Texas Twilight

Twilight slowly prys her eyes open after a very horrible night's sleep. She looked around the room, nothing looked familiar to her. She feels more tears return to her eyes as she was hoping yesterday was the worst nightmare ever. She wipes away the sudden tears with her hooves, and gently lowers herself onto the floor. She winced as her hoof was still sore, but it wasn't as bad as yesterday. She limps towards the door and opens it with her magic. The doors in this place were tall. Twilight's eyes widen when she comes face to face with a massive dog. The dog was a bit shorter than her, but it looked like it weighed a lot more than it should.

"Uh... n-nice puppy..." She squeaked out, a bit intimidated by the dog. Her eyes widened as she heard the dog give her a low-sounding growl. Her heart began to race before Travis raised his voice from the other room.

"Barb! Get!" Travis commanded. The dog seemed to cower a bit at her master's voice and slowly turned to leave Twilight alone. She lets out a sigh as she steps out of the bedroom. She sees that Barb had laid herself down at the front door, eyeing Twilight closely. She walked past her without too much of a problem and turned the corner which led to the kitchen. She could see Travis standing at his stove with his back to her. Sitting next to him was another tall dog, but seemed to weigh less. It pays Twilight no mind, focused on what Travis is cooking. Finally, a smaller dog approached Twilight and sniffed at her hooves. She sighed in relief, she was used to smaller dogs, like Winona back in Equestria. She lifted her hoof and gently petted him. The dog wagged its tail in response to the scritches.

"Seems Rusty likes ya a lot," Travis said, looking back at her. Twilight startled by his voice looks up at him.

"Rusty? That's his name?" Twilight asked as she looked back down at the little brown Dachshund.

"Yep, friendly little guy. This big guy next to me is Pharaoh. Pretty curious, but cautious towards other people. And that big bitch in there is Barb. She is just super protective." Travis introduced all his dogs as he went back to cooking whatever he had on his stove.

"Barb? wow, that's kinda funny actually." Twilight smiled slightly.

"Really? How so?" He asked with his back turned.

"When my assistant Spike hatched from his egg, we narrowed down two names for him. Spike was his name if he was male. and if he was female, we were going to name him Barb." Twilight looks back up at Travis who slowly turns and gives her an odd look.

"Hatched? You ponies hatch from eggs?" He raised an eyebrow at her to Which Twilight began to giggle.

"No, we are born like any other mammal. Spike is a dragon." She informed to which Travis rolled his eyes.

"Magic flyin' unicorns and dragons. Jesus your world sounds like a Tolkien wet dream." He said, but his joke went right over her head. "I still can't believe any of this is real. Nothing like this should even be possible."

"I was hoping it was a dream too... I want to go home badly... I miss Spike." She droops her head as she thinks about Spike. He must be so scared seeing what happened to her. Travis let out a loud sigh.

"Look, I'm still not used to all of this goin' on with you. But I hate seeing ya sad. So just forget about all that for now until we find your scroll or whatnot. Have some breakfast with me, been awhile anybody has visited me." He lifted two plates in his hands. Twilight's ears did perk up at the mention of breakfast. "Tell me about yer home some other time so you ain't so depressed right now."

"...Ok Travis. Thank you." She smiled at him weakly as he stepped into his dining room. His table was a bit of a mess, with papers, and tools spread out on one side. So he sets both plates next to each other and sits down. Twilight takes a few tries to climb into the chair next to Travis because of her hurt hoof. She sees that all Three dogs have joined them, sitting patiently around both of them. She looks down at the plate Travis had made for her, and she recognizes some of the food present. Eggs, strawberries, pancakes, but there was something else to the side. Something that she had never seen before.

"Hey Travis, what's this?" She asked pointing to it with her hoof. He looks at it while taking a bite out of a strawberry.

"That there is applewood smoked bacon." He replied.

"Bacon? Applewood?" She uses her magic to lift her fork and stabs a piece with it. She holds it up to her snout and sniffs it. She could smell the smokiness and the applewood aroma. But there was another smell to it, one that was foreign to her. She scrunched her nose and slowly took a bite. Her eyes widen as the new sensation of flavor fills her mouth. This was something she had never had before. It was delicious, and she easily ate the rest of it without a second thought.

"Yer gonna have to explain to me how ya'll can do that," Travis told her, eyeing her fork carefully.

"What do you mean? My magic?" She asked, taking her eyes off her plate to look at him. "Is there no magic here."

"Nope, not in the slightest." He shakes his head at her. Twilight was a bit shocked, but it also made sense. Yesterday after using her magic to fight away that boar, or Javelina as Travis called it, she felt weakened and her magic recharged much much slower than normal.

"...Where I am from, magic is a part of everyday life. Unicorns, Earth Ponies, and Pegasi all use some type of magic. Living without magic is like living without breathing for me!" She exclaimed loudly. To which Travis rolled his eyes.

"I'm just gonna pretend I understand that. From what I've seen you do with that horn of yours, I believe ya when ya say it's magic." Travis finished his breakfast and soon so did Twilight. Travis stands up grabs both of their plates and takes them back to the kitchen for them to be cleaned later.

"So now can we go out and look for that scroll?" Twilight asked with a bit of urgency in her voice. Travis looks at his watch and sighs.

"I suppose my morning chores can wait. It's only 8:00, chickens can wait a few hours." Travis goes over to his side closet, pulls out his matte black Stetson hat, and puts it on. He then looks over at Twilight and he reaches inside and pulls out a second one, this one brown. "Here, put this on, it will protect you from the heat."

Twilight's eyes go wide as he hands her the hat, it looks almost exactly like the one Applejack wore. She grabs a hold and looks at it. It's only been a day, but thinking of her friends chokes her up, she misses them badly. She puts on the hat and looks back at Travis. He pulls his Remington 11-87 shotgun back out and puts the strap over his shoulder. He also grabs his Springfield Ronin 1911 and puts it in its holster, and attaches it to his hip.

"What are those? What are they for?" Twilight asked quizzically with her head tilted to the side.

"They're guns. Ain't ever seen a gun before?" Travis asked her, she replied with shaking her head no. "Let's just say they're for our protection."

"Why do we need to be protected?" She asked as she felt some fear.

"Well, you don't want another run-in with a Javelina do ya?" Travis chuckled at her. "Besides there are also coyotes, mountain lions, and rattlesnakes. Coyotes aren't bad unless they have rabies, with all the dangerous animals out there, ya gotta bring some sort of protection."

"What kind of place is this if every time you go outside you need to protect yourself from dangerous animals!?" She exclaimed, the concept being completely ridiculous to her compared to her sheltered lifestyle. Travis just chuckled at her in response.

"That's Texas for ya." Travis heads for the door, Barb quickly sits up and his other dogs quickly approach the door and sit patiently. Travis finally opens the door, and the dogs dart outside. He then looks to Twilight and waves for her to follow him. "Come on now."

Twilight slowly follows him out the door, despite it only being morning, the sun was very bright, and its heat was baring down on her already. She hated being too hot, being hot made her sweaty. She feels like Rarity with how much she was complaining.

"Aight. I found ya laying down in that direction." He pointed in the distance to the spot where he found her yesterday. "So ya probably came from that direction, how long had you been walking?"

"I don't know... 3 hours? But I took a few minutes to rest in between walking." She replied. She sees Travis scratch his beard as he looks towards his garage.

"Aight, then we need to cover as much ground as we can. Follow me." Travis said as he began to walk towards his garage. Twilight followed him, not sure what he was hinting at. She watches him grab the handle at the bottom and lift the massive door. He steps inside and Twilight follows. She sees a massive red carriage that she has never seen before. It had a large flatbed in the back and lacked the hitches in front. This confuses her as she had no idea how this carriage was supposed to be pulled. However, she watches as Travis approaches the back and drops the tailgate. Both Barb and Pharaoh hop into the back and he closes the tailgate. He then approaches the driver's door and opens it, picking up an eager Rusty who looks excited to go for a ride. Travis then looks at Twilight as she examines the vehicle.

"You gonna get in Twilight?" He asked her, but she gave him a weird look.

"Uhm... Who's going to pull your weird-looking carriage?" She raised an eyebrow at him as he rolled his eyes and facepalmed.

"Just get in my truck Twilight," Travis said plainly as he climbed inside and closed the door. Twilight hesitates but then uses her magic to open the passenger door. She climbs in, which is a struggle, and sits down. Rusty sat between them, wagging his tail as Twilight closed her door.

"Seriously Travis, who's going to pull your ca-" Twilight sentence was cut off when Travis turned the key and revved his truck to life. Twilight jumps as she is startled by the sound of the engine turning on. That's when she was met with a blast of cool air from the AC, It felt nice compared to the hot air around her. She began to hear music being played out of a small radio in the center console, it was music she had never heard before. It sounded like a rock, or a country rock song, whatever it was, it sounded foreign. She watches Travis press a small black nob into the console before looking at her.

"Buckle up Twilight, safety first." She raised an eyebrow at him, but then he pointed the buckle to the side of her. "Right there, buckle up."

She looks at it and uses her magic to buckle herself up. Travis then put the vehicle into drive, and it began to move. Twilight takes in a deep breath as the vehicle begins to move. She looked worried but also interested. Travis slowly exits his driveway and onto a dirt path next to his garage. The nob he pushed in pops out, and Travis pulls out a carton of cigarettes. Twilight scrunched her nose, she didn't know he smoked. He pulled a cigarette out with his mouth and then pulled out the strange nob. He pressed it against the end of the cigarette and lit it. he put the nob back in its place as he began to drive. Twilight looked out the window, fascinated by this self-driving carriage while the foreign song was singing about a road made out of copper or something.

"What is this thing, Travis!?" She exclaimed, looking at Travis as they drove down the dirt path at a moderate speed. He blew some smoke out of small crack near the top of his window.

"What do you mean? Do you mean my truck? Don't you have vehicles where you're from?" He asked, looking at her.

"Of course not! All we have are carriages. Somepony is required to pull them, they never drive on their own!" She exclaimed as she saw how fast they were going while looking out the window, looking a bit scared.

"Damn! How the hell can your world have magic and dragons, but not even a simple vehicle?" He asked, he was completely unaware of Equestria's technological state.

"How can you have self-driving carriages but no magic!" She countered as she narrowed her eyes at him. He sighs and shrugs.

"Ya know what, no idea." He relented. He didn't feel like getting into it with her.

"How does this thing even work?" She asked, looking at the center console of the car.

"It uses a combustion engine that runs off a fuel source. The energy it produces is used to make it move." Travis explained in the simplest way possible, which worked as Twilight widened her eyes.

"Combustion! That is only a theory back home, fascinating!" She exclaimed.

"Yeah, just try to enjoy the ride Twilight. We should make up the time it took for you to walk in no time." Travis said as he looked out the front windshield. He takes another drag off his cigarette as Twilight leans back. Oh how she wanted to ask a million questions about this vehicle, but she decided to hold them back. Once she finds that scroll, she will find a way to fully remake it and she will be out of here. Travis drives for about 45 minutes before hearing Twilight's voice speak up.

"Ah! Right here! I remember this area!" Twilight perked up. Travis slows to a stop and Twilight sticks her head out the window. "Yeah! I remember this big ditch!" Twilight quickly opens the door and hops out steps into a rather deep-looking ditch. "And I remember those mountains way off in the distance!"

"Alrighty now, settle down." Travis steps out, letting Rusty jump out before closing the door. He lowers his tailgate to allow Pharaoh and Barb to jump out as well. The dogs immediately begin to sniff around as Travis goes back to the front of his truck and leans against it, he looks down into the ditch Twilight was in. Twilight instantly began to look for it, looking all over the area close to the truck before she looked back up at Travis.

"Aren't you going to help me?" She asked him to which he let out a long sigh.

"I don't even really know what kind of scroll you are looking for." He whined as the sun was bearing down on both of them.

"Just look for a piece of ripped paper. Please help me..." Her eyes softened and her lower lip pushed out. Travis sighs again, looking at the ground for a second.

"Son'o va... Aight, just stop with that face." Travis stood up straight and slowly crawled down into the ditch to aid her in the search. She smirked a bit as his back was turned. Hours would pass, many hours, and the once clear sky was soon cloudy, almost a bit too cloudy. Travis was a decent bit away from his truck, as his search led him to the far side from where he started. He sniffs the air a bit, smelling an all too familiar smell. He looks up and sees the clouds forming. Summertime in the Chihuahuan desert was always the wettest time. He swears under his breath and begins to walk back over to his truck where he sees Twilight about to make her 7th trip around her area.

"Hey, Twilight, we need to get up on outta here!" he called out to her, but she didn't even look in his direction.

"I'm still looking! Give me a bit longer!" She would yell back, her nose to the ground. Travis would look down to his watch before replying.

"We've been out here since 9 in the morning! It's pert near noon! Come on now, I think it's gonna rain!" Travis yells as he feels a few droplets land on his hat. He looks up and back down at Twilight. "Correction, it's rainin' now!"

"I can't leave till I find it!" She yelled back, now lifting her head to him and scowling.

"Goddammit! You got five minutes!" He yelled back, slinging his shotgun on his back. He leaned up against the dirt wall as the rain was beginning to pick up. Twilight's 5 extra minutes turned into 20 extra minutes the more she pleaded to have extra time. With the rain now coming down at a decent rate, he could see the water flowing through the ditch where they were standing. He looks down at the flowing water, something seems off about it. It almost looked like this was how the ditch was formed, the flowing water eroding away the soil till it was deep enough to climb down into. He followed it with his eyes as it seemed like a long path that climbed higher and higher up into the tall rocks in ridges in the distance. Slowly, his eyes widened as he realized where they both were standing.

"Ah hell! We're standing in the middle of a goddamn wash! Pharoah! Rusty! Barb! Twilight! In the goddamn Truck!" He quickly climbed out with Rusty in his arms. The dogs find their own way out as he approached his truck and opened the driver's door and both of his dogs came running to the sound of his voice, Pharaoh jumping in with ease.

"I'm still looking!" She yelled back in protest as Travis put Rusty in his truck.

"Tough shit! We're in a wash! They're prone to..." His eyes widen at the distinct sound of rushing water. He looked further up the wash and his heart skipped a beat. "...Flash Floods..."

Twilight's ears perk up at the same sound of rushing water. She looks ahead and sees a huge wave of water coming down the wash, coming right at her. Her eyes widen and her horn glows, but it soon fizzles out, not all her magic has returned to her, and she can't perform a teleportation spell. She looks to her horn and back at the flash flood, seeming to freeze in place. As her legs were frozen, she didn't notice Travis jump back down into the wash and was running to her, snagging her with his arms, and picking her up. He holds her with one arm and uses his other to grab an exposed root coming out of the side of the wash. The water hits him with a lot of force, causing him to stumble and slip, but he has a death grip on the root as well as Twilight. As Travis's legs were swept from under him, Twilight let out a loud yelp and wrapped both of her forehooves around his neck, and held on for dear life.

Travis cringes a bit as he notices that he is hanging onto the root with his bad arm. with all this force on it, he felt it lock up and searing pain went all the way from his shoulder to his fingertips. He couldn't hold on for long. With his free hand, he places it on Twilight's rear, causing her head to shoot upwards. He lets' out a loud grunt as he lifts her over his head, towards the edge. Seeing it, she quickly scampers over the edge and out of the wash. She looks back down and sees the rushing water sucking Travis deeper into the rushing flood. With his arm refusing to yield its pain, he began to let go against his will. He closes his eyes tight, saying one silent prayer before his fingers finally give out. instead of being sucked down the wash, Travis stayed where he was.

He slowly opens his eyes to see that he is covered in a bright pink aura. Slowly, with nothing touching him, he is pulled up and out of the wash. While in mid-air, he sees Twilight with a pained look on her face, and her horn glowing. The glow on her horn was dimming in and out, before finally fading away. When it does, Travis is dropped on his rear, and Twilight stumbles before collapsing herself. her brown Stetson falling off her head as she begins to breathe heavily. She soon closes her eyes and passes out. Travis looks at her for a bit, completely ignoring his still-hurting arm. He finally starts rubbing and massaging his arm, till it finally lets loose. The rain was still coming down as he slowly stood up, the flash flood still raging through the wash. He walks over to Twilight, picks her up in his arms, and carries her to the truck. He opens it and sees all three of his dogs still inside, each trying to get to him. He pushed them back the best he could as he laid Twilight in the passenger seat.

He closes the door and goes back into the Driver's seat and sits down. He leans his head back, wipes away the water around his eyes, and lets out a long sigh. After a few moments of hearing the rain hit the windshield, he pushes in his cigarette lighter and starts the truck back up. He slowly goes in reverse, his truck tires digging into the wet mud and sand. He turns away from the wash and begins to slowly drive back to his home. His lighter pops out, he takes it and lights another cigarette for the drive. It was a bit crowded now that Pharaoh and Barb were in the front, but he wasn't gonna let them ride in the back and get wet. He drove a lot more slowly, and when they were about 10 minutes from Travis's home, Twilight began to wake up. She groans, causing Travis to look right at her.

"You alright?" Those were the only words Travis said to her as he drove.

"I'm... I'm fine... My magic is still so low, I can levitate things just fine... but the heavier the thing is I'm levitating... the more magic I have to use." She rubs her head and looks out the window, seeing they are driving again. They both stay silent for a moment before Twilight speaks back up.

"Thank you Travis... for pulling me out of there." She squeaked. Her voice sounded a bit emotional.

"Right back atcha." He would respond, glancing at her for a moment before looking back ahead of him. Soon Travis would pull the truck into his garage, they all stepped out and headed for the front door. As soon as the dogs get in, they shake like mad to dry themselves off. Travis steps in and removes his hat, but Twilight rudely shoves past him, bumping into his thigh.

"Huh? Twilight, are you-" Travis didn't finish as She quickly turned the corner and went directly into his bedroom. he raises an eyebrow at that before finally putting his shotgun and handgun back in his closet and locking it. He then follows where Twilight ran off too, approaching his closed bedroom door. he reaches for the knob but then soon hesitates, as he could hear her sobbing from the other side. Despite only sleeping there one night, it was the only room she felt some level of comfort in to be by herself. With a sigh, he turns the knob and steps in. He sees Twilight crying to herself on his bed. her face was covered by her hooves as she bawled like a toddler. Cautiously he took a step in, he sat down next to her and placed his hand on her withers.

"Twilight, what's wrong?" he softly spoke, to which she pulled her hooves down just a bit so he could see her eyes.

"That... that...sniff... That half of the scroll is probably long gone now!... I'll never find it! I'm stuck here! I'm never going to see my friends or family ever again!" she covered her face back up and continued to cry her hurt heart out. She didn't care she was practically crying in front of a stranger, she felt so out of place. Everything she had ever cared about, was gone forever, never to see anything, or anyone she recognized ever again. Despite her hard sobs, Travis kept his hand on her back and even began to rub it gently.

"Twilight, look at me." Once again she peeks out and looks up at him, his eyes resting on her with a sympathetic expression. "I don't know fully what to say, but I somewhat know exactly how you feel."

"Y-you do?" She sniffs again. He reaches for a picture on his nightstand and grabs it. He pulls it towards him, looks at it, and then shows it to her. It was a picture of Travis, though he looked a bit younger, and without facial hair. He was wearing a military uniform and she eyed it curiously.

"I was 18 when this picture was taken, that was about 8 years ago. I volunteered for the army, and was shipped off to this hellhole somewhere in Afghanistan." He began to reminisce. "I saw a lot of action and did a lot of things while I was there. There were times that I thought I would only come home in a casket adorned with the American flag. I thought I was going to die over there, and I would never see my Ma, or my Pa ever again. Those nights were tough for me, but I kept going. And eventually, I got back home."

He looks down at her, and smiles, hoping his words would somehow reach her. She was still sniffling, but she was no longer crying as she stared at the picture. War was not very common in Equestria, but with her brother in a type of service back home, she understood the importance of the military. She looked back up at Travis who was smiling at her.

"Though you feel like nothing good is going to happen to you again, eventually things will work out. If you were just yanked out of your world and brought here... well, I'm sure your friends are working on a way right now to bring you home. And until then..." He lets out a soft sigh. "You can stay here in my house till you find a way home one way or another."

"...Are... are you sure?" She croaked, moving her hooves completely away from her face. "Why... why are you being this nice to me?... Why do you care this much?"

"Shit, look at where we are. I doubt you could survive out there in the desert for longer than 2 days. I can't on a good conscious just kick you out and leave you to die. Not how I was raised... and... Admittedly. I kind of like the idea of some company out here, even if that company is a winged unicorn." He scratched the back of his head. She sniffed again and slowly sat up, wrapping her forelegs around his midsection. He looks down at her, a bit surprised by the act.

"Thank you... Travis... thank you so much...Sniff..." She began to bury her face into the side of his chest. Despite the awkwardness and overly dramatic show of affection, Travis slowly and carefully wrapped his arms around her as well. The first bit of comfort she had received ever since arriving in this Celestia-forsaken place. She feels herself slowly relax and calm down. After a bit, she pulls away and wipes her eyes with her hooves. Travis leans forward and looks at her.

"You doin' better?" He asked her to which she slowly nodded. "Good, good. Ya hungry?"

"...Yes." She weakly responded, she was mentally trying to prepare herself for the long stay she was going to have in this world.

"What would you like?" He stood up, placing his hands on his waist.

"...I want more of that applewood bacon."