Chapters If the citizens of Ponyville had learnt one thing whilst living in the sleepy little village, it was that the Everfree Forest ‘just ain’t natural’. So much weirdness had emerged from the untameable woodlands throughout the village’s history that nearly everypony made an effort to keep well away if at all possible - especially at night.
Twilight Sparkle, however, was not an ordinary citizen of Ponyville, and tonight she was making an exception. Just outside the forest entrance, and beside the dirt path, the unicorn was setting up a base camp. Various pieces of equipment filled the area, along with several books and a large collection of personal notes she had made during her time in Ponyville. In the centre of it all, she made a few last minute adjustments to a particularly imposing piece of technology.
“…so if this operates at a 5% threshold, for a general overview,” she recited to herself, before glancing over at a smaller machine on her right. “…I can set this one down to 2% for the finer details. Now, all I need is…”
“Twilight?”
“Ah!” She jumped, before jerking her head around and coming face to face with the source of the interruption. “Spike, you startled me!”
The baby dragon, who had managed to unintentionally sneak up on her whilst she was engrossed in her planning, shuffled back slightly. “He-heh… sorry?”
Twilight frowned for a moment, before letting out a deep sigh. “Did you bring my energy deviation matrix?”
“Um…” said Spike, floundering slightly. “I brought the widgety thing with the four orange lights Ditzy delivered this morning, if that’s what you mean. It’s just over there.”
He pointed towards the pathway. Twilight made a quick glance over, and spotted a small cone shaped contraption standing on the grass. She made her way over to the device, smiling slightly as she approached. “Perfect. Once I’ve got the EDM set up, that’ll be everything set up optimally.” She beamed. “With any luck I should be able to make real progress tonight.”
Spike looked bemused. “Remind me again, Twi; what exactly are you up to with…” - he gestured around him - “all this?”
Twilight’s grin faded, and she glared back at Spike. “All this is part of my localised geo-magical inference exercise on the Everfree Forest.”
“Huh?”
“I’m doing some research to see if I can find out what makes the Forest so… unusual.” she clarified. “My hypothesis is that the Forest somehow generates its own magic somehow, and I want to see if I can find out how it does it. That’s what this equipment is all for - monitoring magical energy.”
“But why so much of it?”
“The Everfree Forest is a big place - I’ll need plenty of equipment for full coverage. Plus, at this stage I’m still not sure what I’m looking for, so I’m monitoring several things before on focusing on whatever seems promising after that.”
“OK, fine,” said Spike, still looking unsure about the whole operation. “Next question - why are you doing all this? I thought you were supposed to be studying the magic of friendship.”
“I can have more than one area of study, Spike,” replied Twilight, a slight annoyance creeping into her voice. “Besides, this has all been arranged with the Princesses. I’ll be presenting the findings to them once they get back from their visit to the Griffin Lands.”
Spike sighed. “You know, when most teachers take a vacation, the students try to do less work, not more.”
Twilight chuckled. “You know, you’re free to help out tonight. I’ll be sure to put your name down as a research assistant in the final paper.”
Spike snorted. “No thanks. I’m not giving up a night’s sleep to try and work out why the Everfree Forest’s so creepy. I’m going home.”
He turned around, heading back towards Ponyville. As he reached the pathway, Twilight called out suddenly.
“Spike!”
He groaned. “What now?”
Twilight hesitated. “…thanks for your help tonight.”
Surprised, Spike came to a halt, and glanced over his shoulder. Twilight stood a few feet away, looking slightly awkward amongst the machinery. “I really appreciate it.”
Spike floundered slightly. “Uh… no problem, Twi. I mean, that what number one assistants do, right?”
Twilight smiled. “Right. Go on, get to bed. I’ll see you in the morning.”
Spike wasted no time setting off again. As he made his way over the small hill that lead back to the library, Twilight stood still, alone in the night.
She picked up the newly delivered device with her magic, and slowly moved it into the one remaining patch of ground left uninhabited in her campsite. After a brief pause, she closed her eyes, focusing on her activation spell, and as her horn glowed with the power of her magic, the devices slowly came to life around her. Lights began to blink on and off, meters shifted backwards and forwards, and a low hum descended across the camp as the machines began their monitoring. As the final piece of equipment was switched on, Twilight opened her eyes, and grinned.
Taking a notepad and quill from her saddlebag, she began making her readings. Twilight had planned eighteen different magical tests for this evening, each of them with a slightly different focus. Some were looking for a particular energy type, so were looking for patterns and rhythms in the magic flow. The most important test, however, was being performed by her brand new EDM device.
Twilight knew from her time at Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns that the average level of background magic at any point in Equestria was approximately 1 Faust. Ponyville itself was slightly higher at 1.2 Fausts, which Twilight had hypothesized was due to its proximity to the Everfree. A higher reading tonight would certainly lend the idea credence, although there’d still be a lot of work to do in determining why the forest had such high magical activity. Making sure not to disturb any of her other equipment, she made her way over to the device and took a glance at the meter, which was now calmly displaying a reading of - 2.8 Fausts .
Twilight was in shock. That was more than double the reading in Ponyville, and a significant breakthrough into the nature of the forest. She grabbed her quill and quickly scribbled down the result in her notebook, as if the result would disappear if she spent too long looking at it. 2.8 - that would have to be among the highest level of background magic anywhere in Equestria!
She tried to contain her excitement. It was only the first reading, after all, and she’d needed to wait until more results came in to make sure it wasn’t simply a spike. Still, it was turning into a very successful experiment - she couldn’t wait to tell her friends about it tomorrow.
It was at that moment that Twilight began to wish she’d asked her friends if they wanted to come along tonight. She knew that her friends were not as interested in her research as she was, and had avoided telling them about tonight’s excursion thinking that they would react in the same way Spike had. She’d told herself it was better this way at the time, but it seemed a shame that she couldn’t share her discovery with them as it happened. Even if her friends weren’t as scientifically minded, they were still her friends, and she was sure that they would have come out to support her if she’d given them the chance.
Twilight sighed slightly. Was that another lesson she’d learnt about friendship? At least this one hadn’t been accompanied with a parasprite attack or a changeling invasion.
As her equipment buzzed and whirred around her, Twilight’s mind began to drift, and she began to imagine a scene where she and her friends were sitting around in excitement waiting for the next new finding. It would probably be messier, she thought, particularly if Pinkie Pie decided to throw a spontaneous Twilight Made A New Discovery party (Twilight was sure the pink pony could generate 2.8 Fausts all by herself), but it would have been preferable to a night alone with only the loud blaring alarms of her machinery…
…wait… what?!
Twilight’s attention snapped back towards the EDM. She’d hadn’t set any alarms on the machinery herself, so the only way the alarm would be activated would be if there was an incredibly high amount of magic in the area, but this was simply a background check! There was no possible way that the matrix could possibly be picking up a reading of that magnitude - was there?
Twilight stared at the meter, and froze. 9 Fausts… no, 9.5, no, 10 Fausts, and rising. For a brief moment she thought something must be wrong with the system, but that possibility was quickly eliminated as around the camp several pieces of equipment started to malfunction, unable to cope with the sudden influx of magical energy.
She stepped backwards, her expression a mix of panic and horror as the meter crept upwards to 15 Fausts, showing no signs of stopping. The only things she knew that could possibly generate that level of magical energy were the Elements of Harmony, and they were sealed in the Royal Vaults. The Everfree Forest had been always been abnormal, but this was beyond anything she’d ever seen before.
Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw the flashes.
Twilight looked up, and gasped. Out in the distance, the forest was full of lightning. It couldn’t be a storm, there were no clouds to be seen anywhere - and yet, there was lightning, striking out with such incredible frequency that the forest was completely engulfed in its eerie white light.
She stood rooted to the spot, confused, terrified and transfixed by what was happening, unable to even attempt to understand it. As the lighting kept striking down, she barely noticed that her meter was now climbing up to 20 Fausts.
Suddenly, there was an explosion of magic. A bubble of white energy expanded from the forest, passing through the trees towards the base camp and up into the night sky. Even though it had almost faded by the time it reached Twilight, it was still powerful enough to knock her to the floor before disappearing completely. Then, as quickly as it had begun, it was over, silence falling over the forest and the remains of the base camp.
Slowly, Twilight clambered back to her feet, her mind in a daze. For the longest time she simply stared at the forest, as if waiting for something to appear to even begin to explain what she had just witnessed. The forest, however was failing to provide.
Twilight knew firsthoof the forest was dangerous, more so than anypony in Ponyville, and she was well aware that the safe thing to do was to simply walk away. And yet, at that moment in time, she was placing one hoof in front of the other, slowly but surely making her way into the Everfree Forest in the middle of the night, because what she had just seen was impossible, and she needed to know right now just what had happened.
Casting a light spell as she entered the forest, she proceeded in a straight line towards the centre of the outburst. What she was hoping to find, she was unsure of, but she was desperate to find something, if only to prove to herself she hadn’t imagined it all. As she climbed over a tree root, Twilight suddenly noticed how quiet everything was. The Forest was usually full of noises usually coming from the various beasts that roamed the area, but now, nothing. It was as if the forest had been struck dumb by what had just happened within its borders.
Twilight’s pace slowed as she drew closer to the epicentre of the explosion. What was she doing? She knew that finding anything at this time would be near impossible, not to mention the extreme danger she was putting herself in.
Calm down, Twilight, she thought to herself, quivering slightly. Think with your head, not with your hooves - there's no point running around like a madmare.
She kept wandering forwards, slowly making her way into a small glade she’d never encountered before. As she kept moving, she was so caught up in working out exactly what research she’d need to do when she got back to the library that she almost didn’t notice the steep cliff in front of her. Letting out a small scream, she skidded to a halt, barely keeping her balance as she came to the edge.
Slowly and carefully, she made her way backwards. That settled it - she needed to get home, right now. She turned around, trying to focus on the way back to Pony-
WHAM!
Twilight didn’t see what hit her, but she certainly felt it. She fell instantly, her attacker following her down before rolling over onto the ground behind her. Instinctively, Twilight leapt back upwards, rounding on her assailant in a matter of seconds.
For the second time that evening, she was rendered speechless. Lying five feet away, and struggling to get back to her feet, was an earth pony.
Twilight moved forwards, utterly perplexed. For the most part, the stranger looked perfectly ordinary, with a cream coat and a brown shoulder length mane and tail. In any other circumstances Twilight would have simply identified her as a Ponyville native who’d got lost in the forest and taken a bit of a tumble. Given what she’d just witnessed, however, Twilight knew that something was very wrong with this situation.
She moved closer to the still struggling pony, who looked as if she barely had the energy to open her eyes, let alone stand on her own four hooves. As she approached the newcomer, she let out a gasp - the stranger’s flank was completely bare, with no trace of a cutie mark.
Twilight’s initial reaction of disbelief, however, quickly turned into one of concern. The pony, whoever she was, was clearly in trouble - she was quaking with the effort of bringing herself up from the floor, and tears were beginning to form in her still closed eyes. Twilight paused, and then slowly began to speak.
“Hello?”
She didn’t respond, but a small flick of the ears told Twilight the earth pony had heard her. Twilight spoke again, trying to be as clear and as calm as possible in the bizarre setting she had found herself in.
“My name is Twilight,” she began, crouching down on the ground in front of the stranger. “I’m going to pull you back up, but I’ll need your help.”
Slowly, the stranger nodded, stretching her front legs out in front of her. Twilight carefully wrapped her hooves around the earth pony’s, preparing herself.
“OK then, on three. One… two… THREE! ”
She pulled with every ounce of strength she had, gradually pulling the shivering pony back upwards. Keeping hold as the stranger’s back hooves connected with the ground, she slowly lowered her front hooves back down and let go. Taking a quick breath, Twilight looked back upwards at the newcomer - she was still shaking, but she was now at least stable. As Twilight moved back into a standing position herself, she couldn’t help noticing the small gold locket around her new companion’s neck before she snapped back to focus on the matter at hand.
“OK…” she continued, with slightly more confidence. “Can you open your eyes for me?”
With a visible effort, the stranger opened her eyes.
“Allright. Now I need you to…”
Twilight’s words faded as she saw the expression on the stranger’s face - an expression of utter terror. She was now stumbling backwards, her legs nearly collapsing as she frantically backed away from Twilight.
“Wait! Don’t be scared!”
“P-p-please…” stuttered the earth pony, as if every syllable were causing her pain. “…please don’t hurt me.”
Twilight faltered. “I’m not… I wouldn’t…”
The stranger was now staring at her legs in disbelief, as if she hadn’t seen them before. Spinning her head around, she caught sight of her tail, which seemed to terrify her even more. Twilight, meanwhile, was utterly mystified.
“W-w-what’s happening?” said the cream pony, her tearful blue eyes now focusing on Twilight. “W-w-where am I? Why am I a p-p-p…”
The last word died on her lips, and she fell backwards onto her rear, quietly sobbing. After a moment, Twilight found her voice again.
“Please…”
The stranger squeaked in fear and began edging backwards again.
“Please, stop! I’m not going to hurt you! I just want to help!”
“B-But you’re a u-u-uni…”
And then suddenly, the cream coated, brown maned earth pony slipped over the cliff behind her. Twilight leapt forward, casting a levitation spell just before her front hoof disappeared entirely. By this point she was drawing on all her energy reserves, but somehow she was able to pull the pony back over. The stranger, however, had slipped into unconsciousness, and was now hanging limply in the air.
Twilight slowly laid the pony onto her back, trying to work out what to do next. This pony needed help - that much was certain. She needed to get back to the library now, and try and find out what the hay was going on.
She turned her head to look at her unexpected companion. Draped over her back you could be forgiven for thinking she was merely sleeping - however, the tear stains around her eyes told a different story. As she began to make her way back towards the forest entrance, Twilight whispered a question to the unconscious pony.
“What happened to you?”
In a small town in a small country on a small planet known as Earth, the sun was setting. The warm orange glow of the sky fell over the buildings below, draping the rooftops with a patchwork of amber shades and causing the streetlights to cast long shadows on the roads. In parks, pavements, playgrounds and back gardens, friends and families gathered together, each one trying to make the most of every second of daylight.
Not every resident had been lured outside by the evening sun though. Hidden away in a house on the edge of town, a seventeen year old girl sat huddled alone at her kitchen table, nursing a mug of hot chocolate. Her face was partially obscured by her brown hair, which stretched back into long shoulder length tresses and fell forwards into a long wavy fringe, but her blue eyes, and the sadness contained within them, remained visible.
The sunlight shone through the back window, trying to tempt her outside, but the girl wasn’t interested. Instead, she took a deep breath, inhaling the comforting smell of cocoa before slumping back into the chair. This time something stronger would be needed to cheer her up.
Almost instinctively, her hand moved to the locket draped around her neck. She didn’t grab it though, instead simply pushing it around before letting it fall between her fingers. As she took a sip from her drink, the girl tried to sort out the chaotic thoughts erupting in her head. It had gone so well at the beginning - she’d been so careful - and then…
She heard the keys in the front door lock, but didn’t move from the table, remaining perfectly still as footsteps entered the house and made their way towards through the hallway, accompanied by a male voice.
“Dawn? You here?”
The girl sighed. “I’m here, Dad.”
“Excellent.” She heard a bump in the hallway as her father dropped his bag. “Sorry I’m so late - traffic in the city was terrible. Let me just get in the door and I’ll get started on dinner.”
Dawn murmured an vague acknowledgement, before taking another gulp from her drink and slumping forward onto the table. It wasn’t that she didn’t love her dad, it was just that right now, when she was feeling miserable and confused and worried, she just wanted to imagine a situation where it had all gone perfectly, everything had worked out, and she hadn’t messed up by being a complete-
“Bad day, huh?”
Dawn jerked upwards in shock, almost spilling her drink. Looking upwards, she saw her father standing on the other side of the table. Despite his considerable height, the lack of muscle and his unkempt black hair meant he looked rather unimposing, a fact emphasised by his ill fitting shirt and trousers, and by the cheap name badge around his neck. Dawn however, immediately recognised the look of worry on his face, and inwardly cringed.
Slowly, he sat down in the chair opposite. “Want to talk about it?”
Dawn shuffled backwards. “It’s nothing Dad, really.”
He raised an eyebrow, and her resistance faltered. “I… screwed up again, Dad.”
Her father shifted slightly, but remained silent as Dawn continued, rambling slightly as her resolve began to give way. “I met this girl on the way back home. She said her name was Rani, and she’d just moved into the neighbourhood and was a little bit lost, so she asked me if I knew the way back to her house, and I said I was going in that direction, so she said we should probably stick together then, and I said OK, and…”
Dawn came to a halt as she ran out of air. She looked back at her father, waiting patiently for her to continue, and despite everything she felt just a little bit calmer. After a few deep breaths, she began to speak again.
“She asked me what it was like living here, so I told her that I lived near the forest and she seemed really interested - there hadn’t really been anything like that where she lived before. Then she was talking about moving and how weird it was trying to make new friends, and I said I kinda knew what she meant. Then we got to her house, and I was about to head home, but she stopped me and said that her parents were planning to invite the neighbours round for a housewarming once everything was unpacked, and since I lived nearby I should come along as her friend, and I…”
She was struggling to go on, and when she spoke again her voice quivered with emotion. “I wanted to say yes, Dad. I really did, but … I…”
Her father reached out and clasped her hands, which were still clutching the mug of hot chocolate. Dawn didn’t want to cry, but she couldn’t stop her eyes from watering up completely. For a few moments, father and daughter sat together in silence, until Dawn found her voice again.
“I know I have to be braver, Dad,” she began, still sniffling. “I want to make friends and go to parties and meet people - but why does it have to be so hard? ”
She didn’t expect an answer from her father - this wasn’t the first time this conversation had taken place, and both she and he knew that there was nothing that could be said that would just give her whatever it was that seemed to come naturally to everyone else. In her head, she could imagine all the standard talks he could have given about confidence, but Dad wasn’t like that, and in that moment Dawn felt a sudden appreciation of how lucky she was that was true.
“I’m sorry, Dad,” she said, pulling away. “I’m being pathetic.”
“Oh sweetheart, don’t say that.”
Dawn didn’t reply, and her father leaned forward onto the table.
“Listen,” he began slowly. ’I know that it’s not easy, and I know that there’s not much I can say that will make it easier." He paused briefly, trying to find the right words. “But it won’t always be this hard, I promise.”
“I… I dunno, Dad. I did my best today, and…” - Dawn looked away, unable to keep eye contact - “…and I still couldn’t get it right.”
She slunk back into her chair, tilting her head forwards and staring at the ground. She’d wanted to say that she knew it wouldn’t always be like this, like she said the last time, and the time before, but she didn’t really believe it any more. It was one thing trying to approach strangers and trying to be friendly - she could understand things not going right there - but today was different. Today somebody had offered her exactly what she’d always wanted, and she hadn’t been able to take it. Perhaps she’d never be able to…
“Come with me.”
She looked up, startled. “What?”
“Come on.” repeated her father, standing up from the table. “I’ve got something to show you.”
Dawn stared up into his eyes, and the momentary thoughts of protest faded away. She stood up and moved around the table. “What is it?”
He gave a small smile. “You’ll see. It’s in the back room.”
He turned around, making his way into the hallway and out of sight. Dawn followed almost automatically, still trying to work out what her dad was up to. As she moved into the living room, she saw her father unlocking the wooden door at the far end, before looking back at her with that same thin smile still etched onto his face. The door slowly swung open, and he made his way inside - a second later, Dawn was behind him.
She entered the room, slowly making her way around the mess - the back room was where her father kept his ’projects’, as Dawn had come to refer them as. Every so often he would suddenly announce that he’d had some new idea, whether it was attempting to write a novel, or starting a stamp collection, or researching an ancient Chinese dynasty, or something else entirely. Usually, this interest would fade after a few weeks, but Dad wasn’t the sort of person to throw anything away - hence the back room. The place was completely covered with loose scraps of paper, along with several unusual objects which her father had acquired from assorted flea markets, junk sales and online auctions, and all of it was scattered haphazardly around the woefully undersized room. Perhaps this was why most of the time the door remained firmly locked, and why most of the time Dawn kept her distance. That didn’t mean that she didn’t enjoy the rare times she did get to enter, though. She’d never tell him this, but in spite of the mess and the disorder she loved getting involved in her dad’s schemes.
In the right-hand corner of the room, she saw him pulling down a dusty box from an overstuffed set of shelves. It wasn’t exactly enormous compared to some of the others dotted around, but it still required both hands to bring down. Once it was under control, he brought the box towards her, and placed it down with an audible thump on the cluttered desk between her and him. Slowly and carefully, he flipped the top of the box open, placed his hands inside, and after a small amount of fumbling, pulled out an emerald-green stone.
Dawn let out a small gasp. The stone was completely spherical, with no hint of dents, chips or imperfections anywhere to be seen. Looking closer, she could see the colour pattern on the outside, the lighter green shades contrasting with the darker hues to the extents that she felt she was looking at storm clouds beating down on a chaotic green ocean, the colours weaving and crashing into each other and creating bizarre shapes all over the stone. It looked too chaotic to be natural, and yet too perfect to be random.
She looked back at her father. “Dad, where did you find this?”
“Junk sale,” he replied. “Apparently the owner thought it looked tacky, so I was able to get it cheap. Want to take a look?”
He passed the stone forward, and Dawn reached out to take it - as she held it she realised just how heavy it was. “What is it? I mean, what’s it made of?”
Her father shrugged. “Marble, I think. If it was anything more precious I doubt it would have ended up at a junk sale. I meant to try and take it to an expert at some point,” he added, brightly, “but I never got round to it.”
“It’s like a gemstone,” replied Dawn, absent-mindedly. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Her father leaned leaned forward, and Dawn could see the excited glint in his eyes. “Interesting, isn’t it?”
“It’s amazing…” she echoed, awestruck. “But I don’t understand. What’s it got to with me?”
Her father grinned. Placing his hands on the stone, he slowly twisted it around in Dawn’s grip. For a moment, she was confused, until she noticed the engravings etched on the other side of the stone.
As the stone turned in her hands, she could see the image in front of her. It appeared to be three horses, although she’d never seen horses with those proportions, and certainly not ones that wore smiles on their faces. Each one had their eyes closed in an expression of tranquility, and their hooves joined together to form some kind of equine trifecta. It was now that she realised that the horses were not identical - while one seemed to be a regular horse, another appeared to have pegasus wings, while the other was quite clearly a unicorn.
Still uncomprehending, she turned back to her father. “What are these supposed to mean?”
“I couldn’t say for sure,” he replied, the uncertainty evident in his voice. “But, if I had to guess, I’d say this was supposed to be a commemoration piece.”
Dawn looked sceptical. “With horses? ”
“Ponies,” he replied automatically, then spotted Dawn’s confused expression. “Too small to be horses,” he added hastily.
Dawn sighed. “But then what was it commemorating?”
“I don’t know. But I’ve got a idea.” He waited for a moment before continuing. “You have a unicorn, a pegasus, and a standard pony. Three different groups, coming together. I wouldn't be surprised is this was supposed to represent some sort of treaty between three tribes.”
“And why ponies?”
“I’ve seen stranger things,” replied her father offhandedly. “Maybe it was symbolic of something, or maybe the ponies were part of the treaty somehow. Or maybe…” - he paused for dramatic effect - “whoever created it really liked ponies.”
Dawn sniggered in spite of herself - Dad somehow could make her laugh no matter how bad she was feeling about herself. He still hadn’t answered her first question though, and by now she was more confused than ever.
She placed the stone down on the desk. “Dad. What’s this got to do with me making friends? Why did you need to show me this?”
“Because…” began her father, taking great care to say the right thing. “…because I wanted to show you that friendship is worth it.”
He pointed at the stone again, and when he spoke this time it was quieter and more contemplative than Dawn had ever heard her father before. “This stone was made because a long time ago someone made two very good friends. Perhaps even with someone they weren’t expecting to make friends with.”
He paused again, his hand moving between the three ponies. “I can’t say that it will be easy for you to make friends, because I know that it isn’t. But I can show you that it’s worth the hardship if it means something as special as this.”
Dawn looked at the stone again, and at the image of the three ponies, together in harmony. Her dad was right - this was a memorial to friendship, and it was beautiful.
Her eyes were watering again as she glanced back up. “Do you think…”
She didn’t finish, but her father understood. “I know. ”
He opened his arms, and in an instant Dawn was around the other side of the desk hugging him, because she loved him and he loved her, and right now that was enough.
By dinner time, Dawn was beginning to feel a bit more relaxed. Her father had decided to try out a new pasta recipe, and experience told her that this was likely to become her father’s next project for a couple of months. She smiled inwardly - that wouldn’t be so bad. Maybe she could learn a few recipes herself.
Across the table, her father noticed a small smirk. “Feeling better?”
The question threw up some unwelcome memories, and she stumbled over her reply. “Sort of… I think.” She stopped, gathering herself, then continued. “I think I just need a bit more time.”
“Fair enough,” he replied, understandingly, before glancing at her pasta bowl. “You about finished?”
She popped the last bite into her mouth, swallowed, and nodded. Her father leaned over and grabbed both bowls, before taking them into the kitchen. Dawn remained seated, taking advantage of the moment of solitude.
She tried to process exactly how she felt - she wasn’t upset anymore, but neither did she feel completely settled either. The only word she could come up with to describe it was stuffed, as if her head was full of so many thoughts and feelings and she was experiencing them all at once. She needed to sort her head out, and none of the usual methods were working.
A green flash suddenly caught her eye, and as she looked down she found herself staring at her father’s mysterious stone. She gazed at the patterns on the surface, which somehow looked different every time she saw it. Before, she’d seen a storm on the ocean, but now as she examined the collisions between the dark and light swirls of green, it looked more like an infinitely overgrown forest.
Suddenly, Dawn glanced up, looking through the kitchen into the back garden as something clicked in her head. She stood up, ran into the hallway, and grabbed her coat off the coat rack, putting it on as quickly as she could before bounding back into the dining room. As she moved past the table, she caught sight of the stone again.
Dawn didn’t know what made her do it. Maybe the conversation with her dad had convinced her that it was necessary, or maybe she was just feeling so befuddled that she wasn’t thinking straight. All she really knew was that within seconds she’d grabbed the stone and placed it in her right coat pocket. It bulged outwards conspicuously, and its weight left her feeling slightly lopsided, but by that point she wasn’t really concerned. After taking a moment to gather her bearings, she proceeded into the kitchen, and headed towards towards the glass screen door at the far end.
As she looked through the door, she could see her destination. Just beyond the stone wall at the back of the garden was a shadowy looking collection of trees and plant life. There was an official name given to the place, but most of the locals simply referred to it as the forest. Most people never had much reason to talk about the place, and virtually no reason to go wandering around inside it.
Dawn, despite living a literal stone’s throw away, had only been there a few times before. She couldn’t say she enjoyed it, but occasionally, when she’d felt lost and confused, it was somewhere she could escape to, a place of solitude where she could sort out every conflicting emotion in her head before coming back into the real world outside.
She stared out at the forest again - the last vestiges of sunlight were disappearing behind the tree-line, and she knew that if she didn’t go now she may not be able to go at all. She placed her hands on the door handle - and froze. Suddenly all her confidence had faded away, leaving behind an all too familiar feeling of doubt.
“Heading out?”
Dawn didn’t jump this time - instead, she slowly made her way around to face her father, who was stood by the sink, and sighed.
“No, Dad,” she started. “I mean I was, but… it doesn’t matter.”
Her father began to approach slowly. “Doesn’t it?”
He made his way past her, grabbed the handle, and slowly pulled open the screen door. As he looked back at the stunned expression on his daughter’s face, he shrugged. “I’m surprised you didn’t think of this before.”
Dawn fidgeted. “I don’t have to go there, Dad. Not if you don’t want me to.”
“Dawn,” her father began, raising his hand. “What I want, more than anything, is for you to be happy. And you’re the only person who can work out how to do that.”
He looked out into the garden briefly, slowly inhaling the air, before turning back to his daughter. “Just be careful. And don’t stay out for too long.” With that, he stepped aside, leaving the way clear.
Hesitantly, Dawn made her way forward. As she made her way through the door, she halted, and glanced back over her shoulder. “Dad?”
“Yes?”
She paused for a moment. “Thanks, Dad.”
“No problem, sweetie.” He smiled, and Dawn couldn’t help joining him. “See you later.”
Dawn nodded, and then turned away towards the forest. The doubt remained in her mind, but a small spark of confidence had managed to break through, and she began to move forwards. As she reached the wall separating her from the dense woodland, she halted, before placing her hands on top of the stone structure and vaulting her way up.
As she successfully landed on top of the wall, she looked back and saw her father, still standing in the doorway. She lingered for a moment, before pushing herself down to the other side, stumbling slightly as she landed but just about keeping her balance. With some apprehension, she began moving forward, making her way into the forest.
After a few minutes of walking, she noticed just how palpable the silence was. Aside from the occasional scurrying of some identified woodland animal and the snapping of twigs underfoot, there was no sound whatsoever, and the unsettling atmosphere only intensified the further she proceeded into the forest. Exacerbating the creepy feeling was the fact that the overgrown foliage blocked out all but the tiniest amount of light - the last smatterings of sunlight had disappeared, and it was only the dim twilight of the moon and stars that allowed her to make out the gaps between the trees. Any newcomers to the forest would be lost in a matter of minutes in these conditions, which was another reason the forest was so rarely visited.
Dawn, however, was not completely ignorant of the forest’s geography. She knew that approximately five minutes walk from the forest boundary was a small clearing where a tree had fallen, and that’s where she knew she needed to go. She had discovered the area on her very first visit to the forest, and although her memories of that night were hazy for several reasons, she had been able to remember the location for every successive visit since.
She made her way up a slope, taking care to avoid the numerous exposed roots on the ground below. As she reached the top, she found the tiny clearing a few feet in front of her, illuminated by the moonlight and standing in sharp contrast to the pitch black darkness of the rest of the forest. As she moved forward into the light she could see the fallen tree, looking just as she remembered it from last time. It appeared to shimmer slightly as the moonlight reflected off the moist patches in the wood.
Just as she’d done at her back wall, Dawn vaulted onto the top of the log. This time, however, she remained on top, her legs dangling over the side. For the first time that evening, she allowed herself to relax, letting her mind drift in and out of conscious thought in the silence and stillness of the night.
As she sat, she unconsciously began to pick apart every emotion she was feeling. Sadness from the potential loss of a friend mixed with frustration at her inability to follow through on what she knew she had to do - what she could have done - to make that friendship work. She recognised the streak of self-pity creeping into her mind and tried to counter it, succeeding briefly but knowing that it wasn’t truly beaten.
She thought about her dad - what he’d said to her when she was doubting herself, and what he’d meant when he said things weren’t always going to be so bad. He had seemed so confident when he said it, and she knew he thought she’d be able to get right someday. That didn’t take away the numb feeling in her heart, however, as visions of past failures reemerged from her memories to taunt her.
These visions, however, were being overwrought by a much more recent memory. As they faded, they were replaced with a patchwork of light and dark green blobs meshing and marbling with each other, while in the foreground three ponies circled each other and smiled happily. Realising what it meant immediately, she reached into her coat pocket and removed the stone.
It remained just as mysterious as had been a few hours before, and Dawn could see what had drawn her father to it. As she stared at it, she remembered what he’d told her about it, and sighed as she realised the irony. The stone was incredible, but she couldn’t even begin to understand it, and if the stone was supposed to represent friendship, then maybe that’s why she had so much trouble understanding that as well.
The trees rustled slightly as a small wind picked up, but Dawn didn’t notice. She turned the stone over in her hands, her mind quickly coming up with numerous theories as to the stones origin, in the vain hope that finding an answer to that problem might provide one to her other issues as well.
After a few moments of speculation, however, she was ready to give up. She wasn’t anywhere near qualified enough to identify where the stone came from, and even if she was, she couldn’t see how that would make her better at making friends. Somehow, she managed to get the two problems mixed up in her own head - exactly the opposite of why she’d come here in the first place.
She looked up at the sky, and saw the moon hanging directly overhead. It was getting late now, and Dad would be getting worried. She moved to place the stone back into her pocket, when a sudden gust of wind pummelled her from the right hand side, knocking her off balance.
On instinct, Dawn’s hands moved to cushion her fall. As they came down onto the tree the stone was pushed out of her grip, and she could only look on helplessly as it fell through the air before hitting the ground and rolling into the centre of the clearing.
Her heart racing, Dawn pushed herself back up of the the log. It was only then she noticed the whistling sound of the wind through the trees, shattering the peaceful silence and throwing her into a mild panic. It was getting louder every second, and as it continued it moved from a low moan up to a high screech, forcing her to cover her ears to block out the noise.
As she slid forward, trying to make her way of the log, a second pulse of wind flew around the clearing. This time, it was much stronger, and Dawn found herself thrown off the tree towards the ground below, landing face first with a heavy thud. Shivering with fear on the ground, she felt the cyclone of wind above her, as the screeching noise continued to grow louder and louder.
Anxiously, she lifted her head up, her hands clamped over her ears, and stared in shock. Black storm clouds were forming in the cyclone above, the swirling wind stretching them into long wisps. They circled around the centre of the clearing, and right in the middle, caught in a cluster of leaves and tree bark, she could see something rise up off the ground, something that reflected the dimming moonlight in a shade of emerald green.
With horror, Dawn realised what it was. She tried to stand up, but the cyclone was pushing her down the ground, and with nothing else she could do she began to crawl forward towards the stone. Above her, the storm clouds were closing in on the centre, and the wind was becoming more and more furious with each passing second.
She was now an arms length away from the stone, but before she could reach out and grab it it lifted up out her grasp. The storm swirls were now practically touching the stone now, smothering it in a cocoon of dark cloud. Only the smallest portion remained visible on the underside directly above her, and for a moment Dawn thought she could see the carving of the three ponies in the gap. With a burst of effort from reserves she didn’t know she had, she made a last gasp leap into the air from the ground, pushed her arms in front of her, and grabbed hold of the hovering stone.
Suddenly, the world turned white, and she clenched her eyes shut. The sensation was unbearable, like a million volts coursing through her body. She couldn’t feel the stone in her hands or the ground beneath her feet anymore - it was if she had been suspended in thin air, and all she could do was take in was the screeching and roaring and crashing noise of the cyclone. And then, just as suddenly as she was floating, she was falling - she plunged into the ground in an instant, sliding forward before coming to a stop.
The noise had stopped, but her eyes remained closed. For about five minutes, she lay on the ground in silence, until finally she managed to force them open again.
As she looked around, still unable to bring her body up of the ground, she realised she couldn’t recognise where she was. The trees in front of her bent at the wrong angles and were far too tall to be the ones in the clearing. It wasn’t until she saw at the sky, however, that she realised something was very, very wrong. Dawn wasn’t an expert in astronomy, but she knew what the Earth constellations were, and she knew that what she saw above was impossible in an Earth sky. She threw her head back to the ground in horror, trying to convince herself that she couldn’t have seen what she’d just seen.
‘It’s not real.’ she whispered to herself in a shuddery voice. ‘It can’t be real. You’re panicking and imagining things and you need to get home.’
She threw her head around anxiously, looking for something that would lead back to the house while at the same time trying and failing to ignore the possibility that she may not be able to. She couldn’t make out a thing in the darkness, and was about to give up when in the distance she saw a tiny flash of purple light.
She had no idea what the light was, but it was the only thing in the forest that had given her any hope at all of getting back, and before she could even think about what she was doing Dawn was on her feet and sprinting towards the light, fuelled by a surge of both adrenaline and desperation. She threw herself into the blackness of the forest, her eyes never moving from the single pinprick of light. The trees shot up into the air in front of her, but despite a few close calls she somehow managed to avoid a collision. She could see the light getting closer - she’d be there any second now.
A log suddenly appeared in front of her, and instinct taking over, Dawn jumped. She flew over head first, only just making it over, and milliseconds later her back leg nicked the top of the barrier. She stumbled slightly on the landing, but didn’t stop running - she was almost there now, and she couldn’t stop simply because she stubbed a back hoof.
A second later, she realised that had just injured a part of her body that she wasn’t supposed to have.
A second after that, she realised that she’d just run for the last minute on four legs.
A second after that, she realised that she had stumbled over both her front and back legs, which were now completely out of her control. As she lost contact with the ground, she flew towards the source of the light, time seeming to move in slow motion, and her eyes widened as she saw a lavender unicorn, its horn glowing a bright shade of purple. As it turned its head slowly towards her, she was unable to stop herself from plowing into it.
She rolled over in the air and smashed into the ground, and this time she was unable to hold back the tears. She huddled on the ground, shivering, and tried to convince herself that it was all a nightmare, that she was five minutes walk away from her house, that the sky was normal, that unicorns didn’t exist, and that even if they did she certainly wasn’t one.
“Hello?”
Dawn remained silent as she felt something move on top of her head, something that definitely was not her pointed and independently moving ears.
“My name is Twilight. I’m going to pull you back up, but I’ll need your help.”
She moved her not-front legs in front of her, and waited for the stranger to grab hold of her hands which she could no longer feel. She didn’t worry when the the stranger instead wrapped something that felt like a hoof around where her wrists still were, or when she was lifted up into a crawling position as opposed to being stood up on her only two legs.
“Can you open your eyes for me?”
As she opened her eyes, and saw Twilight’s face for the first time, she could ignore her lavender coat, her spiralled horn, and her purple and pink striped mane. But as she stared into her large purple eyes, with their long individual eyelashes, she couldn’t pretend any longer. The emotion in the unicorn’s eyes was undeniable, and suddenly Dawn realised everything she’d seen was real, and that she was really trapped on another world and in another body, and that she was more scared now than she’d ever been in her entire life. In the grip of pure terror, she barely managed to respond to Twilight’s queries, and as she glimpsed her hooves and her tail for the first time she descended into blind panic.
In the future, she wouldn’t remember exactly what happened in that next minute - that she had begged Twilight to explain what was going on, or that she tried to run away and almost fallen down a cliff. All she would remember is that in her last seconds of consciousness, all she wanted was to go back home.
The first thing Dawn felt on waking was the sun on her face as the beams of light fell over her eyes. With a murmur, she scrunched her eyes up tight and turned over in protest. She did not want to get out of bed today - she felt absolutely exhausted, and her whole body felt stiff and uncooperative. She continued to mumble as she struggled to get back to sleep again, but to no avail.
Rolling her face onto the pillow, she couldn’t help but feel confused by the new sensation. Her nose was completely crushed up against the pillow - not just massaged but completely squashed. It felt like it had grown to three times its usual size in the night…
Her eyes shot open as she realised what she’d just thought, and she threw herself up off the bed in a panic, tangling herself up in the bed sheets before landing on the wooden floorboards face first. The rush of pain quickly confirmed what she’d already worked out seconds ago - she now had a snout.
The memories from the night before flew into her head in an instant, and she curled up on the floor under the duvet cover, quivering in spite of the sun’s warmth. She could feel something twitching on her back waist, and shuddered again as she realised exactly what it was.
Dawn forced herself to open her eyes, trying to work out where she was, and was greeted with the sight of a dark blue duvet cover, decorated with stars and a crescent moon. She moved to grab the cover instinctively, only to fail when she remembered her current lack of fingers. She was about to start thrashing her head around in a last ditch attempt to escape when she heard a mumbling voice about five feet in front of her.
“Uhhhh… Twilight, what’s going on? What are you doing under there?”
Dawn froze under the sheet. The voice was unfamiliar to her - vaguely masculine but noticeably immature. She did, however recognise the name it had spoken, as memories from the forest resurfaced.
She heard footsteps in front of her as the voice continued, sighing and sounding exasperated. “What are you even doing here? You told me you were staying out last night.”
Unable to do anything else, Dawn remained silent. Whoever the stranger was, he clearly thought she was the unicorn from the forest. Her mind raced - was this Twilight’s house? Did unicorns live in houses in wherever she was?
Before she could begin to work it out, she heard the voice again. “Twilight, if this is meant to be a joke, it’s not funny. Will you get out from under there?”
She felt the duvet cover shift, and looking upward she realised in horror that something was pulling it away. Before she could react, it had been completely removed.
She’d half expected to see another unicorn, but as her eyes adjusted to the light she found herself face to face with something else entirely. It didn’t look very big, but from her position on the ground it seemed to tower over her. In the back of her mind she registered the purple scaly skin, the green ridges along the top of the head, the sharp fangs and the spiky tail, but all she could really focus on was the expression on its face, watching as it switched from mild annoyance to complete surprise.
Then without warning, it let out a yell at the top of its voice. In terror, Dawn let out a shriek of her own, fumbling her way backwards with whatever limbs she could successfully get under her control. The whatever-it-was, however, wasn’t letting her get away.
“Who are you?!” it began, its voice a mixture of shock, anger and child-like fear. “What have you done with Twilight!?”
“I haven’t…” Dawn’s reply came out in a barely audible stutter. “I haven’t done anything!”
“Where is she then!” yelled the whatever-it-was again, advancing on her with a claw raised and pointing accusingly at her face. “And how did you get in here!”
“I don’t know!” Dawn’s stumble backwards came to an abrupt halt as she collided with a wall, and she let out a squeal of fear as the whatever-it-was drew closer. “Please… I don’t know anything!”
The whatever-it-was looked unconvinced. “Likely story!”
“Please!” Dawn squeaked. “You have to believe me, please!”
A voice drifted upwards from down below. “Spike?”
The whatever-it-was eyes widened, and he came to a stop. Hesitantly, he called out, his voice wavering slightly. “Twilight?”
“Spike, what’s going on? What’s all the racket about?”
“Twilight!” In an instant, the whatever-it-was was running down a set of stairs Dawn hadn’t noticed before, still yelling as loudly as it possibly could. “Twilight there’s somepony upstairs in the bedroom and I thought she was you but she wasn’t so you’ve got to get up here right now to…”
The voice of the whatever-it-was faded away as it appeared to run out of breath, leaving Dawn alone in silence. She was still shivering, she realised, and her breath was coming out in short heavy bursts.
Taking in her surroundings for the first time, she stared in disbelief at the huge space she found herself in. Virtually every she could see was made of wood, from the bed she’d just fallen out of to the vast bookshelves on the floor below - even the walls of the room were coated in a light brown bark. Her eyes turned to her right hand side, and she spotted a telescope and a small statue that looked distinctly equine in nature.
The morning sunbeams shone through the room's arched window, paving the floorboards in a golden glow. Dawn stared at the window, her mind a mixture of curiosity and fear, and after what seemed like hours of indecision, she gingerly made her way towards it. Inwardly, she tried not to think about how her back legs were moving in coordination with her front ones - she didn’t understand how it was happening, but she knew from last night that if she thought about it too much she might lose control entirely.
She reached the window, slowly peaked outwards, and gasped at what she saw. On the ground below she could see dozens and dozens of thatched cottages, complete with long wooden beams and yellow straw roofs. Every house looked unique, some of them towering three floors high and with tops wider than their bottoms, some of them small and cosy, with flower boxes and hanging baskets decorating their walls. It reminded Dawn of a box of chocolates, each house looking so different and yet so fascinating.
A grey figure suddenly flew down past the window, and Dawn jumped backwards in shock. For a moment she stood there, waiting for something to happen. When it didn’t, she slowly found herself moving toward the window again, this time lifting her front feet up to the windowsill and staring straight down.
She couldn’t help gasping again as she caught sight of a grey pegasus, with a messy blond mane and a satchel around her neck. As she watched, the pegasus stuck her head into the bag, pulling out several envelopes before stuffing them quickly into the nearby mailbox. Then, to Dawn’s amazement, she quickly took off into the air with a flap of her wings, before heading straight back into the village.
She could feel her ears twitching on the top of her head as she heard loud tapping noises coming up the stairs behind her, but she didn’t look away from the window. As the noises grew louder, she continued to stare, noticing something new every moment from the dessert shaped building in the village square to the imposing castle in the far distance. It looked positively picturesque, but as she gazed over it Dawn couldn’t help but be reminded of just how far away from home she was. She lifted her legs back down from the window sill, suddenly feeling a lot more alien in this strange place.
From behind, a familiar voice broke the silence. “Hello?”
It took Dawn a few seconds to prepare herself, and even as she made to turn around she couldn’t bring herself to do it with any kind of pace. Slowly, she moved herself around in a circle, staring down at her feet in what she told herself was an attempt to keep her new limbs under control, but what was really just her trying to delay the inevitable.
Finally after a pause that seemed far too long, she forced herself to lift her head. At the top of the stairs, she saw Twilight standing in front of her, looking as if she’d barely slept last night. She was smiling awkwardly, and the expression on her face looked genuinely welcoming, but Dawn couldn’t help but feel a little afraid after what had happened the night before.
As they made eye contact, silence hung in the air, neither party quite sure of what to say in the situation. It was Twilight, however, who was the first to speak up.
“Are you alright?” she began, hesitantly, before starting to ramble. “I mean, alright relatively speaking - you’ve obviously been through some kind of ordeal and I wouldn’t want to presume that you could just get over something like that overnight, but you seem to be moving about OK so you must have at least physically recovered, and that would suggest that you’re on your way towards…”
Twilight caught Dawn’s eyes again, and noticing the look of confusion and fear, slowly trailed off.
“I’m sorry,” she said, quietly. “I didn’t mean to frighten you.”
Dawn couldn’t bring herself to respond. She wasn’t supposed to be here. She was supposed to be at home, eating slightly burnt croissants for breakfast and listening to her dad talk about brewing his own cider, not standing on four legs with a tail and a snout having a conversation with a purple unicorn.
Twilight took a step forward, and Dawn quickly took a shaky step back. Twilight faltered for a moment, and then sighed.
“Please,” she started, cautiously. “Please don’t be scared.”
Dawn, still quivering, remained silent.
“I want to help you.” continued Twilight, anxiously. “Honestly, I do. But I need you to help me. What happened last night…”
She paused, unsure of how to proceed. “…what I saw last night was something I thought was impossible. I can’t explain it on my own, and you’re the only pony who…”
At the mention of the word pony , Dawn let out a small cough, and she quickly turned her head down, no longer able to meet Twilight’s eyes. Twilight noticed her reaction immediately and quickly stopped talking, but Dawn still didn’t move her head back to look at her.
Twilight looked defeated, her crestfallen expression amplified by the marks under her eyes and the untidiness of her mane. She stared at the jittery figure of Dawn, trying to think of some way she could persuade her to open up.
“I did as much reading as I could last night…” she said, slowly. “There was one book I found on theoretical magic phenomena that really stood out to me. It postulated that given enough magical energy, matter could be transported across vast distances within seconds.”
Dawn didn’t look up from the floor, but her ears twitched again as she processed what the unicorn had said.
“Of course…” Twilight continued. “…with that amount of magic it would be almost impossible to control exactly where any transported object would end up, or even be recognisable as the same object when it arrived. But then again, this is all theoretical - the probability of something like that actually happening is so unlikely as to be functionally impossible…”
“It’s not impossible.”
The response was barely audible, even in the near quiet of the library, but Twilight registered it instantly. She stared at Dawn in amazement, and Dawn looked just as surprised at her own sudden outburst. She still couldn’t bring herself to make eye contact as Twilight moved towards her, but this time did she did manage to keep still.
“In the forest,” began Twilight, still approaching apprehensively. “When I found you, and you saw me for the first time, you acted like you’d never seen a unicorn before.”
She paused, knowing that if she acted too rashly she might make the situation worse. “You were acting so strangely, when you saw your ta…” - she caught herself just in time - “…when you saw yourself , that I couldn’t help wondering whether you’d come from… somewhere else.”
Twilight was now directly in front of Dawn, and she had to glance down slightly to keep the her lowered head in sight. “Everything I knew about magic told me it was impossible, but I couldn’t stop thinking about it. It was the only theory I had that even remotely made sense.”
She raised a hoof, and slowly placed it on the side of Dawn’s neck. “I can’t even begin to imagine how scary that would be. Or…” - she paused briefly - “…how scary it would carry on being afterwards.”
Dawn lifted her head and looked back into Twilight’s eyes. She could see her reflection staring back at her, her long brown hair rearranged into a mane that arched down the back of her neck, her blue eyes now tripled in size, the cream coat that covered her face, her pointed ears and her elongated nose. It looked almost unreal, and yet despite the transformation she immediately recognised herself. She blinked, and the image was gone - all she could see now was Twilight’s face, still full of anxiety and concern.
She couldn’t quite force the words out of her mouth, but she was able to nod her head slowly, her eyes beginning to water. Twilight’s face fell in an instant.
“Oh my goodness… please don’t be… I didn’t mean to…”
“I know,” replied Dawn, finally finding her voice. “I know you didn’t. I just…” She sniffed as she tried to hold back the tears. “I just want to go home, and…”
She felt Twilight’s leg move around her neck, and though the sensation was unusual, she recognised the intent as she found herself brought into an embrace. Dawn looked back at Twilight, whose worried expression had been replaced into a sympathetic one. The tears were flowing freely now, but Twilight didn’t move away.
“It’s going to be OK,” she whispered determinedly. “I’ll get my books and I’ll do some research and I’ll find a way to get you home, I promise.”
Dawn’s voice was croaky. “R… really?”
“I promise.” repeated Twilight. “But I’ll need you to tell me everything about what happened, OK?”
As Dawn nodded, a voice rang out from across the room. “Twilight? Is it safe now?”
Both ponies turned round towards the source, and Dawn recoiled slightly as she saw the whatever-it-was from earlier. Twilight, however, sprung into action.
“Spike! I’ll need you to fetch me every book you can find on geo-substitution and bio-transmogrification. I’ve already found a few, but I’ll need more research.”
“But what about the…”
“It’s OK, Spike, she’s a friend. Just get along with finding those books.”
Spike looked hesitant, but after a quick glance from Twilight he set off back down the stairs. Twilight quickly turned back to Dawn, and her expression softened.
“Come downstairs and we’ll talk properly. I’ve got some tea in the kitchen.”
Dawn could only nod in reply as she tried to process the previous scene. As Twilight proceeded towards the stairs, she followed behind slowly, still anxious about how she was managing to keep her balance going downwards.
“Hold on.” said Twilight as Dawn moved beside her. “I should have introduced myself. My name’s…”
“…Twilight,” echoed Dawn quietly. “You said last night in the forest.”
“Oh… right,” muttered Twilight, looked slightly embarrassed. “Well then, what’s your name?”
“Dawn,” replied the earth pony, shakily. “My name’s Dawn.”
Twilight looked slightly surprised, and as Dawn made the connection in her head she couldn’t help but cringe slightly. “That’s… kinda weird, isn’t it?”
The unicorn smiled. “Not the weirdest thing I’ve heard today.”
She made her way down to the floor below, before turning back up towards Dawn. “Coming?”
Dawn looked downwards nervously. The stairs were noticeably steep all the way down, and she still felt awkward simply standing on four feet, let alone walking. As she made to back away, she caught sight of Twilight at the bottom of the stairwell, looking at her expectantly.
She took a deep breath, and placed one foot forward. “Coming.”
"Alright, let's make sure I've got everything."
Twilight's voice was slightly raspy as she telepathically flicked through the scattered set of notes she'd been making. Sitting down on a cushion at the small dinner table, she pulled up her first note sheet. "You were in a forest near your home, with a stone your father had found, when a cyclone whipped up, correct?"
On the other side of the table on another cushion sat Dawn, feeling rather un-coordinated as she struggled to get her four limbs in a comfortable position. After a moments hesitation, she nodded in response.
"And when you grabbed the stone, that was…" Twilight paused, warily. "…that was when it happened, right?"
Dawn nodded again, trembling a little as she recalled the sensation from the night before. Realising her anxiety, Twilight waited for the earth pony to settle back down before continuing.
"The stone…" she began, softly, picking up a quill and a fresh sheet of paper. "You said it had markings on it."
"Yeah," replied Dawn, finally summoning up the nerve to speak again. "There were a unicorn, a pegasus, and a…" - she fumbled as she tried to find the right words - "…a pony-pony."
Twilight looked up. "You mean an earth pony?"
"Well, it didn't have a horn or wings or anything like that," muttered Dawn uncertainly. "Are those… earth ponies?"
It was Twilight's turn to nod this time, and Dawn shuffled uncomfortably. "Why are they called earth ponies?"
"Um…" said Twilight, caught off guard by the question. "…well, earth ponies tend to have a special connection with the ground, so… I guess someone thought it was a good name for them." She smiled awkwardly as she finished, realising how insubstantial her explanation had sounded.
"Oh…" said Dawn, slumping down on her cushion. "They aren't… like me then?"
Twilight looked confused for a moment, but as she made the connection her eyes widened. "You mean…"
"I just thought…" began Dawn quietly, "…that since they were earth ponies and I was from Earth that…"
She trailed off slowly. "…Never mind. I was just being stupid."
Twilight, who had been busy scrawling down a hurried note, stopped suddenly. She turned to look at Dawn, who was looking down at the floor again, and sighed.
"You weren't being stupid," she said, firmly but kindly. "It was a perfectly reasonable thing to ask. I'd have probably done the same thing if the situation was reversed."
"But…" began Dawn, stuttering slightly. "…but you said before that this was all supposed to be impossible anyway, right?"
"Dawn, if you think something is important, you can tell me about it," replied Twilight, comfortingly. "You shouldn't have to worry about getting something wrong."
"I guess," Dawn murmured, still sounding uncertain. "It's just… there's so much I don't understand about all this."
"I know," said Twilight, in an understanding tone. "That's why I need you to talk to me - so we can both work out what's happening."
Dawn looked up to see Twilight smiling at her warmly, and sighed. "Alright. I'll try…"
Twilight nodded before turning back to her notes. "Do you still have the stone?"
Dawn's mind raced as she thought back to last night. She remembered holding the stone as the wind whipped around her, and yet she couldn't remember holding it when she fell to the ground again. She stared down at her front hooves, and sighed.
"I think… it's still in the forest." she replied. "When it happened, I was so scared, and I just wanted to get away… I didn't think to…"
She trailed off again, and Twilight quickly made to say something. She didn't seem to be able to find the words, however, and a moment later she had turned back to her papers and begun writing again.
Dawn, meanwhile, shuffled slightly as she tried to distract herself from how hopeless the situation seemed to be. Without thinking, she lifted her hoof up to her neck, and in an instant found her locket hanging around it. She let out a small sigh of relief - she'd have never forgiven herself if she'd lost that in the forest. It swung around as she bumped her hoof against it, and her sense of relief faded instantly as she realised that she wouldn't even be able to open it by herself now.
"Twilight," she mumbled, her voice shaky and unsure. "Why is this happening to me?"
Twilight looked up, her quill falling back to the table. Dawn moved to meet her gaze and was taken aback by how worried she looked.
"I'm not sure yet," she admitted, reluctantly. "I've got theories and ideas, but I don't know for sure if any of then are true without further research."
"Please Twilight," Dawn pleaded, her wide eyes shimmering. "You must know something by now, even if…"
She paused, and when she spoke again her voice had dropped down to a whisper. "…even if you don't think I'll like it."
Twilight bit her lip, and Dawn recognised the look on her face instantly - it was the same look she'd given her father the evening before, when she was trying to convince him nothing was wrong.
"Dawn," she began apprehensively. "Are you absolutely sure about this?"
For the briefest of moments, Dawn hesitated, and then, slowly, she nodded her head. As she did so, Twilight took a deep breath, before letting out a long sigh.
"OK then." she said, trying to sound confident but unable to hide her nervousness. "Here's what I know at the moment."
Her horn lit up, and the pile of papers by her side floated up into the air. Gradually, each individual sheet was laid out in front of her, positioned so Dawn could read every note Twilight had made.
"I've done some reading into long distance teleportation," began Twilight, pointing at a sheet of paper on Dawn's far left. "There's a record of a pony attempting to teleport from Manehatten to Las Pegasus, but it needed three additional unicorns to get enough magical energy to make the journey, and he didn't even manage to get to the right destination - he ended up in Vanhoover instead. The experiment was never repeated after that."
She moved her hoof to the next sheet of paper, lying right in front of Dawn. "Last night though, you somehow managed to travel an unimaginable distance, apparently unaided-"
"But it wasn't me!" interrupted Dawn. "I mean, it couldn't be me. I don't know anything about magic, or Equestria, or any of this."
"I know you don't," said Twilight. "That's why it's so confusing. Every theory I've come across suggests it would take at least twenty unicorns to even consider moving anything out of Equestria, and even if they did there'd be no way of telling where in the universe it'd end up."
"Then how did I get here?" said Dawn, perplexed. "If it's meant to be impossible, how did it happen to me?"
Twilight took another deep breath, and then slowly pointed at the last sheet of paper on the table. Dawn stared at it, and gasped as she saw a frantically sketched drawing of her emerald green stone.
She looked back at Twilight, aghast. "You think the stone did all of this?"
"It's the only other variable that remains unaccounted for," said Twilight, cautiously. "I've no idea what the stone was supposed to do, but for whatever reason it seems to be the reason you're here in one piece."
She paused, yawning heavily before continuing. "From what you've told me about those carvings, I'd hypothesise the stone originally came from Equestria. When you teleported, you could have theoretically ended up anywhere in the universe, and yet you somehow ended exactly where the stone originally came from. There's no way that could have happened purely by chance."
Dawn blinked as she struggled to take everything in, and as she tried to compose herself she suddenly realised the implications of what Twilight had said.
"You can't send me back then,' she said faintly, her voice wavering erratically. "You'd need the stone in order to get me back to the right place, and I lost it-"
"Dawn, it's OK," interrupted Twilight, determined not to let the situation get out of hoof. "We know the stone is still in the forest somewhere. We just need to find it again."
Dawn clenched her eyes shut again as she tried to stop them from watering. Opening them again, she turned back to Twilight. "What if we can't find it?"
"We will find it," said Twilight insistently. "I said I'd work out how to get you home, and I will."
She gave Dawn with a sympathetic smile, and Dawn felt the tiniest amount of confidence bubble up from somewhere inside her. Closing her eyes again, she took a long deep breath as she attempted to regain her focus.
"But why did I turn into a pony?" she whispered, opening her eyes and trying to remain as calm as she could. "Was that the stone as well?"
"It's certainly possible," said Twilight, yawning again. "Perhaps there was some enchantment it that prompted the transformation. Until we find the stone, though, I can't say for sure."
Her head fell slightly as she finished speaking, the effects of her near sleepless night finally catching up with her. As she looked back at Dawn, her tired expression became all the more obvious.
"I know it's not want you wanted to hear," she said wearily. "But I am going to fix this. Trust me."
Her tone was sincere, and despite her own doubts Dawn found herself nodding. She sank back onto the cushion, the tension in her body slowly draining away.
"So," she said softly, staring down at the floor. "What happens now?"
She waited patiently for an answer that never came, and she jerked her head up in confusion. "Twilight?"
As she looked back over the table, the reason for the lack of reply became obvious. Twilight sat with her eyes closed and her head bowed, breathing rhythmically in and out as she finally succumbed to sleep.
Dawn briefly considered waking her up again, but having seen how tired she'd seemed earlier she couldn't bring herself to do it. She looked around the library nervously, trying to find some clue as to what she was supposed to do now. In the silence, she heard clattering noises from behind her, and as she turned around she remembered the library's other inhabitant, busy in what she could only assume was the kitchen.
A small twinge of unease surfaced as she remembered their first meeting an hour earlier, but devoid of any other options Dawn forced herself to stand up and proceed towards the source of the noise. As she made her way through the doorway, she stopped and stared in mild disbelief as she found Spike washing up the teacups she and Twilight had been using earlier, standing up on a small stool in order to reach the sink.
She took a deep breath before speaking. "H-Hello?"
Her voice was barely louder than a whisper, but it was enough to attract Spike's attention. He turned quickly, and as he saw Dawn in the doorway, his eyes widened.
"What is it?"
Dawn fought the urge to step backwards in fear. She wasn't sure if Spike was still angry with her - in the few instances where he'd wandered into the library Dawn had purposely avoided making eye contact. She looked up at him, trembling but keeping all four hooves on the ground.
"It's Twilight." she began, faintly. "She fell asleep in the library, and I wasn't sure if she was OK."
"Oh," said Spike, almost lazily. "Don't worry about that. Twilight pulls off these kind of all-nighters every week or so. She'll be fine when she wakes up."
"O… OK." replied Dawn, still shaking slightly. "I'll just… go then."
She began to turn back around, but before she could head back into the library Spike suddenly called out. "Wait…"
Dawn paused before looking back. As she turned her head she saw Spike hop down from the stool, his expression looking remorseful.
"I… heard what you talking about with Twilight," he began, uncertainly. "When I saw you in her bed I thought you'd replaced her somehow. I didn't think you were…" - he hesitated, unsure of the right words - "…you know."
He moved forwards, clasping his claws together nervously. "I'm sorry I yelled at you before. I guess I was just kinda… scared."
His eyes widened again. "I meant worried. For Twilight, I mean. I wasn't scared, but Twilight was missing and I was thought something had happened to her, so I was worried. Not scared."
He laughed nervously as he finished, but it faded as he saw Dawn's confused expression and he came to a stop just in front of her.
"So…" he said, awkwardly. "Can you forgive me?"
Dawn looked down at Spike. The angry figure from earlier had disappeared, and in his place stood a small child shuffling his feet and wearing a guilty look on his face. Suddenly, her fear had evaporated, and as she stared back she realised she was no longer shaking.
"I guess so," she said softly. "Thank you."
Spike smiled. "Hey, no problem. Consider it my duty as a noble dragon."
Dawn's jaw dropped. "You're a dragon? "
"Yep." replied Spike, sounding rather pleased with himself. "Spike the noble dragon of Ponyville, at your service."
Dawn fell back onto her haunches in amazement - ponies were one thing, but dragons were something else. "Oh boy."
Spike looked confused. "Do they not have dragons where you come from?"
Dawn shook her head. "Not outside of stories…"
"Wow…" said Spike. "You must be from really far away…"
Dawn tensed slightly at the remark, and Spike gasped in realisation. "I mean… oh jeez… I'm sorry."
"It's OK." Dawn replied wearily. "Don't worry about it."
She glanced back towards the entrance to the library, in the vain hope that Twilight would rushing through it any moment with some magical solution to everything. As the doorway remained empty, her head dipped down until she was staring at the floor.
Spike looked concerned. "Dawn, I'm sure it'll be OK. Twilight's the smartest pony I know. She'll find a way to get you home."
"I know." Dawn replied, not taking her eyes off the floor. "I just wish it didn't look so hopeless, that's all."
"You've got nothing to worry about." said Spike, earnestly. "Twilight Sparkle is not the sort of pony to give up on a problem, believe me."
He smiled enthusiastically, and as Dawn looked up she found herself beginning to believe him. "Really?"
"Really," Spike nodded. "One time, there was this unicorn who tried to take over Ponyville, and she banished Twilight into the forest, but then Twilight came back and defeated her in a magic duel in front of everypony."
Dawn had no idea what a magic duel entailed, but Spike's description made it sound suitably epic. "Wow."
"That's nothing," said Spike, beginning to get carried away. "There was the time when Snips and Snails brought an Ursa Minor into town…"
"…and then, she picked it up and floated it all the way back to the Everfree Forest. All by herself!"
Spike had leapt back up onto the nearby stool, frantically waving his arms to punctuate each dramatic moment. Dawn sat and watched him from below, gradually becoming caught up in his seemingly boundless energy.
"And then…" continued Spike, standing up on tiptoes in order to gain every single inch of height possible. "…everyone in the crowd cheered, and Twilight was worried because she didn't think they would like her any more, but they all said it was amazing!"
He jumped down from the stool again, raising his arms in a flourish. "And that's how Twilight defeated an Ursa Minor and saved Ponyville single hoofedly."
He grinned, and Dawn found herself grinning too - Spike's enthusiasm was clearly infectious. "That is amazing…"
"I know, right?" said Spike. "Trust me, once Twilight's got herself rested, she'll have you home in no time."
Dawn remained silent, unsure of how to react, and Spike frowned. "Are you OK?"
"I think so," Dawn replied. "Better than I was before, anyway."
"That's good," said Spike, stepping forward slightly. "Listen, you can tell me if I'm talking too much. Twilight always does."
"You're not," said Dawn, truthfully. "It's nice to have someone to talk to."
"Oh..." said Spike, sounding more than a little surprised. "Well, what do you want to talk about?"
Dawn opened her mouth to reply before she realised that she had no idea what she wanted to say - so many questions were forming and colliding in her mind that she could barely process them. Eventually however, she found one that was suitable.
"Spike…" she asked nervously. "Can you tell me more about… here?"
Spike looked confused. "You mean Ponyville?"
"Is that what this place is called?"
Spike looked momentarily stunned. "I'd have thought Twilight would have mentioned that."
"We were so busy talking about how I got here that I never got to find out exactly where here is." explained Dawn, her tone mildly apologetic. "I mean, I know that there are ponies, and some can fly and some can do magic, but I don't know anything else other than that."
"Oh…" said Spike, rubbing the back of his head in thought. "Well, Ponyville's alright, really. You'll have to go to Sugarcube Corner at some point - Pinkie's been working on these new edible party hats made of wafers or something, and…"
"Is it safe?"
"Well, they haven't been properly tested yet, but…"
"I meant Ponyville…" Dawn interrupted, sounding anxious. "Is Ponyville… safe?"
Spike looked at Dawn. "Well…I guess so. I mean, we get the occasional disaster every so often, but we get it sorted most of the time." He realised his mistake as soon as he saw Dawn's worried expression. "I mean… uh… nothing bad's going to happen to you in Ponyville. I promise."
Dawn opened her mouth to reply, but her response never came, as at that moment the loudest voice she'd ever heard suddenly erupted from outside. "Citizens of Ponyville!"
The noise was enough to knock both her and Spike off balance, and while she managed to remain upright Spike wasn't quite so lucky. Her eyes darted towards the sink, where several of Spike's teacups had fallen down, smashing violently as they hit the floor below. From behind her, she could hear the crashing sounds of books and scrolls tumbling down from their bookshelves.
Slowly, Dawn realised she was shaking again. The voice - a unmistakably male one - had been spoken with almost no emotion whatsoever, but she couldn't help but notice the contemptuous sneer that pervaded it.
Without warning, the voice boomed again, reverberating around the room. "This is an announcement from an appointed representative of the Equestrian Royal Constabulary. Your presence is required at the Ponyville Town Hall immediately. Attendance is mandatory for all citizens - those who do not comply risk full inspection according to the Statutes of Equestria. Please proceed to the Town Hall at once."
As the announcement finished, the sound resonated in Dawn's eardrums, and she was unable to block it from her mind. Still trembling, she spoke into the unnatural silence.
"Spike…" she said, her voice jittery. "Is that n-normal?"
"No, it isn't." came another voice from behind - one that Dawn recognised instantly. Turning her head, she saw Twilight standing in the doorway, looking simultaneously shocked, exhausted, and frustrated.
"Twilight?" Dawn asked, still in mild shock. "What's happening?"
"That's what I want to know." replied Twilight, frowning. "If the Constabulary are involved, something very serious must be going on."
Dawn's face fell. "Something like… me?"
She saw Twilight's face shift uncomfortably, and realised the truth. "Oh no."
"Dawn…" began Twilight, determined to keep the situation under control. "…this isn't necessarily a bad thing. It may be somepony who can help you get home."
Dawn shook her head frantically. "It didn't sound like it to me, Twilight."
"Me neither." came Spike's voice from behind her, as he pulled himself back to his feet. "Sounded more like Discord to me."
"Spike!" Twilight snapped. "It was not Discord. I'd recognise that voice anywhere."
"I didn't say it was Discord." replied Spike, sounding slightly put out. "I'm just saying it sounded an awful lot like him…"
"Who he sounds like…" interrupted Twilight irritably. "…is not important right now. The point is that he's from the Royal Constabulary and he's called a meeting, so we need to get there and find out why he's here."
"We?" Dawn gulped. "I have to go there too?"
Twilight turned back to Dawn, and her annoyed expression shifted to an empathetic one. "Dawn, I know this isn't ideal…"
"I can't do it, Twilight." said Dawn, her tone verging on panic. "Why can't we just stay behind?"
Twilight shook her head. "This meeting is for all citizens of Ponyville. Whoever this pony is, he'll at least be expecting me and Spike to show up. If we don't, it'll look like we've something to hide."
She placed a hoof on Dawn's shoulder. "You can either stay here in the library on your own, or come to the meeting with us. It's up to you to choose which you think is the better option." She paused briefly, letting the choices sink in. "But if you come with us, we can make sure that you're kept safe."
Dawn blinked as she realised what Twilight was saying, and her head fell. "I'm really scared, Twilight…"
"We won't let anything happen to you," said Twilight, determinedly. "Right, Spike?"
"Right," echoed Spike, marching next to Twilight and standing to attention. "Nothing's going to get past this dragon."
Twilight rolled her eyes, and for a moment Dawn felt like laughing, but the sneering voice continued to drone in her head, and she shuddered again. She breathed in deeply, trying to steady herself.
Finally, after several moments of hesitation, she whispered her answer. "Alright."
Twilight gave a small nod in acknowledgement. "We need to get going right away - if we're late, it might look suspicious. Stay close to me and Spike, and we'll make sure you're OK."
She turned around, Spike strolling up beside her. "Are you ready?"
Dawn steeled herself, and then slowly replied. "Ready."
Twilight nodded again, and then slowly set off towards the front door, Spike pacing alongside her. After taking another deep breath, Dawn began to follow. Her four legs felt heavy, and she couldn't tell whether it was disorientation or fear that was preventing her from keeping up with Twilight.
As Twilight reached the front door of the library, it swung open for her, illuminated by the purple aura of her magic. She stepped outside onto the grass, before looking backwards toward Dawn, who was now standing in the doorway looking more nervous than ever.
She was almost paralysed with fear as she saw the scene before her. It felt as if monsters were lurking behind every building and within every shadow, waiting to strike as soon as she stepped outside. She shook her head, trying to keep those thoughts hidden, and tried to focus on Twilight and Spike standing in front of her, willing her onward and smiling encouragingly.
With what felt like an astronomical amount of effort, she lifted her front leg and stepped forward. After a shuddery pause, she took another step, and then another one after that, and soon she was beside Twilight, standing outside in the Ponyville sunshine. A few seconds later, the trio were moving forward again, beginning their journey towards the Town Hall.
Author's Note
I probably should use this space to type up some interesting author's notes, but for now I just want say that it's incredibly satisfying to see this chapter finished. There were an awful lot of things I needed to do and it wasn't always easy to keep going, but I'm glad I did. Now I've just got to get started on the next one...
Special thanks go to horizon , both for his story feedback and for his advice on motivation. It was very much appreciated.
