Twilight slowly opened her eyes. The sunlight coming through the window illuminated the bedroom well, making it too bright for her to fall asleep again. She groaned, covered her face with a foreleg, and rolled away from the light, burying her face in her mattress.

Shards of memory from a dream fluttered around inside her head, slowly making her mental cogwheels turn, making her mind dwell on it. She generally had a hard time recalling most of the details of her dreams. Only the main details stuck around long enough to be remembered. Her mind ruminated on those thoughts. From what she could piece together from the very volatile memories, she had managed to successfully experiment with the teleportation spell, even managing to leave her world altogether.

Heh, if only things were that easy.

She had gotten good results by messing with the runes of the default teleportation spell, getting a rather impressive range from it. As she marveled at the beauty of that spell, she wondered... how did she get back into her bed? She strained to recall the events before she went to sleep. They weren't very clear, for they blended almost seamlessly with what happened in her dream. Where did reality stop and the dream begin? She couldn't tell. However, she was too tired to be appropriately upset. Sleep deprivation played a big role in this, so there wasn’t much to fret about. If nothing else, she could always ask Spike if he knew how she ended up in her bed. For now, she wanted to sleep just a little longer, so she snuggled further into the covers, closing her eyes.

"Ouch,” she cried quietly when the fabric of the sheets agitated the cut on her face.

What the, she thought, shooting her eyes open, but covering them right after with a foreleg when she felt the daylight assault her retinas.

She quickly sat up, but regretted that decision in the very next moment. Why did her whole body hurt? She looked down to her forelegs, noticing several bandages wrapped around them. Most of her body was covered in some sort of bandages. The dream… it wasn't fading. Not this time. The more she thought about it, the more she could remember. It hadn’t been a dream at all. The deplorable state of her body was the proof of that.

This can't be good, she thought, feeling a pit form inside her.

That wasn’t her bedroom. The one she was in was smaller, about a quarter of the size of her own. The walls, all painted in an off-white tone, were a stark contrast to the generally dark and bluish tones that the bedroom in her castle displayed. The bright colors of the walls reflected the natural light well, which helped brighten up the room, but also made her eyes ache immensely.

The bed she found herself in was slightly longer than hers, and had around half its width, and was surprisingly not much more uncomfortable. Its frame was of a light brown wood, with no decorations. A pretty simplistic bed. The sheets were white, apart from the spots of blood where they came in contact with her wounds. Beside the bed sat a simple dark brown nightstand. On top of it was a glass, which seemed to be filled with—

Water! she exclaimed in her mind. She focused on the cup, reaching for it with her magic. She waited… and waited. But nothing happened.

"What? No magic yet? Ugh, that's great," she cursed under her breath. The dryness of her mouth felt like she was chewing fine grained sand, or a bunch of forever-dry cotton.

She shifted her position onto the bed, getting closer to the nightstand and to the much-desired water. She grabbed the cup with both her forelegs and gulped down its contents. The water felt like the most amazing thing in the world. Never had she stopped to think how good it was to drink a glass of water, or the sensation of the immaculate liquid quenching down her thirst as it travelled down her throat.

I could use a second one of these... or maybe two more, she thought, wiping her lips dry with a forehoof.

Ok... now... where am I?, she thought. She stood in silence for a few moments, hoping some noise would come from the outside of the room, giving her a better hint of what she might be dealing with. The place was silent though. The only sounds around were coming from the birds singing outside and her own breathing. Her body was demanding her to lie down again to resume its resting, but she was determined to find out how deep she was in trouble. Clearly this wasn't Equestria. But then, what was this foreign place? It seemed quite similar in some aspects. Whatever creature may live here seems to have glasses, beds, sheets, windows, and even a sun. Maybe they had more in common? Her hopes began to rise, but they fell down the next moment, as she decided that making such conclusions without enough information was a sin for any scientist worth their position. Such a mistake could mean death in this situation.

After that little deliberation, she traced her plan. First thing that obviously came into her mind was to explore the place. Know who or what had saved her and how friendly they might be.

"All right," she whispered, throwing the covers to the side, "time to move."

She rolled onto her side until she ended up on her stomach. She slowly extended her hind legs out of the bed. Her face contorted itself in discomfort as she slid out of bed, her stomach rubbing against the mattress until her back hooves touched the ground. From there on was easy. She quickly got onto her hooves.

"Ouch. My... ouch..." she tried to say, but her whole body lit up in pain.

Her body was completely sore. Her joints ached and felt stuck, like rusted gears that hadn't seen a drop of oil in ages. Her muscles were in flames, or at least they felt like they were, and what she was feeling now was just the aftermath. Her legs were unresponsive, failing to take her orders faithfully. Her left cheek was oversensitive. The cut on her face seemed to weigh a lot and was throbbing, something that was both unpleasant and distracting, and the bruises near her knees ached as they reopened every time she slightly bent them. Overall, she was pretty beaten up, but alive.

Ow. Ouch. Ouch. Even breathing hurts, she thought, squeezing her eyes shut and taking short breaths. "Got to move," she whispered to herself, trying to find some motivation to face the pain.

She made her way to the bedroom door. It was slightly open, revealing a small part of the hallway. From there she could see portion of a wall where a painting hung, along with part of a big, deep blue rug. As she approached the open door, she could feel a soft breeze coming from outside. Using her muzzle, she gently pushed the door open, revealing the rest of the hallway and the rug that covered the floor. To her right there was a brown, wooden door. To her left, she could see another door, this one open, the rest of the corridor, a wall light, and the top of a staircase. Focusing on her ears, she tried to capture any sound of movement, which again, seemed to not exist.

Maybe there's nopony home.

She exited the room, taking a left. The rug muffled her hoofsteps, something she noticed which made her walk more confidently. Passing in front of the open door, she could see another bedroom, with its windows open and the white, translucent curtains being blown around by the wind. She halted, looking into it. She sat down there with a smile on her muzzle, closing her eyes and enjoying the sensation of the cool, early morning breeze flowing around her face and neck. She then looked down to the ground, letting the air pass over her head and between her ears. The chilling sensation helped to relieve some of the tension in her fatigued muscles.

"Ahh... this feels... so good," she said, a dumb smile on her face. She opened her eyes, looking to the rug under her.

I can't exactly say I'm safe here. Better leave this for later.

She got up, her body proclaiming inaudible curses which translated into pain for unnecessarily sitting down and standing up. She resumed her walk, paying attention to her surroundings, still not sure what the place was saving for her. Getting to the end of the hallway, she found herself facing the staircase. She looked down, seeing the front door and the white daylight coming through its small window. It made her wonder why she didn't go for a walk in the early mornings, since she always got up so early. She began her descent, her hooves now directly hitting the wooden floor. The sudden loud sound startled her.

Ponyfeathers, she thought, better take this one pretty easily.

Her shoulders protested against the abuse of putting most of her weight upon them as she made her way downstairs, but she had no other choice than to ignore them and keep pushing forward. One hoofstep at the time, she was closer to getting out of that uncomfortable position. She felt relieved when she got to the bottom of the stairs. That staircase was the most difficult one to traverse she had ever come across. To her right was the living room. She noticed the two light brown couches, one near the same wall as the front door, and the other against the wall perpendicular to the first one. The walls were the same white color of the bedroom, with a few weird and pretty abstract paintings hanging on them, with varying tones of red and yellow. Also, there was a black and flat panel apparently attached to a wall, facing the largest of the couches. In the center of the room was a small table with a glass top, with a bunch of papers scattered on top of it. Under the couches and the center table was a big, thin rug. The place seemed cozy, she thought, even though she wasn't sure if it was safe.

She moved towards the center table, in the hopes that the leftover papers would serve as clues to her whereabouts.

Ok. Now, where to begin?

She concentrated her thoughts on the nearest paper thing that was sitting idle, pulling from her memory the well-known levitation spell. Again, her horn left her unserviced, giving her a slight headache. She pursed her lips and winced as the localized pain throbbed inside her head, bringing a foreleg and rubbing her forehead.

Sighing in defeat, she pulled the chosen magazine closer, attempting to open it with her hooves.

"Sweet Celestia, how does anypony else read without magic?" she whispered while failing to open the magazine. "This is ridiculous! I can't bucking open it! Ugh, for Celestia's sake, stop slipping!"

A door was opened in the kitchen, making Twilight snap at the direction of the noise.

Oh no!, she thought, frantically.

She maneuvered to hide but failed miserably when she, in the frenzy of the moment, managed to trip herself on the rug, falling face-first on the floor with a loud thud that echoed throughout the house.

"Owch!" she cried, her eyes closed tightly as the pain reverberated through her frame, with a few tears pinpricking on her eyes as her body shrieked in anger from the sudden abuse.

The noise from the kitchen suddenly stopped. She felt a pit in her stomach. The feeling of knowing that you possibly gave away your position to an enemy, especially in such a ridiculous manner, made her blood freeze. Hurried footsteps came from the kitchen, and she could hear them thundering towards her. Twilight's ears fell flat against her skull, her legs getting rather numb with the horror that was filling her body.

I’ve got to get out of here! I’ve got to get out of here! I’ve got to get out of here!, she repeated to herself in her mind, trying to force herself to stand up again, but her body refused keenly.

"Uh... are you ok?" asked a voice from behind her.

That's it, she thought. All the efforts she had put up so far were thrown to waste because of some stupid mistake. This was her fault, she thought. She was going to die because of her own stupidity. She wouldn't see her parents anymore. Nor her friends. Nor Spike. Nor Celestia or Luna. She was doomed. Condemned to perish in some unknown world, with completely hostile creatures. Who would bury her? Who would give her a tomb to rest in peace? Who would put flowers over her grave? A few instants that seemed to last an eternity for Twilight passed, carrying with them a dreadful silence. She waited for the enemy to deliver the fatal blow upon her vulnerable body, the silence in the room only helping on making the situation scarier. Whatever was near her, it sure was taking its sweet time to get this over with.

"Hey, are you alright? Did you hurt yourself?" said Greg, stepping closer to her.

"NO! GET AWAY FROM ME!" she yelled. The sudden rush of adrenalin made her legs responsive once again, which she used to prop herself up and run away towards the dining room.

"Hey, wait!" exclaimed Greg.

Twilight used all her strength to run away from him, but failed when she had to brake. She tried to stop but her hooves slipped on the glossy wood floor. She hit the opposite wall of the dining room, knocking down a vase that rested on top of a small plaster column. The column hit the ground with a dry thud, breaking in two. The vase hit the ground and shattered itself into millions of shards. Twilight lost her balance and fell upon all that mess.

"Holy shit..." said Greg, bringing both his hands to his head.

She forced herself up again, going through the passage that lead to the kitchen, knocking down everything around her.

"Damn it, stop running! You’re gonna bring the whole place down!" exclaimed Greg. He walked quickly towards the dining room and peeked into the kitchen. Twilight had knocked down a few of the benches that sat around the center counter of the kitchen while trying to stop. She stood there, leaning against the center counter, taking fast breaths and looking around for any signs of danger.

"Hey..." said Greg, being extra careful not to shout. Twilight yelped, resuming her evasion. She went towards the other kitchen's entrance, which lead to the bottom of the staircase and the living room.

"Fuck!" said Greg, gritting his teeth. He ran back to the living room in an attempt to stop Twilight while there was still some of his house left. Twilight noticed Greg coming in her direction and, failing once more to stop, jumped over the center table. She didn't manage to steer her jump very well, and ended up flying towards the TV, hitting the flat screen television with her body. She quickly stood on her hooves, pressing herself against the corner of the room.

"DON'T HURT ME, PLEASE!" she pleaded while covering her face with her forelegs.

"STOP IT!" yelled Greg. Twilight went silent, and slowly lowered her forelegs to look at the strange creature that was pursuing her.

"I'm not going to hurt you! If I intended to do you ANY harm whatsoever, I would've done it BEFORE you woke up!"

Twilight kept staring at him.

"So... now... can we... PLEASE... calm down a little?" he said in a low but firm tone, raising his hands defensively. Twilight responded with a quick nod, her stare fixed at him.

"Good... good," he said, exhaling. He brought his hands to his waist and looked down at the floor, eyeing the out of place rug and and center table. He looked to his side, seeing the now destroyed flat screen TV lying on the floor. He switched his glare to the dining room. The plaster column laid on the ground, snapped in two, and the floor was covered with shards of porcelain from the vase. He closed his eyes and pursed his lips, shaking his head while exhaling once again.

"Are you okay?" he asked, looking at her. She responded with another short nod.

"Look, you didn’t need to do ALL that, alright? I won't hurt you, I promise. You can come out of your corner if you want, okay?" he said.

Twilight relaxed a little bit as she heard that. The creature promised not to attack her. That was comforting, to some extent.

She stared back at him for a little while and, very reluctantly, got herself out of the constrained corner. She measured her steps cautiously, checking the creature's reactions at each step she took. She halted a few steps away from him and looked around. Her ears fell flat upon realising the mess she caused.

"I-I'm sorry! I d-didn't mean to-"

Greg raised his hand, interrupting her. He pursed his lips and looked away from Twilight, letting out a heavy sigh. He looked down to the ground, slowly breathing out all the frustration. He then looked back at her, giving a short nod.

Twilight's mouth gaped several times before she finally gave up and closed it.

"Did you hurt yourself on those shards of porcelain?" he asked.

"Uh... n-no. I guess not," she said, sitting down and eyeing her forelegs and body.

"And when you fell down?"

"No, I'm good, thanks."

"Good? Oh, well, that's... that's good," he said.

Twilight looked away from him, biting down her lower lip as she looked around once more, taking in the results of her overreaction.

"So... uh..." he began. She looked up to him. "Sleep well?"

She kept staring at him, the question not quite sinking in.

“Mmm?” he inquired.

"Uh… Yes. Yes, I did, thanks."

"Oh, good, good. That's also good."

Twilight looked down to her forelegs, eyeing one of the curatives.

"Also, thank you for the bandages. I wasn't in very good shape."

"Yeah. You were in pretty bad shape. How did you get like this anyway?"

"It's... kind of a long story..." she trailed. Greg kept looking at her for a while, waiting her to continue talking, which she never did.

"Must be a heck of a story then. There were those two fuc- uh... ahem... guys... here yesterday, who broke in my garage. They said they were looking for their horse. I suppose... they were after you?"

Twilight’s ears flattened against her head, and she averted her gaze from him. Vague and unfocused memories from the last night flooded her mind, forming a pit inside her guts. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying not to recall any more details from what was deeply buried inside her subconsciousness. The less she remembered, the better.

“Uh... I guess... you don’t want to talk about it..."

"I would like not to," she replied, looking back at him.

"Oh, alright. Sorry, didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable."

Twilight just stared back at him.

"Can I have a glass of water? Well, another one actually. I already drank the one you left for me."

"Oh, sure, sorry. How rude of me. Should have asked that first. Just a second."

Greg ran to the kitchen and came back with a glass full of cold water.

"Thank you," she said.

He held the glass while Twilight stared at it for a while.

"Uhh..." Greg said, confused.

"Oh, sorry. It’s just... nevermind," replied Twilight. She grabbed the glass with her forehooves. With some difficulty, she managed to put the glass on her mouth and swallow all the water.

“Thank you,” she said, holding the glass forward with her forehooves so Greg could take it. He gave a short nod, taking the empty glass back to the kitchen.

“So,” he said, walking out of the kitchen, drying his hands on his jeans, "since you can talk, I imagine you also might have a name. What would that be?”

"Oh, yes. I’m Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship," she said with a large smile, her chest stuffed full of pride in proclaiming her royal title.

There were so many things wrong with this. Greg didn’t know where to begin. There it was, a talking, purple horse-pony-thingy standing on his living room, fluently talking the very same language as him, telling him she was the princess of... what now? Friendship?

"Sorry, didn't catch the last part. You said you are...?"

"Um, the princess of... friendship...?" she repeated, this time less confident.

He heard it correctly. What a surreal situation! Not only was he talking to an animal, but one that was apparently royalty. Is that even a thing? Do animals have royalty? What does this all mean? Is it from another world? Another dimension? Independent of the answer, this was happening, right here, right in this instant. He crossed his arms and looked down to the floor, a small smile forming on his face. He kept his glare fixed on a darker spot on the floorboards while a light sensation formed inside his stomach. It quickly spread around his body, making his smile grow wider when it got to his face.

Twilight kept staring at him, trying to understand the reason for him going completely silent. Her mind began to go over everything she said up to that point, trying to find out if she had said something utterly stupid that, somewhat, managed to shut him down. Her glare moved around the floor around her while her mind worked at full steam. Failing to find any flaw in her discourse, she looked back up at Greg.

An uncomfortable sense of awkwardness that only Twilight seemed to feel began to build up exponentially. A pit formed inside her stomach that, combined with the thirst and all the stress, was making her feel slightly worried.

“Uh… hey… are you ok?” asked Twilight.

Greg looked back at her, the smile never leaving his face.

“Yeah. Yeah, everything is alright,” he said.

“Uh… look, did I… did I say something… uh, wrong?” asked Twilight, unsure.

“No. Not at all. Why do you ask?”

“Well, you went completely silent… I thought I had said something bad...”

“Oh no no no,” he said, chuckling, “You didn’t say anything bad. Don’t worry. I’m just impressed, that’s all.”

“Impressed? About what?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

“About you,” he said, smiling.

“Uh… what?” she said, looking suspiciously at him.

"I never thought I would make contact with an alien, especially like this."

"Uh, excuse me!?"

"Don't get me wrong, I didn't mean it in any depreciative way,” he said, raising his hands defensively, “But really, this is very interesting. I'm right here, in my living room, talking with a creature that seems to not to be from this world. Or if you are from this world, meaning you’re not an alien but whatever, I just can’t imagine how... I mean, horses don't talk... at least in a way humans can comprehend, so I can’t fathom, in case you’re from this world, how you manage to speak like me. Or if you’re not from this world, then… well, regardless, I’m speaking with another sentient life form. That’s... mind blowing. I mean, how many people have the opportunity to TALK with another sentient species?" he said, with a wide grin on his face. "It is... it's just that... uh... well... wow, this is… this is just awesome."

Twilight was speechless. Greg looked down, with his arms crossed, still smiling, shaking his head sideways slowly, while the incredible feeling of making contact with another sentient lifeform sank in, numbing his mind. He then came back to himself.

"Sorry for rambling in front of you, but you just made my day. Thank you", he said, with a wide smile.

Twilight's face still held serious.

"Well, princess, it's a honor," he said, bowing at her. "My name is Gregory Resley. I'm... well, I live here. I ah... I'm not royalty, just a normal person. I’m a software engineer and uh... I don't know what else to say so... welcome to my humble house."

"It's a honor as well Mr. Resley," replied Twilight.

"So, now that we have properly introduced ourselves... may I ask, are you hungry?"

Twilight ears perked up as she heard that. She could feel her insides digesting themselves.

"You have NO idea," she answered with an excessively wide smile.

"Cool, I made pancakes," he said, walking towards the kitchen. He came to a dead halt right after, and turned around to face Twilight.

"Uh... is pancakes alright? I mean... uh... what do you eat? I guess I should’ve asked that first. What do you eat?"

"Pancakes are fine," replied Twilight, smiling.

"Fine? ok,” he said, giving a quick nod, walking back in the kitchen.

Greg came from the kitchen holding two stacked plates in one hand and another plate full of pancakes on the other. Twilight was sitting on a chair, staring down at the dining table’s darkened glass top, looking at her reflection as her mind wandered around the universe.

"They’re still hot, so be careful," he said.

Twilight looked up at him while he set up the table.

"So, uh..." he trailed, putting a few pancakes onto Twilight’s plate and then proceeding to sit down in his chair. Twilight slightly raised one of her eyebrows. Greg’s mouth gaped, opening and closing, but nothing coming out of it. An expression of confusion spread across Twilight’s face.

"Yes?"

“Yeah. Uh... alright. So, uh... how... how did you get here?” he said, sitting down on his chair.

"I teleported. Or rather, misteleported."

“Teleported, huh..."

"Yes."

"Like, using a machine...?"

"Wha- oh no. Using magic," she replied.

Greg’s left eyebrow raised significantly.

"...magic?"

"Yes," she replied.

Greg stood in silence for a little while, staring at Twilight. He looked down to the table and slowly nodded.

“Magic...”

Twilight twisted her head slightly in confusion.

"So... you’re a magician. Hmm, that’s cool," Greg said, looking back at her.

"No no. I’m well versed with magic, but I’m not a magician. I don’t do performances or anything of the sort."

"Hmm. So what kind of magic you do?"

"Well, the general type. Magic is my special talent."

"Hmm. So, you used your magic to teleport here… why?"

“There’s no reason actually. Ending up here was kind of accidental," she said.

"Accidental? Like, you were walking on the street when you tripped on a rock and then... 'oh noes, I'm teleporting'?” he said, exaggeratedly gesticulating with his hands.

"Uh, no…?" she said, chuckling.

"So what? You teleported blindly?"

"Something like that. I guess saying that I teleported mindlessly would be more appropriate."

“I uh… I don’t get it. You teleported… without thinking where you were going to end up?”

"No, I was trying to teleport somewhere, but the spell backfired…”

“Hmm...” he said.

They stood in silence for a little while, eating their pancakes.

“Seems to me that this spell thing is sort of dangerous.”

“Actually it isn’t. It’s pretty safe. It gets dangerous when you modify them though…”

"Oh, so you modified this spell of yours..."

"Yeah... I uh... I was doing some research... with this spell. I modified it... but I guess I exaggerated a bit..."

Twilight sighed.

“If I had been more cautious, I would probably be home right now...”

"Hmm, you got into all this trouble because you messed up?"

"I didn't 'mess up'. I was... well... experimenting."

"Hmm,” he said. "And it didn't go as expected."

She sighed. "No..."

"In other words... you messed it up."

Twilight frowned at him.

"Hey," she said, annoyed.

"How does this spell messing business goes anyway? How do you mess up one?"

She kept her glare fixed on his face for a little while, but gave up and sighed. "You just have to mix the wrong runes, or lose your concentration for a little bit. That's enough to cause problems."

"And what’s the case for you?"

“I lost my concentration... which made me mess up the runes. Just a little bit.”

“Hmm...”

"I was in one of my research marathons, something I do sometimes when I find something interesting. This time, I found a book about teleportation, one of my preferred spells."

"Mhm."

"I read in it that it was possible to change the default teleportation spell to get more range with a simple, easy to do adjustment. I followed it down the line... well, sort of."

"Mhm."

"I spent two days researching the subject. When I felt confident enough, I decided to try it out. It was pretty simple, a couple of runes that had to be changed and more concentration to keep it stable. I tested it and it worked. The thing is, the modification seemed pretty logical for me, so I began to experiment. First getting five times more range, than ten, twenty, forty, a hundred times. It seemed almost like a linear increase to me. Subsequent changes on the runes giving subsequently longer ranges. But one thing I failed to notice, I imagine because of my lack of sleep, is that each increase turned the thing less stable. I didn't notice because the amount of magic needed to brute-force stabilize it was neglectable. I kept pushing it to its limits, until... well..."

"You ended up here?"

"It was instantaneous, just like teleporting normally. Then I felt the effects... the amount of magic necessary to keep it stable was enormous, which made me blackout. And it probably what depleted my magic... and gave my horn those cracks," she said, rubbing her horn with her forehoof.

"Hmm, I don't know anything about, well, any of that, but to me your theory seems sound. And, if you allow me to say, you're pretty lucky."

"Uh... what do you mean?"

"I mean... think about it. In all the infinity of the universe, of all the places you could've ended up landing on top of, all the stars, all the black holes, asteroids and all other spatial structures and formations that are completely empty of life, you managed to land here, on a planet with rather reasonable creatures."

Twilight stood in silence for a while, pondering what he said.

"Well, in a sense..." she said, looking down to the table and tapping her chin with the tip of her left forehoof, "you're right." She continued, looking back at him, "I was pretty lucky."

"Yeah," he said.

"Gosh, I really need to figure out what to do. But..." she trailed, bringing a forehoof to her forehead, slowly rubbing it.

"I can imagine your rush in getting back, but you should give yourself some time to recover. Just yesterday you were about to die. And today you already managed to fall down. Twice. Give yourself some time to settle down, then start to figure out a way back."

"But I’ve got to get back..."

"Working with a tired mind is the worst thing you can do, believe me."

Twilight looked down to her dish. Greg looked around, thinking of a way to keep the conversation moving forward.

"Does someone back in your world know what you were up to?" he asked.

"No..." she said, sighing deeply. "Maybe Starlight, but I don't think she'll be able to figure out what actually happened. I didn't write down the modifications I was doing”.

“Uh… why didn’t you write them down?”

“I… well, you see...”

“Not keeping note of the results from an experiment is the worst thing you can do when… you know… when you’re doing experiments.”

“I know! I know! B-but I was modifying it so frequently, a-and it was working pretty well! I was going to write them down once I was done with it! I swear!”

Greg kept staring at her. She sighed, cheerlessly pushing the plate before her aside and burying her face in her forehooves, letting out a muffled groan. He raised an eyebrow and rubbed the back of his head.

She raised her head and rested her chin over her forehooves. “I messed up… I really messed up...” she said, weakly.

“Look, don’t beat yourself up too much because of this, alright? Everyone has the right to mess up at least once.”

“Yeah, but look what this mess up costed me! I’m now stranded here!” she exclaimed, raising her head, “And no one knows where I am!”

“Uh, yeah, but y-- ”

“And if I don’t find out what I did wrong in the spell, I’ll never get back home! I can’t even tell what I messed up when I was casting the spell!”

“Hey, cal--”

“And I don’t have any of the books I was using to consult! What am I supposed to do!? I don’t know what I--”

“Okay! Okay!” he said, making her halt. “Calm down. I know you might be scared, but freaking out won’t solve your problem. On the other hand, thinking carefully probably will.”

She gaped, but didn’t manage to reply.

“Now, didn’t you leave anything behind that might help someone find out what happened?”

“Uh...” she sighed deeply, rubbing her face with her forehooves. “I… wrote down the modifications proposed by the book. I think Starlight might be able to tell I was modifying the spell from that. And that it didn't go as expected. But that’s all. Whatever modifications I came up with… I didn’t write them down.”

“Hmm...”

“And since ending up here was kind of blind luck, I'm not sure she'll ever manage to track me down."

"Well..." he said, tapping his finger on the table, "let's not lose our hope then," he finished with a smile.

"Yeah. I guess you're right," she said, looking down to the table top. “Gosh, if Star Swirl finds out about this… I don’t know where I’m going to hide myself,” she whispered to herself.

“Hmm?”

“It’s nothing.”

"Uh… well,” he said, sighing. “Oh, uh, by the way... you can call me Greg. No ‘Mr. Resley’ kind of formality is needed. You know… just… uh… yeah."

"Okay."

They both kept staring at each other. When the awkwardness built up to unbearable levels, Twilight felt the urge to look away and diverged her focus to the walls, looking around the place. Greg did the same, though the top of the table received all his attention.

“I see you finished your pancakes. Are you still hungry?” he asked.

“Oh no, I’m satisfied. Thank you very much.”

“Okay, let me take the dishes to the kitchen then,” he said, quickly standing up and taking the dishes away.

Twilight looked to him as he went. When he wasn't visible anymore, she looked down to the translucent dining table top, gazing at her own reflection. Despite the deep cut on her cheek and most of her wounds, she was in pretty good shape. The worst of it was her muscles aching. Actually, the cut on her face was the worse. The muscles aching was the second worst. Still, she found someone willing to help in the moment of her greatest need.

"Here it is,” said Greg, as he looked around in the cabinet containing towels, soap, and toilet paper rolls.

"Are you sure this won't be a problem?" asked Twilight.

"Why would it be?" he asked, pulling one big towel from the neatly organized pile and putting it over his shoulder.

"I... don't know. I just don't feel too comfortable asking. I just got here."

"And?"

“And almost destroyed your house.”

Greg stopped fiddling with his hands inside the cabinet and looked at her.

“And?”

"I don’t know… it feels like I'm already making demands."

"Pfft," he said, waving his hand at her and resuming his search.

"Feels like I'm bothering. I don't want to bother you."

"C’mon. It’s no bother to take a shower. And for that you will need a towel. Really, it’s no big deal. You're my guest and this is a guest towel. See? Guest," he said, pointing at her. "Guest towel," he continued, pointing at the towel, "guest, guest towel, guest... alright."

Twilight looked down, poking the ground with the tip of her forehoof.

"It would be a bother if you got out of the bath without drying yourself and got the whole house wet," he said, extending a light blue towel to her.

She looked up, eyeing the towel.

"If I was you, after getting all beaten up the way you are right now, I would totally want to take a hot bath. Probably even before eating something. I think you just got the order reversed there, but it’s ok."

She looked to him with a puzzled expression, raising an eyebrow.

"Reversed order?" she asked, feeling like she had lost track of the conversation.

"Uh... yeah, you know... you ate first, THEN you're going to... nevermind," he dismissed, waving his hand.

She kept on eyeing the towel he was offering her.

"Uhh..." she said with an embarrassed smile, her ears falling flat.

"Oh, sure, no magic. There you go," he said, putting the towel around her neck.

"Thanks."

"No problem. You do know where the bathroom is, right?

"Upstairs, end of the corridor."

"Yes. The right valve opens the hot water."

"Okay, thanks."

"Here, I think you might also need some soap."

"That would be good."

He handed the soap to her and she awkwardly grabbed it with her teeth. She could taste it through the paper wrapper, but it was just weird, not bad, so she just ignored it. Twilight, now prepped for a full-fledged bath (or at least enough to take off the smell of sweat from the previous night) began to make her way upstairs. The dreadful stairs again, she thought. They returned to make her day, once more, pretty special. Walking up it proved to be somewhat easier though, as she had more force on her hind legs than on her front ones. At the top of the staircase, she turned left and walked towards the door at the end of the corridor. Her final destination, the bathroom.

Getting in front of it, she looked to her right. The bedroom she had woken up a few hours ago. Her ears flattened against her head when she thought about lying on that bed without taking a shower before.

I was unconscious, I didn't mean it, she thought, trying to lessen the feeling. She looked to the bathroom door. It was closed, as usual. She tried to invoke her magic to open it, but wasn’t surprised when it didn't do anything more than create a weak purple halo around it. She sighed and reluctantly extended her foreleg, pulling the door handle down and giving the door a gentle push. The place was dimly lit, the only light source being the small window on top of the wall opposite the door. She put the soap she was holding over the towel that was extended around her neck.

"Uh... Greg?" Twilight called from the second floor.

"Yeah?", he answered from downstairs, his voice barely making its way to Twilight's ears.

"Is the bathroom supposed to be this dark?"

"What?"

"Is the bathroom..." she repeated herself, taking a couple of steps in the direction of the staircase, "supposed to be this dark?"

A few instants passed.

"No."

A few more instants passed.

"Uh..." she said.

"Just look for the switch, next to the door frame. It shouldn't be hard to see. It glows in the dark."

"Thanks."

She then proceeded with the instructions she just received. Next to the door frame. It glows in the dark. Got it. Entering the place, she looked up and noticed a small, greenish glow on the wall. Extending her foreleg, she pushed the small switch upwards and the place got completely lit.

"Whoa. That's better," she said, smiling.

She pushed the door closed, taking extra care to not slam it shut. Turning around, she scanned the place. She saw the sink on the right wall, and to its left, a toilet. On the far wall, she saw the shower, the thing she needed the most right now.

"I guess... I'll take a shower then," she said, as she proceeded to put her things over the toilet lid.

She pulled the curtain open, revealing the shower completely.

"Right valve..."

She extended her foreleg, twisting the right valve. The shower came to life, spilling warm water, the heat of it already forming some steam. She put her foreleg under the water, feeling its temperature. The warm water sent a shiver down her spine, making her body tremble. She closed her eyes, looking to the ceiling with a sweet smile on her face.

"Oh, sweet Celestia..."

"Aahhh..." she sighed in delight, looking down and closing her eyes, her ears falling flat against her head. The warm water ran down her neck, making its way down to her back, meeting with the water that was pouring over it directly from the shower, streaming around her sides and falling over the bath tub. The water was flowing down her legs, cleaning her bruises and taking away the weight of her little endeavor through this unknown world. It helped to relieve the sensation of hopelessness, allowing her mind to think about more pleasant things. It wasn't that often that she actually stopped to enjoy a bath. It had always been an automated, mechanical task, done in the early mornings. It made her think about why she didn’t take absurdly long baths in her castle. Hot baths are awesome, but it was something she apparently didn’t know how to enjoy, until now that is. It took her getting stranded on another world to enjoy taking them. This actually makes her seem like somepony who doesn't like bathing, she thought. Another shiver came down her spine, making her shrug the thought off. She was bathing already for pony sake, and that's what mattered.

She carefully opened her eyes, making sure the water running down her face wasn't going to fall into her eyes, and took a deep breath. The steam from the hot water made inhaling a hell of a lot easier, something that made her feel invigorated, lifting up her spirit.

She kept staring at the clean, white, and shiny bottom of the bathtub, marveling at how the water flow was distorting the reflection of the light bulb. She placed her forehoof over the reflection and wondered at how the light illuminated her wet, purple fur. Well, NOW it was looking purple. It was nice to see it clean again. She was sure, before taking this bath, her coat was around four tones darker than its normal color. It wasn't THAT much noticeable though, since this tone difference was kind of a subjective matter. Rarity understood it better. Maybe she would ask her about it sometime.

Eyeing her forehoof, she noticed one of the cuts. It was clean now. No blood, no dirt. It also ached a little, just like the rest of her bruises, but that was the 'healing' pain. The water had washed away her bandages, something that ended up being pretty helpful, since her magic hadn't recovered enough yet and so it was hard for her to do the most trivial of things. The cut on her face began to weigh down and she felt her face heating up around it. What a uncomfortable feeling, she thought. She touched it with her left forehoof, trying to not reopen the cut that had already begun to heal. The area was over-sensitive, but Twilight couldn't help but keep touching it. The pain was the irrefutable proof that this wasn't some sort of nightmare. This was pretty much happening, right there, right in that instant. Just a few days ago, she was writing a letter to Celestia about teleportation spells. Several hours ago, she was having her breakfast with Spike in her castle, eating the best pancakes she had ever eaten. Just a few hours ago, her life was 'normal'. Normal for a princess maybe. Not everypony has the habit of messing with well-established spells. For her, a few hours ago, everything was fine. And now, she's on another world, unsure if she’ll be able to get back home. She was able to find someone willing to help, yes, but to what extent? Will he give her the chance to find the answer to her problem? Or would he dump her out as soon as she gets better? She couldn't know, of course. She knew him for just a few hours. He seemed to be kind. He gave her stuff to take this bath, and seemed happy to do so. But still, the experiences she had since getting into this foreign world weren’t good until she found him. Or rather, until he found her. She decided not to dwell much on that matter at the moment, for her hopes began to drop. This wasn't the right time to start predicting the worst. It was time to enjoy a bath. And that was something she was willing to do.

She raised her head, looking around. The bathroom was completely foggy. She could barely see the bathroom door or the sink and the light bulb was already losing its well-defined form and turning into a big and luminous blur. How much time had she spent in the bath? Hopefully not much yet. She sat down, facing the bath tub's edge, resting her chin on top of it.

She sighed in delight once more, shivering. "I don't even know if I want to leave this bathroom," she said, smiling. She eyed the towel over the toilet.

Well... maybe I should. I still have to figure out a way out of this place. And I don't want to overstep my bounds taking a long bath.

She sighed.

Yeah, I think it's time to go, she thought, raising up and, with much effort, bringing the towel close to her using her almost non-existent magic.

"Phew. I don't remember towels being this heavy."

Twilight placed her left forehoof under the valve, forcing it closed and cutting off the water. What a sad moment. The bath was over. But it was necessary. She had a heap of work to do.

Author's Note

¯\_(ツ)_/¯