Northern Lights

The three hour trip seemed to fly by quickly. After loading my game I got to work building up my empire, which was Russia. It didn’t take too long for war to break out between my empire and the British. The map spawned us pretty close to each other, so naturally we were competing for land and resources until Queen Elizabeth decided to take my land by force. I’ll admit, those British longbows were pretty tricky for me to work around, but thanks to the special ability of my empire I was making twice as many soldiers as they were. Minor victories were won in skirmishes, but I was the one who struck the first major by taking York.

Two minutes and twenty turns later, the British army had Moscow surrounded.

I pinched the bridge of my nose in frustration. My nearest regiment of soldiers were too far away to be of any help, and I couldn’t move any others, lest Elizabeth decide to retake her cities. As much as I hated to admit it, suing for peace seemed the best, if not only option. I was heavily against the idea, however, so I decided instead to save the game and come back to it later with a more focused mind.

After logging off and packing up my computer, I realized I still had a lot of time on my hands. We’d only recently passed Brockville, which still left roughly thirty minutes before the train would arrive. So what better way to keep myself busy then to pull out one of my traveling books? I didn’t know any, so I reached into my bag. I felt my fingers brush against the hardcover spine of a book and pulled it out. It was Skybreaker, second book in the Airborn series by Kenneth Oppel.

I always found it a great shame that today’s young audiences would rather spend their times watching television or playing video games instead of reading. Books can be just as good, if not better than those things. They open your mind and take you to exotic and faraway places - all without ever leaving your seat. Especially if the book was fantasy, which this one was. Right now, I wasn’t in an Ottawa bound train, but aboard an airship, miles and miles into the sky. Looking out the side window, I saw the wind twist the massive clouds into cute little shapes in the endless sea of sky. Far in the distance I caught an image of the sun beginning to rise, and the scenery around me became warm and peaceful. And, to solidify the experience, unlike on TV there were no commercial breaks. So you can keep immersing until you put the book down. Really, how could anyone dislike this?

“Ladies and gentlemen, we will be arriving at Fallowfield station in ten minutes.” The sudden voice snapped me out from the images in my head and back to reality, not a moment later repeating the message in French. “Mesdames et messieurs, nous arriverons à la gare de Fallowfield dans dix minutes."

I closed the book, a little reluctantly, and stored it in my bag. I guess I could have kept reading for a little bit more, but the moment felt ruined now. So I took to looking at the scenery. Right now we were still in some pretty barren areas with a few trees, but mostly just open grassland. Soon we’d be in urban lands before making our stop finally. And about time too, I don’t think I could take another moment on this train. They’re fun, don’t get me wrong, but it’s the same as being in a car or on a plain. There’s only so much you can take before needing to stretch your legs.

Suddenly, I felt a strange feeling over my body. It was a warm feeling, but not a natural warm. It’s kind of hard to explain, the best I can come up with was the same warmth you feel when you sit on an air vent mixed with cool air blown from an air conditioner. Confused, I turned from the window and saw that the bag on my lap was glowing. Yeah, glowing, and not even a natural glow. It was more of a strange combination of colours - mostly pink, purple and blue from what I could see.

I tried to move the bag away; I tried to cry in fright; I tried to stand up; I tried to do something. But it was like I was strapped down in my seat. The only thing I could do was watch as the intensity of the glow increased. A few people seated nearby took notice as well.

“Hey, can you turn down the lights?” An elderly man called from the seat across from mine. I tried to reply, but the words were lost when a loud burst came from the bag and the colours came rushing towards me. In that moment, I was able to let out a single cry before I felt myself being violently yanked backwards into my seat.

Only, I didn’t feel myself impact with the seat. I didn't feel myself impact with anything. Instead I was suspended in a massive sea of pink, purple and blue that seemed to be expanding in every direction. It was a lot like one of those tie dye shirts hippies wear. All around me the colours moved like water, rippling across the world in a strangely rhythmic ebb and flow. If you overlooked the completely freaky circumstances, it was almost mesmerizing.

On the other hand, however, the colours were as bright as the freaking sun. Now, I don’t know if you've ever looked at the sun before, even indirectly, but it stings. It really freaking stings. So much so that you can go blind. Plus, your vision is being distorted by weird little patches of light that follow your eyes everywhere. Now imagine that amplified by a billion and coming at you from every angle imaginable to man, and I swear to God even a few that weren’t. Yeah, it was that bad, so I squeezed my eyes shut to keep myself from blindness.

I didn’t even get to enjoy my reprieve from the killer light for more than ten seconds before I felt a that yanking feeling again. Suddenly, I was pulled backwards, this time with even more force than the first time. A series of loud cracks filled the air, and I realized they were my own bones. But there was no pain, only numbness.

This can’t be happening. I reassured myself. I must have somehow blurred the boundaries of reality and fantasy. Yeah, that’s the reason for this. That must be the reason for this.

I was interrupted from my rightfully stressed situation by a new feeling coming over my body. This one was soft and pleasant, reminding me a lot like silk. Yes, hands of silk were tenderly covering every inch of my broken body, and even the parts that weren’t. I tried to struggle, but I couldn’t. It was like they’d sapped my strength with their touch. But I didn’t dwell on this thought for long, because instantly afterwards my arms began to tingle. They felt wrong, almost twisted even.

Now when I say twisted, I freaking mean twisted! Like I was feeling myself getting caught in a massive piece of machinery twisted. My eyes scrunched up as I felt skin and bone thrust this way and that. In some places I felt the skin ripp and in others it seemed to stretch and reform. Yet there was still no pain. But it didn’t matter, because I still felt struck to the core from the knowledge alone. Soon I even felt tears forming behind my eyelids.

Why? I whispered in my thoughts. Why was this happening... Why now?

I ask myself those same questions for what felt like an eternity. I wasn’t sure why, maybe it was for even the slightest piece of comfort. The tiniest way of escaping this nightmare. In my minds eye I saw the images of my mom, dad, and sisters appear. They were smiling, no doubt thinking of all the fun they were going to have in Ottawa. Specifics didn’t matter, I just needed to see them now. See those kind eyes and warm smiles. Memories, flesh, blood, it didn’t matter. I just had to see them. One last time.

Thankfully things didn’t turn out quite as bad as I’d envisioned, because I felt the twisting sensations lessen and the silk hands leave my skin. I let out a relieved sigh, until I realized that they’d also taken away my weightlessness. Next thing I knew I was falling forward rapidly, causing my heart to travel into my throat. Though I think the universe was done torturing me, because the drop only lasted a few seconds before I impacted with something. It felt soft, but also sturdy, though it couldn’t sustain me hitting into it and I felt myself impacting with something cold and hard. Pain was ricocheting across my entire body, and I welcomed it. It meant I wasn’t in that crazy psychedelic zone anymore!

Once the pain subsided I opened my eyes after what felt like an eternity of keeping them shut. Sure enough I wasn’t in that... place, but rather I was on my stomach in the middle of a large room of metal walls. It was mostly dark, but a faint purple light allowed me to get some glimpses of dead machinery and weird looking crystals situated on the walls.

But then I looked towards the center of the room and felt myself cry in fear. Laying just a few feet away was a massive snake like skeleton!

“What the heck?” I said, confused at the sound of my own voice. It didn’t sound the same as before. Don’t get me wrong, it still sounded close to me, but on a much higher pitch. Was I screaming without my own knowledge? Did I lose my voice?

“Ugh...” A voice said from behind me. Shocked and excited at hearing someone elses voice after what felt like so long I whipped my head in their direction. However, my vision was then blinded by a large mass of pink.

Instantly I was taken aback by the sudden rush of colour. Reflexes kicked in and I jerked my head back. This caused even more of the pink stuff to come up from below, and ended up getting some of it in my mouth. Instantly I gagged on the oily taste, and my eyes widened. I had just swallowed a mouthful of hair!

I spat the hair out of my mouth, and it ended up falling limp next to me. But not on the ground, oh no, it stopped a good few inches from that. Also, there was the hair that was still in my face. From the angle it looked like it was coming from... no. No way. Not going to believe it. No way am I believing that this long pink hair was my hair!

“Hello?” that voice from before asked. Instinctively I twitched my head towards it. But what I saw wasn’t a human, rather, it was a large lavender coloured horse with horns and wings! The former of which was even glowing! “Oh my, where did you come from?”

“AH!” I cried, startling the horse and making her flinch. I tried to use the moment to scramble to my legs, but they decided to use this moment to be difficult and refuse to help me out. So, like the jerks they’d decided to become, they dropped me onto the cold ground.

The horse gave a small gasp and came over to me. She stood over me, and it was now that I really got a sense as to how big she was. I mean, I’m average height, about five foot ten. This horse had to be at least twice that size.

She leaned her head down to look at me. “What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”

“I... I can’t tell,” I replied, still staring at her with disbelief. “Just please, tell me this is all in my head.”

“I don’t know what you’re referring to,” the horse said. “But I think the important question is how did you get down here in the first place.”

I tried to form the words to tell her, but ended up blinking instead. But in that split second I noticed something in the lower corner of my eyes - which I silently thanked, since it meant I didn’t have to look at this pink hair. Carefully I aimed my eyes to their corners, even closing my left eye, until I discovered a small... thing? Yeah, that word worked to describe it. An odd, sky blue, and slightly rounded thing. And as funny as it sounds, I half expected the thing to grow legs and start tap dancing on my head. Hey, with everything else that’s happened today, nothing will surprise me.

Still, whatever this thing was, it was annoying to constantly look at. It’s like when you close one eye you can see your nose from the side, because that’s right where this thing was. I gave my nose a little wiggle to try and shake the thing, but it moved in the same directions. Wait, does that mean this thing is my nose? God, I hope not, but I’d better find this out. So, shakingly, I brought an arm up to my face.

And this is is the part where the blood drained from my face, because my arm was covered in sky blue fur! I didn’t even have any fingers, just a single hard edge. In the distance I heard a voice, probably from the horse thing.

“What’s wrong? Did something happen to your hoof?”

Ok, it’s official. Either the universe has decided that today is the day to dick around with Tyler’s life, or this is a very long, very realistic dream. Please let it be the latter, I hoped. I knew it was a fools hope, I know, but I felt I needed to try anyways.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw the horse thing grow more concerned. I don’t know why, but looking at her again made me feel less stressed. Maybe it was the eerie similarities between her and humans that I saw in her eyes and facial features, but I didn’t really care. All I knew is that I felt calmer. By no means was I calm - good God no. But I felt calm enough that I could think. And thinking allowed me to remember that I need to be calm. Stressing out will just block your thoughts, making it easy for you to overlook simple things and make rash decisions. And I couldn’t afford to do that - not now.

I swallowed hard; the off pitch to my voice was beginning to bother me. ”Can you tell me where I am?”

“You’re in a large series of catacombs located under Canterlot,” she said. It was so disturbing hearing the kind of voice you’d hear from any human girl. But if it kept my stress levels low, then I didn’t care.

“And where is Canterlot?”

The horse’s eyes widened with shock and disbelief. “How can you possibly not know where Canterlot is?”

“Because,” I swallowed hesitantly. “Because I don’t even know how I got here.”

The horse thing paused. By the look on her face I was expecting her to start playing twenty questions with me. Stuff like who are you, and where did you originally come from if not here. Simple, yet effective questions. But I didn’t want to answer questions. I wanted to ask them. How do I get home? How do I repress this memory forever? What was I now? And why pink hair?

However, neither option ended up happening. Instead, the horse turned away from me and looked at something in the back of the room. In the dim light given off by her horn I could make out that it was diamond shaped, whatever it was, and made of metal. Maybe it was some kind of artwork; I mean, she was looking at it with an enigmatic look.

“Um, I don’t mean to be rude, but do you think you can please help me?” I said after a moment.

The horse turned back to me. “Sorry, I was just wondering about something. Of course I’ll help you.” She then gave me a once over. “Can you stand?”

I gave a quick shrug and rose to my legs - which felt so alien without fingers, might I add. It’s a lot like trying to get up using only your palms, if they were as hard as your nails. But there were more alien feelings to experience, as my knees instantly gave out from under me, sending me right back to my good old friend, the metal floor.

“Ow,” I groaned while bringing a... foreleg, (I guess?) up to rub my lower jaw. “No.”

I moved my limbs to my side and readied to hoist myself up, only for a magenta aura to cover my body. My eyes widened as I felt myself being lifted off the ground and set perfectly on all fours. Instantly I felt them begin to buckle so I did my best to position them under me to support my weight. Of course, this lead to a few new discoveries, namely that my back legs were near identical proportions to my front and also equine. I felt my heartbeat quicken as the realization of just what I was hit me.

“Don't start this again,” a little voice said in the back of my mind. “C’mon, get help first and have the mental freakout later.”

The voice was right; I needed to set my priorities. The first of which had to be finding out where the hell this Canterlot place was. Through the dim light I was able to see a gaping hole in the farthest wall. It looked promising enough, so I moved a leg forward. My knees were shaking from the unfamiliarity of walking on all fours, but I was able to take a tender first step. Next thing I knew the cold floor was rushing to meet me again. However, I was saved from another impact by the same magenta light, though this time it lifted me perfectly in the air.

“Um, thanks.”

The unicorn gave a small smile. “It’s no trouble, my little pony.”

And just like that, it all came crashing down on me. All my attempts to keep the stress contained vanished with that sentence. So that’s what I am now; some sort of little blue pony with pink hair? My heart was a pounding drum that I could feel in the back of my throat - so hard that it was hurting my ribs. My breath shot from my nose, fast and abrupt. A pony? My little pony...

“Miss, you’re stressing yourself out,” the unicorn pony said.

Wait, miss? Why would she call me miss? Miss is a feminine term; things you use for girls! Was she making fun of me? Just because I’m a pony doesn’t make me a girl!

“Please, calm down. You’re going to hurt yourself!”

My muscles all twitched involuntarily. My skin felt like it was crawling. But what did that matter? What did it matter if I hurt myself? What did anything matter now? I was supposed to be in Ottawa right now, not in some crazy underground room with a winged unicorn pony with gender identification issues!

“Calm down,” it was that same voice from before, but it sounded different. Desperate. “Please calm down.”

I know! I screamed in thought. Another muscle twitch came over me. I know, alright? But this is too much, too much! So please shut up and let me figure things out!

That seemed to shut the voice up. Or maybe it didn’t, I could barely hear with my heart beating a million times a second. Another muscle twitch hit me; my breath had gone up to what felt like ten every second. My gums were tingling as if numb, and I felt something tap my forehead. It wasn’t hard, but I tensed up all the same.

And then, as if I’d have been splashed by cold water, it was done. My breathing returned to normal and my heart found its way back to my chest. It felt wonderful, like the weight of the world had been taken from my shoulders. For a few seconds I did nothing but breath slowly. When I felt as close to calm as I could I looked back to the unicorn.

“Thanks,” I said meekly. “I’m so sorry for that. I’ve kinda been through a lot of... changes lately.”

She eyed me for a moment, almost as if analyzing my every feature. “I understand,” she said finally, though her tone was as injurious as it was friendly. “Now, how about we continue this conversation in a friendlier location?”

Before I even had a chance to respond the unicorn began walking forward, pulling me along by the strange aura she had me in.

~~~

The trip to the surface seemed to go on forever. First we passed through the rest of the metal building, which was filled with fossilized snake skeletons, and then through a massive series of crystal catacombs. I didn’t speak at all during this time - I was still too busy trying to come to grips with my situation. So I decided to spend the time pondering it.

That earlier freakout probably didn’t help with first impressions, and the setting seems to point to me appearing in a research or testing room of some sort. I let out a sigh. Wonderful, so I looked like a spazz and I was in a potentially unauthorized zone. Chances of imprisonment now fifty to one.

On the plus side, I was able to make one discovery of interest. Something cool around my neck. I snuck a glance down when the unicorn stopped to find her bearing and saw the head of a silver snake striking from my neck.

The necklace? I thought in disbelief. There wasn’t any way it could have survived the trip - it had been in the center of the initial light. Yet here it was in perfect condition. Good, I thought to myself. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that this thing played a part in my coming to this place. But besides that, it reminded me of home.

The unicorn finally stopped at the end of a cliff. Below us the ground seemed to descend for hundreds of feet through jagged rocks and spiraling black crystals. There was another cliff higher than ours, and I could see a glimmer of sunlight pour from it. All we lacked was a pathway to walk up there, but when your current escort has wings it really doesn’t matter. The unicorn simply spread her wings and flew up in no time. She didn’t land on the ledge, however, instead she flew towards a hole in the cave roof where the light was pouring in from.

I squinted my eyes shut from the extreme brightness, and from the memories of that psychedelic place. Frig, just thinking about that experience was making my bones hurt all over again - and I still haven’t even seen the full extent of the damages yet. Priority one, find a mirror, assess the damages, find a way to reverse them, and then find a way home.

Eventually I got the courage to open my eyes again, and I found myself in some form of garden. There were statues of ponies standing on their hind legs and wielding some form of musical instrument, or being surrounded by a massive stone scroll. We had just emerged from behind two of them, both facing away from us and looking at their hooves. There were hedge mazes everywhere - particularly one large one in the center - and a few sparsely planted trees.

I was about to try and ask about the location, but I caught the words in my throat when I noticed the large group of ponies walking across the garden. It’s kind of hard to explain how this looked without sounding like someone as high as a kite; there were ponies wearing golden armour and possessed either feathered wings or horns. One pony was wearing deep purple armour and looked like something from hell, with cat like eyes and leathery wings like a bat. Finally, at the head of the group, was a pony even larger than the unicorn holding me. Like her, this one also had wings and a horn, (I guess they’re special) and was dressed quite elegantly with a tiara, necklace, and even shoes of gold. Oh, and its mane and tail were multi coloured and blowing without any wind.

“Princess Celestia,” the purple unicorn said. That struck me as both rather odd whilst also leaving no dispute as to who is the dominant species here.

“Hello Twilight,” Celestia said, and there was no disputing she was royalty. Her voice held itself in a noble, yet also compassionate tone. “And who is this with you?”

“I’m not sure,” Twilight replied. “I found her in the catacombs right after I made the discovery that Shadow Sight no doubt told you about.”

“He did,” Celestia continued, looking at the freakish guard.

Why does this pony keep using female specific pronouns on me? I thought to myself. I mean, do I look like a-. I didn’t continue that thought, because I remembered how odd my voice was sounding lately. But surely that didn’t mean...

“Shadow Sight can lead you to the discovery,” Twilight said. “I’ll be right there after I bring her inside.”

“Yes, she does seem like she’s been through a lot.” Celestia said.

God, I thought to myself. Now both of them were saying it.

Twilight led me away from the princess’s entourage and through the garden, which was part of a large white castle. I caught some glimpses of the archetype as we moved through the gate and main hallway. It was very well furnished, with a large red carpet laid along the floor. The walls were lilac in colour, and lots of medieval esk stain glass windows and tapestries on the walls. In a normal situation I would have loved to have spent more time observing the details of the castle, but right now I was busy in thought.

Ok, calm down, Tyler, it’s probably the stupid pink hair that’s fooling them. I only half believed that, considering the luck that had befallen me. Hell, on top of all this, I was probably ugly as sin to look at, and these ponies were just being polite and not bringing it up... Wow, I need to do something about this stress.

Twilight finally came to a stop in front of a pair of purple doors with golden trim. One of them was caught in the same magenta aura I was in, and the door opened by itself for us. I think it was pretty obvious by this point that there’s magic in this world, or I’ve been so affected by stress that my mind has been tricking me.

Beyond the open door was a basic room, of sorts. There was a small single bed, which Twilight set me down upon gently, causing the aura to vanish. I blinked suddenly - again reminded of my unpleasant trip here - and took in some of the other features of the room. There was a single window on the far left wall, a couple of chairs positioned around a coffee table, a rectangular desk, and thank God, a full body mirror beside it. Step one has been achieved.

“I need to see Princess Celestia, but I’ll be back soon,” Twilight said. “Just try not to move too much, ok?”

My reply was a simple nod, but it was all the acknowledgement she needed, and with a quick nod of her own the lavender unicorn left. I waited until the sound of her hoofsteps had vanished before rolling off the bed and onto the floor. My thrice damned hair also decided to take the time to fall back into my face. I blew it to the side and shakingly rose to my hooves. Mental note, add haircut into schedule.

The mirror was right in front of me, and I finally got to see myself. When I did, I felt myself give out a small gasp at the equine I saw in the mirror.

As I already knew my mane and tail were pink and messy. They naturally curled and jutted out in places, much like my old hair. My tail was about the same length as my body and was slightly more orderly than my mane. It was really hard to imagine that this was me, until I saw my eyes. They were the same eyes I had my entire life, blue and green mixed together perfectly. Right now the blue was primary, having been brought out by the blue of my coat. It was enough to almost make me cry. I’d lost so much, but at least I kept these.

Eventually I pried myself away from my eyes and continued my examination. Two things shot out at me as overly bizarre. One was a strange mark on both sides of my rump. It looked like a strange rainbow, split into three colours: green, blue, and purple. The other was myself overall. It pained me to admit it, but really did look feminine. My eyelashes were more prominent, and my body shape wasn’t as big as the guards and seemed more... I don’t know, just feminine.

“That’s because you are, genius.” My eyes widened, it was that same voice from the cave. “Why is he just beating around the bush right now, just check your reproductive tract already and be done with it.“

“Gee, maybe it’s because I need a moment to breath after my look on reality was just shattered and I was ripped away from my home and family!” I said defensively.

There was a long pause before the voice spoke again. “Did... did you just hear me?”

“Um, yes. Was I not supposed to?” I looked in the mirror and around the room, but found no source of the voice. “Where are you anyway, and why are you following me? Did you have something to do with me coming here and changing species?”

“So back in the cave, you heard me then, right? I wasn’t just imagining things?”

“Yes, I heard you,” I said, blowing my hair out of my eyes. Or would that be a mane now? “Ugh, look, if you know something about what’s happened please tell me. If not, then leave me alone, because I seriously don’t need this right now.”

The next phrase was a mixture of amazement and sadness. “Nobody has ever heard me before...”

I sighed in annoyance. “Yes, I can hear you. Now will you please tell me what the hell is going on?!”

“Right. I’m sorry. it’s just... it’s been so long since I’ve had an actual conversation. Nothing but sitting in darkness and silence for as long as I can remember.”

This time it was my turn to pause before speaking. “...Who are you?”

The voice trembled as it replied, its words full of fear and sadness. “I... well, once, long ago, my parents called me Ri-Bov-Dis. You can call me that too if you want, or something else if you like.”

“What kind of a name is that?” I’d studied history in my senior years of high school, and there were no segmented names like that in any European country.

“One of disgust and shame,” This Ri person said. “Why else was it given to me?”

Well this person had some parental issues, that’s for sure. But I didn’t have time for this, so I exhaled loudly. “OK, Ri-Bov-Dis, do you mind telling me where you are now?”

“Where am I?” Ri paused, and then let out a timid giggle, which gave me a good indicator of her gender. “Look in the mirror.”

I frowned and looked back at myself. Was there some kind of cliche riddle hidden here, like she’s actually my feminine side come forth from this transformation, or maybe even my conscience? Fun little theories that didn’t quite work with the information she’d told me already, but it helped me thing all the same. Besides, it’s not like there was anything new to see in the mirror - still just my new... female pony body.

“Well, I’m looking at myself in the mirror, so do you mind showing yourself now?”

She sighed. “I’m right here, just under your nose.”

Great, she’s speaking in riddles. “I really don’t have time or patience for this!”

“No, I mean, I really am right under your nose.”

Ok, it was obvious that I’m getting no more information from her, so why not humor her before I chew her out for this waste of time. I looked under my nose (muzzle?) and discovered nothing new - what a shock. The only thing I saw was the necklace... wait a second.

“I see you figured it out.”

I chuckled in disbelief. “Ok, the stress has finally gotten to me. Clearly I have flown over the Cuckoo's nest, someone slap me back to sanity.”

“And I thought you were supposed to be smart,” Ri said. “Tell me, when a scientist has exhausted all possible theories that coincide with their predetermined ideas about a problem, then logically they must accept things based on the evidence given.”

All I could do was stand there as my barriers broke for the second time today. I slumped to the ground in front of the mirror and watched as tears formed in my eyes and run down the equine’s face. I didn’t even know why I was crying, I already knew everything this Ri person was saying. The tears just started and wouldn’t stop. it was like I was crying one for every thing I’d lost. Tears for my family were first, one for each member, close and extended. My friends were next: Matthew, my best friend I’d known since we were two months old. My school friend Emily, who’d made an amazing drawing for my eighteenth birthday. I even shed some for each of the teachers who, just a few hours ago, I’d seen wish me luck as I wrote up my last exam and walked out for the first day of summer. Piece by piece I watched my life flow from my eyes and puddle on the floor.

“...Tyler,”

The voice pulled my eyes away from the tears and guided them to the silver necklace around my neck. There was no change in the metal, and nothing magical like a glow around the eyes, yet I could still tell that there was some presence about it.

“Tyler, I know this probably seems like the worst moment in the history of your existence, but don’t give into despair when you don’t know the entire situation.”

I don’t know weather it was Ri’s simple words of comfort, or that I had no more individuals to cry away, but the tears stopped flowing when she said the word despair. It’s a word I was all too familiar with, one that makes you feel hopeless and miserable - like I was feeling now. And the more I thought of that word, the more I remembered a passage from a book that my mom read to me once long ago. Despair is the enemy, do not let it consume you. As far as quotes that inspire you, this one was pretty simple and bland, but it had stuck with me all the same and helped me in the past. Would it be able to help now?

A warm ray of sunlight shone through the window, and for the first time since I’d arrived here I realized how late it was. I carefully walked over to the window and looked at the setting sun. “Tomorrow... tomorrow I’ll figure things out. There’s gotta be some way home, right?”

“Every destination has multiple pathways,” Ri said. “At least, that’s what my mom always said. But... she never said if it would be a good one or a bad one.”

“You know, for someone who seems to want to help me keep my mind from all this, you’re not doing the best to inspire confidence.”

“I know,” she said sadly. “Stupid Ri...”

“Hey, I never said that,” I said, making my way back to the bed. “Look... let’s just sleep and tackle this insane problem tomorrow with fresh minds.”

“Well... alright.”

“Good,” I said. Carefully I hoisted myself back onto the bed, which wasn’t nearly as easy as it sounded. Curse these equine back legs.

Once I finally did get back on the bed I simply lay there for who knows how long. Falling asleep was always an issue for me, but really, how would anyone expect to sleep after having their world views shattered like this? Again I looked at the setting sun, now almost completely gone. My grandparents would have told my parents that I never showed up. Would there be police involved? Investigations into all the train passengers? And what thoughts would run through all the heads of my family members? How long would they persist until finally deciding to give up and move on as best they can?

No, don’t think of those things. I told myself. There is a way out of this that you just haven’t found yet; don’t go stressing yourself over nothing.

My eyelids began to flutter and I felt the fatigue of sleep begin to come over me. So I lay my head back eagerly and welcomed its embrace.