Over There

by Boltstrike58

Rating: everyone
Tags: Drama, Original Character, Twilight Sparkle, Main 6, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Human
Length: 31064

Twilight discovers a dimensional disturbance. At the same time, a new pony arrives in Ponyville.

(Pre-season 9)

If a better world was in reach for you, if you could reach someplace that was better if it meant leaving behind everything you've ever known, would you take that chance?

A new pony arrives in Ponyville, someone kind of odd, but nice enough. At the same time, Twilight's discovered a disturbance in the fabric of reality. But these two events couldn't possibly be connected...right?

Cover art created by NixWorld

HOLY SMOKES, I GOT FEATURED! (4/30/20) Thanks, everybody!
(And again on 5/4/20!)
(Again on 5/14/20)

Published 2020-03-01 05:50:01 UTC
Last updated 2020-07-07 19:46:07 UTC

Prologue

A young man found himself walking through the pouring rain in the darkness of the night, a black hoodie pulled over his head, providing some small protection from the elements as he went. Looking at him, most wouldn't draw too many conclusions. He wore simple blue jeans and flat grey shoes. A large, green backpack was hung over his back. What was visible of his face was fairly unremarkable, only revealing pale blue eyes. A few loose black hairs poked out from the bottom of his hood. Why he was even out in such unpleasant weather was anyone's guess, but he didn't care. He was on a mission.

The man made his way down the sidewalk, coming up to a fairly normal building, formed out of grey brick. Standing against the wall of the building, the man reached into his pocket, pulling out a small note, on which was written an address. He compared it to the street number written on the front of the building, making sure that the two matched perfectly. A small smile graced his face.

A faint buzzing emanated from the man's other pocket. He reached in, pulling out the cellphone that sat alone inside, taking note of the caller ID. For the briefest of moments, his thumb hovered over the answer button, but eventually, the man simply replaced the phone without any change in expression.

Walking around the corner of the building, the man discovered a figure waiting in the shadows. This figure was quite a bit more visually interesting than the man. This one wore a thick black cloak with a gold trim, his hood obscuring almost all of his face. The only thing that could be seen were two deep blue eyes, almost black. Beneath the cloak, he was wearing a dark blue suit, with black gloves that went past his wrists.

"Hm..." said the cloaked figure, adjusting his gloves. "I was beginning to think you wouldn't come. No great loss to me, I assure you, but I didn't think you'd be the one to take me up on my offer."

"What do you care? I'm here, aren't I? Let's just get this over with," the man replied.

The cloaked figure chuckled to himself. "Such haste. I see it so often among the young of the world. Always in such a hurry to get wherever you think you're going. Never stopping to think about what you're doing right now."

The man glared at him. "Did you invite me out here just to mock me? Or are we actually going to do this?"

"Sheesh, calm down. I'm a man of my word. I can send you exactly where you want to go," replied the figure.

The man smiled again, his heart beginning to soar. After years of searching, he'd finally found a way. Freedom was within his grasp.

"But I've got to warn you. This is a one-way trip, and a one-time deal. I don't know if their magic will be able to send you back here if you change your mind, but if they do, don't bother looking for me again. I won't send you a second time."

"I'm not changing my mind. I've thought about nothing but this for years. I'm going, and I'm never coming back," assured the man.

The cloaked figure blinked a few times in surprise. "Huh. Usually, that's when they get cold feet. Haven't had someone accept in a long time. There really is nothing for you here, is there?"

"No."

"Very well." Reaching into the recesses of his cloak, the figure withdrew a sharp knife. "It will require a blood sacrifice."

The man didn't hesitate for a second, merely holding out one hand. The cloaked one took the hand in his own, drawing the blade of the knife across the surface of the palm. The man squeezed his eyes shut and hissed in pain, but made no complaint. The cloaked figure then pulled out a small flask, collecting the drops of blood inside until the flask was half full, using his body to prevent rainwater from filling it. He plugged the flask shut, and stepped back a few feet.

A bright golden glow began to form around his hands, causing the flask to levitate into the air. He held his hands on both sides of the flask, before slamming his hands over the small glass container, shattering it. The blood contained within levitated as well, surrounded by the same gold light, eclipsing the red color. The cloaked figure snapped his fingers, and the shining blood formed a massive circle around the man. A cylinder of the gold light formed around the man, and soon, he was hidden from view by the light. The cloaked being finally raised both hands, and clapped them together.

Suddenly, there was a blinding flash of light around the man, completely blocking him from view. Despite the burst of blinding photons, the cloaked figure didn't look away, or even blink. Within seconds, the light show died out, and it revealed the man was gone.

"Good luck, kid. I hope you find what you're looking for."

Author's Note

A little side project I've decided to work on. Don't expect updates too often, please.

Chapter One: Interrupted

Twilight Sparkle actually screeched as she fell backwards onto her hindquarters, slamming into the floor on her side. Her horn sparkled, launching sparks of loose magic off in all directions as the magical surge flared through her body. Her wings shot outwards, and she writhed on the ground in pain as her legs kicked outwards. Her eyes rolled in their sockets, not truly seeing anything, unfocused.

The doors burst open, and Spike and Starlight Glimmer charged in, their eyes wide and mouths hanging open.

"Twilight!" exclaimed the baby dragon, flying over to her. "Are you alright?! Do you need a doctor?! What's wrong?! Where does it hurt?! What—"

Starlight held up a hoof, trying to calm him down, as she ignited her own horn, scanning the struggling alicorn. Her eyes closed as she focused, so she failed to see Twilight starting to slow down and cease her frantic thrashing. Twilight managed to throw a hoof out, and bopped Starlight on the muzzle, knocking her out of her scanning mode.

"Stop, Starlight..." Twilight grunted, "or you'll...feel it, too." Twilight swung her limbs a few more times, before coming to a rest, leaving her sprawled out over the floor, mane and tail ruffled and disorganized, wings spread, and legs sticking out at seemingly random angles.

"Twilight..." Spike asked, cautiously, "are you...what's—"

"I'm fine, Spike. I promise," Twilight replied, taking several deep breaths. "But I could use some help getting back on my hooves if you wouldn't mind."

"Of course." Spike lifted one of Twilight's front legs over his shoulders, using his body to raise her off the ground. Starlight took the other one, and together, the two managed to get Twilight back into a standing position. The alicorn kept her wings spread for a minute, using them to keep her balance, before she felt secure on all fours once again.

"Thanks, guys," she said. "Holy Celestia, that hurt." She tried to ignite her horn, finding that it lit up the way it always did. "There doesn't seem to be any damage. Just a lingering headache."

"What was that?" asked Starlight. "I've never seen that kind of magical reaction before."

"I wasn't even casting a spell," Twilight replied, rubbing her head with one hoof. "All of a sudden I just felt this...incredible surge of magic, like something rippling through reality. The shock wave just...impacted my brain. I don't know how else to describe it."

"I didn't feel anything," Starlight noted, poking at her own horn. "Why would that be?"

"I actually have a working hypothesis already," said Twilight. "When I first became an alicorn, Celestia warned me that, because we have the magic of all three pony tribes, we're more sensitive to changes within Equestria's natural magic field. What I just felt must've been some kind of disturbance to that field. Something very powerful. I have no doubt that Celestia, Luna, Cadence, and Flurry Heart must've felt the same thing. Or if they haven't, they will soon." Within seconds, what she'd just said sunk in, and realization dawned on her face. "Oh, no. Flurry Heart!"

"We'd better write letters to them," Spike suggested. "Just so they know you're okay, and that the effects will pass." He grabbed a quill and several rolls of parchment. "I'm ready when you are."

"Good going, Spike," said Twilight. Without hesitation, she began to dictate, Spike scribbling down her words as fast as possible. Celestia and Luna were merely informed of the coming shock wave of magical force, while Cadence was warned to keep an eye on Flurry Heart, just in case. Twilight offered to come by and visit her niece, should the effects be different on a growing alicorn. The letters were finished in record time, and Spike sent them off. With that taken care of, the two mares and the dragon sat down, waiting for replies.

They didn't have to wait long, as Spike burped out a pair of letters a few minutes later. Celestia and Luna thanked Twilight for the warning, while also telling her that this event should probably be investigated (if she had the time, of course), and promising her that all their resources would be at her disposal. Cadence replied that both she and Flurry Heart were fine, Flurry was just a bit cranky from the headache.

"That's a relief," breathed Twilight, as she put down the second letter. "Hopefully this isn't the beginning of another crisis."

"So you're really gonna investigate this?" asked Starlight. "Not that I think it's a bad idea, of course, but are you sure it's not just a random magical surge?"

"Magic can just flare up across Equis by itself, but not with that kind of strength," said Twilight, thoughtfully. "Something had to actively disturb it. I'd better figure out what, just to be safe."

"Good point."

Before any of the ponies could make another move, a knock on the front door jarred them from their thoughts. Spike reached the door first, yanking it open to reveal a rather excited Pinkie Pie.

"Hiya Twilight! Spike! Starlight!" said the party pony, bouncing on her hooves. "I just came by to drop off invitations for the party I'm throwing later this evening!"

"A party?" asked Starlight. "What's the occasion?" She knew she'd never be able to memorize the birthdays and other special days of every pony in Ponyville the way Pinkie could.

"It's a 'Welcome to Ponyville' party!" said Pinkie, throwing her front hooves into the air with glee. "Ponyville's getting another new resident!"

"Really?" asked Twilight. "Wow, I don't think we've had anypony new since Maud moved here. Who are they?'

"Ah-ah-ah," said Pinkie, waving a hoof, "it's a surprise! You gotta wait for the party to find out!" With that, she reached into her saddlebags, pulling out three invitations, and passing them to Spike. Then she turned on one hoof, zipping down the staircase and rushing off, presumably to deliver more.

"I swear, no matter how long I remain friends with her, I will never understand that pony," Twilight groaned, rubbing her eyes.

"She was telling the truth, though." said Spike, having opened one of the invitations. "There's not even a name for the guest of honor."

"Well, it'll be nice to meet a new pony," said Twilight, taking her own invitation.

The three of them actually ended up getting to Pinkie's party a little bit late. Twilight had insisted on getting started researching the mysterious anomaly during their free time, and had gotten carried away, as only Twilight could. They'd barely started covering Star Swirl's Theory of Dimensional Relativity when Spike reminded them what time it was, and they had to scurry down to Sugar Cube Corner.

Opening the door, they found the party in full swing. Cake had been handed out, party hats were abundant, and Rainbow Dash and Applejack were once again having a friendly contest to see who could break the pinata first. It was everything a Pinkie Pie party should be.

"Hey, Twilight!" said the mare in question, bouncing up to her friend and passing her a slice of cake. "I'm glad you made it!"

"Sorry we're late," Twilight replied, grateful she hadn't made a Pinkie Promise. "So where's our new neighbor?"

Pinkie pointed across the room. Standing a short distance from the primary crowd was a young pegasus stallion, awkwardly eating his own cake and glancing around. He was tall, perhaps almost as tall as Shining Armor, though Twilight couldn't be sure. He was a good deal thinner than her brother, however, which meant less muscle. His coat was a bright red, and his mane and tail were a two-toned blue, matching the color of his eyes. He also wore a pair of green saddlebags over his back, obscuring his Cutie Mark. Twilight frowned slightly at that, but reasoned that he was under no obligation to display the Mark. He had a rather meek expression on his face, looking from one party guest to another, as though unsure of where to go.

"He seems kinda shy," Pinkie admitted. "Not Fluttershy shy, but somewhere close. Why don't you try introducing yourself?"

"Okay," Twilight replied, as she walked towards the stallion, Spike joining her. Starlight decided to walk over and talk to Maud, not wanting to overwhelm their guest. Twilight reached up, tapping the pegasus on the shoulder. "Um, hello?"

The stallion spun around, and for a second, Twilight thought she saw something like recognition in his eyes. But it passed by so quickly, she decided she must've imagined it.

"Oh, h-hi," said the stallion, his expression shifting into a smile. However, the alicorn had become better at picking up social cues, and she could tell his smile was too wide to be natural. He must've been on edge. Of course, this was something Twilight had experienced a lot since becoming a princess. Her status was naturally intimidating, and a lot of ponies had trouble acting normally around her.

"It's alright, I promise. I'm just like any other pony. Hi, I'm Twilight Sparkle." She held out her hoof, and the stranger slowly placed his own against it. "Are you alright? You seem kinda nervous."

"It's just...this environment, I guess. I'm not crazy about parties. I would've turned this down, but Pinkie Pie seemed so excited to throw it. I didn't want to deny her that."

"Well, that was nice of you," replied Spike, speaking up for the first time. "So what's your name? What brings you to Ponyville?"

"Swift Wing," replied the stallion, "and I just figured it was time for a change. The last place I lived just wasn't doing anything for me."

"That's good," said Twilight. "You recognized that you needed something different. A lot of ponies don't do that. Where did you live before?"

Swift Wing's eyes went wide, and he started glancing in various directions, ears flattening back against his skull. He poked around with one hoof. Twilight cringed inwardly, realizing she'd just asked a question he really didn't want to answer. His body language was clearly someone who was trying to come up with some polite way to tell the other pony to drop the subject.

"I'm sorry, if it's uncomfortable for you..." Twilight started.

"Yeah, kinda," replied Swift Wing. "Thanks for understanding, Princess Twilight."

"Please, just call me Twilight," she requested. "Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy Ponyville. Do you have a place to stay yet? I've got plenty of extra rooms at the castle you could borrow—"

"No, no, I wouldn't want to impose. Although..." Swift Wing looked down, as though he were slightly ashamed of himself. "I might actually have to. See, I used the last of my bits before I got here, and I don't really have a job nailed down. Though, if you could help me with that..."

"Oh, certainly!" said Twilight. "There's a special section of the city council that helps ponies in need of work find something that suits them. I can point out their building to you. And if you really don't want to stay in the castle, you can try Humble Hoof Boarding. They're the most understanding ponies ever, and they'd definitely give you an extension on the rent if you asked."

"Excellent!" said Swift Wing. "I'll look into it as soon as this party dies down. Thanks for the help, Prin-I mean, Twilight."

Twilight opened her mouth to continue their conversation, but she was cut off by Rainbow Dash stomping over to them, looking rather annoyed. A quick glance confirmed the source of her frustration: namely, Applejack dancing around in the candy from the pinata she'd just broke.

"I can't believe she beat me again. How does she do it?" grumbled the pegasus. Then she took notice of Swift Wing, and her eyes lit up, problems forgotten. "Hey, there, pal!" She threw a foreleg around the stallion's neck. "How ya doin'? Gee, it'll be awesome to have another pegasus hanging around Ponyville. Any chance you want to be my new flying buddy?"

Swift Wing chuckled lightly to himself. "Uh, no thanks, Dash," he answered. "I'm not much of an athlete. I'm probably faster on my hooves than I am with my wings."

Twilight and Rainbow both raised an eyebrow at that. Running was usually more of an earth pony thing. It was especially odd given that this pegasus was named Swift Wing. Then again, they knew very little about him and his past.

"Aw, that's a shame," replied Rainbow. "Still, not everypony can be the next Wonderbolt, and that's perfectly fine."

Twilight watched as the two pegasi entered into their own conversation, happy that Swift Wing seemed to be settling in okay. Free, her mind wandered back to her research project, and the dimensional abnormality. Scientific studies, were, of course, her favorite pastime, and she'd throw herself into this one with everything she had.

Chapter Three: New Life

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter Four: Brush With Disaster

Swift Wing casually dipped his sponge into the bucket of cleaning solution, before bringing it back to the window and scrubbing again. He smiled proudly as he noticed the visible improvement in his dexterity. He was now capable of standing on his hind legs and manipulating his front legs like arms, making washing the window a breeze. It had taken him a while to get the sponge strap onto his hoof, but he'd managed to do it. He felt happy with his progress, even if he wasn't fully passing for a normal pony yet. That would come in time.

His joyful mood faded as he recalled his time with Rarity and Fluttershy earlier today. He prayed he hadn't aroused their suspicions with his actions. They might run to Twilight, or worse...actually, scratch that. He couldn't think of anything worse than Twilight figuring out his true nature. Because she'd immediately write to Celestia about it. The very thought of it threatened to overwhelm his mind and leave him a crumbling mess. Swift, with a great deal of effort, forced the idea to the back of his mind. He had to focus on his work right now.

As he continued scrubbing the window, removing the blemishes he'd accidentally pressed into the glass, Swift found himself grateful that the Ponyville bank didn't have any windows above ground level. He'd dreaded telling his new employers that he couldn't fly, as that would only spark questions he wasn't capable of answering. Finishing off the window, Swift thought about potential solutions to that particular problem. There was one he could think of, but it was risky, and could come back to bite him. Not to mention, there was always the chance she couldn't (or wouldn't, it wasn't like she owed him anything) do it. At least it was summer vacation, so there was no chance her work at the School of Friendship would interfere with it.

Placing the sponge in the bucket and picking it up by placing the handle in his mouth, he carried it away from the bank, back to the storage shed he'd been given for his work. Once there, he emptied the bucket into the grass, before replacing it and the sponge in the shed. Then he closed and locked it. Turning around, he trotted back to the city council building, where his supervisor, Hard Hoof, waited for him.

"Good job today, kid," said the larger earth pony, passing over a pile of bits. Swift took the bits, placing them into his saddlebags. "I'll see you here at nine, tomorrow. I'll see what I can do about getting you a bit of a raise."

"Thanks, sir," replied Swift, genuinely happy.

"No problem," said Hard, "you seem like a good pony. You work hard. Anything I can do to help you get on your hooves in this town, I'm willing to do."

Swift blinked in surprise. "Uh, wow," he muttered. "That's...actually really nice of you. Are you sure you can do that? I mean, it's not like you have any obligations towards me or—"

Hard waved it off with his hoof. "Don't worry about that, kid. Here in Ponyville, we try to help everypony we come across. When everypony's happy and has it together, the community's stronger. That's just how it is."

Swift felt as though a large weight had been lifted off his back. He hadn't been sure that Equestria would be as friendly as it was portrayed in the show, but so far, that seemed to be the case. Ponies here genuinely cared about each other, and they were perfectly willing to do what they could for a simple stranger who'd wandered into town looking for a place to stay. He felt relieved enough to sing, if he weren't completely tone-deaf.

"Thank you, sir," he replied, simply. "I guess I'll see you in the morning."

Hard nodded to him, and the two ponies went their separate ways. Swift took a moment to count his bits again, before he looked at the nearby cafe. A quick look at the menu informed him that he had just enough bits for a daisy sandwich, which he supposed would serve as a good enough dinner. In addition, he was curious to see what flowers actually tasted like, now that he had a digestive system that could actually process them. Stepping inside, he placed his order and sat down at a table.

Soon enough, the sandwich arrived, along with a glass of water, and Swift found himself faced with another dexterity issue: he wasn't sure how to pick it up. He mentally kicked himself for not paying enough attention to how ponies held things in the show. Deciding to take a small gamble, he glanced around at the other ponies in the cafe, paying close attention to how they were eating. The unicorns, of course, just levitated everything, which was obviously out. Pegasi and earth ponies sort of clamped objects between their front hooves, almost the same way humans used their hands, before lifting it towards their mouths. Sometimes, they simply left the items laying on the plate, and bent down to take bites out, but that wasn't really the way to eat a sandwich. The pegasi also wrapped the tips of their wings around their glasses so they could drink, something Swift definitely wasn't ready for. He quietly groaned to himself, wishing he could ask somepony how to do to this without looking out of place.

Resigning himself to a pretty steep learning curve, Swift reached for the sandwich, placing his hooves flat against both sides. He pushed inwards, trying to get a sort of vice grip on the sandwich, before he carefully lifted it off the plate. The bread crumbled a tiny bit, and a few flowers fell out from between the slices, but by and large, the sandwich held. Swift then carefully pulled it towards his muzzle and bit into it, chewing and swallowing like normal.

As he felt the flowers touch his tongue, Swift was surprised by how sweet they tasted. It was almost like sugar, except this somehow felt more natural. He wondered briefly if horses on Earth tasted flowers like this as well. Satisfied with his choice in meal, he chewed through the rest of the sandwich in record time.

The glass of water proved to be a much larger pain in the rear, as Swift also had to balance it between his two front hooves so that the liquid didn't spill everywhere. He eventually did manage to get the water into his mouth, though it required a great deal of leaning backwards and tilting his muzzle upwards. Nopony bothered to look towards his table, thankfully.

Satisfied, Swift left a small tip for his waiter, and went back to the Humble Hoof Inn, going straight to bed.

Swift woke up much earlier the next morning, long before his shift was scheduled to start, because there was something he needed to do. His control over his wings was improving, but he knew it was only a matter of time before his employers started asking him to do pegasus things. Thus, he needed to figure out whether or not he could teach himself enough to get off the ground.

He made his way to an empty field on the outskirts of Ponyville, with a few mountains off in the distance, and Celestia's sun starting to creep over the horizon. Swift's mind briefly wandered to the fact that the celestial bodies were moved by magical ponies in this world. He was no scientist, but the idea was still ridiculous.

Moving back to his objective, Swift planted all four hooves firmly on the ground and spread his wings. Making sure there were no obstructions in his path, he tensed up, then charged forward, his legs properly galloping this time. He made sure to keep his tail raised, just to be certain it didn't trip him. He raised his wings upwards, and with one heavy flap, he managed to take off, his hooves leaving the ground completely.

This was a new experience for him. Ever since becoming a pegasus, the air around him had felt...different, for lack of a better word. Currents of wind seemed much more prominent, and it was like he could determine the speed and direction before the wind fully formed. It probably had something to do with the pegasus ability to control the weather. Now that he was in the air, those feelings intensified, and his senses took in all the movement of the air around him. He flapped his wings as a feeling of euphoria washed over him. Flying was truly an amazing feeling, one of freedom, one that made him feel alive.

It was a feeling that came to an end as he plummeted like a rock, slamming chest-first into the earth, knocking the wind out of him. Swift grunted as he climbed back to his hooves. "Painful, but not unexpected," he said to himself, shaking the dirt off his body. "I never thought I'd be able to get it down in one try, anyway."

Taking note, he made a second attempt, this time flapping his wings harder to stay airborne. He did manage to hang in there for a couple of seconds, but wasn't able to get himself to rise any higher. More attempts yielded similar results.

Swift sighed after he got back on his hooves, looking down at his wings. "I guess that's it, then," he muttered. "No other choice but to bite the bullet."

He headed off to work, filled with fear over his plan.

Immediately upon the beginning of his break, Swift headed straight across Ponyville, stopping only to grab another apple fritter from Applejack. He messily devoured it on the way, having no time to stop and savor it.

Soon enough, he'd reached the edge of Fluttershy's animal sanctuary, where the yellow pegasus was preparing to depart, Angel in tow.

"Fluttershy! Hey, Fluttershy!" yelled Swift, waving his front hooves. The mare jumped, startled at the noise, but calmed down upon seeing who spoke to her. Angel briefly glared at him, but the stallion ignored the rabbit.

"Oh, hello, Swift," she replied. "I was just getting ready to—"

"Listen, can I ask if you know where Rainbow Dash is?" Swift Wing cut her off. "There's something really important I need to ask her. I'm really hoping she's in Ponyville today, and not off on Wonderbolt business, but I figured you might know."

Fluttershy blinked, apparently surprised, but she answered anyway. "Well, I know she didn't have anything to do today. If she's not napping on a cloud, she's usually hanging around the pond." Then, realization crossed her face, and Swift swallowed, guessing what had caused it. "Hey, Swift? There was something I wanted to ask you about yesterday—"

"Sorry, but I've gotta run! Break isn't too long, you know?" Swift interrupted again. "We'll talk some other time!" With that, he turned on one hoof, rushing off and leaving Fluttershy in the dust.

As he galloped towards the pond, Swift silently cursed himself for doing something else that would only raise Fluttershy's suspicions. Then again, perhaps she'd only think he had some sort of hard life before he came to Ponyville. Maybe that would be okay. Of course, he'd have to come up with a convincing story to keep her from digging too deep. He made a mental note to get started on that at the end of the day.

Once he'd finally reached the pond, Swift noticed, to his delight, that Rainbow Dash was indeed there, catching some rays. The pegasus had a pair of sunglasses covering her eyes, and her forehooves crossed behind her head. Swift, aware that his next action could potentially put him at risk, approached her.

"H-hey, Rainbow?" he ventured, his voice wavering and nervous.

Rainbow Dash raised her glasses, looking over and noticing the stallion. "Oh hey...what was your name...Swift Wing, right! I remember you."

Swift gave her a skeptical look, which caused Rainbow to burst out laughing. After a while, Swift couldn't help but join in, and the two ponies chuckled for a while.

"Anyway," Rainbow managed to gasp out, after reaching the end of her laugh track, "did you need something?"

Swift froze where he stood, awkwardly biting his tongue. This was a plunge he was terrified to take, and for good reason. He was pretty sure he could come up with a reasonable story for his problem, but if Rainbow told anypony else...

He shut that thought down. It wasn't like he had a variety of other options to chose from. He didn't know other pegasi in town well enough to consider taking this risk with them. Besides, Rainbow Dash wasn't a huge gossip like Rarity. He could probably trust her to keep a secret. Element of Loyalty, and all that.

"Listen, Rainbow," he started, "this is really private, so I need you to promise you won't repeat it to anypony."

Rainbow looked a little perplexed, probably due to the fact that he was asking a pony he didn't know that well, but she eventually nodded in response.

"See, I can't...fly," continued Swift, spreading his wings as if to demonstrate. "I was hoping you could teach me? Please?"

Chapter Five: Training

As her brain processed Swift Wing's request, Rainbow Dash felt a whirlwind of emotions tumbling around in her head. She wasn't confused about Swift's lack of flying ability; contrary to popular belief, it wasn't that abnormal. Pegasi who ended up in the foster care system, for example, usually didn't have parents to teach them the basics of flight. Not to mention there could be any number of other reasons for his problem. Rainbow didn't know the intimate details of his life. She did have quite a bit of curiosity about his exact reason. There was some anger as to how this could've happened; one of Rainbow's core beliefs was that every pegasus deserved their chance to fly. Additionally, she was concerned about the stallion himself, wondering how he'd managed to make it this far in life without flying.

Eventually, her curiosity won out. "Why can't you fly?" Suddenly, she bit her tongue, realizing how tactless she'd sounded, but it was too late.

Swift's face fell, and his wings snapped to attention, the way a pegasus' wings did when they were surprised by something. He glanced from side to side, and his ears twitched. "W-well..." he started, as sweat began to drip down his head.

"No, no, no, it's fine!" Rainbow insisted. "I'm sorry, I really shouldn't have asked that!"

Swift released the breath he'd been holding. "Thanks," he answered. "I appreciate it. Like I said, would you mind keeping this a secret from everypony, please?"

"Of course," replied Rainbow. "I already promised. I wouldn't spill your personal information."

"Element of Loyalty, right?" Swift said with a smirk.

Rainbow and Swift shared a small laugh at that, before an uncomfortable silence followed. Now they were back at the main topic, and neither of them wanted to breach it.

"I-I'm not asking you to train me into a Wonderbolt or anything," Swift insisted, awkwardly waving his hooves, "I'm just asking if you can bring me up to speed on the basics. I'm gonna need to be able to get off the ground for my job eventually, so I was hoping you could help me with that."

Rainbow nodded in understanding. Swift didn't seem to be the most social pony, so she, being the first pegasus he'd really gotten to know in town (other than Fluttershy, who wasn't the best flyer), was the one he'd gone to.

"Well," Rainbow started, "I suppose I could. I've never really taught any beginners besides Twilight, but I think I could. Of course, I have my weather job, and Wonderbolt work..."

"I understand," replied Swift. "I'm not asking you to give up any of that. Just when you have time."

Rainbow came over to the crimson pegasus, lifting his wings and examining the appendages, careful not to touch his saddlebags. "Hm," she noted, brushing the feathers apart. "Odd. Normally, with pegasi like you, the wings have almost started to atrophy from lack of use. Sometimes the feathers just fall out like crazy. Yours almost look new."

"Heh...good genetics, I guess," Swift replied, sheepishly.

"You'll definitely need to build up some muscle, though," Rainbow remarked. "Okay, I can take some time off tonight to get you started after you get off work. You know where I've got my cloud house parked? Just past Twilight's castle?"

"Kinda hard to miss it," Swift joked, "especially since that giant mass of crystal draws so much of your attention."

"Yeah," Rainbow acknowledged, "anyways, meet me there when you get off work, and we'll get started. See exactly what we're working with."

"Got it."

Rainbow Dash waited patiently for Swift to arrive. As she did so, she mulled over exactly what she should do about Swift's situation. His problem was nothing to be ashamed of, and there were entire organizations dedicated to helping pegasi who'd never learned to fly. They could probably do a better job than she could all by herself. She considered whether or not she should tell him about those, or inform them about his situation.

Then again, she had promised Swift she'd never tell another pony about it. Part of being loyal was keeping promises. She decided she wouldn't go to anypony else without his permission, but perhaps she should refer him to somepony more experienced in this kind of thing. He probably didn't even know there were ponies trained for this sort of thing. Heck, Rainbow herself hadn't known until a few years ago.

She looked down, noticing the pegasus in question coming up the road. Rainbow tossed the idea around in her head, deciding that she'd see how we she did as a teacher before trying to pass him off. Swift clearly wanted as few ponies as possible aware of his condition, and she had to respect that.

She took off from her cloud house, flying down to land in front of Swift. "So, you ready to rock?!" Rainbow yelled, slipping easily back into her confidant persona.

"I hope so," replied Swift, sounding somewhat apprehensive. He had a genuine smile on his face, though, so that was a good sign.

"Alright," Rainbow began, "let me give you some lessons about how flying actually works. A lot of non-pegasi don't know this, but it's not only wing muscles that go into flying. There's your leg muscles, which you need in order to push yourself off the ground. Also, you'll need your gluteal muscles to help hold your body up in mid-air." She came over to Swift, gently prodding his muscles, getting a feel for their strength. "You've got some pretty good legs. Didn't you say at the party that you were into running?"

"A bit. I mean, I'm no athlete, but I used to go running at least once a day."

Rainbow chuckled a bit. "At least you'll be easier to train than Twilight. I wasn't surprised, because, y'know, she's a bookworm, but she had practically no muscle built up. Her alicorn wings didn't come packed with muscle, either. We needed to spend a lot of time building those up."

"I'm guessing I'll need to as well, in order to get my butt off the ground."

"Well, let's see where we're starting." Rainbow flapped her wings, lifting her into the air a little bit. "Why don't you try getting off the ground, and we'll see where we have to go from there?"

"I don't have to do a running start?" asked Swift.

"Sometimes, that helps, but most of the time, you won't have to," said Rainbow, "When your wings get strong enough, you'll be able to take off from anywhere. Also, since you're a beginner, you'll want to have the wind behind you at all times. It'll help propel you forward a little bit. Otherwise, you could go gliding backwards."

"Okay." With that, Swift turned to the appropriate direction, and tensed his body up, spreading his wings from their positions on his sides. Rainbow noticed that it took him a second to get them unfolded from their current position, but that didn't surprise her. If he'd never learned how to fly, he wouldn't have learned how to control his wings super well either. He managed to get them sticking straight outward, before crouching down with all four legs, and leaping into the air.

As he rose upwards, Swift began stiffly beating his wings, trying to maintain his flight. Rainbow took notice of his form, trying to catch all his mistakes so she could correct them. But he seemed to be holding it, at least for the moment. His wings pushed through the wind, using the air to propel himself upwards.

Unfortunately, that was when he began to beat them too hard, not gathering enough air to support himself, and each push of his wings wasn't enough to keep him airborne. Swift Wing wobbled in the air a bit, before he pitched forward, crashing face-first into the grass.

"You okay?" asked Rainbow, coming over to help him to his hooves.

"Yeah, just lost some dignity," Swift admitted. "So, how bad was my form?"

"Not too bad, actually," Rainbow admitted. "There isn't one perfect pose a pony has to do in order to fly. The biggest problem I could see was the way you flapped your wings. You had the rhythm down for a minute there, but then you sped up too much. I'm guessing you were trying to go higher, but not catching enough air to stay up. I think we should try to build up some strength in your wings, first."

"Fair enough. What do I do?"

"We'll start with some wing-ups. Brace the tips of your wings against the ground."

Swift nodded, before placing his front hooves behind his back. He then spread his wings again, before angling them downwards and placing the tips against the ground.

"You know, you might have an easier time if you took off those saddlebags," Rainbow pointed out. Indeed, he'd never taken them off in the entire time she'd seen him.

"Er...no thanks," replied Swift. "It's not that I don't trust you or anything, I just get nervous when I leave what's in these alone."

Rainbow shrugged. It was his choice.

Swift's wings held him up, and his back hooves kept his entire body braced. He then began bending the tips of his wings, attempting to push himself up, but one wing slipped, and he slammed down again.

Rainbow sighed. They had a lot of work to do.

Twilight, Starlight, and Spike stood by the side of the railroad leading from Ponyville to Canterlot. Twilight had brought a number of books related to dimensional anomalies, which Spike was currently carrying with no problem (he'd had more than enough practice carrying Rarity's luggage). The two mares were currently looking down at the grass, where a large hole stuck out in the field like a sore hoof, exposing the earth below. Around the hole, a circle of grass blades were singed black, as though burned, and Twilight was looking at them with a magnifying glass.

"So, based on our calculations, whatever it was that touched the barrier of Equestria's reality, it happened here," said Starlight.

"That would explain this grass," said Twilight. "A rupture in the fabric of reality would produce a significant amount of volatile magic. Lucky there was nothing important nearby to be damaged."

"It's too bad there wasn't any wet mud or anything like that in the area," said Starlight, "otherwise, if something came through, there'd be tracks we could follow."

Twilight put down her magnifying glass. "That doesn't mean we can't figure out where this thing might've gone," she stated. She looked from side to side, glancing between Canterlot and Ponyville. "If it's an intelligent creature, and not just some wild animal, it would probably make its way towards the nearest town."

Spike took a look for himself. "Well, Canterlot would require a lot of climbing. If it were me, I'd have gone towards Ponyville. Then again, we don't know if it can fly..."

Starlight put a hoof on her chin, deep in thought. "Well, obviously, there haven't been any reports of strange creatures wandering into Ponyville, so if it did come there, either it's hiding from sight, or..." She paled a little as an idea crossed her mind. "Or it can blend into the town."

"What, are you thinking it's a shape-shifter? Like a changeling?" asked Twilight.

"I don't know. We don't have any real idea what we're dealing with. It's from a completely different dimension." Starlight poked the ground with her hoof. "For all we know, it could be one of those hairless monkeys from Sunset Shimmer's world."

"Starlight, for the last time, they're called humans."

"Whatever."

Spike put down the books. "Well, Thorax once told me about a changeling spell that can detect changelings in disguise. Maybe we could get him to come and cast it around Ponyville?"

"We should probably use it around Canterlot, too," said Twilight. "We can't assume it thinks exactly like we do."

"But there's always the chance that, if it can shape-shift, it doesn't use what we would recognize as changeling magic," Starlight chimed in. "Or that it can't shape-shift at all, and is currently hiding out in the Everfree Forest. Or it's invisible and..." Starlight's voice died out as she started muttering about even more possible scenarios that could be going on.

"Is that what I look like when I'm Twilighting?" asked the purple alicorn.

"Pretty much, yeah," said Spike.

Twilight placed a comforting wing over Starlight's back, snapping the unicorn out of her rambling. "It's okay, Starlight. We'll come up with a plan to cover as many possibilities as we can figure out. Whatever this thing is, we'll find it."

Starlight smiled a little, her spirits lifted ever so slightly. "I'll write to Thorax. Even if he can't come himself, he'll probably be able to send a changeling capable of casting that spell."

"Good thinking." Twilight ignited her horn, levitating over a quill and a piece of parchment over to Spike. "Spike, can you write down a letter to Celestia for me?"

"Sure, what do you want to say?"

Twilight began to dictate:

"'Dear Princess Celestia, We've been making some progress in determining the source and result of the dimensional anomaly. Based on some information from Discord (and yes, I'm aware that it's Discord, but I trust him on this matter), we now believe that something may have passed through the barrier of our reality, into Equestria. We are not aware of its purpose in coming here, or if it even has one, or is merely lost in a world not its own. We are currently formulating a plan to search for it, and hopefully discover an explanation for its presence here. I will continue to provide you with updates as we make progress. Yours truly, Twilight Sparkle.'"

Spike finished writing the letter, before wrapping it up and breathing a burst of green fire over it, sending it to Celestia. "So what do we do now?"

"Now we start looking."

Chapter Six: Memories

He found himself wandering down a dark corridor. He pressed his hand against the wall, finding it cold to the touch. The floor was chilling as well, considering his bare feet. At least he had clothes on, so that was a relief. The bad news was that he couldn't see anything ahead of him. Just an endless void of darkness. He took a quick look behind him, only to find the exact same thing. He couldn't see anything beyond his current position.

He stopped walking for a second, trying to get his bearings. Where was he? Why was he here? In fact...who was he? His brain felt foggy, like someone had jumbled all of his thoughts. He couldn't make heads or tails of anything. He flattened his hands against his skull, trying to get somewhere.

Let's start with something simple. What's my name? I have to have a name.

A name...a name...there! His name was Ma—NO! His name was Swift Wing. He'd left that identity behind. He was only Swift Wing now. In fact, he wasn't supposed to be a human. He looked down at his hands, at the inherent wrongness of them. He'd given them up, they weren't supposed to be there.

As if responding to his thoughts, his body suddenly began to shift, red hair sprouting along the length of his arms and legs. His fingers retracted into his hands, and hooves grew in their place. He leaned forward as his body made the metamorphosis from bipedal to quadrupedal, his pegasus body slowly replacing his human one. He reached up with one hoof, feeling his muzzle and ears return, and a quick check behind him confirmed that his wings and tail were where they belonged as well.

Good.

A small part of him wondered exactly why his body had changed in the first place, but it wasn't loud enough for him to notice. Now, all Swift could think of was where he was. This place didn't look familiar to him. He'd been around enough of Ponyville to know that this wasn't any part of it. He took one more sweeping glance, but all he could see was the same blanket of shadow as before.

Then he heard the electrical pop as a light turned on behind him.

Swift, fearing an attack, spun around on one hoof, front legs poised, ready to fight...and froze where he stood.

No...please no...it can't be...

But it was. It was her.

She seemed to stretch upwards, taller than she'd ever been, even when he was a child. She absolutely towered over his pony body. Swift froze where he stood. His ears folded backwards, and his tail fell as he cowered before her. He already knew what was coming.

"Well, look what dragged itself in and took a dump on the carpet," she spat. "Not that you're good at anything else."

"But I...I didn't do anything..." Swift mumbled.

"Exactly. You didn't do anything. You stood around like the worthless piece of garbage you are. You know I wouldn't have to tell you this if you would endeavor to be less of a moron, right?"

"Shut up!" Swift tried to snap back, but his heart just wasn't in it.

"Oh, that's real original. Of course, you're not capable of coming up with an original thought, are you? Your brain just doesn't have the capacity to think of anything clever."

"Just leave me alone..." Swift whimpered, turning away from her, so she wouldn't see the tears starting to form in his eyes.

But she didn't stop. Her whole body began to contort, spreading until it took over the entire room, turning a shade of inky black. Her eyes glowed yellow as they bored into his soul, and no matter where he turned, they were always right in front of his face.

"Do you honestly think that these ponies will accept a freak like you?" she demanded. "That, once they find out what a loser you are, they won't just ditch you? You'll be just as pathetic on this planet. Just do everyone a favor and—"

"ENOUGH!"

A blinding blue glare emerged from the darkness, forcing Swift to clamp his eyes shut to block it out. She kept talking, but her words were drowned out by the rushing of air past his ears. The light continued to flare, obliterating the darkness, and with it, her. Soon it was gone, and Swift was alone in the hallway.

Or, so he thought.

"Swift Wing, are you alright?"

Swift looked up, discovering that bright blue light, while diminished, was still glowing quite a bit. An alicorn was stepping out of the light, into his view.

"Oh, Princess Luna!" he gasped out, before he remembered to bow. He sure what the proper etiquette was for this situation, they hadn't shown it in depth on the show.

"Rise, my little pony. I come to you merely as a friend," Luna insisted. Swift obeyed, getting to his hooves and wiping his tears away once again.

"So, I guess this is just another nightmare, right?" he asked, carefully moving his wings so that his flanks were covered.

"Just a dream," Luna replied. "There is nothing that may harm you here, at least not physically. I ask again, are you alright?"

Swift mentally conjured up a tissue, blowing his nose quickly. "I-I'm fine," he insisted, "just some bad memories. I'm sure you can relate."

Luna nodded. "Who was that...being, may I ask? I didn't get a clear look at her, but..."

"Somepony unpleasant. From my past," Swift explained. "Somepony I'd rather forget. Thanks for getting rid of her."

Luna looked at the pegasus with a quizzical expression. Swift felt a little like a bug being examined under a microscope. He was genuinely grateful for Luna's help, but she was getting a bit too close for his comfort. He felt a little guilty for thinking that, considering she was one of his favorites from the show.

"Are you certain you are well? I understand you may not know me very well, but if you are troubled, I'm willing to lend you my ear."

Swift shook his head. "I appreciate the offer, Princess, but this is something I'd rather keep to myself. I-I'm not really comfortable sharing my private life with others. Please don't take it personally, I'd be the same with anypony."

Luna eyed him a little more, but eventually, she must've seen the logic in his words. Silently, she turned on one hoof, reopening the portal she used to enter the dream.

"I will respect your wishes, Swift Wing," she replied. "Farewell."

With that, she departed, leaving Swift alone with his thoughts. However, after the nightmare his mind had conjured up, Swift wasn't so sure that was the best place to be.

As the days went on, Swift Wing began to settle into a comfortable routine. He'd report to work early in the morning, take a break for lunch, then work until the evening. After that, if Rainbow Dash was available that day, they'd return to flying lessons. Rainbow was no drill sergeant, but she did push him pretty hard, forcing him to keep building up strength in his wings. The good news was that he was beginning to show progress, managing to stay stable in the air for longer and longer. Soon, they'd be moving on from gliding to actual ascension, and Rainbow assured him it would be the best feeling in the world. Swift had smiled at that thought, grateful that he'd transformed into a pegasus. Not that being a unicorn or an earth pony would've been particularly bad, he'd just always wanted to fly.

At the current moment, Swift Wing was polishing the roof on top of Carousel Boutique, having managed to get just enough wind under his wings to get to the top. Rarity was out, thankfully, working at another of her boutiques. Swift didn't look forward to meeting her again, having to explain his freakout the last time they talked.

"Excuse me, Swift Wing?" came a small voice from down below.

Swift froze in the midst of his cleaning, knowing exactly who that voice belonged to. He looked down to the ground, and sure enough, there was Fluttershy, Angel Bunny as present as ever on her back.

"Oh, h-hi," he stammered."N-nice to see you again, Fluttershy."

"I hope you don't mind, but I asked Hard Hoof where you'd be working today, and he told me you'd probably be here right now, and I really wanted to talk to you."

Swift silently cursed Hard Hoof for giving the timid pegasus that information, then immediately felt bad about it.

"Well, if you want to talk, could you please fly up there?" he asked, pointing to a loose cloud that'd been left adjacent to the boutique. "I'd love to talk, but I don't want to quit in the middle of this."

"Certainly," replied Fluttershy. She flapped her wings, flying up and landing on the cloud, Angel holding on tight.

"So," Swift began, as he cleaned another blemish off the roof, "I suppose you wanted to ask about my rather sudden...departure from our lunch the other day."

Fluttershy nodded. "I know, it's probably very private, but—"

"No, no, I understand. It's only natural to be curious. Besides, after what I said, and the way I ran out on you girls, I wouldn't blame you for being worried."

Though he was putting on a face of normalcy, internally, Swift was nervous. Over the past few days, he'd been trying to come up with a believable backstory for himself that he could tell ponies who asked, but he hadn't managed to fine-tune it as much as he would've liked. While he was reasonably sure he'd eliminated any inconsistencies, the story he had right now was uncomfortably close to the truth (obviously, he wouldn't reference anything about his true nature, but still). At least he wasn't telling anything super out of the ordinary. And Fluttershy's curiosity would have to be sated sooner or later.

"So, you were talking about having everything fall apart, and having to start over," Fluttershy began. "I'm guessing that's something you have...experience with?"

"Essentially," Swift replied, doing his best to keep his voice calm. "It wasn't...one big event where my life fell to pieces, or anything like that. It was pretty gradual. I stopped seeing my friends, stopped talking to other ponies. I was pretty much non-existent. I couldn't find much reason to keep going where I was, so...I wandered Equestria for little while. Lived off what bits I had saved up. Eventually, I heard about Ponyville, and it sounded like a nice enough place to kick back and start all over. Now, here I am."

Fluttershy had a sympathetic look on her face. "That sounds horrible!" she exclaimed. "All your friends just deserted you? Why would they do something so cruel?"

"I guess they just got tired of dealing with my problems. In hindsight, it was at least partially my fault for not making a ton of effort to keep in contact. I've accepted it, though." Swift continued scrubbing, a slightly forlorn expression on his face. "Besides, Ponyville so far seems comfortable enough that I can just forget all those problems."

Fluttershy smiled happily. "I'm glad you've adjusted. It can be hard to start completely over with a new environment. I had to start over when I moved from Cloudsdale to Ponyville."

Swift smiled. "Thanks for understanding, Fluttershy," he said. "I guess there's a reason you're the Element of Kindness."

Fluttershy blushed a little at the compliment, but recovered quickly. "Are you sure there's nothing you need me to do for you? I'm not the most social pony, but Pinkie Pie is really good at helping ponies get out of their shells. I could ask her, it wouldn't be any trouble."

"No, thank you," Swift insisted. "I'm already on my way to making friends in this town. I'm not having any real problems right now."

"Alright, if you're sure," said Fluttershy. She flapped her wings, taking off from the cloud. "Well, I've got some errands to run, so I'll see you later."

"See you," Swift said with a wave. The butter yellow pegasus flew off, leaving Swift alone. He released the breath he'd been holding, feeling like he'd dodged the closest thing to a bullet one could find in Equestria.

After finishing his shift, Swift Wing found himself wandering aimlessly through Ponyville. Rainbow Dash wasn't available for flight lessons today, so his evening was to be spent however he wanted. He wasn't sure what he wanted to do, though. All he knew was he wasn't in the mood for a long, solo training session. He'd eaten, so that was taken care of.

Then, an idea came to him. He may have watched the show, but that didn't mean he automatically knew everything about this world. There could be gaps in his knowledge that could possibly blow his cover, and he had to ensure those gaps were covered quickly. There was one place where he could learn everything about Equestria, and that was the library.

Twilight's castle wasn't easy to miss, being the largest building in the entire town, and also made out of gleaming crystal. Swift trotted up to the steps, climbing his way to the entrance. He quietly hoped he wouldn't have to actually speak with the Princess of Friendship herself, considering she was probably the one most likely to figure out what he was, but he was reasonably sure he wouldn't give himself away if they did meet.

As he reached the door, it suddenly swung open, revealing a very strange creature. It looked like a moose and some sort of green insect had a baby, with bright purple eyes, great orange horns, and sparkling gossamer wings folded onto its back.

It took a second, but Swift recognized what stood before him. "Oh, K-King Thorax!" he stammered, nearly tripping and falling backwards down the stairs in the process. "S-sorry, I didn't mean to get in your way—"

"It's fine," replied the changeling, "you didn't do anything wrong. And please, you can just call me Thorax. I never cared much for that 'king' stuff."

"A-alright. If you insist," replied Swift, standing aside so that Thorax could descend the stairs. He wondered for a moment why the changeling was even here today. He shrugged it off, reasoning that it was none of his business.

With one more quick glance at the departing changeling, Swift strolled into the castle, feeling the crystal cool to the touch on his hooves. The interior of the structure was as massive as expected, with the ceiling stretching higher up than Swift was capable of flying. Several hallways led out in various directions, but thankfully, there was a directory right at the front, indicating which way led to the library sector. Swift smiled to himself, thankful for Twilight's organizational skills.

Swift then headed down the hallway, reaching the library in a matter of minutes. No other ponies were present at the time. The only one there was Spike, who was re-shelving books many feet above the floor with the use of his wings. Swift's mind wandered, remembering how strange it was to see Spike with those wings. He'd barely met the dragon at his welcoming party, but Spike had been on screen for seven and a half years without them.

Suddenly, the small dragon noticed his guest. "Oh, hey, Swift Wing!" he exclaimed, shoving the last book into the shelf and flying down to meet the pegasus. "How are you doing today? You're not here to make an appointment with Twilight, right?"

"Nope, I'm just here to check out some books," replied Swift. "I was just hoping I could get some material about history, and things like that."

"Coming right up!" Spike answered, flying up to the history section. Swift breathed a small sigh of relief. Spike hadn't even thought about asking him to get to books himself, meaning he wouldn't have to tell the dragon his secret, where it would undoubtedly find its way back to Twilight. He guessed the little guy was just that nice.

"Let's see, what exactly are you looking for? We have Historical Footnote's 'A Basic History of Equestria' volume I-III, Clover the Clever's 'Unrest Before the Unification,' and, ooh, 'A Modern Recounting of Equestria's Legacies,' by Fact Checker..."

"You know what? Let's just go with all of those," Swift spoke up. "I'm sure I can get through them pretty quickly."

"If you're sure," Spike replied. He grabbed the five books, one at a time, pulling them down and passing them to Swift. Swift scribbled his name down five times in the register, next to the appropriate book titles, before slipping them into his saddlebags.

"Thanks for your help, little buddy," he said politely, holding out one hoof. Spike shook it.

"No problem," replied the dragon. "That's why I'm the number one assistant—"

There was a thump as a door opened up behind him. Spike turned around, and Swift directed his eyes to the door, finding Starlight Glimmer standing there, her horn glowing from shoving the door open.

"Spike! Would you mind closing the library a little early today?" she asked. "We're gonna need you for this next part." She noticed their guest. "Hi, Swift Wing."

"Hey, Starlight," said Swift, waving. "Don't worry about me, I already got what I needed."

"Yeah, he's good," said Spike. "Twilight's working on a pretty big project right now. I'd tell you more about it, but, y'know, official Princess business."

Starlight laughed a little bit at Spike's joke.

Swift nodded. "Thanks for your help again," he replied, making sure his saddlebags were secure and leaving the castle.

Author's Note

I usually alternate updates between this and my other story, but after the reception the last chapter got, I had to do this one next.
On a related note, we've reached 200 people tracking this story! Thanks, everybody!

Chapter Seven: Progress

Starlight and Spike rejoined Twilight in the living room of the castle, where the purple alicorn sat surrounded by books, lengths of parchment, and writing materials. Her horn was flaring with magic and levitating several quills that scribbled away at the same time.

"Okay, so with Thorax's help, we've determined that there is no changeling magic being used to conceal the being from another dimension. At least, not in Ponyville or Canterlot," Twilight concluded, crossing 'changeling magic' off her list of possible hiding mechanisms. "Where does that leave us?"

"To be honest," Spike said, as he went down that list, "not that different than before. We've still got a lot of things we haven't ruled out, and we're still not one hundred percent certain if it's really here or there."

"He's right," Starlight added. "I don't like to admit it, but we're not making a lot of progress. Obviously, it's not some giant monster, because we would've heard about that by now, but that doesn't exactly narrow it down."

Twilight groaned. Problems like this, where she didn't have access to all data surrounding the conundrum, never failed to frustrate her. It wasn't like it was anypony's fault, and she was doing the best she could with what she had, but even that didn't seem like enough.

"Well, let's look at it this way," she continued, "if it were a sapient being who just randomly fell into Equestria and was lost, we most likely would know about it, because they'd have asked for help, and somepony would've seen them. So there's a strong possibility that it's either a non-sapient creature with the intelligence of an animal, or..." She paused as the troubling thought occurred to her. "...or it's an intelligent creature that wanted to come to Equestria. Or at least to pass through the portal."

"That doesn't mean it's evil!" Spike hurriedly pointed out, before either of the mares could start Twilighting. "Maybe it's an explorer who just wants to observe pony life and then return to its home dimension."

Twilight nodded slowly. "We can't rule that out. Thanks, Spike."

"Hey, Twilight?" ventured Starlight. "This might be a stupid question, but have we considered that what came through might be a pony as well?"

Twilight froze where she sat. That was something she hadn't conceived, at least not seriously. She'd been operating under the assumption that something from an alternate dimension couldn't possibly look like a normal (well, normal to them) pony. But, since she didn't know anything about the dimension that had connected to Equestria for those few seconds, she had to recognize the prospect that beings in that dimension looked exactly like the ones here. Thinking about it, she really should've done so previously.

Then another idea hit her like a lightning bolt.

"So...we might just be looking for any old pony," Spike groaned, slapping his face with one claw. "That narrows down the search."

"Wait a minute, I just had a thought," Twilight cut him off. "Remember how the mirror portal changes Sunset Shimmer back into a pony? And how the other portal changed all the Canterlot High students on that cruise into ponies?"

"Yeah, but what's your point? You don't feel it when they use those portals, so it can't be anyone from that world."

"Yes, but that's not the focus here. The point is, what if the rift that let something in behaves like that? What if, when it interacted with Equestria's magical field, it altered their body, changing them into a pony or some other sapient species that lives here? Pony is the most likely candidate, since we're the species most closely connected to the magical field, but the main takeaway is, what if that's what happened?"

Starlight thought about it. "It's another theory to add to our list, I suppose," she finally replied. "At least we're not leaving it out. But that still leaves us no closer to finding this thing."

"Not necessarily," Spike pointed out. "If the tear in reality did change whatever we're looking for into something native to this planet, that could be a clue. First of all, they'd be in a completely new body, something they're not used to. They'd be adjusting to that body, trying to get to a point where they could walk and stuff. If we find a pony who's had trouble with seemingly mundane tasks, that might be our subject."

"Good thinking, Spike," said Twilight, jotting down what he'd said. "But by itself, that's not enough to find this being. Sure, we can keep a close eye on ponies doing everyday things, but there's no guarantee we'd be looking in the right place. Plus, the rift happened almost a week ago. They've had time to learn and adapt, maybe even enough to fool us."

"And if they came with hostile intent..." Starlight began, nervous sweat beginning to drip down her face. "To spy on us, that's what they'll be trying to do. Because they won't want to be noticed."

"Calm down, Starlight," Twilight insisted, getting out of her chair and walking over to her friend. "We don't know for certain that they have any dangerous designs on Equestria. Really, there could be any number of explanations we haven't thought of yet."

Starlight took another deep breath, putting on a relaxed face for Twilight. Inside, however, she was still nervous. The idea of extra-dimensional invaders who were secretly moving among Equestria's populace was not a pleasant one. In fact, it terrified her. But Twilight was correct, they didn't know for sure that was the case, and panicking about it certainly wouldn't make things easier.

Twilight, having gone deep into thought, suddenly perked up again. "I just had a brainwave!" she announced. "Unfortunately, this idea is going to require some outside help."

"What kind of outside—" Spike began, but Twilight wasn't listening to him.

She'd already ignited her horn, focusing her magic down the appendage. A bright sphere of white energy gathered at the tip, glowing so brightly the others had to close their eyes to keep from being blinded. Twilight lowered her neck down, then snapped it back up as she released the spell.

With a simple popping sound, Discord appeared in the room. He was sitting at a simple desk, writing on a piece of paper with a pen. Of course, this being Discord, he was writing with the back end of the pen.

"'My dearest Fluttershy,'" he began, not noticing his change in surroundings, "there is something I simply must confess to you. You see, I—'" Then he looked up, discovering what exactly had happened to him for the first time. "What the—?!" Then he rounded on Twilight. "Really, Princess?!"

"I'm sorry, Discord," Twilight hastily replied, genuinely apologetic. "But this is an important matter, and it just can't wait."

Discord sighed, placing his lion's paw over his eyes. He snapped the eagle talons on his other hand, causing his desk to disappear, presumably back to his home. "What is it, Twilight? And please make it quick. My time is valuable."

Twilight resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Listen, we may have an idea on how to locate whatever it was that passed into our dimension. We think that it may have taken the form of a being native to this world, meaning we won't just be able to pick it out of a crowd. However, according to Starswirl's Law of Dimensional Interaction, every different reality vibrates at a different frequency, and that extends to the living beings inside it. If we could somehow get a pinpoint on the frequency of the dimension this creature came from, we could easily identify it! And—"

"And you were hoping that I, master of chaos magic, capable of warping between realities at will, would be able to isolate this frequency," Discord finished. "That is a logical deduction, Twilight. And I must admit, the idea of this challenge is...intriguing to me." Indeed, his face had lost all traces of boredom, and he looked genuinely invested in it now.

Twilight smiled hopefully. "Will you please try? I promise to do you a favor in return."

Discord shrugged. "Most favors that I need would be beyond your abilities, Twilight," he said, "let's just call this a friendship favor and leave it be." He snapped his fingers again, conjuring a pair of horn-rimmed glasses in the air. "Now, it'll take me about a day, but once I figure out that frequency, I'll place an enchantment on these glasses. Then, when you wear them, you be able to see a shimmer of light in the air through which that otherworldly creature has passed, as well as on its body. If it is here in Ponyville, it should be easy to spot."

Twilight leaped from her position on the floor, wrapping her front legs around Discord's midsection and hugging him tightly. The chaos spirit stared in surprise, as did Spike and Starlight, but Twilight didn't even seem to notice.

"Thank you thank you thank you!" exclaimed the alicorn. "You have no idea how much trouble this saves us! Thank you so much!"

"Uh...sure. You're welcome," Discord replied, clearly uncomfortable. Feeling awkward, he snapped his fingers, disappearing with another pop. Twilight almost fell face-first onto the ground, but managed to catch herself with her wings.

"Well," said Starlight, as Twilight got back on her hooves, "that cuts down on our workload."

"Sure, but it doesn't eliminate it completely," replied the Princess of Friendship. "Spike, can you take another letter? We should inform Celestia and Luna of our progress."

"Way ahead of you, Twilight," replied the dragon.

"Now remember," Rainbow yelled, ensuring that her voice crossed the gap between her and the other pony, "you gotta flap rhythmically! Not too hard! You gotta feel the wind and use it to keep yourself airborne!"

The target of her encouragement, Swift Wing, was currently perched atop a small cloud, higher than all the buildings in Ponyville (except Twilight's castle). Rainbow had managed to haul him up there, and was hovering a good distance from him. Their lessons had advanced far enough that Rainbow was confident he was ready for a flight from a high dive. Swift, to his credit, wasn't screaming in terror, though he was clearly sweating.

"Are you sure about this?!" he shouted back. "Don't I get a practice jump off Sugar Cube Corner or something?!"

"That's not tall enough!" Rainbow replied. "Look, if you don't do it, I promise, I'll catch you!"

Swift swallowed, presumably in fear, but he nonetheless stepped back a little, preparing to leap. Rainbow observed his form, noticing with no small amount of smugness that it was vastly improved. His wings were properly tensed, but not spread yet. His muscles, built from several days of training, were visible beneath his coat.

Swallowing one more time, Swift rushed across the small surface of the cloud, before leaping off just as he reached the edge. He naturally began to plummet downward, straight as an arrow, before spreading his wings. Rainbow observed the movement of the appendages, watching as the rhythmic beating began, slowly catching the air beneath the pony. Swift was clearly fighting to keep his eyes open, but he managed it, as he approached the ground.

With a sudden whoosh of air, Swift changed direction in mid-fall, rocketing upwards. He thrust both forelegs forward, streamlining his body as he flew, punching through a stray cloud from below and busting it. Of course, with gravity working against him, he couldn't keep up that speed forever, and soon enough, he settled into a relaxed hovering position, his wings working to keep him in the air.

"I...I'm doing it," the crimson stallion breathed. "I'm flying! I'm staying airborne under my own power!"

"See? I told you you could do it!" Rainbow cheered, flying over to him. "What else could be the outcome when you have an awesome teacher like me?" She wrapped one of her forelegs around his neck, giving him a nuggie with the other one. "And you were an awesome student!"

"Rainbow, stop it!" Swift complained, but he was laughing at the same time. "Seriously, though, thanks. This'll make things so much easier for me."

"Great," replied Rainbow. If she were completely honest, she was extraordinarily happy for her fellow pegasus. Seeing one unable to utilize his natural gift of flight just broke her heart, especially now, because he seemed to be enjoying it so much after all their lessons. She'd been afraid he'd turn out like Fluttershy, who could fly, but barely did so. Swift, on the other hoof, seemed to embrace it, or at least take joy in it. Sure, he'd never be a Wonderbolt, but he wasn't half-bad.

"Well, I guess we can put an end to that lesson," she declared. "Wanna get Sugar Cube Corner to celebrate? I'm buying."

"No, let me buy, I insist," Swift replied, as they drifted slowly back towards the ground. "It's the least I can do for all these lessons."

"We'll compromise and split the bill," said Rainbow. The two touched down in Ponyville, heading directly towards the bakery. "Unless one of us gets coffee and the other one gets, like, an entire cake or something."

"Fair enough," said Swift.

The two pegasi strolled into Sugar Cube Corner, finding Pinkie Pie running the counter. Applejack was there as well, taking a break from farm work, munching on some banana bread.

"Howdy, Rainbow. Swift Wing, nice to see you again," said the earth pony. "Nice to see y'all are settling into Ponyville and making friends."

"Oh yeah. Just showing him some of the sights in my free time," Rainbow replied, remembering her promise to be silent about Swift's previous lack of flying ability.

Swift strolled up to the counter. "Hey, Pinkie. Could I get a red velvet cupcake, please?"

"Sure thing!" replied Pinkie, passing the treat over the counter. "Hey, Swift Wing! What kind of cake frosting do you like best? I didn't know what to put on it for your 'Welcome to Ponyville' party, so I went with chocolate, which usually works, but your 'Happy One Month in Ponyville' party is coming up in a couple of weeks, and I wanted to get a head start, and—"

Swift Wing casually raised his hoof, cutting Pinkie off. "It's fine, Pinkie. You already through me one party for free, you don't need to do another." At Pinkie's slightly crestfallen response, he hastily added, "But if you insist, I like marzipan."

Pinkie hurriedly scribbled that down on a scrap of paper. "Got it!"

Rainbow and Applejack shared a good chuckle. "No point in resistin', Swift," said the farm pony. "When Pinkie wants to throw you a party, she's gonna do it, no matter what."

"I guess I should've seen that coming," said Swift, taking a bite out of his cupcake. "You've probably seen it a million times, but the way she reacted when I walked into town..."

Rainbow nodded, a nostalgic smile crossing her face. "Did she go 'Whaaaaaaa?'"

"Pretty much, yeah."

"That's what I do whenever a new creature comes to live in Ponyville!" said Pinkie, happily bouncing over to their table. "Of course, I had to stop blasting them with my party cannon filled with cake batter..."

"After the Cranky Doodle incident?" asked Swift Wing.

"Yeah," Pinkie answered, her mane slightly deflating. "I guess I needed to learn to be less pushy." Then she perked up as a thought occurred to her. "Hey, how'd you know about that? Are you psychic?"

"Oh, n-n-no," Swift replied, shaking his head quickly, "I-I just read about it in the Friendship Journal you guys published."

Applejack groaned to herself. "For Pete's sake, that thing was a nightmare," she complained. "You weren't here when we released it, Swift, but that darn thing drove ponies crazy about us."

"Tell me about it," replied Rainbow. "I mean, being awesome is nice, and having ponies know about it is nice, but some of those fans were just insane."

"I wouldn't know about that, I guess," said Swift. "I did take some good lessons from that journal, if that's any consolation."

"Hey, as long as you're not just laughing every single time I talk, you're fine," chimed in Pinkie.

"I'm just happy you've settled into Ponyville alright," said Applejack. "The town's basically become the weird capital of Equestria since Twilight moved here and became a princess, and we've lost a hoofful of ponies who just couldn't deal with it. It's nice to have somepony new stick with it."

"What can I say? It's a nice little town," said Swift. "It seems like a place I could settle down for a long time."

The conversation continued, with Swift chiming in every once in a while. The pegasus was a little shy around the three social mares, but he seemed to be overcoming his nerves in the moment. Soon enough, he'd finished his cupcake, and got to his hooves.

"Well, I'd better get going if I want to get enough sleep tonight," he announced. He pulled a couple of bits out of his saddlebag, placing them gently on the table to cover the cost of his cupcake. "See you girls around, I guess." With that, he strolled out of the door, into the Ponyville evening.

"Well, he certainly seems nice enough," said Applejack, "You gettin' to know him any better, Rainbow?"

"A little. He doesn't talk about himself very often," replied the pegasus. Indeed, during their flying lessons, Swift had asked her some questions about her life as a Wonderbolt, but divulged very little related to his own life. Admittedly, Rainbow hadn't had the nerve to pry, considering his lack of training in flight was not a good indicator of his past, but she wasn't going to tell Applejack that. "Not that that's a crime or anything."

Suddenly, Pinkie started to shiver, bouncing on her hooves as her whole body vibrated. Rainbow and Applejack instantly directed their attention to their friend.

"What was that? Another Pinkie Sense?" asked Applejack.

"Yeah. It's like that one when I was trying to convince Twilight it was real." Pinkie stopped, focusing on her body for a minute. "It's a doozy, but I don't know what kinda doozy."

Rainbow Dash swallowed. "Let's hope it's not the Blow-Up-Ponyville kind of doozy."

Chapter Eight: Thrown Off

Swift Wing had never been the greatest student back on Earth. However, he had to admit, the Equestrian history books were fascinating. He already knew pretty much everything about Princess Luna's banishment, as well as several interesting facts about Star Swirl (thanks to Twilight), but the books covered so much, particularly during the thousand-year gap in which Celestia ruled alone, that had never been touched upon in the show. For instance, there was a war with the Griffon Empire, which began as a trade disagreement before erupting into a full-scale conflict. Then there was Clover the Clever's book, before the two sisters took the throne. Contrary to the Hearth's Warming episode, peace did not immediately break out after the combined goodwill of the three tribes drove away the windigos. The leaders of the tribes, Commander Hurricane in particular, were very stubborn, and took a long time to trust each other. Swift smiled slightly to himself as he read. Maybe ponies and humans weren't that different after all, even if ponies were better at overcoming their differences. Of course, ponies had to be united, or else the windigos would show up again.

Though some answers still eluded him. Celestia and Luna, for instance, had only come into power after they'd defeated Discord in the original battle. But he hadn't yet found out where they'd come from. Sure, they'd been mentored by Star Swirl as the first alicorns, groomed to rule the land from a very young age, but he couldn't find anything that proclaimed where they were born or who their real parents were. Perhaps he just didn't have the right books. He didn't want to start thinking of crazy conspiracy theories.

Looking out the window, Swift found that Luna's moon had risen into the night sky. He hadn't been watching the clock closely, so it was later than he'd expected. With a small sigh, he used one wing to close the book, proud of his newfound dexterity with the appendages. He'd thought about asking Rainbow what other things he could do with them, but as their flying lessons had progressed, it had become unnecessary. Swift found himself automatically using his wings more and more, the movements coming to him easier.

Swift trotted over to his desk, sparing a quick glance at his saddlebags, thinking about the photos that remained inside. He supposed he could destroy them, especially since they didn't do anything except remind him of a life he was never going back to. They just made him feel empty. But for some reason, every time he tried to tear them up, he couldn't bring himself to do so. He snorted at how irritating it was. If he'd been willing to share his origins, there were no doubt some pony psychologists who'd love to pick his brain.

Pushing those upsetting thoughts to the side, Swift climbed into bed, reminding himself of what he wanted to get done tomorrow. Besides work, which was a given, he wanted to head back to the library and check out some more books. Maybe, when he got more comfortable, he could ask Spike to teach him about Ogres and Oubliettes, and maybe play a game with him. He'd never had the chance to play tabletop games back home, but it sounded fun. The dragon seemed nice enough, although hanging out with him did carry the added risk that Twilight might get a little too curious about Swift himself. On the other hand (or hoof), Twilight really had no reason to be suspicious of him. She didn't know about his flight problem, and Rainbow wasn't the type who'd tell.

However, he eventually dismissed that as a possibility, at least for the moment. Getting too close to Princess Twilight was just too risky, at least until he'd come up with a convincing backstory he could feed her. Twilight was just too smart, and if she ran to Celestia...Swift shuddered in his bed. Part of him wished he'd never ended up so close to Ponyville, but right now, it couldn't be helped. Besides, he'd wanted to be in Ponyville, close to the mares he was so attached to. He'd just have to be careful, and they'd never figure out who he was.

With a soft sigh, Swift closed his eyes, drifting off to sleep once again.

Hard Hoof put Swift to work immediately, as usual. First he'd had to scrub the walls of Ponyville's clock tower, something that was only possible thanks to his newly-achieved flight. He didn't let his supervisor in on this, of course. Then it was off to Sugar Cube Corner, where Swift assisted in pulling out a new delivery of ingredients from Canterlot. The two ponies made fairly short work of it, hauling out large bags of flour and sugar and cramming them into the storeroom.

"Thanks, guys!" said Pinkie Pie, as Swift shoved the last bag into place. "It always takes so much longer when I have to do it by myself!"

"You're welcome," replied Hard Hoof, giving the pink earth pony a small salute. "Just doin' our jobs."

Swift chuckled at the exaggerated, over the top salute Pinkie responded with. It was easy to see why her Element was Laughter itself. You couldn't spend time with her and not smile. Unless you were Gilda or Cranky Doodle.

"You're doin' a pretty good job, kid," said Hard Hoof, as the two walked away from the bakery. "I wish we got more hard workers like you in this job. A lot of ponies just see it as a stepping stone to some other job, or something to milk bits out of. You seem to genuinely care about it."

"Well, I do love this town," replied Swift. "Even if I haven't been here very long, it's a nice and accepting place. I'm happy I came here, and I'm proud to do my part for it."

"Good attitude to have. And even if you don't work with me forever, your efforts are appreciated all the same. Here." Hard Hoof passed over a pile of bits, letting Swift take them and drop them into his saddlebags. "Little bonus for you. Least I could do for a new pony."

Swift smiled happily. He wasn't sure how much it would cost to move into his own place, but he was definitely approaching it. He saved more and more bits each day, and his boss was generous enough to pay him a decent wage. "Thank you, sir," he replied.

"See you tomorrow for work, Swift," said Hard Hoof, trotting away.

Swift waved good-bye, then spread his wings, eager to take to the skies once again. With a kick, he took off, feeling the air rush through his mane. While he still wobbled occasionally, and was by no means a perfect flier, Rainbow Dash's lessons had clearly paid off. Now, Swift could get off the ground with little trouble, and keep himself airborne.

Swift soared above the roofs of Ponyville, taking in the sight of ponies going about their evening business, as well as the occasional small cloud that drifted underneath him. Now that he could fly, Swift could see and feel exactly what Rainbow Dash loved about the activity. Flying gave one a sense of freedom, so similar to the feeling he had while running as a human, only amplified to an insane degree. It just made one feel alive. Like all of his trouble and fears were miles away, and he was just alone in the air, able to go wherever he wanted, and do anything. It was a sensation that humans could never capture, even with their artificial flying machines. Swift felt at peace for once in his life.

Of course, he couldn't stay up in the air all night. Swift glided over Ponyville once more, before leaning forward and touching down just outside of Twilight's castle, wanting to visit the library again before he retired for the night. His current reading on pony history had fascinated him, and he definitely wanted more. Plus, he wanted to ask if they had any books on flying that could help him improve. Rainbow Dash wouldn't always be there to hold his hoof after all.

Swift's good mood continued as he trotted up the steps and into the castle, proceeding down the hallway and into the library sector. Spike wasn't there today (probably helping Twilight with some experiment), but the ever-organized princess had labeled the sections perfectly, and Swift could now simply fly up and grab any book he wanted. He scoured the bookshelves, running his eyes over the titles, pulling out a book occasionally. Soon enough, he had a small stack, more than enough to amuse him for a couple of days.

Unfortunately for him, he wasn't used to carrying things while flying, and one of the books slipped out of his grip, falling to the crystal floor with a thump.

"Oops," he remarked.

The door opened, and Spike poked his head in, looking over at the pegasus. "Oh, hey Swift. You here to check out more books?"

"Yeah. You weren't here, so I thought I'd start getting them myself." Swift floated back down to the floor, scooping up the book he'd dropped. "I didn't do anything wrong, did I?"

"No, no, no, it's alright," Spike replied, getting the files for the books. "Really, I should've been there to help, but Twilight insisted—"

"I heard that, Spike!" came the princess' voice. The door opened again, and Twilight poked her head out. Swift noticed that, oddly enough, she was wearing a pair of horn-rimmed glasses. "You know what we're doing is important!"

"Yeah, you're right," replied the dragon, grudgingly.

"What're you working on?" asked Swift, curious.

"Oh, Swift Wing!" said Twilight, noticing the pegasus for the first time. "Sorry, it's secret...princess...business..." She trailed off.

Swift watched, confused, as Twilight's eyes widened, staring unblinking at him. Her jaw slowly dropped, leaving her mouth gaping open at the sight of him. Swift felt sweat began to drip down his neck as she didn't speak.

"Um...Princess? You okay?" asked Swift.

Twilight still didn't respond, and it was starting to scare him. She was looking at him like he was some kind of abomination that'd appeared out of nowhere. He wasn't one-hundred percent sure, but he thought he saw traces of fear in those purple orbs.

Spike, having retrieved the forms, passed them over to Swift, before looking back at Twilight.

"Uh, Twilight?" he asked, waving a claw in front of her eyes. "Equestria to Twilight?"

Twilight finally blinked, but she still didn't take her eyes off Swift. He signed his names on the book checkout forms, feeling her eyes on him every second. It was actually painful.

"Yeah...Spike, I'm fine," Twilight breathed.

"Okay...great," Swift finally spoke up, grabbing his books again. "I guess I'll...see you later, then."

"Sure...later..." replied Twilight, that dumbstruck expression still frozen on her face.

Swift briefly wondered if he'd broken any speed records with how fast he ran out of the castle.

She knew.

There was no other explanation for that look. She had to know. Even if she didn't have the whole truth, she had to know he wasn't supposed to be here. He'd barely been here for more than a few weeks and she'd already figured it out. Swift cursed Princess Twilight Sparkle as he paced around his rented room. She knew and she was going to send him back and there was nothing he could—

Swift stopped himself, taking several deep breaths. He reminded himself that it wasn't over yet. Twilight could've accused him right out in the open back there, and yet she didn't. He wasn't sure why she was hesitating, but nonetheless, she'd given him a chance.

"Option one," he muttered to himself, "I go to Twilight and confess everything. Maybe she'd understand, and she wouldn't tell the others." After mulling over it for a few minutes, he slapped himself with one hoof. "Yeah, right. What reason would she have to believe that you're telling the truth? She'd probably just guess that you're some spy sent to infiltrate Equestria. Scratch that." Maybe she wouldn't send him back then, but she'd ensure he got locked in a dungeon for the rest of his life.

"Option two..." Swift sighed. There really was no good option two. The only thing he could think to do was run. Get out of Ponyville before Twilight came for him, find his way to another town, maybe change his name. They didn't know his Cutie Mark, so even if they put out a warrant for him (he had no doubt they would), there were probably more red pegasi with blue manes, and he'd remain undiscovered for a little while.

Swift groaned. "Who am I kidding?" If he fled to any other city in Equestria, the authorities would eventually track him down. His only choice was to get out of the country. Get away from ponies in general. Pray that whatever sentient species he ended up with didn't see any reason to send him back.

Grunting, Swift grabbed his few possessions and shoved them into his saddlebags. He didn't have a map with him, but prior to coming, he'd studied an official map of Equestria and the surrounding territories. If he headed east, and got to Baltimare fast enough, maybe he could catch a boat across the Celestial Sea and get to Griffonstone. It was as good a plan as any.

Grabbing the pencil he'd managed to buy with a small amount of savings, Swift scribbled down a quick note.

Dear Hard Hoof,

I had to leave town. I'm sorry, I can't explain. I'm sure you'll get an explanation in the news soon enough. Thank you for giving me a chance when I needed one.

Yours,

Swift Wing

He stuffed the letter into an envelope, before taking one last look around the room. His library books were still there, but he figured he might as well leave them. They wouldn't do any good on the road. There didn't appear to be anything he'd forgotten. Swift sighed quietly to himself, wishing that things had gone any other way. But he never seemed to be the lucky type.

Picking up the room key with his mouth, Swift locked the door. He would check out of the inn, stuff the envelope under Hard Hoof's door, and be gone before Twilight could make any decisions. Then it would be a life on the run. Swift closed his eyes as a single tear dripped from his bright blue eye, before shaking it off.

"It doesn't matter," he mumbled to himself.

Chapter Nine: Confrontation

The mood in the Castle of Friendship could be best described as tense. Twilight had ordered Spike to send out letters summoning the other five Element Bearers, refusing to answer when he'd asked why. Even Starlight had been unable to break through the alicorn's mood. Twilight instead kept pacing the room, occasionally muttering to herself "How could I have been so stupid?", ignoring all other input. The glasses Discord had prepared for them lay forgotten on the inactive Cutie Map table. Spike had a pretty good idea of what exactly had set Twilight off, but he refused to share it with Starlight, in case he was wrong. There seemed to be nothing to do besides wait.

Their patience eventually paid off, as the doors to the throne room burst open, revealing Twilight's five best friends, led by Rainbow Dash.

"We came as soon as we got your messages, darling!" said Rarity, hurriedly taking her throne at the table. "You said it was an emergency?"

"...yes," replied Twilight, finally snapping out of her funk a little bit. "It's something big, and I didn't feel like I could deal with it without you girls."

"Is it another power-crazed villain trying to take over Equestria?!" asked Rainbow Dash, eagerly punching the air.

Twilight climbed into her own throne with a sigh. "That's just it: I'm not sure," she replied.

"You're not sure if it's a crazy villain who wants to take over Equestria?" asked Pinkie Pie. "That sounds like it would be obvious."

"Believe me, it's a lot more complicated than that," Twilight continued. "This is bit of a long story, but I'll try to keep it concise. A little more than a week ago, I felt an incredible surge of magical energy out of the blue. It wasn't like spell feedback or anything, this was far more powerful. Writing to Celestia, Luna, and Cadence, I discovered that they had all felt the same energy, meaning only alicorns could sense it. Well, alicorns plus Discord. After a bit of research (and some help from Discord), I determined that the magic shock wave came from a disturbance in the fabric of our reality."

Five sets of eyes blinked at her in confusion. "Uh, you mind explainin' for those of us who don't speak egghead?" asked Applejack. "No offense."

"None taken." Twilight ignited her horn, causing a large blackboard to float over to her side. She levitated a piece of chalk. "You all know about alternate worlds, like the place on the other side of the mirror where Sunset Shimmer lives, right?" Five heads nodded in affirmation. Twilight drew two circles next to each other. "This," she pointed to one of the circles, "is our world, and this is Sunset Shimmer's. However, these aren't the only two." She drew many more circles, varying in size and distance from each other. "Theoretically, the number of possible worlds is infinite. Based on what Discord told me, the only thing that could've caused that ripple across our reality..." she drew another circle, intersecting with the one that represented Equestria, "...would be something passing through the barrier of our world."

The other five slowly nodded in understanding. "Wait a minute," said Rainbow, "you've never felt anything when anypony uses the mirror portal. Why did you feel this one?"

Starlight took over. "Because the mirror portal is a stable, magically maintained bridge between two worlds. This was a hole that was forcefully torn in the fabric of our reality, and it closed immediately. To give you an idea, Twilight would've felt the mirror portal being created if she'd been around back then."

"Oh, okay," replied Rainbow, not fully understanding, but deciding to just accept it.

"Anyway," Twilight continued, "the only reason I could think of that a hole in our reality would be torn in the first place was...that something came through."

Everypony froze at those words. It didn't take a genius to see what the implications were.

"S-so...you're saying there might be some monster from another dimension loose in Equestria?" asked Fluttershy, starting to shiver.

"That was my initial reaction, but no," Twilight responded. "If it were some kind of monster, I think we would've heard about it by now."

Fluttershy sighed with relief. Pinkie patted the yellow pegasus on the back to calm her down.

"Starlight, Spike, and I began an investigation to figure out exactly what it was that could've come into our dimension. As you can imagine, this wasn't an easy task, given that we had no idea what it looked like. For all we knew, it could've been any normal looking pony. Eventually, I came up with the idea to ask Discord for help." Twilight levitated the horn-rimmed glasses into the air. "Discord placed an enchantment on these glasses. When you look through them, air through which the creature has recently passed, as well as the creature itself, shimmers."

"So we're gonna be hunting aliens from another dimension?" asked Rainbow. "That sounds awesome! Where do we start?"

"Unfortunately, that's not all," said Twilight, her face taking on a more solemn look. "Less than an hour ago, we had a visitor to the library. I looked without taking off the glasses, and..." She swallowed. "Swift Wing, that newcomer to Ponyville...may not be who we thought he was."

Five pairs of eyes widened with shock, and five jaws dropped open. Pinkie's jaw actually managed to hit the Cutie Map table.

"You don't mean..." Applejack stammered. "You can't...he ain't..."

"Yes," said Twilight, "Swift Wing appears to be the alien we're looking for. For all we know, he may not even be a pony, just transformed into one by Equestria's magical field."

She laid her front hooves down on the table, not sure what reactions to expect. She wasn't sure how close any of them had gotten to Swift, but she hoped it wasn't too close, if only to spare their feelings.

Rainbow Dash's face shifted from disbelief to anger, and she smacked one hoof into the table. "That lying little..." she grumbled.

Fluttershy looked somewhat sad, unsure of herself. Applejack was leaning back on her throne, rubbing her head with one hoof. Pinkie's mane had deflated quite a bit, though not completely. Rarity seemed distraught, though she wasn't looking for a fainting couch, meaning she was taking it seriously.

"I should've guessed it from the beginning," Twilight broke the silence. "Something enters into our world, and Swift Wing just happens to show up at the exact same time? It was too much of a coincidence."

"That rotten...!" Rainbow growled. "When I get my hooves on him, I'm gonna make him wish he'd never come to Equestria!"

"Rainbow! What's got you so riled up?!" demanded Applejack. "I know you two hung out—"

"That's not even the beginning of it!" snapped the pegasus. "Swift came to me and asked me to teach him how to fly! I thought he just had a bad home life, like a lot of pegasi with flight problems, but he was just using me so he could learn how to fly and probably report it back to whoever he was spying on us for! He even made me promise to keep it secret, but there's no way I'm keeping a promise to that creep!"

"Whoa whoa whoa!" Twilight interrupted. "We don't know that Swift Wing is spying on Equestria. We don't know if he has any hostile intentions."

"Are you kidding me?! All he's tried to do is blend into Equestrian society! He's clearly some sort of spy!"

"Wait a minute, darling!" Rarity called out, drawing everypony's attention. "I'll admit, Swift's situation doesn't appear to lead to the most...promising conclusions, but Twilight is correct. We are unaware of his origins, as well as his goals."

"Yeah," chimed in Fluttershy. "We had lunch with Swift, and we got on the topic of him moving to Ponyville, and he started talking about his life falling apart, moving away and starting over. Later, he told me about how all his friends just sort of deserted him, and he came to Ponyville to start a new life."

Rarity took over. "What if he was telling the truth? What if he just omitted the fact that he's from a different dimension?"

"He lost all his friends?" asked Pinkie, tears beginning to form in her eyes. "That's horrible..."

"Hold on," interrupted Starlight. "If that's the case, how'd he know how to pass as a normal pony? None of us suspected him until today, but if he's from a different dimension, how'd he learn what he needed to act like?"

"She's right!" said Rainbow, flapping her wings and flying off her throne. "I can't believe you guys are buying that sob story he told you! He's clearly a spy, and we should hunt him down and squeeze him until he talks!"

"Rainbow!" Twilight snapped, using her magic to force the pegasus back down into her chair. "I repeat: We know nothing about Swift Wing, other than that he's from another dimension. We are not going to just accuse him of a crime with no evidence! Do I make myself clear?"

Rainbow still looked kind of angry, but she nonetheless backed down.

"Now," Twilight continued, turning to the others. "That brings me to our conundrum: What should we actually do with Swift Wing?"

"We can't just have the royal guard arrest him," said Applejack. "Like you said, Twilight, we ain't got any proof he's even done anything wrong."

"I think we should all talk to him," Fluttershy suggested. "We tell him we know what he really is, and we ask him what he's doing here. He seems like a genuinely nice pony, and I'm sure if we give him the option, he'll tell us everything."

"Good idea, Fluttershy," said Twilight. "He's staying at the Humble Hoof Inn. We can go talk to him now."

"What if he doesn't take the easy way out?" asked Rainbow Dash. "What if he tries to attack us?"

Twilight sighed to herself, but it wasn't out of annoyance. "Then we'll deal with it," she responded, not knowing what else to say.

"What do you mean he's gone?!"

The seven ponies, plus Spike, were currently standing in the lobby of the Humble Hoof Inn, having asked the clerk, Prompt Service, if they could get Swift Wing's room number. The response wasn't what they'd expected.

"You just missed him, actually," replied Prompt, showing them a form with Swift's signature on it. "He checked himself out of here barely a few minutes ago. He looked like he was in a hurry, actually."

Twilight quietly cursed. She'd made way too much of a display when she saw Swift Wing from behind the glasses. He must've guessed and decided to flee.

"If it's official royal business, I can let you into the room," said Prompt. "Though I doubt you'll find anything. He never brought home anything except his saddlebags."

"Could you? Please?" asked Twilight.

Prompt passed over a ring with a single key on it. The group of eight walked up to the second floor and entered the vacant room. Prompt's prediction had turned out to be correct, as the room was devoid of any personal belongings. The only things out of place were all the library books Swift had checked out, which sat neatly stacked on the desk.

"So, still think he's not a spy, Twilight?" asked Rainbow.

"Cool it, Dash," snapped Twilight. "You said something similar about Zecora."

Rainbow opened her mouth to argue, but after thinking about it for a few seconds, she was forced to concede that Twilight had a point.

"Well, at least he didn't take the books with him," Rarity pointed out. "If he did want to bring back information, he probably would have kept at least a few of those."

Twilight looked carefully at the titles Swift had checked out. The majority were on the history of Equestria, something she didn't think could be used against them if he truly were a spy. Then again, she didn't know where he came from, so she couldn't be sure. Additionally, Rarity was correct. He hadn't taken anything he'd checked out, wherever he'd gone.

As the others looked around for clues, Twilight cast a small probing spell, trying to find anything that might've been hidden. A ping beneath the mattress drew her attention, and she levitated it upwards. Sitting under the mattress was a small, black, rectangular object with a plastic screen on the front. Twilight's eyes widened at the sight, realizing what the object was, having seen many of them on the other side of the mirror. She quickly stowed it in her own saddlebags, making a mental note to bring it up later.

"What do we do now?" asked Applejack. "He could've gone in any direction by this point. How can we find him?"

"We still have these," Twilight answered, producing the horn-rimmed glasses. She put them over her eyes, discovering a faint glimmer of light still existed in the room. "If he's only been gone for a few minutes, we should be able to track him."

"Oh, I just hope he hasn't gotten himself hurt," muttered Fluttershy.

As it turned out, Swift's trail wasn't very hard to follow, most likely because they were barely behind him. He'd headed east across Ponyville and out of the town, though he'd been smart enough not to go into the Everfree Forest. Twilight led the others, glasses secure on her face, following the trail of glimmering light in the air.

"Where does he think he's going in the dark?" demanded Applejack.

"I'm not sure he's thought this through completely!" Rarity yelled back.

"Girls! Look!" Rainbow called out, pointing with one hoof.

The others followed her pointing, and discovered a crimson pegasus, wings beating furiously, flying just above the path. Swift was clearly pushing himself to the limit, though that didn't change the fact that he was no athlete. The seven ponies plus a dragon were easily gaining on him.

"Swift Wing!" Twilight called out. Swift's ears swiveled around, clearly indicating he'd heard her, but he didn't slow down. If anything, he appeared to start accelerating. "We just wanna talk to you!" There was no response.

"Oh, for Celestia's sake!" Rainbow growled. She kicked her wings into overdrive, pushing herself forward until she and Swift were neck and neck. "We already know, so you can just—"

Rainbow found herself unprepared as Swift's foreleg snapped to the side, attempting to punch her in the eye, but instead merely grazing her face. Rainbow was still thrown off, however, and sent spiraling backwards, flailing as she attempted to regain control.

"Just leave me alone!" Swift shouted back, and the mares thought they could hear his voice breaking as he did so.

Rainbow finally managed to get her balance back, and gritted her teeth, preparing to charge Swift again, only for a sight ahead to freeze her in her tracks. "Swift, look out!" she yelled.

"I SAID LEAVE ME—!" Swift started to scream, only for an interruption to halt him. That interruption took the form of a large timberwolf that he slammed head-first into, knocking both him and the creature for a loop and sending his saddlebags flying.

Swift came to a stop fairly quickly, as did the wolf, though it shed a few pieces of wood in the process. It managed to get to its feet barely a second later, growling and advancing on the fallen Swift Wing. To make matters worse, there were three more wolves rushing towards the site. Swift paled, and his body stiffened, as though the fear was so great he couldn't even breathe.

Luckily for him, assistance was nearby.

"STOP 'EM!" yelled Rainbow, frantically beating her wings.

The pegasus zoomed forward, ramming into the closest Timberwolf and shattering it to pieces. Twilight and the others galloped up to them, Twilight and Starlight each firing a magical beam and obliterating a timberwolf each. The final one tried to charge Rainbow Dash, only to be intercepted by Spike, who blasted it with green flame, incinerating it in seconds.

"Whew," breathed Twilight. "That was close."

Then she turned back to Swift Wing, only to find the stallion had curled up on the ground, front hooves covering his eyes, as his shoulders shook with sobs.

"This isn't fair..." Swift cried. "Why is this happening? What'd I do wrong?"

It was then that Twilight took notice of Swift's flank, now exposed for the first time since she'd known him, as the saddlebags had been removed. The other mares (and Spike) followed her gaze, and even Rainbow found herself surprised.

Swift Wing had no Cutie Mark.

Chapter Ten: Confessions

The eight ponies and one dragon walked back to Twilight's castle, Swift Wing coming along without even being pulled. His tears had long since dried up. He said nothing as they led him up into the stairs into the castle. He said nothing as Twilight wrote a letter to Celestia and Luna. He said nothing as the ponies attempted to question him, asking about his dimension of origin. He said nothing as Fluttershy attempted to bring him food, and he refused to eat any of it. He didn't even say anything as Rainbow Dash yelled at him for manipulating her. The sky-blue pegasus had to be restrained by Applejack and Rarity.

Instead, Swift simply sat there, staring blankly down at the crystal floor. In the adjacent room, he could hear Rainbow arguing with Applejack, while Pinkie tried to calm everyone down. They'd returned Swift's saddlebags to him, having the decency not to go through them, but he hadn't touched them. He absentmindedly rubbed his hoof in a circle on the cool floor.

Because, to him, nothing mattered anymore.

The door opened with a glitter of magic, and Swift heard the sound of hooves trotting back into the room. He spared one quick glance of his eyes to see that it was Princess Twilight approaching him, but he still said nothing.

"I, er..." Twilight started, as though words were failing her, "I want you to know that we don't all agree with Rainbow. We don't all think you're some sort of infiltrator. There's no evidence of that." She walked over in front of Swift's face so that she was forced into his peripheral vision. "But I need to know how you got here, and why. I promise, you have nothing to fear from us. Please, Swift."

Swift continued to rub his hoof into the floor. His tail swished back and forth, but his eyes remained glued to that same spot.

Twilight sighed, sounding sort of annoyed. It was the same way everyone reacted when he didn't automatically get better after a few words of encouragement. "Look, Swift, I'm trying to help you. But I can't do anything for you unless you let me."

"Yeah, right," Swift grumbled under his breath, finally breaking his silence.

Twilight's keen ears managed to catch his words, though Swift was beyond caring. The alicorn gritted her teeth, stomping one hoof into the floor.

"Are you trying to antagonize me?" she demanded. "I have nothing against you, but my patience has its limits."

"There's absolutely nothing you can do to me that would be worse than what you're planning to do to me," Swift mumbled, "so you might as well get it over with. I have nothing to say to any of you."

Oddly enough, Twilight's expression, rather than growing more tense with anger, softened a little bit at his words, her muscles relaxing. Swift briefly wondered what would possess her to have such a reaction, but he ultimately didn't care.

"Why are you so angry?" Twilight asked, sounding genuinely curious. "Since you arrived in Ponyville, we've done nothing but show you kindness. Rainbow Dash even taught you how to fly, keeping it a secret when you asked. Why are you treating us like your enemies?"

Swift curled his foreleg and clenched his teeth, anger bubbling in his chest. Here she was, planning to destroy his whole world, and yet she acted like she was doing him a favor.

"Because now you're going to take it all away from me," he snapped back, "disregarding whatever I want, of course, because I don't matter to you. Because I'm not one of you. All I wanted was to live a quiet life in this town, and you wouldn't even let me have that. You couldn't just forget that whole dimensional anomaly thing and leave it alone. Thanks a ton, Twilight."

"So you did intentionally come here," Twilight concluded, and Swift silently cursed himself for letting that slip. "I figured that had to be the case. But why?"

"Why do you think?" Swift demanded. "All I wanted was peace. Peace and quiet. I would've left you and your precious ponies alone if you wanted me to. But no, we can't let Swift Wing have anything nice."

"But I don't understand," Twilight continued, as though he hadn't spoken. "Why would you leave your home universe for Equestria? Don't you have friends and family back there? Why would you—"

Before he knew it, Swift was screaming.

"BECAUSE NOBODY CARED! BECAUSE I DIDN'T HAVE ANY FRIENDS! BECAUSE I FAILED AT EVERYTHING I EVER TRIED! THERE, I SAID IT! ARE YOU HAPPY?! I'M A BIG, FAT FAILURE AND I RAN AWAY! I RAN TO EQUESTRIA, THE ONLY PLACE I THOUGHT I'D EVER HAVE A CHANCE OF BELONGING! ALL I WANTED WAS A SECOND CHANCE, A RESET BUTTON, ANOTHER OPTION!

"I CAME HERE BECAUSE I THOUGHT I'D FINALLY FIGURE OUT WHAT MY PURPOSE IN LIFE WAS! I THOUGHT I'D FINALLY SEE WHAT I WAS MEANT TO DO IN MY CUTIE MARK! BUT I DIDN'T GET ONE, BECAUSE I'M STILL NOTHING! AND NOW YOU'RE GOING TO SEND ME BACK TO MY PATHETIC PIT OF A LIFE JUST BECAUSE 'YOU CAN'T UNDERSTAND!' WHY COULDN'T YOU LEAVE ME IN PEACE?! WHY COULDN'T YOU LET ME MAKE BELIEVE?! WHY...why...why couldn't you..."

Swift ran out of breath, every bitter and resentful thought having made its way out through his mouth. He trembled where he stood, his eyes starting to drip. His legs wobbled, and he thought he would lose his balance soon. He tried to take deep breaths, but he couldn't manage it.

Finally, he looked up. Twilight was staring at the pegasus in front of him, her expression frozen in what looked like a surprised gasp. She'd backed away a few steps, but she didn't look afraid. If he had to guess, he'd say her expression was more pitying.

Looking past Twilight, Swift could see that the door had opened again. Apparently, his screaming had attracted the attention of the other six mares, as well as Spike, who were currently staring at him with similar expressions. Even Rainbow Dash's face had softened, and she looked more confused than anything, mouth hanging open and ears flattened.

"I...I didn't..." Twilight started, trying to find the words.

Swift snorted, dismissively waving his hoof, even as tears continued to drip from his eyes. "Save it," he growled. "I don't need your empathy. It's completely worthless."

"I would disagree with that sentiment," came a voice. "It comforts ponies in times of sorrow."

Nine heads turned around. At the entrance to the castle stood two large alicorns, one white and one navy blue. Everypony except Twilight and Swift quietly bowed, though Celestia waved them off with one hoof.

Swift wiped his eyes angrily, glaring at Celestia and Luna from across the room. "It also does nothing to actually solve your problems," he snapped back at them. "It's what people do so that they can say 'I helped that person' without actually doing anything for them."

Twilight gasped at Swift's biting remark, but he didn't care.

"I understand that you are angry, Swift Wing," Celestia replied. "However, I assure you, if you have no hostile intentions towards my little ponies, or any other creature, you have nothing to fear from us."

"What do you care?" Swift retorted. "I'm not one of your little ponies. Surely you must know that by now?"

"We know," Luna replied. "When looking into your dreams, I did not see your true nature. We respect your privacy."

"Evidently, you don't, given how you sicked Twilight on me," growled the pegasus.

Twilight opened her mouth, probably to scold Swift for talking back to the princesses, but Celestia silenced her with a look. She shook her head, unspoken words passing between the former teacher and student.

She turned back to the pegasus. "I gave Twilight no instruction regarding what to do with you. Additionally, I would remind you that she has done nothing to hurt you in any way. You are not a prisoner, though I would very much appreciate it if you would stay for the remainder of this discussion."

Swift bit his lip, but made no move to leave. What would be the point?

Luna continued. "Swift, would you like the two of us to continue this conversation alone? I will not reveal the contents of your dreams to everypony else without your permission."

Swift sighed, leaning back down onto his knees once again. "Do whatever you want," he said. "They might as well hear it. I don't really care anymore."

Luna looked a little perplexed at his answer, sparing a second to glance at her sister. The two exchanged a few expressions, communicating without words. Swift didn't make a move.

"Who was the being in your dreams? The one who was demeaning you?" Luna asked.

"My sister," Swift answered without emotion. "She did that to me for my whole life, as you might've guessed. It's partially her fault I'm like this."

"Sister? But she wasn't a pony."

"No, and as you may have guessed, I'm not actually a pony. I was changed into this when I got here." Swift shut his eyes, hating to tell the truth, but seeing no point in resistance or lying. "In fact, Swift Wing isn't my real name. It's Mark. I just picked the first name I thought of when I saw that I was a pegasus."

He saw a few eyes widen at his revelations, but nopony freaked out.

"So...if you're not a pony," Twilight followed, "what are you?" She magically opened her saddlebags, producing his phone. "Are you—?"

Swift groaned, surprised he managed to forget the phone. "I'm a human. A species you're familiar with, I know. And no, I'm not from the world Sunset Shimmer lives in." Swift stretched his limbs, trying to keep them from falling asleep. "I came here because I was tired of everything. I failed out of college, I was working a dead-end job, my life was going nowhere, and I was such a loser that nobody wanted to be friends with me. I could see everyone all around me doing amazing things, advancing their lives, falling in love, and I was stuck sitting alone in my room all the time. Probably the only person who even cared that I was alive was my mom, and she couldn't help me. All I wanted..." His eyes began to water, threatening to drip again, but he stopped them, not wanting to show any signs of weakness. "All I wanted was a chance to start over. Something I'm sure a lot of people want. Then, one day, somebody approached me...a man in a black cloak. He said he could send me to Equestria, the land of my dreams, a place where I could forget everything. So I took his offer."

"Wait a second!" interrupted Applejack. "Your tellin' me you just up and left your ma alone in another universe? Did you even tell her where you were goin'? Did you—"

"It wasn't like that!" Swift snapped back. "She was well off, she didn't need me to survive. I didn't still live at home, I wasn't that much of a loser." He laid his head down on the ground again. "Besides, she has my sister, who always told her I should've never been born. She's probably telling her that as we speak."

Applejack opened her mouth again, but was shushed by Rarity.

Swift got back to his hooves once again. "But none of you care about that," he summarized. "You only care that I'm here, that I'm not supposed to be here, and you believe I have to go home." He shook his head. "Let's get this crap over with."

Nobody spoke for a couple of seconds. Finally, Twilight cleared her throat. "Swift...we weren't going to force you to go home."

For the first time since he'd gotten there, Swift was actually surprised. His eyes widened, his wings involuntarily sprang outwards, and his tail ceased its rhythmic swinging. He placed his hooves against the ground, lifting himself up slightly.

"You...you weren't?" he managed to stammer out.

"Morally, we can't force you," Celestia admitted. "You've committed no crimes, and you clearly aren't some sort of spy, so we don't truly have a good cause to send you back against your will."

"However..." Luna added.

Of course, Swift grumbled mentally. I should've seen this coming.

Luna continued, "We believe you should strongly reconsider your decision to move permanently to Equestria, and think about your own world. Think about the pon-er, people you left behind. Think about your mother. Think about—"

"Look, if you're gonna go down this path," Swift cut her off, "I'm gonna tell you right now, you're wasting both of our times. There is nothing you can say to me that would convince me to go back."

Celestia looked rather surprised at Swift's response. "Surely you must've just made that decision in the heat of the moment. From what you said, your home life was sad, but surely there must be something you miss."

"No. Absolutely nothing," Swift shot back. "Like I told you, I don't have any friends. My mother doesn't need me. And besides, she let my sister insult and degrade me until all my self-esteem was gone and I was left a socially maladjusted freak. She'd insist 'Oh, your sister loves you, she just doesn't know how to say it,' literally right after my sister said she wished I'd never been born."

"But they're your kin," Applejack snapped at him. "You just up and left them in your home universe. Doesn't that mean anything to you?"

"We haven't spoken in years," Swift replied. "I couldn't talk to her anymore without my sister butting into it. You need to understand something, Applejack. If Big Macintosh did nothing for you except tell you you were worthless garbage, would you want to spend time with him? Would you?"

Applejack opened her mouth slightly, but she apparently couldn't think of a response.

"Look, that doesn't matter right now," Twilight interrupted. "Let's change topics for a second. First of all, if you're from a completely different dimension, how'd you even know you were going to Equestria? How'd you know how to try and blend into our society? How'd you know about Sunset Shimmer's world? Did that man in the cloak tell you everything?"

Swift bit his tongue, actually at a loss for words for the first time. He should've known this was coming since they'd brought him here. He'd known way too much about Equestria to excuse as coincidence. Now came a moment he dreaded.

Where he'd have to explain to them that they were a cartoon.

Chapter Eleven: Revelations

Twilight's head was still reeling from the last few epiphanies. She felt quite a bit of sorrow over Swift's (or rather, Mark's) situation, wondering how bad it could've been that he was willing to just ditch his entire universe for Equestria. Sunset Shimmer had done a similar thing, yes, but Sunset didn't have any family left, and she'd created a niche for herself in the mirror world. Besides, she could come over and visit whenever she wanted (though, to be fair, she hadn't known Twilight could rig the portal to open anytime). Mark had completely left his home, and even now, he clearly didn't want to go back. It was actually shocking.

"It's kinda...complicated," Mark continued, rubbing his front hooves together. "And you may not really want to know..."

"Swift-no, Mark," Fluttershy interrupted him, "whatever you have to say, you can just say it. I promise, we're not going to do anything to you." She reached out a hoof, as though to comfort her fellow pegasus, but Mark flinched away from her. Seeing his reaction, Fluttershy backed down.

"Okay," Mark said, taking several deep breaths. "It's like this. In my universe, we have the technology to view other dimensions. I've seen views of Equestria, and it looked so nice and pleasant, and I just... wanted...to be there..." He trailed off, his head lowering and his ears flattening, under the scrutinizing eyes of the ponies.

In the moment, Twilight felt for him, at least a little. He was speaking too slowly, as though dreaming up what he was about to say just before saying it, which he probably was. No one was believing a word he was saying, least of all Applejack, who was looking at him with a sad smile and quietly shaking her head.

"Sugar cube, you ain't a good liar," she declared.

"Yeah. And if you were just viewing our dimension, how would you know about Sunset Shimmer?" chimed in Twilight.

Mark sighed. "In fairness to me, I was just coming up with that on the fly."

"Mark, you have my word that no harm will come to you, no matter what you have to say," Celestia said.

Mark gave her a sideways glance. "Don't make promises you can't keep, princess," he muttered to himself, though everyone still caught it.

He took another deep breath, closing his eyes and tucking his wings back in again. Twilight thought he looked tense, like what he was about to reveal would bring nothing but disaster. She had to inhale deeply herself, afraid of whatever might be coming.

"In my universe," Mark started, "you exist...but not really. In my universe, Equestria is...fictional. And you're all characters in it. Twilight, you're the main character. It's a series about your adventures."

Several jaws dropped open. Fluttershy's wings actually popped outwards from her sides in sheer surprise. Rarity looked like she might require her fainting couch. Twilight's brain began to kick into overdrive, trying to comprehend what she was being told.

"Wait a minute," said Rainbow. "So, you've read about our adventures? Like Daring Do stories?"

"Essentially, yes," replied Mark. "Though it's not a series of books, it's something called a cartoon. Twilight would know about that. And before you ask, no, I don't have any knowledge of your future. When I got here, I looked up current events, and the last thing that happened here was the same thing that happened in the stories before I left: Cozy Glow getting defeated and imprisoned." Noticing their expressions, he hurriedly continued. "I mean, it's not like I knew literally everything about your world before I got here. That's why I was checking out all those history books. I wanted to know things that weren't shown in the stories, so I wouldn't blow my cover with a lack of knowledge." He sighed to himself. "I'm sure this is a pretty big shocker for you all, but—"

"Actually," Twilight spoke up, "it's not that surprising. Not that surprising at all."

The room went dead silent. One could've heard a feather dropping to the ground, as all eyes focused on Twilight. The only ones who didn't seem surprised were Celestia and Luna.

"Twilight, have you lost your mind?" asked Spike.

"Yeah! He just told us we're fictional!" Starlight exclaimed. "How are you of all ponies handling this revelation so well?!"

"He didn't tell us we're just a work of fiction," Twilight retorted, "he said we're fictional in his world. That alone doesn't mean we're not real."

She ignited her horn, levitating over her blackboard and chalk. "Remember when I told you about how there are infinite possible worlds?" Spike and the others nodded. "Well, according to Star Swirl's theory of Dimensional Possibilities, if there really are infinite universes, it stands to reason that anything that can happen, will happen. So, however small the chance, in Mark's world, there's a cartoon that perfectly resembles our world." She drew a circle, representing Mark's world, and drew a pony inside a thought balloon in the center. "Heck, there's probably a universe out there where what's happening right now is being displayed on a cartoon."

Seven pairs of eyes widened at this information dump, but this explanation seemed to please all of them. Spike raised one claw.

"Yes, Spike?"

"What's a cartoon?" asked the dragon.

Twilight rolled her eyes. "It's something from the human world. I'll tell you later." Spike nodded.

"Wait, so there's a universe where my entire life was dreamed up and put out there for everybody to see by some writer I've never even met?" Mark summarized.

"Most likely, yes," returned Twilight. "I say most likely, because this hasn't really confirmed Star Swirl's theory, but it comes very close. I don't think the theory could ever be one-hundred percent proven."

Mark exhaled, wiping the sweat off the top of his brow. "And to think, I was terrified of telling you guys that for that exact reason!" He turned to Celestia and Luna. "You seem to be taking this awfully well."

"Mostly," Luna replied. "Though we must ask you now: Does this 'cartoon' reveal dangerous secrets of Equestria? Such as the exact location of the Tree of Harmony, or the exact size of Equestria's armed forces?"

"Definitely not that second one," replied Mark. "I know the Tree's in the Everfree, but I've never been in there. There's no way I could find it by myself. And I have almost no information on the government operations of Equestria, or anything like that."

Celestia gave Mark an intense stare. "Applejack," she called out.

"Got it, Your Highness," replied the farm pony, as she, too, stared down Mark.

The pegasus actually flinched a little under her gaze. Twilight felt sorry for him in that moment. Applejack's stare wasn't like Fluttershy's, but it was still rather intense.

"He's tellin' the truth," said the farm pony. "I think we can trust him."

Mark breathed a sigh of relief. "Does that mean we're done here?" he asked.

"Unfortunately, no," replied Princess Celestia. "Mark, though you pose no threat to Equestria of the safety of our little ponies, I still strongly recommend against staying in our world—"

Mark groaned, smacking himself in the face with one hoof. "Oh, jeez, are we really going back to this? What part of 'I hated my home world and I never want to go back to it' didn't you understand?!"

Twilight couldn't stop herself from gritting her teeth. As much as she pitied the creature in front of her, his blatant disrespect towards them was beginning to get to her. He was brushing them off with little more than anger, and for no good reason. He could at least take the time to listen to their arguments, instead of just dismissing them outright. Surely his home universe couldn't have been that bad.

She just couldn't understand. Mark had stranded himself in a universe where he didn't know anyone, in a body not his own. Somehow, he was completely convinced this was better than anything his home universe could offer him. Twilight didn't have a lot of family drama to deal with, but she didn't see how it could be as terrible as he was making it out to be.

Looking over at her friends, Twilight saw she wasn't the only one blindsided by his responses. She took note of the others' reactions. Applejack was still shaking her head, probably still thinking about Mark's family, wondering how he could just leave them without even telling anyone where he was going. Rarity seemed torn, trying to sympathize with the pegasus, but also seeing the points her friends were making. Fluttershy was still looking only at Mark with empathy in her eyes, probably still wishing he'd let her comfort him. However, every time she made the slightest move towards him, Mark would flinch.

Rainbow Dash had a more guilt-ridden expression on her face. Twilight guessed she was still thinking about how she'd yelled at him and called him a spy, when, in reality, he'd been anything but. Pinkie just looked sad, her mane deflated and her blue eyes having lost some of their luster. She seemed to be in the same boat as Rarity, unsure of who to side with. Starlight was deep in thought, still trying to process everything going on around her. Spike looked sympathetic to Mark's cause, but not willing to simply accept his reasoning.

"Look, we all make hasty decisions," Spike chimed in, clearly wanting to contribute something. "I don't know if you saw it in your observations of our world, but I ran away from home once, too. And I was later realized how bad it—"

"You ran away because you felt replaced by an owl, Spike," Mark cut him off. "It's not the same thing. Twilight still cared about you. I had nobody. I burned all my bridges, and nobody cared that I was alive. Really, finding that man was the best thing that could've happened to me."

"That doesn't mean you have to just up and leave forever," said Starlight. "I have problems with my dad, I know what—"

"Starlight, your dad just embarrasses you. It's nothing like what I went through." Mark snorted through his nostrils. "Besides, you left and started over somewhere else, didn't you? I don't really see the difference."

Twilight lost some of her grip on her temper. "Will you stop doing that?!" she demanded. "So you've seen important moments in our lives! That doesn't mean you automatically know everything about us!"

Mark met her glare. "Might I remind you that you know absolutely nothing about me?" he retorted. "And yet you're trying to force me back into a life I hated, without considering how I feel. Try to understand me for a change."

"Then help us understand, sugar cube," said Applejack. "Was your family really that bad that you'd just ditch 'em?"

"It wasn't like I didn't love them." Mark reached into his saddlebags, producing some photographs, and a piece of jade on a simple chord necklace. "My mom used to make me carry this necklace around, because it's a superstition that jade is good luck in my world. I didn't believe in it, but I wanted to humor her."

Everypony advanced closer to look at the photos.

"That's me," said Mark, pointing to a tall human male with straight black hair. There wasn't a great deal of resemblance to his pony body, with the exception of the eyes, which were the same shade of icy blue. He stood next to two females of the same species with matching eyes. Both were shorter than him, but one was clearly his mother, with an arm wrapped around Mark, looking proud and happy. The second looked annoyed, casting a sideways glance at Mark himself, clearly unhappy that he was there. "My mom did her best, but she never understood me, how much my sister hated me, or how much she made my life a pit. I just couldn't function in my world."

"Well, we're trying to understand you, darling," Rarity insisted. "but—"

"Look, it's clear that none of you are going to listen to me," Mark declared, getting to his hooves, and grabbing his possessions. "Can I leave now?"

"Mark," said Celestia, "if you'd just listen to us—"

"Can I leave now?"

Luna frowned. "Mark, we only want to help you—"

"CAN. I. LEAVE. NOW?!"

Nopony moved for a few seconds. Mark's outburst had taken them all by surprise, considering how much screaming he'd done a few minutes ago. But he seemed to have reached his limit. Everypony knew for certain that trying to interrogate him further would only result in failure. Celestia and Luna parted, revealing the doorway to him.

"Yes. You may leave," said the solar alicorn.

Mark said nothing, merely closing up his saddlebags with one leg and trotting towards the exit. He made no eye contact with anypony, and he didn't say a word. He pushed the door open with one leg, strolled outside, and let it swing closed behind him, leaving the others alone with their thoughts.

"Well," Starlight finally broke the silence, "that went fabulously."

"Very funny, Starlight," Spike snorted, scratching his back. "What are we supposed to do now?"

"Do you think...we pushed him too hard?" asked Pinkie Pie, her mane still deflated in sadness.

"Perhaps," Celestia admitted. "I don't regret asking him to rethink his decision, but perhaps we were too forceful."

Suddenly, Rainbow Dash spread her wings without warning, taking off from her position on the floor, and flying out one of the windows. No one dared to try and stop her, and they were too absorbed in their own thoughts, anyway.

Rainbow zipped out the window, quickly flying around to the front of the castle. She had to catch the pegasus before he left, or else she'd never forgive herself. The anger at what she'd almost done to him gnawed at her heart, and she had to fix it. Luckily for her, Mark wasn't going very fast, merely trotting along the pathway.

"Swift! Er, I mean, Mark!" she called out, zooming down towards him. She landed on the earth behind him with a bump, as she saw his shoulders sag and ears droop. She knew he wouldn't be happy to see her again, but it couldn't be helped.

"What is it, Rainbow?" Mark demanded, not even bothering to turn around. "I'm busy, I'm gonna have to find somewhere to sleep tonight."

"Listen, Mark," Rainbow insisted, trying not to put too much force behind her words. "I just wanted to tell you...I'm sorry. I shouldn't have rushed to judgement and assumed you were a spy. It was wrong, and I'm sorry."

Mark said nothing. Rainbow couldn't see his expression from where she was, and that scared her. She wanted him to accept her apology, because he seemed like a good pony (or person, whatever that was), and she genuinely felt bad for him. She waited with her breath held, hoping he'd speak up.

"A-and I don't regret teaching you to fly, Mark," she finally added. "You seem like a cool guy, and I enjoyed our time together, and—"

"Rainbow, call me Swift," Mark interrupted, "Please...just call me Swift." He started to take a few steps away, before looking over his shoulder ever so slightly. "I do accept your apology, for what it's worth."

Then he trotted away, leaving Rainbow alone.

Author's Note

Sorry this took so long. This was a really hard chapter to write, and I'm still not sure I'm satisfied with the way it came out.

Chapter Twelve: Good-Bye

Swift Wing sat on a single cloud, hovering over the town of Ponyville. He'd been using the cloud as a bed for the past two days, and thankfully, no one had come to get it. His disposition was one of abject indifference, as well as frustration, trying to find some reason to get up in the morning. Recent events had, naturally, put him in an undesirable mood, to say the least. He'd barely spoken to anypony, barely eaten or slept, and had felt adrift in an ocean of uncertainty.

It was the second day since his conversation with Twilight and the others. He hadn't gone back to Hard Hoof for work, unwilling to face him after the letter he'd left. He'd entered the town to get food, and thankfully, Twilight and the others hadn't seen fit to inform the entire population that there was an alien living among them, so he could go about his business.

Speaking of Twilight and the others, they hadn't approached him at all since the incident, for which he'd admit he was grateful. His dreams remained unguarded, but he hadn't heard from Princess Luna, either. Swift sighed to himself as he mulled over the nightmare that would ensue when they inevitably did come for him again. They would keep hounding him until he finally went back to that hell he'd called a life back on Earth, and he'd never see Equestria again. Equestria, a world so much happier and pure than where he'd come from. Plus, nobody there would know to judge him over past mistakes. So why couldn't they see that?

Swift pounded the surface of the cloud in frustration. It just wasn't fair. Watching the show, he'd grown to truly love the characters, wishing that they were real. And when he'd been given the opportunity to actually enter their world, the idea had thrilled him to his core. Just the thought of meeting them made him feel a vast surge of joy in his heart. He wasn't an idiot, he'd known not to let himself get too close to the six, realizing he could blow his cover. But even that hadn't worked, in the end. And while they hadn't forced him to go back, they had pestered him about it, and they clearly didn't want to be his friends. Granted, he probably hadn't helped his case with his anger, but it still wasn't fair.

Swift looked up at the sun, trying to think of what to do next. Did he want to go home at all? Probably not, considering the chewing out he'd get from his sister the second he showed his face. Even his mother would probably yell at him. Not to mention he really had nobody. Nobody would go out for drinks with him on Friday nights, nobody wanted to talk with him about books he'd read or movies he'd seen, it was empty. Sure, he didn't have that in Equestria, not now, but here, he at least had the possibility of finding friends.

Granted, he probably wouldn't find anyone with shared life experiences in this world. Not until after he'd lived here for a while and truly experienced life in Equestria. Connecting with others had always been hard for him, as was opening up. It was a difficult thing to do when you were of so little value to the world. Would he really be happy in this world? Or did his true nature mean he'd never belong here either?

Gritting his teeth, Swift decided what he had to do. There was no going back to Earth. That planet held nothing for him. But he clearly couldn't stay in Ponyville, either. There was only one other option, but he'd take it.

Swift spent the next few hours hopping between Ponyville stores, grabbing items with the bits he'd saved up. He took maps, books on hoof travel across Equestria (taken from the bookstore, as the library was kind of a lost cause at this point), some outdoor survival guides and equipment, and food that would travel well. Fortunately, all this stuff managed to fit into his saddlebags.

The worst part was trying to get through the town without being spotted by the Mane Six. Not that they seemed to be looking for him or anything, but they were spread throughout the town, and it was difficult to go out without bumping into one of them. Especially Pinkie Pie, who seemed to have specifically chosen today to go shopping for party supplies. Swift managed to avoid her by diving behind buildings and trees, and fortunately, her Pinkie Sense didn't alert her to his presence.

Finally, with everything he needed, Swift made his way to the north outskirts of Ponyville. Turning around, he took one final look at the town, sighing quietly to himself. It felt odd to just leave without saying good-bye, but it wasn't like he had anyone to say good-bye to. He shifted, preparing to—

"MARK! MARK!"

Swift groaned. That was just perfect.

He looked behind him, finding exactly what he expected: Princess Twilight galloping towards him. In her magic, she held a bright pink envelope. She came to a stop just in front of him, pausing and taking several deep inhalations, like she was out of breath. She'd clearly been running around town, and Swift could guess exactly what she'd been looking for.

"I was afraid you'd left town or something!" Twilight panted. "We've been looking all over for you!"

Swift gritted his teeth. Why couldn't they just leave him alone? Were their lives really so boring that they had to follow him around trying to force him to go back to his home universe? Did they just hate the idea of a human living in their world that much? The only thing he wanted to do right now was spin around and give Twilight a good punch in the—

Taking another deep breath, he calmed himself. Attacking one of the princesses of Equestria wasn't going to get him anywhere. In fact, it would probably only make them angrier at him. He had to at least try to play civil, if only to avoid making the situation worse.

"Did you need something from me, Twilight?" he finally managed to get out, though it still sounded rather curt.

Twilight used her magic to pass the envelope over to him. Swift took it in one hoof, peeling the seal open and pulling out its contents. Inside was one of Pinkie Pie's signature invitations, proclaiming that he was invited to the "We're Sorry We Were So Pushy, But We Welcome Our New Human Friend" party. Swift stared down at the piece of paper in his hoof, honestly surprised at what he was seeing.

"Everypony's been trying to find you to give you one of those," Twilight continued. "They all want to apologize to you face to face, and since nopony's seen you, Pinkie thought you could use some cheering up. What better way to do that than one of her parties, right?"

Swift bit his tongue. This...wasn't what he'd expected at all. It looked like they might...actually accept him. Let him stay in Equestria without pestering him. He'd never even considered the possibility after that night. Did this mean he was home free?

Swift swallowed as his heart began to beat faster. His front hooves began to itch, the way his palms had when he'd been a human. Fear raced through his system. This was just too good to be true. It was as simple as that.

"Celestia and Luna wanted to come, too, but they couldn't take time away from royal duties. They send their apologies, anyway, and they hope that someday they can...Mark?" Twilight finally noticed the pegasus beginning to shake. "Are you alright? You look like you're gonna be sick."

With a great deal of effort, Swift managed to look into Twilight's purple orbs once again. "Um, thanks, Twilight, but I'm actually leaving town right now." He gently placed the invitation on the ground. "I really appreciate the offer, but—"

"You're leaving?" Twilight asked, looking perplexed. "Where are you going?"

Swift looked out behind him. "I...don't really know," he admitted. "I was thinking about checking out Cloudsdale, maybe, now that I can fly. And I—"

"But why are you leaving?" Twilight asked. "I mean, we left you alone after we were so rude the other day."

"Twilight, I—"

"Is it too soon to throw the party? I'm sure Pinkie can push it back, the food will refrigerate."

"Twilight—"

"Were we really too pushy? I promise, we won't do it again. We won't even talk about your home world. We'll just pretend you've always lived in Equestria!"

"Twilight—"

"Are you just afraid to see us again? We know you, the real you, from all the talks we had with you before this went down. Mark might be an odd name in Equestrian society, but—"

"TWILIGHT!" Swift bellowed, silencing the fast-talking purple alicorn. "Look, I'm grateful, but I'm leaving, and that's final. And please call me Swift Wing."

Twilight stared back at him, a confused frown etched upon her face. "But I...I don't understand. We just want to make it up to you."

Swift gritted his teeth and snorted. "Well maybe you can't!" he suddenly shouted. "You ever think of that?! That maybe somebody doesn't want to forgive you?! That maybe somebody doesn't want to be your charity case?! That...that..."

He came to a stop, seeing the genuinely hurt look on Twilight's face. The alicorn was trembling, wings shaking, and her eyes appeared to be on the verge of tears. Swift silently cursed his short temper, wishing he had the self-control to keep his mouth shut.

"I'm sorry," he hastily apologized. "That was uncalled for. It was the heat of the moment. I shouldn't have said that, you girls are just trying to help."

Twilight recovered a little bit at his apology, stepping forward again. "It's okay," she assured him, "but please tell me why. I just want to understand what we did."

Swift sighed, trying not to let his irritation show for her sake. Twilight probably wouldn't prevent him from leaving or anything like that if he refused to answer, but she didn't deserve to be left without one.

"It's not truly your fault," he said, "I need another fresh start. I came to Equestria because I wanted to begin again where nobody knew me, or what I was. Now that you know all my secrets, know everything about me...I just can't fit in here in Ponyville."

"But we won't judge you," Twilight insisted. "We know you had a hard life, we won't—"

"Consciously, you won't," Swift cut her off, "but you'll have that knowledge in the back of your head. And every time you girls look at me, you'll be reminded of that. And some part of you won't accept me because you know those things. You'll know I'm not good enough to be your friend."

Twilight blinked several times in surprise. "You actually believe that?"

Swift nodded.

Twilight shook her head sadly. "Mark—or Swift, whatever you want me to call you—you don't like yourself very much, do you?"

"Well, no," Swift admitted, "But—"

"Is that why you're discarding your old name? Do you honestly believe you're so pathetic that you don't deserve friendship, so you have to lie to everypony about who you really are?"

"Oh, come on, you know that's not what I meant—"

"Swift, you need some serious help. Your self-esteem is shot, and you're convinced no one would ever accept you just because you made mistakes. You need friends, and ponies who will support you."

Swift fought to keep himself from growing angry again. "And I'm not gonna find that here!" he snapped.

"Why are you so convinced of that?!" Twilight demanded.

"BECAUSE I'M AFRAID!"

Time seemed to come to a complete stop. Swift hadn't expected that to come out of his own mouth, and from the looks of her, Twilight hadn't either. Her eyes were still focused on the pony in front of her, but filled with pity. Swift wanted to lash out because of that, to be furious again, but couldn't bring himself to do so. As much as he hated receiving sympathy, he had to admit Twilight hadn't done anything that warranted his rage.

"Doesn't that make you feel better?" she asked. "To admit the truth?"

Swift shook his head. "It just reminds me how broken I am." He looked into Twilight's sympathetic eyes once again. "I'm sorry, but I'm not ready to face that."

Twilight tilted her head, looking rather sad. Swift sighed, but he'd truly accepted what he'd said to her. Ponyville was no place for him.

"I get that you want to help me, Twilight," he continued, "but you can't. You really can't."

Twilight stared at him for a few seconds, before she closed her eyes and nodded, though clearly not without reluctance. "If that's what you want," she replied, "I won't force you to stay here."

Swift nodded, before turning on one hoof. But before he could trot away, a thought occurred to him, and he looked back at Twilight over his shoulder.

"We may not be real friends, Twilight," he said, "but for what it's worth, I consider you a good...acquaintance. And I thank you for trying to help me. Even if your efforts were doomed. Maybe someday...I'll feel good enough to come back here."

That said, he spread his wings, and took off, flying into the distance. As he ascended, Swift blinked a few tears from his eye.

Chapter Thirteen: Closure?

One would think that, with a life like hers, Princess Twilight Sparkle would have very few moments of sadness. For the most part, this assumption was correct. Twilight considered herself a very blessed pony, having many friends, and a generally good life. Her days were usually very happy.

Today was not one of those days.

Twilight sat somberly on her throne, front hooves sitting on the inactive Cutie Map, idly rubbing the blank crystal surface. She'd been like this for the majority of the day. Oh sure, there was the occasional princess business to attend to, and she had a lunch date with Rarity scheduled for later that afternoon, but beyond that, Twilight was basically out of the world.

A week had passed since Mark-or Swift Wing, she guessed he had the right to be called what he wanted-had left, and Twilight was thinking about him again. Not that she'd wanted to do so, it'd just sort of crept up on her. The thoughts whirling around her head made it impossible to focus. She'd tried to drown them out with a good book, which usually worked, but she'd just kept rereading the same sentence over and over again.

A knock at the door drew her attention, and Twilight looked up. She ignited her horn, magically grabbing the door handle and pulling it open. Spike stood there, alongside Starlight, and the other five Element Bearers. They all had downcast expressions on their faces, even Pinkie Pie. Twilight smiled a little at their presence, but her heart wasn't really in it.

"Hey, girls. Hey, Spike," she mumbled. "What brings you all here?"

"Well, we didn't actually come as a group, sugar cube," Applejack replied. "We all just had the same idea, and sorta showed up around the same time."

"Starlight and I have been standing behind this door for the past half hour," Spike admitted. "We didn't really want to bother you, but then the others showed up, and...you know."

Twilight sighed. "I know." She got to her hooves, trotting around the Cutie Map to stand beside the others. "I'm guessing we're all thinking of the same thing."

"Swift," the others replied in unison.

Twilight beckoned with one leg, and the others took their places at their own thrones. Starlight sat on the side of Twilight's not occupied by Spike's throne.

"So..." Twilight started, "none of us were really happy with how that little affair ended, were we?" A small chorus of agreements came from around the table. "Neither was I. I freely admit that."

"It just sucks!" Rainbow complained, thumping her hoof against the Cutie Map. "I mean, sure, maybe we pushed too hard trying to make him rethink his decision, but come on! He made a life changing decision when he clearly wasn't in a stable place mentally. What were we supposed to do?"

"We could've been more sensitive, at least," Fluttershy offered. "Even with his description, we don't truly know what his life was like. Maybe it was terrible enough that going to another world was completely warranted."

"But why didn't he let us apologize?" Pinkie wondered aloud, her shoulders slumped and her ears folded sadly backwards. "He wouldn't even come to the party I threw to try and cheer him up. It's like he didn't want to be our friend."

Rarity shook her head. "From what Twilight's told us, that wasn't the case at all. It was more that he felt unworthy of our friendship. As though, because we knew his past, he'd never truly be accepted by us."

"That wasn't the case at all!" Spike angrily declared, clenching both claws. "We would've done everything we could to make him feel welcome! Heck, we probably would've forgotten he was a human at all after a few weeks!"

"It doesn't matter if he didn't believe in that," said Starlight, sadly. Seven pairs of eyes focused on her, so she went on. "When I first became Twilight's student, I was terrified of reuniting with Sunburst for reasons that are too numerous to list, but they include me failing to even try to contact him after all those years, plus shame over all my actions since then. If you want me to be completely honest, the biggest reason I finally pushed myself to see him again was because the Crystal Empire was in danger. But even then, I didn't believe we'd be close like we used to be because of what I'd become. I thought we'd get through the crisis and forget each other again. Mark didn't believe in himself, either, and with his serious lack of self-esteem, I feel like he would've unintentionally sabotaged his own attempts to be friends with us. It's a painful feedback loop ponies who are depressed get into. They believe they're unworthy of being loved, so they drive everyone around them away, and use that as proof they're unlovable."

"But he bonded with us just fine before we figured out what he was!" Applejack protested.

"Because, at that point, he'd completely given up his identity," Twilight added. "He clearly didn't want to be Mark anymore, because he was so convinced that Mark was worthless, he had to create Swift Wing to be accepted. As long as he could be Swift Wing, nopony would reject him."

Everyone looked rather downcast at Twilight's words. This was like no friendship problem they'd ever encountered before. Someone so lost, so worn down, they saw no value in their own life. What was worse, he seemed like he didn't want them to help him. It frustrated them, seeing someone who they felt they could make a difference for, but who wouldn't take that helping hoof.

"How is he gonna make friends wherever he ended up?" asked Spike. "If he had that problem with us, it's not gonna just go away because he's somewhere different."

"This is horrible!" Rainbow complained. "It just doesn't make any sense! Can't we make him—"

"Rainbow, darling, we cannot force him to do anything," Rarity cut her off. "Or, at least, we can't force him and expect him to get the benefits. If he only got assistance because we made him, he'd never put his whole effort into it."

"She's right," said Fluttershy. "He needs to want to help himself."

Rainbow gritted her teeth, but made no further objections. The assembled friends all started climbing out of their chairs, when another knock on the door distracted them. Twilight ignited her horn again, opening the door to find a familiar, wall-eyed, grey pegasus standing there.

"Mail for Princess Twilight!" she announced, flying into the room. She reached into her saddlebags, pulling out a single letter, and passing it to Twilight. The lavender alicorn took the envelope, and the pegasus departed without another word.

"Huh," said Twilight, "I wasn't expecting any more mail today." Then her eyes widened as she looked at the return address.

"Who's it from?" asked Applejack.

"Him."

That one word was Twilight's only reply, but it was more than enough. Spike and the others mares gathered around Twilight as she magically tore open the envelope, levitating the plain sheet of paper up to her face. Taking a breath, she began to read out loud.

Dear Twilight Sparkle,

I hope this letter finds you in good health, and I hope you're not too torn up over what happened to me. You looked pretty depressed over it back when I left. Please understand, it really wasn't your fault, it had nothing to do with you. It's just a problem that I'm trying to deal with. Maybe I haven't done the best job, but I'm working on it.

I'm doing fairly okay, now. I've made it to Cloudsdale, as you saw from the return address, and I managed to get a job at the weather factory. The ponies here seem alright, though I'm not found of those idiots who coined the name 'Rainbow Crash' (alternate universe cartoon knowledge again, sorry). I'm looking into finding some kind of therapy service, though it's going to be tough without letting on that I'm actually a human. By the way, I'd really appreciate it if you could keep that under your hat.

First, I want to apologize for all the anger I directed towards you. When you see Celestia and Luna, please extend my regrets to them as well. While I still maintain that I made the right decision to leave my home universe, and I disagree with your claims that maybe I was being too hasty, reacting by lashing out did no good to anypony. I hope you can forgive me.

Second, if I'm being completely honest, it's probably for the best that I got away from Ponyville (please don't take that the wrong way). Besides you girls knowing the truth about me, I think my extensive knowledge of you would've made it hard for us to be real friends. I've seen so much of your lives, it's almost like I've been spying on you. Really, the idea of having a friend who starts out knowing a lot of your intimate secrets kind of scares me. It's better that I stay away from you, at least for a while.

Finally, I have something I need to confess. The cartoon of your lives was kind of outside of my demographic, but I watched it anyway because it brought so much joy to me. When I was in my lowest place, I always had you girls to rely on, because I knew you'd always be there for me. And it wasn't just me. There are tons of people all over my world who are struggling, but our view of your world made us so happy, and gave us a reason to get out of bed in the morning. I know you technically had nothing to do with that, but I thank you anyway.

I guess that's the reason I was so quick to jump on the chance to live in your world for real. Because it was a wonderful place I could always go to escape the pain of my own life. When that man came to me, I thought I must've been dreaming. Maybe it didn't work out quite the way I originally pictured, but I'd probably do the exact same thing if given the chance again.

I have no doubt you'll share this with the other girls and Spike. Don't misunderstand me, I'm not telling you not to. In fact, I encourage it. I saw all of you as good acquaintances, and I hope this letter will give you at least a little bit of closure on me.

Maybe someday, when you've lived more of your lives that I haven't spied on, and I'm feeling a little better, I'll see you again. Maybe then we can be real friends. But for now, I'm going to try and get something to appear on my flank, and see where that journey takes me. I wish you luck, and I thank you for the compassion you showed me.

Yours,

Swift Wing

P.S. If you see Sunset Shimmer, give her my regards.

Twilight set the letter down on the table. No one said anything for the next few minutes, merely taking in exactly what they'd just heard.

"Well..." Pinkie finally broke the silence, "at least he's doing okay."

"Yeah," said Rainbow. "Could be worse."

Twilight sighed with resignation again. "I hope you find what you're looking for, Swift," she said to herself. "I'm sorry we couldn't help you more."

Author's Note

Final chapter coming next!

Epilogue

The chaos dimension was an unusual place, as one would expect. None of the established laws of the universe really applied there, mostly because Discord felt they were superfluous. Chunks of land floated without reason, water tended to flow upwards, and stepping on the wrong blade of grass would make you sneeze (don't ask how that one works). Any creature not native to such a place would probably find themselves driven mad. Not because the sight of it was so illogical or mind-breaking, but because it was so confusing to navigate. Luckily, after some coaxing, Discord had been persuaded to cut off most of the entrances, meaning ponies or other creatures couldn't just wander into it.

Speaking of the lord of chaos, he was currently attempting to write another letter to Fluttershy, hoping to establish a time for their next meetup. He chewed on his pencil (which proceeded to make a squeaking noise) as he mulled over his words. When it came to Fluttershy, Discord always tried to get everything just right, cherishing his friendship with the introverted pegasus more than anything he possessed. Unfortunately, Discord was not the most poetic of souls, so expressing his feelings didn't come easy to him. He crumpled up his most recent letter and tossed it into the trash bucket, which was, of course, on the ceiling.

As he grabbed another sheet of paper to begin again, Discord was distracted by a knock at the door. This peaked his curiosity, as he almost never got any unannounced visitors. If Twilight or Celestia or somepony needed him, usually they'd just activate the summoning spell. He hadn't scheduled anyone to come over today, so he had no idea who was coming.

Putting his writing materials away, Discord snapped his fingers, causing the door to swing open. At first, he thought he'd been at his work so long that night had fallen. That is, until he saw the edge of the long black cloak, which obscured the figure's face. Underneath the cloak was a dark blue suit. Looking up into the cloak's hood, Discord saw a pair of piercing blue eyes.

"Oh, it's you," said the master of chaos. "Since when do you make social calls?"

"Since I have nothing better to do with my time," replied the cloaked being. "Come on, Discord, that's part of friendship. You should've learned that by now."

"Whatever." Discord didn't look happy about it, but he stood aside all the same, allowing the figure passage into his house. "Seriously, what brought you here? Don't give me that 'social call' nonsense."

"What? We haven't seen each other since before you were turned to stone the first time! Can't a guy just want to catch up?"

Discord's expression was one of sheer disbelief.

The figure sighed, his cloak ruffling as he pulled a floating chair down to the floor. "Alright, you win. I wanted to talk to somebody about a...deal I made."

"The deal that sent Mr. Swift Wing to Equestria?" inquired Discord, pouring his guest some tea.

"It was that obvious, huh?" asked the cloaked one. "I know it would've been more 'interesting' to just dump him in Equestria in his human form, but he wanted to fit in, and...y'know, he asked nicely."

"Did you actually come to me to ask about whether or not you did the right thing by offering him that deal?" asked Discord. "Because you'd be better off talking to Celestia."

"First of all, Celestia doesn't even know I exist. And I'd like to keep it that way. Second, I don't regret it. He's actually doing okay, if you're interested."

The cloaked figure raised one hand, and his index finger popped alight with fire. He drew a circle in the air with the flame, and in the middle of the circle, a window appeared, projecting an image. Inside the image, Swift Wing hovered above an assembly line of clouds, bucking each one as it passed him. A lightning bolt struck lanced downwards at each buck, but if the cloud failed to produce the electricity, he pulled it off the line and stuffed it into a vat.

"He made it to Cloudsdale, got a job. He seems to be doing alright."

"You still sound doubtful. So tell me: Why are you here?"

The cloaked being sighed to himself, closing his blue eyes beneath his hood. "Okay, maybe I'm not completely sure of myself." He folded his hands together. "Look, the kid had a hard life. I watched him for years before I offered, trying to see if the circumstances beyond his control would get better. They didn't, so I gave him the chance to start over. Some people really need a completely new environment in order to thrive. But be honest, Discord: Did I do the right thing?"

"What makes you second guess yourself?" asked the draconequus.

"I guess I sort of underestimated just how bad his problems were," admitted the figure. "I thought maybe, since he knew the show, he'd just go up to Twilight and confess everything, but he didn't. I thought he'd let them in, and he'd get better from being around them. But he assumed they'd judge him, that everypony would judge him. He won't let a single living thing inside."

Discord nodded. "It's enough to make even me feel empathetic. I've never really met the guy, and I can tell you, he's got issues."

The cloaked one's blue eyes glared at him for that. "You might be a little more sensitive, Discord," he remarked. "I mean, it's true, but still. The question remains: did I do the right thing, sending him to Equestria? Did it really make a difference in his life?"

Discord thoughtfully scratched his beard. "Well, why did you do it in the first place?"

"I just wanted to help people who deserved better than what they got," admitted the cloaked being. "People pray and hope that something better will come along, because their mental problems sap all their energy and make it hard for them to fix themselves. I thought, if I gave them that push, put them in a world where maybe they'd be happier, they'd snap out of that funk." He looked sadly at the image in the portal. "But Swift...he's still sick. He's got so many problems, and I have no idea how he's gonna fix them."

Discord shrugged. "Look, buddy, I'm hardly the expert, but you did everything you could. If we could just magically take the pain of living beings away, you know Celestia would've asked me to start doing that. And besides, like you said, the kid's doing okay now. He's starting over somewhere no one will figure out what he really is, meaning that he won't have that imaginary obstacle to deal with, at least for a while."

"Yeah, I guess that's true," sighed the cloaked figure. He got back to his feet. "Thanks, Discord. I'll leave, I won't make you serve me stuff."

"Thanks," replied the master of chaos, snapping his fingers and opening the door. The figure stepped back out into the wastes of the chaos dimension, cloak swirling behind him.

Discord walked back to his desk, pulling up another sheet of paper, but the muse still hadn't struck. Curious, he snapped his fingers, recreating the projection mirror from before. An image of Swift Wing appeared in the center, flying alongside several other pegasi, pushing clouds towards the weather factor. Discord placed his lion's paw on his chin, thinking.

"I'll have to keep an eye on you, Swift Wing," he muttered.

Somewhere in Cloudsdale, Swift Wing looked out across the sky. He had the strangest feeling someone was speaking about him.

Author's Note

And that's the end.
I'll be honest, I never expected this story to blow up the way it did. I wrote this completely on a whim, thinking it would be ignored. But it turned out to be pretty popular. I want to thank everyone who read, reviewed, and liked.
Regarding the future: I might make a sequel if I get an idea. The sequel would probably revolve around Swift Wing's life in Cloudsdale, without the Mane Six showing up. But I don't have plans for one right now, we'll just have to see.

Chapter Two: Adjusting

Author's Note

Wow, this story got a lot more likes than I would've predicted. Thanks, everybody!

Chapter Two: Adjusting

Pinkie Pie's party had drawn to a close, and all the guests had departed to their homes. Luna's moon shone over Ponyville, guiding them on their way. Swift Wing, his saddlebags secured to his back, made his way towards Humble Hoof Boarding, following Twilight's instructions.

He smiled faintly as he thought back to the events of the party. He'd expected Pinkie to throw him one as soon as he showed up. It was in her nature. Just like in the show, she'd had the idea in her mind the second she'd seen him. He had to admit, even if it wasn't his thing, he'd enjoyed the party. It was a nice way to introduce himself to the town. Plus, it had saved him the trouble of wandering around town, asking for housing and work.

Arriving at Humble Hoof Boarding, Swift Wing pushed the door open, finding a simple lobby. He immediately took notice of a desk managed by an older, grey unicorn mare with a faint blue mane. Swift Wing approached the desk.

"Hello?" he ventured, prompting the unicorn to look at him. "I-I was hoping to board here, but I don't have any bits right now. Princess Twilight said that there was a way I could stay here until I find work?"

"Good on Princess Twilight," said the unicorn, "bringing us new business. Anyway, here at the Humble Hoof, we pride ourselves on being compassionate enough to give ponies from all walks of life a chance to get on their hooves. I'll tell you what: we'll let you stay here rent free for a week, as long as you look for a job."

"Fair enough," replied Swift Wing. "I'll do my best not to let you down."

"Great!" said the mare. Her horn lit up, and from under the desk, she levitated a key attached to a thin, metal hoop, and held it out.

Swift Wing hesitated. He wasn't exactly sure what the proper etiquette was for this. Should he put his leg through the hoop, or bite it? She didn't expect him to snag it with his wing, did she? He'd only had the things for a couple of hours, he didn't have that kind of dexterity yet. Sweat dripped down the back of his neck, and, to make matters worse, he realized he was making this more awkward by waiting around and doing nothing.

Desperate, he bit the ring, shivering as the feeling of cold metal met his tongue. Fortunately, the mare didn't react, so he hadn't broken pony protocol or anything.

"You're room is the first one at that top of the stairs," she informed him. "Have a good night."

"Ank ou," Swift Wing replied around the metal loop. He walked across the lobby to the staircase, climbing up to the first door. Now came the hard part: figuring out how to use the key with hooves. Swift Wing groaned as he looked down at them. Even if he'd truly wanted this, there was no denying he missed his fingers. They made tasks like this infinitely easier.

After thinking for a few moments, he shook the ring, making the key drop down to the bottom of the loop. Reaching up with one hoof, he pushed the teeth of the key upwards, so that it was pointing forward, and carefully attempted to guide it into the keyhole. It took a couple of tries, but he eventually managed to get it in, and turning it was easy. Swift Wing entered his new room, closing the door behind him with a push of his back leg.

He took a look around the room. It was fairly simple, with a bed, desk, and a relaxed looking chair, but no other furniture. Swift Wing supposed he shouldn't complain, considering he'd been given this place out of trust, when nobody (or nopony) in town knew him at all. Walking over to the desk, he dropped the key ring, and pulled his saddlebags off his back. He popped them open, and looked down at the few possessions he'd brought with him.

There was his phone, which he'd only really carried with him out of habit. It was useless in this world, anyway. He eventually decided to shove it under the mattress, so nopony would ever see it. It would just raise too many questions. Then there were the photographs. Swift Wing felt a pang of guilt in his chest as he looked down at the smiling faces. He knew he shouldn't have brought them, considering he'd left that life behind completely, but he'd been unable to stop himself. He carefully replaced them in the saddlebags, preferring not to face the problem now.

The last object was the familiar necklace. A simple length of black cord, with a piece of jade hanging from it. Looking at it, Swift Wing wasn't sure it would fit around his neck anymore. Sighing, he put it back in the bags, closing them up.

Trotting away from the desk, Swift Wing looked at the clock tower through the window. The hour was late, and he supposed he should get to bed pretty soon. But before he did so, there was something he wanted to try. He made his way to the middle of the room, where there were no obstacles to get in his way.

Standing up straight, Swift Wing attempted to spread his wings. A seemingly simple task, but, of course, he was used to only having four limbs. The muscles and nerves of wings were entirely new to him, and trying to move them felt like trying to move his ears. The feathery appendages lifted ever so slightly off his back, but he had to grit his teeth and tense up his entire back to get them to spread out. Even then, they weren't evenly spread. One tilted to the side.

Tensing himself, Swift Wing decided to try flapping them for the first time. He bent his knees a little, and the wings followed, bending towards the ground. A similar effect occurred when he stretched his legs to appear taller, causing the wings to point upwards. He closed his eyes, trying to figure out how to move the wings all on their own. He eventually figured out he could get them to flap by clenching his back muscles and focusing on his shoulders. It was kind of surreal, he had to admit. He could at least get them to flap up and down, though not enough to get him off the ground.

Swift Wing groaned as he allowed his wings to fold back into his sides. He'd have to practice this. It would only attract suspicion if it went around that he was a pegasus that couldn't fly. Mentally making a note, he crawled into bed, his head dropping down onto the pillow. He calmly thought over the day's events, hoping he'd made a good impression on these ponies. His tired brain soon drifted off to sleep.

Swift Wing stared at his strange surroundings. There was a night sky hanging over his head, but not that of Equestria. It was the sky of his home world, but there was no moon. He found himself standing on a dirt path, surrounded on all sides by grass, with a fork in the road up ahead of him. Swift Wing's ears folded back along his skull as he stared at the two paths in front of him. For some reason he couldn't quite put his hoof on, he didn't want to take either of those paths.

"You seem...troubled, my little pony," came a voice from above.

Swift Wing flinched. He instantly realized this was a dream, and that meant there was only one possible pony that voice could belong to. Desperate, he put on a neutral face, and turned around to face the source.

The moon had appeared in the sky. Well, perhaps it wasn't a moon, but a moon-shaped portal. And coming through was the midnight-blue alicorn he'd been expecting, all decked out in her princess regalia.

"Um...hello, Princess Luna," he said, awkwardly waving one hoof.

Luna eyed him critically, her eyes drifting. Swift Wing was suddenly grateful his wings were fluffy enough to cover his Cutie Mark. He sure wasn't willing to share that with her.

"I don't believe I've entered your dreams before," Luna commented. "What is your name, my little pony?"

"Swift Wing," he replied. "Listen, I appreciate you dropping by, but you really don't need to be here. I can handle this dream."

Luna looked over his shoulder at the fork in the road. Watching her, Swift Wing could tell she was beginning to doubt him. Then again, the scene was innocent enough. Luna was probably more used to dealing with ponies being chased by giant monsters, or faced with horrifying body alterations, or other things in their dreams. This looked tame by comparison.

"Very well, Swift Wing," Luna finally replied. "I respect your privacy. Are you certain you can face this alone?"

"Sure, sure," he answered, then mentally kicked himself for speaking too fast, "just a decision I've been putting off. Honestly, there are probably ponies who need you way more than I do."

Luna nodded, before taking off into the night sky, flying towards the moon-shaped hole in the sky. She passed through, and the moon disappeared, leaving Swift Wing alone.

He took a deep breath, and looked back at the two paths. Neither of them looked appealing.