Lost Twilight

Cryptic Dreams

“No!!!” Roxane screamed as she found herself in the wilderness. It was no longer dark as the sun was rising. Thanks to the morning light, she saw a dirt path that was pointing towards civilization.

“Where-How did I get here?” She ignored her situation and followed the road. Just as she left the forest, unaware to her, a group of giant wolves made of wood jumped down where she last stood. They growled menacingly as they sniffed the ground. The human had barely left that forest alive without even knowing.

“Huh? Is that a castle on a mountain?” The raven girl said in astonishment as she cupped her hands over her eyes. “I didn’t even know that we had castles in America!” She thought back in annoyance at herself. “I’m definitely not home and I’m here looking like an idiot! I need to find my way back home, I got school tomorrow! Who knows, mom and dad probably already got the S.W.A.T. team looking for me or something!”

She walked on in the long path for what had seemed like hours until she hit the city underneath the castle. “Finally! Civilization!” She sighed a breath of relief. The Japanese girl fell to the ground, she wasn’t used to long treks like these.

After getting up and walking pass the gates, she noticed something off. This city had a lot of ponies running around, even a few donkeys. But definitely too much ponies to be considered very metro. It was like a city but for farmers!

Another thing that was off-kilter was that some of the ponies even seemed to be wearing clothing. She never understood pet owners who made their animals wear clothes, obviously the animals didn’t like it so why force them to wear it?

Worse thing, the ponies were all an assorted variety of colors! What kind of freaks dyed their coat to such cartoonish colors?! The people around here must be some sort of freaks or something. She couldn’t help but get an aching feeling that felt airily familiar, though.

She started to ignore the strange amount of fancy looking animals as she walked around, looking for anybody to talk to. Strange people or not, she needed to find her way back home.

All of the animals seemed to slow their walking or even downright stopped to gawk at her once they finally took notice of her. It was a peculiar sight to see such awestruck looking creatures, somewhat similar to a deer in front of headlights but with clothing. One pony even ran into a lamppost and spilled the contents of his saddle, she would have laughed if the air didn’t feel so dry.

Surely, these animals have seen a human before? Right? After all, who else had put them in those weird suits and dyed their fur? Roxane reasoned to herself.

There was no way…that these ponies…that wore clothes, could be like the one…from her dreams—?

“Monster!” Someone shouted, it looked like a grey colt with a suave black mane wearing a monocle. He raised a hoof at her and darted away as fast as he could.

“Celestia save us!”

“The end of days is here!”

They were all scrambling about, trying to get away from her, a few who were weaker of heart seemed to just drop dead.

‘Yep,’ She realized, ‘I’ve hit a coma and now I’m probably in the hospital with my mom and dad crying at my bedside.’ She took a closer look at them and saw that half of them had horns. ‘It’s weird though, this isn’t the same like all the other dreams….’

Roxane blushed in embarrassment at the chaos that she was single-handedly doing, by just standing there, and decided to get away as fast as possible.

“Halt!” A deep voice ordered her, making her freeze. She found a pointy spear thrown over her shoulders and she slowly turned her head in fear.

Behind her was a white pegasus with golden armor around his chest. He was soon joined by a few others of his kind with similar attire.

“I think the Princess might like to see this creature. Take it away.” The one who stopped her commanded the others.

“I’m boned.” Roxane gulped as two of them grabbed her each by one arm and flew her to the castle in the distance.

To think that the castle was big was an understatement, it was huge! On a closer look, she realized that the thing was much larger than she could ever expect a pony to build. Heck, how did a bunch of fingerless creatures build armor and clothing, anyway?

‘I’ll just go with magic…else my head blows a gasket!’

She was being dragged around the giant castle halls until she ended up near a horribly large case of stairs. Once she got up to the top, she found two looming giant doors. Notably, there was an insignia of the sun on a red banner hanging on each door.

“Princess,” One of the guards proclaimed out loud as he knocked on the giant doors in front of them. He pushed his way pass, opening the doors all the way. The guard went ahead of her while the other guards pushed her from behind.

There were a few other ponies in the royal throne room. They were all lined up and seemed to be talking about business matters to the winged white po—horse that was sitting at the throne.

‘A horse that rules ponies?’ Roxane thought at the strange irony of that. On a second look, she realized that the winged horse also had a horn. That was even more peculiar. Unicorns and pegasi were one thing but all of those traits on one horse? This was starting to get ridiculous!

Alicorn.

This creature was probably one of those alicorns. ’All of the ‘corns? Is that what it means?’ It didn’t look like a creature of Death with its pristine white coat and lithe form, so could it be the Alicorn of Dreams? Then, where’s the Sister of Death?

All of the ponies who were attending the meeting all stopped what they were doing to stare at her.

“My Princess, we found this creature terrorizing the city dwellers in Canterlot!” The pegasus pony from before, kneeled before her and said. “One of my scouts say that they saw it coming from the direction of the Everfree Forest.”

“Everypony leave, this is an important matter I must attend to.” The Princess ordered the other ponies to go. Most of them left but a few needed a helping hand—or is that hoof?—from the guards to get out.

Once only the winged pony guards and the Princess were left, Roxane found herself forced to kneel in front of the lithe horse.

“Stand up, strange creature.” The Princess spoke calmly but with caution. “Can you speak?”

“Y-Yes, Princess,” Said Roxane with hesitation.

The hor—alicorn looked at her with a fierce stare, trying to judge the nature of her being. “What are you and why are you here? Have you come to cause my ponies harm?”

“I’m called human and I mean no harm!” Roxane reasoned, trying her best to look sincere. “I was minding my own business until everything turned black outside and I was swallowed by darkness. I don‘t know how I got here.”

“Guards,” yelled the Princess. “Release the ‘human’.”

The other ponies were very hesitant to let her go free but they could not go against orders.

“So, human. What is your name?” The Princess’s voice seemed to become more calm once she realized that I was no threat.

“My n-name?” She stuttered.

“Yes, unless you want me to continue calling you human?” The white alicorn…giggled? Maybe she was a bit kinder than she had led her on?

“My name is Roxane, Roxane Aki!”

“What a peculiar name,” The royal pony laughed again, this time a bit more heartfelt. “For a peculiar pony.”

Roxane felt her nervousness returned when she heard that her name was peculiar but it was washed away when she realized that ponies probably didn’t go by normal names by human standards.

“I am called Princess Celestia but you may just call me Celestia. I feel that you are a very special pony.” The Princess said with a smile. “Tell me more about yourself, is that your Cutie Mark? My, what does a pony Cutie Mark mean?”

“Cutie Mark?” Roxane looked down at her chest to see the pony cartoon. “Oh, this? I’m not exactly sure what a Cutie Mark is but this is just a picture that was sewn on.”

“Ah, I guess I have much to tell you about, then.” Celestia shook her head. “A Cutie Mark is what we ponies find out what our special talents are.” She stood up and showed her flank to Roxane. It had the same symbol like the one she saw on the doors. “My Cutie Mark is the sun, and my talents are the rising and setting of the sun.”

“A-Are you serious?” Roxane sputtered. “Can all ponies do that?!”

Celestia chuckled. “I would hope not for that would make the days very erratic, don’t you think, if more than one pony could do that? But to answer your question, raising the sun is a lot of work and requires a lot of magic, something very few other ponies can do.”

“I guess you can call this my Cutie Mark…?” Roxane looked at her picture and thought back to the dream with Twilight Sparkle. An idea came to her mind. “You wouldn’t happen to know someone by the name of Twilight Sparkle? Would you?”

Princess Celestia thought for a long moment, almost lost in her thoughts. “I’m not sure I have heard that name before, Roxane.” The Princess finally said.

“She’s a purple unicorn with a purple mane that has a pink streak! She also has a six-sided purple star Cutie Mark. I saw her in my dreams, I think my coming here has something to do with her!”

“I am sorry, I still do not know of this ‘Twilight Sparkle’ that you speak of.”

“Oh…,” Roxane groaned  as she felt awkward for bringing up the subject. Talking to ponies that spoke human, not to mention English of all languages, was just too weird.

Suddenly, Roxane’s stomach growled, making her blush and the guards seemed to jump up with a start. A few even took out their weapons, ready to attack her. They probably thought that she was ready to eat one of them or something. Luckily, she was not one of those few humans that did eat horsemeat. That would make things worse than they already were.

There was a quiet chuckle that quickly turned into a loud laugh. All eyes turned to Princess Celestia on her throne. “My, it seems this little one is famished!” The guards took this as a sign to sheath their weapons. “Would you like something to eat? I, too, am feeling quite peckish at the moment.” The Princess smiled in a way that reminded Roxane of her mother.

XOX

Roxane sat at a rather large dining table in a huge and empty hall. She was sitting beside the Princess and there were a few other ponies around the table. This was the type of table that people held banquets on so most of the table was empty even though around twenty ponies were with her.

In the corner of her eyes, she could see a row of pegasi guards and even unicorn guards staring her down. She tried to ignore it and stared down at her own plate.

“Don’t mind them,” Celestia leaned in and whispered into Roxane’s ears. “They’re really nice ponies, once you get to know them.”

‘They would probably like to know me better with a blade in my chest…!’

“Lunch is served!” A waiter came by and announced from the kitchen door. Just as he said this, half a dozen unicorns came out with an assortment of silver platters, floating in the air around them with magic.

They all came and dropped the platter gently in front of each individual. Roxane eyed the platter hungrily once she was reminded of her hunger from another growl, that is until the lid was lifted.

To her disappointment, there was a steaming pile of hay and grass in front of her. There was even a small cup of…rubies? What the heck?

“I’m sorry, we weren’t sure what your kind eat, so the chefs just threw whatever they could think of.” The Princess apologized once she noticed that none of the meals had pleased Roxane.

“No, I should have expected this, ponies and horses don’t eat my kind of food.” Roxane grudgingly took a piece of hay and nibbled it in her mouth. Dry and grassy. Joy.

Princess Celestia raised a brow at her, “You wouldn’t happen to eat…?” She was making a few gestures with her head and eyes.

Roxane looked at the Princess with confusion until she realized that the alicorn was referring to meat. “Oh!” She blushed, this was probably going to send her to the slammers. “Y-Yeah…we…eat that.” She winced as she expected a royal tantrum of some sort with the phrase ‘Off with her head!’ running in her mind.

Princess Celestia had a look of mild disgust but swallowed the lump in her throat. “It’s okay, Roxane. I understand. There are other creatures in this world who live that lifestyle, too, but they are a bit more beastly.” The Princess stopped talking and things grew quiet.

The quiet was unnerving until a thought came to the human to break the silence. “B-But we also eat some vegetables! You wouldn’t happen to have any lettuce or carrots or something?” Roxane looked at Princess Celestia, hopefully.

“Why, yes we do.” The Princess called for a waiter and explained to him about Roxane’s predicament. Celestia sighed a breath of relief, which was quite uncharacteristic, and laughed as she looked at Roxane. “For a moment there, I was afraid that we might have to kill an innocent creature to feed you.”

Roxane’s mouth dropped. The alicorn was seriously considering making her a meal from animals?!

“While we ponies don’t eat meat, there are a few other races that we associate with that do. They respect our wishes by hunting the animals themselves and eating them discretely. It is a distasteful subject but we know that we cannot force them to eat something that their bodies cannot digest. I’m glad to know that you do not eat only meat.”

After eating a somewhat unfulfilling meal, the head waiter announced that it was dessert time. Of all the things that Roxane could imagine ponies eating for dessert, she did not expect them to eat actual cakes and cookies.

That meal was very interesting and had left her with a painful stomach ache from overindulgence on sweets but over all, it was a good experience.

XOX

The Princess had let Roxane explore the castle on her own on the terms of not leaving the building for safety. She even had offered a guide but Roxane had declined saying that she’ll just ask someone for directions if she needed any help.

While she was walking down one of the open halls near the royal garden, a cold wind crept up on her. She looked around and found that no one was around. This felt very familiar….

“Enjoying your stay among the ponies?” A voice made her jump out of her skin.

She turned to look at the creature that scared her. The creature was cloaked and hooded but what really caught her eyes, though, was that the creature was standing on its hind legs. Like a….

“Y-You?! Are you human?” Roxane was both nervous and excited, if she found another human that meant that she could get back home!

“Yes and no.” The hooded creature said with a dark voice, it was hard to construe whether it was female or male. “I know of you humans. Such deranged creatures you are.” The creature was more than foreboding. Definitely not a good guy. “But you are an important piece to the puzzle, that‘s why you are here.”

“Puzzle?” Was this the guy that brought her here?

“You’re the only one that the Alicorn of Dream fears.”

“Princess Celestia?”

Even though she couldn’t see it, Roxane felt that the creature was smirking at her. “No, not the Alicorn of the Sun. That one is far too much of a child compared to the Alicorn of Dreams.” The shadowy figure made a sound that resembled a laugh, “You share a connection with Twilight Sparkle that no other human has, girl. A connection that makes you dangerous for the Alicorn of Dreams.”

“Connection?“ Roxane’s head was spinning in circles now. She didn’t know if she wanted to punch this person or what. “Who’s this Alicorn of Dreams I keep hearing about? And what about the Alicorn of Death?! How does Twilight fit in any of this?”

“I’ll tell you more, at due time, girl.” The figure waved its cape and vanished in a blur of what seemed like feathers.

The cold feeling that crept on her vanished along with the disappearing figure.

What had just happened? Who was that guy? What’s this whole cryptic world about the end?

“ARGH!!!” Roxane screamed to herself. She didn’t realize that the barrier was gone and a few nearby ponies were startled and had scattered away from her in fear.

There was a large white pony behind her.

“Hello, Roxane Aki, what’s the matter?” A concerned looking Princess Celestia approached her. “You seem to be on edge, little one.” The Princess nuzzled Roxane affectionately but stopped after a short moment and reared back. “I think you probably should get cleaned up.” The Princess whispered into her ears.

Roxane blushed, she wasn’t sure if she should be angry that Celestia had just called her smelly or be embarrassed that she hadn’t taken a shower since the other day.

“Come, my dear.” Celestia guided the human deep into the castle until they reached her royal bed chambers. The alicorn pushed Roxane ahead until they reached a large bathroom that was connected to the bedroom.

“After you clean up, just come out and we’ll talk about your living arrangements.” The white alicorn chuckled and left. Was this all amusing to her or something?

Roxane absentmindedly threw her clothes off and into the nearby cloth basket and jumped into the showers. Luckily for her, everything was basically human-like so she knew how to control the devices.

“Ah!” She sighed a breath of relief after taking a nice and long hot shower. It helped ease her mind of the whole experience of ending up in this world. But like all reprieves, the hectic pain comes back.

One of which came back after she was done drying.

“I don’t have any spare clothes!” She realized in agony. There was definitely no way that she was going to wear her dirty clothes again, especially not after taking a shower. That would make the whole point of the shower moot!

And she can’t really wash her clothes, either, not since she needed the clothes now!

“Is there something wrong, Roxane?” Princess Celestia came in with a worried look.

Woman or not, pony or not, the alicorn’s current presence was more than unwelcome. Roxane was extremely shy and with the princess barging in on her naked body, she did the only thing any other girl would in that situation.

She screamed.

XOX

“I’m so very sorry, Roxane!” Princess Celestia said and nuzzled the poor girl, who was still naked but was wrapped in a towel. “Being naked is commonplace around here. I did not know that being naked was such a taboo subject for a human. I’ll ask the royal tailors to make you some new clothes while your old ones are cleaned up.”

“T-Thanks, Princess Celestia.” Roxane muttered. “I’m sorry for screaming your ears off earlier.”

“It’s alright, dear. If I was in a similar situation, I would have probably done that, too.”

The Princess showed Roxane to a room a few doors down from her own bed chambers. Seeing that Roxane was still trying to cover herself with the towel as much as possible, the Princess wrapped a wing around the human’s entire body so that none of the other ponies would see.

“Thanks, again!” Roxane blushed for the umpteenth time that day.

“This is where you will sleep!” Celestia declared as she opened the door. The room was very similar to the Princess’s but it was a bit smaller. Still it was much larger than a regular bedroom. “This is officially your own personal bed chambers for your own private use, indefinitely.”

“Indefinitely?” The human girl could not help but repeat.

“Indefinitely,” Celestia nodded with a small smile.

Chapter End

Alright, so my story's a bit boring. I personally am not fond of HiE but I wrote it as a test to see if I could make something a bit different than the usual HiE stories.

A few changes that I made for the other one that's not really that important but still a bit important, Roxane's mom is now Emeline Aki, not Akane. I saw the error in that making her mom Japanese ruins her last name (meaning no honorifics, yay for people who hate others' culture), I didn't want to change that so now her father is Japanese and her mom is French.

I also removed a few errors in the first chapter that were confusing.