In between worlds

As we walked through the city there was an uneasy air about the place. there was an aura of depression emanating from our group while the citizens displayed and aura of fear. The only person or pony with any sort of positive energy was Sig. After I told him the news of how we were going to die all he had to say was ‘fuck that. If I'm going to die it’s going to be awesome, like that guy in the first lord of the rings movie.’

Knowing I was going to die with so many things left undone was terrible, but watching someone i know force their fear and put on a brave face like this was painful knowing what was to come. although it was painful and slightly forced there was one thing that remained true about him even now, no mood could stay somber for long, especially when both Sig and Rai were together. The mood finally picked up after a hour of mindless wandering and window shopping at clothes stores. We continued to wander until noon where we decided to get the least healthy lunch possible, which lead to a fight between Sig and the owner of the shop.

“Boston”

“Canterlot”

“I’m tellin ya joe, it’s called a Boston cream”

“And I’m telling you it’s called a Canterlot cream.”

“Look joe, you’re nice guy, but you don’t know jack.”

“Who is…”

“About donuts,” said Sig, cutting him off. He placed a few golden coins on the counter and walked away, pastries in hand. He handed us the bags with our donuts and walked out the door muttering, “they’re still called Boston cream.”

“Hey, how about you shut up and eat your food,” said Rai before unceremoniously stuffing a whole donut into his mouth and chewing awkwardly.

“Excuse me,” came a voice from behind us. we turned to face the guard who was sent to guide us through the city, calm the ponies of the city, and, after a large amount of convincing, to carry the money.

“Oh,” I said surprised. “sorry, we forgot you were here for a bit, guard…?”

“My name is Stormy Night.”

“Riiiiiight.”

“Have you forgotten that you are to return to the castle for lunch with the princess at 17:00, right now it is 15:46 so we will want to head back soon.”

“um, alright, but thats like an hour. how about we go somewhere interesting near the castle then,” suggested Sig. With that we all headed towards one of the three museums in the city, and we chose the one with the most weapons possible.

“So, why are all these here,” Rai asked a slightly fearful curator.

“Um, what do you mean sir?”

“i mean why are all these things here, i doubt that any single pony could lift these let alone swing them around,” he said gesturing to the massive swords and war hammers along the wall.

“Oh yes, these weapons were held by the non pony individuals who assisted us in times of need,” she said, calming down now that she was discussing a subject she was more comfortable with.

“What? you mean there are more species that can talk in this place,” I asked, butting into the conversation.

“Well of course,” she said as if it were the most obvious thing in the universe. “There are plenty. There are the minotaurs, the griffons, dragons, the…”

“Dragons,” we all said simultaneously. We a three way fist bump was held before acknowledging the presence of the ponies in the room, each of which had a confused look on their faces. “What?”

“Well, it’s just rare that anypony get excited about dragons,” said Stormy Night. “They’re so dangerous that their study was abandoned decades ago.”

“Ok,” said Rai, “but we need to have a little chat.” He cracked his knuckles for added effect before wrapping his arm around the guards head and asking, “do i look like a pony to you?”

“Um, no?”

“that’s what i thought,” he said to the struggling guard before dragging him around a corner to ‘talk’.

I left Rai to lecture the guard on his vernacular and when back to Sig who was talking to the curator about a particular object in a reinforced case. It was a large hammer suspended in mid air, slowly turning, radiating a deep purple energy, the same color as the head. The head itself was made or a dark purple crystal the size of a rugby ball that seemed to have a faint glow in the center.

“So what is this,” I ask turning their heads from the weapon.

“This is the warhammer of Dolan, The Bronze Arm, he was a minotaur warrior who defended the city from seven bonnacon single handedly,” said Sig in a manner that seemed as if he had practiced daily for people like me.

“Kay, but what is a bonnacon,” I asked.

“No clue,” he said. He turned the curator and asked. “What is a bonnacon exactly?”

“A bonnacon is a bull like creature with a long mane and powerful horns, it’s able to breath fire and has skin as hard as iron,” she said. She seemed to almost be shivering at the thought of them. “Just one of these took down twenty seven guards before it was stopped.”

She seemed frightened, unnaturally so. It was the kind of fear that someone has only from having experienced the terror head on. "Are you okay," he asked.

"Huh, oh, yes. I'm... I'm fine." It wasn't very convincing but we didn't press the subject any further. "Let's move on, shall we?"

   We spent as much time as possible at the museum trying to avoid returning to the castle but guard finally convinced us to return with the promise of food. Not any food, but the one thing that we had to go without for the past four days. Meat. As we walked into the dining room where our previous meals had been held we were immediately ushered into the kitchen where we were told to instruct the chefs on how to prepare fish. Sig and I told the chefs the basic way sat down at the table. We were joined by Celestia soon after.

“So what do you think of my little surprise,” she asked, a small smile on her face. “I do hope this makes the day a little better, considering everything.”

“Its great, I was getting tired of nothing but fruit and vegetables for the past for days,” said Sig, shuddering at the memory.

“Yeah, any longer than this and I would have started freaking out,” I said in agreement.

“Well I’m glad we were able to get something you’re able to eat. The griffons we host on occasion also eat meat, but prefer it raw,” said Celestia. She looked around the room perplexed before asking “where is Rai.”

“Kitchen,” we both replied.

“He doesn’t like people touching his food,” I explained.

Lunch was brought out rather quickly for Celestia while we waited another ten minutes for our food to arrive. The chefs had pleaded with the princess that she try to remove Rai from the kitchen but refused saying “it would be nice to see what he makes, food from other cultures is always very interesting.”

When he finally came out of the kitchen he was holding three plates each with a silver cover with his magic while announcing his appearance like a sportscaster from the fifties. “Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time for what you’ve all been waiting for. The meal none of of you have had for nearly a month, straight from japan, onigiri.” He pulled the covers off the dishes revealing five perfect rice balls, minus the seaweed, lined up perfectly. “BAM,” he yelled as he placed a plate in front of us before taking a seat next to me.

“Thank you, my good sir,” I said in the most pompous voice i could manage on an empty stomach.

“Damn right.”

From there we started to eat making, small talk, and telling the princess our thoughts on the city. She seemed rather pleased. the meal went well and the food was good, not great because we only had freshwater fish, but good enough to enjoy.

Near the end of the meal the Celestia said she had good news. She had once again spoken to a team of unicorn and had funded the experiment of transferring magical energy from one being to another. This was great news, we would be able to keep on living here, and might even be able to go home. There was a problem though, we had only two more weeks before we would need to be drained of our magic.

“During this time i would like all of you to participate in some sort of activity to keep you busy,” she said. “It would go a long way if you were seen working with my ponies and help other come to accept you. Your guide, Stormy nights, told me of most ponies reactions and I think this would help get them to accept you.”

“Yeah, that sounds good,” I said in agreement. The others silently nodded. “So what are our options?”

“Well, for you, I was thinking you could attend flight school. While you have wings you still don’t know how to use them properly.”

“Sounds about right.”

“Siegfried, i think you would like…”

“I want to go into guard training,” he said cutting her off.

“Very well, I’ll put you in a the preliminary training. And Rai, i want to enroll you in one of the magic schools here.”

“Alright, which school,” he said.

“That all depends on how much magic you actually know.”

“I can levitate stuff and make a bit of electricity and sparks,” he said bringing his hands together and letting off a few sparks. “And these aren't magic sparks, I can actually make a fire with these.”

“Thats not very much.”

“Yeah, but i have only had my horn for three and a half weeks and no knowledge or reference on how to use it prior to then.”

“Well this should give you some structure. You will be placed in a beginners magic class with others of your level.”

“Alright.”

“Good, now before anything else, may i ask what prompted you to make electricity in the first place?”

“...OH CRAP!”

“WHAT,” I asked.

“WE LEFT THEM IN THE WOODS.”

I knew exactly what he was talking about and so did Sig. We both stood up and yelled “SHIT!”