The Last Alicornby Skittles the ButtChaptersPrologueChapter 1: LostChapter 2: KnowledgeChapter 3: FriendPrologueScreaming. Everypony was screaming, as a battle raged above them. Most could barely tell what was even happening at this point, as they were all focused on the massive pulses of magic flowing through the air. It didn't feel good, either. Even the armored guards standing nearby to watch seemed helpless compared to the beasts fighting above. One particular mare knew what was happening, and she didn't like it. She was stuck. She couldn't do anything. She and her friends could only look on as a darkness began to cover the world. The pulses only got stronger as time went on. All of them looked on in horror as one, last collision of energy sent a massive blast of magic in the air. Along with this, there was a flash of light, a whisper, and the mare's entire world went black. There was a light. A light shining behind the mare's eyelids. She opened one, and immediately closed it due to the sudden light. Eventually she did blink them both open and gently pulled herself into a sitting position. Right away, she looked around for her friends, hoping to find them behind her as they were just moments ago. Was it moments? Perhaps it was hours? She couldn't tell. "Princess Celestia? Princess Luna?" It was dark. It was dry. Where was everypony? Where was anything? It was just dirt and dry land. "Girls?! Shining, Cadance?! Where are yo-" The source of the voice, a small Alicorn mare, cut herself off as she finally got herself a good look around. It was gone. All of it. "Girls...P-Please...This isn't funny anymore..." The young mare, known to her friends as Twilight Sparkle, lowered her head as she began to move for the first time since...what had happened. What had happened? It was hazy, she couldn't quite remember all the details. Everypony was there, she knew for sure. They were in her own hometown, she also knew for sure. But...where was it? What happened? She couldn't remember. So, naturally, she did the one thing she could think of to get her mind working. She walked. She walked... and walked... and walked... She couldn't quite recall how far she had actually walked. It felt like weeks. Months. Years. She hated it. She wanted to cry. She wanted to die. She couldn't feel anything. There was no magic in this world, aside from her own. There were no cities. No ponies. Was there anything at all? There were hardly any other animals about either, if any, but she hardly took notice by this point. She couldn't go on anymore. She could feel her whole body and mind giving up. Then she felt a breeze. A breeze that came suddenly. It wasn't there before, but it was...comforting, for some reason. She couldn't place how, but it reminded her of home. With this in mind, she continued on, if just a little bit more. At least, she would have, if not for taking notice of the massive amount of dark clouds looming over her, which were already pouring down rain. "It...It was clear and sunny just a moment ago...Ow!" She yelped in a little pain when she felt something solid hit her right flank. She turned to look at what it was, and found a melting piece of hail on the ground. Followed shortly by more and more. "Ow...Ow ow ow!" At this point, she began to run, hoping to find any sort of shelter. Especially when she heard the roaring thunder coming from behind her. Shelter, she could not find. It was wide open, aside from the lake up ahead of her. She didn't know what to do. She couldn't think of anything. Twilight Sparkle, for the first time, could not think of anything. A moment of panic set in when it suddenly began to blizzard, and all she could do was dive. She dove right into the ocean, her horn immediately lighting up to form a magic air bubble around her head so she could breathe as she dived deeper to escape from the strange storms going on above her. She had never seen weather like this. From simple rain, quickly to an intense blizzard. She could feel it getting louder up above the surface, as well. It was almost like a hurricane. She was thankful, now, that she was alone. She would never wish something like this on any of her friends or fellow ponies. The water started to feel very cold now, and her panic quickly returned as she saw the surface of the lake begin to freeze above her. She knew very well there was no surviving this without magic, and even then...she wasn't sure if she could protect herself properly. Fire magic would be nice, but of course she knew very well that wouldn't work under the water. Her next thought scared her. She'd never done this before, and had only read about it in stories. She knew it was a real spell, but nopony ever had the guts to attempt it. "Please...Somepony help me..." She could very well die. Everything could pass her by. "Princess Celestia...Princess Luna...Somepony who is out there, help me..." There was a chance she would never see her home or anything again...but she had to try. She would have to freeze herself. But not with the ice. That would almost certainly kill her, and even if she survived she would be permanently damaged for sure. She would have to use magic. She took a moment to gather her thoughts and focus properly. A moment she nearly didn't have, as she let out a scream when she felt her hooves hurting from the cold. That was the force to finally make up her mind, and without hesitation, she broke her air bubble, lit up her horn... ...and everything was gone. Author's Note Consider this a test to try and get myself back into writing. If all goes well, I might even get myself motivated to continue Harmony in Gensokyo. Chapter 1: LostIt was noisy. It was really noisy, and she didn't know why. She couldn't recognize a single voice. She couldn't see a single thing. Everything was still dark. She wondered why for a moment, but shortly realized her eyes were closed. A simple fix. She could wake up from that...dream. She opened her eyes. Her vision was blurry, and she had a horrible headache. Her entire body was so tired. She couldn't even move. She blinked her eyes a little more, to clear her vision and see what was going on around her. After a moment, it finally did...and she had no idea what she was looking at. A few strange, tall, bipedal creatures walking around in lab coats. She would normally be interested to see what may only be scientists, but then she realized another strange and quite worrying detail. She's on a metal table. ...She opened her mouth, but nothing came up. No words. No screams. She just couldn't find the strength to even speak yet, let alone move. Though, slowly, she could feel it coming back. It was almost like she was on some sort of drug. A drug she could tell was wearing off, though slowly... Not fast enough for her liking, as one of the creatures in a coat had spotted her waking up. "Oh...Its awake! Nice to know it's alive, but...well, I need it asleep right now..." The creature, which by the tone of voice she could tell was male, chuckled a bit and gave her a pat on the belly. "I wonder what you are... Clearly a pony of some sort, with wings? And an odd growth on your head. Certainly not natural... But, I guess I'll just have to find out!" That didn't sound good. That sounded quite scary, in fact. A whole new species. She didn't even know what it was capable of. What it wanted to do with her. Was it going to be simple examinations? Or... something worse? She didn't want to find out. This is where she started to struggle. Struggle to move her head, her body, use magic, scream. But then she stopped for a moment. Gathering her thoughts, she took a breath to relax while the creature had his back turned. Screaming... Screaming won't get me anywhere... I'm spent on magic right now, from whatever happened previously... I need to get up... I'm not strapped down. I need...to...get up! She grunted, and tensed up her body a bit, trying to move something. She managed to, at the very least, flick her tail. Her body tensed up moreso when the creature turned around again. Her pupils dilated in fear when she saw him holding a syringe. She figured that was probably more tranquilizers for her. If he gets that into her system, there is no way she'd get out of here. She kept it up. Kept trying to flex her muscles, lift a wing, kick out a hoof. She needed to, otherwise... "Oh dear...You look like you're having a hard time. Alright, let me just give you something to help you-oof!" He was interrupted before he could finish, as Twilight finally managed to kick out a hoof. Right into his stomach. With one leg moving, she was able to regain the rest of her mobility, and carefully lifted herself up onto her hooves, on the table. She was already breathing heavily, exhausted beyond belief from before. But the adrenaline running through her kept her up. For a moment she watched the creature recover from her kick. She didn't even mean to do so, and honestly felt a little bad. But, she'd have to worry about that later. The creature managed to stand up straight again, and stared at Twilight. "Y-You...shouldn't be up like that...Come on now, lay down..." He took a step closer to the table again, still holding the syringe. Twilight's mind was racing again. Panicking. She did not want him near her. Once more, the adrenaline kicked in, and she kicked off the table and onto the floor. Almost as soon as she felt her hooves on the floor, she rushed toward the nearest thing that looked like a door, bucked it right open, and ran. Fast. She had figured there would be more to this place, and when she saw two more creatures walking about, she didn't waste any time and continued to run. They both came after, of course, even as she burst through the next door. "Damn it! Turn on the emergency locks for all the exits. This is a new species we can't lose!" She may not know what these creatures are, but she could still understand them, and that they were trying to lock her in. She'd have to do something slightly crazy... It wasn't too long before she reached the front room of the lab, and there were two metal doors. One leading out the front, and one off to the side. She knew very well already that those doors were not going to budge for anything short of an explosion, which she is certainly not able to do at this time. So, gathering all the courage she could, she ran to the wall, took a good jump, using her wings to protect her face, and dived through the glass window, just as the scientists reached it. By the time they looked out the window, she was already flying away. "What..." Twilight's voice finally returned to her shortly after escaping the lab. She didn't go far, however, before she realized what was around her. A completely unfamiliar city. A city much more different from any she had seen in Equestria. It wasn't huge, full of tall buildings like Manehattan, but everything looked...foreign. Large, metal automobiles that were far more advanced looking than the ones back home, more bipedal creatures in clothing. After staring at everything for a few minutes, she took off again, this time on hoof. She was running out of energy again, at this point. She felt like her body was on fire from all the strain. Her memory of what happened before waking up was still a little fuzzy as well. Realizing quickly that she was being stared at, she ran faster, as best as she could, until she reached a park, which was thankfully a bit secluded, and there didn't seem to be any of those creatures around there at the moment. With a huff, a groan, and a few more steps, she made her way behind a large tree and collapsed. Her body was out of strength, and she could finally relax for a while. Though, she wasn't sure how relaxed she could get in this situation. This was most certainly not Equestria. She had no idea where she was, but she knew that there were no creatures like the ones from earlier there. She slowly rolled onto her back, and took a few deep breaths. The air was a bit....odd. She detected a hint of smog, but not too much. But otherwise, at least it was air. "I...Maybe I'm still dreaming...But that storm..." She had been about to close her eyes to rest, but then opened them again as she said that. "Ah...The storm...That's what happened..." She shook her head, and frowned. "Almost like a blizzard, but worse....I froze myself...And there was nothing around...Oh no...Oh no oh no oh no..." The more her memory returned to her, the more she realized what was wrong. Equestria was gone. Entirely. She remembered the storm. The barren wasteland from moments before. She remembered standing in Ponyville with her friends and the Princesses, and suddenly...nothing. "Equestria...is gone..." She finally closed her eyes again, and rolled back onto her side, only to curl up and try to look small. She was not feeling too good... After all the panicking, running, and storm, she finally let go and cried. The more she thought about it, the worse she felt. How she may never see her home again, or her friends, family, the princesses...For truly one of the worst times this could possibly happen, Twilight Sparkle had no idea what do to but cry. Why...Why couldn't I stop this? Why am I so useless?! I hate it...I hate this...There's nothing left for me...I don't even fit in this world. They treated me like a strange animal they had never seen before... She remained there, wallowing in her own self-hate, hoping that she would just be able to sleep and wake up from this horrible nightmare. Eventually, she started to do just that. Her eyes finally closed, and her sobbing quieted down. She was just about to find sleep. Until something rustled around in the bushes on the other side of the tree. Her eyes snapped back open at that, and she lifted up her head again to see what it was. She was half afraid it would be another biped, come to take her back and do...who knows what to her. But at this point, she couldn't see it in her mind to care. Despite this thought, she still lifted herself up to face whatever came from the bushes. Whatever danger it was, she may as well take it head first. Slowly, and hesitantly, from out of the bushes came a small, white rabbit. It was staring at her, rather intensely too. But otherwise, just a regular rabbit. Twilight even managed a smile at the little thing, and laid herself back down again as they looked at each other. "At least...there's something here that's recognizable...You even remind me of someone..." She held a hoof out, slowly, so as not to scare it away. "Its okay little guy...I'm not dangerous...I actually love rabbits. You're so cute..." The rabbit backed up a little at first, not expecting the hoof to come forward, but eventually moved in close again, first to smell the hoof, then to work its way up her leg, to make sure she didn't smell like some sort of predator, most likely. Twilight smiled a bit more when she noticed it calmed down a bit, and began to pet it. "Did I just make a friend..? Its nice to meet you too..." She began to think again as she bet this little rabbit. ...I wonder...There are still creatures here that want to bother making friends with an odd one out like myself...This is feeling more like my first time in Ponyville...It almost feels...good again...Maybe I gave up too soon... "...I need to carry on. Thank you, little friend." She gave him one last pet before finally standing up, with renewed strength she didn't even think she'd find again. Even something as small as a friendly bunny, it gave her confidence that maybe this world won't be as dark as she expected. Her smile remained on her face as she turned around and began moving through the park. Though, she paused shortly after when she heard a certain rabbit trailing behind. She looked back again at him, and tilted her head. "Did you want to come along..? You're welcome to join me...I don't know where I'm going, but...I'm going to leave this place." The rabbit only twitched its nose in response before bounding over to her, and it leapt right up onto her back where it settled. She chuckled slightly at him making himself comfortable on her back, and finally continued on. With a friend here...Maybe this won't be as bad as I thought...Just maybe... Author's Note I wrote this at like 4-6 am please kill me. (I hope you enjoy it, at least) Edit: about 100 words disappeared mysteriously from this chapter. If anyone sees something that doesn't look right, PLEASE tell me! Chapter 2: Knowledge"I don't think I've ever heard of a 'San Diego' before, but...There's a library!" Twilight had been wandering this newfound city for about an hour. Though, she had to do it...carefully. Carefully picking empty streets or alleyways to sneak between after she had left the park earlier that day. While her will to continue had been revived, thanks to the little furry companion on her back, she was still a bit...uncertain. She didn't know where to go, or where to start. She needed clues. Something to tell her about some trace of Equestria, or something similar. She got nothing like that. Though...she had to admit, the mention of a library always made her feel better. She had been hiding in an alley, just behind a dumpster, waiting for a couple humans to pass by when she had heard them mention two note-worthy things. A university, and a library. Both of which greatly interested her. She promptly began her search for such a place, She wandered around for another good half an hour before she had found a map someone had dropped. This was perfect! It was a map of the entire city, and one of the marks was, as she had hoped, the university. Luckily, she had already been close by, so it only took her another ten minutes of sneaking around to actually find the place, and barely five minutes to locate the library. She loved it when things when her way in times like these. Before she even thought about stepping foot inside...anyplace, really. She had to pause. She frowned to herself the more she thought, and instead of going for the door, she went around the corner where nobody would see them. "I need...I need magic. I wonder if I have the strength to..." The rabbit had hopped down in front of her, and stared at her curiously. Specifically, at her horn. Twilight chuckled a little. "Yes, I do still have my magic and horn, but...I still feel week. I know an invisibility spell, but I'm just hoping the tranquilizers didn't affect my magic too much...Well, might as well try. You'll have to stay touching me for you to be affected..." She stood up again, and picked the rabbit up onto her back once more before lighting her horn for the first time since even waking up. Since before...whatever had happened back home. She closed her eyes as she concentrated on the spell she wanted, and, very slowly, but surely, both herself and the rabbit began to disappear, from ear to hoof, until they were completely invisible. "Ahh...Still a little slow and tiring...But I think I can hold it for a good while..." She let out a little huff as she stepped back out around the corner, and made her way inside. A few students leaving the library paused when the door opened by itself, and promptly hurried outside. Twilight chuckled a little at the scared looks on the humans as she fully entered the library. "I wish I could safely study humans. But right now I just can't risk meeting more scientists...Now! Lets see how well the humans organize their libraries..." She said as she went off to look for a specific section. Namely, she wanted history and maybe some encyclopedias. What she really wanted was a book about the current world, though. But...while she was here, she figured she may as well learn a thing or two about this world, right? So, with that in mind, she went toward the history section. Already she was pleased with how many books there were to choose from. Though, the amount of history books felt a little odd to her, as there were quite a few different versions of the history of both the world and of a place called the United States. She had to wonder why there were so many, but she couldn't really complain. Instead, she grabbed one of each. If you're going to learn history, you might as well learn it from every perspective. She looked around a little bit, now realizing that floating books probably won't go over too well. She quietly snuck over to one of the more secluded tables and set the books down on top before going off to find more. Which she did. She managed to find a good encyclopedia, an up-to-date dictionary, and a few fictional works just to dive into human imagination later. When she came back to the table, someone had found a seat the the other end of the table, and was reading. She didn't quite notice at first, and she moved the chair with a bit of a squeak, which caused him to jump. The human looked at the chair for a good while, only for it to move slightly again. He dropped the book he was reading and jumped to his feet in surprise when it scooted closer to the table, and only when he saw the floating books did he just run off. Twilight frowned as she watched the boy run away, and sat down at the table. "Erm...Sorry..!" She called out to him, knowing full well he wouldn't hear. Though, she did notice he left a couple notebooks behind, which she picked up to look into. One was completely empty, the other had some notes in it. She shrugged and set them aside, and set to reading the first of many books she had piled up on the table around her. .... It was after about thirty minutes of reading did she realize that something about a stack of books surrounding an open one wouldn't look right to anyone who saw it She paused for a moment to rearrange the books to form a little wall around her, and finally dropped her invisibility spell. The rabbit had long since fallen into a nap in her lap as she read, though she was getting a bit distracted by her thoughts now. "...Hope I don't get run out of here if a librarian finds me...I need to work on some sort of transformation spell. Maybe that'll be a good way to blend in...What do you think?" She asked, looking down at the rabbit. All he did was snort in his sleep. Twilight rolled her eyes. "I swear, I'm going to name you Angel..." His ear twitched slightly at mention of the name, but otherwise stayed asleep. Twilight chuckled a little before looking back to the book. Though, she took a glance at her little wall of books to find it a bit shorter than it was thirty minutes ago. She'd already gone and skimmed through several of them, picking up some good information along the way about the history of these people. These humans are...surprisingly violent and territorial...its all fascinating, but it would be nice to read a bit of history that didn't have some sort of violent conflict for once...Even Equestria thousands of years ago didn't have that many wars with other races. Discord and Sombra not included...The technological advancements are amazing, though! I could tell just by walking through the city that these creatures are ages ahead of us ponies were. I wonder if we'll ever get to this point...well...if 'we' ever exists anymore... She sighed to herself, and closed the last of the history books she had been looking through. She set it aside, and picked up one of the fictional works she had grabbed before. The Time Machine. ...Huh...Seems relevant. Keeping in mind she had found it in the science fiction section, she began to read. She had surprisingly spent a good couple hours at the library, reading whatever seemed interesting to her. She skimmed a lot for important information, so she went through the books rather quickly. She ended up using one of the notebooks she found, the one with the notes in it already, to document some of her findings that she found interesting. The other one already had a page filled with her own thoughts. A diary, of sorts, detailing her thoughts and feelings from the moment she woke up, after Equestria disappeared. She dotted the end of the entry and closed the notebook. She'd have to find a bag or something to carry items of interest in before she left. "Well...Angel. I think its time we get going, and, hopefully, find something to eat...I'm starving..." She said, finally standing up from the chair. She once more cloaked herself and her companion in her spell, and set out to put back all the books before they finally left the library, and made their way back into the city. Oh dear...How will I eat? Going by smells and various signs around, I can tell humans are, at the very least, omnivorous. I'd rather not eat meat if I can avoid it...But if I have to steal food for the rest of my time in this world, I might just go mad. With a heavy sigh, she continued on her way through the busy streets of the city. She could smell food all over the place, and at this point even meat was starting to appeal to her. Eventually she did come across a vegetarian restaurant, thank Celestia. She wasn't quite sure how to approach this, however, and simply stood outside, staring up at the door. "...I don't know how we're gonna do this, Angel. But I'm not stealing, even if it kills me..." Entry 1, Day 1, Its been quite a while since Equestria disappeared, I think. last thing I remember since waking up in this city known as San Diego was a huge wasteland and a storm. Upon investigations at a library, I found there was quite of history to these 'humans' between my appearance in this world and theirs. I had to freeze myself with magic to stay alive under the freezing water, and the next thing I know, I'm in a lab. So that was fun. I...hate it here. But I like it. A vast world of new knowledge, but none of my friends to enjoy it with. I want to go home. The only comfort I have right now is a little bunny I found in a park. He's cute, but his curiosity and brattyness reminds me of a certain someone. So, I named him Angel. All I need now is a Fluttershy. Author's Note Disclaimer: I don't really know much about San Diego other than its a fishing city, which is what I wanted for consistency, since Twilight was found in the ocean. If I have details wrong about any real-world places from here and on, I'm sorry. Chapter 3: Friend"Okay, so I had to steal some food! Sue me!" Twilight was, strangely enough, arguing with the bunny currently sitting on her head. She had to quickly go back on her swear to not steal food, as the moment she stepped into the little cafe she knew she'd be overwhelmed and crowded without her spell. She rather clumsily slipped through between people's feet and around legs, and ended up having to snag someone's salad before they could even get to pay for it. And now...here she was, sharing said salad between herself and Angel. The pair of them were once again wandering aimlessly through the city. Well, they had a general idea of the direction they were going. East. They found a large ocean to the west after glancing at a map, so they'd go east and hopefully leave the city altogether. The rabbit lightly stamped his foot a couple times on Twilight's head, as if reprimanding her. She rolled her eyes. "Yes, Angel, I know its not right, but...I panicked, okay?! Hmph!" She stuffed some salad in her mouth at her last words, and took a look around the area they were passing through. Something felt...off. She couldn't place a hoof on the feeling, but it was off. There were less humans around, but she could still feel the presence of someone watching them. She frowned deeply, and began trotting a little faster. "I've got a bad feeling about this..." Angel seemed less than worried. He was finishing off the last of their salad, so he was a bit distracted. Twilight just gave a quiet sigh and continued onward. They were nearing the edge of town, thankfully. Twilight never minded big cities like Manehattan or Fillydelphia. But being a fish out of water made things significantly more stressful on her. More stress than she needed, if she was honest with herself. She has had one heck of a day. All that has happened to her so far, combined with that unpleasant feeling she was getting, it was only making her feel worse. As she neared the outskirts of the city, she began to hear things as well. Something was following them, she was sure of it this time. "Hold on tight, Angel..." She only gave a short warning before she took off into a full gallop. This didn't stop the noises around them, however. In fact the sound of soft feet hitting the ground only grew faster to keep up with them. She started seeing streaks of gray out the corners of her eyes. Her head was darting left and right constantly as she made a mad dash out of the city. There...wasn't a lot ahead of her. Hills, trees, dirt, grass. Nature. Whatever it was that was following her, however, seemed to know the area quite well, as they continued to stay just out of sight while expertly following her. She began to panic again, not knowing what could be so easily following them. She was losing focus, her eyes constantly wandering anywhere but ahead of her...which would be her downfall. With a loud yelp, she slammed herself face-first into a tree, forcing her cloaking spell to break and sending falling to the ground in a daze. Angel managed to avoid hitting the tree, and fell off of Twilight's back as she fell over. He seemed to be desperately trying to get her to wake up again, but it was no use. She slowly lost consciousness as several gray forms surrounded her. Not again... Warm. Twilight felt very warm when she finally regained consciousness. Though it did nothing to settle the pounding in her head. Slamming it into a tree was one thing, but only now did she realize she'd been holding a somewhat difficult spell for a very large amount of time. Now, of course, she didn't even want to open her eyes. She was someplace comfortable. There was another source of fur surrounding her body. It wasn't just her own, but she felt strangely safe. Like she was home again, or with a good friend. She imagined the bodies surrounding her to be her friends. She even smiled. That cozy feeling was quickly shattered as one of said bodies gave a low growl. Her eyes snapped open immediately. Rather than being surrounded by her girls, she just saw a few wolves curled up with her on a large, soft bed. She knew it was a bad idea to scream. She knew wolves could be territorial and were not afraid to hunt even larger prey like ponies. But she screamed anyways. "O-Oh...Oh no, oh no! I knew this would happen!" A soft voice cried from another room. The room Twilight found herself in was...cozy, despite the wolves. It could easily be described as a very nice cabin. There was a fireplace going, and everything was clean and comfy looking, save for some stray animal hair. The moment she heard the voice, however, she stopped screaming and jumped up onto her hooves, temporarily forgetting her headache. She hardly noticed the wolves, as they made no move to get up or attack her. Rather, she was focused on the human who had walked into the room. It was...a rather pretty, young woman. She had long and flowing blonde hair, green eyes, stood quite tall at nearly six feet, and wore a very casual outfit of denim pants and a white t-shirt. She also seemed...nervous. She held back at the doorway as she spotted Twilight standing up, and she looked ready to back right off into the other room again. "Oh dear...You woke up much sooner than I expected. I haven't even prepared food yet..." Twilight seemed ready to bolt out the door, but the soft-spoken woman...calmed her, somehow. This girl was completely foreign to her, yet had a familiar warmth emanating from her that Twilight couldn't ignore. "Who are you?" "Who are you?" "Oh..." The girl's cheeks lit up red, but she giggled softly. "My name is Flora..." She said simply, and went quiet again. "...T..Twilight Sparkle..." Twilight replied, still feeling something oddly familiar about her. This girl...well, she certainly didn't save her from hungry wolves. Rather, these wolves seemed to live with her. Wolves, of all things...this girl must be special to have been able to tame them. "Are these wolves...your pets?" She quickly shook her head. "No, not at all. They're more like...friends, whom I take care of." She said, walking over and kneeling down next to one of the wolves that had just woken up, and lightly pet its head. It gave a yawn and licked her hand before standing up and wandering out towards the back. "...You just came from the city, didn't you? One of my friends found some of your tail hair and brought it back...It was weird, but...nothing else in the wild could have purple hair like that. Sorry if they scared you, they were just trying to follow you and lead you here..." Twilight seemed a tad more relaxed at the explanation, though being stalked by wolves at the call of this strange girl felt a little weird. Still...she couldn't complain. She wasn't hurt, save for her head earlier, and she was someplace safe. "...Your wolves managed to pick out my tail hair? In the middle of the city? They must be very...sneaky." Flora laughed a little at this. "Well...Yes, they are, but usually they keep hidden in the alleys. Actually, my pet bird Harley found it and brought it back. He's a smart bird." She gave a short whistle suddenly, which the other wolves responded to. They woke up one by one, and began making their way out back like the other one did. Once they were gone, Flora stood up again and smiled at Twilight. "I've never met a talking pony before...But I guess if you're as intelligent as a human, you must be very special...Would you like something to eat? I was just about to fix something before you woke up..." Twilight barely had to think about her answer to this. Her stomach growl told all. All she had to eat since she arrived in this land was a single, small salad. She needed something filling. She blushed lightly, and nodded, giving an awkward smile. "Yes please...And thank you very much for your help. I'd probably have gotten lost if you hadn't picked me up..." She had to admit to herself by now...she had no idea what she was doing. ...What was she doing? She'd been wandering pretty much aimlessly...Sure, learning more about her surroundings and the land she found herself in was good, but it certainly didn't solve any of her problems. Just what happened to Equestria, and the others? It didn't take a genius to figure out there was little to no magic in this land, which would only hinder her further. Would she ever even get back home? Whatever the outcome may be...Twilight couldn't help but think of the worst ones. Equestria could very well be completely destroyed. Or her friends may very well be slaves to a wicked being. King Sombra...He was the one who started this mess. How he survived the incident with the Crystal Empire, she had no clue. The events from before she woke up were starting to return, but only barely. Discord himself engaged Sombra in a rather heated fight. Dark magic against chaos magic could only lead to disaster, she supposed. Her friends could very well be dead for all she knew. She didn't want to think about that, but she just couldn't stop the tears from creeping to her eyes. Upon seeing this, Flora frowned again. She wasn't entirely sure why this pony was crying, but she wasn't fond of it. "Oh no...Please, don't cry..." She said, softly, and knelt down once again. She reached out to gently take Twilight's hoof, and pulled her in for a hug. "I don't know what your situation is...But I'm certain it'll all be okay. When you feel at your lowest, there's nowhere to go but up." Twilight was surprised a bit by the sudden hug, but...it was more than welcome at this point. She was warm, and she felt an...oddly soothing feeling in her mind from her touch and her words. The sadness in her mind was pushed away for hope...a feeling she desperately needed. She would find a way to make things right, even if she died trying. It was only after thinking that did she think of something else. ...How in the world did she do that so easily? This girl is special...and so kind. If only I could be as kind to myself...I need to carry on. "Thank you, Flora." Twilight said, once again thanking her and returning the hug. She stepped away after a moment to wipe her eyes, and gave another smile. "I'll accept whatever food you decide to make. I've only had a small salad today, so I could go for just about anything." Flora had to wipe a tear from her eye as well, but she didn't say anything about it. She simply smiled and nodded, and stood up once again to head into the kitchen. First thing she did, however, was grab her phone to send off some text messages. Between texts, she began working on a proper meal. She knew very well what ponies ate, normally, but this particular pony was clearly special. So she settled for a healthy, vegetable stew. Sitting on the counter, nibbling away at some lettuce and carrots, was Twilight's little rabbit friend. Flora wasn't sure what his name was yet, but she found him absolutely adorable. She gave him a smile, and a gentle pat on the head. "You've taken good care of miss Sparkle...Such a good bunny." Twilight, in the meantime, decided to explore a little. She didn't want to seem too nosy, so she stuck to the room she was currently in. Though, she quickly went to look out the window pointed out in the back. There was a lot of space in the 'backyard,' as one might call it, for the multitude of wolves out and about. She'd never seen so many in one place before, so it was quite incredible. She was so distracted by this, that she nearly jumped out of her coat when Flora came up from behind her. "This is my wolf sanctuary..." She said, though paused to giggle a little at Twilight. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you...Wolves are uncommon around here, and people like to hunt them for sport and even skin them...I thought it would be nice to rescue what I can and take care of them here." Twilight listened carefully to what she said. Taking in so many wild animals, all out of kindness and worry for their kind? This girl reminded her too much of Fluttershy. She wouldn't give herself the chance to tear up again, however, and continued the conversation. "Do you live here? With the wolves?" Flora shook her head in response. "Not exactly. It is sort of a second home to me, sometimes. I have a small animal farm of my own a few miles from here, and that's my real home. But since this is my main job, I'm coming back and forth all the time. Animals are...pretty much my forte. They understand me, and I understand them...I'm not really sure how it works, but it comes really natural to me..." She said, smiling and watching through the window at a couple of the wolves running about after an unfortunate prey had wandered into the pen. "Anyways...I made stew! It should be ready by now. Your rabbit is in the kitchen, too." She said, gesturing toward the open kitchen door before heading in. Twilight gave a sigh, hesitating at the window to watch longer. There was so much going on now...What was with this girl? Her empathic ability was clearly something above the norm, even for ponies. Just her presence was pushing back all those feelings of sadness and self-hate, if only for a bit. She finally had to wipe her eyes again as she felt tears coming back, but she was smiling. She was actually happy, to have finally found a friend amongst the humans. With a deep breath and a sigh, she made her way to the kitchen, grabbing one of her notebooks from her bag along the way. Finally, a decent meal. Entry 2, Day 1, Today has been...interesting. Never thought so many things could happen in just a day. I likely won't write again until tomorrow. Two entries a day seems fair to me. I'm in such a better mood than I was before. Its incredible what the kindness of even a single stranger can do to one's self-esteem. I jokingly said I'd just need a Fluttershy to go with my Angel, but yet here I am with a woman who reminds me so much of her. Flora, she said her name was. She runs this wolf sanctuary outside the city. She's full of kindness, but she's not at all shy, I don't think. Very friendly type...But what stands out the most is her empathy. Of course, most everyone has empathy, but I could almost feel her in my mind, helping me to grow more content and relaxed. I suspect she may be an empath. Whether she knows this or not, I'm not sure. Hardly matters at this point, and I can't complain. I'm enjoying my time here even more than I did at the library. Crazy, I know, coming from me, but at least its not as depressing as the history books. I still have no idea what I'm going to do, though. I have no plans, no idea what the rest of this country is like, and no direction to go. I'm hoping Flora can give me some sort of advice, otherwise it'll be more aimless wandering for me. Whater brought me here, it definitely had to do with the fight between Discord and Sombra. But what happened before that? How did Sombra return? My memories of the fiasco are a big haze. Its really frustrating. Hoping it comes back to me soon. Maybe...Just maybe, I'll find Discord or Sombra out here. If anyone would have made it here with me, it'd be one of them. Here's hoping its the former. He could have fixed everything by now, but you never know with Discord. Well, I'm signing off for the day. I'm going to ask if I can stay a night with Flora, and get a good bit of food in me while I'm at it. If you're reading this right now, or rather in the future, make sure you eat healthy! Author's Note Finally... Chapter 3 is done. I'm still not entirely happy with my writing. I feel like I rush things without meaning to, but I cannot always find ways to fix this if I do. I hope this chapter is good. New characters! New names to think about! And a healthy meal for our favorite heroin and rabbit!
PrologueScreaming. Everypony was screaming, as a battle raged above them. Most could barely tell what was even happening at this point, as they were all focused on the massive pulses of magic flowing through the air. It didn't feel good, either. Even the armored guards standing nearby to watch seemed helpless compared to the beasts fighting above. One particular mare knew what was happening, and she didn't like it. She was stuck. She couldn't do anything. She and her friends could only look on as a darkness began to cover the world. The pulses only got stronger as time went on. All of them looked on in horror as one, last collision of energy sent a massive blast of magic in the air. Along with this, there was a flash of light, a whisper, and the mare's entire world went black. There was a light. A light shining behind the mare's eyelids. She opened one, and immediately closed it due to the sudden light. Eventually she did blink them both open and gently pulled herself into a sitting position. Right away, she looked around for her friends, hoping to find them behind her as they were just moments ago. Was it moments? Perhaps it was hours? She couldn't tell. "Princess Celestia? Princess Luna?" It was dark. It was dry. Where was everypony? Where was anything? It was just dirt and dry land. "Girls?! Shining, Cadance?! Where are yo-" The source of the voice, a small Alicorn mare, cut herself off as she finally got herself a good look around. It was gone. All of it. "Girls...P-Please...This isn't funny anymore..." The young mare, known to her friends as Twilight Sparkle, lowered her head as she began to move for the first time since...what had happened. What had happened? It was hazy, she couldn't quite remember all the details. Everypony was there, she knew for sure. They were in her own hometown, she also knew for sure. But...where was it? What happened? She couldn't remember. So, naturally, she did the one thing she could think of to get her mind working. She walked. She walked... and walked... and walked... She couldn't quite recall how far she had actually walked. It felt like weeks. Months. Years. She hated it. She wanted to cry. She wanted to die. She couldn't feel anything. There was no magic in this world, aside from her own. There were no cities. No ponies. Was there anything at all? There were hardly any other animals about either, if any, but she hardly took notice by this point. She couldn't go on anymore. She could feel her whole body and mind giving up. Then she felt a breeze. A breeze that came suddenly. It wasn't there before, but it was...comforting, for some reason. She couldn't place how, but it reminded her of home. With this in mind, she continued on, if just a little bit more. At least, she would have, if not for taking notice of the massive amount of dark clouds looming over her, which were already pouring down rain. "It...It was clear and sunny just a moment ago...Ow!" She yelped in a little pain when she felt something solid hit her right flank. She turned to look at what it was, and found a melting piece of hail on the ground. Followed shortly by more and more. "Ow...Ow ow ow!" At this point, she began to run, hoping to find any sort of shelter. Especially when she heard the roaring thunder coming from behind her. Shelter, she could not find. It was wide open, aside from the lake up ahead of her. She didn't know what to do. She couldn't think of anything. Twilight Sparkle, for the first time, could not think of anything. A moment of panic set in when it suddenly began to blizzard, and all she could do was dive. She dove right into the ocean, her horn immediately lighting up to form a magic air bubble around her head so she could breathe as she dived deeper to escape from the strange storms going on above her. She had never seen weather like this. From simple rain, quickly to an intense blizzard. She could feel it getting louder up above the surface, as well. It was almost like a hurricane. She was thankful, now, that she was alone. She would never wish something like this on any of her friends or fellow ponies. The water started to feel very cold now, and her panic quickly returned as she saw the surface of the lake begin to freeze above her. She knew very well there was no surviving this without magic, and even then...she wasn't sure if she could protect herself properly. Fire magic would be nice, but of course she knew very well that wouldn't work under the water. Her next thought scared her. She'd never done this before, and had only read about it in stories. She knew it was a real spell, but nopony ever had the guts to attempt it. "Please...Somepony help me..." She could very well die. Everything could pass her by. "Princess Celestia...Princess Luna...Somepony who is out there, help me..." There was a chance she would never see her home or anything again...but she had to try. She would have to freeze herself. But not with the ice. That would almost certainly kill her, and even if she survived she would be permanently damaged for sure. She would have to use magic. She took a moment to gather her thoughts and focus properly. A moment she nearly didn't have, as she let out a scream when she felt her hooves hurting from the cold. That was the force to finally make up her mind, and without hesitation, she broke her air bubble, lit up her horn... ...and everything was gone. Author's Note Consider this a test to try and get myself back into writing. If all goes well, I might even get myself motivated to continue Harmony in Gensokyo.
Chapter 1: LostIt was noisy. It was really noisy, and she didn't know why. She couldn't recognize a single voice. She couldn't see a single thing. Everything was still dark. She wondered why for a moment, but shortly realized her eyes were closed. A simple fix. She could wake up from that...dream. She opened her eyes. Her vision was blurry, and she had a horrible headache. Her entire body was so tired. She couldn't even move. She blinked her eyes a little more, to clear her vision and see what was going on around her. After a moment, it finally did...and she had no idea what she was looking at. A few strange, tall, bipedal creatures walking around in lab coats. She would normally be interested to see what may only be scientists, but then she realized another strange and quite worrying detail. She's on a metal table. ...She opened her mouth, but nothing came up. No words. No screams. She just couldn't find the strength to even speak yet, let alone move. Though, slowly, she could feel it coming back. It was almost like she was on some sort of drug. A drug she could tell was wearing off, though slowly... Not fast enough for her liking, as one of the creatures in a coat had spotted her waking up. "Oh...Its awake! Nice to know it's alive, but...well, I need it asleep right now..." The creature, which by the tone of voice she could tell was male, chuckled a bit and gave her a pat on the belly. "I wonder what you are... Clearly a pony of some sort, with wings? And an odd growth on your head. Certainly not natural... But, I guess I'll just have to find out!" That didn't sound good. That sounded quite scary, in fact. A whole new species. She didn't even know what it was capable of. What it wanted to do with her. Was it going to be simple examinations? Or... something worse? She didn't want to find out. This is where she started to struggle. Struggle to move her head, her body, use magic, scream. But then she stopped for a moment. Gathering her thoughts, she took a breath to relax while the creature had his back turned. Screaming... Screaming won't get me anywhere... I'm spent on magic right now, from whatever happened previously... I need to get up... I'm not strapped down. I need...to...get up! She grunted, and tensed up her body a bit, trying to move something. She managed to, at the very least, flick her tail. Her body tensed up moreso when the creature turned around again. Her pupils dilated in fear when she saw him holding a syringe. She figured that was probably more tranquilizers for her. If he gets that into her system, there is no way she'd get out of here. She kept it up. Kept trying to flex her muscles, lift a wing, kick out a hoof. She needed to, otherwise... "Oh dear...You look like you're having a hard time. Alright, let me just give you something to help you-oof!" He was interrupted before he could finish, as Twilight finally managed to kick out a hoof. Right into his stomach. With one leg moving, she was able to regain the rest of her mobility, and carefully lifted herself up onto her hooves, on the table. She was already breathing heavily, exhausted beyond belief from before. But the adrenaline running through her kept her up. For a moment she watched the creature recover from her kick. She didn't even mean to do so, and honestly felt a little bad. But, she'd have to worry about that later. The creature managed to stand up straight again, and stared at Twilight. "Y-You...shouldn't be up like that...Come on now, lay down..." He took a step closer to the table again, still holding the syringe. Twilight's mind was racing again. Panicking. She did not want him near her. Once more, the adrenaline kicked in, and she kicked off the table and onto the floor. Almost as soon as she felt her hooves on the floor, she rushed toward the nearest thing that looked like a door, bucked it right open, and ran. Fast. She had figured there would be more to this place, and when she saw two more creatures walking about, she didn't waste any time and continued to run. They both came after, of course, even as she burst through the next door. "Damn it! Turn on the emergency locks for all the exits. This is a new species we can't lose!" She may not know what these creatures are, but she could still understand them, and that they were trying to lock her in. She'd have to do something slightly crazy... It wasn't too long before she reached the front room of the lab, and there were two metal doors. One leading out the front, and one off to the side. She knew very well already that those doors were not going to budge for anything short of an explosion, which she is certainly not able to do at this time. So, gathering all the courage she could, she ran to the wall, took a good jump, using her wings to protect her face, and dived through the glass window, just as the scientists reached it. By the time they looked out the window, she was already flying away. "What..." Twilight's voice finally returned to her shortly after escaping the lab. She didn't go far, however, before she realized what was around her. A completely unfamiliar city. A city much more different from any she had seen in Equestria. It wasn't huge, full of tall buildings like Manehattan, but everything looked...foreign. Large, metal automobiles that were far more advanced looking than the ones back home, more bipedal creatures in clothing. After staring at everything for a few minutes, she took off again, this time on hoof. She was running out of energy again, at this point. She felt like her body was on fire from all the strain. Her memory of what happened before waking up was still a little fuzzy as well. Realizing quickly that she was being stared at, she ran faster, as best as she could, until she reached a park, which was thankfully a bit secluded, and there didn't seem to be any of those creatures around there at the moment. With a huff, a groan, and a few more steps, she made her way behind a large tree and collapsed. Her body was out of strength, and she could finally relax for a while. Though, she wasn't sure how relaxed she could get in this situation. This was most certainly not Equestria. She had no idea where she was, but she knew that there were no creatures like the ones from earlier there. She slowly rolled onto her back, and took a few deep breaths. The air was a bit....odd. She detected a hint of smog, but not too much. But otherwise, at least it was air. "I...Maybe I'm still dreaming...But that storm..." She had been about to close her eyes to rest, but then opened them again as she said that. "Ah...The storm...That's what happened..." She shook her head, and frowned. "Almost like a blizzard, but worse....I froze myself...And there was nothing around...Oh no...Oh no oh no oh no..." The more her memory returned to her, the more she realized what was wrong. Equestria was gone. Entirely. She remembered the storm. The barren wasteland from moments before. She remembered standing in Ponyville with her friends and the Princesses, and suddenly...nothing. "Equestria...is gone..." She finally closed her eyes again, and rolled back onto her side, only to curl up and try to look small. She was not feeling too good... After all the panicking, running, and storm, she finally let go and cried. The more she thought about it, the worse she felt. How she may never see her home again, or her friends, family, the princesses...For truly one of the worst times this could possibly happen, Twilight Sparkle had no idea what do to but cry. Why...Why couldn't I stop this? Why am I so useless?! I hate it...I hate this...There's nothing left for me...I don't even fit in this world. They treated me like a strange animal they had never seen before... She remained there, wallowing in her own self-hate, hoping that she would just be able to sleep and wake up from this horrible nightmare. Eventually, she started to do just that. Her eyes finally closed, and her sobbing quieted down. She was just about to find sleep. Until something rustled around in the bushes on the other side of the tree. Her eyes snapped back open at that, and she lifted up her head again to see what it was. She was half afraid it would be another biped, come to take her back and do...who knows what to her. But at this point, she couldn't see it in her mind to care. Despite this thought, she still lifted herself up to face whatever came from the bushes. Whatever danger it was, she may as well take it head first. Slowly, and hesitantly, from out of the bushes came a small, white rabbit. It was staring at her, rather intensely too. But otherwise, just a regular rabbit. Twilight even managed a smile at the little thing, and laid herself back down again as they looked at each other. "At least...there's something here that's recognizable...You even remind me of someone..." She held a hoof out, slowly, so as not to scare it away. "Its okay little guy...I'm not dangerous...I actually love rabbits. You're so cute..." The rabbit backed up a little at first, not expecting the hoof to come forward, but eventually moved in close again, first to smell the hoof, then to work its way up her leg, to make sure she didn't smell like some sort of predator, most likely. Twilight smiled a bit more when she noticed it calmed down a bit, and began to pet it. "Did I just make a friend..? Its nice to meet you too..." She began to think again as she bet this little rabbit. ...I wonder...There are still creatures here that want to bother making friends with an odd one out like myself...This is feeling more like my first time in Ponyville...It almost feels...good again...Maybe I gave up too soon... "...I need to carry on. Thank you, little friend." She gave him one last pet before finally standing up, with renewed strength she didn't even think she'd find again. Even something as small as a friendly bunny, it gave her confidence that maybe this world won't be as dark as she expected. Her smile remained on her face as she turned around and began moving through the park. Though, she paused shortly after when she heard a certain rabbit trailing behind. She looked back again at him, and tilted her head. "Did you want to come along..? You're welcome to join me...I don't know where I'm going, but...I'm going to leave this place." The rabbit only twitched its nose in response before bounding over to her, and it leapt right up onto her back where it settled. She chuckled slightly at him making himself comfortable on her back, and finally continued on. With a friend here...Maybe this won't be as bad as I thought...Just maybe... Author's Note I wrote this at like 4-6 am please kill me. (I hope you enjoy it, at least) Edit: about 100 words disappeared mysteriously from this chapter. If anyone sees something that doesn't look right, PLEASE tell me!
Chapter 2: Knowledge"I don't think I've ever heard of a 'San Diego' before, but...There's a library!" Twilight had been wandering this newfound city for about an hour. Though, she had to do it...carefully. Carefully picking empty streets or alleyways to sneak between after she had left the park earlier that day. While her will to continue had been revived, thanks to the little furry companion on her back, she was still a bit...uncertain. She didn't know where to go, or where to start. She needed clues. Something to tell her about some trace of Equestria, or something similar. She got nothing like that. Though...she had to admit, the mention of a library always made her feel better. She had been hiding in an alley, just behind a dumpster, waiting for a couple humans to pass by when she had heard them mention two note-worthy things. A university, and a library. Both of which greatly interested her. She promptly began her search for such a place, She wandered around for another good half an hour before she had found a map someone had dropped. This was perfect! It was a map of the entire city, and one of the marks was, as she had hoped, the university. Luckily, she had already been close by, so it only took her another ten minutes of sneaking around to actually find the place, and barely five minutes to locate the library. She loved it when things when her way in times like these. Before she even thought about stepping foot inside...anyplace, really. She had to pause. She frowned to herself the more she thought, and instead of going for the door, she went around the corner where nobody would see them. "I need...I need magic. I wonder if I have the strength to..." The rabbit had hopped down in front of her, and stared at her curiously. Specifically, at her horn. Twilight chuckled a little. "Yes, I do still have my magic and horn, but...I still feel week. I know an invisibility spell, but I'm just hoping the tranquilizers didn't affect my magic too much...Well, might as well try. You'll have to stay touching me for you to be affected..." She stood up again, and picked the rabbit up onto her back once more before lighting her horn for the first time since even waking up. Since before...whatever had happened back home. She closed her eyes as she concentrated on the spell she wanted, and, very slowly, but surely, both herself and the rabbit began to disappear, from ear to hoof, until they were completely invisible. "Ahh...Still a little slow and tiring...But I think I can hold it for a good while..." She let out a little huff as she stepped back out around the corner, and made her way inside. A few students leaving the library paused when the door opened by itself, and promptly hurried outside. Twilight chuckled a little at the scared looks on the humans as she fully entered the library. "I wish I could safely study humans. But right now I just can't risk meeting more scientists...Now! Lets see how well the humans organize their libraries..." She said as she went off to look for a specific section. Namely, she wanted history and maybe some encyclopedias. What she really wanted was a book about the current world, though. But...while she was here, she figured she may as well learn a thing or two about this world, right? So, with that in mind, she went toward the history section. Already she was pleased with how many books there were to choose from. Though, the amount of history books felt a little odd to her, as there were quite a few different versions of the history of both the world and of a place called the United States. She had to wonder why there were so many, but she couldn't really complain. Instead, she grabbed one of each. If you're going to learn history, you might as well learn it from every perspective. She looked around a little bit, now realizing that floating books probably won't go over too well. She quietly snuck over to one of the more secluded tables and set the books down on top before going off to find more. Which she did. She managed to find a good encyclopedia, an up-to-date dictionary, and a few fictional works just to dive into human imagination later. When she came back to the table, someone had found a seat the the other end of the table, and was reading. She didn't quite notice at first, and she moved the chair with a bit of a squeak, which caused him to jump. The human looked at the chair for a good while, only for it to move slightly again. He dropped the book he was reading and jumped to his feet in surprise when it scooted closer to the table, and only when he saw the floating books did he just run off. Twilight frowned as she watched the boy run away, and sat down at the table. "Erm...Sorry..!" She called out to him, knowing full well he wouldn't hear. Though, she did notice he left a couple notebooks behind, which she picked up to look into. One was completely empty, the other had some notes in it. She shrugged and set them aside, and set to reading the first of many books she had piled up on the table around her. .... It was after about thirty minutes of reading did she realize that something about a stack of books surrounding an open one wouldn't look right to anyone who saw it She paused for a moment to rearrange the books to form a little wall around her, and finally dropped her invisibility spell. The rabbit had long since fallen into a nap in her lap as she read, though she was getting a bit distracted by her thoughts now. "...Hope I don't get run out of here if a librarian finds me...I need to work on some sort of transformation spell. Maybe that'll be a good way to blend in...What do you think?" She asked, looking down at the rabbit. All he did was snort in his sleep. Twilight rolled her eyes. "I swear, I'm going to name you Angel..." His ear twitched slightly at mention of the name, but otherwise stayed asleep. Twilight chuckled a little before looking back to the book. Though, she took a glance at her little wall of books to find it a bit shorter than it was thirty minutes ago. She'd already gone and skimmed through several of them, picking up some good information along the way about the history of these people. These humans are...surprisingly violent and territorial...its all fascinating, but it would be nice to read a bit of history that didn't have some sort of violent conflict for once...Even Equestria thousands of years ago didn't have that many wars with other races. Discord and Sombra not included...The technological advancements are amazing, though! I could tell just by walking through the city that these creatures are ages ahead of us ponies were. I wonder if we'll ever get to this point...well...if 'we' ever exists anymore... She sighed to herself, and closed the last of the history books she had been looking through. She set it aside, and picked up one of the fictional works she had grabbed before. The Time Machine. ...Huh...Seems relevant. Keeping in mind she had found it in the science fiction section, she began to read. She had surprisingly spent a good couple hours at the library, reading whatever seemed interesting to her. She skimmed a lot for important information, so she went through the books rather quickly. She ended up using one of the notebooks she found, the one with the notes in it already, to document some of her findings that she found interesting. The other one already had a page filled with her own thoughts. A diary, of sorts, detailing her thoughts and feelings from the moment she woke up, after Equestria disappeared. She dotted the end of the entry and closed the notebook. She'd have to find a bag or something to carry items of interest in before she left. "Well...Angel. I think its time we get going, and, hopefully, find something to eat...I'm starving..." She said, finally standing up from the chair. She once more cloaked herself and her companion in her spell, and set out to put back all the books before they finally left the library, and made their way back into the city. Oh dear...How will I eat? Going by smells and various signs around, I can tell humans are, at the very least, omnivorous. I'd rather not eat meat if I can avoid it...But if I have to steal food for the rest of my time in this world, I might just go mad. With a heavy sigh, she continued on her way through the busy streets of the city. She could smell food all over the place, and at this point even meat was starting to appeal to her. Eventually she did come across a vegetarian restaurant, thank Celestia. She wasn't quite sure how to approach this, however, and simply stood outside, staring up at the door. "...I don't know how we're gonna do this, Angel. But I'm not stealing, even if it kills me..." Entry 1, Day 1, Its been quite a while since Equestria disappeared, I think. last thing I remember since waking up in this city known as San Diego was a huge wasteland and a storm. Upon investigations at a library, I found there was quite of history to these 'humans' between my appearance in this world and theirs. I had to freeze myself with magic to stay alive under the freezing water, and the next thing I know, I'm in a lab. So that was fun. I...hate it here. But I like it. A vast world of new knowledge, but none of my friends to enjoy it with. I want to go home. The only comfort I have right now is a little bunny I found in a park. He's cute, but his curiosity and brattyness reminds me of a certain someone. So, I named him Angel. All I need now is a Fluttershy. Author's Note Disclaimer: I don't really know much about San Diego other than its a fishing city, which is what I wanted for consistency, since Twilight was found in the ocean. If I have details wrong about any real-world places from here and on, I'm sorry.
Chapter 3: Friend"Okay, so I had to steal some food! Sue me!" Twilight was, strangely enough, arguing with the bunny currently sitting on her head. She had to quickly go back on her swear to not steal food, as the moment she stepped into the little cafe she knew she'd be overwhelmed and crowded without her spell. She rather clumsily slipped through between people's feet and around legs, and ended up having to snag someone's salad before they could even get to pay for it. And now...here she was, sharing said salad between herself and Angel. The pair of them were once again wandering aimlessly through the city. Well, they had a general idea of the direction they were going. East. They found a large ocean to the west after glancing at a map, so they'd go east and hopefully leave the city altogether. The rabbit lightly stamped his foot a couple times on Twilight's head, as if reprimanding her. She rolled her eyes. "Yes, Angel, I know its not right, but...I panicked, okay?! Hmph!" She stuffed some salad in her mouth at her last words, and took a look around the area they were passing through. Something felt...off. She couldn't place a hoof on the feeling, but it was off. There were less humans around, but she could still feel the presence of someone watching them. She frowned deeply, and began trotting a little faster. "I've got a bad feeling about this..." Angel seemed less than worried. He was finishing off the last of their salad, so he was a bit distracted. Twilight just gave a quiet sigh and continued onward. They were nearing the edge of town, thankfully. Twilight never minded big cities like Manehattan or Fillydelphia. But being a fish out of water made things significantly more stressful on her. More stress than she needed, if she was honest with herself. She has had one heck of a day. All that has happened to her so far, combined with that unpleasant feeling she was getting, it was only making her feel worse. As she neared the outskirts of the city, she began to hear things as well. Something was following them, she was sure of it this time. "Hold on tight, Angel..." She only gave a short warning before she took off into a full gallop. This didn't stop the noises around them, however. In fact the sound of soft feet hitting the ground only grew faster to keep up with them. She started seeing streaks of gray out the corners of her eyes. Her head was darting left and right constantly as she made a mad dash out of the city. There...wasn't a lot ahead of her. Hills, trees, dirt, grass. Nature. Whatever it was that was following her, however, seemed to know the area quite well, as they continued to stay just out of sight while expertly following her. She began to panic again, not knowing what could be so easily following them. She was losing focus, her eyes constantly wandering anywhere but ahead of her...which would be her downfall. With a loud yelp, she slammed herself face-first into a tree, forcing her cloaking spell to break and sending falling to the ground in a daze. Angel managed to avoid hitting the tree, and fell off of Twilight's back as she fell over. He seemed to be desperately trying to get her to wake up again, but it was no use. She slowly lost consciousness as several gray forms surrounded her. Not again... Warm. Twilight felt very warm when she finally regained consciousness. Though it did nothing to settle the pounding in her head. Slamming it into a tree was one thing, but only now did she realize she'd been holding a somewhat difficult spell for a very large amount of time. Now, of course, she didn't even want to open her eyes. She was someplace comfortable. There was another source of fur surrounding her body. It wasn't just her own, but she felt strangely safe. Like she was home again, or with a good friend. She imagined the bodies surrounding her to be her friends. She even smiled. That cozy feeling was quickly shattered as one of said bodies gave a low growl. Her eyes snapped open immediately. Rather than being surrounded by her girls, she just saw a few wolves curled up with her on a large, soft bed. She knew it was a bad idea to scream. She knew wolves could be territorial and were not afraid to hunt even larger prey like ponies. But she screamed anyways. "O-Oh...Oh no, oh no! I knew this would happen!" A soft voice cried from another room. The room Twilight found herself in was...cozy, despite the wolves. It could easily be described as a very nice cabin. There was a fireplace going, and everything was clean and comfy looking, save for some stray animal hair. The moment she heard the voice, however, she stopped screaming and jumped up onto her hooves, temporarily forgetting her headache. She hardly noticed the wolves, as they made no move to get up or attack her. Rather, she was focused on the human who had walked into the room. It was...a rather pretty, young woman. She had long and flowing blonde hair, green eyes, stood quite tall at nearly six feet, and wore a very casual outfit of denim pants and a white t-shirt. She also seemed...nervous. She held back at the doorway as she spotted Twilight standing up, and she looked ready to back right off into the other room again. "Oh dear...You woke up much sooner than I expected. I haven't even prepared food yet..." Twilight seemed ready to bolt out the door, but the soft-spoken woman...calmed her, somehow. This girl was completely foreign to her, yet had a familiar warmth emanating from her that Twilight couldn't ignore. "Who are you?" "Who are you?" "Oh..." The girl's cheeks lit up red, but she giggled softly. "My name is Flora..." She said simply, and went quiet again. "...T..Twilight Sparkle..." Twilight replied, still feeling something oddly familiar about her. This girl...well, she certainly didn't save her from hungry wolves. Rather, these wolves seemed to live with her. Wolves, of all things...this girl must be special to have been able to tame them. "Are these wolves...your pets?" She quickly shook her head. "No, not at all. They're more like...friends, whom I take care of." She said, walking over and kneeling down next to one of the wolves that had just woken up, and lightly pet its head. It gave a yawn and licked her hand before standing up and wandering out towards the back. "...You just came from the city, didn't you? One of my friends found some of your tail hair and brought it back...It was weird, but...nothing else in the wild could have purple hair like that. Sorry if they scared you, they were just trying to follow you and lead you here..." Twilight seemed a tad more relaxed at the explanation, though being stalked by wolves at the call of this strange girl felt a little weird. Still...she couldn't complain. She wasn't hurt, save for her head earlier, and she was someplace safe. "...Your wolves managed to pick out my tail hair? In the middle of the city? They must be very...sneaky." Flora laughed a little at this. "Well...Yes, they are, but usually they keep hidden in the alleys. Actually, my pet bird Harley found it and brought it back. He's a smart bird." She gave a short whistle suddenly, which the other wolves responded to. They woke up one by one, and began making their way out back like the other one did. Once they were gone, Flora stood up again and smiled at Twilight. "I've never met a talking pony before...But I guess if you're as intelligent as a human, you must be very special...Would you like something to eat? I was just about to fix something before you woke up..." Twilight barely had to think about her answer to this. Her stomach growl told all. All she had to eat since she arrived in this land was a single, small salad. She needed something filling. She blushed lightly, and nodded, giving an awkward smile. "Yes please...And thank you very much for your help. I'd probably have gotten lost if you hadn't picked me up..." She had to admit to herself by now...she had no idea what she was doing. ...What was she doing? She'd been wandering pretty much aimlessly...Sure, learning more about her surroundings and the land she found herself in was good, but it certainly didn't solve any of her problems. Just what happened to Equestria, and the others? It didn't take a genius to figure out there was little to no magic in this land, which would only hinder her further. Would she ever even get back home? Whatever the outcome may be...Twilight couldn't help but think of the worst ones. Equestria could very well be completely destroyed. Or her friends may very well be slaves to a wicked being. King Sombra...He was the one who started this mess. How he survived the incident with the Crystal Empire, she had no clue. The events from before she woke up were starting to return, but only barely. Discord himself engaged Sombra in a rather heated fight. Dark magic against chaos magic could only lead to disaster, she supposed. Her friends could very well be dead for all she knew. She didn't want to think about that, but she just couldn't stop the tears from creeping to her eyes. Upon seeing this, Flora frowned again. She wasn't entirely sure why this pony was crying, but she wasn't fond of it. "Oh no...Please, don't cry..." She said, softly, and knelt down once again. She reached out to gently take Twilight's hoof, and pulled her in for a hug. "I don't know what your situation is...But I'm certain it'll all be okay. When you feel at your lowest, there's nowhere to go but up." Twilight was surprised a bit by the sudden hug, but...it was more than welcome at this point. She was warm, and she felt an...oddly soothing feeling in her mind from her touch and her words. The sadness in her mind was pushed away for hope...a feeling she desperately needed. She would find a way to make things right, even if she died trying. It was only after thinking that did she think of something else. ...How in the world did she do that so easily? This girl is special...and so kind. If only I could be as kind to myself...I need to carry on. "Thank you, Flora." Twilight said, once again thanking her and returning the hug. She stepped away after a moment to wipe her eyes, and gave another smile. "I'll accept whatever food you decide to make. I've only had a small salad today, so I could go for just about anything." Flora had to wipe a tear from her eye as well, but she didn't say anything about it. She simply smiled and nodded, and stood up once again to head into the kitchen. First thing she did, however, was grab her phone to send off some text messages. Between texts, she began working on a proper meal. She knew very well what ponies ate, normally, but this particular pony was clearly special. So she settled for a healthy, vegetable stew. Sitting on the counter, nibbling away at some lettuce and carrots, was Twilight's little rabbit friend. Flora wasn't sure what his name was yet, but she found him absolutely adorable. She gave him a smile, and a gentle pat on the head. "You've taken good care of miss Sparkle...Such a good bunny." Twilight, in the meantime, decided to explore a little. She didn't want to seem too nosy, so she stuck to the room she was currently in. Though, she quickly went to look out the window pointed out in the back. There was a lot of space in the 'backyard,' as one might call it, for the multitude of wolves out and about. She'd never seen so many in one place before, so it was quite incredible. She was so distracted by this, that she nearly jumped out of her coat when Flora came up from behind her. "This is my wolf sanctuary..." She said, though paused to giggle a little at Twilight. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you...Wolves are uncommon around here, and people like to hunt them for sport and even skin them...I thought it would be nice to rescue what I can and take care of them here." Twilight listened carefully to what she said. Taking in so many wild animals, all out of kindness and worry for their kind? This girl reminded her too much of Fluttershy. She wouldn't give herself the chance to tear up again, however, and continued the conversation. "Do you live here? With the wolves?" Flora shook her head in response. "Not exactly. It is sort of a second home to me, sometimes. I have a small animal farm of my own a few miles from here, and that's my real home. But since this is my main job, I'm coming back and forth all the time. Animals are...pretty much my forte. They understand me, and I understand them...I'm not really sure how it works, but it comes really natural to me..." She said, smiling and watching through the window at a couple of the wolves running about after an unfortunate prey had wandered into the pen. "Anyways...I made stew! It should be ready by now. Your rabbit is in the kitchen, too." She said, gesturing toward the open kitchen door before heading in. Twilight gave a sigh, hesitating at the window to watch longer. There was so much going on now...What was with this girl? Her empathic ability was clearly something above the norm, even for ponies. Just her presence was pushing back all those feelings of sadness and self-hate, if only for a bit. She finally had to wipe her eyes again as she felt tears coming back, but she was smiling. She was actually happy, to have finally found a friend amongst the humans. With a deep breath and a sigh, she made her way to the kitchen, grabbing one of her notebooks from her bag along the way. Finally, a decent meal. Entry 2, Day 1, Today has been...interesting. Never thought so many things could happen in just a day. I likely won't write again until tomorrow. Two entries a day seems fair to me. I'm in such a better mood than I was before. Its incredible what the kindness of even a single stranger can do to one's self-esteem. I jokingly said I'd just need a Fluttershy to go with my Angel, but yet here I am with a woman who reminds me so much of her. Flora, she said her name was. She runs this wolf sanctuary outside the city. She's full of kindness, but she's not at all shy, I don't think. Very friendly type...But what stands out the most is her empathy. Of course, most everyone has empathy, but I could almost feel her in my mind, helping me to grow more content and relaxed. I suspect she may be an empath. Whether she knows this or not, I'm not sure. Hardly matters at this point, and I can't complain. I'm enjoying my time here even more than I did at the library. Crazy, I know, coming from me, but at least its not as depressing as the history books. I still have no idea what I'm going to do, though. I have no plans, no idea what the rest of this country is like, and no direction to go. I'm hoping Flora can give me some sort of advice, otherwise it'll be more aimless wandering for me. Whater brought me here, it definitely had to do with the fight between Discord and Sombra. But what happened before that? How did Sombra return? My memories of the fiasco are a big haze. Its really frustrating. Hoping it comes back to me soon. Maybe...Just maybe, I'll find Discord or Sombra out here. If anyone would have made it here with me, it'd be one of them. Here's hoping its the former. He could have fixed everything by now, but you never know with Discord. Well, I'm signing off for the day. I'm going to ask if I can stay a night with Flora, and get a good bit of food in me while I'm at it. If you're reading this right now, or rather in the future, make sure you eat healthy! Author's Note Finally... Chapter 3 is done. I'm still not entirely happy with my writing. I feel like I rush things without meaning to, but I cannot always find ways to fix this if I do. I hope this chapter is good. New characters! New names to think about! And a healthy meal for our favorite heroin and rabbit!
