Both Sides: Immersion
First Wall
Austin walked down the main road of his hometown, Seasting. He had lived there all his life and yet everyday there would always be something new to amaze him yet again. Because this happened often, he never grew tired of living in the town and had stayed there instead of moving away- much to his parents chagrin. He went to the local community college and started to majored in Agricultural Science, because there were many jobs that could support him in the surrounding areas. His parents had no qualms supporting him in these endeavours as long, as they said, he moved out of the house. Sometimes he'd imagine seeing weird colored birds flitting about among the trees of the park. The funny thing was though, the town did not have a park. Paying this no mind he strolled down the walkway towards his small, two room apartment on the south side of town. It wasn't that the imaginary things were bothering him. On the contrary, they gave him a reason to wake up in the morning and see what his imagination would provide for him that day.
That was five days ago. He hadn't seen anything new since last week. What was is you ask? Well it was a mint green unicorn, just standing in the middle of the road, cars passing unheeded through its ghostly form. It stared at him as he walked past it. He could tell that it was a female as the less pronounced muzzle, as well as the pulled back and well kept mane attested. He turned a corner and kept walking, but his curiosity got the better of him. He peeked out around the corner and stared right into the eyes of the unicorn. He yelped and jumped back, landing in a pile of trash bags. The unicorn’s head cocked to the side as it tried to figure out what just happened. It hadn't been frightened, no sir. It just stood there, staring at him. He kept walking and looking behind him ever so often, as if to see if the unicorn was following him. And sure enough, no matter how many times he checked, she was. He didn't know her name, he probably wouldn't ever get to ask her. Hell, he didn't even know if they even spoke! The whole way back to his apartment he checked behind him to see if the mare was following him, and sure enough, she was. Opening the door to his apartment building, he turned one last time and saw her wave her hoof at him, probably a signal of goodbye.
That night, while looking for something to take his mind off what has happened earlier, he thought of they could understand actions- they could understand English as well? It was a long shot but one that had no harmful repercussions. What if I can get a piece of paper in front of her with some words on it? Or leave it somewhere near where I saw her? She ought to go back there, I mean I did see her there at first... He thought, scratching his head. He racked his mind for any good ideas but he settled on the previous, leaving paper near where he had seen her first. Hopefully no one picked up the paper or throw it away thinking it was litter.
“It's way too late to be thinking about this, I have to go to bed. I still have work tomorrow.” He said, walking to his bedroom and putting on his pajamas- which consisted of sweatpants and a white undershirt. He slowly got into bed, still thinking about what had transpired earlier. It bothered him that it had been the first thing that had actually interacted with him, I mean you can't just talk to birds can you?
Moving on..
He pulled the covers up to his chest and lay in the almost pitch black room which greeted him every single day since he finished his degree a few months ago. Not there was anything wrong with darkness, it was free after all. He chuckled to himself as he thought how silly that sounded although, he had to admit, it did kind of make sense. Not wanting an existential crisis at the time, he resolved to go to sleep. Within a few minutes he was sleeping soundly. And yes I do mean soundly, he snores. Like a lot.
Lyra Heartstrings
Lyra woke up with a start, simply, from a dream that have her the creeps.
The dream wasn't scary, on the other hoof, it had been quite pleasant. She had been walking through the park when she happened upon it.
The weird creature that stood on two legs and was walking around. That's why she felt odd, it didn't feel like a dream because she could control what was going on- to an extent. The weird creature stared at her before walking around a corner, being the inquisitive mare that her mother raised, she followed the weird creature.
“Follow your imagination!" Was what her mother told her, Faust rest her soul.
He walked down some weird alleyway towards what looked like the buildings that Canterlot had. That's where he must live, I mean I'm not sure but it looks like those apartments in Canterlot and Trottingham. She frowned as she saw him disappear around a corner. I’ll find you whatever you are! She peeked her head around the corner.
Right into the face of the creature. She didn't flinch as it made a startled yelp and fell on some black bags that littered the way. She giggled slightly at the silly creature’s antics. It hopped up and started walking towards the large building, apparently unfazed by her appearance. Every few seconds it would turn it's head around and see if she was still following. Don't worry, she was. Out of curiosity, she kept walking down the back way. Following the thing the entire time. Because this was a long walk, she was able to identify some characteristics about the creature. It had short brown hair, with a light red color hat on its head. Which was odd, it's a dream that's why. She thought to herself, as ponies didn't wear hats often. A pair of blue pants adorned it's legs, and a blue-white gradient color shirt was on its upper body. His eyes looked like they were the loveliest shade of blue, somewhere between turquoise and cyan. Something felt off, one eye was blue and the other was hazel. Just like a dog Lyra had owned when she was just a filly.
Odd isn't it? It puzzled her as to why the thing had two different colored eyes. She thought it was part of their culture. Maybe a status rank? No, it had to be something out of the ordinary. Maybe that's why he was walking home alone, an outcast kind maybe? No, she just thought he wanted to be alone, like her. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy the company of other ponies. She did, but not all the time. Possibly like this creature, she desperately wanted to talk to this creature but something was holding her muzzle closed.
This was fine though, because she was content to just watch and listen to what was going on around her. Which was nothing really, other than the soft hoofsteps of her and the creature. The occasional look back and her stare.
It wasn't like a ‘Oh you messed up and I'm gonna mess you up’ kind of stare, but more like a ‘What are you?’ stare. One she had familiarized herself with often. She didn't want to give the creature the wrong impression that she was some sort of weird psychopath out of some mental hospital. Not that she had any affiliation with the one in Canterlot, she had visited of course to see one of her friends that had to go for a psychosis treatment.
But that was another story entirely, no I won’t tell it to you. It's too personal. No, stop asking. I will hurt you.
Anyway, the point was. She kept giving him a weird stare. She wasn't sure why, although she couldn't entirely control herself. It's like she was looking through a memory orb. Like the time when her grandmother……..
No no, I'm fine. Where was I? Oh yes.
I kept following him and eventually I reached the end of the street. Where - upon him reaching the door and giving me one last look, like he was going to miss me - he walked inside the door and it closed.
That's when I woke up on my bed coughing and spluttering. For no reason just that's how I often wake up. Normally because I don’t drink water before I go to sleep. I mean, what's worse than having to get up and pee in the middle of the night? I don’t need that kind of stress when I’m trying to sleep.
For some reason I couldn't get over a dream like that. Like, as you should know by now, Equestria and its dream world are linked. Dreams are very important and hold a lot of meaning. But, due to the exotic nature of the dream, I thought I should tell somepony about it. I decided against it and went along with my day.
Nothing wrong with my day so far and it's only noon. Other than me dropping an entire batch of taffy and painting the floor red, like we killed somepony. No cause for alarm. I decided to go out for a walk for my lunch break, for no particular reason. Possibly in was looking for my friend, not Bon Bon.
“Bon Bon!” I called, raising my voice a bit louder than needed. "I'm going out for a walk. I'll be back in a bit.” I started to walk out to the main road, bent on taking a relaxing walk through the park to clear my head but my brain had other ideas. What if Twilight has any books on mythical creatures of stuff like that? I suddenly stopped, earning an angry glare from the pony who had been walking behind me. I turned slightly and began heading to the crystal castle at the end of the road.
Let's see if she has any information. I mean she is Princess Twilight Sparkle, if she doesn't have a book about it, it probably doesn’t exist! I chuckled to myself as I opened the doors and waited for her to pop out a a greet me, like she usually does.
“Hey Lyra!” Twilight said, looking at me from around a corner. “What can I help with you today? Another book on ancient Equestrian history?”
“No, I do need to return those to you soon.” I rubbed my hooves together nervously. “I need to borrow a few of your books on ‘Equestrian Mythological Creatures. ’”
A puzzled look crossed her face, “Why do you need those? Almost nopony asks for those.”
I stopped rubbing my hooves together as I saw she wasn't upset, but I had to come up with a lie quickly. Which wasn't a good idea as she was friends with the Element of Honesty for Fausts sake. “Uuh, I saw some animal in the book that I don't recognize and I need to know more about it.” I said, my cheeks heating up. I hope she doesn't ask.
“Hm, okay. I'll let you have the book.” A serious look came over her face, “I need you to return those other books by tomorrow.”
A sigh of relief washed over me. I’ll get your books back to you tomorrow. By noon? Does that sound good? I’ll tell you if I figured out what the creature is.” You silly mare, she can't know about this! I had a weird look on my face as she walked away to get the book. I just looked so stupid right there.
Twilight appeared in a flash, literally, right next me with the books in her magic. She dropped her magic field so I could pick them up, carefully so that they didn't drop on the floor. “Here you go. 'Equestrian Mythological Creatures: They’re probably dead now!’” she read the cover aloud. Not bothering to read the second and third one, they were a trilogy after all. “Do be sure to keep me updated with your progress!” She said, waving me out the door. “That mare is odd.” Twilight said, closing the door and going back to her studies.
“Whew.” I said, “I thought she was gonna question me.” I started to walk home but I remembered I still had work. I wanted to ask Bon Bon about getting off work, but I still had a floor to clean. That stuff is never gonna come out of my mane. I sighed to myself, dragging the mop over the colored area with my magic. I heard the door open and I stopped cleaning and turned towards it.
Through it walked a normal townspony, not so much with a normal temperament. The pony if you should know, was Roseluck. Not one of my best friends but I still knew her. She wore a disheveled and unkempt mane, dark bags under her eyes and drool coming out from the side of her mouth.
When faced with a sight like so, many ponies would have backed up. But not me, I wanted to know what was going on.
“Rose luck are you okay? I mean you don't look okay, but is there something wrong?” I said, moving closer to her and putting a hoof on her shoulder.
“‘M fine. Jus’ sum stuff that's scaring me.” She said in a stupor, her eyes slowly glazing over. "WHY WON'T THEY GO AWAY?!” She suddenly screamed.
Right in my Faust-damned ear. “Okay, come with me Roseluck.” I said, taking her hoof and dragging her along behind me. I couldn't hear out of my right ear, thanks to that loud scream.
“OH FAUST HERE COMES MORE!! SAVE MY LYRA!” Roseluck screamed again, diving behind me.
I should probably explain what is about to happen. My special talent isn't music. Not even close, although playing the lyre does help me relax. I can see what others are seeing via a spell that I had created accidentally. Casting this at this time was, in hindsight, a very poor decision. As soon as I cast it, a weird looking carriage zoomed in front of me.
“AAAHHHH!” I screeched jumping back a few feet at the same time Rose luck did. "What are those things?!” I said to her.
“That's what I came to you to ask about!” She shouted, laying down and covering her eyes with her hooves..
I was still staring at myself, so I ended the spell, regaining my normal vision. “I have no idea what those are and frankly, I do need to be able to see one in order to go and find out what they are. Maybe I can ask a friend.” I told her, giving her a hug.
She smiled lightly, then her face became fearful. “What am I going to do about the carriages?”
“Just pay them no mind, also just close your eyes as much as you can. You can't get scared by what you can't see.” That's a load of horseapples if I've ever said anything worse. I helped her up and she started walking back to her home, promptly running into a pole. I snickered softly, causing her to turn around and glare at me. With eyes closed, mind you.
I trotted back inside the shop and finished cleaning up the spilled taffy, all the while thinking about what I had seen only a short time ago.
Twilight Sparkle
One week previous…
A loud crash followed by a louder bang flooded my ears, causing them to begin to ring.
“No, no, no!" I shouted, my ears still ringing. “THAT WASN'T SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN!" I rushed about frantically, trying to see what went wrong with my spell. “It was supposed to open a door to another universe! Not just explode like that! Spike! I need your help!”
The little dragon, Faust help him, came racing down the stairs at a breakneck speed. Probably wondering if I was alright, of course whenever I do something like this, he prefers to stay away.
“I'm coming Twilight! I'll save you!” Like I said, he wants to stay away. “If there's blood down there I'm gonna be sick!” He warned. How wonderful of you Spike. He appeared in the doorway with a fire fighting suit I had gotten him in case of emergencies. Gas mask and all.
“I'm over here Spike.” I said, laying my muzzle on the ground. “I didn't need help. I just wanted to see that you were prepared if something had happened.”
I got up off the floor and stepped into the center of the charred and smoking floor. Looking around, I could see the runes and wards I had carved into the crystal. They were all right, so far as I could tell. But something, I have no idea what, went wrong and created an explosion instead of giving me access to another universe. Not that I needed anything from them of course, just for science.
“Everything seems right, but it's not.” I loathed puzzles I couldn't solve. I needed someponies help who was wiser and knew more about this type of magic then I did. There was only one other pony, Celestia. “Spike take a note.”
He whipped out his pen and parchment and started to write what I dictated.
“Now send it Spike. I need an answer as soon as possible.” A breath of dragonfire and it was gone. “Thank you Spike, now will you help me clean this up?”
He groaned loudly, flopping onto the floor.
Author's Note
Welcome to the ride friends!
Now this won't be a very long story, not really. But it's not a one shot. More like a short book eh?
