Chapters Never Meant To Be
By Unknown
Chapter 1
The speakers sitting next to the computer screen hummed ever so quietly. The sounds of laughter and music coming from the video on his computer quietly bounced around the room, slightly slipping underneath the door and out into the hallway. Across the room, a window was open, letting in the sounds of the crickets and frogs playing down in the river close to his dorm. His eyes had glazed over as he sat back in his chair, watching the vibrant colors bounce and skip across his screen. When the credits finally rolled on this particular video, he pressed stop before his computer auto-played the next video in the queue.
He sat up, realizing that his back was on fire. He looked at the clock at the bottom of the display. No wonder his back hurt; he had been sitting in that exact same spot for nearly five hours. ‘Time sure does fly’ he thought to himself ‘when watching colorful ponies hop across the screen. ’
He minimized out of the video player, revealing the desktop of his computer. The entire canvas was littered in all sorts of playful looking ponies, ranging, in color, from bright pink to dark velvet. He clicked on the icon indicating an internet browser, and quickly browsed through his bookmarks to see if any life changing event had happened while he vegetated on reruns of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.
Nothing. Of course.
Opening his video player back up, he contemplated watching just one more episode. That’s what he always told himself: just one more. But that was always a lie. The episode would end, and another would start without so much as an internal protest. It wasn’t like it was a serious problem; his roommate was asleep, and classes didn’t start until the mid afternoon. What else was he going to do with his time? Refresh Equestria Daily over and over again until finally drifting off into his dreams, still sitting in his chair? No, not only did watching My Little Pony pass the time quite well, it was an amazing escape from his real life.
Though, granted, completing a couple of the essays he had due would probably be considered a slightly better use of his time.
Throughout the weeks, his life was boring, uneventful, some would even say sad or desperate. Day after day, his mundane life kept on throwing him farther and farther into the pit of depression. It wasn’t until discovering My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic that he had finally found a meaning in his life again. There was just something so happy, so exciting about the show! He didn’t know what is was, whether it was something in his brain or heart, but when he watched this magical show, everything seemed better. His incredibly overdue papers and complete disregard for any sort of human contact completely floated away when he was cast into the magical land of Equestria.
He loved it. He loved it so much.
But tonight, he was tired. It was time to shut the computer down and go to bed.
He closed out of the video player, and proceeded to turn off both the computer and the desk light that had been softly glowing throughout the room. Trying to be somewhat quiet so as to not awake his room mate, he took off his jeans and, lifting up his blankets, crawled into bed.
‘Oh my God, this bed is so soft’ was the first thing to come to his mind. The soft blankets seemed to wrap around him as he snuggled up close to his pillow. He thought it every single night, and tonight was no exception: ‘this is the most comfortable bed in the world.’ His eyes happily closed from being abused for so long, and he assumed that falling asleep tonight wouldn’t be any sort of a fight between his physical need to sleep and the thoughts that wanted to keep him from a small coma.
His eyes continuing to stay shut, he recalled the most recent episode that he had watched of My Little Pony. It was such a fun episode; just recalling the plot made him smile. Pinkie Pie had spent the better part of an entire day trying to convince someone to become her friend. Something deep down touched him as he watched that particular episode. Not having many friends, the episode assured him that everything in his life would all be alright. It was one of his favorite episodes, and thinking about it made his mind ease up slightly. He slowly drifted into a thoughtful sleep.
‘If only I could sing like that’ his brain tried to get as many thoughts processed as fast as it could as he got closer and closer to the much needed slumber. ‘If only I could be as happy as Pinkie Pie. If only I could have such wonderful friends as she does. If only there my life was as exciting or as adventure-filled as the six wonderful ponies in the show...’
He twisted over and looked out the window, through the darkened tree branches and up towards the nearly full moon. It reminded him of how fascinating Luna’s moon looked from the show. He appreciated the darkness much more so than the light; he found the night to be the perfect time to focus on things that needed his attention. There was no-one around, or rather, no-one awake to interrupt anything that he happened to be doing. He loved it. This particular night, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, and he could see the moon like it was directly in front of him.
‘If only Equestria was real’
…
‘What?!’
His own thought caught him off guard, and he quickly brushed the sand man’s gift out of his eyes.
‘If only Equestria was real?’ he pondered internally ‘I must be more tired that I had thought. Of course it’s not real’
The logic didn’t subside his brain, however. He continued to image a world, his world, turning into a place as magical as Equestria. It was amazing, to say the least. Leaving the nightmare of his life behind to live among such happy, loving ponies? He knew it wasn’t real, but it was oddly comforting to imagine. His brain, once again, started to shut down as he continued to think about how much more exciting his life would be to be able to go to Equestria.
As the last cell in his mind powered down, the last thought he remembered was:
‘My life would be so much better in Equestria’
Never Meant To Be
By Unknown
Chapter 2
This was it. No distractions, no interruptions. It took the entirety of the afternoon to get Spike out of the library. He kept on talking about some sort of project he was working on and refused to leave his room in the upper-story of the library. Twilight couldn’t care less what he was planning; she just wanted complete, and total silence to continue her very important work. She, desperate, finally contacted Rarity and begged her to convince Spike to leave. It didn’t take long for Rarity to get Spike out of the library. Now, the only sounds coming from the room in which Twilight sat were her own, excited breathing and the occasional bird chirping from its home on top of the library.
The project Twilight was so desperate to work on what something she’s been trying to figure out for months. While it was easy for her to teleport herself, others or objects quite a distance, she wanted to test the limits of her teleportation. She was finding it quite difficult to get items she wanted teleported as far as, say, from the library to Canterlot. There was a certain distance that her magic let her teleport herself or objects, but Twilight wanted to prove to the princess that she was, indeed, her best student by teleporting herself straight to Celestia’s chamber from the library in which she stood. But she found she just didn’t have enough information relating to the specific spell she was casting to get items, or ponies, to go as far as she wanted it to.
It wasn’t until recently that she finally had a breakthrough. She had been reading the oldest books in the library, most of which, she assumed, hadn’t been opened for hundreds, if not thousands of years. There were ideas that she had never considered before, but it seems some unicorn, long before Twilight was born, had conquered the art of long range teleportation and the book documented the findings of this unicorn. By the time he had mastered the spell, he had been able to transport his entire village nearly all the way across Equestria and back again.
Twilight, inspired solely by her passion to know everything, and the want to impress her princess, was determined to teleport an object to Celestia. And if it worked properly on objects, she couldn’t think of a reason to not try it on other ponies, or even herself.
With the library empty, Twilight started lifting up book after book with her magic, hovering them at eye level to both the left and right of her so she could concentrate on the item that sat on the table right in front of her face.
An Apple.
Applejack had brought over a dozen or so of them for a picnic their friends were supposed to have later in the day. Every one of her friends had noticed how focused on this new project Twilight was, and decided they wanted to do something nice for her, to try and relax her and get her mind off of work. The picnic was supposed to be in a couple of hours or so, and Twilight saw no reason not to spend that time studying. These apple’s were the perfect test subject.
“Alright...” she mumbled, licking her lips as she started going through the process of starting the experiment. She pictured Celestia’s throne all the way in Canterot, and concentrated on the path the apple would take to get there. She focused her energy on the knowledge in her mind, on all of the information she had gathered and studied, and initiated the spell. The room began to light up as Twilight’s horn started to spark and glow. Papers scattered across the room as her magic created a sort of whirlwind throughout. Twilight strained and forced all her magic onto the apple. A incredible bright light filled the room and a loud POP sounded from her horn. Exhausted, Twilight flopped over, the bright light from her horn gone, her magic completely halted. She was afraid she had ran out of energy before she could complete the spell.
After taking a few moments to catch her breath, she stood back up and looked at the desk. There was no apple! But that didn’t mean it made it all the way to the princess. She’d have to get confirmation before being assured that her spell had worked.
She sat down on the couch and waited for a response from the princess. It seemed like forever, but not three minutes passed before the window tore open, letting the letter inside. Twilight watched in anticipation as the letter was reassembled before her eyes. She picked it up with her magic and started to read it.
“My dearest student, Twilight Sparkle. I was sitting in my room, enjoying my afternoon meal when, out of nowhere, an apple hit me straight on the head! I assume you’re working on increasing the distance of your teleportation? I’m so very proud of you, Twilight! The apple arrived perfectly fine, and was quite tasty as well! Please, keep up the good work, and give my regards to Applejack for growing such a tasty apple. Yours truly, Princess Celestia”
Twilight was fascinated! It had actually worked! She hopped around in excitement before realizing how tired she still was. She stopped, and crashed onto the floor, hardly caring how unconformable it was. A very happy smile on her face, she shut her eyes, and dozed off.
Ƹ
“Thanks, everypony, for a wonderful time!” Twilight was waving from the front door of her library. Spike standing next to her, as her friends began to trot away.
“O’ course, Twi.” Applejack said “We all just hope it took yer mind off o’ yer work fer once. Ya’ll really shouldn’t work yerself so hard.”
Rainbow Dash flipped her hair back “Yeah, you should spend all your time doing things you love to do! Forget work!”
“You didn’t work yesterday?” Rarity’s eyes narrowed as she glared at Rainbow Dash “So while you were lazing around not doing your job, a random thunderstorm rolled in through town while I was out shopping at the market?!”
“Wha.. of course not! I, er, wasn’t scheduled to work yesterday anyways!”
“Why can’t you just accept responsibility for your actions! It took me three hours to get my mane untangled.”
“Well, excuse me, princess!”
Rainbow Dash and Rarity continued arguing as the other three stood by them, laughing at their friends bickering. Twilight chuckled from where she stood.
“Well, ladies, I feel like I could sleep for a week, so I’m going to head off to bed.” Twilight spoke over her two friends arguing.
“Nighty-night, Twilight! Hey, that rhymed!” Pinkie Pie burst into a fit of laughter and started skipping down the road. The rest of the friends said their goodbyes and headed down the road as well, leaving Twilight and Spike by themselves. Twilight used her magic to hold the door open for Spike, they both entered the library, and started walking towards Twilight’s office.
“Are you really going to bed, or are you going to stay up and study some more?” Spike asked.
“I just want to do one more test before I go to bed.” Twilight responded.
Spike chuckled, but didn’t press the matter. She had been working hard, but it wasn’t unusual for Twilight to work herself to the bone once in a while.
Twilight pulled out the old books she had used earlier that day and flipped open to the pages she needed to read. At this point, she almost had the spell memorized, but she wanted to make sure she didn’t mess up. This was especially true because, regardless of what she said, Twilight was indeed, very tired. Tomorrow, she could probably repeat the spell without the books. But tonight, she’d use them again just to be safe.
“Alright, Spike, take a letter for the princess” Twilight nodded towards Spike, who quickly ran over the table and grabbed a piece of paper and quill.
Twilight cleared her throat.
“Dear Princess Celestia, You made a very good guess earlier; I am trying to improve my teleportation magic! I’m so proud of my accomplishment of getting that apple all the way from Ponyville to Canterlot. I’m hoping to increase my range even further as I continue to study about the wonders of teleportation. As a note, though you probably already guessed this, I teleported this letter to you myself; I didn’t make Spike do it! Anyways, I’m sure you’re trying to get rest for your morning duties, so I’ll leave you be. Have a wonderful night, princess. Signed, your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle”
Twilight grabbed the rolled up letter from Spike, and set it on the table. She, once again, levitated the books she needed to read the spell, and started to focus her energy on the letter. About half way through casting the spell, she suddenly felt a wave of fatigue overpower her. It took the majority of her will not to stop the spell right then and there. She forced herself to continue teleporting the letter, regardless of how tired she was.
Finally, after what seemed to be at least twice as long as it had taken for the apple, the letter disappeared with a *poof*, and Twilight slumped over, happy, but exhausted.
“I’m... just... going to sleep here..... toni-” was all she could say before Twilight had completely fallen asleep on the ground. Spike chuckled to himself; she always wore herself out with her studies. He quickly went to her room and grabbed her blanket and pillow, and, without waking her, slid the pillow under her head and covered her with the blanket.
Spike started the walk back upstairs to his own bed. Before reaching the top of the stairs, he turned his head back towards his teacher “Good night, Twilight.”
Never Meant To Be
By Unknown
Chapter 3
The lounge he was studying in was slowly emptying as the night drew on. He picked up his phone and glanced at the time; it was nearing 3am. He had been working the homework for the classes that he was so far behind in. Near midnight, there had been around seven or so people hanging around, watching television or just relaxing. There was even a group playing World of Warcraft, huddled around their laptops and mumbling words about orcs or something under their breath as they played. But now, three hours later, there was only two people left; him, and another student who had dozed off on the couch in front of the television.
He was sitting on the floor, papers scattered all around him in various stacks according to what class they corresponded to. After finishing the chapter he was reading out of his psychology book, he slapped it closed and let his eyes take a break. He always did this to himself. He’d spend the majority of the week procrastinating, then would have to spend an entire night working to catch up on the momentous amounts of work he’d skipped. It was something that he was used to though, so spending his entire Friday evening down in the common room wasn’t a total downer.
He did, however, need to take breaks once in a while, and he figured now would be a good time.
He contemplated packing his papers up, but he assumed that no one would bother them, mostly because everyone was already asleep, but also, who would want a bunch of scribbled notes and diagrams? He decided to leave the mess on the floor and take a quick walk outside.
Standing up, his back popped a number of times before moving completely upright. He cracked his neck as well, his body complaining about how long it had sat on the uncomfortable floor. Deciding against going outside without a jacket, he started up the stairs to his room to grab a coat.
He arrived at his door, and reached into his pocket for his keys. He hoped his roommate was asleep; it wasn’t exactly pleasant to talk to him. Then again, he didn’t really enjoy conversing with anyone at any given time. He figured his life would be much better if he didn’t have to talk to anyone.
He slid the key into the door, but before turning to open the lock, he thought he heard something from inside the room. He leaned his head closer to the door, the key still in the lock. Putting his ear against the cold, metal door, he heard breathing, soft, like it was being muffled. Actually, he noticed there were two voices, both sounding frantic and breathing heavily.
Maybe it was the lack of sleep, or that the oxygen had been cut off to his brain after all those hours of sitting downstairs, but for some reason, his brain didn’t register what he was hearing from inside the room. Oblivious, he finally turned the key, and swung the door wide open.
It was pitch black, except for the moonlight shining into the room and the light from the hallway quickly covered the room. The first thing he noticed as the light from the hallway reached the far corners of the room was that his roommate was, indeed, not asleep, but upright, in the middle of the room. The second thing he noticed was that he was currently straddled over another another dark figure, also in the middle of the room.
Instantly, the two in the room stopped what they were doing and looked up at the silhouette standing in the door. The three all stopped moving completely, and stared at each other.
Even the crickets outside were quieted.
Finally, his roommate broke the silence.
“Get the hell out of here!”
Startled, and still not registering exactly what was going on, he covered his eyes with one hand and quickly plucked his jacket off of the hook on the back of the door before turning, leaving the room, and slamming the door behind him.
He briskly walked down the hall and into the stairwell, returning to the downstairs lobby. He rushed over to where he had left his papers and books. But, to his dismay, only a few stray papers were sitting where he had left them. The rest of his work and books were nowhere to be seen. He peeked over at the couch; the person sitting there was also nowhere to be seen.
He clenched his fists, and bursting through the doors in the lobby, entered the cold, damp outside air. He walked to the nearest bench and sat down, ignoring the puddle of water that was already soaking into his jeans from the rain that had fallen earlier and had pooled on the bench.
He stared at the ground, his eyes completely vacant. His mind had turned into mush, understandably. It took him a few minutes to regain any sort of consciousness.
When he did finally come around, he chuckled under his breath.
Soon, the chuckle turned into a soft laugh, which slowly grew louder and louder until he was laughing so hard, he was crying. He buried his fists into his face, and tried to hold back the tears that were forming in his eyes.
As the laughter and crying died down, he peeled his hands from his face and noticed a drop of water on his pants leg. It seemed he let something as stupid as walking in on his roommate having sex or his homework getting stolen get the better of him. All the stress had made him so incredibly high strung, that even the slightest thing could send him spiraling back into a crying fit of depression.
A heavy sigh escaped his lips.
There was only one cure.
Still sitting on the bench, he pulled out his phone and opened up his video list. He started the very first episode of My Little Pony he could find. He laid out on the bench, the water soaking into his shirt and pants, and rested his head on one of his hands while the other held the phone up to his eyes. As he watched the little ponies jumping around on the screen, the night seemed to disappear and his nerves completely left him.
Hours passed, and he continued to watch the show. Eventually, his eyes grew tired and sore from the crying, and they slowly closed, still glued to the screen. When he finally drifted off to sleep, the phone slipped out of his hands and landed with a *thud * on the ground, face up.
Minutes past, and he was slightly drawn out of his slumber by a couple of raindrops hitting his head. The drops turned into handfuls, which turned into piles. Too tired to care, he shut his eyes once more and let the torrents of rain fall down onto him as he drifted off to sleep below the night sky.
Never Meant To Be
By: Unknown
Chapter 4
Celestia’s sun had been burning in the sky long before Twilight was able to pull herself out of bed. She rolled over, her blanket covering her face from the light which filtered through the curtain of her bedroom window. She had been awake, lounging in the soft, fluffy blanket for what seemed like hours already, but she didn’t have the will to remove herself from the comfort that she was enjoying. Facing the windows, she begrudgingly opened her eyes and rapidly blinked to try and remove some of the sleep that had gathered throughout the night. Her eyes focusing, she saw that the sun was already hanging quite high in the sky; it was nearing noon.
She lazily removed her blanket and put her hooves onto the ground.
She couldn’t remember why she was so tired. Walking to the bathroom, she tried to gather her thoughts. She hadn’t done much drinking last night. Rarity had brought a very nice bottle of wine to the picnic, but unless she was remembering incorrectly, she only had a single glass and certainly wasn’t hung over. She looked at herself in the bathroom mirror. Her mane was tangled, and brushed to one side, showing her horn.
Seeing her horn in the mirror sparked her memory and her eyes shot open as the events that took place after the picnic came rushing back to her. She had sent that letter to the princess right before she went to sleep! That would explain why she was so tired; after spending all day having fun, and casting the same energy-consuming spell earlier the same day, she was surprised she was even able to cast the spell a second time at all.
After quickly brushing her mane, she galloped downstairs to find that Spike was awake and already preparing lunch.
“Hey, Twilight!” Spike said, looking up from the sandwich he was making for himself. “You sure did sleep a lot. Are you feeling ok?”
Twilight ignored the question Spike had asked and returned with a question of her own, “Spike! Did we get anything from Princess Celestia today?”
“Not that I’m aware of. Why? Were you expecting something?”
Twilight’s excitement turned into confusion. Her face scrunched up in a slight pout.
“Really?” she asked “Nothing from the princess?”
Spike looked at her, interested in what she was expecting. “Sorry, nothing. Believe me, I’d be the first to know.”
Twilight stood in the kitchen, confused. ‘Why wouldn’t the princess have returned my letter? Maybe she’s too busy? Or maybe I messed something up and it didn’t make it to her?’ She continued to ponder while Spike just stared, trying to figure out what was going on.
“Um, Twilight?” Spike started “You going to tell me what you’re thinking about?”
Embarrassed that she had been standing there, thinking off into space, Twilight looked at Spike and explained. “I sent that letter to the princess last night, and I was expecting some sort of response by now. I’m just trying to think of the reasons that she wouldn’t have written back.”
“Maybe you messed up the spell?” Spike finished making two sandwiches, walked them over to the table and set one in front of Twilight, who had sat down at the table. “You seemed a little tipsy from that wine.” He winked at her.
“Spike! I was not drunk last night! I had one glass of wine! Just one!” Twilight blushed, picking up her sandwich with her magic and taking a big bite. “After we finish eating, I want you to send the princess a letter asking her if she got the message I sent last night. I’m going to go and see if I can’t figure out exactly what happened to it last night if it, indeed, didn’t end up in Canterlot.”
Spike, mouth full of food, responded, “Yes ma’am!”
The two spent the next couple of minutes eating their meals in silence. After finishing off her sandwich, Twilight stood up and got herself a glass of water, quickly drinking it down. She was already thinking of a way to trace exactly where her magic had sent the letter. She’d never done something like that before, but she was sure it was possible. All magic left traces of itself, and everypony had a different “scent” when casting magic. If she could pinpoint hers, it could possibly lead to answers about where the letter had gone. She stared down into the empty glass.
Spike had finished his meal as well and walked over to the desk where he quickly scribbled a note down on some paper before engulfing it into flames and sending it flying straight to Princess Celestia. “Letter is sent, Twilight!”
Twilight looked up from her glass and smiled. “Thanks Spike. I’ll be in my study. Let me know the moment that the princess responds, ok?”
“No problem!” Spike saluted his friend, and started to return to the main room of the library to resume his chores.
Twilight went to her office and pulled out “The Complete Guide to Everything Magic”. The nearly four thousand page book slowly slid off the shelf, and Twilight struggled slightly with its immense weight. She’d never needed to track magic before, so she really had no idea where to look for specific books. This particular book was a good place to start; she couldn’t remember a time that the book didn’t have some sort of useful information about a topic. She flipped it open using her magic and looked for entries entitled “magic tracking”. Magic tracking redirected her to “Magic Scent”. She turned a few more pages and was surprised to see that there were three chapters relating specifically to what happens when a unicorn casts a magic spell and the effects it might have. She flipped to the third chapter and saw a section entitled “Tracking the Origin of a Spell”.
Bingo.
She quickly read through the entirety of the section, which explained how it was possible to figure out what spell was cast, what its effects were and possibly even who casted it. Towards the end of the section, the spell was written out perfectly for her to try and cast. She quickly memorized it and set the book down. Closing her eyes, she focused on trying to track something simple: the spell she had just used to lift the book into the air.
Her horn started to glow and, faster than she expected, a slight pop told her that the spell was complete.
Before she could open her eyes, her mind was filled with... herself! The mental image being painted in her brain was of just mere seconds ago, when she had used her magic to lift the book up to read it. She could clearly see herself and could easily tell when and what she was doing! When she finally opened her eyes, the memory disappearing, she saw a very faint purple aurora surrounding the book that she had set on the table. The spell had worked! She was able to track her own magic spell!
Now it was time to try and track the spell she had cast last night. She was unsure of how much harder it would be to track, considering both that the spell happened last night and that this particular spell was much more complicated than simply lifting a book into the air. It didn’t matter, though, because she shut her eyes and started to concentrate once again on the tracking spell, focusing on the teleportation magic she had cast the night before.
Before she could get very far with the tracking spell, though, Spike burst through the door. “Twilight! The Princess responded!”
“My dearest Twilight Sparkle, I’m very sorry to say that I didn’t receive any letter last night from you. Perhaps something with your spell didn’t work out quite like you planned? Please, keep working on it. I’m sure the next time you try, it will work perfectly! I have complete confidence in you! And be assured that I will respond as fast as I can should I receive anything from you in the future. Good luck, my faithful student, Princess Celestia”
Twilight lowered the letter. “Well, that certainly confirmed my suspicion. My letter went somewhere else completely.”
“Where do you think it went then?” Spike asked, his face scrunched up in thought.
“I don’t know.” Twilight smiled. “But I do have a spell that’s going to help us find out!”
Returning to her desk, Twilight once again focused on the tracking spell. She closed her eyes, and began to recollect the spell from the night before. Spike, very interested in new spells that Twilight had learned, stayed in the room, but stepped back slightly; he never knew exactly what these spells were going to do, and better safe than sorry.
It took quite a bit longer for Twilight to track the spell she had cast the previous night, but finally, with a sharp POW , her mind was filled with the images of the night before. She could see herself, looking very tired, casting the spell. Her horn lit up the room, and when the light had disappeared, the image in her head no longer was focusing on her, and instead following the letter. The letter traveling wasn’t much to see, just blurs and flashing colors.
After a few seconds, Twilight starting to feel sick, the jumbled view came into focus as the letter reached its destination.
Twilight gasped slightly, her eyes still closed. The letter had landed in what seemed to be a forest, but something seemed off. It wasn’t like any forest that she had ever seen before. Everything seemed... slightly grey, and darker, even though it was clearly daytime. In all of her studies, she was having trouble placing exactly where in Equestria the letter had landed. But before she could ponder further, the image left her brain as fast as it had come and she was forced to open her eyes again.
“Spike! The letter landed in a forest somewhere. I couldn’t recognize it!” Twilight was frantically trying to get her story out.
“But you know everything about Equestria!” Spike walked closer to her, noticing how tired she was after casting the spell. “Are you sure you couldn’t tell where it was?”
“Positive.” Twilight slumped over, exhausted. “I had never seen anything like it. It didn’t even look like a real place, more like a picture out of a comic book or something. It felt like my eyes were playing trick on me.”
Spike knelt down next to Twilight and patted her on the back. “Are you sure the spell was working correctly?”
Twilight looked up at him. “I... I guess? I don’t really have a way of knowing that, though it did work the first time.”
Spike sat down next to her and the two pondered internally in silence for a couple of minutes.
Suddenly, Spike felt Twilight twitch.
“Spike...”
“Yes, Twilight?”
Twilight turned her head towards Spike, a look of panic and excitement filled her eyes.
“Do you think... I could have sent that letter... to a different world?”
Never Meant To Be
By: Unknown
Chapter 5
Wet.
Sloshing wet.
And cold. A quick shiver, arms freezing. Can’t feel any finger or toe. Or nose.
Cough. Cough again. Throat hurts. Also very cold.
Nose is... running? Can’t tell. Too much water.
His thoughts slowly turned from a bumbling mess to coherent. His left eyelid creaked open, like it had been glued shut. The sun was blinding, and he tried to block it out by slamming his eye closed again. Confused, he tried to open both of his eyes at once, succeeding, but only slightly.
“So cold.” His lips moved, but barely so. They were a pale shade of blue.
He reached his numb fingers up to his face and slid them down his cheek. He couldn’t feel anything. He stuck his finger in his mouth and slightly bit down. He was met with a very slight, dull pain, completely covered in the icy numbness.
“So... cold.”
He sat up, every joint and muscle in his body protesting and cracking at the sudden movement. He put his feet on the ground. Well, at least, he thought he did. It was hard to tell when both feet were completely void of any sort of feeling. He reached up to his hair and was greeted with a frozen and still slightly wet mess.
“Whoa.”
A voice came from his left. His head cracked as he looked towards the source of the sound.
“Dude. You alright?”
A man he had never met was rushing to his side and gripped him on his shoulders.
“You look completely frozen.” The stranger touched his arms. “You’re so cold. Did you... sleep out here last night?”
It took all his power to just nod slightly towards the person standing over him.
“It’s nearly freezing out here! And it rained! Are you suicidal?”
His brain had nothing more to say as his eyes went blank and he started to lose consciousness.
“Hey, whoa, stay with me! Don’t pass out!”
‘Too late for that’ was the last thing to go through his mind.
Ƹ
SPLASH
He felt something hot pour down his head; he cringed as it rolled down his neck and chest, soaking his clothes. His eyes instinctively opened wide as more of the hot water poured onto his body. Blinking over and over to try and clear his vision, he tried to stand up, only to feel someone pushing him back down. He looked up and saw someone standing over him, concern in his eye.
“Don’t try to stand up. I’m not sure your legs could take it.” The stranger spoke softly.
Complying, and his vision finally clear, he looked around. He was in one of his dorm shower stalls, which would explain the hot water. He looked up at the person helping him and tried to pinpoint a name, to no avail. He wasn’t one to learn people’s names that often.
He tried to speak. “Who...” His lips, still very cold, didn’t seem to work properly.
“I’m Tyler.” The not-so stranger knelt down, completely oblivious to the water splashing onto him and soaking into his clothes. “I found you outside the dorm sleeping on a bench. You were shivering worse than I’ve ever seen and your entire face was blue. I brought you inside. What were you doing out there?”
He pondered for a minute, trying to think of some sort of excuse, but his mind wasn’t cooperating. Water continued to soak down his shirt and jeans. “I ‘unno.”
He sneezed, and the sound echoed throughout the bathroom.
Tyler looked very concerned. “I seriously thought you were going to die, you were shivering so hard. How are you feeling now?”
Not actually having assessed his physical feelings yet, he noticed that his entire body stung. The hot water bouncing off his nearly frozen skin caused more than a slight amount of discomfort, but at least he could feel something now. “I... can ‘eel my ‘ingers a’ain.” he slurred out. His lips were still numb, and he was unable to form complete syllables.
Tyler looked relieved. “Good. I think that’s enough water for now. What room do you live in? I’ll help you walk.”
Mumbling his room number, he suddenly felt himself being lifted off the ground. Unsure if his legs could hold him, he held onto Tyler’s shoulders and tested his physical limitations. As he expected, even a slight amount of weight on his legs caused them to buckle, like rubber.
“Well, I guess I’m carrying you again.” Tyler smiled towards him.
He felt himself being picked up. It was slightly embarrassing, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to make it to his room by himself.
The two left the shower, both completely soaked and dripping. Tyler had to carry him up a flight of stairs to make it to his room. He did his best to fish out his key, and handed it to Tyler, who unlocked the room to find his roommate’s bed empty. Tyler reached over and grabbed a towel draped over a chair and did his best to dry him off before laying him down in his bed and covering him with all the blankets he could find.
“Are you going to be alright?”
He wrapped himself tight into his blankets and reveled in the warmth. Behind chattering teeth, he spoke. “Yesss.... I ttthinkk ssssoooo.”
Tyler smiled. “Good. Listen, I live right down the hall in 204. Give me your phone, I’ll put my number into it. If you need anything at all, please call me.”
His phone. Where was his phone? He tried to access his brain to figure out where he left it. When it finally hit him, he sighed. “I had it last night, outside. I’m sure it’s ruined.”
“Ah, I see.” Tyler looked around and found his roommates phone. “Just use this. Your roommate will get over it.” He quickly punched in some numbers and set the phone down on the bed.
“Thanks.”
Tyler stood up. “Seriously, if you need anything, please call. And if you feel yourself getting worse, I’ll be more than happy to take you to a hospital. I’ll come back to check on you in a bit, alright?”
From his bed, he looked up and gave the biggest smile he could muster.
“Thank you.”
It was all he could say before drifting off to sleep. He didn’t even hear Tyler leave.
He could remember some flashing lights, lots of different colors. Maybe even some music. But it felt like moments after he drifted off to sleep, he awoke again. Tyler was looking over him again.
“I found your phone.” He lifted up the device and set it on the bed. “It wasn’t working, but I removed the battery and dried it out. That seemed to get it working again.”
He smiled, weakly. “Thanks.”
Tyler pulled up a chair. “How are you feeling?”
Still drowsy from waking up, he wasn’t exactly sure how he felt. He figured what better way to check than trying to stand up. He pushed the covers off of his body and started to move his legs towards the floor. Making contact, they stung a little, but they felt stronger than they had earlier. It seemed like they were going to be able to hold him. His head finally sitting upright, he felt a little dizzy, but was able to keep his balance when he finally pushed himself off the bed and stood on his own two legs, slightly leaning on the upper bunk.
“Looks like I can stand again, at least.”
Tyler looked relieved. “Awesome. I can’t begin to tell you how freaked out you had me this morning. I seriously thought you had died as I was carrying you upstairs.”
Not used to so much attention, he blushed slightly. “I suppose I’d have been much worse off if you hadn’t come along. Thanks.” He smiled as best he could.
Tyler stretched his arms over his head. “I’m going over to the cafeteria. Would you like me to bring you anything?”
On cue, his stomach rumbled and he flinched at the sudden pain. “Yes, please.”
“Great. I’ll be back in a bit.” With that, Tyler walked out of the door.
He continued to stand in front of his bed for a bit, contemplating laying back down. He wasn’t particularly tired, just slightly cold still and a little weak. So, ignoring the pleas the comfortable sheets were making to him, he walked over to his desk and sat down at his computer, pressing the power button. He fiddled with a pencil while his computer booted, poking himself in the finger with the sharp end.
Thinking back, he realized how scary it was not to have any feeling in parts of his body. Had he been completely in his right mind, he certainly would have panicked at the realization that his arms and legs were completely numb. It really was a miracle that... what was his name? Tyler? It was a miracle that he showed up when he did.
His computer finally booted, he clicked around the internet for a bit. Nothing interesting, really. His mom had sent him a request for some stupid Facebook game, and there were a bunch of funny cat pictures posted on his Twitter. Yawning, he closed out of the browser and, once again, contemplated going back to bed. His mind wasn’t cooperating however, and he decided that it might be better to take a walk to try and get a little more blood running through his legs. The weather had gotten considerable warmer as well since earlier that morning.
Bundling up as much as he could, he left his room, locking the door behind him, and left the building. Walking down the sidewalk towards the well-kept trails in the forests behind the college, he watched students hustle around, doing whatever it is that people do with their Saturday afternoons around here. He was never one for socializing on the weekends, so he had no idea what went on.
He soon found himself at the edge of the forest. He decided it probably wasn’t the best idea to take one of the longer trails, so, following the signs, he headed down the path marked “Apple Trail, 1.2 miles”.
It really was a beautiful day. The rain from the previous night had already soaked into the ground, giving everything a nice glow. He was able to make out many different smells that the rain had brought out, including the grass, a multitude of flowers, and that woody smell that tree bark gives out.
He took a deep breath in.
It seems the close encounter with nature didn’t traumatize him too much. Regardless of his previous feelings towards mother nature, he had to admit, it was quite beautiful at times.
He let the breath out.
Moments passed without a single sound aside from the birds chirping and the sound of his feet sloshing through the leaves on the ground.
Reaching the halfway point of the trail, he started to step down a steeper slope that would circle around and eventually climb back up to return the hiker to the beginning of the trail. He was sure to move slowly to try and keep his balance as best he could. His efforts were in vain, however, as his right foot suddenly lost its grip, causing the other to begin to slide as well. He landed on his rear, and slowly slid off the side of the trail and into a gully. He tried to stop himself, but the wet ground was impossible to grip. He just did his best to not tip over as he slowly skidded down the hill.
Finally, reaching the bottom, he stood up. As far as he could tell, he was unharmed; it wasn’t a terribly steep slope. His pants were completely soaked with water and dead leaves though. He did his best to brush off as many leaves as he could, and wiping the residue from his hands onto his pants.
‘I just can’t stop trying to hurt myself today.’ He chuckled to himself. He looked around at the change of scenery, savoring the look of the untouched part of the forest where the trail didn’t lead. He began to turn around to make his return up the slope, but before turning all the way around, something caught his eye. He flipped his head back away from the slope and squinted. There seemed to be something... white, or maybe brown a dozen or so feet deeper into the woods. His curiosity got the better of him, and he decided to investigate.
He trudged through the wet grass towards the object. The closer he got, the more clear he could see it. It was paper.
A letter? No.
It was a scroll.
He knelt down to study it. Yeah, it was certainly a scroll. It seemed to be printed on some sort of weird paper that made it look like something out of a comic book or a cartoon. On the front was a circular, golden seal.
He inspected it closer. The seal was holding a red ribbon that kept the scroll closed. On it, the letter C was embossed.
‘Where have I seen this before?’
He scrunched up his face as he tried to pinpoint exactly what he was looking at and why it seemed so familiar.
“Dear Princess Celestia,”
…
...
“What?”
He spoke out loud to no one in particular. He had quickly realized where he had seen the seal before. It was identical to the one used in Friendship is Magic, when Princess Celestia and Twilight Sparkle were communicating together.
“This letter... is to the Princess?”
…
“HAHAHAHAHA”
He burst into laughter. He couldn’t believe he actually, even for one split second, thought that he had actually received a letter that was intended for a fictional cartoon character. He finished reading the remaining of the letter, still chuckling to himself. He had to admit, whoever made the scroll did a good job with the attention to detail. It really did look like something out of the show.
Finishing the letter, he rolled it back up and replaced the red ribbon. He laughed to himself again, content in the fact that it’s possible another Brony lived on the campus. He’d have to find out where this person lived.
He tucked the scroll into his pocket and turned around to hike back to the trail.
Minutes passed as he walked, not really thinking about anything until...
‘What if this really is from Twilight?’
He began to laugh again at the absurd idea. How could he possibly think this scroll had actually been sent from a children’s television show? Maybe the cold really did damage his brain.
He sighed. He had finished climbing back up the slope that he had slid down.
‘This is just something someone, another Brony like me, made for fun to try and trick some gullible, or rather, stupid fool like me.’
But his logical thinking didn’t help. He couldn’t stop thinking to himself about the idea that, indeed, he had somehow received a letter from Twilight Sparkle, who lived in an imaginary world called Equestria.
He sighed again.
Never Meant To Be
By Unknown
Chapter 6
Twilight paced around the library. She was replaying what she had seen in her mind over and over again, trying to piece something, anything together. It was no use. What she had seen wasn’t... natural. It didn’t even look real. But she knew it had to be; magic doesn’t lie, and she saw the letter that she had sent lying there in that mysterious forest, on top of a pile of dark red and brown leaves.
Twilight was taught to believe that every thing in the world had an answer. Throughout her life, she had encountered many obstacles that seemed impossible, or rather, seemed incredibly unlikely. But every time, she was able to find some sort of answer to the conundrum. Even magic, as mysterious as it was, had a scientific answer. It was something that came from the power within somepony, it was something that could be explained. However crazy it sounded, it all had an answer .
But this... this had no conceivable answer, at least no answer grounded in the science that Twilight had studied since she was little. Wherever that letter was sent, it was not in Equestria. It was not on their Earth. It didn’t even look like it was in their universe. The way the trees and leaves looked, all dark and... detailed? Does that even make any sense? She didn’t even know how to describe what she had saw to herself . Twilight only knew the world she lived in, so trying to explain another world, or whatever that place was, was similar to trying to explain a color to somepony who was colorblind: basically impossible.
It didn’t make sense.
Spike was sitting next to a large stack of books on the other side of the room. He flipped through one, set it down and began again on another book. Twilight had given him the task of trying to find a description that matched what Twilight had seen. Spike really didn’t understand what Twilight had explained to him, but he did his best with the picture that she described.
Twilight stopped her pacing. “Anything at all, Spike?”
Spike finished reading through the book he was holding, put it down, then sat up and stretched, trying to rub the sleep out of his eyes. “Not a thing. But then again, I really have no idea what I’m looking for at this point.” He looked at Twilight. “You say the world looked... complicated? In more detail?”
Twilight glanced down at the floor, knowing her descriptions were vague at best. “I really don’t know how to describe it, Spike. It looked so... different than anything I’ve ever seen.”
Twilight took a quick glance around the library. She hadn’t really thought about it before, but maybe the best way to describe what she had seen was to compare it to what she did know. She glanced at the wooden wall of the tree. It was smooth, just two shades of color with small, darker brown lines running towards the top of the old tree that housed the library. But the tree she had seen in her glimpse was so much different. It looked rough, darker, with seemingly thousands of different shades of colors. It had deep crevases that spanned the entire tree.
She looked at a scroll that was sitting on the ground. It was entirely one solid, tan color. The scroll that she had seen was, indeed, still tan, but there was an off-yellow look to it, and she could remember seeing the grains in the paper.
The more she thought about it, the more she realized that when describing this new... whatever it was, “more detail” made more and more sense. Yet, with that realization, something else came to her mind: she had no idea what to do about it.
“Spike?”
Spike looked at her, noticing her voice drop a tone. “Yes, Twi?”
Twilight set down the scroll she was holding and sighed. “This is bigger than either of us. I’ve stumbled upon something that, as far as I can tell, has never been seen before. Even with your help, we can’t handle this on our own.”
She started to lift all the books that were scattered around the library and proceeded to place them back onto their shelves. “These books hold so much information, centuries of facts written down for future generations to study and learn from. There must be millions of pages of knowledge that ponies much smarter than me have stored. But nothing in a single one of these books is going to explain what I saw.”
The last book sliding into place and her horn losing its aurora, she turned to face Spike. “We need to talk to Celestia. If anypony would know something about... whatever we have stumbled upon, it’d be her. And even if she doesn’t, there are many, many more books in the libraries at Canterlot.”
Twilight looked at Spike. It had already passed his normal bedtime, and the little dragon was usually asleep at this hour. His eyes beginning to droop, he asked “So, are we going to leave tonight?”
Twilight gave him a little smirk. “Think you can manage? I’m fine with traveling by myself.”
Spike roughly shook his head. “No way, Twilight! I’m not missing out on something this big! I’m coming with you.”
Twilight smiled softly at him. “Sounds good, number one assistant.” She walked towards the door and started to pull on her jacket. “Go get a pillow for both of us; we can sleep on the train.”
Ƹ
The late trains heading out of Ponyville rarely had many passengers. The particular train that Twilight and Spike rode on only had one other passenger who was seated a few rows behind the two. Spike had quickly made himself comfortable and was asleep in a heartbeat, his pillow and head leaning against Twilight’s back. Twilight tried her best to fall asleep, but her wandering mind kept her from shutting down. She kept playing the scene over and over in her mind, like a movie stuck on repeat.
Compared to what she had seen, the world around her seemed so... simple. And a lot more colorful. Everything seemed almost pastel compared to the dreary, dark forest where the letter had fallen. Her world was full of smooth, precise and curvy lines, while the other world was jagged and seemingly random. The more she thought about it, the more it just didn’t make any sense.
Eventually, Twilight grew tired of pondering the same question over and over again, and finally, with the sound of the train in the background, she fell asleep.
Her sleep was cut short, however, as the train arrived at Canterlot just an hour later. Twilight tried to open her eyes, but they refused. After a profuse amount of rubbing, her eyes finally succumed to being opened, and she glanced out the window. Celestia’s sun wasn’t quite out yet, but it was only a matter of minutes.
“Spike.” Twilight looked over at the dragon sleeping beside her, and gently tugged on his ear with her magic. “We’re here.”
The dragon mumbled something as he tried to sit up straight, though he quickly lost his balance and flopped back over onto Twilight.
Twilight chuckled, stood up and used her magic to levitate a once-again sleeping Spike onto her back.
Twilight stepped off the train and began the short walk towards the palace. Celestia was surely awake now, getting ready to raise her sun. Twilight was sure that the princess would make time for her with such interesting information.
Approaching the front gate, the guard standing at the tall doors noticed Twilight. “Twilight! I mean, uh, Miss Sparkle! What in Equestria are you doing here at this hour? Is everything ok?”
Twilight smiled at him. “Yes, everything is fine, thank you. I just need to speak with the princess right away.”
The guard saluted. “Of course, Miss Sparkle. She’s in her chamber, possibly sleeping, but if you’ve visiting at this hour, I’m sure whatever the reason is, it’s enough to wake her.” With that, he used his magic to open the doors to the palace.
“Thank you very much.” She nodded in his direction, and walked through the door.
She hadn’t been in the upper portion of the palace in quite a long time, but she still knew her way around quite well. She passed a few guards, who simply saluted her when she walked by. That first guard must have sent the word along that she was coming. It only took her a few moments to locate the princess's chamber. There were two guards stationed outside the door.
Twilight knocked softly. There was no response. One of the guards looked over at Twilight. “She is probably just waking up to raise the sun. Please, go in.”
Twilight nodded, and pushed open the door with her magic.
The room was dark, the only light source coming from the sun, which was now peaking over the mountain top. Celestia was standing in front of the window, her horn aglow and her eyes closed. She didn’t seem to notice Twilight enter, or rather, she did, but didn’t want to break her concentration. Twilight walked over to the bed and picked up Spike with her magic, laying him down onto the soft sheets. She then made her way to the princess, who was still standing peacefully in front of the window.
“Princess...?”
“I hear you Twilight Sparkle. Please, give me a minute.”
Twilight did as she was told, and went to sit down next to the sleeping dragon. Twilight watched in awe as she watched her princess, her mentor, perform the task that she’s done every single day of her life. It was quite a marvel, actually. The princess didn’t seem to be doing anything besides standing, but Twilight knew she was doing so much more. It was magical.
When the sun was completely revealed from behind the mountain tops, the princess finally turned around and looked at her pupil. “Twilight Sparkle. Of course I’m always happy to see you, but I must confess, I’m stumped as to why you’d visit at such a strange hour.”
Twilight got off the bed and walked closer to the Celestia. “I’m happy to see you as well, princess.” They embraced for a quick hug.
Celestia pointed towards a table towards the other end of the room and motioned for Twilight to sit. The two marched over, Twilight sitting down and Celestia using her magic to prepare some tea for the two. “Now, Twilight. What matter would cause you to travel throughout the night just to see me? Is something wrong?”
“No, princess, nothing is immediately wrong. It’s just... you remember when I sent you the letter with my own magic?”
The princess nodded. “Of course.”
“Well, I was practicing the magic again, trying to send you a second letter. I sent it, but I never heard a response from you. I assumed that I messed up the spell and it went somewhere else completely. So I used a magic origin spell that tracks-”
Celestia cut Twilight off. “Yes, my student, I am well aware of what the spell does. What did you find out?”
Twilight sighed. “I really haven’t a clue. All I know is that the letter didn’t make it to you. And it ended up... in a place which I’ve never seen in my entire life.”
The princess gave Twilight a puzzled look, and stood up from her position at the table.
“Show me.”
