Salvation's Twilight

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!