Culture shock

We had been walking through the White Tail Woods for half a day now. Twilight had been able to teleport the two of us to the edge of the woods, but beyond that, we had to hoof it, following Discord's compass as best as we could. Harkening back to my days in the Army, I had plotted a course on a map, triangulating the rough location of where the compass wanted us to go.

"So, you're sure that whatever it is we're looking for is in the middle of this valley?" Twilight asks, no small amount of doubt in her voice.

"Yea, you've never heard of triangulating?" She shakes her head, looking to me for further explanation. Well, this is as good a place as any to stop for a break, so I guess I'll explain over lunch. Sitting down, we break out some food and I spread the map out on the ground, showing the woods in their entirety.

"This point is where we started from when we arrived," I point at the edge of the woods. "Luckily it was at a known landmark. Once we had determined that location, I plotted the direction Discord's compass was pointing in relative to North. When we arrived at these falls here, I repeated the process, giving me these two vectors on the map." I point at the two arrows I had drawn. "I drew them out until they intersected, and that will be the approximate location of our destination, within hopefully about an acre or so of woods." She understands now. Good thing for land navigation courses. Finishing our quick meal, we head out again. Twilight still has a somewhat concerned look on her face, and I can't help but ask what's bothering her.

"How come you asked to bring your weapons along?" She asks, eyeing my pistol in it's leg holster, along with my AR15 that I had taken from a box in my truck. "And how come you didn't tell me about the second one? We can't keep secrets from each other, especially ones of THIS nature." Now she sounds fearful. "Judging from the fact that it's bigger than your pistol, I'm guessing it's more powerful. You even mentioned that it's similar to what your military uses. I can't stress how nervous this makes me."

I stop, kneeling down in front of her, looking into her large, violet eyes. "Twilight, I would not bring this along to harm you or anything else that means no harm to us. I don't know what to expect here, and I don't want to be unprepared. I hope that I do not have to use these." She sits down, looking worried, and slightly offended.

"I'm the Princess of Friendship, and an alicorn. My magic is only surpassed by Celestia and Luna. You don't think that I can take care of myself?"

I look away. She's starting to get close to the real reasons why I'm acting towards her the way I am. Reasons that even I haven't been able to fully understand at the moment. I look back into her eyes.

"I'm sure that you can Twilight. I'm sure that you would appreciate the help though. Truth is, I care for you, and I don't want to run the risk of anything happening to you. Perhaps..." I cut off, not ready to go this far. Not yet. "We should keep going. Judging by the map, this trip will take at least 2 days, and I'd like to find a good spot to settle in before nightfall."

She furrows her brow, now genuinely curious. I stand up, and we continue on in tepid silence. Looking around, I notice that the general sounds of the forest seem to have almost died down to nothing, save for the sound of our footsteps. "Twilight, what lives in these woods?"

"Nothing major really. This is nowhere near as bad as the Everfree Forest. But there have been rumors of timberwolves lately."

I look down at her. "And what exactly are those? Where I'm from, wolves are like dogs, just bigger, and wild. In fact, dogs are descended from wolves, from when we domesticated them thousands of years ago. The biggest difference is that while most dogs won't attack you, wolves are much more likely to do so, and turn you into a meal."

"Yea... About that..."

And you said I didn't need a weapon. I think to myself. This silence is starting to get unnerving, and I start swiveling around, checking behind us.

Twilight notices this. "What's going on? I dont hear anything."

"No offense, but you don't have combat experience. I've learned that if you get a funny feeling about something, it's most likely true. And right now, I have a funny feeling that something is following us."

I start seeing movement, about 10 yards to the side of the trail to our left. I don't see anything that looks like a wolf, but something big is disturbing the underbrush. I check the other side of the trail, and I'm seeing the same thing.

"We're not alone, Twilight." Flicking the safety on my rifle off, I take aim. "This is typical pack hunting activity. Whatever is out there is surrounding us."

I look back at her, and surprisingly Twilight is crouched low, charging her horn. "I'll cover the right side John, you take the left."
She pauses and looks at me, a sarcastic grin on her face. "Please don't shoot me on accident."

I look back, and notice what looks like a loose pile of firewood that wasn't there before. It starts to move towards me, letting out a low growl. What the fuck.

"Contact!" I yell, and the boom of my rifle sounds out, echoing off the surrounding trees. I hear a strange zap next to me, and I look over at Twilight, who has started shooting magic at the opposite side of the trail, bolts of angry red energy splashing off the foliage, burning it to a crisp. I return to engaging my own set of targets, though the smaller projectiles don't seem to do much besides piss the creatures off. Aiming for their faces, I unleash quick bursts of fire, trying to disorient or even blind them.

After a few minutes of this, the creatures on my side start to fall back, not liking the noise from my rifle, smarting from the bullets chipping away at their heads. With a final burst, they go into a full retreat, and all is quiet again. Taking advantage of the break, I reload a fresh magazine. I back up and put a hand on Twilight, who's now shaking slightly.

"Are you ok?" I ask.

"Yea, I'll be fine." She murmured, sitting down. I look at her side of the trail, and see the destruction she unleashed.

"Holy shit Twilight. I didn't know you could do that. I guess you weren't exaggerating when you said you could take care of yourself."

"Yea." She chuckles in a low tone. "Told ya so."

The threat gone, I re-engage the safety on my weapon and sling it on my back. I turn to Twilight and kneeling down, I put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Are you really ok Twilight?"

She looks up at me. "Yes. Thank you for asking. And thank you for helping me. I guess you really do care about me huh?" She smiles.

"Yea."

She closes the space between us and nuzzles into my chest. "I'm glad you came along."

A few hours later, it starts to get dark, and we stop for the night, near a ledge overlooking the valley. Just out of curiosity, I pull out Discord's compass. Sure enough, it points straight to the middle.

"Well, looks like we're gonna be going down this ledge tomorrow." I muse out loud, stepping forward to see about figuring out a path down.

"So what now?" Twilight asks beside me.

"We set up camp. We're gonna need firewood for starters."

With a purple flash and a clatter, Twilight pulls together a small pile of firewood.
"Done." She sings out with a toothy grin. I can't help but chuckle at her.

"Well, we have plenty of food, and I have a small tent for you, so let's just get a campfire going."

With a warm fire and dinner mostly finished, Twilight rolls over on her back, and looks up at the night sky.

"It sure is beautiful isn't it John?" She whispers quietly. I look over at her. She's lying back with her forelegs held close to her chest, and in the dim light, her eyes almost had a look of, longing?

I lie backwards myself, not sure what exactly to think. To try and keep from having an awkward silence, I strike up a conversation. "Yea. Back home, in ancient times, people much smarter than myself looked up at the night sky, and saw pictures in the stars. They gave them different names from their myths, and called them constellations. They don't appear here, but if you know what to look for, you'll see them."

I hear a rustle near me, and Twilight settles down beside me. "We have those too," she quietly says. Pointing at the sky with her hoof, she points out a cluster of stars. "That's Starswirl the Bearded right there, and next to him, Clover the Clever and Princess Platinum." She points at another cluster. "There is Commander Hurricane, and Private Pansy, with Chancellor Puddinghead and Smart Cookie."

She's quiet for a minute. Looking over to her, it's obvious that this is important to her. "Starswirl has been a long time idol of mine, and the other six were the founders of Equestria. Equestria is the harmonious nation that it is today thanks to them."

Another pause. "What about your constellations? Do you have any?"

I chuckle to myself. "Sorry Twilight, but I can't really give you too much on that. Astronomy wasn't really anything I got into."

"That's ok, you can't know everything." She whispers. She moves even closer, resting her head on my shoulder. I look at her, and when our eyes lock, I see for a fleeting moment, a spark that I had never seen before. I wrap my arms around her, and someone, somewhere, turns on the autopilot, and our lips connect.

I close my eyes, running my hand through her mane, enveloped in a moment of sheer joy. When our kiss breaks, she smiles and settles down, seemingly content, drifting off to sleep, with me not far behind.

"John, thou art certainly interesting." A serene, yet stern voice states. I sit up, finding myself in a field of tall grass, with Luna approaching.

"Where am I?"

"Thou art in the dream realm, where we stand guard over our ponies while they rest."

She stops before me, her face unreadable. "Thou art very interesting indeed. We first noticed, upon meeting Discord for the first time, thou placed thyself between him and Twilight, even though he was of no threat to her. And today, while we watched over, thou protected her against the timberwolves, and comforted her. Tell us John, why is this?"

I look down, uncertain how to answer. "Honestly, I'm not sure."

She chuckles lightly at me. "Oh, we are sure, that in the deepest part of thine heart, thou knowest exactly why. Thou love her, yes?"

Flushing, I look away. "I wouldn't know what to say to her about it. She's a princess and I'm a professional ass-kicker. Not exactly a match made in heaven."

"Dost thou wish to know how she feels?" She asks, smiling.

"I don't know. I don't want to force the issue with her. I was going to let her say something about it when she's ready."

"Twilight is indeed ready, she just doesn't know it yet." Chuckling, she extends a hoof. "Come with us, thou should see."

After a moment's hesitation, I take her hoof, and with a gentle tug of magic, the world melts away, replaced by a dream of Twilight curled up in my arms, asleep on a cloud.

We both stand there, looking on, before Luna speaks again. "This is her dream right now. She loves thee John."

I move closer, seeing a content smile on Twilight's face. I reach down, and gently caress her mane. "But I'm not a pony."

"We see love in a different way than thou does John. It is still the foundation of a life-long relationship, but we apply it more openly. We don't look at what you are, but who you are. That is the major difference. We cannot tell thee what to do in matters pertaining to the heart. But please, take this into consideration, for she wishes to give thee hers."

With this, she walks away, before looking back. "If thou wishes, we may join your dream with hers. Would thee like to do this?"

Looking down, I nod. "Yes."

With a midnight blue glow, I feel another tug of magic, and I'm lying down on a cloud, with Twilight curled in my arms. I settle down, and let the dream take over again.

Morning comes, and I wake up with Twilight curled up in my arms, resting her head on my shoulder and her hoof on my chest. I pull her in closer, and she stirs, beginning to wake up. I gently kiss her, and she sighs, before opening her eyes. When she realizes where she is, she freezes, wide-eyed.

"Relax Twilight, it's ok." I tell her. Sighing to myself, I sit her up. I guess I'm definitely gonna have to clear the air now. "I guess we should talk."

She sheepishly rubs her head, "I'm not sure how that happened. I uh, dont know what to say."

"Does Luna come to ponies in their dreams?" I ask.

Twilight looks up, surprised. "Yes, actually, she does. That is her primary duty, to watch over our dreams and keep us safe while we sleep. She even gives advice in the dreamscape, where our true desires often manifest." She looks at me cautiously. "What did she tell you?"

"That you love me." I mumble.

"And if it were true?"

Now it's my turn to look up. "Do you?" She nuzzles my neck. I think that's answer enough. "Twilight, I will always give whatever I have to in order to keep you safe. Because I do love you, the only thing that's different now is I've acknowledged it."

Hearing this she smiles and nuzzles me again. "Thank you John." I return the gesture as best I can. I don't have a snout like her, so I end up just awkwardly burying my face in her mane. She titters at this, before moving to stretch out before grabbing some breakfast.

A fresh cup of coffee in hand, I look down to the valley before us, contemplating the mystery within. Twilight nudges against me, seeming to be more confident now that we're more honest with each other.

"You can do a lot with your magic right?"

"What are you asking for?" She gets an uncertain tone. "Even alicorns have limits."

"If I don't go home for whatever reason, I don't want to be the only human in Equestria. I would rather be a citizen of Equestria, body and spirit. I like your world, and I don't think I would mind becoming a permanent part of it." I pause, swirling my coffee around in my mug. "Maybe the best course of action would be to pursue that instead of figuring out how to get me back to my home world. Because I can't help but think that whatever is down there, it has me here for a reason, and it's not going to do any good for me to pack my bags and leave when I'm needed here."

"Are you saying you would rather be a pony?"

"Yea, I think so."

She looks up at me, seemingly happy. "I'll see what can be done for that." I smile back at her, and rub behind her ear. Looking out over the ridge, I swear for a second I saw a midnight blue pony watching over us, smiling, before disappearing in a dark blue flash.

Finally making it to the bottom of the ridge with nothing of concern happening, I pull my map out to see how much longer we have. "Going by the map, we've got about a mile left to go." I look up at the rolling hills ahead of us, sparsely covered in trees. "At least navigating won't be too difficult. I think we could stick with Discord's compass for the remainder of the trip."

"Awesome. Can we take a breather for a bit?" Twilight huffs at me. Remembering the wolves from yesterday, I scan the ridge above us and the surrounding hills. We'll be able to spot anything coming from a mile away, so we have all the space in the world.

"Yea, this looks like a pretty safe spot." I drop my bags and sit on a stump, pulling out a smoke. Even with rationing I'm down to just a few packs. Cold turkey is gonna suck.

"Why do you keep using those? I'm surprised you haven't burnt anything down yet." Twilight quips at me. "Are they that addictive?"

"Yea, they are." I say, taking a drag. "The good news is I'm running low on them, and when I run out, I'm out. Don't bother looking for a substitute, I need to quit anyways. The bad news is when I do run out I'm gonna be fairly cranky for a week or so. Extra coffee might help mitigate that." I chuckle to myself. I hope I can keep my crankiness in check, Twilight doesn't deserve it at all. Twilight comes over and nudges me, ready to keep going.

"Let's keep going. When we get back to the castle, we can spend some more time together, but for now it's really important to get some answers."

I turn to her and kiss her cheek. "Yea, that sounds nice." I stand up and strap my gear on, ready to get some answers myself.

After about another hour of hiking through the hills, Twilight stops again, looking around her. I stop and immediately start scanning for threats with my rifle, but Twilight stands up and puts a hoof on my shoulder, whispering in my ear. "Don't John. There's no danger here. Can you feel what I'm feeling right now?"

I relax a little, and notice there is a strange feeling in the air, almost like static, making the hairs on my arms stand on end. "I feel something, I just don't know what it is. It feels like static electricity on my skin." I look in her eyes. "Is that what magic feels like?"

Twilight steps back down before answering. "Possibly, though I feel it deeper down in my core. You're not a magical being, so the fact that you can feel it too means that either we're approaching something extremely powerful, or tuned in such a way that it can affect you." She jumps back up and nuzzles me. "Please be careful."

When we get to the top of the hill, the magic field gets so powerful that I now feel compelled to continue; I couldn't stop if I wanted to. At the top is a tree, similar to a weeping willow, branches reaching down to the ground and completely shrouding its trunk. It seems to give off a slight glow of it's own, and when Twilight sees it, she gasps in shock. "No way..."

"What are we looking at?"

Twilight sits, and beckons for me to do the same. "Back before I became a Princess, I came to be one of six bearers of what we call the Elements of Harmony. My Element is that of Magic. The others are Honesty, Loyalty, Generosity, Kindness and Laughter, each one represented by my closest friends. They have been instrumental in defending Equestria from great evil. They come from the Tree of Harmony, and are the foundation for my castle. Up until now, the Tree of Harmony has been the only Tree of Power that we knew of, dating back to the founding of Equestria. Some say that the founding ponies were the original bearers of the Elements." She looks up at the tree, awestruck. "I think we found another Tree of Power." She looks at me gravely. "If that's the case, then that means that there is a great evil coming, one that the Elements of Harmony won't be able to defeat. And if you're connected to this tree, than you are a bearer of an Element, and will be instrumental in defeating whatever is coming. We need to go and investigate."

Reaching the edge of the canopy formed by the branches, I hesitate, looking to Twilight. She nods, and I part the branches, stepping through with her close behind me. Near the base of the trunk are six branches with a bulge near where they join the trunk. When I approach, one of the branches starts to move, opening up and revealing a small opening with an object inside.

Looking into the branch, I lift out a small metal shield, dark charcoal grey in color, with crossed swords behind it. Upon seeing it, Twilight whispers, "You're a bearer of an Element."

"As honored as I am to receive this Twilight, it's like you said. This is bad news. Something is coming." I look down at my shield.

"And I need to defeat it."