Where the Rainbows Touch Down

I don’t remember dreaming that night.  It felt as though I had retreated into myself and refused to come out, even if it was to reach out and ask for help.  I had the vague feeling I could have shouted and no one would respond to me, no one could hear me.  I found myself back in the laboratory and screamed out to one of my coworkers to grab me as the substance fell from the intern’s hand, as though thinking some remaining connection with the place I once knew might prevent me from vanishing out of existence.  …I suppose I did dream, then, or otherwise I would not be in the position I now am.

When I did finally awake, the blanket that had been on me was off to the side and my legs were hanging off the edge of the couch as though I had rolled partially rolled onto the floor.  The pillow beneath me was wet and my clothes were rumpled except for my shoes neatly positioned on the floor near my head.  I stood up and put my shoes on and stood up, going to stretch yet finding my hands hitting the ceiling above me before they could rise higher than my head.

“Careful,” said a calm, clear voice behind me.  “I wager things here are still a bit smaller than you’re used to.”

I turned around to see the white pegasus with the dirty blonde mane from the previous day, Garnet Heart, standing at the entrance of the kitchen.  The armor was still off him and I could see the picture of his namesake on his otherwise bright white flank.  I turned back around and went over to a window, bending down so that I could see through the frame and out into the gold and deep blue of early morning.  I was still in the middle of the town of Ponyville, the beige and pink houses with thatched roofs parted just enough from my view so that I could see the forests by which I had first entered this strange place.

“You’re still in Ponyville, Mister Phillip,” Garnet called softly.  “Remember that we await a message from Princess Celestia as to your condition and whether or not you can be brought back.”

I placed a hand to the window.  “What could have brought me here?” I asked.  “What purpose does it serve?”

“I’m afraid I can answer neither of those questions,” Garnet said, a hint of pity in his voice.  I heard his hooves as they walked across the wooden floor towards me.  “The twists and turns of fate never particularly like to reveal their intentions.  I must admit the same questions crossed my mind last night.”

I didn’t quite respond to him.  “I hoped to wake this morning as one wakes from a dream, perhaps in a hospital or on the floor of my laboratory.  But instead I thought of the explosion that brought me here, and how my coworkers had seemed so distant at the time, as though they were the ones who were the dream and this place was real.”

I collapsed backwards and sat on the couch, seeing Garnet watch me with a single blue eye turned in my direction.  “Is it really so much to ask for an explanation?  If not magic, then what?  Death?  I was conscious and breathing the whole time; you cannot tell me that death is to blame.”

“What makes you believe that death brought you here?”  Garnet’s voice was hardly more than a whisper.  “Are you so afraid that the first thing you can compare this to is the worst fate to befall someone?”

“There are worse fates than death,” I responded.  “There is becoming a prisoner in a foreign land, unable to return home for the rest of your life.”

“At least then you are alive.  And with life comes hope.”  Garnet turned to face me though didn’t come closer.  “I can tell more than you know.  I can tell by the way you speak you have already given up hope.”  The calm voice suddenly gained an edge to it that made me fear him.  “For that, then perhaps this place is like death, for you are not allowing yourself to live and neither do you allow yourself to hope.”

“You believe I doubt what might possibly be my only chance of returning home?”

Garnet’s face softened.  “Forgive me,” he said, the venom drawing out of his voice and the calm returning.  “I do not mean to be so antagonistic to you.  Your arrival has brought a sense of confusion on all of us.  I shall attempt to be gentler with you in the future.”

“Oh, stop being so formal.”

“Alright, then.  I’ll be quite honest with you and say I don’t even know what is going on here.  The place is in uproar – myself included,” he emphasized – “about how to deal with you.  Until we finally manage to get some answers, the only thing I can think of is that you are either confined here or at the library with Twilight Sparkle.”

“You do not trust me?”

“I said I didn’t believe you were a monster.  That said, you are still foreign to me, and there are many things I don’t know about you.”  Then came the smile, the strange feeling of reassurance.  “But believe me, I want to know them if only to understand you.  What makes you tick, what makes you comfortable.  From there we can begin to understand each other.”

I had to avert my eyes because I was tired of looking at his.  They brought me hope and reassurance, and yet there was something telling me I still couldn’t trust him entirely.  That his words were simply to pacify me and that he would do nothing.  I tried focusing on his cutie mark, but at the awkward angle at which it now stood it had the look of a blood stain and I dropped my head to the floor.

“You do not believe me?”

“It is hard to believe something that, not even twenty four hours ago, I didn’t think was biologically possible.”

There was the sound of footsteps before a white hoof came under me and I felt it rest against my face, my chin in the groove created by the horseshoe at the bottom of the hoof.  I felt a gentle push and soon my eyes were meeting with the blue before the hoof left my chin.  “I understand there’s not much that I can do.  But I will do whatever I can.  For now, trust me.”

Much the same as before, what choice did I have, really?

* * *

Unlike the others I had seen around, the Captain was a larger unicorn with a short, stumpy horn.  He was a very earthen brown and his eyes were a darker green and his mane and tail were both a bright blonde and very short as though most of it had been lopped off.  He stood a few inches taller than Garnet did, and had a single golden star as a cutie mark.  He wore a set of gold armor similar to the other pegasi I had seen, but did not have the helmet.

I was taken by the Captain to a room off the main lobby in a different direction from where I had originally been held.  There was a large room with a single wooden desk, another large light overhead, and a pillow where I sat facing the wall opposite the door.  Despite feeling like I had been prosecuted for some crime, the Captain was constantly telling me otherwise.

“You’ve done nothing wrong,” the Captain said.  “It’s just that you’re foreign and we would like to answer a couple of questions.”

I asked him: “To determine whether or not I’m going to do something wrong?  Be honest with me, please.  I know you’re suspicious of me since you’ve never seen something like this before.”

“On the contrary, Mister Phillip.  There was a human here about a year or so ago under the care of Twilight Sparkle.  He returned to Canterlot where he came from, though, and I haven’t seen or heard from him since.”

“…what’s the problem with me, then, that I’m considered a monster?”

“He came here escorted by Royal Guard.  And, if you excuse my frankness,” the Captain said as he sat down on the other side of the table in front of me, “he didn’t scream out like a lunatic immediately upon arrival.  Nor did he wear a white lab coat.”

I nodded as though understanding, though really it seemed a bit of a harsh difference.

The Captain had in front of him a few sheets of paper and a few sharpened wooden pencils.  He levitated one of the pencils in a yellow glow and positioned it over the paper as he scrutinized it.  “Anyway, your name is Trent Phillip and, according to information received by Garnet Heart, you are twenty seven years old.  Is that correct?”

“Yes.”

“Alright.  What was your most recent degree?”

“Master’s Degree in Chemistry.”

“What job position did you have before arriving here?”

“I was technically a ‘lab specialist’; I knew my way around the chemicals and their uses.”

“Did you have any other jobs related to this degree?”

“I was a forensic scientist for a while for the local police department.  I was asked to join in a research facility when I obtained my master’s and peacefully resigned to work there.”

“What was your physical standing before you arrived here?”

“I had recently cleared a yearly medical check at the lab.  I was pronounced clean, free of disease and bacteria, and no physical damage.  Slightly above average leg strength and lung capacity from walking around a three-story building all day for work.”

“What were your previous hours at the laboratory?”

“Eight hours a day, four days a week, Monday through Thursday.  All government holidays off and two weeks of paid vacation.”

“What was your previous pay?”

“Thirty dollars an hour, but with tax deductions and small amounts taken for insurance benefits, it dropped to twenty six dollars an hour.”

“What was your financial situation?”

“I had a few thousand in a private savings account, and about a few hundred in checking.  My bills were all paid and I lived comfortably in a two-bedroom apartment that I paid the rent for by myself.”

“What close family did you have remaining back at home?”

“I had my mother and my father, both in their early sixties and living a few miles away from where I lived.  I also had an older brother.  I wasn’t married, and had no kids.  I had a few girlfriends, but was not in a steady relationship at the time.”

The Captain scribbled notes furiously all throughout the questionnaire, and he continued going through the papers as he did so.  It was then that another pony came in carrying another sheet of paper in his mouth, which the Captain took with his golden magic and placed it in front of him.

“Alright.  We’re going to do a bit of word association.  I will say a word and you will say a one-word response, just the first thing that pops in your head.  All of your responses will be noted.”

I nodded to let him know that I understood, to which the Captain pulled forward the sheet of paper the other pony had given him.  “Are you ready?”

“Yes, sir.”

The Captain looked at the paper, pencil at the ready.  “Let’s begin.”  There was a long moment of silence before his first word.  “Sun.”

“Day.”  A check went next to it.

“Moon.”

“Night.”

“Crystal.”

“Gemstone.”

“Magic.”

“Fantasy.”  The Captain made a strange mark on his paper for this one.

“Monarch.”

“King.”  That one ended up practically being scribbled out rather violently.

“Law.”

“Follow.”  An approving smile, but no mark.

“Pony.”

“Transportation.”  Another strange mark went down on the paper.

“Ground.”

“Earth.”

“Sky.”

“Wings.”

“Horn.”

“Power.”  Another mark.  This one I could tell was, from my view, an upside-down question mark.

“Equestrian.”

“Sport.”  No mark, but the Captain raised an eyebrow, something which I didn’t think was a very good response at all.  Likely to be discussed later.

It went downhill from there.  “Animals” was met with “food”, which was met with a disapproving shake and a strange mark, as was “noble” for “wolf”.  Both responses of “blood” to “red” and “meat” to “pink” were scratched out on the page.  I answered “chicken” with “rice”, which obtained another question mark, while “peace” with “war” was met with a red “x” next to the word.  After what felt like hours and hundreds more words going back and forth between us with only the scratching of the pencil breaking any silence…

“Discord.”

“Chaos.”

“Nightmare.”

I actually stopped myself.  I had my mouth opened, but I didn’t say the word.  While it was my first thought, I didn’t want to actually say it.

“Mister Phillip?” the Captain asked me.  “I need a response from you.  The word is: nightmare.”

I gulped.  The word barely came out from my mouth.  “…this.”

Probably the best thing that occurred from this was that the Captain did not look horrified.  He scribbled a few more things on his paper and put it along with the rest of the papers he had originally brought in with him.  He coughed a few times.  “Well,” he said.  “Well… I will be speaking with you again in a few minutes, but for now I need you to stay here.  I will be back, again, in a few minutes.”  And he left the room and shut the door behind him, leaving me alone and staring at the place where the papers had been.

I had been alone for maybe ten minutes when another pony came in with a tray full of medical equipment; this one was a mare with a white coat and pink mane and a white cap with a red cross on it.  A cuff was placed on my arm and a small meter placed on the table, and with the press of a button the cuff began filling up with air.  Meanwhile, the white mare placed a stethoscope to my heart and then my lungs, using her mouth to write things on a piece of paper.  She then tapped each of my knees with a small hammer, looked down my throat and in both my eyes and ears with a small flashlight before the meter beeped.  Notes were written down, another button was pressed, and the cuff soon began to release air.

I was then instructed to lie across the table, after which I received a shot into both my elbow pits on the inside of my arm where the pony could find a vein.  The areas were scrubbed with a cotton swab dipped in rubbing alcohol and soon had a bandage placed over each.  It was then that the mare finally packed up her things, placed the papers in a small bag on the table, and pushed the cart out of the room and I was alone once more.

* * *

The Captain came back in a short while later.  He once more crossed the space to the opposite side of the table and had a piece of paper in his magical glow.  “I have received word that Princess Twilight Sparkle has requested you.  You will be escorted to the library by Officer Garnet Heart, after which you will return here so that we can finish filing your papers.”

“And if all this was unnecessary due to me leaving?”

“It is simply done as a precaution,” the Captain said.  “If you leave, we send these papers away with a note to the government offices in Canterlot and brush our hooves free of them.  Until then, they are our reference to make sure that nothing happens out of the ordinary to you while you are here.  Even if you do go back, we will not be sending you back half-dead.”

I nodded and watched as the Captain returned to the side of the table closest to the door.  He turned to me.  “Come on.  Garnet is waiting for you in the lobby.  And mind your head.”

I took care to mind the Captain’s words and ducked under the frame leading out of the room as we headed to the lobby.  Garnet Heart was there in full armor, boasting one of the finely crafted spears with a wooden shaft, a leather grip one third of the way up the shaft, and a small metal blade firmly secured on the end.  He placed his spear under his wing joint and folded the wing up.

“Are you ready?” Garnet said.  “Twilight has received information.”

“Has she given you any sense as to what it might be about?” I asked him.

Garnet shook his head.  “No, only that it was urgent.”

The Captain remained behind in Ponyville’s Office of the Guard, but Garnet led me out and made sure I stayed close by him.  I saw other ponies looking at me with an odd sort of curiosity as I walked down the street.  One particularly small pony started to approach me, but an older mare pulled her back.  “Don’t go near him,” I heard the mare say as we passed by.  “We don’t know what he’s like.  He could be cursed by dark magic.”  Another mare with a mane in two shades of red and a rose on her flank jumped backwards as Garnet passed.  “…the creature from the Everfree!” she barely whispered as I walked by before dashing off into a nearby alley.

A group of stallions stared at me as I walked by.  I heard various panicked mumblings, some of which came clear to me: “What a strange thing...”  “That’s what caused the roar at the edge of town yesterday morning, isn’t it.”  “I heard he came from the Everfree…”

The ponies backed away further as we approached the giant oak towards the center of town, boasting a sign out front that read “Golden Oaks Library.”  Despite their backing away, more ponies had gathered to watch as I went up to the three with Garnet as he knocked on the door and I could hear the whispers echoing from all around the tree.  Hundreds of pairs of eyes stared at me in perverse fascination but I feared another outburst and kept quiet.

“They all speak of this placed called Everfree,” I whispered to Garnet.  “What is that place?  Why are they so afraid of it?”

“Everything here is controlled by magic,” Garnet said.  “The weather, the plants, the animals… all fall under the influence of magic.  The Everfree is strange to us because it does not fall under those rules.  It lives and sustains itself.  What may be normal to you has become a place of horror and darkness for us.  You appeared next to those woods, no one knows exactly how you got here… well, you can make the connection.”

Garnet knocked again.  This time, there was a response.  The purple mare known as Princess Twilight Sparkle stood there, but she was focused on neither me nor Garnet.  Instead, her eyes gazed out on the gathering crowds behind us, still watching and whispering.  She strode calmly past us and looked out at the crowds, who all suddenly silenced in her presence.

Twilight scanned the crowds, and I noticed that all the sets of eyes had gone off me and onto her.  “Haven’t you got better things to do than stand and stare at us?” she called out, voice level but authoritative.  “Go on!  It’s not polite!  And we have private business we need to attend to.”

At once the crowds started slinking away.  “My apologies,” she said kindly to us.  “Please, come inside.  I have some tea brewing.”

I followed Garnet into the library’s main floor.  The library was the first building in Ponyville that actually had a ceiling high enough that I could stand upright and not worry about hitting my head.  The high wooden walls were packed with shelves filled with books with the exception of two doors off to my left and a staircase leading upwards at the far edge.  A small round table was fashioned out of the trunk in the center of the room, on which stood the ornate carving of a rather normal-looking horse head covered in a layer of gold leaf.

“Are you fond of tea at all, Trent?” Twilight asked.

I shook my head.  “Too bitter for my taste.”

“I have some sugarcubes and cream to sweeten it if you want.”

I shook my head again.  “Thank you, but I think I’ll pass this time.”

Twilight nodded and turned to Garnet.  “And what about you?”

“I have some available at home,” Garnet said politely.  “Help yourself, though.  I don’t think either of us will mind.”

Twilight shrugged and went off into one of the doors to the left.  I followed Garnet and we sat down on pillows in the center of the library at the table.  Twilight Sparkle returned not long after with a lightly steaming cup of a brownish tea on a saucer, carrying it with her purple magic glow.  She also brought with her a rolled-up piece of paper with a gold seal on it that appeared to have been broken.

“I have received word from Princess Celestia on your condition,” Twilight said.  “I told her about my attempts to use magic on you and how I couldn’t even touch you to trace where you came from.  There was also information on your arrival and how no one can figure out what caused you to come here.”

I asked her “Does she have the magical energy?”

She responded with “Well… that depends on your interpretation of whether or not she does.”

“What do you mean?  If she has enough magical power, that must mean she’d be able to teleport me back home, right?”

Twilight grimaced.  “Technically, that would be the case.  If that is the case, she has enough power to send you back to wherever you came from in an instant.”

“I’m not particularly fond of your usage of the word ‘if’.”

“Neither am I.  You see… Celestia has determined that because of an entry that wasn’t by magic, you technically have no magic in you.  As a result, no magic can affect you because you are still tied to your home in the other world.  If you were brought here by magic, it’s a simple affair.  But no matter the strength, a spell cannot touch you.”

“So… that means… it means that?”

Twilight frowned and I could see a look of pity in her eyes.  “…I’m afraid you’re stuck here, Trent.  There’s no possible way to send you back home.”

I gulped.  I shook my head.  I closed my eyes.  “No.  That… that can’t be possible.  This place is filled with magic.”

I could see a faint shimmer in Twilight’s eyes.  “There’s nothing.  If Celestia can’t do anything, there’s nothing to be done.  I’m sorry.”

“You’re sorry?”  I stood upwards, kicking the pillow I had been sitting on aside.  “You’re sorry!?  Is that all you can say?”

“I’m afraid there’s nothing more I can say,” Twilight said.  “What’s done is done.”

I stared at her for a long while.  “…you have got to be joking.”

“She’s right,” Garnet replied.  “Celestia is the single most powerful being in this world.  If she can’t do anything about it, there’s no way to reverse this.”

“But this place is filled with magic!” I screamed.  “You can’t tell me there’s no way to send me back.  If this place really has magic flowing everywhere, wouldn’t you be able to call on it and perhaps use it to take me back home?  Is it really so difficult?”

“I already told you it was possible it wouldn’t work,” Twilight said, her voice a little more firm.  “I let you know from the start of my involvement in this that it could happen that even Celestia wouldn’t have the power to do so.”

“How can’t she!?  How come you can’t?”

“Look, there’s nothing we can do if we don’t even know how you arrived.”

A thought clicked in my brain.  “Why don’t we go back to the spot where I appeared?  Perhaps there may be a clue!”  I went to the door and opened it and had crawled out before either of them could grab me.

“Wait!  Trent, please!” I heard Garnet call behind me.

I ignored him.  It was entirely likely they were fast enough, but when I turned and looked around I saw they maintained an even distance behind me.  They were either waiting until I had worn myself down or were going to jump me later.

That didn’t matter.  If there was something at the place I entered down the road from Ponyville, there might be a chance at sending me back home.  With the thoughts of leaving the place behind, I ran all the way from Twilight’s library to the edge of Ponyville and beyond without stopping.  A few ponies had to jump out of the way to get away from me, but ended up watching with curiosity as I passed them without even paying them much attention.

I didn’t even feel myself getting exhausted until I reached the spot I remembered getting my first views of Equestria.  I looked into the forests and back down the road into Ponyville from my spot on the hills and knew I had reached the place.  I dropped to my knees and began to search around the grass, pushing it aside and tearing it up to see the dirt underneath in case there was something there.

But after a time of searching the area long enough that the sun was beginning to set, I eventually gave up.  There was nothing to suggest even that the previous morning I had been lying in this spot even though I remembered so clearly.  I looked around to see Garnet and Twilight standing in the dirt road behind me, watching me with concerned looked on their faces.

“Well?” I shouted to them.  “Aren’t you going to help me?  Is there nothing you can do?”

“Trent…” Garnet called out.  “Nothing was there.  The guard combed through the entire area where you touched down.  Nothing... nothing…”

“No… no traces of chemicals?  Or magic?”

Garnet shook his head.

Nothing… nothing remained… nothing to suggest I had come from somewhere else except for a complete lack of magical energy that made it where not even the most powerful mages could touch me.  To others this would be a power, but to me it meant there was no path back home.  No way to return to where I knew.

“FUCK!”

I knelt down and felt my eyes become itchy and then wet.  The dirt below me became stained with tears.  “Damn it… why?  What have I done?”  I looked up to the skies.  “What the hell did I do!?  Why did you leave me here!?”

The grass softly rustled nearby.  There was the sound of footsteps coming towards me and there was suddenly the feel of a wing around me.  I don’t know why, but I turned around and shoved my head into Garnet’s shoulder.  If I said anymore, it was drowned by my blubbering and my face being shoved deep into the soft white coat.

I don’t remember how long I stayed there, only that by the time we returned to Ponyville it was dark.  Twilight dropped us off at Garnet’s house.

“I… I don’t know how much I can do,” Twilight said.  “Celestia wants me to help watch over you, Trent, make sure you are able to adjust to Ponyville.”

I didn’t respond.  It felt like it had taken all my energy to return back to Ponyville and my throat hurt from crying and screaming.  It took a long time for me to calm down, and by the time I had returned I was still occasionally having small bursts.  I kept quiet, but shook my head slightly to let them know I heard.

“Your help is much appreciated,” Garnet said in my stead.  “Whatever you can do, be it getting new things for him, helping to accommodate him somehow, that will be most helpful.”

“You’re right.  Since he’s here, we’ll need clothes.  I can order some from a designer for humans in Manehattan.  I can have a decent-sized wardrobe for him in less than a week.  And a shelter of appropriate size for him will be necessary as well.”

“There’s room near here,” Garnet said, pointing over to an empty plot of land.  “You can build it there if I need to continue keeping an eye on him on behalf of the Guard.”

Twilight nodded.  “We’ve had humans come through here before,” she said, a hint of exhaustion in her voice, “but never like this…”

Garnet sighed.  “It won’t be easy.”

“I don’t mean to be a burden…” I croaked out.

Twilight gave me a sad smile.  “You’re not a burden,” she said.  “It just is unexpected.  For us, too, as well as you.  It will take time, but we’ll help you as much as we can.”

I didn’t say anything else.

“Well, I’ll head back to the library,” Twilight said.  “I’ll have to send Celestia back more information.”

“What about his paperwork over at the Offices of the Guard?” Garnet asked.

“There may need to be some minor adjustments,” Twilight said.  “With this recent breakdown, there might be some changes to his psychological assessment, but we’ll deal with that later.  For now, make sure he’s fed and keep an eye on him.”

Garnet nodded.  “Can you please send a letter to the Captain?  I might need to take a day off or two to stay by him.”

“Of course,” Twilight said.  “Well… good night.”

“Good night, Princess Twilight.”  Garnet nudged me with his muzzle.  “Come on, Trent.  Let’s go inside.”

I followed Garnet without thinking.  He led me into the house, but instead of leading me to the couch where I had slept the previous night, I was taken through and into the bedroom where there was a full-sized bed.  I sat on the edge of the bed and took off my shoes and socks and lab coat and shirt, letting them drop to the floor in a wrinkled mess.

The pillow from the couch in the main room was brought in and Garnet gestured for me to lie down in the bed.  I did, and as I did, I could feel the stress, the tension, the pain begin to leave me.  I felt the stallion get in and place his back to me so that I could feel the soft coat and some of the feathers of his wings along my back.  One wing was placed over me and the blankets were pulled up.  From next to me there was the soft sound of a lilting voice as I blocked out the world around me.

Hush now, quiet now, it’s time to lay your sleepy head.

Hush now, quiet now, it’s time to go to bed.

Drifting off to sleep; the day’s events behind you.

Drifting off to sleep; let the joy of dream land find you…