Salvation's Twilight

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5

Chapter 1

The Captain dragged her feet into the room, closing the ornate wooden door behind her. She knew she was finally alone and allowed her steps to grow slightly more forceful while passing the rows upon rows of archaeological, mythological and magical themed books that lined the wall to her right.

The smell of dust and ink permeated every inch of the room. Most people found it too unbearable but she didn't; she loved she smell of old books and knowledge.

The Captain sunk into her chair with a ragged sigh, her fingers clutched around the bridge of her nose. She felt as if she had gone six rounds with a tunnelworm. Eventually though, her eyes opened and she sat up, feeling as if she stayed like that any longer she would have most likely fallen asleep.

"Alright," she mumbled, pushing the shredded maps and scrolls across her desk to make some clear space.

The woman slid her hands down, under the lip on the table and pressed down on a pair of buttons expertly hidden. With a quick click and a hiss a panel popped up from the surface of her desk, leaving her an indent to pull on.

The captain's lips curled into a weary smile as she pulled open the compartment, letting a warm red glow emanate from inside to bathe the dimly lit room. "Not long now," she whispered, gazing into the compartment.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door and the woman slammed the panel down, snuffing out the glow instantly. "Yes!" she growled, before reaching over to click her deskside light on. "Come in!"

The door opened and a lanky soldier urgently rushed in. "Ma'am," she said, saluting. He approached her desk and passed her a lightly filled folder with the word: 'Classified' stamped across the front in bright red. "The report just arrived from the northern passages."

The captain's eyes lingered on the stock still soldier, before taking the folder. Flipping it open a frown formed upon her brow as she began reading. Eventually though, it didn't take long before her frown morphed into a smile, her hand idly caressing over the panel.

"Finally."

***

It hadn't taken long for Twilight to calm down after Pinkie's surprise party had caught her by, well, surprise. The mare's mantra, which everypony knew by now, was 'In through the nose and out through the mouth.'

She had become quite good at it too, using it religiously to quell any nervous breakdowns that might arise from stress or duty related activities. Finally, after having taken a few seconds to compose herself, Twilight moved back into her Castle's map room.

All of her friends, as well as half of the town had turned up to see Twilight's twenty first birthday. The map room had been outfitted with Pinkie's very own custom party bomb surprise, which seemed to entail covering the majority of the room with streamers and balloons with entirely no regard for the cleaning staff! Several tables were laid out around the map to hold food and drink, with plenty of seating.

Instantly, her face was assaulted by a pink blur, causing her to jerk back! "Ohmygosh!" Pinkie began, leading to Twilight to let out a soft giggle. "Did you see your face! You were all 'Ahh!' then 'Haa', but now you're all happy!" Pinkie continued, imitating what Twilight had done to calm herself down.

The numerous villain attacks throughout the years had left a few scars on the mare that everypony looked up to. Despite this, she tried her best to keep that side of herself hidden whenever necessary.

Holding her hoof up to her friend's chest, she gently moved her back to give herself some breathing room and smiled. "Thank you, Pinkie," Twilight said, her smile growing, then glanced around at everypony, who returned it with a concerned smile. "And everypony else here. Now, let's have a great party!"

The mare would most likely be lying if she said she didn't just want a nice night in with her five best friends, but she couldn't really say no now, not since it's her own surprise party.

Twilight quickly found herself at the drinks table, pouring herself some punch when Applejack humbled up beside her. "Heya, Twi. Enjoying yourself?" she asked, nudging her slightly. "I know it's a bit much, but Pinkie just couldn't help herself."

Rolling her eyes, Twilight sipped her drink. "She tries her best to put a smile on my face nowadays. Work had been horrible. The gryphons have been more aggressive and," Twi seemed to remember herself and sighed. "Sorry. I shouldn't be talking about work at a party.

AJ poured herself a cup of punch as she listened, then sneakily looked around. "I probably shouldn't do this, but I brought some of the stronger stuff to liven this up, want some?" The mare pulled out a hip flask and sloshed it about. "It'll help you relax, just for tonight."

Twilight bit her lip and looked a little worried. "I don't know," she began staring it at for a second, then back to her friend. "I don't want to make a fool out of myself."

"You won't, I promise!" AJ replied, lowering her voice and pouring a tiny amount in Twilight's drink. "It's about time you relaxed. Even Celestia relaxes now and again."

"I guess you're right," Twi said, more to reassure herself than anything.

Suddenly she found herself stumbling through the halls, giggling to herself and letting out a hiccup. She just didn't know where the night went! "Damn Pinkie," she mumbled, dragging her hooves as she neared her bedroom and that holiest of places: her bed. Yet, from the corner of her eye she spotted a glint. A glimmer of something intriguing caught her attention. Even drunk Twilight can't help herself.

Pushing through the door to one of her laboratories, the mare caught herself against a table and found the contents of her stomach forcefully exiting her body with a chunky splat. Pulling herself up and groaning, Twilight could now see what caught her attention for what it was: A glowing, hoof sized silver orb on the far table that bent light around itself.

Stepping over her mess, she cautiously moved closer. "Strange," she mare whispered to herself. The closer she moved, the more she felt she was being pulled towards the object. Twi found her hair flowing towards she object and she took a few safety steps back, realising that maybe it was for the best, seeing the empty desk it was hovering on. There was a whole experiment there this morning.

Twi glanced about and hovered over a parchment and quill to begin writing. "Silvery surface," she said, letting out a burp. "With a strange gravitational pull of its own," she muttered, quill scribbling frantically. "I wonder if," she continued, but found the gravity increase. "Ahh!" she cried upon feeling herself pulled towards the orb; her hooves giving no purchase on the smooth crystal floor.

With one last ditch effort, the mare flared her horn and blasted the orb in an attempt to crystallise it, neutralising any magic it might possess! The magical blast neared the surface and bent around the event horizon, circling back and striking twilight in the chest.

The last thing she felt as she fell into the orb was agony while her flesh flash-crystallised, creaking solid.

***
Alice sat on the edge of Salvation, just like she did every morning and gaze out across the vast landscape. Ruins littered the seemingly endless forest that stretched on in all directions in front of her. Behind her laid the rest of Salvation; the only city. It was a mishmash of thousands of different cultures and technologies that shouldn't have worked, but had found a tenuous balance in the fact that the outside world was littered with death and decay that most people would balk at.

Alice leaned forward onto the bottom rung of the railing and held her caramel-toned hand out. Focusing, it slowly glowed a soft gold which flickered, tiny arcs of electricity jumped across her skin. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a smooth pebble before placing it in her glowing palm. She then narrowed her eyes at the stone, willing her magic to do something, anything, but found that the pebble barely wobbled.

The girl let out a groan and clenched her hand around the stone, quickly wincing at the midday siren that screeched across her burough. Her shift had ended.

Gripping the rusted support beam next to her, she pulled herself up and brushed the rust that had clung to her overalls, before running her hand through her dark red hair to make sure she was clean. Making her way back inside the factory, the harsh sound of iron scraping upon iron assaulted her ears once again. She then wandered past the rusting conveyor belts and the metal presses and into the back room where she kept her backpack.

"Now now, where do you think you're going?" a feminine voice asked as Alice's collar was tugged on, the voice dripping with smugness.

Letting out a groan, Alice turned around to face the voice. "What do you want, Vess?" she asked, looking rather irritated towards the light blue Velonien.

Vess, the assistant to the regional manager grinned and gestured to the office that sat high above the factory floor. She was one of many Veloniens living in the borough. Not many species enjoyed their company, finding their shrill laughs to be quite unpleasant as well as their twitching back tentacles and their aversion to clothing.

"He wants to see you," the woman said, giving a chuckle, to which Alice gritted her teeth. "You're really in the shitter now." with that, she plodded off, rather content.

Rubbing the bridge of her nose, Alice began to make her way up the stairs and catwalk which led to her bosses office. There was really only two reasons anyone was called into the office: they were either hired, or fired.

Stopping outside of the office, Alice did one last pat down to make sure no rust was left on her and prayed to the divine that she would make it out of there okay. She reached up and knocked on the metal door, waiting to be let in. Less than ten seconds and she could hear bolts unclamping from the other side and the door opening with a quiet creak.

Gently opening the door some more, she entered the cool room. Unlike the dirty and boiling factory, the room was spotless of dirt, a soft carpet underfoot as well as a cool breeze that Alice couldn't quite pinpoint.

Moving towards the desk, a voice on the other side, behind a high-back leather chair called out. "Sit, Ms Escott."

Nervously swallowing, she did as she was asked and sat down in the equally pricey chair.

"Do you know why I hired you?" the voice asked, causing Alice to grow anxious.

"Because I'm a fast learner, sir?" she replied, realising where their conversation was going.

The chair spun around to reveal her boss. From Alice's perspective, her boss looked pretty average, with the only thing of note is the expensive clothes. "I hired you because you don't ask questions and you were strong. Both good traits in the borough." He stops for a second to scribble on a form. "But, as the borough grows, so does the potential I can hire. So, effective immediately you are dismissed from the factory. Please leave."

Alice knew it was coming, but those words crushed her. She didn't know what she would do. Standing up, she made her way out of the office, only taking one glance back at her boss before closing the door.

She felt as if he was in a trance as she gathered her belongings from the back room, trying to ignore everyone else, and made her way towards the exit. She had put in so much of her time here and to just be tossed aside. It may have been just a factory job, but it meant stability.

Passing by the intake pipe, Alice stopped as a glint caught her eye. Momentarily forgetting her problems, she moved closer and brushed the rubble and scrap metal aside to find a palm sized, silver orb untouched by the filth and dirt. Reaching in, she heaved the deceptively heavy orb up and turned it around having found it completely smooth with her reflection curved upon its surface. "Weird," she mumbled, glancing around to see if anyone, namely Vess, had spotted her.

Deciding to take her little piece out of the factory, Alice opened her backpack and stuffed the orb inside before exiting the factory.

She rushed back home, a tiny shack on the south side of town situated between a steam vent and a tannery. "Home sweet home," she muttered, giving the tiniest of chuckles.

Her place was as homely as she could make it without wasting her money. All she could really afford was one bed, a small washbasin, a rather plush rug and a work table currently covered in bits and pieces of ancient technologies which had been found outside of the city.

Sitting down at her work table, Alice opened her backpack and pulled the orb out. Placing it on the table, she found that it gently hovered just above the surface. "Woah," she whispered, reaching over to pull a screwdriver over and slide it under to make sure she wasn't imagining it.

She looked over at the other-world tech scattered about and let out a thoughtful hum. "Well, here goes nothing," the girl said, taking a deep breath and letting it out as she raised her hand and placed it flat across the orb, focusing her magic to life.

Author's Note

Greetings dear reader,

I have been on hiatus for a very long time, but I'm back to provide you with a (hopefully) rather long tale.

This is just the prologue and I have plenty more to come soon. But for now, please enjoy the teaser!

Chapter 2

Alice stared at the object resting in her palm with a growing frustration and focused. She welled what little magic she could muster to flow up from deep within herself, allowing it to crawl through her flesh and emanate out from her hand. As such her hand began to glow the usual light gold yet didn’t react to the orb. It was as if the thing didn't even notice her.

Letting go, Alice sat back and watched as the ball bobbed its way across her table before tapping the wall and slowly making its journey back towards her.

She had been working on cracking the mystery for an hour now and it was beginning to worry her. Reaching over to her pile of other-world scrap, she pulled over a small red crystal and focused her magic. The crystal glowed a deep crimson, lighting up her room until she placed it down. It took a few seconds for the crystal to fade and sputter out. While Alice might not be anywhere near as good as the priests up in the towers, she knew other-world treasures responded to her, even if she couldn't lift tonnes of metal or throw fire.

Giving it one last try, Alice took the orb in both hands and focused everything she had into pushing her magic into the object. Her hands trembled as the last few drops of magic left her flesh, leaving them tingly and warm, if not a bit sweaty. She had all but given up, feeling her magic start to flicker, the tell-tale signs of self-cannibalism. But, when she started to pull away, Alice felt a wave of energy ripple out from the tech, pushing her hands away. With a startled gasp, she and stumbled back, kicking her chair out from under her and grunting as she hit the back wall. In front of her, the orb suspended itself in the air as the barest whisper of a pulse began to flow around it.

Alice stood there baffled, but quickly shot her arms up into the air with a grin, feeling delirious and ecstatic. "It worked!" she cried, hopping about. Grinning wildly, she neared the suspended orb and took to studying it. "No obvious changes," the girl whispered, her excitement palpable. She gently pressing a finger to the surface, unable to stop herself from shaking. "Still as solid as ever."

Scribbling notes down, she couldn't help but grow even more excited as to what it could do and more importantly: how much money she'll make!

"I'd love a proper bath," she grumbled, running her hand through her greasy hair, sighing as she imagined a bath which she didn't have to fill up with the run-off from the steam vent.

Yet, half an hour of giddy watching had quickly given way to boredom and hunger. Hunger which had reminded her about her lack of money, which them reminded her of her lack of job. It was a vicious cycle which Alice had to work hard against to not fall into.

The girl couldn't help up let out a groan as she stood up "Fine," Alice mumbled, taking her purse from her backpack. "Getting something to eat might calm me down" She made a mental note to document anything that might have happened when she came back and left, locking and double checking the door.

Alice made her way across the corrugated roofs that crisscrossed the fourth floor of the Burroughs and began her descent down into the third floor towards her favourite noodle bar. Most of the Burroughs was welded together from scrap metal either found from the ruins of the old-world, or from trusty brick and mortar. Each level was built on top of each other with various passageways and stairs connecting them. Despite the amount of people living in a tight space, the place had fallen into quiet disrepair.

She usually kept to herself, never really feeling the need for interaction with her neighbours, but the girl couldn't help but give a wave or a 'Good afternoon' here and here. It was the prospect of moving out of the boroughs and up into a tower. Even the first floor of a tower would make it all worth it. She would be the ‘talk of the town’ as those rich people say.

Alice, finally reached the third floor, rushed through the alleys and made it out into the bazaar that was still swarming with market goers. "Great," she grumbled while squeezing through everyone that was trying to make a late bargain sale. The market space was covered in numerous stalls that competed to try and sell their wares, from worthless junk to other-world spices that made Alice’s mouth water just from looking at them, to other-world tech which the meaning was lost to time. Veloniens, Deltins, Shamrels and even Reltoids blessed her personal space as she practically felt every lump imaginable and some not so.

She couldn’t help but hear that most conversations were about the items on offer, but a few caught her interest and she slowed down just enough to listen about a group discussing another collapse of a stack of homes. ‘Just great,’ she thought, wondering when her own stack would collapse as she continued on her way, not wanting to dwell on the prospect.

Popping out in front of her destination, Alice shuddered and pulled herself up onto a stool. She brushed her now messy hair from her face and smiled at the cook. "Hey, Dan. Didn't think I'd find you here this early?" she asked, leaning on the table and tilting her head. "Thought you'd enjoy a day off?"

Dave, a rather young, but cute, Deltin chuckled as he stirred the noodles in his wok with two of his hands and mixed in the vegetables with his other pair. "You know me. Can't stay away from my favourite customer!" he joked, winking at her.

He didn't look particularly strong, as was normal for his race, but Dave did have most of the other characteristics, such as the four arms, tail and deep purple fur which their race was known for. The main thing that Alice remembered about him was that the kid was a criminally smooth flirt which she found to be rather fun, if not obvious.

"Now I know you can't be talking about me! Maybe Miss Newman?" she retorted, gesturing to the old lady two seats down from her which simply waved her to stop despite the smile. Another regular.

"What can I get you," Dave asked letting out a low rumble of a laugh, "other than my number?"

Alice rolled her eyes and simply replied with, "The usual, please. Hold the number." She placed her purse down and dropped three coins into the jar, which deposited a bowl out on Dave's side.

"A gentletin knows when to stop, my lady. One bowl coming right up." With that, Dave splashed a little more sauce in the wok and served up Alice's meal which she eagerly accepted.

"Thank you," she said, taking the bowl and beginning to eat. It wasn't long after that Alice had begun to make her way back home. The girl had given in and ordered a few beers at the insistence of Dave, who had given her his employee discount to use when he had heard she had lost her job.

Now, she was paying the price. The bazaar had died down while she was eating and crying, making it an easy thing to pass through, but now the stairs were in her way!

"Easy now, Alice," she said to herself, making her way up the stairs once by one. "Don't want to fall." She didn't even want to think what was down on the second or first floors.

The woman had felt like she had climbed to the top of the towers by the time she reached the top of the stairs. Not to mention her head was pounding and she was cramping a little.

"How many did I drink," she groaned, stumbling her way across the walkways and back to her home. Pulling her keys out of her overalls, Alice inserted them into her door and frowned in annoyance when she couldn't unlock it. At least, she was she turned it the key in the opposite direction.

"Wait, what?" the woman mumbled quietly as she opened her door, only to find a large crystal statue slightly embedded in her floor. The girl's heart thumped in her chest as she took a tentative step inside.

The orb seemed to have dropped and rolled off to the side, near her bath, sometime earlier. It left only the chest high statue to dominate the room as the most colourful thing she had ever seen, considering it refracted her bulb's light into colours she didn't even think were possible. The statue itself was in a shape she was unfamiliar with and only drew her intrigue more, pulling her into her home.

Remembering herself, the woman turned and closed her door, quickly locking it to make sure no one saw anything. The last thing she wanted was some random punk to try and steal whatever this is from her.

Alice took a breath and leaned her head against the door, calming herself. "It's alright," she began, pulling away from the door and turning around. "The orb must have activated while I was out and deposited this," she continued, stopping for a split second, "thing here."

She nodded with determination, picking up her notepad and pen as she neared the statue. "Strange, positively strange," the girl muttered, scribbling down her notes. "Obviously a quadruped, judging by its four hooves." Alice's eyes then moved up the statue's body, quickly noting its wings. "Wings?" she whispered, noting the exceptional detail on the statue and running her pen over the crystal feathers.

Alice continued to make notes, taking in the strange, expression filled face. It didn't look like any animal she had studied. The statue's face having locked in a horror filled scream that made Alice feel a little sad. "Who carved you?" she asked, placing a gentle pat on top of the statue's head as she finally noticed the horn jutting out. "Strange set of features," she whispered, continuing to note it down.

Finally backing up, she gave it one last look over and frowned, noting that it had dented and sunk into the floor. She moved closer and tried to lift the hunk of crystal, but it stood fast, not budging an inch. "What the hell," she groaned, popping her back and grimacing. "It's heavier than it looks." Giving a small hum, Alice placed her notepad and pen down and took a grip of the crystal.

Heaving with all her strength, she lifted it out of the dent and pushed it across the floor to make a little more room in her cramped home. Alice stopped once the statue was out of the way and fell back on her floor. Noticing the orb, she reached over and grabbed it. Taking a look over it, she could see that it's surface had become quite dull.

Focusing her magic into her hand, she waited a few seconds, but nothing happened. The orb was dead.

Heaving herself off the floor, Alice sat down at her worktable and stared at the statue, unsure as to what to do. She could make quite a sell down at the bazaar, but she wouldn't be able to get it there without paying someone, let alone make a profit. Other-world tech was strange, it could do wondrous things one second or horrible things the next.

"I'll deal with it in the morning." With that, wandered over to her bed pulling off her clothes, then slumping down into the warm covers, quickly falling asleep.

***

Twilight didn't know how long she had been, well, wherever she was. She remembered her own spell backfiring, but after that, her memory was cloudy.

She knew it was probably for the best, considering crystallisation spells were painful. Still, the mare wasn't happy about this. How long would it be until her friends notice the orb? Would the orb expand as it pulled more things into its gravity? Was she dead?

With nothing to do but think, Twilight tried her best to make sense of the situation. She couldn't see, per se, but she could sense what was happening around her. None of her limbs would cooperate with her, which only agitated the mare further. Her magic was the same, being quelled as soon as she tried to do anything with it.

Twilight mentally groaned. 'I swear on Celestia's pillows that I'll vaporise whatever that thing was!'

Time moved different for her. It could have been a minute, or a thousand years and she wouldn't have noticed the difference. That was until Twilight felt a spark of magic! Warm and comforting. Her crystallised flesh tingled as that spark ran through her. It felt familiar!

'Celestia!' Twilight cheered. 'She must have found the orb and is getting me out!'

Quickly though, that excitement faded into confusion as her senses expanded outward. She felt as if she had been let out of a cramped cage and could only now feel a bedroom of some sort. Only one door, with a table and a bed. 'They must have kept me here for study,' Twilight theorised. 'Makes sense. Crystal spells were always hard to break.'

Every so often, the mare would find her consciousness lapse as time passed her by. Eventually though, she could feel something new enter the room. Something entirely unfamiliar to her.

Her worries crept back upon hearing the thing's voice. 'It speaks Equestrian?' she thought, examining it with her limited senses. 'Female, judging from the pitch, tone and inflections. Bipedal, from its continued use of two legs,' she began, creating a mental notepad. 'Quite possibly intelligent, considering it is using some sort of writing instrument on a scroll. Maybe it can get me out of here?'

It wasn't long before Twilight felt herself being lifted and dragged, her hooves scraping against bare metal. 'What sort of home does this thing live in?' she asked, shocked as she mentally winced at the sound. She heard the creature begin to walk over. 'Did it just go to sleep?' Twi asked, realising it creature wasn’t moving. 'I guess I can't be picky if it'll save me.'

Twilight mentally sighed and focused on trying to get more detail out of her senses. It wouldn’t do if she didn’t know anything once she was freed from a prison of her own design. Despite having no physical eyes, Twi closed what she considered her ‘mind’s eye’ and listened.

What she thought was complete silence was, in fact, a cacophony of sounds which nearly deafened her. She had no idea how the creature on the other side of the room could sleep through all this racket. Not even the noise in Canterlot rose to this level and they knew how to party!

Twilight could hear so many different chirps, growls, burbles and clicks that didn’t make any sense and only caused her breathing to pick up. ‘That’s definitely not Equestrian,’ she stated, almost unsure of herself. ‘If that’s not,’ she continued, hesitating for a second, 'this isn’t Equestria!'

At that thought, she panicked. Despite having no lungs, she couldn’t help but start to hyperventilate, her mind racing through all the possible scenarios as to what was going on as she floated in her void, each of which was worse than the last! ‘Maybe it was Discord?!’ the mare whimpered picturing the Draconequus having had a hand in her imprisonment, before her mind flicked to another thought. ‘Celestia won’t find me! I’ll be stuck like this forever! They’ll forget about me!’

***

It was barely past noon when Alice awoke from her dreamless slumber, with a groan that was becoming way too frequent for her liking. Since finding out she had a sliver of magic, her dreams had disappeared, faded to nothing much like any chance of a good life and she had slowly come to accept that, but the inclusion of this statue and orb had thrown a large crystal spanner in that plan.

“Another day, I guess,” she mumbled, sighing and rising from the worn bed. She picked up some raggedy clothes, a pair of jeans, white shirt and boots before wandering outside with a bucket. Walking over to the steam vent, she carefully reached under and turned a knob to let condensed water flow from a concealed pipe. Once the bucket was filled, she closed the pipe back up and wandered inside, dumping the water into the metal tub.

Alice did this several more times until the bath was full up to the brim. Discarding her clothes over the new statue, Alice went to work finishing her morning duties and cleaning herself up with what little soap she had left. She would have a long day of figuring out what that statue truly was and if possible, she’d want to be presentable.

Sliding on her top and clipping up the buttons, the girl gripped the crystal’s forelegs and dragged it over to her worktable with a bone shaking scrape that practically vibrated the whole room. Alice felt the urge to chip a piece off with her chisel, but resisted it, feeling that it would mar the work already put into the strange thing.

“Alright, let’s find out what you are,” she began, reaching over the table for her scanner. Examining other-world tech was an arduous task without one and she was thankful to have found a broken one at the factory, only putting in several arduous weeks of repairs before it was even barely functional. Since then, she had managed to fix most of the components with scrap she had collected.

Sitting in front of the statue, Alice pointed the scanner towards it, the two antennas on the top twitching to-and-fro as she pressed one of the buttons down with her thumb. The scanner’s screen lit up with numbers relating to the object’s origin.

“Wait, that can’t be right?” Alice exclaimed, confusion etching across her face at the report. “Can’t find origin point?!” she continued, eyes widening. “No way. Damn thing must be busted again!” She said, sighing as she hit her hand on the side of the scanner. “Fine, what are you made of?” she asked, deciding to jot her notes down once again, this time circling the coordinates and placing down an angry face next to them.

Once again, the machine bleeped and buzzed, scanning the object for the material composition. With a happy little ding, the scanner stopped and reported its findings. “Crystal. I get that, but what type?” Alice asked, scrolling down and stopping, even more confused once she read further on. “All types? But there’s no seam, it’s one chunk!”

That’s when she saw the secondary report and the colour drained from her face. “Organic components found,” she whispered, gazing from the scanner to the statue with horror.

Alice had heard of the divine’s power, but to turn something to solid crystal. Even she thought that was going too far. “That must be wrong. There’s no way that thing can be alive.”

The woman nervously swallowed as she tried to calm herself, not knowing what to do. Her eyes drifted across the statue then back to the surface of her scanner. Her thumb brushed over the button that would force additional parameters and the machine whirred to life once again, until it was dropped from her hand as she gasped in shock, not realising she had pressed the button.

“Fuck!” she squeaked, gasping as the scanner collided with the floor. “Damn,” she mumbled a second later, picking the thing up and noticing a crack along its outer surface. “At least it’s not broken.”

Then the report appeared, causing Alice took a step back. “Magical,” she whispered, staring at the statue with half shock and half curiosity. Brushing her hair back behind her ear, the girl moved closer and held her hand out, placing it on the statue’s shoulder. Closing her eyes, she focused and could indeed feel a tingling sensation of power. Pulling her hand back, Alice gazed into the statues eyes, mentally debating whether she should resurrect whatever this was.

On one hand, it could help her, but on the other it could have been crystallised for a reason. Conflict was evident on her face when she placed her hand on the statue once again, focusing on her magic to well up. “How much worse can life really get?” she thought, a half-hearted smile appearing on her face.

Author's Note

Hey guys! I know this one was mainly focusing on Alice, but I wanted to flesh her out before anything happens.

As usual, if you liked it, please hit that thumbs up and have a great day/night/morning! <3

Chapter 3

Twilight began to focus on the strange creature that was muttering to herself. It had only been about half an hour since she was knocked out of her self-affirming worry by the thing rising from its sleep. Did it even sleep?

Finally, able to focus more on the being, since it has stopped moving around as much as before, she took in that it had begun to drag her over to the table and reach for some sort of device. She couldn’t make out what it was, considering her sense consisted of a form of echolocation, but it did give her a precise enough perspective for her to see it was aimed towards her.

At that, her worry began to rise. ‘Would it shatter me? Does it eat crystal?!’ she thought, her non-existent heart thumping within her solid chest. The mare did understand that she her fears were rather irrational, but couldn’t help it, she was at the being’s mercy.

The device’s whirring and beeping could now be heard through her muffled hearing, catching her off guard and causing her to mentally wince, waiting for the end as she held her breath. But that end never arrived. Instead, she found that the creature was completely surprised at something, then it dropped the device, cracking the shell. ‘Strange,’ Twi whispered, her worry turning to intrigue at the prospect of another intelligent being that was intelligent enough to have created something that she’d consider advanced.

‘There wasn’t anything like this creature in Equestria,’ she stated, bringing out her mental notepad once again and listing down the qualities. Considering her current predicament, she felt it would do her better to study such a thing than worry about what it could do to her, At least until it picked up the device and pointed it at her once more.

Seeing that, Twilight did all she could to focus once again on the device in the being’s hands. ‘Fascinating, it has opposable digits for complex manipulation. I wonder if they’re anything like Spike’s?’ she wondered, her excitement overcoming her, for just a second, before she remembered her younger assistant and everyone back home. ‘They must be looking for me about now.’

The creature in front of her then moved forwards, causing Twilight to try and move away, to no avail. That hand touched her crystallised coat and she felt a warmth flow through her once again, lighting up her world just a little. ‘This magic, it’s the same as before!’ she cried, letting herself bathe in the warm feeling. With that, Twilight didn’t even notice the feeling start to return to her back hooves as microfractures spread through her body.

***

Alice had been focusing her magic and pushing it into the statue for a few minutes now, giving it all she had. Usually other-world tech didn’t take this long to activate at all, only needing a few seconds for it to recharge. “What gives?!” she grunted, a bead of sweat dripping down her cheek as her breathing became laboured. “Fucking charge!” she yelled, arcs of golden magic jumping from her hands and over the crystal with a loud ‘twang’!

With a deafening crack, the crystal surface fractured as a spiderweb of cracks appeared over the entire thing. Alice was knocked back onto the floor as a blast of energy rippled outwards from the centre, then watched as multi-hued light pierced through the cracks, causing her entire body to tingle with magical energy!

That feeling only grew exponentially until it felt as if her soul itself was being dunked into a warm bath! Alice didn’t know if she’d ever get used to such a feeling, but before she could find out the answer, the crystal shattered, throwing chunks across her room, one of which caught her just above the eye, causing the girl to cry out. A second later and a beam of magic was fired upwards, bubbling and melting the welded steel roof and ascended higher than even the tallest tower.

“By the divines!” she screamed, covering her face from any debris or sizzling metal. Once she was sure the scene had cooled down, the girl hesitantly uncovered her face and felt her surprise and confusion only deepen.

Laying there was a living version of the statue. “What in the layers is going on,” Alice muttered, before she heard sirens. Her eyes widened, and she made a snap decision to pick up the creature. Rushing out of her home, Alice could see an Enforcer helicopter in the distance and kept going, trying to get as far as she could before it arrived.

The woman rushed over the catwalks and under the overhang of someone else’s home. She stopped and took a hiding spot behind a jutting out piece of wall, placing the creature down. She peeked out and gazed over to her home, which was now being raided by the Tower’s Enforcers! Her fears increased ten-fold once she saw a Mechanised Battle-Suit being airlifted by another helicopter.

Glancing around for a way out, Alice spotted a back alley for her rush down off to the side. She picked up the animal and snuck her way over. Moving through the dark, she found that the noise of the Enforcers arriving had all but vanished now, but she could still feel the threat looming.

“If the Tower sent the Enforcers, then what the hell are you?” she wondered, glancing down at the unconscious creature in her arms. “Either way, I guess I’ll find out.” Alice continued on her way through the alleys, many of which were damp and filled with refuse from the surrounding homes.

She took a sharp turn and began to carefully make her way down some stairs which descended to the third level. The girl knew where she had to go and hoped beyond all hope that they couldn’t track her.

Alice’s feet and chest were on fire as she turned a corner and crashed into the wall, but she kept going, getting further and further away from her home. Splashing down alleyway after alleyway, gaining scrapes and bruises from the trash, she stopped and found herself having to climb over blockaded fence. “Really?” Alice groaned, shaking her head and heaving her package over her shoulder gently. She used one hand to pull herself up onto some boxes and held onto the creature’s back tightly with the other, before launching her legs over the fence.

Alice let out a yelp as the drop on the other side was at least double what she was expecting and turned into a roll, hitting her back against rusted floor with a hard thump. The creature landed on top of knocking the wind out of her.

Laying there, watching what little of the sky she could see, Alice coughed and sputtered, unable to move. “Why am I doing this?” she asked herself, fingers running through the unbelievably soft fur of the thing on top of her.

She was no fool. She knew she should rise and keep running as far as she could, but she felt that it was just easier to lay there. The Tower was on her case and that’s the worst thing that could happen for anyone in the city. The thought was there, but she didn’t even want to entertain the thought of leaving the city, the Priests were bad, but they were nothing compared to the wider world.

Coughing, she weakly pulled herself to her feet and felt the tell-tale drops of a storm moving in. Silently thanking and cursed the Divines, she heaved the animal up onto her shoulder once again and continued. “Come on. Let’s get somewhere safe.”

Alice only had to continue for a few more, well soaked, minutes before she reached her destination: The Under-Burroughs. Majority of the Burroughs didn’t even know this existed, and for good reason. It was where the smugglers, thieves and unwanted lived, safe from the Enforcers, or at least they liked to think so. Nearing the thick iron wall which separated them from the rest of the city, Alice knocked three times, then called out, “Nicholas, it’s me!” before knocking two more times.

A hatch in the centre of the wall suddenly slid across and a pair of light green eyes peered out. “Alice? Blood hell,” a male voice on the other side croaked out, seeing her condition. The hatch closed quickly, and she felt four heavy bolts unclamp behind the door. The screech of iron on iron as the wall cracked open was enough to vibrate her bones. Once the wall was open just enough for her and her luggage to pass through, she rushed in, not wanting to be caught.

The other side was a completely different world. Various stalls were up and running with their vendors haggling with customers. “No rest for the wicked it seems,” she muttered, weakly chuckling under her breath. She then turned around to face the owner of the voice, blood dribbling down the side of her wet and dirty face. “Thank you, Nicholas. There was nowhere else to go.”

Nicholas waved his webbed hand towards Alice and shook his stubby head. “Don’t mention it. I wouldn’t turn away our best arcanist this side of the Burroughs,” he laughed, sounding like the guttural breathing of a land-locked fish. “I,” he started, puzzled at the package in her arms, “I see you’ve brought a friend.”

“Oh, yeah,” she began, looking down at it. She tried to think of a good excuse as to why she had an unconscious creature in her arms but came up short.

“Bah. It’s cute you think it makes any difference why. I know you wouldn’t forcefully do anything wrong, other than,” Nicholas said, gesturing to the upper level. “I suppose that’s what caught their attention?” he asked, beginning to wander into the crowd which parted around him.

To either side were vendors selling all sorts of wares, many other-world plants which had taken to Mesopan’s soil as well as functioning other-world tech that had been scrounged and fixed up. Many of which Alice had a hand in helping with.

“Yeah, you could say that,” Alice replied, following close behind. “I assume you saw the light?”

“From down here?” he asked, turning back for a second. “Not much of it. Some of the animals felt something big though. Plus, having Enforcers on the radio, for once, riled up some of the council.”

Alice grimaced at that, closing her eye. “Am I screwed?” she asked, quickly dodging as a customer backed out of a stall with a sack full of squirming mushrooms.

Nicholas shook his head. “Nah, they don’t really care that much. They’ll be gone soon once they can’t find you,” he stated, then glanced back to her. “I hope.”

It wasn’t long before the pair reached a worn-down door off to the side of the main walkway. Nicholas pulled his key card off his belt and scanned it against the card reader next to the door for a couple of seconds. With a beep, the door opened to reveal a dark, run down room. “Here’s your pad, for now, the card for the door is inside,” he said, smiling up at Alice, then towards the creature in her arms. “No loud noises. This is only because we owe you, remember!”

“I know. Thank you, Nick,” she replied, smiling. “Consider us even.”

With that, she watched as Nicholas wandered off, until he turned around. “There’s some towels in there for your eye,” he said, shaking his head, then moved back over the iron wall she entered in to stand guard. A heavy sigh left her lips as she hefted the creature up then made her way inside the room.

The inside was as she had expected, bare minimum. What she didn’t expect were the brick walls and soft carpet. It was a new experience to find brick in the Burroughs, but she brushed it off with something more important in her arms. Despite the room smelling like anti-septic and Sprigleaf, she found it acceptable

The rest of the room was spartan though. A table on one side with a single bed next to it; A cupboard on the other, and a fireplace with a few logs. One thing she didn’t expect was a fully functioning bath in the corner with towels laying inside and a mirror just above! Alice could have cried at the sight!

She made her way over to the bed and placed the creature down, before grabbing a towel off the side of the bath and returning. She began to pat down, and rub dry, the thing in front of her, taking care around its wings, horn and rear, then cleaned herself up in the mirror.

With that, she walked back over and knelt next to the bed, simply watching the beast’s rising and falling chest for a good few minutes. ‘Does it even know what happened?’ She wondered. Now feeling awkward, she pulled the covers off and slid the creature in, deciding she would take the soft floor. ‘It’s been through enough. A good rest will do us both some good,’ Alice thought, beginning to dry off her own hair, then taking her clothes off to air them out.

She laid down on the carpet, having grabbed one of the pillows and closed her eyes. Despite it only being midday, she found herself slowly falling to sleep, exhausted already.

***

Twilight had never felt so groggy before. She knew AJ’s alcohol was strong, but this hangover was way too bad. Opening her eyes, she out a groan and brought a hoof up to cover them in pain. “Spike!” she called out, wincing at the sound of her own voice.

When Spike didn’t reply, she decided that she’d get her own water and began to climb out of bed. Still, something didn’t feel right. Wasn’t her bed bigger than this?

Climbing out of the bed, she landed on something soft that cried out, leading to her tumbling over with a yelp! Hitting the soft floor with a thud, Twi grunted, her eyes opening quickly to find out that she wasn’t in her own room!

That was when her past caught up to her as her eyes flicked over to the strange bipedal creature that had been looking after her crystal form. With a terrified expression and a scream, she backed off into the corner. She tried to coalesce a spell into reality, but she had trouble remembering a spell so quickly after waking up. She raised her hooves to her face upon noticing the thing was closing in on her, feeling her heartrate skyrocket!

“Hey, hey,” the being soothed as it stopped, moving to sit cross legged on the floor. “Calm.” Alice meant it honestly as her voice dropped. She knew this thing, whatever it was, was no doubt in a worse condition than her and calming it was the best choice. “It’s safe here,” she continued, worried the thing would try and gore her with her horn.

Twilight’s breathing slowed ever so slowly from those words. They were from the being that helped her. She remembered the feeling when the being pressed her hand against her shoulder. “You,” she whispered, still curled up in the corner, “saved me.”

Alice raised her brow at that and nodded. “I did,” she replied, hand glowing that soft gold. “It reacted to my magic.”

Hearing that, Twilight couldn’t help but peek out towards that hand. “You can use magic?” she asked, hesitantly dropping her hooves. She knew the answer, but hearing it only solidified her interest.

Alice nodded once again. “The bare minimum. Can’t even lift a pebble,” she stated, letting the glow fade away. She didn’t want to bring up any trauma the poor thing might have had. The only logical reason it might have ended up in crystal was from crossing the Tower and they weren’t kind. Thus, she began with the most reasonable question, “What are you?”

Almost instantly, Twilight looked confused. “I,” she began, “I’m Twilight Sparkle, Alicorn and Princess of Friendship.” The mare replied in a way that made it seem as if it was so obvious, that Alice let out a laugh, which only caused Twi to frown. “What’s so funny?” she asked, unsure.

“Princess of Friendship?!” Alice replied, laughing to herself. “I don’t know what a Princess is, but I doubt there’s one for Friendship, especially around here!”

“You, you don’t know what a Princess is? I’m not in Equestria, am I?” Twilight asked, only now feeling her fear start to fade. She knew the answer, but it didn’t do anything to assuage the pain.

Alice could see that pain. ‘Poor thing must have arrived through a gate’ she thought to herself. She had to be harsh now to save pain later. “No, you’re not. I assume Equestria was your planet of origin?”

“No, it was called Equis,” Twi mumbled, tears forming at the corners of her eyes, “Equestria was the country.”

“I,” Alice said, taking a breath and giving an apologetic look, “I’m sorry. It’s never easy to find yourself here.”

There wasn’t much consolation in the words, nor the look for the mare, but she could feel the honesty. “Where is here?” she asked, the words tumbling out of her mouth as if she imagined it was still a bad, alcohol induced dream.

“Well, we’re currently in the backstreets of the Burroughs, which is part of the city of Salvation. But the planet is Mesopan.”

Twilight knew the words, not the context, but the person in front of her did and she didn’t seem that bad. If she had saved Twilight from the self-induced crystallisation, then she couldn’t be evil, right? “What’s your name?” the mare asked, beginning to move out from the corner a little at a time. She wiped a tear from her cheek and folded her wings back up. “and what are you?”

Alice was taken aback. She didn’t ever need to introduce her species, as being the most widespread, but this was indeed a strange day. “My name is Alice Escott. I’m a Human,” she explained, holding a hand up to her chest.

As she’d come to expect, that species brought up no memory for her as she now took the time to look the female over. She was correct to assume opposable digits, as well as furless body, which she was surprised at. Twilight found Alice fascinating. “You look like a furless minotaur,” she stated, now taking a pace closer. It was clear she was still weary but was building confidence.

Alice, for the most part was still rather scared of the horn, but the Alicorn didn’t seem like she’d try to purposefully gore her. “Um, thanks?” she said, unsure if that was a compliment or insult.

“Oh, they’re a species back on Equestria.” Now that had brought her mood down again, but she didn’t back away. It only took a few paces and Twilight hesitantly placed a hoof on Alice’s leg, feeling the warmth from the human. It seemed she was more focused on Alice than anything else, mostly to try and keep her thoughts off her circumstances as well as feeding her inquisitive mind.

Twilight begun to circle Alice, taking in her full body from every angle. The human’s body looked strange, what with the elongated limbs, but she surmised that she herself probably looked just as strange, considering Alice had to ask what she was. “Alice, can I see your magic again?” she asked, stopping next to the human. “Please?”

“Sure?” Alice said, focusing on her hand and catching Twilight’s eye, causing that soft glow to appear once again.

‘She has to focus?’ Twi thought to herself, ‘I can assume she’d had no training.’ The Alicorn lowered her head and took a breath. She placed her horn on Alice’s hand and instantly felt that same warm feeling flow through her body, involuntarily forcing her to ruffle her wings and let out a soft gasp. Twilight could feel something through, deep inside of Alice. She had felt it with Sweetie Belle and plenty of other unicorns which she had tutored; Power. Not just a little though, but more than she thought was possible for a non-Unicorn. ‘She doesn’t know, does she?’ Twi thought once more, hesitantly pulling her horn away from that hand with a shudder.

“Are you okay?” Alice asked, taking her focus away from her hand to look at Twilight with a hint of concern.

“Oh, uh,” she said, moving away and glancing towards Alice. “How long have you been using magic?” Twilight was not trying to gauge if it was still possible to train the human, or if they had missed their chance. “And how old are you now?”

That caught Alice’s attention, but she chose not to question it. “Since I turned sixteen. It just showed up that very night,” she explained. “It was a shock to my parents, that’s for sure. But I’m twenty-one now.”

Twilight nodded, thinking to herself, ‘Five years. It should still be possible.’ With that, she replied, “Well, I don’t know about Human magic, but I,” she placed her hoof to her chest, “and I don’t want to sound too up my own flank,” she continued, letting out an emotionally tired giggle, “Am quite proficient at it.”

Now, Alice had felt the magic when the Alicorn was let out of the crystal, but to hear that she could use magic caused her to grow excited. “You,” she muttered, shocked. “You can also use magic?!”

“Of course! That’s why I have my horn!” Twi replied, nodding, now just as excited as Alice. “See.” With that, Twilight’s horn emitted a gentle lavender glow as she began to levitate the nearby towel off the floor and over to herself, letting it settle around her neck.

Alice had just hit total system shock. What she was watching was something only the Divine were capable of and yet, this unknown Alicorn was doing it like it was the easiest thing in the world!

Chapter 4

Twilight stood there, gazing at the frozen Alice with her face scrunched up in confusion. "Um, Alice? What are you doing?"

Alice could only manage to stumble out a reply of, “I, uh, that’s the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen!"

The way that Alice said that didn't sit right with Twi and she moved closer to gently place a hoof on Alice's shoulder, giving a warm smile. "It's just a simple levitation spell. It’s the first thing that unicorn foals learn."

Alice stared at the mare for longer than Twilight would have liked, several thoughts running through her head. "Simple?" she finally asked, her voice quivering. "I can't even move a pebble and you're doing that like it's nothing."

Twilight squeezed the woman's shoulder and shook her own head. "I've been learning all my life, plus I'm an alicorn," she explained, letting go of Alice. Twilight could spot someone she could help, and Alice needed help now. "I'll give you a deal," she said, placing a hoof in Alice's open hand, "I'll help you if you help me."

"You'll help me?" she asked, confused. "With magic?" she followed up, not believing it. "I'm not sure how. I'm useless."

Twilight shook her head. "I don't believe that. After all, you got me out of that crystal!" The mare smiled. "Thank you, by the way," she said, leaning in and giving a quick nuzzle to Alice's cheek.

"What was that?" Alice asked, looking at Twilight like she had grown two heads, which could be possible for all she knew.

"Oh, right. Um, what do minotaur do," the mare muttered, thinking. "Oh yeah, they hug. You could say it's like a hug, but for ponies. Sometimes it's just easier than hugging, especially when carrying things," she explained, nodding to herself.

"Oh, right," Alice said, nodding a little. 'It did feel kind of nice,' she thought to herself. "I assume you want to go home. I don't know how I would even make that happen. If we don't know the gate that the orb you were deposited out of came from, then we can't get you back."

"Gate?" Twi asked, raising a brow, ignoring the part about not being able to get back.

"Uh, so there's lots of different portals scattered around the planet which lead to various worlds. Some fade in and out, others are constant. Most remain for years before they even start to fade. That's where we get most of our tech and scrap from," Alice explained. "Each gate is usually one way though, but we'll find a way."

Twilight had never heard of such a thing, but she had never been on any other planet before either. "When you said the gate that the orb came out of, I assume you have a way of tracking it?"

"Well yeah, with," Alice grunted, reaching over to her clothes that were laid next to the fireplace and pulled over the scanner. "This. It lets me scan items and find out what gate it come out of as well as their material composition, among other things."

Twilight stared at the scanner with thinly veiled excitement. A chance to learn about another world's technology! "Can you show me?!" she asked, eyes wide and almost sparkling.

Alice couldn't help by chuckle. "Alright. I can use it on, uh, my clothes." Alice pulled over her pants and used the scanner, letting it beep and buzz. With a 'ping', then screen showed 'prime' as the gate. "See, when it says prime, it means this world. Anything else and it'll be the gate designation. Which is usually a letter plus a number or two."

"That's so cool!" Twi exclaimed, grinning. She had now moved up to and against Alice, simply watching her use the device.

It was barely less than ten minutes later and when Alice was done explaining the device and all it does, they heard the hustle and bustle from outside pick up as the market patrons crowded in.

"Oh damn," Alice muttered, rising, much to Twilight's annoyance, and began to slide her clothes on. Buttoning up her shirt, Alice peeked outside to see the streets bustling despite it still being early.

Turning back to the mare, she moved in front of her and knelt down. "Look if you help me with my magic problem, I'll do everything in my power to get you home, okay?"

Twilight's smile widened as she heard what was coming out of Alice's mouth and she nodded quickly. "Of course, I'll help you!" she replied, jumping up and giving a tight hug to Alice's neck!

Alice froze for a second until she realised that Twilight wasn't trying to kill her and slowly wrapped her arms around Twilight's barrel. "I'm glad to hear it." Alice pulled away, causing Twilight to momentarily pout, and stood up. "If you didn't know what I was, then I doubt you'll know half of what's out there. The city is a dangerous place, even for those who live here. Follow my lead and do as I do, not as I say. Got it?"

The Alicorn listened and nodded at the end. "Of course!" she replied, giving a salute.

Alice didn't know if she was taking it seriously or not but decided to go for it. "We'll find something to eat and then some information. The enforcers raided my place, no doubt looking for the magic that you released when you shattered. They'll have the orb you were in, so we'll want that back. We have to find out where they went, and I know just the person to ask."

Twilight followed along as best she could, assuming that Enforcers were the guards in the city.

"I doubt they'll know we're here, considering the night has passed. So, I can safely say they can't track magic as they're not breaking the door down right now. I didn't keep anything could let them track me. I think we're in the clear." Alice moved to the door and opened it slightly, letting the noise from outside reach Twilight's ears.

"Is it always this loud?!" she asked, her ears flicking down.

"You'll get used to it," Alice replied, giving an apologetic look as she opened the door wider. "We'll find somewhere quiet to eat, okay?"

The pair made their way out and down the street, towards the promise of food. Alice, on the one hand was feeling quite excited about the situation now. Sure, she had lost her home, but having someone who not only wielded the power of the divine, but could teach her, more than made up for that.

Twilight kept close to Alice, practically brushing up against her hips as they wandered through the back alleys. Compared to some of the denizens that Twilight was seeing, Alice seemed like the best person she could have ended up with.

With each new sound that she heard, her ears flicked down as the fur on the back of her neck rose. She felt on edge but couldn’t help herself as she stared at a thick and heavy set Reltoid laid back upon a mountain of fluffy pillows. The thing was suckling at long glass pipe, which was connected to a bubbling, frothing cauldron.

With a quick and sharp garbled grunt, the Reltoid waved one of its hands at the mare, causing her to scamper back in line with Alice, her head down low now in case of any more problems.

“Alice, how much longer?” Twi asked, looking up at her guide.

“Not long now, Twilight,” Alice replied, moving around some passer-by and moving into what looked to be a dingy little hole in the wall. “Here we are,” she mumbled, moving inside and keeping the door open for the mare to follow her through.

Alice looked around for the counter, finding the place to be relatively empty compared to the outside and started to make her way towards it.

The inside of the diner was dimly lit, with only the glass door providing illumination from the outside. From above, a few lights hung, giving life to the otherwise drab room. The counter was on the far side, where several people were queued to wait for their food. Chairs and tables littered the place haphazardly, adding a maze-like quality which only the most chaotic would appreciate. The pair, however, did not.

Squeezing her way around the patrons already dining, Alice and Twilight eventually reached the counter and stood in line. It took a second, but Twilight noticed a few people making glancing in her direction and shuffled against Alice.

“Why are they looking at me?” she asked, staring up at the woman.

Looking around, Alice rolled her eyes and started to explain as the line moved forward. “They’ve not seen a quadruped before.”

Twilight seemed satisfied with that and tried her best to ignore them as she waited in line with Alice. Finally, the pair reached the service desk and Alice pulled out the bag of coins. The server was a rather perky, young female Dalma which couldn’t help but smile. Dalma’s were roughly the size of an average human, but with polka-dot, leathery skin, used to inject venom from microscopic needles which they can retract. They have several tentacles slicked back from the top of their head, which flick to-and-fro.

“Hi there, what can I get you?” She asked, looking between Alice and Twilight. “Aw, your pet looks so cute!” the girl continued, causing Alice to look down to Twilight with a chuckle.

“She’s,” Alice said, letting out another little laugh. “She’s not a pet.”

“Oh-”

“No, I’m not,” Twi interjected, cutting the Dalma off as she huffed and shook her head.

“I’m so sorry! I didn’t know,” the server said, giving Twilight an apologetic look. “I shouldn’t have assumed, please forgive me!” The server bowed her head.

“Hey, it’s okay, mistakes happen,” Alice said, waving her up.

“Yeah, no harm done, really!” Twi added, noticing that a few more of the patrons had noticed what had happened, but slowly went back to eating their food. “Can we order some food though?” she asked, hearing her stomach grumble.

“Oh, right, of course,” the server replied. “What would you like?”

Alice ordered for herself and then stopped, unsure. “Twilight, what do you eat?” she asked, looking down at the mare as she began to place a few coins on the counter.

Twilight, happy to explain something, finally, smiled and stated, “Us ponies can eat anything from vegetables to hay. We have a predominantly non-meat diet, but Alicorns can digest a small amount, if needed.” With that, she nodded quite matter-of-factly, then returned the look.

“Right,” Alice mumbled, then turned back to the server, “She can have a salad.”

The pair sat down in a corner booth and waited for their food, with Twilight moving around so she could face the room, her wings ruffling a little out of agitation.

“You okay?” Alice asked, raising a brow. “There’s no weapons allowed down here.”

The mare glanced to Alice, then back to the room for a second, then down to the table. “I’ll be fine. I’m just,” she took a second and sighed, “I feel as if this is a dream still. That I’ll blink and it’ll all be over, and I’ll wake up in my bed.”

Alice nodded as she listened, then leaned on the table. “You and me both,” she said, brushing her fingers through her hair. “But, if we’re to get through this, you have to trust me. It’s not always safe in the city, okay?”

Twi looked as if she was about to say something but closed her mouth instead, nodding. “Okay.”

“Great. Now that we have some time to waste, I guess you could tell me about yourself; Do you remember how you came to be, all, you know, crystally?” the Human asked, a hint of concern still evident. “If it’s not too painful, of course.”

Twilight smiled at that, feeling that the human cared. “I remember most of the day, but I,” she began to recount, unable to stop a slightly painful giggle, “I had a party near the end. Pinkie Pie just couldn’t help herself and set up a surprise birthday party for my twenty first.” Twi shook her head and grinned. “Applejack brought some of her alcohol and I may have, maybe had a little too much to drink.”

Alice simply sat there, listening to the mare with the barest hint of a smile on the edges of her lips. ‘I assume they’re her friends,’ she thought, leaning back once their food had arrived.

“I was stumbling back to my room and there was a silver orb floating in my lab. I just couldn’t help myself,” Twi continued, eyes dropping down to her salad. “I do some stupid stuff when I’m drunk, but this really takes the cake,” she groaned, giving a half-hearted laugh.

Alice scooted over and placed a hand on Twilight’s shoulder. Though she didn’t know what to say, she wanted to do something to try and reassure her new companion.

Twilight tensed up at the contact, but quickly relaxed. Looking over at the woman, she leaned up and nuzzled under her chin, making sure her horn didn’t cut the Human. “Thank you, Alice,” she whispered.

“Don’t mention it. I’ve seen a lot of displaced people not survive in the City. I’d hate myself if I didn’t help, even if it is to help myself.”

The mare stopped for a second and sat back in the booth, using a hoof to hold the fork to begin eating. She knew that it was a basic agreement between them, and Alice was only doing it to get some training. ‘She’s nice though,’ Twi thought, munching on her food. A peaceful silence sat between them as they ate, until Twi placed her fork down and turned to Alice. “What about you? Surely saving mare’s in distress isn’t the only thing you do?” Twi joked, the corners of her lips curling up.

“Me? Oh, not much really,” Alice replied, waving her hand nonchalantly as she stopped eating, pushing her place away. “I was born here in the Burroughs, then started working in the factory when I turned six. Don’t really know anything else. Once I changed,” she said, taking a glance around, “I found that I could charge the tech that people found. Most of it was junk, but sometimes something useful was found and I’d be able to eat that evening."

Twilight was shocked. Silently, she leaned up and wrapped her legs around Alice and hugged her, extending her fluffy wings out to wrap around her as well.

Alice, on the other hand, didn't know what to make of this. Sure, it was nice, but it was a regular thing here and nothing to make a big deal out of. Still, the hug was a welcome change and she found herself sliding her arms around the mare, returning the gesture. "Thanks, Twilight," she whispered, closing her eyes and noticing the mare smelled lightly of lavender.

Pulling away, Twilight smiled and sat back down. She brushed her mane back and finished off the rest of her salad quickly. "Thank you for the food, Alice. Where are we going after this?"

“Well, we’ll have to go and see one of the members of the people that run this place. They are tasked with keeping track of the Enforcers. I’m sure they’re having a field day with what happened.”

"Is the cut from the raid?" Twi asked, bringing her hoof up and gesturing to the cut above Alice’s brow.

Leaning back a little from the hoof, Alice let out a chuckle. “Nah, it's from when I helped to break the crystal, a beam of light shot through my roof after the crystal shattered, hitting me. Thankfully I got us away before the soldiers found us though.” She slid out of the booth and waved her hand. “Come on, we best make our way over there quickly. I’m expecting this to be a strange day.”

Twi slid out of the booth as well and nodded as she followed Alice out of the diner. “Of course. Lead the way.” Twilight could feel her remorse bubble up from below. She had hurt her new friend even before she had known her. ‘I’m a horrible pony,’ Twi thought, looking at the human. ‘I’ll try my best to make sure this is as easy as possible for her. Nopony deserves this to happen to them.’

After this, Alice guided Twilight across the street and through a heavy steel gate. Holding the gate open for Twi, she smiled down at the pony, then continued on. The majority of the city was practically a maze, and this was no exception. Every so often, the pair would come across a home, or business that was built into the foundations of the third level. As usual, there was plenty of trash strewn about, as well as refuse from various trash-shoots from the higher level.

Twilight yelped as one of the shoots let out a bag of rotten fish-heads, which split open upon contact with the wall. Retching, she quickened her pace as she looked a little green around the gills.

“You’ll get used to it, trust me,” Alice said, looking down and giving the pony’s head a little pat. The human, despite only knowing her for the morning, was beginning to like the pony. Not only did she seem smart, but the girl was definitely cute. “We can try to find some,” she tried to find the word, “Less trashy places to wander through.”

The mare nodded, groaning and sticking a tongue out. “Yes please.”

Despite the detour through some less used alleys, the pair still seemed to make reasonable time. Although the sky was hidden most of the time, the lights which hung overhead dimmed and brightened in time with the sky, letting Alice know that it was roughly past noon.

Opening another gate, they moved past and were greeted with a large and busy nightclub. The outside was covered in neon signs of various languages, many of which promised fun. ‘Yeah, real fun here,’ Alice said under her breath. She took a knee and turned to Twilight. “I want you to let me do all the talking in here. They know me, and I can still pull a few favours if I need to. But, I’ll be completely honest, there’s gangsters in there and not the good kind.”

The mare grew nervous now. “Are you sure we have to talk to him? Can’t we get the information anywhere else that isn’t so,” Twi stopped and simply waved at the whole thing.

“Unfortunately, he’s the only one with the tech that can listen in and access the Enforcer’s database. We’ll be able to find where they’ve taken that orb you dropped out of and hopefully find you a way back.”

Biting her lower lip, Twi finally relented and nodded. “If you think it’s the only way, then I cannot stop you. But, let me help at least. Surely they would listen to reason?” She asked, letting her horn start to glow that soft lavender. “And if not, then this will help you.”

Instantly, Alice felt a warm pulse make its way over her body and a translucent, luminous shimmer follow it. She could feel a light pressure over her entire body but didn’t feel any resistance to movement. “What did you do?” she asked, astonishment on her face. She didn’t know if she should be regarding Twilight as a divine yet, but she had her suspicions.

That magic left Twilight panting rather heavily, and she placed a hoof against her temple. “That, that was harder than I expected,” she groaned, shaking her head to stay awake.

Alice took a hold of the mare’s back to hold her steady. “Are you okay?”

Waving a hoof, Twi nodded. “Yeah, I’ll be fine. This world doesn’t have much ambient magic, so I’ve had to use my own. I’ll take a bit to recharge. Don’t worry too much. Thank you, though.”

Alice didn’t know enough about magic to know if she was telling the truth but nodded and backed off. “What did you do though?”

“I cast a protective layer on you. If we’re meeting with gangsters, I’ve found that it’s always best to be prepared, even if it might now always be needed,” she explained, smiling up at her as she pulled back her hoof and kicked Alice’s shin. As soon as Twilight’s hoof hit, Alice’s leg shimmered, instantly stopping the hoof. “See. You’re prepared now.”

“What about you? They’ll probably have guns, you know that, right?” Alice asked, staring at the nightclub, hearing music from within. She knew there wouldn’t be any patrons inside, but that just meant they would be an easier target.

“What are guns?” Twi asked, curious, but hesitant. “As an Alicorn, my body is naturally resistant to most physical attacks,” She went to explain. “I was knocked through a mountain and barely felt anything, though, I was hopped up on other princess’s magic. Still, I’m sure I can withstand anything these gangsters can wield.”

Alice blinked, unable to process what that would even look like, but sighed when she realised she wouldn’t win. “Fine, but you stay behind me. I won’t have you hurt, even if you are strong.”

‘Didn’t she hear a thing I just said?!’ Twi internally grumbled. “Sure. You know best here.”

Nodding, Alice rose up and took a breath to calm herself and made her way towards the nightclub’s doors.

Chapter 5

Alice walked into the nightclub with Twilight close behind. She stopped just outside the main doors which led further inside and glanced between the pair of meaty, human bouncers standing guard and smiled. "I'm here to see Kry'van."

Twilight looked up at Alice, then to the bouncers, one of whom used a hand to pull his suit collar up and mumbled into it.

"Your pet stays behind," the guy ordered, narrowing his eyes at Twilight, who only glared back.

"Excuse me? I'm not a pet! I wish everyone would stop thinking that," she huffed, frowning up at them.

The man blinked at that, then waved them in. "Fine," he muttered. Within a few seconds, the double doors behind them buzzed and one of the bouncers opened a door for them. The low volume of techno music filled the air, vibrating the pair’s bodies.

Nonetheless, the two of them eased their way into the empty nightclub. The floor held various booths for groups of people to sit and drink, as well as a large dance floor in the center. Off to the side sat chairs and tables on a slightly
raised, wooden, platform with the bar just behind, covered with row upon row of expensive looking bottles.

Sat in one of the booths were two Humans and a Reltoid, a briefcase sat on the table between them. Alice couldn't make out what they were saying but could see bags of powder sat within.

Keeping her expression as neutral as she could, Alice gestured for Twi to follow and walked over towards the booth. Stopping in front, she nodded to Kry'van, an older gentleman sat in the center of two male bodyguards. One was a gruff and grizzled Reltoid and the other a younger human, both wearing the same as Kry'van.

Alice had to guess he was roughly middle aged with a long scar down the right side of his face, stretching from his ear to the corner of his mouth. He wore an expensive tailor-made white shirt, black pinstripe trousers and pointed dress shoes.

"Alice, what a surprise!" the guy said, raising his hands and smiling. "What a fortuitous occasion. What brings you to my little slice of tower?"

Alice couldn't help but feel the corners or her lips curl into a smile. "We were in the neighborhood and thought we'd drop by. I'm sure you've heard the news?" she asked, raising a brow.

Kry'van chuckled. "Of course, I have. How could I not? Reports of a strange beam lighting up the night sky and the tower sending a platoon to storm a home on the fourth floor!" He leaned back and let himself relax, waving his hand. "What I don't understand is what you want from me, or why you think I would help you?"

"Because you know as well as I do that the tower is looking for something powerful, and they won't stop until it's found," she replied. "As you said, they don't just send soldiers out for no reason.”

“And you think that bothers me? We’ve hidden this place from every scanner they have. It’s basically undetectable unless they waltz in here themselves. Either way, why would be they concerned with this place. It’s not like it has anything they
would want.” Kry'van's eyes had drifted down to Twilight, who was standing there watching their conversation silently. "And who do we have here?" he asked, intrigued as he leaned forwards. He let his smile morph into a yellowed and black stained grin.

Twilight felt dirty just from witnessing that grin alone and did her best to return one herself. "Twilight Sparkle, sir,” she said, pushing herself to respond.

"Sir!" he laughed, nudging the two men next to him. His laugh was a deep rumble that rubbed the pair the wrong way. "It called me sir! No one's called me that in years," he continued, laughing louder. The two men on either side of him mimicking him as well and beginning to chuckle, despite not understand what was so funny.

Twi and Alice simply stood there for a second before looking at each other then back at the group, Twilight’s face showing her annoying at being called ‘it’. "We're here to find a specific piece of otherworld tech," Alice interjected, causing Kry'van's demeanor to flip.

He stopped laughing and stared at Alice, eyes narrowing. "And why do you think I should help you, huh? You caused the Enforcers to come to the Burroughs and put the council on high alert. Because of you, people are scared for no reason." The human leaned forward and rapped her fingers against the table, before gestured around him. "So, you fucking tell me why I should give you what you want!"

Alice felt the tension in the room explode around her. Kry'van's bodyguards had quickly slid their hands down to their holsters. She nervously brought a hand up to rub at the back of her neck. "Well, I guess," she began, hoping beyond
hope that Twilight's shield could stop Bolter rounds. "Because you owe me?"

Kry'van couldn't believe he had just heard that come out of her mouth. "Me, owe you?!" he said, rising up and exiting out of the booth to stand in front of Alice. "I don't owe you shit! I allow you to come and go freely. The other members might think you're hot shit, but you're just a scraper that doesn't know her place!" he screamed into the girl's face.

Twilight was taken aback at how quickly his anger blew up and took a step back, watching for any sign from Alice, who had simply looked away. Despite this, Twi could see Alice was trying to keep her cool.

"How dare you come into my place and say I owe you!" Kry'van continued. "Who helped you when you had no place to go? Living in the streets. I saw that you could do magic and still kept it a secret! Do you know how much the tower would pay for you? I would be running the entire Under-Burroughs if I sold you." With each point, he pushed his finger against Alice's shoulder. "You know what, if anything, you owe me," he said, reaching up and brushing his stubby fingers over her hair as his anger subsided. "I'm sure we could forget all about this little transgression of you'd come and work here. I'm always in need o-"

He was quickly cut off with a fist striking the side of his face, blinding him as a small flash of light exploded in his vision.

Twilight's eyes widened as she saw that, then her gaze flicked to the bodyguards who pulled out their chunky firearms and began to unload towards Alice's body.

The rounds impacted the shield, and stopped, just like Twilight said they would, but still knocked Alice off her feet once the secondary charge detonated in a blinding flash of light! She was pushed back a couple of feet and crashed through some table and chairs, with the guards still firing their magazines at her!

Twilight screamed and scrambled towards some cover near the back exit while their attention wasn't on her. Finding herself cut off from Alice, Twilight hunkered down and prayed to Celestia her new friend was still alive! She assumed these were the guns Alice had warned her about, but that sheer power was unbelievable.

Alice let out a painful groan as she laid there on the floor, her chest and stomach hurting. She brought her hands and felt herself, finding bits of shrapnel laying harmlessly across her body, but no blood or holes, just the start of two large
bruises, one on her left breast and the other dead center on her stomach.

She winced as bolter rounds continued to impact around her, detonating and showering her and her with debris. Rolling over, she crawled behind the table that was providing her with cover and looked around for Twilight to see her being shot at by the bouncers that were from outside. She cried out as she felt a white hot pain in her arm and saw that a jagged piece of metal had embedded itself from where a round had impacted and splintered a nearby chair.

Reaching over with a quivering hand, she hesitantly began to slide the metal out of her arm, letting out painful whimpers while blood dribbled down her arm to pool beneath her. 'The shield is failing,' she thought, still dazed and confused from the blow. Alice moved her bloodied hands down to the table's neck and heaved it up. She used one hand to steady it as she began to rush towards the bodyguards, pieces of the metal table denting and cracking as she gained on them!

In front of one of the bodyguards, Alice thrust the table forwards as he jumped out of the way. She just about clipped his legs, causing him to tumble to the floor and losing grip of his weapon. It clattered to the ground between them. Seeing an
opportunity, she dove for it, grabbing the gun's grip and yanking it away from him.

She aimed the gun at the bodyguard, hot anger flashing in front of her eyes as she watched him cover his face in terror. Her finger closed upon the trigger, finding only the 'click' of an empty magazine. Blinking in confusion, she realised what she had nearly allowed herself to do and felt the guilt well up inside her. She wasn’t willing to kill.

Feeling another impact, Alice cried out and fell forwards once it detonated. She could barely feel her legs after the that but was relieved the shield was still active to keep her alive.

Turning to the terrified human, she got up and cracked him across the face with the grip of the bolter, before crawling into cover as the Reltoid that was shooting at her reloaded his gun.

***

Plenty of thoughts passed through Twilight's mind as the pushed over one of the tables and ducked behind it, narrowly avoiding a blast of shrapnel. One was how stupid it was to follow Alice into this nightclub, and another was how lucky she was to be an Alicorn!

Above her, the table splintered and shattered apart as bolter rounds impacted and detonated, scouring her fur clean from the heat. Screaming out for Alice, Twilight frantically searched around for her companion, growing desperately
short on cover!

The mare cried out in shock as a bolter round hit the table, bounced off and landed next to her. The next thing Twilight could see was a blinding flash, then Alice bending down with her face bloodied and bruised. She felt herself being picked
up, the smell of burning and magic caught in the back of her throat as well as a deafening ringing in her ears, while her consciousness faded back to darkness.

***

Twilight was once again floating in an endless void, the pain in her body just a mere afterthought now. Looking around, she saw nothing but the inky blackness and curled up. She gripped her tail and stroked it slowly. "Am I finally
dead?" she wondered, mumbling to herself.

"I should hope not, dear Twilight!" a voice called out, one that Twilight recognised.

"Luna, is that you?!" Twi asked, looking around frantically. She found a glow coming from below, one that was nearing her quicker and quicker until a bed was pushed up under her. The mare could see herself laying in the bed, wing
bandaged up haphazardly with Alice asleep on the floor beside it.

Twilight turned around to see Luna materialise, her form flickering in and out quickly. The older alicorn looked ragged and tired. She had developed bags under her eyes and had forgone her usual preening. "Twilight, it is a relief to finally contact you!" she said, closing the gap for a hug and falling through Twilight.

Pulling back, she grumbled under her breath and sat down in front of the mare. "I forgot myself, Twilight," Luna said.

Twilight gasped at the sensation of Luna passing through her and shuddered. "I've missed you too, Luna," Twilight could see that Luna's mane didn't have the same shine it usually did.

Despite the obvious tiredness in Luna's voice, her lips were in a warm, caring smile. "It has been an ordeal to find you. We've spent this last week in the dream realm trying to find you."

"The past week?!" Twi said, looking worried. "I think it's been that long," she muttered, unsure of herself. Climbing off the bed, she looked and paced around.

"Twilight what happened?" Luna asked, taking stock of the creature sleeping on the floor, before turning her gaze upon Twilight once more. "and, where are you? You're not in our universe anymore." Luna followed Twi's pacing around the room, looking worried.

"What happened?" she asked, shaking her head and stopping for a second. "I got drunk, that's what happened. I always make stupid decisions when I'm drunk, especially with magic." Letting out a huff, she returned to her pacing and explained how she had arrived in Salvation.

"Well, that explains this thing," Luna mumbled, looking down to Alice once again. "Your parents will be relieved to know that you are okay. Mentally, at least. Equestria too." Luna rose up and walked over to stand in front of Twilight. "You are strong, Twilight. Never forget that. You are an Alicorn; able to weather any storm." At this, Luna took a breath to steady herself. "Come back to us quickly Twilight." she leaned down and despite not being able to touch, still nuzzled the purple mare, which was eagerly reciprocated. "Well try and visit when we can, but there's some kind of interference, in addition to the distance. We're having to burn up our stars for this. We'll try to find the source when we have time."

Twilight's shock was written on her face. "What?! Why would you do that!" she asked. "Ponies deserve to see your night."

Luna's smile grew warmer upon hearing that. "No, they deserve to have you back, Twilight. My sky can be remade, and the magic can be restored but you are my friend and I will not lose you." With that, Luna's form flickered out for a second then back in. "My time is ending here. We'll try and help once-"

Twilight was left there as Luna's form cut out, leaving her alone in her dream. It was eerily quiet, the dreamscape void from the normally subtle noises that would help ease its occupant.

"How interesting, it seems we have a new magic user in salvation," a voice spoke up, as if echoing from everywhere at once. "With such a strange and unique form as well. This is a truly marvelous night."

Twilight gasped upon seeing the corner of the room begin to crack, as if the very wood and brick had turned to glass and began to ooze darkness. "Who are you?!" Twilight shouted, wings flaring in display.

"Feisty. And curious. You ask, 'who are you', not 'what are you'," the being said, the shadows coalescing into a long, slender humanoid which hunched over. It was swamped in robes which covered the majority of its body and let its hood hang over its head. He raised a shaking, bony hand and pointed towards her. "I have no need for names, Eternal,” it said, stepping forwards and forcing Twilight back with its imposing presence. "The others have not found you, that much is certain. So, I propose a trade"

Twi frowned in confusion at everything she was hearing. "I have questions first!" she asked, folding her wings closed. She couldn’t really sense any hostile intent behind the creature’s words, yet she couldn’t help but felt that it wasn’t telling her everything.

"Of course, you would be a fool if you didn't," it replied, pulling back its finger into its inky form.

"If you have no name, when what are you?" Twi began, eyes roaming the being’s form, not managing to see much other than a bone here and there. "What is an 'eternal'? And what do I have that you would want?"

The thing let out a raspy, choked laugh. "I am, we are, an Eternal. But I have been around far longer, judging by the state your body is in," it said, gesturing to the bed. "As for what I want. What does everyone want? Power." With a twitch of its hand, a miniature copy of the city was laid upon the floor. "I want power to look over my Citizens. The other Eternals
bicker and fight while their people die. But with you as an ally, I can take charge and start to help them."

Twilight had a million questions race through her mind the second this thing had said she was Eternal. Of course, she knew better than to instantly trust information she was told, but stored it down on her mental notepad, for later research. Upon seeing the map, Twilight marvelled at simply how big the city was, it was at least four times as large as manehattan! "Why should I trust you? You invade the privacy of my own dream and ask for my help!"

"You have no reason to," it replied, placing a hand on, what Twilight assumed to be, its chest. "But I know the way home, back to your own universe," he revealed, leaning down towards Twilight. "I'll start you on your journey, if you promise to help me when the time comes."

"When will that be?" Twi asked, her ears having perked up at hearing that he could get her back home. “How will I know?”

"You'll know, trust me," he said, reaching out his hand towards Twilight, the grey and scoured bone looking frosty and uninviting to the mare’s eyes.

Twilight hesitated as she stared at the hand. On one hoof Alice was helping her, but despite being a nice person and someone that seemed to care, Twi didn't think that she'd actually have the means to get her home. Yet, something told her to believe in her new friend. The mare took a step back and shook her head. “I’ll have to think about it,” she replied, giving a glare at the powerful being.

The being huffed and pulled his hand back. “That human can barely help herself, let alone an Eternal. Mortals are so short-sighted. She will end up killing you,” it hissed, turning away from the mare. “We’ll talk when I’m needed,” he finished, before filling Twilight’s dream with darkness that oozed out of every brick, and metal beam.

Twilight cried out as she tumbled down and ever deeper into the void, flipping head over rump as she nearly lost her non-existent lunch. Closing her eyes, Twilight groaned out as she felt herself hit her bed.

***

Twilight awoke with a gasp; her breathing having spiked. She looked around and found herself in the same room, empty of any other being aside from herself and Alice.

Alice's hand gripped the bed to pull herself up. "Good morning, Twi," she mumbled, stretching and letting out a yawn, at least until she winced at the pain coursing through her body. “Fuck, this is going to be a long day.”

Twilight could feel that most of the feathers on her right side had been burnt away, along with some numbness. “What happened?” she asked, rubbing a hoof over her eyes and adding her own yawn. “I remember an explosion.”

Alice shakily rose to her feet and hobbled over to the bath, all the while grumbling to herself. “Yeah,” she grunted, sitting down on the edge, “You were knocked unconscious.” She turned on the bath, letting it fill up before looking over to Twilight. “I guess I believe you about crashing through a mountain. You’re stupidly resistant,” she said, chuckling.

Twilight could see that Alice wasn’t in a great way. She had a hastily bandaged arm and held her stomach tight, wincing with every breath. “Alice, what happened?” she asked, her voice turning more forceful.

The human looked into the water, then closed her eyes as she sighed. “Most of it was a blur, but your shield worked, for a time.” Alice opened her eyes but kept gazing into the rising water. “I got one of them down, but once you were knocked out, the rest went for me,” she began to explain, reaching down to swish the water and gasping in pain. “I was shot. Your shield saved me, but it still hurt like a bitch,” she groaned, reaching for her shirt and weakly pulling it off to dump it on the ground.

In addition to her bruised and cut face, Alice had two deep red bruises that almost spanned the width of her torso. One covered her entire stomach, and another covered her chest. “Don’t worry, they’re hurt worse than they look,” she joked, quickly coughing in pain for that.

Twilight winced as she climbed out of bed and ran over to Alice, staring at the bruises with concern. “That’s,” she said, unable to think of the words.

“Really, Twilight. It’s okay,” she grunted, having to lean over to turn the water off. “Now, get in and I’ll wash you,” she ordered, to which Twilight backed off a step and shook her head.

“No. You’re hurt more than me, you get in,” Twi retorted, frowning. “I’m not an invalid either. I can wash myself, but you can’t!” The mare’s magic tenderly pulled Alice up, unzipped her pants and pulled them down, leaving the Human standing there naked.

Not particularly wanting to deal with this on top of earlier, Alice sighed and said, “Fine.” She turned around and inhaled sharply as she pulled a let up and over, then the other. Sinking into the tub, she found her muscles relax and the strain fade away. Alice felt like she could have simply stayed here forever and give up on everything else in life. Closing her eyes, she said, “I’m sorry.”

Twilight watched, noting the various cuts and scrapes along Alice’s legs and arms, as well as a few uncovered shrapnel wounds that she didn’t bandage over. “Sorry? What for?” Twilight asked, moving over to the tub’s side and resting her head on the rim. The Human looked to be in a sorry state, which could only pull on her heartstrings.

“For getting you hurt. I’m supposed to be getting you home. I agreed for the wrong reasons and I didn’t think my actions through. We both nearly died because of it.” Alice sunk deeper into the water, down until her mouth was covered, a thousand-yard stare covering her eyes.

“I know,” was all Twilight replied with, reaching over and stroking the Human’s hair with a hoof. She couldn’t really stay mad at Alice, especially since she had saved the two of them, even if she did cause this. The image of Fluttershy flashed through her mind, telling her to be kinder to the poor Human as everypony makes mistakes. ‘If my friends can’t be here, I guess I’ll have to try and do as they would do,’ she reckoned, smiling. “Well, let’s get you washed, shall we?”