(6)

The stone had barely disappeared into the gooey surface of the reflecting pond when a massive bulge appeared just under the liquid. Instinctively, Ditzy took a cautious step back, while Rainbow Dash prepared herself for whatever inevitable disaster was about to happen.

Squinting at her impending doom, she held her ground, clenching her jaw, and flexing her muscles. It was not going to be pretty.

The bulge under the pond's layer of goo expanded until it made a gurgled popping sound, and out from the gazing pool, at the same trajectory the stone went hurdling in, came Lee Morgan flailing out with the same momentum with which he fell face forward into the gazing pond in his back yard.

Too stunned to react, Rainbow Dash stood there as Lee collided with her in a massive sprawl on the ground. Instantly, Ditzy began to shriek and stomp all four hooves in the ground as she spun in a semi-circle.

The impact of Lee's body landing on hers, sent the air nearly from her lungs, and Rainbow lay on the ground seeing stars while trying to catch her breath. Her only thought was that she was right. Lee would squish her flat.

Still catching her breath, Rainbow squirmed and wiggled until she was out from under Lee, and slowly rose to her feet. Ditzy had managed to calm down, but there was something wrong with the scene. Lee wasn't moving, and instead, lay on the ground groaning.

Rushing back to his side, she got down close to his face, and took his shoulders in her hooves to turn him over. Was it really him?

"Lee? Is it you? Are you all right?"

Tugging hard, Rainbow managed to roll him over. Moving her muzzle close to his face, she examined him as best as she could, noticing that there was a massive bump on his forehead, and a trickle of blood.

Sweet gods... he's dying!

"Lee!" she shouted, shaking him by the shoulders. "Lee everything is going to be fine!"

There was a mumble from him, and for a moment, Rainbow ceased her panicked shaking, lowering her muzzle once again next to his face. There was a strange otherworldly smell about him; thick and strong.

"Lee, say something."

"Mmm... asshole critic... didn't like my book... hit me with a rock. Fuck you Gene Stacey!"

A loud groan emanated from Lee just before his head lolled to one side, and his eyes rolled back.

Panic-stricken, Rainbow Dash turned to Ditzy. "Give me a hoof with him! We have to get him to the hospital!"

While Rainbow Dash and Ditzy were hoisting and heaving the unconscious Lee from the center of town toward the hospital, Mystic Fire began her search for the confectionery from the train depot. Doing her best not to be noticed by the other departing passengers leaving the station, she huddled under the cloak, bringing it together tighter. It was one thing to draw attention to one's self when it was appropriate, but she didn't need their looks of contempt; not when there was so much work to be done.

With one claw gripping the handle of her bag, and the other holding the front of her cloak together, she approached the town square, just in time to see a small crowd gathered. Dropping the bag, a small gasp and the hushed words... "Everveil."

Pushing her way through the gathered ponies, she rushed past the construction tape to the edge of the obsidian gazing pool, and gently placed her claws on the edge of the basin; allowing a talon to trace the sheen smoothness of the glass. It was more than a dream, it was a solid reality. No-pony could ever fathom how long she had been searching for it, or for that matter what it was truly capable of.

Looking into the bottom, Mystic Fire frowned. There was a semi-viscous looking liquid near the bottom. Which meant that it was already activated somehow. Looking back up at the overall object, she frowned harder. The gods-damn thing wasn't even finished yet! So then, where did the veil lead?

Bringing her left claw up, and turning it slightly, she transported her bag from where she dropped it. With a small blur of displaced space, the bag appeared next to her on the ground, and she immediately began to rummage through the contents.

Stupid, foolish ponies.

Retracting a long glass rod, Mystic Fire looked around to make sure that she wasn't being watched, then gently placing the rod into the liquid, she brought the thick end to her eye. There was what looked to be a domicile of some sort. Trees, and shrubbery. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Furrowing her feathered brow, she considered now the reasons for Maude to have sent for the professor. Clearly some-pony was using their head.

"You there!"

Secreting the glass rod down and under her robes, Mystic Fire turned to see an angry looking guard approaching her.

"Yes, you! For your own safety, you can't be past those lines." Jabbing a hoof behind him, the guard motioned toward the bright orange construction tape.

"I'm terribly sorry," Mystic Fire told him reaching for her bag. "I just arrived in town, and I saw the fountain here, and I guess my excitement got the better of me."

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but it's for your own safety. We've already had some-pony have an accident here not a half hour ago."

"What happened?"

"I didn't get the details. Now, come along."

Clutching her bag, Mystic Fire followed the guard back out past the construction area to where the other ponies were still gathered. As she passed them, she could hear bits and pieces of their excited conversation. Conversation that she missed in her excitement at seeing the everveil.

"Cannot believe it—"

"Seriously? Some-pony fell from inside that thing?"

"I heard it was taken to the Princesses for—"

"Is Ponyville under some sort of attack?"

Idiots! They've no idea what they were doing!

Grinding her beak side to side, Mystic Fire turned to the guard and asked curtly, "Where can I find Sugarcube Corner?"

Pointing a hoof, he said, "Back that way. You can't miss it."

Twilight Sparkle was sitting on the observation platform of the library's second floor reading up on more h'yoomen lore, when she heard the unmistakable voice of Rainbow Dash call up to her in a fright.

"Rainbow Dash?" she shouted down, unsure what was going on. "What's the matter?"

"We've got problems!" Ditzy yelled back up to her.

The evening light was nearly gone, and Twilight was having to squint, but the more she looked, the more she realized that there was something terribly wrong. That's also when she noticed the large, lumpy mass laying on the ground.

Between grunts and groans, Rainbow Dash started to explain the situation, but there was only so much that she could offer given what was clearly in front of Twilight.

In a flash, Twilight transported herself from the balcony to the yard, and blinked several times, attempting to wrap her mind around what she was seeing.

"Uh, Rainbow Dash. Is that what I think it is?"

"I know what you're going to say, and before you do, let me state for the record that this was entirely his fault. I had nothing to do with it."

Looking from between the two ponies, Twilight cast her view down and regarded the crumpled h'yoomen. Her first initial inspection suggested that he was injured, her overly cautious mind on the other hand considered the likelihood of a far more drastic conclusion.

"Sweet merciful Celestia... you've killed him!"

Suddenly terrified, Ditzy dropped her hold on Lee's arm, and began to stomp and squeal in a fright. "Gross, gross, gross!"

"Calm down, Ditzy Doo. He's not dead." Then turning to Twilight she said, "He's not dead, I don't think; but he's hurt. We need to get him to the hospital."

"Rainbow Dash, I—"

"Twilight, please!"

By now, Spike had come from inside the library, and was standing in front of the open door. Noticing that he was there, Twilight turned to him and said, "Spike, I need you to stay here and send a letter to Princess Celestia; tell her that we're taking the h'yoomen to the hospital; that he's been injured. Do you have all that?"

Flicking his claw into the air, he allowed himself the luxury of a calm response. "No problem, Twilight. I've got this all under control."

Regarding Spike with an air of skepticism, Rainbow Dash quickly exhaled. There wasn't any time to waste on Spike right now, she had to tend to Lee. "C'mon, let's go if we're going."

"Every-pony stand together," Twilight said, moving close, careful that she didn't step on Lee. Once the others were in position, she closed her eyes, and her horn started glowing. "Brace yourselves."

In a flash the four of them were moved from the front of the tree library to the entrance of the hospital. Rainbow Dash was the first to rush inside, desperate to find a nurse, while Ditzy and Twilight were left to stand over Lee.

Over the course of the next half hour, Lee was taken inside, examinations were made, and Twilight and Rainbow Dash did their best to explain all that they knew about h'yoomens to the doctors. By the time Lee was properly inspected, and a somewhat accurate diagnosis was made, Rainbow Dash was a nervous wreck. Sitting in the waiting room, holding a cup of coffee in her hooves, she kept her head down, and dangled her back legs off the chair.

It was a long day. Her nerves were fried, and her wings had ached so long from the stress, that she was sure she wouldn't be able to fly home.

Taking a careful sip from the coffee cup, she heard the sounds of hooves on tile, and regarded Twilight as she approached.

"Well, good news," Twilight said, smiling softly at Rainbow as she stopped in front of her. "The doctor says that Lee will be okay; that he should regain consciousness soon. He'll have one nasty headache for a while, but that there was no real damage to his head, so far as he could determine."

Rainbow Dash remained unmoving, and kept her head down while Twilight was speaking. There was a large surge of her chest, as she took in a deep breath.

"Are you okay?" Twilight asked.

Still saying nothing, Rainbow nodded.

Remembering that they hadn't arrived alone, Twilight asked, "Where's Ditzy Doo?"

Pointing her hoof, Rainbow Dash said, "She went back to the post office. She needed to lock up."

"Rainbow Dash, are you sure that everything is alright?"

"I... I don't know," she said, her voice betraying her emotions. "I feel so bad... I mean, I did this!"

Twilight could only frown and twist her head to the side. "I don't understand. What did you do?"

"I nearly killed Lee," she said.

If it wouldn't have made her madder than words, Twilight would have giggled at her friend's uncharacteristically sullen behavior. Instead, she rested her hoof on Dash's shoulder and did her best to be understanding. What could she say at a time like this? Something ironic, perhaps? No that was all wrong. She needed to focus. Try and see this from Rainbow Dash's point of view.

"Holy shit! One little rock to the head, and you're already planning my funeral?"

Spinning her head around past Twilight, Rainbow Dash saw a tall figure looming in the doorway of the emergency room. Immediately sliding off the chair, she hit the floor at a near dead run. "Lee!"

Instantaneous tears were shed; the coffee went flying in an unknown direction; orderlies were roused from an all-clear to high-alert status; and somewhere a wolf probably howled at the moon. The only thing that Lee could do was squat down for the inevitable hugging, and thank the Lord Jesus Christ that Rainbow Dash had ditched the scalding coffee before it ended up on his chest.

Before Lee could say anything else, Rainbow Dash landed against him with the force of a small gas powered object, sending him backward onto his ass, and sprawling slightly. The rest was a blur in both sight and sound, as blue flashes reached and grabbed, hugged and squeezed, accompanied with high noted arpeggios of apologies and concerns spouted at the speed of a machine gun.

Mental ascent was never one of Lee's strongest characteristics. He either believed in something, or he didn't. There wasn't much of a middle road for him. Mentally agreeing with something without believing in it was too similar to flat-out lying, which rarely produced anything beneficial in life.

Nevertheless, he found it amazingly difficult to believe everything his eyes were telling him was real when he came-to in the hospital in Ponyville. The argument with the nurse-pony about needing to remain lying down, the looks of confusion from the other pony-persons in the hallway, and lastly, the very short ceilings.

When Lee made his way around to the waiting room, and saw the blue pegasus sitting on the bench, he knew that he needed to make a choice. Agree that everything was real; not a dream, or a fantasy. And accept that later on his mind would be able to better acclimate.

And what if this is a dream?

Does it really matter? I'm a writer, dreaming is how I transport myself to the worlds I want to write about.

Suppose you lose yourself to the fantasy. What then?

Write another page.

Once the mild maelstrom had settled to a tolerable clatter, the nurse and the attending doctor on duty came and explained that while Lee didn't necessarily need to stay at the hospital, he was restricted from any sort of travel for at least two days. Which of course meant, no portal hopping back to his home in Texas. It also meant that for the next two nights, he would need to have some place to stay.

Taking up the cause, Twilight offered a spare bed at the library, promising and swearing that she would see to it that Lee got proper rest, and didn't over exert himself. To which, Rainbow Dash accused Twilight of only being interested in Lee for the science. Once it was settled, and Twilight had made a convincing argument on her own behalf, she trotted off to sign Lee out of the hospital into her care, leaving Lee and Rainbow Dash in the main waiting room past the entrance to the ER.

As she sat there next to Lee, Rainbow's eyes kept drifting back toward the h'yoomen next to her. He seemed stoic, like he was putting on a strong front. Or he was really just doped up good and proper with pain medication. Letting her eyes go up to the bandage on his forehead, she felt her heart sink all over again. What a way to fuck up, Rainbow Dash. What a great way to make a first impression.

"You know," Lee said, suddenly breaking the silence, "this is a perfect example of you being selfish and hogging all the glory for yourself."

"Excuse me?" Dash said, sliding off the chair spinning to face Lee.

"You heard me. This isn't a game of Who's the Bigger Dumb-ass, because if it was, I'd win."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!" Lee said, raising his voice and nodding his head. "What kind of idiot tells you to throw a rock through a two-way portal, then sticks his face in the damn thing?"

"I didn't have to throw the rock at all. I could have just tossed the rock... but, no! I'm Rainbow Dash. I do everything like I'm in some kind of hulked-out beast mode. I'm the bigger dumb-ass here!"

"Hey!" Lee said rising to his full height.

"What!?" Standing on her back legs, and bracing herself, Rainbow Dash was ill prepared for what followed.

Suddenly doing a side to side tap dance on the tile floor, Lee jumped in the air and clicked his heels together, then finished his three second number by throwing his hands out to the side in a goofy flourish. "I'm here dumb-ass. I made it through the portal."

If it were possible, steam would have begun to boil from Rainbow Dash's ears. Her face was stiff, her jaw was clenched, and from the depths of her chest came a mild growl that grew until it was a full raging bellow. "You fucking, jerk-wad bastard!"

Still holding his pose, Lee braced himself for a Chuck Norris style roundhouse kick to the face, but instead, received a small slouching pegasus, as she slow-walked up to him and put her head against his mid-section. "I'm so sorry," Lee said reaching down and putting his arms around her. "I should have been more careful. I promise that the next time you hit me with a rock, I'll deserve it."

For the few moments that they embraced, Lee could feel the strength in Rainbow Dash's small body as she squeezed him. She was warm, and had a crisp fresh smell to her, like a sun washed afternoon. Her mane was silky soft, and her feathers made mild rustling sounds as they shifted against her back under his arms. She may have been a pony, definitely a pegasus; but she was nothing like any equine Lee had ever seen before. Her shape was similar, but her features were almost anthropomorphic. Facial expressions, body language... she was definitely not an animal.

Looking up at him, Rainbow brought a hoof to her forehead in a sympathetic gesture. "Does it hurt?"

"Not so much. The doctor gave me some pain medication. I've honestly had hangovers worse than this."

The bandage on Lee's forehead did a decent job of covering his bump, but the dark color under the wrappings were a major concern, and a reminder that he had been injured enough to draw blood. "It stinks that you won't be able to go back home for a few days," Rainbow said, doing her best to take her mind off of the bandage.

"I don't think so," Lee said, unable to stop himself from rustling the base of Rainbow Dash's mane with his fingers. "This is like a vacation. Time off from writing, time away from deadlines, and pushy agents."

The gentle rustling that Lee was doing with his fingers sent hundreds of tiny tingles down Rainbow's back. As a result, her wings began to involuntarily twitch, and she found herself rhythmically bobbing her head side to side.

"I've never felt anything so soft before," Lee said, transfixed on the multicolored strands in his fingers.

"You smell so nice," Rainbow said. "Are you sure I'm not... dreaming?"

The sound of a loud thud brought them out of their trance-like state. Looking up, Rainbow Dash instantly pulled away from Lee and turned to see what had happened. To her disbelief, Ditzy was standing in the hallway holding a hoof to her chest, and reeling backward. In front of her was Rainbow's flight bag.

"Ditzy Doo!?"

"Oh my gosh! It's a zombie!"

Twisting his head around, Lee said excitedly, "Zombie! Where!? Where zombie!?"

"What?" Rainbow said, looking between Ditzy and Lee, then realizing. "Ditzy, he didn't die!"

Before Rainbow could explain further, Ditzy shrieked and bolted away from them as fast as she could.

"Let me guess," Lee said. "There's a reason her name is Ditzy."

Walking over to her bag, Rainbow Dash scooped it up and slung it around her neck. "There are times when I wonder what goes on in that head of hers, and then there are times that the thought terrifies me to no end."

"Maybe we should go see what's taking Twilight so long," Lee suggested.

"She's almost finished," they heard a voice say behind them.

Turning to look, Rainbow frowned. "Maude?"

Looking carefully first at Rainbow Dash, then at Lee, Maude said, "She was going over the fine print with the clerk, she could be a while."

"Maude, what are you doing here?"

"I heard about the accident at the construction site, and came over right away."

"The construction site?" Lee said. "You mean the gazing pool?"

Rather than answer, Maude stood there and blinked a time or two.

Realizing that Maude had no clue what was going on, Rainbow Dash decided to sum up everything by motioning to Lee. "Maude Pie, this is Lee Morgan. He's from the world on the other side of the gazing pool. He's the h'yoomen that I've been talking to on the televox, and tonight for reasons which I don't want to get into, he fell into the pool, and it magically transported him here."

"Landing on your face isn't smart at all," she said. "You should be more careful." After a few more blinks, Maude reached inside her frock revealing a small black object. Looking down, Lee saw that it was his cell phone. "Then this must belong to you."

It was well past nightfall when Mystic Fire reached Sugarcube Corner. There was a small light on near the entrance, and Mystic Fire approached carefully, making sure that she wasn't followed. She doubted very much that in such a small town there would be much cause for paranoia, but the feeling had sufficed her nicely over the years, and had protected her well.

Reaching a clawed hand out from under her cloak, she knocked twice, and waited. After the count of ten, she knocked once more, and drew back suddenly when the door burst open and a pink pony appeared in the doorway with a toothbrush dangling from her mouth. "Are you from the chimichanga place?"

"Chimi... what?"

Noticing Mystic Fire's claws, Pinkie Pie spit the toothbrush from her mouth. "Oh, those are perfect for stitching popcorn together; we're still short two walls and a veranda!"

"Wait a minute," Mystic Fire said sternly. "I'm here to see Maude Pie. Is that you?"

"Nope. She's gone. You just missed her."

"Did she say when she was coming back?"

"Didn't say," Pinkie said, reaching out and grabbing Mystic Fire by the cloak. "So do you want the walls or the veranda?"

"Gyaaah!"

Author's Note

Have some chapter exit music!

Sorry for the delay. Thanks for the support!