steps up beside me at the river bank.

“Oh, thank you. Hey, I wanted to ask you,” he says, stepping carefully out to the nearest rocks, “about what you think we might find once we get wherever it is we’re going. I mean, how will we know what to look for? It might be easy to miss. The gateway I passed through was so quiet that it didn’t even wake me up. Well, at least, not until I was falling through the clouds, of course.”

My front hoof begins to slip on the rock just ahead of me, and he quickly steps out with his shoe to brace against it.

“Thanks, Derek! As for the portal, I think it will be hard to miss,” I say, somewhat evasively. “Last night’s storm was pretty intense.”

“I’ve been thinking about that, too. What if the wind is so strong that it pulls us all inside? Or what if the reverse is true, and the force is so strong that we can’t even approach it?”

I didn’t have any answers for these questions, and it bothers me that he is asking them now, when we were so close to the castle. The one thing we had in common—science—was quickly turning into the one thing that might quickly drive us apart. And then it occurs to me that we don’t actually have a destination. All we had were a few loosely assembled clues, and a circle on a map that covered a huge area over terrain that was riddled with canyons and crevices. It might take us weeks to search the entire area. I suppose we could set up a base of operations in the cast—oh no.

I stop dead in my hoof tracks. The circle on the map suddenly made no sense at all. It was out in the middle of nowhere! What made a lot more sense was...

“You’re a mare of evidence, not conjecture, and I don’t want to raise any unnecessary alarms.”

Celestia’s words are loud and echoing when I mentally recite them. No, it can’t be. It can’t be! I glance back to my saddlebag with the Elements. The Elements! Great Celestia, how could I have been so stupid?! There’s nothing under that circle! It was just a ruse to lead us in the direction of the castle! Nightmare Moon is back! She must be! That explains everything! The dimensional portals, the storms—only a powerful sorceress could conjure those things! Why wouldn’t the princess tell me? Why would she set me up like that? Is this some kind of test? A test of my planning skills? Or lack of planning? My leadership? My courage? No, she wouldn’t intentionally put our lives in danger by lying to us like that, I’m certain! But I’m not certain.

My hoof slips again on one of the rocks. Frustrated, I teleport myself the last ten feet or so to the shore, just in front of Derek, who had just taken his final step up to the bank.

“Whoah, that’s incredible! Can you just flash around like that anywhere you want?”

“Not anywhere,” I admit. “I’m still learning.”

“Don’t be so modest, Twilight,” Rarity says. “Tell him about the time you helped us all escape from a pack of wild dragons!”

Uh-oh. Derek’s eyes opened wide, and I know what’s coming.

“I want to try it!” he says.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” I reply, looking away. I know that without proper concentration, someone could be really hurt by the spell, and I was anything but focused after my realization of what—of whom—we were up against.

“Please, Twilight?”

“No, this isn’t a good place. We can try it later, somewhere free of obstacles, like an empty field. I promise, okay?”

“C’mon, Twilight,” says Rainbow Dash. “Learn to live a little.”

“It’s not safe!” I snap. “Princess Celestia is counting on me to deliver Derek safely to the castle, and that’s what I’m going to do! Don’t you understand?”

Rainbow Dash sinks to the ground, stunned.

“What castle?” asks Derek.

Oh no. No! Quick, Twilight, think of something! Anything! “Uuuuuh, the castle we’re going to pass right by, because the circle area is just a little way beyond.”

“I was wondering about that,” says Rarity. “What if the scouts made a mistake? Do you think that’s possible, Twilight?” She glances at my saddlebag grimly, and I suspect she knows now, too.

Please, not yet. We’re so close! Think, Twilight, think! Okay, if we can just get across the bridge, we’ll be at the castle’s doorstep. We don’t actually have to go inside. We can hide out among the trees and design an action plan. I can explain everything. We don’t have to face Nightmare Moon right away! I just need a little more time to prepare. “Look, the bridge is just a little way ahead. We can stop on the other side, maybe set up a base camp, get some more food, and plan our course of action from there.” As I say it, I stare right at Rarity. Oh please, for the love of Celestia, please don’t say anything about Nightmare Moon! We’re so close! Please, just let it go for a little longer!

Rarity stares back at me, and she looks like a wounded bird. For that brief moment, I feel as though our minds have connected, and I’m staring into a mirror. The moment passes, and she looks away. “Oh, well, I suppose that’s a good plan.” She re-rolls the scroll and returns it to my pack, walking away to catch up with the others. Derek frowns, but eventually he turns to follow.

I’ve been holding my breath, and it comes out as a ragged gasp. Keep it together, Twilight. We’re almost there. Just a little bit longer.

If I thought I’d catch a break in seeing the castle ruin, I was mistaken. The bridge crossing the ravine is in much worse shape than when we’d first crossed it almost two years ago. Several of the timbers are clearly rotting, some are missing, and there are places where the rope is badly frayed.

“Oh no,” says Fluttershy. “How will we all get across on that? It looks like it could come apart at any moment!”

Rainbow Dash hovers down in front of me and crosses her arms with a smirk.

“Alright, I’ll try my magic!” I relent. Walking out to the edge of the landing, I fix my focus on the far side. I feel the familiar warmth building in my horn, see the glow against my muzzle. I know I can get myself across easily—it’s the others I’m worried about. Still, this extra bit of practice will be useful. The light brightens into a flash—

“Ouch!” My jaw smacks hard into a bridge plank, and a wave of nausea passes over me. My leg is caught between two of the other planks, near to what had previously been the far landing of the bridge. The teleportation spell stopped far short of where I’d expected it to. Both the plank and the ropes holding it up are creaking loudly under my weight, and I’m afraid the bridge is going to give way completely. The bridge instead just sways for several long moments, and I’m suddenly frozen and very queasy, staring into the abyss of the canyon below.

“Oh no!” Fluttershy squeals, drifting over to help me.

In a moment of panic, I shout, “Fluttershy, wait, don’t put any weight on the bridge!”

“Don’t worry, Twilight.” She hovers close and reaches out to steady the bridge from swaying. I let go of a deep breath, trying to overcome nervous exhaustion as she offers a hoof to help me stand. It’s awkward going, and the dizziness hasn’t stopped, but I’m able to walk slowly the rest of the way across.

Rainbow Dash flies over to join us. “What just happened?” she asks me.

“I don’t understand,” I say. “That should have been no problem for me. Stand back, I’m going to try something.”

I concentrate again, on the other landing, next to where Applejack is standing, but I feel strange. My horn warms and begins glowing. There’s a flash and—

I haven’t moved. Not one inch.

Rainbow Dash giggles. “Performance anxiety, Twilight?”

“This isn’t funny!” I growl. “My spell isn’t working.”

Rainbow Dash’s expression softens in understanding, and she scratches at her mane pensively for a moment. “Hmm, well, why don’t you try a different spell? Something simpler, maybe?”

“Okay, I’ll try a simple augment. Fluttershy, do you see that daisy on the ground? Would you please pick it, and hold it up for me?”

Fluttershy nods and plucks the daisy, holding it between her teeth nervously.

I screw up my concentration and think, bouquet...

There’s a spark, and Fluttershy squeals, dropping the flower.

“Oh no!” I gasp, “did I hurt you?” The flower is wilted, still smoldering on the ground.

“N-no... You just... startled me,” says Fluttershy. “I’ll be alright.”

“Well, that’s just great,” Rainbow Dash says, folding her arms.

“What’s happenin’ over there?” Applejack shouts over to us.

“Twilight’s magic isn’t working,” Rainbow Dash shouts back, and the shouting match isn’t helping my dizziness.

Rarity glances over to a daisy on her side of the bridge and turns it into a small patch of them. “Everything seems to be in order over here.”

In that moment, I understand exactly what’s happening. It explains everything, including the extreme nausea as I was crossing the chasm—which still hasn’t quite cleared away.

I walk very slowly out to the bridge, near to where I hit the plank. I take one more step, and the nausea clears. Instantly. “Ah-ha!” I say.

“Ah-ha what?” Spike asks.

“It’s a Dispel field,” I say. And I don’t want to elaborate in front of Derek, but I have a pretty good idea that whoever is opening the gateway doesn’t want interference from outsiders. I teleport back to Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie, Spike, and Derek, and the spell works perfectly this time.

I can tell that Rarity definitely knows something’s up, and thank goodness, she has the good sense to keep it to herself. She says, “Well, I suppose we’ll just have to find another way to cross.”

When Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy fly back to join us, I glance up at them and ask, “I’m still worried about that bridge—it sounded like that board was almost ready to crack underneath of me. Do you two think you could fly Derek, Applejack, and Pinkie across?”

“Way too awkward,” says Rainbow Dash, shaking her head. “If we had a sling or something, we might be able to carry them across, but it’s just as likely that Fluttershy would wear out halfway there.”

Fluttershy looks down, shuffling her front hooves on the ground. “I’m sorry.”

“Anyway, I’ve got a better idea,” Rainbow Dash continues. “How about I just walk across the whole bridge a few times? Twilight’s already crossed it once. If it’ll hold my weight for a few trips, it should hold everyone else just fine, right? If it breaks, I’ll fly back, and then we’ll just have to find another way around.”

I was stunned. That was, actually, a really—”Great idea!” I was still collecting myself when she began to proceed with her plan. She walks across the entire bridge with a smooth gait, and she’s on the other side in seconds. She looks positively bored, but after a few more trips like this, I breathe a sigh of relief.

“Okay Derek, your turn,” Rainbow Dash calls back.

“I wish I knew why I was crossing,” Derek says, stepping carefully to the exact same planks that Rainbow Dash had chosen. About halfway across, he stops and stares back at me, with a skeptical look on his face. “What’s over there that isn’t over here? And how do you know that what we’re looking for is on this side?”

The board begins creaking, and in that moment, an awful, awful realization suddenly kicks in. Dashie’s and my weight was distributed over four limbs, but a human, walking erect—

Dash

There’s a loud CRACK! and I hear Derek shout and see him grasping about wildly. Already, I’m diving toward him, but it feels like I’m moving in slow motion—his right arm wraps around one of the ropes, where another plank is attached. Fluttershy has reacted too, and she’s right next to me, but it’s too late, and we can’t get to him in time—the ropes split apart, and the bridge begins collapsing underneath him. The rope swings, slamming him into the cliff face.

From the time the plank broke, less than two seconds have passed, and Fluttershy and I are there together, lifting under his arms, but he’s been badly hurt—blood is streaming down his elbow.

He tries to clamber up the rope and remaining timbers as we help lift, but his injury is making it difficult. Eventually, we roll him onto the ground, where he lies breathing heavily for nearly a minute, cradling his arm.

This is my fault. I’m ashamed to look him in the eye, or at his arm. I can’t even say “I’m sorry.” I want to. Badly. But when I open my mouth I just choke on the words. This is my fault! It was my terrible idea that caused this! If I hadn’t been so impatient, we could have figured out a better way to get him across safely. I should have remembered how heavy he was when I first dove after him. I can feel him staring at me now. He’s angry. He has a right to be. I’ve let him down. I’ve let everyone down.

“Oh no, you poor thing!” says Fluttershy, lifting his arm gently. “Hold still!” She rifles through her saddlebag and takes out a scarf, cleaning his wound with some of the drinking water from her canteen and wrapping the scarf tightly around his arm, binding it off with a knot.

“There you go,” she says. “Can you move it?”

I can’t watch. Finally, I manage to squeak out, “I’m sorry.” I hope he believes me. I’m so sorry!

Derek

When our eyes meet, Rainbow Dash’s are glassy. I nod to her, and a second later, with a blast of wind, she’s gone. I’m not angry at her. I know she never meant for this to happen. Twilight won’t look at me at all.

Fluttershy, too, is somber, but she is also very focused. “Derek?” she asks again.

“Oh right... my arm. Uh, yes, I can move it okay, but it’s hurting.” It burns, just like it did on the day it actually got burned, and Zecora’s words begin coming back to me:

“Your friends care for you deeply, it’s true.

But some of them are lying to you.”

“I should have known that coming here was a bad idea,” I say quietly.

“What do you mean?” Twilight asks. Her voice is tense, and I finally know why.

“You lied to me!” I say through gritted teeth. “Zecora tried to tell me, but I didn’t listen to her. Her truth serum told her that you were lying to me. And I felt it too. That’s why I didn’t want to go into her house—because you were in there, and the serum made me afraid of you. I want you to tell me what the hell is in that castle? Don’t tell me that dispel field is a natural phenomenon. Someone—or some thing—does not want us to be here.”

Twilight stammers, “Celestia told me to... I-I never meant for anything bad to happen to—”

“Celestia never actually told you what we’re looking for, did she?”

She’s crying now, and her voice is breaking. “No, she didn’t.”

“You don’t have a clue how to get me home! This is insane! I don’t even know why we’re out here. Of all the people... ponies... whatever... I thought you, Twilight, would know something about how to get me home, because you are so... incredibly... smart!” And now my voice is straining, too, teetering between rage and betrayal. “I... I trusted you!”

My hands find their way to my pockets, an old nervous habit. I fidget with the vial of lavender oil that Zecora gave me, and I know where I’m going. I turn and start walking.

“Where are you going?’ she asks, with an air of desperation.

“I’m going back,” I say simply.

“What?! You can’t! It’s not safe!”

“Safer than that,” I say, pointing back at the bridge.

“Stop!” she cries, almost hysterically. “Derek, please! We’ll find another way! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Derek, come back!”

I’m still walking, heading back in the same direction that we came. If I were thinking clearly, it probably would have occurred to me to think that this was completely stupid. I didn’t know anything about the forest except that it was dangerous, and probably moreso now that I was alone, and injured. Knowing those things wasn’t particularly helpful at the moment, though. The sun dips below the horizon, and soon, it’s beginning to get cold. I need to get down to a lower elevation, or I will freeze to death. For a while, it seems like I’m making excellent progress—particularly along the softer ground, the hoof prints made along the way up are very easy to follow. At this rate, I figure I can make Zecora’s hut by nightfall, but it will be very close. As I’m walking though, I begin to fear what she would say. What was I going to tell her? That I was a coward? No, I’ll tell her what happened: I’ll tell her that she was right, and I that was deceived. I hope she will understand. She did call me “friend” and said that I would be welcome to return. Maybe she could even do something about this arm! Damn, it stings!

My thoughts are interrupted by something flitting about somewhere overhead and behind me. At first it sounds like bats, and I see a few of them darting about, but the sound doesn’t go away for a long time, even after it’s too dark to see them. I decide that whatever it is, it can’t be all that dangerous. More disturbing, though, is the fact that I can’t see the path clearly now. The sky is getting darker, the forest denser, making it difficult to see anything more than a few feet away. It seems like I should’ve arrived by now, but the terrain is still too rocky, and I’m still up higher than I should be. A cold breeze cuts through the night air, and I start to shiver. At this point I wished Rarity had made me a fur coat to keep me warm. She probably didn’t expect me to go running off alone, or to be caught up in the mountains alone so late at night. The trail is getting rougher, and something definitely feels wrong—I don’t think we came up this way. I hear the snapping of a small branch, broken.

And then, I see the source of the noise. A pair of green, glowing eyes—No, that doesn’t do these justice. You know how sometimes you will see a raccoon or a cat in the middle of the night, and their eyes will reflect a light source back at you? This wasn’t that. These eyes were glowing,with a sickly, phantasmal, green energy that chills me to my core. A deep groaning follows, like the sound that a breaking tree trunk makes as it begins to give way and fall. In the extremely dim light, I can just barely make out one of its features—an enormous appendage stalks forward, briefly backlit by the thing’s own glowing eyes. A gnarly, twisted hulk of interleaved branches, big as a motorcycle, and with sharpened wooden claws out at the edge, steps toward me and depresses the hard-packed trail as if it were soft loam. The groaning continues, like a thousand shuddering branches, rising into a howl. A timber... wolf. But this is no animal. This is evil.

I have never in my life spun around, and sprinted, so fast. And though I began with a five yard lead, the beast is easily gaining, its enormous weight making the earth shiver beneath me whenever its great claws connect with the ground.

I couldn’t even see where I was going—I simply followed the path with my feet, hoping there wouldn’t be a tree in my—

I smack hard into something, but it’s not a tree. In fact, it’s relatively soft, and furry. One of the ponies? No. Against the forest backdrop, I can barely make out an enormous head, and a thick, dark fur coat.

Oh God, it’s a bear! And I am actually relieved, because this seems so ordinary compared to the beast that was chasing me. It’s not quite as large as I am, but as I whip around to reassess my pursuer, another bear, bigger, growls and slams into the timber wolf, biting through its wooden neck with massive jaws. A hailstorm of wooden shards flies toward me, scratching my face and arms. The growling continues as what sounds and looks like more bears begin to pile onto the timber wolf, shredding its body one limb at a time. I see its green eyes thrashing about, and eventually, they grow dark, and the wooden carcass collapses in a heap of rattling splinters.

Recovering from the spectacle, I turn again and stumble on a half-buried rock while trying to back away. Not three feet away, the largest bear growls. Another one, smaller, closes in from my left, and there’s also a smaller one to my right, about ten feet away or so. A mother with her cubs? So this is it, I think. I’m a meal for this family of bears, hard-fought and earned. This is my penance for deserting the ponies. Probably no more than I deserve. I guess their quest was righteous after all. What else could I have possibly done to deserve this end?

“Alright then,” I say softly, my voice cracking now. I twist my head around, staring at the largest bear behind me, right into her amber eyes, and wishing I could communicate with her. I would tell her that I’d deliver all the food she wants if she’ll just let me live to see the light of another day. No? Make it quick then, okay? Please? Maybe go for the femoral artery, or the... the throat? She’s so close now that I can smell her, and she smells strongly of moss and dirt. She sniffs at my injured arm. Oh please, I don’t want to die like this! I think the timber beast would have killed me faster. Someone help me! Didn’t I just shout? No, my voice is gone! I’m so scared! I don’t want to die!

Fluttershy

I’ve circled back three times now, but somewhere along the way, I lost track of them. It’s so hard to see below the forest canopy, and I know it’s dangerous down there, especially after sunset. I can only hope that Charlotte and her family can find Derek. I’ve done all I can. I hope it was the right thing to do—they seemed like such a nice family! Hoping to join up with the others, I fly my way back along the trail. I can spot a small camp not far from the bridge, though there’s no fire, and Rainbow Dash is still missing.

“Did you find him?” Twilight shouts up to me.

“No,” I shake my head, landing next to her. “I found a nice bear and her cubs, who offered to go looking for him, but I lost track of them shortly after.”

“Bears? You sent BEARS after him?!” She looks particularly desperate, and I suddenly feel very foolish and naive. I thought that because they weren’t the dreaded Ursae, they would be nice and gentle. But now I’m worried that Charlotte tricked me, and I’ve just committed a grave mistake.

“Oh Great Celestia, it’s all my fault,” Twilight cries. “I should have told him the truth.” She continues sobbing, and even though it’s dark, I can see purple lines forming where tears stream down her face. I can’t stand to see her hurting like this. I walk over to her and hold her.

“I’ve failed him,” she says through sobs. “I’ve failed Princess Celestia. I’ve failed all of you! I’m unfit to be your leader. I can’t keep you all safe. I can’t even keep you all together! Derek is gone. Rainbow Dash is missing. And now all of Equestria is in danger. And it’s all my fault!”

“Hey! It’s not over yet!” chirps Pinkie Pie, and although she’s not her usual, bubbly self, she is smiling. “We still have each other, and we still have the Elements. And I believe in you, Twilight! And I know Celestia wouldn’t send us on a fool’s errand! Maybe if we—”

A bright flash silences her, and over the castle, a great, swirling vortex, like a hole in the sky, erupts and lets a well of sunlight stream down onto the castle ruin. A slow, rolling thunder follows, making the ground tremble beneath me. I begin to tremble too. I close my eyes and cover them with my hooves, petrified.

“Everyone get back! Get out of sight!” Twilight suddenly shouts. I can’t follow! I can’t even move! I uncover one eye to peek.

Where the light streams through the hole in the sky, enormous objects begin falling through—I can’t clearly tell what they are, but they’re strung together in a great line, and when they crash down onto the stone ruins, the entire canyon is filled with a terrible, grating, metallic noise, like a thousand iron horseshoes splintering over stone.

There’s a low rumbling, and I can feel the ground begin to shudder under my hooves. I don’t want to move, but my instincts take over when the ground begins falling away beneath me. I flutter and scramble back to safer ground, where the others are waiting. The chasm width has more than doubled. Rainbow Dash is gone. Derek is gone—probably dead, thanks to my foolish hope that a pack of bears would save him. I start crying, and I can’t stop. Pinkie Pie grabs me, pulls me away from the edge, and hugs me hard.

Derek

I’m terrified, and I’m almost ready to offer my vital organs to this bear, to end it quicker, when something strange happens. She just whines and lies down next to me. The others are advancing too, but they’re not crouched—they’re not hunting. They crowd in around beside me, nudging up against me. And they’re warm! They’re not going to kill me! And I’m not going to freeze to death! But what could they possibly want? Are they just saving me until breakfast time? Fully an hour passes and I am still wide awake, terrified and trembling, not from cold, but from nervous exhaustion, and from my horrific encounter with an evil creature from another realm. My eyes have finally adjusted to the starlight. I can no longer see any of the bears moving anymore, and I can hear them breathing softly and steadily. One of them is even snoring. I move ever so slightly to stand up, and one of them starts a low growl again—one of the cubs. He casts an icy glare and puts an enormous paw over my leg, as if challenging me to step away. One of the other cubs stirs a bit, too, but he doesn’t open his eyes. They’re all still fast asleep. I can’t sleep. And yet I can’t stay awake, either. The exhaustion is too great, and I pass into an uneasy dream.

BOOM! A flash of green and purple rays fills the sky, and the whistling of the firecrackers echoes throughout the hills. We’ve never had to go far to watch fireworks; our street overlooks a small, urban valley, and only a few blocks from our doorstep, we have one of the best views in town. The grass beneath me is warm and soft. The summer breeze blows across my arms, carrying hints of alfalfa from the barns behind us on the hills, and I inhale deeply to take it all in. Even the smoke from the neighbors’ fireworks doesn’t seem to bother me—it’s all familiar, and it’s all wonderful.

“Here, Derek, why don’t you go over to the sidewalk and try a sparkler.” My mom hands me a sparkler and lights it for me. With the sparkler in my right hand, I draw lazy circles as it cycles through different stages, dropping little showers of white and gold, and eventually it burns a steady green.

Jeffrey walks over to me, his eyes wide. Mom is right behind him.

“Why don’t you let your brother try,” she says.

I reach over to hand him the sparkler. He doesn’t say anything. He never says anything. His eyes grow even wider, and he reaches out and grabs the sparkler. But instead of taking it away from me, he clutches it tightly, bending it up against my arm. The burning is immediate and intense, and I am screaming. The glow turns into a pair of glowing eyes, and a giant timberwolf stands before me, groaning its sickening groan with crackling branches, and a whistling howl in the breeze.

A dark, winged creature appears in the silhouette of the moon, and suddenly a lightning bolt arcs across the sky, spidering down the limbs of the beast and shattering it into a million glowing embers of glowing wood. The creature turns to stare at me, then with a powerful beat of its wings, it leaps away, leaving only a charred landscape surrounding me.

Fluttershy

The sun has barely cleared the horizon, but the clouds are already beginning to clear off. It’s still very cold. I smell eggs cooking, and Spike is standing over a small fire in an apron, tending a sizzling skillet. Leave it to Twilight to think of everything. The others are awake too, sitting around the fire. My fur is damp with dew, and I drift closer to the fire to warm my hooves.

“Oh, hello Fluttershy,” says Spike, eyes downcast. “Eggs?” He tilts the pan toward me, not lifting his gaze.

“Oh. Um... Yes, please,” I say, holding my hooves near the open flames. “Has there been any sign of Rainbow Dash?” I ask hopefully. They all shake their heads.

“Sorry Fluttershy,” Twilight mumbles. “We haven’t seen her all night.”

“And I don’t suppose Derek has returned?”

Applejack draws a deep sigh and lets it go with a “Nope, Haven’t seen him, neither.”

“I thought we’d split up after breakfast,” says Twilight. “Pinkie, Rarity, I want you two to try locating another way to get to the castle. Stay out in the open if you can, in case Rainbow Dash comes looking for us.”

“Yessiree!” she salutes.

“I do hope the sun exposure doesn’t bleach my hair,” Rarity says, fluffing the curls in her mane.

“Applejack, I want you to come with me to help search for Derek.”

“You got it, Sugarcube!”

“Fluttershy, I want you to take Spike and go to investigate the castle ruin. Can you do that?”

My wings start quivering. “You want m-me to go search the ruins?”

“You’re the only one here who can get across the chasm,” says Twilight. “And we need to know what’s happening over there if we’re ever going to get Derek home. You can carry Spike across with you, right?”

“I’ll try.”

“Also, please be careful! And be as quiet as you can! If you see anyone, don’t stick around, just turn and run, okay?”

I am afraid. I am so afraid. Spike must know it, because he pats gently on my mane.

“Don’t worry, Fluttershy,” he says, “I’ll protect you!”

I smile at him, but it’s a forced smile.

Breakfast is light and unfulfilling. It also weighs heavily on my stomach, and I wish I had eaten less.

“Alright, everyone,” says Twilight wearily, after we’ve all eaten. “Stick together, and be safe. No unnecessary risks. If we can, let’s all try to meet back here before sundown. If you can’t make it, don’t stumble around in the dark, just set up camp wherever you’re at and wait till first light to set out again.”

With Spike firmly on my back, I stretch my wings wide, galloping to a running start. Although he’s a bit heavier of a load than I’m used to carrying in flight, it’s a relatively short distance, and we reach the other side of the chasm all too quickly. I land as quietly as I can, allowing Spike to hop down off of my back. He turns to look at me, and we nod to each other in silence.

As we begin walking toward the ruin, I feel a bit strange, like the beginnings of a headache coming on, and I have to wonder if whatever affected Twilight yesterday was beginning to affect me as well, in a different way. No wonder she wasn’t performing magic like her usual self.

Already, I can begin to get a better sense of the wreckage of last night—as we approach the ruin steps for what used to be the castle vestibule, I can see, ahead in the main hall, a pair of what appear to be metal train cars jackknifed against each other to form an upside-down V. But they’re unlike any train cars I’ve ever seen—long, metal tubes with slots cut in the sides. It hardly looks suitable for passengers. I wonder what kind of freight this train could possibly carry? Something tells me I won’t have to wait long to find out. My hoofsteps seem to echo louder than usual as I step up to the raised stone floor, so I begin to slow my approach, increasing my efforts not to be heard. It doesn’t seem like anyone is here, but something still feels terribly, terribly wrong. A moment later, my nose wrinkles, catching the unmistakable odor of death.

I hesitate, but Spike continues forward, slowly, into the great hall. I want to call out to him to stop, but I’m afraid to call attention to ourselves. I plod on steadily to try and catch up, painfully aware of each hoofstep against the stone. Slow down, Spike!

When I cross the inner archway into the great hall, behind him, more details slowly come into view. There are perhaps six or seven train cars, twisted at odd angles to each other, and most of them are at least somewhat crumpled. But I don’t see a locomotive, or any sort of caboose—just these cars. Suddenly, Spike comes bounding back, attempting to mute his footsteps, but in his haste, his claws are clicking loudly along the stone. He’s waving his arms wildly, silently trying to gesture for me to turn around. Why is he running? Why is he—”Oh no. No. NO!”

Spike

The train cars are vented, and out of several of the vents, there are gleaming rivulets of blood dripping slowly down to the floor, collecting on the cobblestone in shiny pools of red. At the base of the heap, one of the cars is broken open, and I see the unmoving carcasses of lambs, cows, and... horses? I think that’s what Derek called them. I turn, and I run—no, I sprint back to Fluttershy to stop her from coming any closer—I cannot let her see this...

I'm not fast enough. I will never forget that moment. She stood as still as stone, like the broken statues around us. I really don’t know how much time passed like that. Her eyes were dilated, and the tears just started pouring from them.

Eventually, she collapses to the floor, and I try frantically to lift her back onto her hooves, to get us out of here, to get to safety, but she just lays there and starts wailing. I have never heard such a cry before or since—it echoed over the stone floor, and it rang throughout the hollow remains of the broken columns and rubble-filled archways.

I try with all my strength, and from every conceivable angle, but I cannot lift her—except for the spasms of her mournful sobbing, she is limp, and her wings are splayed out across the stone at unnatural angles. I lift them one at a time off of the stone floor and try to fold them neatly onto her back, where I rub gently. Sometimes when I am crying, Twilight rubs my back, and it makes me feel better. I hope this makes Fluttershy feel better, too. Time passes. Maybe minutes, maybe hours. The panic has long since subsided, and I’ve long since realized that there is no one coming, and a strange feeling comes over me. I can’t put my finger on it right away, but it’s getting stronger. I feel a bit like I did on my birthday, when I began to grow larger, like other dragons. I feel aggressive. But I’m just Spike! What can a baby dragon do facing this callous indifference to life? I don’t care! I will find whoever is responsible for this. And I will destroy them.

Derek

The first thing I realize is that I’m cold. But the next thing I realize is that I’m cold because I’m alive, and because the bears are gone. And I’m alive. And I’m not dead! The sun is just peeking over the horizon, and I can feel its rays beginning to stream through the forest at a low angle.

“Ha!” I say, amazed at my luck. And then I scold myself aloud. “You are such an idiot! What were you thinking?!”

“That’s what I want to know!” another voice calls back to me.

“What? Who said that?” Wait, I know that voice. I’d know that voice anywhere! It was the first voice I’d ever heard in Equestria. “Rainbow Dash? Is that you?"

“The one and only!”

I turn a complete 360 degrees trying to find her. “Where... where are you?”

“You should know by now that you’ll always find me when you’re looking up.”

I look up into the tree boughs, and she’s hanging lazily from a branch directly overhead, wearing a grin like a cheshire cat. She starts giggling, lets loose the branch, and crashes right on top of me!

“Whoah! Ouch” She collides into me at about chest level—not gently—and we both collapse onto the forest floor in a heap.

“You didn’t think you could shake loose the greatest young flier in all of Equestria, did you?” she smirks, looking down at me triumphantly.

“That was you following me last night?” I’m struggling to hold back my tears, because I am so relieved to see her, and so relieved that I am alive!

“Yep. It was tricky after sundown, ‘cause you were on the ground, and I was above the trees. But then I started following the bears when I found out they were tracking you. It was a lot easier to track them. They made a lot more noise than you because there are four of ‘em, and they’ll crash through the underbrush without much thought to where they’re stepping.”

“So did you send them to keep me warm last night?”

“Nope. Honestly, I thought they were gonna eatchya. And then I saw the timber wolf, and I was getting ready to zap it with a lighting bolt, but then when they went after the timber wolf instead of you, I realized that Fluttershy might have set them onto your trail, and she wouldn’t have done that without a really good reason. Well, I was pretty sure, anyway.” For a moment, she looks away and frowns, then she turns back and smiles again. “So I just figured I’d stick around until morning and make sure they didn’t… y’know... change their minds around breakfast time.”

There was an awkward pause in conversation where I was still looking up at her, and she was still looking down at me.

“Why did you rescue me?” I ask her. “When I fell from the sky?”

Avoiding eye contact, she screws herself up as if she were getting ready to bound off.

“Wait, please! Tell me. I promise I won’t tell anyone, if that’s what you’re worried about. I promise!”

She looks back at me and huffs, blowing her bangs up out of her face. “I’ll explain later, when we have more time. We’ve got to get back to Twilight. So are you coming back with me, or what? I won’t let you get lost again. Pinkie swear.”

“No.”

“Er... what?” she blinks in disbelief.

“No, I’m not going back there. I’m going to Zecora’s. You can tell Twilight that I’m very sorry, but I just don’t trust her anymore.” I turn back toward the path toward Ponyville, fairly confident that I can find my way again with the sun fully illuminating the trail.

She slams down onto the path in front of me with her front legs bowed, and she stares at me defiantly. “I will hurt you,” she says. “I didn’t follow you all this way just so that you could run off like a coward, and I am not going back with empty hooves. It would only take me a second to gather up a little storm cloud, and I've found that a couple a million volts can be a powerful motivator.”

“You’re bluffing.” As I say this, it occurs to me that she probably isn’t bluffing at all. Her eyes are on fire, and it looks like she might actually hurt me. Her resolve is simultaneously endearing and terrifying. I’m in no condition for any kind of confrontation, though. “Look, if you’re going to be angry, then be angry with Twilight. She lied to me. Even after all that has happened, I’ve never gotten a straight answer from her about what’s in that castle.”

At my comment, she turns to look away.

And then, finally, it occurs to me how naive I’ve been. “You... you know what’s waiting for us there at the castle, don’t you? You all knew.”

Silence.

“Unbelievable! I thought Twilight had you all duped, but I guess it’s just me that doesn’t know what’s going on. And I guess you're not telling me, either.”

“Psh! Whatever, human! This is between you and Twilight, and I’m not getting involved.”

“Fine.” I take a wide step around her and start heading along the trail. She starts following me. I look back at her, genuinely worried that she’s going to make good on the promise of a lightning storm. Could she really do that? It’s hard to keep an edge of panic out of my voice. “So now what? You’re going to bully me into going back?”

“No. I’m making sure you get to Zecora’s safely. I owe you that much, and nothing else.”

I’m hesitant to believe this. Maybe this is just another trick. But the fire in her eyes has burned out, and her gaze is steady and unflinching. And I know she’s not lying.

Fluttershy

The sun is high overhead, baking the stone floor around me. It’s uncomfortably hot, I’m parched, and I must have been lying here for quite some time. Spike is sitting in front of me, with a deep frown.

“I’m okay,” I say with the biggest smile I can manage, biting my lower lip.

“No you’re not okay,” he says, listlessly.

He’s right. I’m not okay. A breeze carries the stench of death. I don’t need to turn to look at the train cars to understand the carnage. I know that what’s behind me is real. A fresh wave of tears threatens to overwhelm me, but I manage, barely, to choke it back and stand up. It’s time to move on.

“You’re right, Spike. I'm not okay. Come on,” I say softly, my voice quavering. I clear my throat. “Let’s get out of here.”

At the base of the steps, I kneel to let Spike climb onto my back. He feels heavier than before, and it’s not as easy to cross the chasm this time.

My knees give out as soon as I land, and so does my consciousness.

Seconds or hours may have passed when I awaken again to Spike’s voice.

“She’s over here,” he says.

“YAY, you’re back!” Pinkie shrieks with excitement.

“We were so worried,” Rarity says. “We were down in the canyon and we heard this awful crying, and we were terrified that something horrible had happened to you.”

The words barely register. I am so thirsty. I take a deep breath and hope my words will be comprehensible. “I... need... water.”

“Oh my!” says Rarity. Using her magic, she lifts a waterskin from her saddlebag and unscrews it. I try to reach up with my hooves, but my hooves and wings are trembling, and I can’t hold it.

“No let me, dear. Just hold still, and I’ll help you.” Using magic, she touches the spout to my tongue and tilts it up. I don’t want to take all of her water, and I start to resist after a few swallows, but she tilts it up higher and insists, “No, I want you to drink all of it, Fluttershy! You need this much more than I do. We’ll find some place to refill it later.”

“What did you find?” says Pinkie. “What was that awful racket last night?”

I swallow the last of the water and screw up my courage to answer Pinkie. But my voice vaporizes, and my eyes start welling up again. I can’t go back there. I can’t go back there. “I... I... can’t....”

Derek

Zecora’s gnarled tree isn't particularly easy on the eyes, but when it comes into view, it is the most welcoming sight in the worl... well, in Equestria, I suppose. Rainbow Dash has been walking behind me the whole time. I’d never seen her spend that much time on the ground to go anywhere—she always hovered, or flitted about. But just as I turn back to thank her, she’s already gone.

“Well, so much for saying goodbye.” I take a deep breath and raise my hand to rap gently on Zecora’s door. I hesitate, feeling awful again. Really awful. Not like before—it’s not terror this time. It’s sadness. It’s loneliness. I have precisely one friend left on this whole planet. What will she say when she realizes the others aren’t with me? She told me to stay with them, and I didn’t. And as I’m trying to decide whether to knock, the door creaks open.

Zecora smiles at me. Then, as I feared, she frowns, realizing I'm alone. A long silence passes—the longest, I think, I’ve ever experienced.

“Friend Derek, you’re back! But nopony by your side?

Please come in, tell me what happened, please come inside.”

“Zecora... I’m... really sorry,” I say, eyes welling a bit. “You tried to tell me, and I didn’t listen, and now everything is all screwed up. I didn’t trust you, and I’m sorry! You were right. Twilight and the others were lying to me. And now I don’t know... I don’t know what to...” As I say this, my voice breaks, and it occurs to me that I had always expected, with enough time and enough help, to find some way to get home. But now I'm afraid that I'll never see home again. Ever.

Zecora’s expression is hard to read, but she looks very concerned, especially when she sees my arm. She lifts her hoof to my waist and ushers me inside gently.

“Friend Derek, you’ve suffered great harm

Please let me take a look at your arm.”

“Uh, there was… an accident... at the bridge... near the old castle ruin,” I explain. “Twilight tried to—” I grimaced. I didn’t want to tell her details. Not now. I offer my arm, very hesitantly—of course it’s the bad one. I’m afraid she’s going to ask about the scar that’s still visible around the bandage-covered gash, and I don’t want to tell her about that, either. She stares at me for a moment. Finally, she glances down at the dressing that Fluttershy applied—her scarf is soaked through with blood. The pain and swelling have worsened, too, and it stings when she pulls the dressing off. “Ouch!”

Zecora winces, drawing a breath sympathetically, and then she walks over to a cabinet and brings down a clear vial between her teeth. She glances back at me for a moment and gives me an appraising stare, as if she’s trying to read my mind. It makes me very uncomfortable. And when she speaks, she’s still holding the vial, and it makes her sound a bit funny.

“Shomething tellsh me thish won’t do the trick”

She returns the vial to the shelf.

“I think something... inside... is making you sick.”

She then brings down a bowl of green paste and a large, waxy leaf. She gestures to a long, low bench, where I guess I’m supposed to take a seat.

“Before I start, you should lie down, not sit

Give me your arm, Derek. This won’t hurt a bit.”

Having been lied to once already, I’m again hesitant, but Zecora just waits patiently, smiling, her eyes full of nothing but kindness. Eventually, I lie down with my arm resting over my heart, and she begins to dab on the paste very gently, very careful not to further aggravate the wound. The pain lessens significantly, and I release a long, ragged breath that I hadn’t even realized I was holding. My whole body had become tense in response to the wound. A few seconds later, the pain stops entirely. A few breaths later, it feels very warm and tingly and slightly numb, like I’ve just been injected with lidocaine. And soon, the warmth spreads into my whole arm and shoulder, and down my chest.

“Uh-oh... Um, Zecora, I... I dunno about this… I don’t think… I don’t think this is working the way it’s supposed—” The tingling spreads, and my vision starts going snowy, my ears ringing slightly.

She rests her hoof gently on my shoulder, perhaps in an effort to reassure me. It feels strange, though, like it’s passing through skin and bone, and sending rippling waves through my whole torso. I feel like I’m floating in air. One by one, my senses begin shutting down. Last to go is my hearing, just after she says:

“Soon you will feel a need to sleep.

Be calm, Derek. Rest, and dream deep.”

“Jeffrey, what are you doing?!” my mom is screaming. Why is she screaming? “Oh God, William, call 911!” She’s staring at my arm. There’s flesh missing, and it’s blackened, but... that’s strange... I don’t feel any pain at all. In fact, I feel quite calm. I think I’m floating. Right up and out of my body. Jeffrey is crying. Why is he crying? Did he do something wrong? I feel strange. I see... I see both of us now. I see myself. I look angry. Now I’m the one who’s screaming—at Jeffrey. I look so angry!

“You stupid little shit! Don’t you understand? Look what you’ve done! Look at my arm! It’s ruined for life!”

Did I say that? That can’t be right. Don’t be angry, Derek. He didn’t mean it. Look, Jeffrey’s crying. He knows you’re upset, but he doesn’t understand. I’m sure he didn’t mean any harm. He doesn't understand. I’m sorry, Jeffrey. I’m sorry! I... I forgive you.

My tears turn to waterfalls, and I begin falling with them. Through them. They vaporize into a white spray, and the spray begins to fall away from me as I am floating again. The droplets coalesce into a pearly avatar: a bird, I think. Is it a dove? No, bigger. Much bigger! Its wings span ten times my height, and we are gliding together over a cool sea of constellations. We drift for a long time, passing from one star cluster to the next. Eventually, the bird swoops up in front of me, opens its great wings and curls them around me in an enclave, drawing me toward its head, turning to peer at me with steely, grey eyes. Definitely

When I open my mouth to reply, my voice completely fails. Instead of trying to speak, I simply nod. The bird draws me closer, staring at my bad arm. Its beak opens, and with the precision and fluidity of a scalpel, it scoops through my arm and pulls away the damaged flesh. There’s no pain—in fact, it feels incredible! I feel lithe and unburdened, and the bird vanishes, and I'm flowing through a sea of stars, and they're washing over me like rain.

I feel warm. There’s a blanket over me—wool, I think. Zecora is sitting next to me, and she’s offering me a bowl of steaming soup. I want to take it, but I can’t—both of my arms are still numb, and I can’t move them. Zecora awkwardly helps me to sit up, and she tilts the bowl up into my mouth. It’s some kind of vegetable stock, and it tastes amazing.

“While you slept, you spoke in your dreams

Deep anger at little brother, it seems?”

I draw a deep breath. “Oh no, you—you heard that?” I feel so ashamed. I was so angry with him. I’ve never told anyone. Not mom. Not dad. Not anyone. He couldn’t help it. He didn’t know any better. And now Zecora knows, and she must think I’m a monster. My brow furrows, and I have to explain! I have to—

Zecora puts a hoof to my chest, and she speaks slowly, softly.

"Peace, Derek. Your body stores trauma, emotion, it’s true

In muscles, in bones... it’s like a residue.

This herbal poultice takes away pain

Physical, spiritual, it’s one and the same.”

I look down at my arm. The paste had formed a kind of crust over the wound, sealing it and protecting it from abrasion. The feeling in both of my arms finally starts to return, and I clumsily reach for the bowl of soup myself, drinking more, spilling a little on the blanket.

Zecora just smiles.

“I'm not angry anymore. I forgive him."

“I believe that you do

But much more than that, I would ask of you.

Twilight Sparkle is just outside.

Nothing more from you will she try to hide.

Forgive her as you forgave your brother
And go with her, if you want to be with your mother.”

And with that, Zecora rises from the bench and steps out the door, carrying a small wooden basket. A moment later, there’s a gentle knock.

“Come in!” I say.

Twilight Sparkle swings the door wide and steps in, her head hanging very low. “I owe you an apology,” she says.

“No, I owe you an apology,” I say. And I really mean it.

“Fine, we both owe each other an apology,” she says, rolling her eyes. “I’m sorry for lying to you. It was wrong.”

“I’m sorry, too, for running off. Alone. Like an idiot. That was probably the single stupidest thing I’ve ever done. I know now that you were just trying to look out for me, and you didn’t want to frighten me.”

“That’s all true, but it wasn’t good enough. And I’m sorry for that too. I owe you more than just an apology. I owe you an explanation.”

And so began the tale of Equestria’s history. She told me of the Princesses that ruled together, and the jealousy that turned Luna into Nightmare Moon. She told me of the Elements of Harmony (and she even opened the giant book and showed them to me—never in my life have I seen so many gems, let alone all in one place!) She described the showdown against Nightmare Moon, and I was once again struck by how extraordinary it was that I had run into these six ponies, who were all so very brave.

“And this is where the history lesson ends and the conjecture begins,” she says. “I don’t have any proof, but my gut is telling me that Nightmare Moon is somehow behind all of this, including your presence here. I think Celestia knows it too, or at least she must suspect it.”

“But how could that be? I thought you said Luna went back with Celestia to live in Canterlot.”

“I don’t understand that part, either. But what I do know is that we have to get to the castle to find out.” She stares at me, and her purple eyes are enormous and intense. She hesitates. She’s afraid. “We may die trying to get you home, Derek. If we really didn’t destroy Nightmare Moon using the Elements of Harmony, I’m not sure what to do now. But I have to try.”

There is a sincerity in her voice, and a quiet resolve in her demeanor that leaves me speechless. I haven’t even mentioned how I was almost killed by a timber wolf. Or the bears that rescued me. It hardly seems important, given what we’re up against now. But in the silence that follows, it occurs to me that I still have unfinished business with Rainbow Dash, and that is important.

“Twilight, did Rainbow Dash ever catch up with you?”

“She’s outside. Why?”

“Would you please send her in? I need to speak with her. Alone.”

A few moments later, Twilight trots out and Rainbow Dash trots in, with a somewhat vacant expression. “What’s up, Derek?” she asks, looking away.

“I need to come clean,” I say.

She smirks at me. “If you want a shower, I think we’re going to have to go back to Ponyville for that.”

“No, I’m serious. I was... upset. With you. Your impatience. At the bridge. Really upset. But... I’m not upset anymore.”

“Oh,” she says. And her stammering is not unlike my own. “Well... I... Uh...”

“It’s okay. You don’t have to say anything. I just want you to know that I forgive you. That’s all.”

She doesn’t say anything. She’s beaming at me, her eyes briefly flickering with fire. She steps forward, and I think maybe she wants to hug me. But the flicker fades, and she glances away quickly. “Alright, enough mushy stuff already. Are you going to come with us willingly this time, or am I going to have to lightning bolt your flank all the way back to the castle ruin?”

End of Book 2