Flee From Lavender Wings

Chapters

1. Lab Monkey
2. Through the Looking Glass
3. Hide and Seek
4. A Twisted Mind Among Twisted Trees
5. Rhymes and Deceit
6. The Search
7. Planning

1. Lab Monkey

Breath in…breath out…breath in…breath out….

Your breaths are labored and pained. Your chest heaves as you lie on the admittedly comfortable cot in your ‘room’. One hand rests on your chest as you gaze at the reflective crystal ceiling above you, allowing you too see your ragged body. Your other hand lays at your side, weighed down by the iron shackle that chained you to the floor.

You are reeling from an agonizing experience. Though the physical damage had been quickly repaired with magic, the pain was still fresh, as was the mental trauma. You had hoped after the first few months of being HER test subject, you’d have grown at least partially accustomed to her ‘experiments’. Wishful thinking indeed. Though some days were better than others, none were pleasant.

Today though. Today was something…special. She wanted to observe how your organs worked and differed from that of a pony’s. She wanted to see that with her own eyes. And she was oh so generous to let you join observe as well. You got to- or rather, HAD to watch your own heart beat in your chest, the muscles in abdominal wall twitch as she poked and prodded.

‘Interesting,’ she said aloud as her assistant apprehensively took notes.. ‘Despite having evolved in an entirely different reality, as an entirely different species, the human heart is almost identical to that of a pony’s heart. Is this simple coincidence? The work of some higher power? Regardless, it is fascinating.’

She didn’t acknowledge the pain she was causing you. But her little assistant was all to aware. He stood off to the side writing down his masters observations, but his expression betrayed the utter horror and insanity of the situation. Every time one of your internal organs was poked or prodded, he’d wince and cringe. Your screams were silenced by her magic, so you could only watch as you were violated in a way that shouldn’t be possible.

You wondered if she truly believed what she was doing had any scientific merit, or if she just used it as an excuse for her own twisted sadism. You suppose that with yourself being wholly unique (the only human in Equestria) that it had to be at least partially the former. After all she didn’t seem interested in ‘studying’ any other creatures, as far as you were aware. You seemed to be her only prisoner. It hardly mattered though. A torturers motives were hardly of concern for the victim. Only the pain mattered.

Most would never survive what you’ve endured. But ‘luckily’ for you, she was able to keep you alive with her magic. When she was done poking and prodding at your insides, she’d simply ignite her horn to repair the internal damage and sew back up your skin. It left a horrendous scar, but otherwise you were technically unharmed.

But just because the damaged healed didn’t mean the pain just went away in an instant. It lingered on. And so you lay in the literal gilded cage she kept you in, your nerves still throbbed painfully. You looked at the new scar running vertically down your torso. It wasn’t the first, and wouldn’t be the last.

You closed your eyes, and thought of happier times, silence being your only comfort.

The heavy sound of a lock being turned grabs your attention. You hear the sound of a large door opening and then closing shut. This is then followed by the soft pitter patter of small feet. You know who is approaching. You slowly let your head fall to the side to observe the tiny purple dragon who approaches your cell. He’s carrying a tray with a steaming bowl, a spoon and a cup of what was most likely juice. He stops a few feet in front of the bars. He looks at you with concern.

“Hey, so um…I-I brought you lunch.” He sets the tray in front of a small rectangular opening at the bottom of the cell door and slides it through to your side. You look at the bowl of soup for a brief few moments before you turn your head away and look back up at the ceiling.

He just stands there for what feels like eternity. When you don’t make a move, he speaks to you with forced levity.

“Hey, um…your soups gonna get cold.”

“So?” your reply is sharp, but devoid of energy.

“Well, uh, no one likes cold soup, right?” You are silent for a few moments before you respond.

“I don’t want it.” The dragon twiddles his fingers as he searches for a reply.

“I-I could get you something else if you want?”

“Poison.” You look him dead in the eyes as you make the request. His eyes widen, his mouth agape.

“W-what?”

“Poison Spike. As much as you can carry.”

“W-why would you want poison?!” he asks incredulously. You inwardly roll your eyes at his ignorance. After all he’s seen, he still doesn’t understand? You suppose the ignorance is simply a symptom of him being a child, but still.

“I can’t live like this anymore Spike.” He looks at you unblinking.

“You mean you want to…to d…d….”

“Die!” you shout angrily, sitting up. It feels like your stomach has been ripped open a second time but you don’t care. “Of course I want to die Spike! This is a living Hell!” he shrinks down as you stand up. Even hunched over in pain, you tower over the welp. “You see what she does to me! You see what she does just to satisfy her fucking sadistic urges!” His wide eyes cast themselves downward as he searches for a reply.

“She…she wasn’t always like this. I-I don’t know how this started, but she used to be a good pony.”

“I don’t care!” you half shout, half chuckle. After nearly a year as a lab rat, you’ve finally reached your breaking point. Anger now courses through your blood, igniting your body in the heat of rage. “She could’ve been a god damn saint who cured every disease in the book, but to me she’s just a fucking demon! And this,” you say splaying your arms out wide. “This is…this is….” Tears start to drip from your face. Your knees start to shake as your adrenaline ebbs. You collapse to the ground, barely putting your hands out in time to catch yourself and prevent your head from slamming into the icy cold floor. You let out a pained cry as you say “This is Hell!”

The last bit of strength leaves you as you collapse fully to the ground and start to sob. You feel weak. You feel helpless. You are weak. You are helpless. You didn’t used to be. But SHE made you. She’s reduced you to a traumatized sniveling wreck. There’s nothing left of the person you used to be.

The sound of a lock turning draws your attention. You look up with blurry vision to see the door to your cell slide open as the dragon stands on the other side, removing the key from the lock. Your eyes widen in surprise, and you feel something you haven’t felt in nearly a year. Hope.

“Come on, I’m getting you out of here!” You look at him, gaping like a fish out of water. You’re almost too stunned to move. “Let’s go, we gotta hurry!” That jolts you into action, and you quickly scramble to your feet. It hurts, but you’re fueled by hope and adrenaline.

Spike opens the large door that separates the room your cell lies in from the rest of the castle. Unlike the rest of the castle’s doors, this one is made of dark cold metal. The young dragon looks both ways down the hallway before gesturing for you to follow. He turns left and you follow behind him, your bare feet making a similar sound to that of the hatchlings.

Neither of you dare to speak as you quickly sneak through the halls of the castle. HER castle. Your heart beats like a bongo drum, no like the drum of a heavy metal drummer performing a solo. You constantly look over your shoulder as you follow your guide, keeping your eyes pealed for the presence of the lavender demon. After a few minutes, you see the castle’s front door down the hall. You’re adrenaline spikes as you prepare to dash for the exit. But before you do, Spike reaches out and grabs your leg with his claws. You look down to him in surprise. He quickly shakes his head, and points down the adjacent hallway. You look confused and suspicious, but he stares at you right in the eyes with a look that says; ‘trust me.’ You look back to the entrance. It would be so easy to burst through the doors and make a mad dash for the Everfree forest. It’s not an ideal place to live, but there are plenty of places to hide. And if you met your end at the jaws of some predator, it would at least be better than living here in this castle.

But, something in Spikes eyes breaks through to you. You find yourself trusting his judgement. You knew he wasn’t tricking you, luring you into some trap. He was the closest thing in this world you had to a friend. There was no one else for you to trust.

You nod, and he leads you down the hall. Just then you hear a noise. The clip clopping of hooves. Both of your eyes widen in horror.

“Spike? Spike, where are you?” you hear her voice echo down the crystal halls. Your breathing intensifies. You start to hyperventilate. You almost can’t move, but the dragon grips your hand in his and leads you further down the hall. You both come to a door, and Spike quickly ushers you inside. He closes the door as quietly as possible and rushes over to a large mirror. The mirror is hooked up to odd machinery. It looks like something Nikola Tesla would have built.

“What are you doing?” you whisper through grit teeth. “This room is a dead end, she’s going to find us!”

“I know what I’m doing,” he replies as he flips a switch. You can hear the sound of energy coursing through the wires and bulbs. You walk up to examine the mirror, catching your own reflection, which is much clearer than the reflections you’ve seen in the crystal walls of your cell. For a moment you are caught in a trance as you lock eyes with yourself. You don’t recognize this person. Your hair is matted and greasy. Scars litter your once pristine face where samples had been taken. Your eyes are no longer vibrant and blue like they had once been. The iris’s have turned dull and grey. You think back to the experiment that led to that, and shudder in response.

“Spike! Where are you!?” you hear the witches’ voice echo through the halls. It sounds like it’s getting closer.

“What are you doing?” you question the drake as he works what looks like a control box.

“You’re never going to be safe here in Equestria, or even on all of Equis!” he replies. The machinery hums and your eyes go wide as you see your reflection distort. The mirror begins to swirl land ripple like a pond that just had a stone tossed into it. “This mirror is a portal to other realities. I’m selecting one at random so she won’t be able to track you down.”

“You mean this portal will send me to some random universe?”

“Well, not completely random. It’ll be some sort other version of this world.”

Another version of Equestria?

“Can’t you send me home? To my REAL home?” you ask him. He looks at you with sad compassion. He shakes his head.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t send you back to the human world. If you had come here through the mirror, we’d be able to. But you just appeared out of nowhere. I have no idea how to find your original universe.” Your heart sinks, as you remember the day you came here.

“So you’re sending me to another version of…this place?” you gesture out to the world. He nods. “What if it’s even worse than here?” He looks unsure for a brief moment, before resolve takes over.

“I have to believe that most versions of our world are good. That TWILIGHT is good. That she still embodies the virtues of harmony that she once did. I don’t know what exactly is going to be on the other side. But I have faith. Plus, I can’t think of any other options.”

You start to have your doubts. Spike hits a button and pulls a lever, and the spiraling vortex of the portal starts to shimmer. You stand before the mirror, but you hesitate. Will this really be better? As bad as it is here, there are moments of reprieve. What if once you step through the portal, it’s nothing but painful agony twenty-four-seven? You look back to Spike and your eyes lock.

‘A leap of faith,’ you think to yourself. “Come with me.” Spikes eyes widen slightly and he looks like he’s considering it.

“Spike, is that you? Are you in there?” both your eyes open as wide as possible as you hear the sound of Twilight Sparkle on the other side of the door. Spike quickly rushes to the door and presses his back against it in a feeble attempt to keep it closed. You hear the mare on the other side try to open it. “Spike? Open the door!”

“Hurry!” he shouts to you. You look to the portal, then back to him. “What about you?”

“Don’t worry about me! She…she won’t hurt me!” You both look unsure as to if that’s true.

“What’s going on? Who are you talking too?” the Alicorn questions as she pushes harder against the door. You and Spike exchange one final look as you stand in front of the portal.
“Thank you,” you say gratefully.

“Don’t worry about it,” he replies as cooly as he can.

“Is that…Spike, did you them out!?” You hear the sound of magic. Twilight teleports into the room and yells; “What are you-“ then she notices you, and the portal behind you. Her eyes widen is shock. “Don’t-you-dare!” she commands. You’re out of time.

You jump through the portal. Just before every portion of your body twists through the vortex, you hear the sound of Twilight Sparkle screaming in rage.

Author's Note

A new story, what else is there to say. Hopefully it will be good. If it isn't, I don't want to hear any lip outta you, you aren't too old for a spanking! If you like my stories, I take tips. Just the tip just the tip. Happy Halloweiner

Buymeacoffee
Ko-Fi

2. Through the Looking Glass

You stumble your way out of the portal, disoriented. Your head spins as you suffer from the worst vertigo you’ve ever experienced. You almost throw up then and there, but the adrenaline pumping through your veins is enough for you to suppress your nausea in the name of survival. You close your eyes and take a few deep breaths. You place a hand over your chest to feel your heartbeat. It’s still racing.

‘Breath in…breath out…breath in…breath out….’

You open your eyes, and you feel your heart skip a beat. Crystal. The room your in is composed entirely of crystal.

“No…” you mutter softly. Your breathing intensifies as panic courses through you.

‘I…I can’t be here…this can’t be…it’s still her…it’s hers!’

You quickly scan the large room you are in. You recognize it as the Library in the Castle of Friendship. Did the portal not work? Did it just send you to a different room in the same castle? As you question your situation, you hear an odd sound. You look back to see the portal as the swirling vortex stabilizes into a steady smooth surface. Your reflection returns as the doorway returns to being nothing more than a mere mirror.

With wide eyes and a trembling hand, you brush your finger tips over the smooth surface of the mirror. It’s just as solid as any other mirror, and your fingers aren’t able to penetrate any further. You take another breath as you remember what Spike had told you about alternate worlds. You take a step back to examine the portal device in its entirety. It looks almost exactly the same as the one you stepped through. The control panel looks slightly different but other than that, it’s identical. The one you stepped through was in a much smaller room, whereas this one is located in the library.

‘I’m in an alternate version of Equestria,’ you think. You look back to the mirror and see that it is still currently nothing more than a reflective surface. You weren’t followed.

‘Thank you Spike. I hope you’re okay.’ You recall Spike assuring you he wouldn’t be harmed. Given what you’ve experienced at the hands, or hooves of the so called Princess of Friendship, you aren’t confident of that. You can only hope and pray that she isn’t willing to harm him the way she has harmed you.

You turn away from the portal machine, and take a few steps away from it when a thought worms it’s way between the crevices of your brain.

‘What if she finds a way to track me down?’ You turn back to the mirror. Spike told you he was sending you to a random universe. But it was Twilights machine. What if she has a way to locate the universe you were sent to? She could come this very mirror to drag you back to her domain to resume your torment.

“Smash it!”

A voice whispers in your ear as you stare intently at the mirror.

“Break it into a million shards!” It’s almost as if the only two things in this world are you and the mirror. You can only focus on the task at hand. Smash the mirror, break it and then there’s no way she can come for you.

You quickly scan the area for a makeshift instrument of destruction. You see a wooden chair propped against a reading table. You scurry over and pick it up, quickly returning to the mirror. You lift the chair and prepare to hurl it right into the glass.

“What if this place is worse?”

Another voice, different than the first. It makes a good point. This version of Equestria could be just as bad if not worse than the one you escaped from. If so, smashing the mirror would ensure you were trapped here with no way out. You hesitantly lower the chair down.

“She could be on her way through right now! She could have found out where Spike sent you! Now’s your only chance! Smash it! Smash it now!” You rear back to swing.

“It’s your only way out! Without the mirror, you’re trapped here forever!”

The two voices in your head play tug of war with your mind, giving you a headache. You can barely think independently of them. You begin to shake. You feel weak. You place the chair on the floor and sit down, trying to compose yourself. You sit for several moments trying to decide what to do.

“I’m coming for youuuuuuu,” you jolt upright. That voice. That sickly sweet voice! You grab the chair, intent on smashing the mirror.

The groaning of the heavy wooden doors of the library captures your attention. Your head snaps in their direction fast enough that it elicits a crack from your stiff joints. You see the doors sliding open. Panic taking over, you place the chair back on the ground and quickly bolt to hide behind the closest book shelf. You attempt to reign in your erratic breathing as you hear the sound of multiple sets of hoof steps.

“Thanks for helping me reorganize the library girls! This is going to be so much fun!” Your breathing stops all together. You know who the owner of that voice is.

“If by fun, you mean the complete opposite of fun, than yeah, sure,” replies a raspier voice that you also recognize.

“Oh come on Dashie, with the right mindset anything can be fun! I say we turn this boring old chore into a library party!”

That voice also sparks recognition. You slowly, ever so slowly lean your head over the edge of the book shelf, just enough for one eye to peek at the group that has just entered the library. You see all six of them. Twilight and her friends. Your mind flashes back to your earliest days in Ponyville. Before she locked you away. They were all friendly enough. Some overly so. But so was she. They never hurt you like she did. But you always wondered just what they knew. After all, it’s not like any of them tried to rescue you. Either they didn’t notice your absence or they simply didn’t care. Or worse, they did know. They did know and felt no desire to intervene.

You couldn’t take any chances. Not with any of them. Not a single pony in Ponyville could be trusted. You had to get out of this castle. You had to get out of this town! You observe the six of them. Their focus appears to be elsewhere, and the doors are still open. If you could quietly sneak through the doors, you would be able to reach the castle doors in less than a minute. Assuming the layout of this castle was identical the previous one. Also assuming you didn’t run into any interlopers.

Choice really wasn’t a factor here. You couldn’t hide in this spot for very long. They were going to find you sooner or later. With their backs turned, now was your best chance. You gently step out of your cover to-

“Hi!” you let out a scream that’s so loud it hurts your throat. You fall to your rear and look up in horror to see none other than Pinkie Pie standing before you, her ears twitching erratically. “Wow, when my Pinkie Sense told me somepony new was in town, I thought it would be a pony, maybe a donkey or a griffon, but not a…whatever you are! Hi, my name is Pinkie Pie, and WELCOME TO PONYVILLE! Do you like cupcakes? Because I’m going to throw you the biggest most welcoming ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party ever!”

‘No…no no no no no NO!’ How could your luck be so bad? You were almost home free! Of course if anyone was going to facilitate dumb luck screwing you over it would be her! Her and her damn disregard for the laws of physics!

Time slows for your terror stricken eyes meet the happy care free baby blue’s of Pinkie. Your body trembles and shakes so much it hurts. The clip clopping of multiple sets of hooves rattles your ears like a set of drums as the others trot into view. All of their eyes go wide as they observe you. All except Pinkie Pie, but you hardly expected her to be fazed by your appearance.

“What the heck is that thing?” questioned Rainbow Dash.

“Looks like some kinda shaved gorilla,” stated Applejack bluntly.

“RUN! RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN!” the voice screams in your head. Drowning out the ponies voices. You can see their mouths move, but the only thing you can here is the voice in your head telling you to run.

In a blink of an eye you’re on your feet, running. You’re out the door before any of the ponies are able to process what’s happening. You pump your arms and legs recklessly as you run for the door.

A few moments into your escape you hear a shout break through the white noise of your head.

“-ey, get back here!” Rainbow Dash. You look over your should to see her pursuing you, flying just fast enough to make steady gains in her pursuit of you. Your fight or flight instincts play tug of war with each other, both wanting to take precedence over the other. Without even thinking, you turn around just as the Pegasus is about to reach you. You wind back your fist and deliver a downward hook right onto her rainbow colored head. She hits the ground with a grunt and you hear one of the others call out her name in concern. No time to feel guilty, you turn and bolt.

“Don’t them get away! They’re mine!”

‘Run! Don’t stop until you reach the forest! They won’t follow you there!’

You turn a corner and stop. Staring at you with wide eyes and a slacked jaw is a pony you haven’t seen before. A unicorn with light pink fur and a curly purple mane with a teal stripe running through it. The two of you stare at each other for a few quick seconds before the sound of your pursuers rouses you.

“Starlight! Grab that thing!” Before she can process the command, you turn and sprint down the only clear hallway. You run faster than you thought possible as now seven ponies pursued you. No thoughts ran through your mind anymore, you were now driven by pure instinct. In this moment you were not a human being anymore. You were an animal. You were a small rabbit being chased by a pack of hungry wolves.

You don’t even know where you’re going now, the way to the door having been blocked by this ‘Starlight’. Perhaps you can circle back. But you know you can’t keep running forever. The six of them are faster than you. They’re stronger than you. And they’re more powerful than you. But they aren’t desperate like you are. A cornered animal is always at its most dangerous. You were prepared to do what was necessary to survive, no matter how savage it was.

“Fuck!” you yell as your right foot slips on something soft and gooey. You hit the ground and slide a few feet. In that time, your pursuers have caught up to you and have now backed you against a wall. You look at the ground where you fell and notice…a cupcake on the floor.

‘Pinkie,’ you think angrily. Your anger turns to fear as you see the seven of them gathered around you. Their faces ripple like water, disallowing you to judge their expressions.

“Nowhere left to run pardner,” says Applejack.

“Why did you run away, I just wanted to throw you a party!” questions Pinkie Pie.

“Let me at em, I have to pay em back for that cheap shot!” yells Rainbow Dash who is being restrained by one of the unicorns magic.

“What are you wearing? Those rags are dreadful! Are those blood stains?!” Rarity questions with horror.

You are now hyperventilating as the ponies and walls close around you. Your eyes lock on Twilight. The imperceptible facial features of the Alicorn sharpen into a malevolent grin with glowing yellow eyes. Where her teeth always that sharp? Is that the way ponies are in this world? Are they bloodthirsty predators?

“Why did you run away from me?” Her voice now has multiple tones. The world around you goes dark, transforming into an abyss that contained no one else but the two of you. The demon canters towards you slowly, lowering her head down to meet your eyes.

“I’m so disappointed in you Subject HS-1. I thought I could trust you not to do anything foolish. But then you went and tricked MY LOYAL ASSISTANT into helping you!” she spat those last words with venom. She was tall now, her legs extending into gaunt stilts as her back arched and her facial features sharpened ghoulishly. “Perhaps I gave you too much freedom. When I get you back to my lab, I’m going to have to take extra special measures to keep you from escaping a second time.” She was just a few inches in front of your face now. All you could see where those horrible yellow eyes. “After all, you can live with a missing leg right?” She leans a hoof out towards you. She’s going to take you!

Something primal takes over you. You quickly lean forward and chomp your teeth down on her foreleg. The demon screams. The world around you shakes, and the dark shadows fall away, leaving you back in the hallway. Your vision is clear now. In front of you is Twilight, this worlds Twilight. She looks at you in shock as she cradles her bleeding leg. The others are looking at her with concern, some look at you with anger. You don’t have time to care. There’s a window behind you. A stroke of luck really.

Before they can react, you get to your feet and leap out through the glass. It shatters, cutting you in a dozen different places. You hope the fall to the ground isn’t too far, but if it isn’t, well…you hope it’s high enough to kill you.

As circumstance would have it, the fall three stories tall. Survivable, but you’d have to land correctly. You put your feet under you and prepare to hit the ground. As soon as your feet make contact, you roll forward and land on your back, hard. The wind gets knocked out of you. Your right ankle feels like it’s been broken, or at the very least sprained. But you don’t have time to lick your wounds.

You struggle to take in breath as you try to sit up. You see the ponies heads sticking out the window, looking down at you in shock.

“Get up! Get up and run, now!” You obey the voice. You get to your feet and start moving as fast as you can while you struggle to take in breath. You hear the wind whipping behind you. You’re being chased!

Air starts to refill your lungs. You look over your head to see both Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flying after you. One looks pissed, the other concerned. Doesn’t matter. You can’t trust either of them.

“Get back here!” shouts Rainbow.

“Leave me alone!” you scream back. Rainbow makes a dive for you, but you roll out of the way. You’re sprinting as fast as you can now, the pain in your ankle numbed by adrenaline.

“Please, you don’t have to be afraid!” that’s Fluttershy. You almost feel like stopping as her angelic voice assures you that you aren’t in danger.

“She’s a liar! Don’t stop!”

You shake your head and push forward. Your instincts guide you in an almost supernatural manner. Every time Rainbow tries to grab you, you move dodge just in the nick of time. The Everfree is just in front of you. You’re almost in the clear.

But before you can make it, Fluttershy speeds ahead of you and stops blocking your path. She hovers in the air with her arms outspread.

“That’s far enough! You need to calm down, we’re only trying to help you!” Her eyes widen and her presence becomes commanding and absolute. You stumble, and for a brief moment you are hypnotized by her gaze. You feel the uncontrollable urge to obey her orders.

“Gotcha!” you’re tackled to the ground by the blue Pegasus. As this happens, the hypnotic trance you are under is broken. You are now aware that Rainbow Dash is trying to pin you down. Luckily for you, Pegasi are of a deceptively light weight. You quickly knock her off, and bolt forward, careful to avoid eye contact with Fluttershy. She let’s out an ‘eep’ as you shove her out of the way and bolt into the forest.

You don’t stop running. As the forest floor roughs up your feet, as your ankle burns and blood drips from open wounds, you do not stop. You dodge and weave through the trees, duck under fallen debris to shake your pursuers. You keep going until your legs weaken and you drop to the ground, your energy reserves completely drained.

You take in deep sharp breaths as the copious amounts of salty sweat leak into your open cuts, mixing with your blood and irritating your wounds. You lay on your back and stare up at they tree tops above you.

It almost looks peaceful…calm. With what little strength you have, you lift your head and look to see if you were followed. You don’t see anyone. You are alone.

Before you can think another thought, your last remaining bit of adrenaline drains away and you fall unconscious.

Author's Note

Biting a horse is good luck in foreign cultures, I assume, probably. It has to be the case in at least one right?

Help me afford and start an expensive drug habit by supporting my via Buymeacoffee or KO-FI

3. Hide and Seek

Twilight winced as she felt the pressure of the bandage wrap being tightly pressed and wound against her injured foreleg. She sat on a bed that had been placed in the room that she had designated as the medical suite of her castle. In the room with her were Starlight Glimmer, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Spike, the latter of whom was applying the bandage to Twilights hoof with a look of concern and confusion.

“Really Twilight, you should get a rabies shot! Who knows what kind of diseases that feral animal that bit you was carrying!” suggested a concerned Rarity. Twilight however knew that the creature that had bitten her was anything but a wild animal.
‘What is a human doing on this side of the portal?’ she questioned to herself. She recalled her time on the other side of the mirror. How when she had stepped through, her body had been warped and twisted into the form of a human. The people in that alternate reality were alien in form, and yet so very similar to the ponies of Equestria. THIS human though was…different. She had noted the differences when she first laid eyes on them.

Their eyes were much smaller than the humans at Canterlot High, more…predatory. They were dark, beady, and without facets. Twilight remembered when their eyes made contact. The humans expression was terror stricken as if they expected that they were about to be ripped to shreds by a pack of timber wolves. Twilight also noticed that the humans legs seemed to be much shorter than the humans she was familiar with. And its skin…there was something different about it. And not just the pigment, there was an odd texture about it, rough and course. And that wasn’t even bringing the scars into account. Every portion of exposed skin that Twilight could see was marred with scars that told a story. A story that made the princess shudder. All and all, if there was one word she would use to describe the human, it was…uncanny.

“We lost it!” All eyes were cast to Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy as they entered the room. Rainbow was visibly frustrated while Fluttershy looked apprehensive and concerned. “That monster ran into the Everfree! I can’t believe it managed to out run me! ME! Rainbow Dash, fastest Pegasus in Equestria!”

“We should organize a search party to capture that dreadful beast! Who knows what it might do! It already took a bite out of poor Twilight! What if has a taste for pony flesh!” decried Rarity.

“Ah can set up some traps, we can try to snare the varmint!” suggested Applejack.

“That might not be a good idea. We don’t know that that…thing, is capable of!” interjected Starlight.

“That wasn’t a thing. It was a human,” explained Twilight.

“A what?” questioned Rainbow quizzically.

“A human? A human BIT you?” Asked Spike.

“A what?” Questioned Applejack.

“A human,” she continued with a nod to Spike. “You all remember those trips I took to the other side of the mirror portal, right?” Everyone except Starlight nodded in agreement.

“You did what now?” she asked.

“Shortly after I became an Alicorn, we visited the Crystal Empire. There was a magical mirror there that functioned as a portal to another world. Princess Celestia’s former student, Sunset Shimmer had been living in the other world and came through in order to steal my crown. I followed her through and ended up in some sort of parallel dimension. It was like Equestria, except there wasn’t any magic. And instead of a pony, I was this tall lanky creature called a human.”

“I was a dog, for some reason,” interjected Spike.

“So that thing was from that world?” questioned Rarity.

“Well…I’m not so sure,” responded Twilight. The other side of the mirror was really just an alternate version of Equestria. You all had human counterparts. Honestly our counterparts look a lot like us. Their skin is the same color as our fur, they have the same mane styles, they even match our voices and personalities. But this human was…different.”

“Different how?” asked Applejack.

“Little details,” remarked Twilight. “The eyes were different. They were smaller, and didn’t have facets. It’s skin was…rougher, it’s proportions were a little off too. I’m not sure exactly what makes them so different. I guess a little bit of research might be in order.”

“But Twilight, if a human went through the portal, wouldn’t they turn into a pony?” Asked Spike.

“That’s what makes me think this human might not be from the same place I went to. Something about this just doesn’t add up,” Twilight pondered.

“Wait, so that wasn’t just some wild animal, but a sentient being?” questioned Starlight. Twilight nodded.

“But it bit’cha!” pointed out Applejack.

“Indeed, if it is a sentient creature then it’s clearly crazed!” said Rarity.

“Yeah, it punched me in the head! I’m totally going to kick it’s ass next time I see it!”

“Wait, I don’t think-“ Twilight attempted to interrupt.

“We need to capture it!” declared Rarity.

“And throw it a party!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie.

“Now hold on a-“ Twilight again tried to cut in.

“Let’s hog tie it and send it to the dungeons!” asserted Applejack. Before Twilight could try to redirect, it was Fluttershy of ponies who spoke up.

“Now hold on just a minute!” Everyone in the room looked to her in surprise.

“Didn’t you all see the poor thing? It was TERRIFIED! Of us! When we were all crowded around it, it looked like it was about to have a panic attack! Then we chased it and backed it into a corner! Who knows what it was going through! It was so desperate to get away that it jumped through a window!” The ponies all seemed to consider this, a few heads dipping in shame.

“Fluttershy is right,” said Twilight. Humans are just like us, they have societies, family and friendship! This human though…” Twilight’s eyes drifted down to the ground as a look of a feeling of growing dread creeped upon her. “They were scarred. Didn’t you see? It’s skin…it looked like it had been cut and burned…I don’t know what happened to them, but I have a hard time imagining something like that could happen at Canterlot High. This human…this human has gone through something horrible. And we need to help them!” Twilight announced straightening up. The girls, and Spike, all straightened up to listed to their friend and leader.

“They ran into the Everfree. That forest is dangerous, the human could get seriously hurt or worse in there! We need to find them! We’re not trying to capture them, we need to let them know we’re friendly and just want to help! We need to extend the magic of friendship to them!” The girls, rallied by Twilights speech all nodded in determined agreement.

“Come on girls! Let’s show that human that they have nothing to fear from us!”

Cold metal presses against your back. Thick leather straps tie you down to the table. It’s dark. You look down at your body as tiny metal pincers pull at your skin. You try to shake free. It doesn’t work. The table begins to extend, pulling your limbs and stretching you out like a rubber band. You stretch out nearly twenty feet.

“Experiment.” You hear a robotic female voice say. In front of you is a winged horned creature. It stands on cracked hooves, it’s body cloaked in darkness. The only facial features you can make out are the glowing eyes and perfectly white teeth.

“Time to take some samples,” the monster utters without emotion. Metal pliers grip onto the tips of your fingers, and swiftly pull off one of your finger nails. The nail floats into a glass vial, which corks itself and disappears. Next the pliers maneuver into your mouth, sliding one of your teeth out of your gums. Your blood floats in the air as if gravity were non existent. Magical vials capture both the tooth and the blood.

You try to scream and cry out, but no sound is produced. Multiple sets of eyes form in the blackness that surrounds you and observe you like a piece of meat. The evil beings’ hoof morphs into an eagle like claw, reaches down to your arm and pinches off a piece of your skin, which in turn floats into a vial.

“Very good,” utters the demon. “You’re contribution to science is greatly appreciated. But we are only just beginning.” It reaches its claws towards your face, obscuring your vision.

You bolt upright and scream. Sweat pours down your face, and you quickly get to your feet. Your ankle buckles from under you and you collapse forward in pain. You let out another pained groan as hit the forest floor.

“Fuck,” you grunt through grit teeth. You turn over and sit on your rear and observe your surroundings. You see trees surrounding you in all directions. You take a deep breath and look down to your ankle. You pull your pant leg up to see it is bruised and swollen. You take a deep breath and try not to scream out again.

‘Of course. God damn it! What do I do now?' you question. You look upwards to see the bits of sky that are visible through the leaves of the trees. It’s still daylight out. You weren’t unconscious for long. The ponies haven’t found you yet, but they are surely in pursuit.

‘I gotta get out of here!’ You position yourself on all fours, and stand, lifting yourself with your uninjured leg while balancing to keep all the pressure off of your injured one. You hop towards a nearby tree and use it for balance.

“There’s no way I can out run them now.” You look around once again. “If a predator finds me, I’m dead. If the ponies find me, I’m worse than dead. I can find a place to hide, but if I want to survive….” Realization dawns on you. How ARE you going to survive? You’re stranded in the woods, with no weapons, you’re injured and you have a squad of magical ponies hunting you down. You can’t run, you can’t fight….

“I can’…I can’t do anything….” You slowly slink back down to the ground, leaning against the tree. “I’m fucked….” Maybe you’d be able to sneak into Ponyville at night to steal supplies. But had no idea which direction you’d come from, and even if you did, in your condition you couldn’t even walk, let alone sneak or run if you were caught.

Your eyes drifted down, and you looked at your arms. The cuts weren’t bleeding as much anymore but, but the red ichor stained your skin. Predators could smell that from a mile away. You were a sitting duck, just waiting for death to come and claim you.

“Maybe…maybe that’s for the best. Maybe that’s my only way out.” Tears started to fall as you began to cry. “J-just my luck. I get my second chance, and it’s already over! Ha…ha ha! Ironic!” in your crying you start to laugh as the absurd cruelty of your circumstances finally starts to break down your mind. You laugh and cry, thumping your head against the tree back that you’re resting against. “Come and get me Timberwolves! You’ve got a free meal Manticores!” Maybe you’d get lucky and be happened upon by a Cockatrice. From what you understood, being turned to stone was just like going to sleep. That might honestly be your best bet. You continue to laugh and cry. “I’m ready…I’m fucking ready!”

“So you’re just going to give up? Pathetic.”

Author's Note

Hello, here are more words
Buymeacoffee or KO-FI

4. A Twisted Mind Among Twisted Trees

“So you’re just going to give up? Pathetic.”

“S-spike?”

Standing in front of you is the last person you expected to see. Spike the dragon. It doesn’t make sense. It shouldn’t be possible. But for some reason, you don’t question it. You simply focus in on your friend and nothing else.

“After everything I risked to give you a second chance, you’re just going to lay down and die?” He crosses his arms giving you a stern, judgmental look.

“I…I gave it my best try. But look at me!” you gesture to yourself. “What am I supposed to do now? What CAN I do?”

“You can keep fighting.”

“Keep fighting?!” you ask incredulously. “There is no fight! I can’t…I can’t do anything to them! I can’t run from them! I don’t have magic, I can’t fly, I can’t do anything!”

“You got this far didn’t you?” he asks with a raised brow.

“And look what it cost me,” you reply, gesturing to your ankle.

“Alright fine, give up and die,” Spike snaps back turning and walking away. “I only just gave up everything to help you escape. The least you could do to repay me is make it worth it!”

“Repay you? You were awfully damn complicit in the whole thing for quite a while!” you yell back.

“Because I was afraid!” he screams back. He turns to face you and your eyes widen at what you see. His face is now marred and bruised. Welts and cuts decorate his face, his left eye was swollen shut, and blood was dripping from his nose and mouth. “I’m just a BABY dragon, I don’t know how to handle this sort of thing! It didn’t make sense!” he’s started crying now. “The-the Twilight that did those things to you, isn’t the one I grew up with!” He collapses to his knees now, tears flowing freely. “I don’t…understand….”

Guilt weighs on your shoulders. You position yourself to crawl towards him. You lean in to make eye contact with the young drake.

“I don’t either,” you tell him. “But…all that time I spent as a prisoner…you were the only person, the only thing that made those days bearable. Lending me your comic books, playing chess and checkers with me. I’ll never not appreciate what you did for me. I’m…I’m sorry for what I said. I just feel like…like it’s never going to be over. That I’m never going to reach that finish line where I can finally just…relax. And be at peace.” The dragon sniffs and wipes his face.
“You definitely won’t if you stop here.” You contemplate this. After a few moments, you nod as you feel a new sense of resolve.

“You’re right.” The dragon in front of you smiles before he begins to dissolve away into the air. “Wait! Spike come back!” You reach out to stop him, but your hands grab at empty air. You look at the spot where he disappeared in confusion.

“Come back…." You sit there staring at the ground. You just stare at that spot, for how long, you do not know. Eventually you blink and look up to the surrounding forest. You see a long and thick branch on the ground just ahead of you. You crawl forward and wrap your fingers around it. You use it to hoist yourself up, and then as a cane to keep the pressure off your injured ankle.

“Spike?” you call out but there’s no answer. “You’re right,” you say softly. You weren’t going to just throw away this chance you’ve been given. You were going to do right by your friend.

‘But which way do I go?’ You look around and see nothing but forest. The sound of a wolves howl rings through the air. Your grip tightens on the branch, and you start walking away from the direction of the sound.

Hours have passed, and it’s starting to get dark. You are thirsty and hungry. You shouldn’t have rejected the food Spike gave you back in your cell. Your limbs are starting to get heavy and you feel weak. But you have to keep going. You don’t have any real destination in mind, but you just know you can’t stop moving.

But you do stop moving. Your body gives out from under you and you collapse to the ground once more. You catch yourself with your arms and let out a grunt. Your breaths are hard and ragged. You see a large oak tree just ahead of you. You crawl over to it and sit up against it, taking in your surroundings. It’s just more trees and shrubs. Your stomach growls and you place a hand against it.

“God…I’m hungry….” Aside from the few obscure berries you’d passed, that you had no way of knowing were safe or poisonous, you hadn’t found anything proper to eat. Of course there were small animals darting around but you had no reliable means of catching them.

“I’m not done…I’m not stopping!”

In response to your statement of defiance, you hear the howls of more wolves in the distance. Only, they sound closer this time. Your heart rate increases. You struggle to stand back up and hobble away as fast as you can. You hear the howling get closer.

“Fuck!” you yell. The wolves howl again, much closer. You realize you aren’t going to outrun them. Your only option is to fight. You stumble against a large tree and place your back against it. You hold your walking stick in front of you defensively. You were a sitting duck but at least your back was protected.

You wait in tense silence, covered in sweat, blood and dirt. You grip your stick tightly, eyes scanning every which way for any sign of the predators that were pursing you.
And then you spot them. The glowing yellow eyes in the dark. Timber wolves. You see four of them stalking towards you. You grit your teeth, a wash of anger overcoming you. You let out a loud growl, and the wolves to their credit appear to cautiously reconsider their approach. But they quickly regain their confidence as they close in on you.

“You want me! Come on, I’m ready! You want to kill me? I’m already dead mother fuckers, but I swear to God I’m taking one of you down with me!” As the wolves get closer, you swing your stick out at one of them. It connects with its face. You rear back to swing again when one of the wolves pounces on the opening, slamming you to the ground. Your grip on your weapon is lost and the stick falls out of your reach.

As you hit the ground you let out a scream. But it’s not a scream of pain. Not entirely. It’s fueled by rage more than anything. You swing your right hand at its face with an open palm and claw at its face, trying to wrench its eyes from the sockets. You feel wooden teeth bite down on your left arm. You scream out, but you don’t stop fighting.

You rear back your right arm and back fist the wolf that is on top of you. It yelps and falls to the side allowing you to attack the one biting your other arm. You wrestle on top of it and slam your fist down on its head. Pieces of the wooden structure fall loose and you yank your arm free. You see the other two wolves are approaching, ready to join in the fight. You quickly crawl over to your stick and swing it at the nearest wooden monstrosity. All reason has left you as you are now focused on one thing only: Killing. You needed to kill these things, or you yourself would be killed. Painfully.

You don’t even notice the figure approaching from behind the wooden wolves. You don’t notice how it is hooded and appears to be much smaller than them. ‘If it moves, it’s an enemy!’

You hear something smash like glass. A gaseous red vapor begins filling the air, and it smells foul. The wolves seem to hate it even more than you, as the four of them quickly regroup flee. Through the vapor, you can see an approaching figure. The only distinguishing feature you can discern is that it is four legged. Which means it’s an enemy! You swing your stick as it approaches.

“Stay back!” you scream like an animal, spit flying from your mouth. The figure stays just out of your reach as you try to scramble away. You crawl out of vapor into fresh air and take a deep breath. You try to get up and run, but before you can, you hear another breaking sound. You look down to see a broken glass bottle with a pink liquid seeping out that quickly turns into more mist. Before you can react, a sweet berry smell fills your nostrils. Your head begins to swim, and your eyes feel heavy. Old memories of childhood dentist visits resurface as you find yourself lying on the forest floor, fighting to stay awake. But try as you might, you aren’t able to flee from unconsciousness. The last thing you hear is an echoey voice.

“Sleep my friend. Your troubles are at an end.”

Author's Note

Hoping I didn't drop the ball with the whole Spike thing. MC has clearly lost it to a degree and isn't in a position to approach things logically anymore. But hopefully you liked it regardless, and if not...you just watch your mouth, I know where you live!

Buymeacoffee or KO-FI

5. Rhymes and Deceit

“Thanks for letting me stay here Twilight, I really appreciate it!”

“It’s absolutely no trouble! I should be thanking you for agreeing to let me study you! It’s not everyday somepony gets to study a completely new sapient species!”

“Sure, as long as it’s nothing too invasive, it should be no trouble. And I’ll be happy to answer any of your questions as best I can.”

“Are thirsty? Can I get you something to drink?”

“Just water will be fine.”

“Huh…this water tastes a little funny….”

You wake up, and the first thing you notice is the wooden ceiling above you. The unfamiliar environment causes your eyes to widen and you sit up with a start. You scan your surroundings to see that you are in some sort of wooden structure. But it wasn’t made of clean cut wooden boards, instead it was all one peace. It looked as if you were inside some giant, hollowed out tree.

‘Where am I?’ you think to yourself. You try to recall the last things you remember. It was hazy, but you remember being attacked by a pack of timber wolves. What happened after that, you weren’t sure. But what you were sure of was that you were outside in the wilderness. Which means someone had to have brought you here.
You quickly toss the bed sheets covering you aside. The first thing you see is your injured ankle wound tightly with bandage wrap. Then you notice more bandages wrapped around the bite wounds on your arm. There are faint pink stains on the cloth where the blood must have seeped through. There are also a series of small band aids littering your body to cover the smaller cuts you received during your escape. You also observe that your skin is no longer caked in dirt and blood. You must have been cleaned.

You look around once more. You do not recognize this place, and it does not match anything you’ve seen in Ponyville. But who else would live in this area but a pony? They’d helped you, that was for sure. But perhaps they just wanted to make sure you weren’t dead so that they could pass you along to…her. Perhaps she’d put out some sort of bounty on you after you escaped from that tacky crystal castle.

The place you are in is decorated with cultural items that look distinctly African. The ponies in Ponyville lived in a distinctly western and European styled community. Perhaps there are other pony cultures in the world. You wouldn’t know, you never left Ponyville. What you do know is that you can’t trust a pony when they say they have good intentions. You’ve made that mistake before.

You place your feet on the floor and carefully stand up. The pain on your ankle is significantly less than what it was before, but it still isn’t strong enough to walk without a limp. You slowly make your way to the edge of the room you’re in and peer around the corner.

You see a main chamber, decorated with wooden masks, along with potion bottles hanging from the ceiling. There’s even a black witch’s cauldron, which does not ease any of your worries. Thankfully the room appears to be clear of any residents, and the door is within sight.

You start limping towards the door, your eyes peeled for any potential threats. You also look for anything that might be useful in your survival. Halfway to the door you catch site of a long wooden pole. It looks solid and sturdy.

‘That would make a good cane. I could also use it as a weapon.’ You make your way towards the pole. Upon reaching it, you notice that it is decorated with carvings. You examine them. One ring appears to show a group of equines gathered under the sun. The next ring under it depicts a single equine alone. It appears to be traveling from a barren region into a forest.

‘The Everfree?’ you question.

Next is a ring showing the same pony next to a large tree with windows and a door. It must be a depiction of the home you’re now in. Next you see the singular pony figure approaching a group of six other ponies. Two of them are flying, Pegasi obviously. The other four are bound to the ground, two of them have horns.

‘Interesting,’ you muse. Then you hear the door behind you open. You whirl around with the staff firmly gripped in your hands, holding it in front of yourself defensively. Standing in the doorway is…well at first glance you could confuse it for a pony. But with the mohawk and stripes, it looked more like a zebra.

A zebra…you never new about any zebra’s living near Ponyville in the last world. You remained largely ignorant of life outside of that town. You were completely in the dark here, with no way to know if you could trust this thing.

The zebra seemed surprised to see you standing there, but quickly relaxed and stepped inside the home, shutting the door closed.

“Ah, you are awake and on your feet. I’m glad we can finally meet,” she greets you in a friendly manner. You are now able to determine that this zebra is female.

“Who are you? Where am I?” you asked with the staff pointed forward.

“My name is Zecora, I’m from lands far away. And this is my home, where I’ve brought you to stay.”

‘Why is she rhyming?’

“Why did you bring me here?” she looks befuddled by the aggressive tone you are taking.

“I mean you no harm, I assure thee. I found you injured in the Everfree.” She begins making her way closer, stopping at the cauldron. She uses her mouth to retrieve a vial from her saddle bags and pours the contents into the pot. She then grabs a ladle and begins stirring.

“Are you the one who bandaged me up?”

“Indeed, thankfully your injuries weren’t too severe. So I cleaned your wounds, patched you up and let you stay here.”

“Why? What’s in it for you?” her eyebrow raises at this and she looks at you with confusion.

“Why must there be something to gain? It would be awfully cruel to leave a creature in pain.” Despite the tension you let out a small ironic chuckle, which causes Zecora to look even more nonplussed.

“And does anyone else know I’m here?”

“Who would I tell if I you don’t mind? Are you on the run for some sort of crime?”

“The crime of existing,” you respond. “If you don’t mind, I think I’ll be leaving now.” With a firm grip on the staff you begin making your way to the door, keeping your distance from the Zebra.

“Wait!” she calls out. You stiffen and prepare for a fight or flight scenario. “Your wounds are still fresh and sore. If you venture back into the forest you may receive even more!”

“I’ll take my chances,” you respond.

“If you wish to leave, I can’t make you stay. If your hearts set on leaving, I won’t get in your way. But please don’t take my staff, it’s important to me. If you need something similar, let me offer you something with less sentimentality.” You look to the staff in your hands, then back to her. You give her a slight nod. She sighs in relief, and heads into another room. You consider bolting for the door, but she’s back before you can even consider it. She brings with her what looks like a broken broom stick.

“I wish you would confess why you seem to lack any trust. To live life in Equestria, faith in others is a must.” You trade the staff for the broom stick.

“I already tried that, didn’t work out very well for me,” you respond. Her eyes widen in concern and seem to scan your from. She no doubt took in the deforming scars that decorated your flesh. You begin backing away towards the door. Zecora makes her way to the cauldron and uses the ladle to fill a small wooden cup. She then walks back up to you.

“Before you go, you must be hungry and thirsty. This tonic will refresh you and give you energy.” She offers the cup to you with a smile.

“Are thirsty? Can I get you something to drink?”

The zebras fur starts change color. The dark and light gray stripes turn to one solid color of lavender. Is that a horn poking out of her mohawk?

You can hear your blood pumping once again, adrenaline once again returning to your system. You smack her hoof away.

“Get that away from me!” you snarl, causing the Zebra to step back. “You won’t trick me again!” Before she can respond, you are out the door, putting as much distance as you can between yourself and this zebra, with as much speed as you are able. You don’t see the look of concern the zebra gives you as you leave, but if you did you probably wouldn’t care.

Only an idiot makes the same mistake twice.

Author's Note

Buymeacoffee or KO-FI

6. The Search

Inside her cottage, Fluttershy stood up tall, surrounded by animal friends. Rabbits, squirrels, racoons, birds, snakes and even Harry the bear all stood at attention, like soldiers standing before a drill sergeant. Fluttershy for her part, matched that archetype as best she could.

“Alright friends, I need your help. There’s a lost and scared creature that needs our help!” she held up a rough sketch of the human she was searching for. “This creature, a human according to Twilight, ran into the forest earlier today. The poor thing injured itself trying to run away, and is now lost, hurt and scared while roaming the Everfree forest!” the animals muttered and chirped to each other.

“I need your help locating them, but keep your distance! Especially you Harry! You might scare them!” Harry let out what appeared to be the bear version of an exasperated sigh before nodding.

“If you find the human, make sure somecreature is able to keep eyes on them, and then come get me, and I’ll take it from there!” All of the critters chirped their affirmation, excluding Angel bunny who just rolled his eyes and scampered off to do who knows what.

“Thanks again everycreature! Now move out!”

Dear Sunset Shimmer,

I hope everything is going well on your side of the mirror. Normally I’d ask how you and the girls are doing, but unfortunately I’m have an urgent matter that I needed to ask you about. To make a long story short, me and my friends were in the castle library (where I keep the mirror portal) when we found a human in the library! A human, still in human form, which should be impossible, since our two worlds are simply variants of each other and anyone who would step through the portal on your end would find themselves changed into a native creature of Equis. But for some reason, this didn’t happen. Do you know if the portal is working correctly on your end? Or if anyone from your school or city has gone missing?

Another thing before I forget. This human was…different. Their eyes were smaller, their proportions were a little off as well. But the main distinction was how they behaved. They had the look of…trauma written all over them. They were covered in scars, and had a violent reaction to my friends and I. They even bit me! I’ve never encountered a creature that acted so…feral. This was unlike anything I saw while I was at Canterlot High.

Any information you can provide would be really helpful! I hope to hear from you soon.

-Princess Twilight Sparkle

Twilight closed the cover of the enchanted journal that allowed her to send direct messages to Sunset Shimmer in the human world. She then turned and made her way to the mirror and looked at her reflection.

‘That human had to have come from another dimension, and they had to have crossed using this mirror.’ Twilight approached the artifact and began examining it.

‘There’s still so much we don’t know about how it works. I’ve only ever traveled to the one alternate world, but theoretically there must be more. If the theory of multiverses and diverging timelines is true, then the number of worlds we could travel to must be…it would HAVE to be infinite! I could step into another world just like this one where the only difference is what I decided to have for breakfast this morning. Or I could step through to one where the laws of physics are the complete opposite of what they are here!’

Twilight ran a hoof along the mirrors surface.

‘But I have no idea how to alter the mirrors destination. I know that it can only to travel to Canterlot High every thirty moons. It hasn’t been that long yet, so the human couldn’t have crossed from their right? Is there another version of the mirror that allows the user more refined control?’ Twilight took a step back. ‘I should really start researching this thing. Maybe Celestia would have some advice as well.’ Twilight shook her head to clear her thoughts and then turned to make her way out of the library. ‘That can wait though. Right now finding the human is much more important.’

Rainbow Dash and Applejack trotted along the dirt trail that safely took them from the outskirts of town to Zecora’s hut. Rainbow was currently relaying her own idea of how to catch the rogue human to her friend.

“-and then, once it falls into the syrup pit, you tie it up with your rope!”

“And get my good rope all sticky? Absolutely not! Besides, how are we supposed to get our hooves on that much maple syrup?”

“Pinkie Pie, duh!”

“Well either way, the answers a flat out nope!”

“Aww, come on AJ!”

“Ah said nope!” The two stopped in front of the door to Zecora’s hut. Applejack raised her hoof and knocked. The door opened a few moments later, revealing the zebra shaman.

“Ah, Rainbow and Applejack, what brings you here? I haven’t seen you in what feels like a year.”

“Well howdy Zecora, we were wondering if-“

“If you’d seen this big furless monkey thing!” interrupted Rainbow Dash, who received an irritated look from Applejack. Zecora’s eyes widened ever so slightly. She hesitated before replying.

“A ‘monkey thing’ you say? What an odd description. Elaborate if you may.”

“Well, it was about uh… a little over double our height,” answered Applejack.

“It was wearing clothes and walking on two legs,” interjected Rainbow.

“Yep, and it was uh, probably limping real bad,” finished Applejack. Zecora’s eyes visibly narrowed.

“It was injured you say? And just what would cause it to end up this way?”

“Well it, um…kinda jumped out of one of Twilights windows,” replied Rainbow Dash awkwardly. Zecora’s eyes widened once more.

“And why would it do that? I assume it had no wings like a bird or bat?”

“No, it uh…just kinda jumped in a panic,” admitted Rainbow Dash.

“It’s kinda a long story,” added Applejack. Zecora analyzed the two mares before she spoke again.

“I may have seen the thing of which you speak. But it was quite scared, paranoid and weak. Before I give you any more information, come inside and give me your explanation.” Applejack and Rainbow Dash looked at each other before nodding to Zecora, who stepped aside to let the two in.

Through their combined efforts they explained to Zecora everything that had happened, and what Twilight had explained to them post-chase. Zecora took a few moments to absorb everything she had been told.

“It sounds to me, like everyone involved acted rashly. I did meet this human in the Everfree, though they were quite suspicious of me. They were injured by Timber Wolves, and had bad injuries that I tried to treat. I left them for some time, and when I returned they were on their feet. The human was quite hesitant to give me their trust. I tried to get them to stay, but they insisted that leave they must.”

“Timber wolves? Yeah, Twilight was worried about something like that. This varmint doesn’t seem at all prepared to handle half of what the Everfree has to throw at them,” stated Applejack.

“Yeah, we gotta find em before they get seriously hurt…-er,” said Rainbow Dash.

“I agree that this qualifies as a potential emergency. But hunting down this unwilling creature seems like a bad idea to me,” Zecora responded.

“Well, if you have a better idea, we’re all ears,” replied Applejack. Zecora took some time to gather her thoughts.

“Trust cannot be earned rapidly. Show the human you mean no harm gradually. Do not pursue, let them come to you.”

“But the forest is like super dangerous! You already said you had to fend off some Timber Wolves!” exclaimed Dash.

“This is true, but I would not act rashly if I were you. They are scared but not feral. I would not cage them like an animal.” Rainbow and Applejack exchanged looks.

“We gotta at least talk to the feller. Try to talks some sense into em’,” responded Applejack.

“I understand, I do. I wish great luck to all of you.”

“So, did you see which way they went?” asked Rainbow. Zecora nodded.

“They headed away from my home,” she explained while pointing out a hoof. “Past the tree line, I have no idea which way they chose to roam.

“Alright, thank ya Zecora! We’ll take it from here!” said Applejack gratefully. Zecora nodded, and the two turned to leave. Zecora saw them out, and then closed the door.

“This situation does not sit well with me. But only time will see.” She then returned to her work of potion brewing, hoping for the best. She decided to put her faith in those six ponies. If there was one thing the group was good at, it was making friends and helping those in need.

She’ll just have to wait and see.

Author's Note

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7. Planning

After limping away from Zecora’s hut, you weighed your options. Could Zecora be a trustworthy ally? Maybe. But maybe’s weren’t good enough, you needed an ‘absolutely.’ Until you had that assurance, you were on you own. The pony inquisition was still hot on your trail and you needed a place to hide and rest. So, you ventured deeper into the forest, just deep enough to deter your pursuers. There you would rest and come up with a survival plan.

You ended up finding a brush to take cover in. You crawled into the pile of sticks and leaves and laid down on your back. And there you waited for a plan to come to your mind. Minutes turned to hours, but nothing came. You don’t have a plan. How could you? You were completely out of your depth here. Trapped in a strange world, all alone with no way home. What was your goal here? Just to survive day in and day out? You need something better than that. What was ideal for you? You don’t just want to survive, you want to live.

The ponies live. They’ve got a thriving society where practically everyone is happy. You had once hoped to be a part of that society and find your place in their practical utopia. Now though, you knew that was impossible. It wasn’t meant to be.

Maybe there was somewhere else you could go, somewhere far away from that accursed town. Maybe there’s a place where you can belong, find a community to be a part of and live out the rest of your days in peace. It’s a big maybe, and you might end up dying before you make it there, but it’s worth a try isn’t it? The only other option is to stay in this forest and spend the rest of your days scavenging.

Well, it’s more of a goal than a plan, but you decide that the way forward is for you to get as far away from Ponyville as possible. Maybe there’s a pony settlement that could harbor you, maybe there’s a society comprised of other weird creatures that would accept you. You had a vague awareness that other sapient species occupied the world, but aside from Spike (and now Zecora) you only had experience with the ponies of Ponyville.

Finding such a settlement would be a trek. Your ankle was better thanks to whatever Zecora had treated it with, and it was likely to heal quicker than normal if you didn’t re-injure it. But you’d need supplies, food, water and possibly a weapon or two.

Now you reached a dead end. Where would you acquire those supplies? Perhaps you could return to Zecora’s hut and ask her if she had anything to spare. No, that wouldn’t do. Your instincts protested against it. You’d be putting yourself at her mercy once again. What if she decided not to let you go this time? No, you’d need to acquire supplies another way….

There’s plenty to be found in Ponyville…. Ponyville, you must be truly desperate to consider returning there. But if you were able to sneak into the outskirts at night, when everyone was asleep, you might be able to swipe a few of the things you needed and then book it. If you were caught you’d never be able to outrun your pursuers. Stealth was your only option, even if you were ill equipped for it to say the least. But you didn’t have an abundance of options. Desperate times. But what would you do if you were caught? You were NOT going to let them take you alive. If push came to shove…you’d need a way out.

You decide you need to think this all through, and also rest. You didn’t know what time it was exactly but it looked to be at least three or four o’clock based on the sky. And despite being passed out for who knows how long, you were still feeling pretty tired. Perhaps a nap would help you sort this all out. Rest and recuperate, let your mind reset and give your ankle time to heal. If you went to sleep now, you’d hopefully wake up later in the night, when everyone else is asleep.

And so you close your eyes and drift into a light sleep.

“Well?” Princess Twilight Sparkle stood in front of her friends, who had gathered before the entrance to her castle.

“I asked my animal friends for help, but I haven’t heard anything from them yet,” stated Fluttershy.

“I’m afraid neither Pinkie nor I were able to locate the human either,” confessed Rarity. Twilight let out an anxious sigh before turning her attention to Rainbow and Applejack.

“What about you, did you two find any leads?”

“Well we thought we did, but we ended up comin’ up short,” admitted Applejack.

“What kind of lead?” questioned Twilight.

“Well Zecora said she saw em, so we knew the general area they went off in, but couldn’t actually find them. I dunno, maybe their hiding or something,” explained Rainbow. Twilight let out a frustrated groan. Her mane was fraying at the edges as she spent several hours stressing about the situation. She cast a worried look to the Everfree forest. Night was approaching fast. That was the time when all of the predators of the forest would be most active. Picking up on the cause of her friends distress, Fluttershy approached her and put a hoof on her shoulder.

“Don’t worry Twilight, my animal friends spread the word. If they see anything happen, they’ll let me know right away!”

“But that might not be enough! If the human’s found by a pack of Timberwolves or a Manticore and one of us can’t get there in time, then they’ll be…they could be….”

“We did all we could for today Twilight. I don’t know about y’all but I’ll be restartin’ the search first thing in the morning at the crack o’ dawn!” asserted Applejack.

“And my animal friends will let me know as soon as they see them,” assured Fluttershy.

“Yep! And my Pinkie sense hasn’t gone off yet, so they can’t be in too much trouble!” Twilight pondered the situation before consigning with a nod. An earlier version of herself wouldn’t be able to think straight with all this anxiety, but her time in Ponyville had taught her how to temper her more neurotic impulses. Still the situation didn’t sit right with her.

“Ok. I’ll see you girls in the morning.” And with that, the group of friends dispersed to their homes, leaving the Princess of Friendship to cast one more look of concern towards the Everfree forest as the sun dipped below the horizon. She then turned and entered her palace hoping for the best.

Author's Note

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