“So, it just follows you?” Rainbow asked, her eyes glued cautiously at the glass mirror behind Twilight.

“He.” Twilight corrected. “And yes, he just follows me around.”

“That makes two of us…” Spike snarked as he pulled the covers further over his head to muffle the ponies preparing to leave for the Everfree Forest.

“Well, at least he doesn’t give me any lip.” Twilight jabbed back, a look of disapproval. After a roll of her eyes, she continued. “I want to say it may have connections with Nightmare Moon’s return but it seems too…random.”

“Well, Twilight. Is there any chance we could leave the colt here in the library?” Rarity asked. She peered into the mirror to find the boy enamored with her mane. She couldn’t help but chuckle. “Although, he is quite the charmer so maybe-.”

“Charmer or not, the Everfree ain’t no place for a foal, otherworldly or not.” Applejack rebutted.

“I’d love to,” Twilight started. “But I can’t. At least I don’t know how. He just appears and reappears on his own. I have no control over it.”

“So…” Rainbow Dash started, deep in thought. “Does he follow you in the bathroom?”

“What? No!” Twilight answered, appalled at the thought. “The mirror seems to selectively decide what it focuses on.” She turned to look at the mirror, only to find it gone. After a frantic bit of searching, Applejack coughed and directed her attention to Pinkie Pie. She sat in a corner with the mirror and was in the midst of playing “Patty Cake”.

“Patty Cake, Patty Cake, Baker Mare!” Pinkie sang cheerfully. The rhythmic tap of her hooves against the mirror echoed softly. On the other side, the boy matched tempo. “Bake me a cake with love and care! Pat it, prick it, mark it with a P; and there will be enough for Pinkie and-“

“Me!” The boy shouted gleefully. The two shared a laugh together. After the pain in her sides subsided, she wiped a tear from her eye. She then faced the rest of her party.

“I like him. He should come with us.”

The first conscious thought Aaron had was awe at the softness of his surroundings. He could feel his body slightly sunk into the mattress, as it conformed to his shape. The blanket over top of him was thick and silky. He had never felt such luxury. Or such soreness.

Aaron stirred between the sheets, a feat much harder than it sounds. His muscles had atrophied, which rendered them stiff and borderline useless. He even struggled to open his eyes. But after some time, they did open.

He saw a bedroom, bathed in the glow of daylight. The walls were a fusion of oak wood and crystal, with portraits of the Mane Six adjourned. The furnishings of the room were sparse, with only a dresser and a chair placed next to his bed.

Aaron’s heartbeat quickened. He remembered in the fuzziest of details before his unconsciousness. He was sitting in front of the TV, then in front of the ponies directly. Although, they didn’t look like them. In fact, nothing looked like anything until now.

Aaron moved his hand in an attempt to sit himself up, when a bell rung above him. He looked up to see it hanging above the headboard, with a length of string running down to his finger. Aaron pulled the knot apart and the bell fell unceremoniously to the floor with a tin ding. Not long after, the sound of hooves echoed in the adjacent hallway.

Aaron held his breath. He recognized that there wasn’t much else that he could do, not with his muscles dead and still under a brain fog. So, he sat and waited for the door to open.

The door creaked open, a sparkling aura gripped around the handle. Twilight peeked her head through. She smiled genuinely at Aaron but Aaron only met her smile with skepticism.

“Aaron…” Twilight whispered, a sense of longing in her voice. She took a step forward.

“That’s close enough.” Aaron commanded with a tinge of hostility. Twilight was taken back by his tone, but stopped.

Aaron’s eyes bore into Twilight. No longer did her form shift like the eldritch being he assumed she had been. She looked as she always did, except…real? It was hard to pin down. It was like those cartoons that get a live action adaptation. He could identify the hairs of her coat, the light reflecting off her eyes. There was a look of sadness in them, no doubt from being told to stay away.

“You’re not real.” Aaron said.

“I very much am, Aaron.” Twilight responded, calm and cautious. She bowed slightly and her horn glowed. Aaron felt an invisible pressure envelope his hand and watched in horror as that pressure manipulated it to lift up into the air.

“Stop!” Aaron cried out. Twilight’s horn immediately faded as Aaron pulled his hand free.

“Sorry! I’m sorry!” Twilight apologized. “I just…wanted to prove it. You know, I would never hurt you. Not willingly.”

Aaron flexed his fingers into a closed fist, then open again. “You can’t be real. This place can’t be real!”

“Why not!?” Twilight shouted, then eased her temper. “I’m sorry, but what I meant was how can this not be real to you?”

“I thought I was crazy. I thought the past few months was a descent into madness.” Aaron groped his face, the sensation of touch undeniably there. He hardly had registered what Twilight had said. “To even think I was actually talking to real, living beings! Let alone be physically around them!”

“I know.” Twilight nodded. “I…somewhat understand the feeling. It will take some time to adjust, more so for you. For now, I suggest you-“

“What is wrong with you?”

The question was sharp. It cut through the room like a knife. Twilight’s words caught in her throat. She coughed.

“W-what do you mean?” Twilight asked.

“I didn’t agree to come here.” Aaron said. His demeanor grew colder, his gaze sharper. “I remember. I came to the TV, to talk to you. I told you how scared I was. How scared I was of leaving home. How scared I was about potentially dying if this didn’t work!”

Aaron’s voice grew louder, harsher. “You guilted me. Made me feel bad. I placed my hand on the TV and you placed your hoof against it. I thought it was for comfort. Then your horn glowed. I could feel my hand sink into the TV. I didn’t know what was happening. I cried for help. I cried for you to help me. More of me fell in and it felt like I was caught in wires, coiling around me like snakes.”

Twilight said nothing. She only listened with a guilt-stricken frown.

“Wasn’t long until I was fully gone. I don’t remember what it was like but I thought I died. I thought I died…” Aaron’s voice trailed. Tears ran down his cheeks, as the images of that event replayed in his mind. The sensation of static crept up his hands, his arms, his legs, his torso. Like a eletrical current that moved with the speed of molasses through his veins. Though his body was still sore from atrophy, Aaron laid back down and curled into a ball. Twilight heard soft sobs pass from beneath the sheets.

“Aaron, I-“

“Get out!” Aaron whispered harshly. Twilight reached out with a foreleg, but stopped. It was instinct on her part, but she knew what had to be done.

“I understand that you’re upset with me.” Twilight offered weakly. She headed for the door. “In time, I hope you can see it from my perspective. But for now, I’ll leave you be.” She turned her head one last time to look at Aaron. There was nothing she could see.

“I meant it, Aaron.” Twilight said with almost a whisper. “I would never hurt you. Not willingly.”

The door closed shortly after, the hoof steps trailed down the hall. Meanwhile, Aaron laid in the dark of the soft, damned blanket. As he drifted back to sleep, as the phantom pain flooded his body, he fell backwards in time to his last memory of home.

“Twilight, I don’t think I’m ready.”

“Ready for what?”

“Leaving. Like, leaving all of this behind.”

“What? But you said-“

“I know what I said. I’d give it some thought and I did: I’m not ready.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about! You told me that you feel invisible there. No one cares about you. That your world is cruel and hateful. Why won’t you leave it?”

“I dunno. Maybe I’ll come around to it, but just not now.”

…

“I…I had everything prepped and ready to go.”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

…

“What’s even there for you?”

“What?”

“Even if everything in your life was going right, what does that world have that we don’t?”

“Twilight, it’s not about this world being better. It’s about it being the only world I know.”

“You know us.”

“I only know what I’ve seen. I’ve experienced things here. Pain, joy, fear, love.”

“Love from who?”

“My mom, for one.”

“Is her love greater than mine?”

…

“Twilight, that’s a hard question to answer.”

“Is her love realer than mine?”

“Twilight, it’s not personal.”

“It feels very personal! The girls and I have watched you grow just as much as any mother has! We taught you to clean yourself, feed yourself, defend yourself, take care of yourself, we gave you all of us!”

“Twilight, you’re scaring me…”

“Ha. Ha ha ha. I’m scaring you? Do you know how much you have scared us? How you scared me? One day, you just disappear. Gone without a trace. We didn’t know if you were missing, if you died, if you hated us! We endured so much since you left and still, we kept going because we all hoped that the next day, you would come back. Our little colt would come back.”

“Twilight, I didn’t know how much I hurt you. I didn’t know that I would be gone so long. I didn’t know-“

“We were real. We are real. Always have been. Just as real as anything and anyone around you now. All we-no. All I want, is for us to be together.”

“I’m here now, Twilight. And this time, I’m not going away. Isn’t that enough?”

…

…

“It’s not.”

“Twilight-my hand. My hand! What the fuck is happening to my hand?!”

“Please, Aaron! Just…take some deep breaths!”

“No! No no no NO! Argh! It fucking hurts.”

“It’s…only temporary. You will…be okay! I’m…still here…with you! I just…need to…concentrate…”

“Aaaah! AAAAAAAH! MOM! HELP! HELP ME! SOMEONE PLEASE!”

“I’m…here. I…always have been.”

…

“I…am…helping…”

…

“I…am…real…”

…

“My…love…Real…”

…

“Always…have… been…”

Author's Note

Damn.