I Found Her

Queen Cocoon, having been imprisoned in the tome’s realm for a short while now, scrounged together what energy she could to conjure a simple house on a mountaintop. It was humble and of moderate size, but she hoped it would be good enough to shelter her from the unpredictable elements of the land.

She tried to get by, day after day, with the limited access to magic she had. Without the presence of another living being, she had no positive energy to feed on and fuel her power. So, she had to resort to giving herself basic meals, and conjuring some books from Equestria to pass the time. But more often than not, she resorted to just walking and flying around, exploring the land, and working on some DIY home improvement projects.

Cocoon tried to anthropomorphize inanimate objects, talking to them as if they were living beings, as a way to cope with the solitude. But what she couldn’t get over was one fact that she could not lie to herself about... she was completely alone in this world. There was not another being present in this world. And given how long it has been since she saw anyone at all... she was getting really lonely.

“Ahhh...” Cocoon sighed, staring at the starry sky one night, “...how I wish I could get out of here... or at least just have someone visit me. Please... just somepony... anyone to talk to...that’s all I ask...”

Given that she had spent about a month in isolation, however, that reality was looking very bleak... a pipe-dream, at best.

After William finished up with mowing the gigantic lawn, pulling weeds, and moving plant pots around his former property, he was eager to get back home for a nice, peaceful evening. After a hot shower, he decided to get a start on unwinding by taking a walk through a nice, quiet part of the neighborhood. The area was filled with trees and other shrubbery.

As he made his way through the vegetation along the path, he contemplated what led him to where he was today. It all started with his father’s call of duty, of course... but there were many other things that culminated to his situation. It was combination of bullying from his peers, mistreatment by his stepfather, and... another thing, regarding something he desired above all else.

And it just so happened, that something was about to make itself known to him once more.

As he continued along the path, William caught sight of a young woman, about his age, making her way in the opposite direction, toward him. She had light-brown hair pulled into a whale spout ponytail, pale skin, and rich, brown eyes.

William gasped. “Clara...!”

It was Clara Weaver, a girl William met in college, and had a crush on ever since they were partnered up for a group project. He was surprised to find out when she lived close to him, and they saw each other every so often. However... he was far too shy to confess how he felt to her. This was something about himself that William despised. He wanted more self-confidence, but due to the treatment he has endured all his life... it was easier said than done.

As she approached, Clara looked up from the path at him, smiling.

“William?” She said. “Is that you?”

“H-hey, Clara...” William muttered, his face going red, “...how’s it going...?”

“Very nice!” She said. “So, what’s new with you?”

“Nothing much...” William responded.

He fidgeted around with his hands a little bit. Clara narrowed her eyes and tipped her head off to one side.

“You okay?” She asked.

“...Y-yeah... I’m okay...”William responded. “...Anyway... I feel l-like... we haven’t really caught back up... since school, and whatnot...”

“Oh?” Clara asked. “What do you mean?”

The young man’s adrenaline was really kicking in, making him feel a bit dizzy.

“Whaddya say...” William began, “...y-you and I... go out for some... c-coffee, together...and just ch-chat, or something...?”

Clara frowned. “Uh... what now? Why would you ask me that?”

William began to panic. “No pressure... I was just c-curious... if you had some spare time...”

“Look, William...” Clara began, her tone growing firm, “...in case you didn’t realize,” she raised her left hand, revealing a golden ring, set with a diamond, on her fourth finger, “I’m already engaged. What is the matter with you?”

William froze, completely embarrassed. “...I-I... I didn’t realize...”

Clara’s gaze went narrow. “Well maybe you should use your eyes a little better! You should know better than to ask out a girl who’s already taken! Mark McDowell is my fiancée... and he was actually decent enough to take a loan for thousands of dollars, all so he could get me this beautiful, genuine diamond!”

William pursed his lips, his eyes falling downward. Mark was a person who, based on events at college, became a very distasteful person to him.

“Listen, I didn’t mean to offend you! That was never my intent! I was just...” he trailed off, getting increasingly frustrated as he realized what this meant, “...oh, forget it!” He started stomping back in the opposite direction. “I’m not even gonna try to... defend myself, or whatever!”

Clara was quite surprised by this outburst; she always knew William to be a fairly quiet, reserved, mild-mannered individual. All she could do was watch as he briskly ran back in the direction he came.

Shepondered for a moment, holding one wrist with the other hand. “Now that I think about it, maybe I shouldn’t have made it sound like I was scolding him...”

Upon making it back to his house, the sun had already set, and William sat in the middle of the floor of the living room. His head hung forward, his eyes squinted shut, as tears streamed down his face. Though it has been about two years since he last saw Clara, he still thought about her quite often, with her being his most recent crush. And to have her reveal to him that she was already engaged... it felt like a knife in his heart. He could feel an actual, stabbing pain in his chest.

The fact that she turned him down in such a condescending manner, and not even politely explained the situation to him... yeah, he immediately lost any respect he had for her in that moment. Also, that coupled with the fact that she flaunted her expensive jewelry to him... it only added to his feeling of low self-esteem, given that he was not in a successful career path at the moment.

William, only earning slightly more than minimum wage working at the bookstore, would most certainly not be able to afford a diamond ring, even if he did get a girlfriend he could eventually propose to. And it seemed most engaged girls around him judged their fiancées by the price of the ring, something he was utterly disgusted with.

"I mean... what the hell?" William said to himself. "Why is it a necessity for girls to take you seriously, in this society, by shelling out thousands of dollars...” he held up his fingers in a pinching position, “...on a little, tiny, stupid, fucking carbon crystal?! Why are the men expected to be the ones to pay for everything and be the initiators? I swear, America has become a low-key misandristic nation! It is driving me up the fucking wall!"

Also, there was the matter of her partner being Mark McDowell. This was the nail that really sealed the coffin...

(Flashback)

William sat in the corridor of the university’s art center, doing pencil-sketches in his sketchbook to pass time before class.All he did was just sit there, minding his own business, when trouble decided to confront him...

“Hey, pencil-bitch,” came a low, hardy voice.

William looked up to see Mark McDowell standing over him. Mark was your average jock, who kept his blonde hair pomaded and wore a varsity jacket over his bulky frame.

“Something I can do for you, Mark?” William asked.

“Yeah,” Mark said, bunching his hands into fists, “why don’t you do this campus a favor, and get your ass out of here?!”

"I guess you'd like me to tell the faculty about the things you're saying?" William asked.

"I'm not afraid of them..." Mark said, "...and I'm not afraid of you."

William narrowed his eyes. "Are you threatening me?"

“And your stupid-ass sketchbook...” Mark said, shifting his gaze to the item in question, “...you know you’re just wasting your time with that thing, right?”

“What’s it to you?” William asked. “I enjoy drawing things.”

Mark snatched the sketchpad out of William's hands. "This is shit!"

He began ripping the pages apart, scattering them all over the floor.William jumped from the bench, rushing forward to grab his sketchbook.

“What the hell are you DOING?!” He shrieked. “Give that back!”

But it was no use; Mark was too massive for him to overpower. Eventually, every page of the sketchbook was torn out of its binding, scatter across the floor.

“Maybe you should get a hobby that actually helps people around you!” Mark said, just before he walked off, laughing at his victim’s plight.

Defeated, William sunk to his knees, and started collecting the torn pages, putting them back in the sketchbook. He stopped to look at one that had been ripped in half, sighing sadly at how little people regarded his artistic talent.

“Why are creative people so persecuted...?” He said to himself.

As he stared, a faculty member happened to come out of a branching hallway, catching sight of William, and the scattered paper surrounding him.

“Hey!” They scolded. “Pick this up right now, and throw it away! You can’t go making a mess on this campus!”

“Huh?” William said, looking up at the university staff member. “O-oh! I didn’t do this, it was--”

“Don’t you dare lie!” The faculty member spoke.

Being reticent as he was, William held his tongue from there, and did as he was instructed. Needless to say... it was painful to be forced to throw away his freestyle sketches.

(End flashback)

At this point, William didn’t know what to do with himself. All he could do was just lay back, on the floor, letting his tears spill until he had none left then. Holding anything back would just destroy him inside, he knew. Right now, all he could do was left off his sorrow in the only way he knew how.

Since Clara had been engaged a short while ago, both her and Mark had quite a big engagement party. Many of their friends and family arrived for the occasion offering the couple their congratulations. Clara’s immediate family was especially enthusiastic about it.

“We can’t even begin to tell you how proud we are of you,” Clara’s mother said.

“Yep,” Clara’s father added, “so happy to see my little girl growing up.”

“Thanks,” Clara said.

“So...” Clara’s grandmother spoke up, “...I take it everything’s been going wonderfully since he proposed? You must be the happiest girl right now!”

“Oh, I am!” Clara responded, though promptly shifting her thought to a recent event. “But... there was one thing that happened a little bit ago.”

“What was that?” Clara’s mother asked.

“Well, see...” Clara began, “...there was this other guy, who I met in college... I met him for a short time, when I was out on a walk, and well... he tried to ask me out.”

Her family members fell silent, frowning.

“I told him off for not seeing my ring, but...” Clara trailed off, “...I’m beginning to feel bad about how I said it to him.”

“Well, he really should have known better,” Clara’s mother said. “A good gentleman would actually take the time to check before making any kind of move.”

Clara pondered for a moment. “But... why is that really necessary?”

"Because he doesn't respect what you want, and what you need," Clara's grandmother said. "So, he doesn't respect you. And because he doesn't respect you, that means he's a disrespectful young man."

"He's clearly no family man," Clara's father said. "He sounds like a young man who just doesn't have the capacity to start a family of his own, so that means he's got no moral compass. He's just a selfish, arrogant bastard who doesn't deserve your pity."

“Maybe you’re right...” Clara said, reluctantly.

Her family tried to convince her that she did the right thing, and that William was a terrible person, despite the fact that they never met him. Clara, despite not buying into this, simply played along with it... and after doing it long enough, started to believe the lie she was telling herself.

Clara and Mark were both congratulated many times by their friends and family throughout the party. They received many free gifts. It was truly a joyful time in their lives, and one they would never forget. Overall, everyone was very happy for them.

Well, almost everyone...

...For months after losing yet another crush without even having a chance with her, William wandered the streets aimlessly in his time off from work. He simply did not know what to do with himself.

His life became a nonstop loop of work, eat, sleep, repeat. He attempted to meditate, and channel his power to aid him in his endeavors... but due to the abundance of negative, discordant energy twisted up inside him, it would not work. Eventually, he stopped his sessions, and felt little motivation to do anything apart from staying in bed in his free time.

"I've done so much for everyone around me..." William said to himself as he laid in bed, looking up at the ceiling, "...and have asked for very little in return. I'm giving the world what it wants, so when is it going to give me what I want? I just want to give a girl my affection in return for hers, and that makes me a bad guy? It's extortion is what it is! Lots of men in this world... after a long, hard day at work, they come home to a wife cooking them dinner, who they can hug and kiss, cuddle with on the couch watching a good movie... having a child of their own to brighten their already-good life...

“...But me... I don’t even have any of that! I’m forced to stand on my own two feet without anyone readily able to offer me a hand... no one to always be here for me... to hold me... kiss me... no one to give me what is quite possibly the greatest genuine emotion ever... I could be a good husband... and a good father... if someone could just give me a God. Damn. Chance!”

It truly hurt him that people invalidated his feelings without rational justification or understanding how they actually affected him, telling him to "grow up," or "stop acting like a spoiled kid." It was not black-and-white like that. People told him "you need to love yourself before others do the same." The truth was... he did. He really prided himself on his skills and talent, but the one thing he desired above all else was pure, unconditional love from a young woman he had affection for.Not only that, but he didn’t buy such a notion without empirical evidence to back it up.

He, after all, was still a human being, with emotions.

It was frustrating that he did not know what he was doing wrong. How did all the other guys do it? They were able to get girls in their bed on the same day as meeting them! To someone in William’s predicament, by contrast, even so much as getting a girl’s phone number or home address deserved a victory lap around Arc de Triomphe.

There had been many nights where he dreamed about an alternate life he could have lived. While they were all different, they shared the same theme of him starting a new life with one of his crushes who, in the waking world, rejected him. The two then went on to get married and have children of their own, with William making a living as a professional artist. These dreams gave him great bliss, but they were often too much for his subconscious mind to handle in contrast with his stark reality, often resulting in William waking in the late hours of night, crying himself back to sleep at the realization that it was not real.

He tried to find solace in video games. Late at night, he would be sprawled on his couch in front of the TV, playing The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, and Contra on his Nintendo Entertainment System, as well as occasionally playing his Atari 2600, having its own shoebox full of games. He also had a tendency to get lost in the worlds of interactive fiction on his Commodore 64, and had a habit of purchasing 3.5-inch floppy disks to write a personal diary about his life events, which he kept hidden in a lockbox.

“Kinda glad there’s not much to eat in this prefab I’m forced to call home...” William said to himself, blankly,as he sat on his couch, “...‘cause I really don’t have much of an appetite anymore.”

He was absently browsing through a shopping catalog, seeing what there could be available that he could treat himself to. After such a tragic turn of events, he believed he needed something to distract himself.

"Well... the new Game Boy will come out soon," William said to himself, reading through the catalog. "Might pick that up. Be kindanice, taking a portable video game console wherever you go."

Despite his optimism that technology and entertainment were becoming more contemporary... it was still not enough to get his mind off recent events, let alone one thing that has persisted all throughout his adolescence. He set the catalog off to one side, sulking as he was hit by another wave of melancholy, giving him the all-to-familiar sensation of physical heartache.

William sighed. “...Not even the best technology possible can ever replace genuine love from a girl...”

At that moment, the phone rang. He willed himself to stand and make his way over to answer it. He figured that maybe, as long as it's not someone he despises, talking to someone could help him feel a little better.

“Hello? William Schaeffer speaking,”he said into the landline.

“William?” Came a woman’s voice. “Hey, how are you doing?”

It was his mother. He did not expect her to call him out of the blue like this.

“Hmmm... a bit under the weather, to be honest,” William said.

“Oh, what’s wrong?” His mother said.

William sighed. “...You wouldn’t understand. But, with that said... I think I want to move away from Atlanta.”

“What?” His mother uttered. “Why’s that?”

“I just feel like I need a change of scenery,” William said. “This place just has... too many memories.”

His mother paused for a moment. “...And where will you go?”

"I've thought about moving out west," William said. "Nice and open out there. Colorado sounds like a good place, from what I've heard."

“Colorado?” His mother asked.

William nodded. "Plus, with the Rocky Mountains up there, they got good water."

“Well,” his mother spoke, “if that’s what you really want... the sky’s the limit.”

William did not expect her to call his bluff. “Really? You don’t mind?”

“William,” his mother said, “you’re an adult. You get to decide how you want to live. If you want to move, then by all means, you may do so!”

“Okay, thanks,” William said. “Is that all?”

“Yes,” his mother said, “I just hadn’t heard from you in a while, and was wondering how everything was.”

Only partly grateful for her (misplaced) concern, William only talked with her a short while longer, before finally ending the call. If he hadn’t lost some respect for his mother for failing to stop Jack from mistreating him, she sure did from this call. She didn’t even ask him about what was wrong; she was more concerned with where he wanted to move.

I guess I was a fool to think sympathy exists in this world, William thought. Does EVERY PERSON in my life have the combined empathetic capacity of a BEAN? There’s no solace, no pity, no ANYTHING!

Despite being able to find some happiness in the world... there was still a void left within him that could never seem to be filled. He knew, deep down, that the only way to fulfill that yearning was to find a romantic partner. However... he had no clue where to begin.

Many of his interpretations of love came from romance stories, like books and movies. Given how everything was turning out for him, however... he began to wonder if such love really did only exist in fiction stories?

After a great deal of spending too much time inside, stewing in self-pity, William willed himself to go outside, and walk around. Hopefully, the release of endorphins from it would help him feel better.Since he had been through the route he took many times since he was very young... it always made him reminisce about the ‘70s... such a more innocent, happier time for him... at least, the first half of the decade.

Prior to his adolescence, William lived a modest, but overall happy lifestyle. The friends he used to have... the games he played... the things he did... it all made him wish he could turn back the clock. He wanted to go to a time before the world would chew him up and spit him out, starting with his parents’ divorce ten years ago.

As he walked, William spotted a single milkweed plant growing amid the dry grass, green and lush with orange, blossoming buds. It stood out strongly from its surroundings.He then took a brief detour, walking right up to the milkweed, stopping right in front of it.

“Well, just look at you,” William said to the plant. “Green and growing in this harsh, dry earth. Getting by all on your own, with no other plants to share some symbiosis?”

Of course, with how disconnected he felt from the people around him, and how dire the state of his wellbeing was from low income, William saw quite a lot of himself in the flowering weed.

“Yeah, you’re just like me,” William said. “You and I... we’re stronger than most others of our kind in that regard; learning how to carry on without the aid of others, in a hostile world. You may not look like it... but you’re a badass.”

He was about to continue on his way, trying to salvage any motivation he could from the sight of a plant growing against the odds... when he spotted yet another interesting thing. There was a golden glint of light that caught his eye, and when he made his way over, saw that it was a fairly large book, like a textbook. It looked like an ancient tome, with golden accents on a brown, faux-leather binding.

"Huh?" William uttered. "What's this?"

He picked the book up, noticing it was locked shut. It felt a bit lighter than it looked, strangely. Noticing a slip of parchment sticking out, he tugged at it to reveal a note. He kneeled down and flattened it to read it clearly:

-DANGEROUS CREATURE INSIDE! DO NOT OPEN!-

“ ‘Dangerous creature’? In a book?” William said to himself. “Probably a story somebody found to be sacrilegious or something.”

His previous thoughts slightly swayed off, William carried the tome with him back in the direction he came. As he approached his home, however, he saw an all-too-familiar pickup truck parked in front of his place. Walking toward him from it was...

“Oh... Jack...” William muttered to himself.

His stepfather stopped only a few feet away from him, staring daggers. “Where the hell have you been?” His eyes then shifted to the tome in William's hands. “And what’s that?”

William shrugged. “Found it?”

Jack folded his arms. "Don't you know you're not supposed to take things that don't belong to you?"

“Yeah...” William said, “...but that only applies to things you know are owned.”

“Well, maybe you need to start paying a little more attention to your surroundings to know these things!” Jack retorted. “You can’t just grab things as you feel! You understand that leads to trouble, right?”

"What are you saying?" William asked.

"I'm saying..." Stephan spoke, "...you need to put that book back where you found it! I don't wanna see that thing in your possession again!"

Thinking quickly, William decided to come up with a compromise to throw off Jack.

“Okay,” William said. “I’ll drop it off at the closest lost-and-found to where I found it, once I get the chance.”

“Damn straight, you will!” Jack said. “And let’s not forget... you still have some work to do for me! You’re on thin ice, young man...”

He then went on to lecture William about needing him for picking up landscaping supplies, which he later expected him to help out with. William knew quite well what would happen if he refused... but in all honesty, he was beginning to wonder if all this effort was even worth it, since his mother seemed to side more with her new husband instead of her own son, let alone that, back when he told her he was upset whenever he was rejected, she always told him he was acting spoiled.

Once Jack left, William went inside his house, not even giving the least bit of regard to Jack’s orders. He carried the tome inside, setting it on his coffee table.

“Now, to get this thing open...” he said to no one in particular.

He briefly left to his office, and returned with the necessary tool he needed to open the latching mechanism on the large book.

"Let's crack open this oyster, and see if she's got a pearl," William said, opening his spring-assisted knife.

He slipped the blade into the latch, and applied torque in an attempt to leverage it open. After a few second of pulling back, snapped the mechanism open. Since it broke, it would not be able to lock again, but that was of no concern to him. After opening the tome, William began flipping through the pages. His eyebrows came down.

"Huh?" He uttered. "What's with this book? It's completely blank!"

William stood and went to his office. He returned with a battery-powered blacklight.

"Maybe it's written with invisible ink?" He asked himself.

The young man flicked on the revealer, and held the dark-purple bulb up to the pages... yet they still yielded no print of any kind.

"Hm, nope," William said, switching the blacklight off. "Gotta say... I don't get it."

He picked up the handwritten label, looking over it yet again.

"Why would someone put a warning label on it? Unless, maybe it's someone's idea of a joke..."

He placed his hand flush on the page, and then something began to happen. A glowing, golden aura outlined the pages, and a humming noise began emanating from the book.His eyes went wide.

“What the hell...?” He uttered.

Picking up the book, he peered into the glowing pages. It seemed like he could almost make out something, very faintly, within them. He could make out what appeared to be a wide, open landscape, gradually coming into view. As this happened, the book glowed brighter, increasing in luminosity, until the whole room was filled with blinding white light.

After a moment, the light promptly dimmed away, and the book fell to the floor with a thud... but William had disappeared completely, leaving only his shallow foot indentations in the carpet.