Just Over the Horzine

Twilight Sparkle caught up with Pinkie Pie and Spike as the three friends made their way towards the party, striking up many conversations to pass the time. They traversed through their hometown, Ponyville. It wasn’t a glorious borough, just the cozy kind of place that welcomed any and all ponies that walked through; whether it be a unicorn, a pegasus pony, or an earth pony. Specialty shops lined the streets, making it a great place to begin one’s business without the fear of any major competition.

“... and the colt didn’t realize until the next morning that his mane was dyed blue!” Pinkie Pie said aloud as she recalled one of her elaborate pranks. Spike chuckled while Twilight gave an uneasy smile.

“That’s... that’s pretty funny, Pinkie Pie,” Twilight said with a forced giggle. Pull yourself together, Twilight! she chastised to herself, It was just a nightmare, a figment of your imagination. For pete’s sake, it’s nothing to panic about! She continued to criticize herself, unaware that she was under Pinkie’s watchful eye.

“What’s wrong, Twilight?” she said, snapping the purple unicorn’s attention forward. “You look like you’ve eaten some baked bads.”

“Oh, it’s nothing, don’t worry,” Twilight reassured.

Spike piped up, “Are you still worried about that nightmare, Twilight? I don’t get why you’re so worked up over this.”

Twilight was about to refute his comment when Pinkie let out a gasp. “A nightmare!?” she exclaimed, “Oh, that's not a good thing to keep bottled up. You can’t have any fun at a party if you’re scared! Tell me all about it, and you’ll feel better in no time at all!”

Twilight had a reluctant look in her eye, but the pink pony’s insistent face started to work its magic. I suppose that if there’s anypony that could help, it would have to be Pinkie Pie. “Well, okay,” she began. “There were these creatures in this laboratory, I think they were called... humans... or something. Some looked pale and others were very dark. They kind of acted like us, to be honest. They were busy with some kind of project, working on these things they called ‘specimens’. Everything looked like it was going fine until... until...” In that instant, time seemed to stand still. Slowly, she was brought back into Horzine’s laboratories. The smell of blood and rotting flesh filled her nostrils as she saw several clots, gorefasts, and crawlers eating the creatures on the floor. Frozen with fear, she gulped and took a step back. Immediately, the specimens froze and lifted their heads up. They slowly turned until their eyes met Twilight’s fearful gaze. With fresh trails of blood dripping from their jaws, the specimens began to run towards the purple unicorn. She almost let out a scream, but felt a hoof on her shoulder. Ponyville’s peaceful plains rushed back into view and she saw Pinkie and Spike have looks of concern on their faces. “I’m sorry,” Twilight apologized, “don’t worry about me. Like you said, Spike, it’s... it’s just a nightmare.”

Pinkie Pie shook her head. “No, Twilight, only a triple deluxe chocolate chip cake should do this!” She showed Twilight her own hoof, it was trembling. “This must be a super class nightmare, one of the meanest and nastiest nightmares known to ponykind!” she said with a slightly serious tone in her voice. “I know just what you need! Come on, we gotta go to Sugarcube Corner!” Without another word, Pinkie Pie started to hop towards their new destination.

Spike scratched the back of his head and said, “I... uh... guess it’s not just a nightmare, is it?”

“I don’t know, Spike, but I’ve got to stop worrying about it. Now come on, Pinkie doesn’t look like she’ll stop anytime soon.” Pinkie Pie’s friends ran to catch up to the bouncing pink pony. Within a few minutes time, Sugarcube Corner came into view. From a distance, the building looked like a gingerbread house with a roof resembling a decadent layer of frosting and icing. A cupcake shaped attic rested on top, complete with a yellow sleeve, and topped with pink icing and candles coming out of it. It was truly a sweet tooth’s fantasy.

When the trio entered, a bell rang as they walked in. Pinkie Pie proceeded upstairs, but stopped to turn towards her friends. “I need you both to wait here for juuust a teensy weency bit, ok? I have to get what I need from my room.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Wait a minute, Pinkie. Why isn’t the party here? Isn’t this where you always host parties?” Such was Sugarcube Corner’s reputation. Whether it was welcoming a new citizen to Ponyville, a filly’s cute-ciñera, or even a visit from Princess Celestia herself, Sugarcube Corner was the ideal party spot.

“Well,” Pinkie Pie began, “this place is just a teeny bit too small for a pre-Summer Sun Celebration celebration. You remember how big last year’s was, right? This party is even bigger than that!”

“Actually, I wasn’t here for that. I only showed up the day before last year’s celebration.”

“Oh, right! Must’a slipped out of my ol’ noggin,” she said with a giggle. “At least you’ll be here this time! Now don’t you move a muscle, I’ll be right back, okay?” With that, Pinkie Pie turned and hopped up the stairs. Twilight took a look around the store’s interior while she waited. Candy cane designed posts complimented the various designs of lollipops, peppermints, and gingerbread colts that lined the walls. The craftsponyship of the store never ceased to amaze her.

The bell rang once more, bringing Twilight back to reality. From the corner of her eye, she noticed a colt walk in with a canvas bag strapped to his side. “Oh, I’m sorry,” she said to the customer, “the owners of this shop stepped out fo—”

“Twilight! Oh, am I ever so glad I found you!” the colt interrupted. “Oh, and Spike too! This is brilliant! It didn’t even take more than two tries!” A big smile plastered itself onto the colt’s face.

She couldn’t return the colt’s elated feelings. “Excuse me? What are you talking about, and who are you?”

“Yeah,” Spike stated, “and how do you know us?”

A blank look slowly appeared on the colt’s face. “You mean... you don’t know who I am? Neither of you know me?”

“Why should we?” Twilight began, “Unless you’re a very old friend of ours, I’m quite certain we’ve never met before.”

He hesitated before opening up his bag and pulling out a rolled up piece of paper in his mouth. He spit it onto the floor. “Do you know what this is?” he eagerly asked.

Twilight lifted the paper in front of her, reading its inscriptions. Her eyes lit up as she said, “Oh, yes. I know of these.”

“You do? Are you absolutely sure about that?”

“Yes,” Twilight replied, “I help run the library, so I can help you find these bo—

“No no no,” he insisted, “forget the books. The list, Twilight, do you know what that is for?”

Twilight took another look over the paper, her face slowly scrunching up in confusion. “No, can’t say I do. Seriously though, who are you?”

The mysterious colt shifted his gaze to the windows before saying, “Uh... you can call me The Doctor.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow as she said, “The Doctor, really?” I doubt he’s a real doctor, there’s gotta be more to him than just that. She continued, “That’s quite a vague name for somepony I supposedly know.”

The Doctor studied the area outside the windows before answering, “Well, that’s just what I prefer to go by.”

“Sounds awfully shady to me,” Spike said with a hint of distrust in his tone.

“What’s wrong with ‘The Doctor’, really?” the colt muttered to himself. He then spoke up, “Ugh, what am I doing, listen very carefully to me Twilight, you need... to...” it seemed as if an obvious fact was coming to light. The Doctor began talking to himself once more. “This place... it’s not supposed to happen here... nnn, not at all. Besides that, this isn’t the right time. Am I too early, or am I not early enough? I’ve got to figure this out. Now, considering this situation, we can use this moment as the starting point and that leaves me with...”

As he continued muttering to himself, Twilight took a moment to look over The Doctor; His blue eyes scanned the floor as he kept muttering to himself, his black mane and tail flipping back and forth as he paced about. She then noticed his cutie mark: an hourglass. “Huh, a pony named ‘The Doctor’ with an hourglass cutie mark. Do you fix time or something?” she joked.

The Doctor’s ears perked up and he began to nervously laugh. “That’s a good one. I mean really, fix time? Come on, no way.” He proceeded to move backwards for the door and escape this conversation as soon as possible. “Obviously, this seems like a bad time to talk to you, so I think we should pick up this conversation when we meet again. I’ve got places to go, things to do, ponies to meet. You know how it is.” The Doctor turned around and walked towards the door.

“Wait, Doctor!” Twilight said, not ready to let him leave. “You seem like there’s an impending disaster of some sort. Is there more to this than you’re letting on?”

“As I said before, Twilight, I need to leave. We can talk later.”

The Doctor reached for the door when Twilight blurted one last question. “Have you ever heard of humans?”

He froze in place, slowly turning around to face Twilight. The look in his eyes spelled surprise to the unicorn. “What... what did you say?”

A small smirk formed on Twilight’s face. “You heard me,” she said in a stern tone. Spike nudged her side and gave a very confused look as if to ask why she did that. Twilight said, “First my dream, then that terrible feeling in my house, and now you show up. You know what’s going on, don’t you?” As The Doctor wracked his brain for an answer, a pegasus pony crashed through the window and rolled into the wall with a loud thud.

“Oh my goodness! Ditzy,” Twilight said, ignoring the bewildered colt, “are you okay?” It was Ditzy Doo, Ponyville’s most iconic mailpony. Both Spike and Twilight lifted the mare onto her hooves, brushing glass and debris out of her grey coat and light, blond hair. She winced when Spike brushed against a fresh cut on her cutie mark: seven bubbles, two big bubbles with five smaller bubbles in-between. “We should patch that up,” Twilight said as the mail pony rubbed some dust out of her crossed, golden-brown eyes. Her eyes were naturally this way, often marking her as a target for ridicule, but she felt thankful enough to meet ponies like Twilight that could look past such characteristics. “A bit of a dramatic entrance, Ditzy,” She said to the mailpony. “How did you manage to crash into the window?”

“That was not one of my best ideas,” Ditzy groaned as she rubbed her head, “I should’ve knocked.”

“Ditzy, why come crashing through the window like that? You could have been seriously hurt!” The Doctor said as he chastised the pegasus pony.

Ditzy shook the fuzziness out of her vision. “I know. I’m sorry, Doctor, but you were taking so long and I panicked. We can’t afford to waste another minute,” She said with worry in her voice.

Twilight switched glances between between both ponies. “Wait, Ditzy, you know this colt? Who is he? I’ve never met him, but he apparantly knows me. What’s going on around here?”

Ditzy gave The Doctor a worried look, then turned to Twilight and said, “I’d love to tell you, Twilight, but I can’t. This is something you can’t know about yet.”

“What do you mean ‘yet’?” an annoyed Spike asked, “Can you guys see the future or something? Then again, how can you even do that? Neither of you are unicorns!”

Twilight turned her attention towards Ditzy. “Listen,” she began, “if you know what’s going on, why can’t either of you tell me?”

Ditzy shifted her gaze away while The Doctor said, “There’s only so much I can tell you, Twilight Sparkle. I tell you too much and something could go terribly wrong. That’s why we’re staying silent. it’s of the utmost importance that you don’t know, and we need to leave... now.”

Twilight took a minute to reflect on his words. She couldn’t exactly trust the words of a colt she’d just met, but she could believe a friend. She shifted her gaze and said, “Ditzy, you know this Doctor, right?” To which the mailpony quickly nodded. Twilight looked back at The Doctor, “So you agree with him? Neither of you two can tell me anything?”

Ditzy looked at The Doctor, and The Doctor looked back at her. His eyes were filled with an unrelenting resolve. Ditzy then nodded her head, sadness in her eyes, and said, “I’m sorry, Twilight, I really am. This is just how it has to happen.”

The tension in the room kept everything at a standstill. Not a single object could move without anypony noticing. Twilight became lost in her thoughts. Too many bad things are happening at once, and now I have even more questions than I did this morning! Should I believe these two? I know I can trust Ditzy... but what of The Doctor? He could have manipulated her into believing him. Then again, she seems like she genuinely wants to help me, but can’t. Maybe I should just listen to The Doctor... I’m not sure if I should take his word for granted, but perhaps this really is best for everypony. Better safe than sorry. She nodded slightly and said, “Alright, I’m going to believe you, but if I find out this is all a lie—”

“No need to worry about that, Twilight. We have no reason to deceive you.” The Doctor shifted back into a casual demeanor as the tension subsided from the room. He breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you for believing me. Now, if you don’t mind, we’ll be taking our leave.” The Doctor turned around and trotted out the door.

Before Ditzy could leave Twilight asked one last question. “Wait, Ditzy. I know you can’t talk to me about what’s going on, but how did you get here? I thought you were off delivering packages to Fillydelphia today.”

Ditzy put her hoof to her chin. She looked out the door to the awaiting Doctor, then turned back to Twilight with a smile and said, “Spoilers.” Before Twilight could inquire further, the grey pegasus flew off.

Spike turned to Twilight and said, “Are you sure you we should let them leave? I still don’t trust that ‘Doctor.’” Spike shook his head in disapproval.

A torn Twilight said, “I understand, Spike, but until we learn more about what’s going on, there shouldn’t be much to wo—” Suddenly, Twilight realized something. During this whole confrontation, between all the noises, broken glass, and lengthy conversations that went on, she hadn’t noticed the one thing out of place. She looked at Spike and said, “Where’s Pinkie Pie? It couldn’t have taken her this long to find what she needed. Let's go check up on her.” They made their way up the stairs. “Pinkie Pie?” Twilight said as she gave a few knocks on the pink pony’s door. “Are you okay in there? You’ve been gone an awfully long time!” She heard little murmurs coming from behind the door, but no real response.

Spike said, “Pinkie, come on, say something!” There was still no response. They then heard what sounded like a spark from her room.

Twilight exclaimed, “Pinkie? I’m opening the door!” However, just as the doorknob was illuminated by her magic, the door swung open, revealing a flustered party pony.

“Oh, hey Twilight!” she said, “I-uh finally found what I was looking for! What you need right now are these incense candles!” Pinkie then shoved the candles onto Twilight and exited her room, shutting the door behind her. “They can help you really relax when your brain is full of jumping beans!”

“Uh... thank you... ?”

“Alright, what are we waiting for? Let’s get to the party!” She said as she began to bounce towards the front door.

Twilight arched her brow. Pinkie’s acting strange... more than usual. Where was she this whole time? Twilight deemed this a matter of great importance. “Pinkie, did you hear any kind of noises down here at all?”

Pinkie nearly stumbled, but immediately resumed her prance. “Oh, uh, I didn’t hear anything at all. Nopey lopey, I was too busy looking for those streamers, and all my digging and diving made it super difficult to hear a thing!”

“Streamers?” Spike inquired, “You gave her candles, where did you get streamers from?”

“Oh duh, that’s right!” She let out a laugh as she continued, “I must have-uh forgotten about that,” Pinkie said with a hint of nervousness.

Twilight considered pressing on, but thought to herself, Well, this IS Pinkie Pie we’re talking about, I don’t think it could be anything more serious than what The Doctor told me. Let's just get to the party. She kept up the conversation saying, “Kind of funny you’d mix those two up,” as she laughed.

“Yeah, completely crazy!” She said through a very stressed laugh.

While the trio made their way down the street, Twilight felt a rush of wind hit her side. It came from a narrow alleyway; the same direction as a whirring noise. She trotted towards the source of both oddities. As she got closer, the wind and noise started to fade away. She picked up the pace, completely entranced by her desire to find more. As she reached the end of the alley, there were only trees filled with healthy leaves, birds and other creatures running around, and other ponies going about their daily business.

Spike and Pinkie Pie soon caught up with the wayward pony.

“Is something down there, Twilight?” the baby dragon asked, “You kind of took off without saying a word.”

After scanning the area to no avail, Twilight said, “Where do you think that noise and wind came from? Things like that just aren’t natural.”

Pinkie started to laugh a bit and said, “Oh you silly filly, it's always windy over here!”

“Even so, what do you think of those noises, Spike?”

Spike gave Twilight a confused look of his own, “That could be anything, Twilight. Not everything is out to get you. Don’t you think you should try to relax?”

Twilight rubbed her eyes and checked her ears for anything in them, but nothing was wrong with her. She knew that she heard those noises and felt the wind, so why was everypony else acting like it was nothing? “But I—there were—you—I... forget it. Let's go to the party.” Twilight just hung her head in defeat before turning around to slowly walk with her friends. You know, maybe I’m just going crazy, she thought to herself, I really hope that’s the case. At least then all of this would all have a valid explanation.

*********

“Ugh, how much further do we need to go, Pinkie Pie? We’ve been walking for a good half hour, at least,” Spike said, sitting atop Twilight’s back.

Twilight looked at Spike with a dumbfounded look on her face. “Really now, Spike? You’ve been lounging this whole time while WE’VE been doing the walking, you really don’t have any room to complain.”

Spike sprawled himself out on her back and replied, “Okay, fine, but it's been so long since we left the house, and there’s no party in sight!”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “If you’re so anxious to get to the party, why don’t you just run on ahead? I’m sure that it can’t be much farther now,” she said while being both sarcastic and serious.

“I can’t do that, Twilight, what kind of a friend would I be if I just ran off like that?”

Spike’s response earned him a glare from Twilight. She just sighed and said, “You’re an inspiration to us all, Spike. We should follow your example on how to be a true friend.” The purple unicorn gagged in disgust.

Pinkie turned to Spike and said, “No need to fret! We’re almost there, just gotta head over that hill and we’re at the party! Oooh, I can already hear the music!” She continued to hop along the path without the slightest sign of losing any energy.

Upon finally reaching the top of the hill, the festivities were abundant. It was a grassy field with ponies prancing and trotting throughout the field. There were balloons, streamers, and party tents set up every which way. Assortments of food and drinks were put throughout the plain for the convenience of all the party-goers. There had even been a picnic area set up for other ponies to simply sit and have their lunch while a dance floor was placed for other ponies to dance along with the music. It was quite the way to hold a Pre-Summer Sun Celebration celebration... if there was a standard way to do so.

“Woohoo! Everypony looks like they’re having a great time! I’m so happy!” Pinkie said out loud.

Twilight started to return to her usual cheery self. “So, where are the others, Pinkie Pie?”

Pinkie turned around and said, “That’s right! Rarity said that she’d be going over to the plains to find us a place to eat! I’m pretty sure the others are with her.”

“If that’s the case, then let’s go meet up with them.”

**********

There were several ponies that relaxed as they ate their lunch. Some were with friends, others with family members. Picnic blankets were strewn about the area. A few food stands outlined the area, hoping to attract customers. In the midst of all this, a lone pony walked around the area. She was known as Rarity. The white unicorn scanned the area for a place that called to her. Her eyes darted back and forth between potential candidates. She noticed other ponies taking notice of her, which she ignored, as she usually could stand out in a crowd with little to no effort. Whether it was her perfectly-curled indigo mane, the demeanor of her royal blue colored eyes, or the three, blue diamonds which made up her cutie mark, Rarity was sure to make a scene... in a good way.

Hmmm, too small... too rocky... too wet... too much of a slant. It’s going to take eons before I can find the perfect spot! Now, any other pony would take those rejected spots. They could easily cope with an imperfect area. However, this was Rarity, and she wouldn’t settle for anything less than the best. It was in her nature, what with being a revered fashion designer. In fact, she even ran her own boutique, located right in the middle of Ponyville. Perhaps that was the defining factor in the attention she’d garner when going on with her daily business.

After what felt like twenty minutes of searching across the grounds, Rarity cried, “Aha, perfect!” as she leapt to her ideal spot and threw a blanket on the ground, claiming it for herself. The ground was nice and even, was graced with pleasant gusts of air, and had the optimum amount of shading. She praised herself, “Oh, this spot is simply perfect! I just know the girls will enjoy this! Now, where could they be...” Thankfully for her, she only needed to look to her right. “Well, hello there Twilight, Pinkie Pie. You have certainly saved me the trouble of finding you two.”

“Hiya, Rarity!” Pinkie Pie said as she pranced over to the picnic area. “Ooooh, it's got the best view ever! You sure picked a great place to relax, Rarity!”

“Of course!” Spike said, as he jumped off Twilight’s back when Rarity’s name was mentioned. “Only a unicorn as talented as Rarity can find the perfect spot in the middle of all these ponies!”

Rarity chuckled at the young dragon’s reaction. “Hello to you too, Spike. I didn’t know you’d be attending the day’s festivities as well.”

He smiled sheepishly and scratched the back of his head. “Oh, you know, we had some free time, so we figured, ‘what better way to spend it than with friends?’”

Twilight noticed the many groups of ponies around them. “I’ve got to say, Rarity, it must have taken a while to find this spot.”

“Oh, it wasn’t that big of a deal,” Rarity began, “I just had to make sure wherever we sit would be perfect for our friends! Speaking of friends, where are the others, exactly?”

“You mean they weren’t with you?” Pinkie asked with a cocked brow.

Twilight said, “Any idea where they could be?”

Rarity shook her head. “I remember Fluttershy mentioning she accidentally left the food at her cottage, and she went with Angel to go get it. However, Rainbow Dash and Applejack have yet to show up, and I can only imagine what would be keeping those two from arriving on time.”

“Well, we’ve got a lot of spare time, why don’t we look for them?” Twilight asked both Rarity and Pinkie Pie, “It wouldn’t be any fun unless all of us are here, and there can’t be too many places they’d have gone off to.”

Pinkie started to enthusiastically hop up and down, “Is this like hide and seek? I love playing hide and seek! Let’s go seek the hidden!” Pinkie Pie immediately ran off.

Twilight objected, “Wait, Pinkie Pie!” but it was too late. “Ugh, there’s just no stopping her, is there? Well, let's go, Rarity.”

“I think it’d be better if I stayed here, Twilight,” she declined. “What if nopony is here when Fluttershy comes back? She might decide to go looking for us. Next thing you know, we’ll have wasted the entire day trying to find each other. If Fluttershy comes back, we’ll be sure to keep an eye out for you.”

“Yeah, that makes sense,” Twilight said to her friend. “If you want, Spike can keep you company until we get back.”

Rarity thought about that a moment, and replied, “I don’t see why not. Just try not to take too long looking for those two. For all we know, they’re busy doing something inane like ball juggling or applebucking... again.” Spike sat on the blanket as Twilight ran to catch up with Pinkie Pie.

Spike and Rarity sat on the picnic blanket in silence. The white unicorn was content with observing the skyline and taking in the atmosphere of the celebration itself. On the other hand, Spike was busy muttering to herself, inaudible to Rarity. “Come on, Spike, you can’t let an opportunity like this pass you by! Just tell her that her mane looks nice, ask her about her day, just say something!” Spike lightly smacked his reddening cheeks as he cleared his throat and broke the ice. “So... uh, how has the world of fashion been treating ya, Rarity? You get any new designs out there?”

Rarity glanced down at Spike and said, “Well, I’ve gotten some new designs lined up for Hoity Toity. He told me that he’s going to have a new fashion show lined up to commemorate the Summer Sun Celebration, and my vision would be perfect for such an occasion, can you believe it? All the dresses are...”

Spike focused on the elegant unicorn that sat before him. He was enthralled by her glistening eyes, her perfectly, tended mane, and her serene voice. Spike didn’t feel anything except happiness over spending some quality time with the unicorn of his dreams.

“...and if they use that for an idea, they told me it could be huge. So, what do you think, Spike?”

Thinking on his toes, Spike said, “Don't worry, Rarity. You’d have to be crazy NOT to do it!” He gave her a thumbs up, as if to seal the deal.

“Really? In that case... you wouldn’t mind being a volunteer?” she said while batting her eyelashes.

“I’d be more than willing to do so, my lady.”

Rarity clopped her hooves together and giggled with glee, smile brimming from cheek to cheek. “Oh how wonderful! Thank you so much for this, Spike. Oh, and don’t worry, I’m sure it’ll only hurt after the first ten minutes!”

Spike mentally patted himself on the back before he ran that last statement through his head again. “Wait, hurt for ten minutes? What do you mean, Rarity?”

“Oh, you know, I doubt it would be painless to remove a dragon’s scales. Though I’m certain the pain will go away after some time.” Rarity sat and stared at Spike, his face slowly losing its color. Before long, Rarity couldn’t hold back and let out a laugh. “Oh Spike,” she said as a sly smile formed on her face, “you haven’t heard a word I’ve said, have you?”

Spike’s face flushed with embarrassment as he looked at the floor in shame.

“Oh, don’t let it get to you, Spike,” she said as she patted his head, “I do that to all the colts that stare at me for too long. Just my way of making sure they’re paying attention.” Spike looked up at Rarity for a brief moment before gazing back at the floor. I guess that was a tad uncalled for. “Well, I suppose you don’t deserve such treatment, so I apologize for that. Just try listening a little more, okay?” she said with a forgiving smile.

“Okay! Now what was that about your dresses?” Spike replied, almost as if nothing had ever happened.

Rarity couldn’t help but smile. He’s really such a nice dragon, it’s a shame he’s not a colt. She began her discussion with Spike anew.

**********

Pinkie Pie and Twilight Sparkle wandered the plains, looking for their missing friends. “Where could they have gone off to?” Twilight asked Pinkie Pie, “You’d think Applejack and Rainbow Dash would’ve been here by now.”

Pinkie hopped along the path. “Hmmm, they must be really good at hide and seek. Maybe we should check in the bushes.”

“No, Pinkie. Even if they were hiding, I doubt they would be hiding out here. Perhaps they’re at Applejack’s place.”

“Great idea Twilight! Where better to hide than in a ba—” Pinkie suddenly stopped and her eyes grew wide. She turned around to see that her tail was twitching wildly. She cried, “My tail’s a-twitchin’!” while holding her violently shaking tail.

Twilight knew the significance of her twitching tail, it was one unexplainable aspect of Pinkie Pie’s very own ‘Pinkie Sense’. The pink pony’s body seemed to react to future events, and her sense never failed. When her tail twitched, it indicated that something was about to fall. “Where’s it coming from?” she asked while frantically looking in the sky. “I don't see any—”

“Heads up!!!” came a voice from afar.

Twilight looked in the direction of the voice to see a ball hurtling towards her, barely managing to dodge the oncoming object in time. She looked around and saw a crowd of ponies looking in her direction. In the center of this group were two uneasy looking ponies: the blue pegasus pony, Rainbow Dash, and the orange earth pony, Applejack.

Rainbow Dash flew over to Twilight and Pinkie Pie, laughing nervously. “Sorry about that, Twilight,” she said as she brushed aside part of her rainbow-colored mane. “Didn’t think the ball was going to go that far off course.” A sheepish smile slowly grew on her face as her pink eyes shifted towards Applejack, looking for backup.

“We had everythin’ under control,” Applejack said in her southern drawl, while adjusting the light-brown Stetson hat she wore, “but then it’s like that ball grew a mind of its own and flew off faster than a chicken to the coop.” Her disheveled, blond mane lightly glistened as beads of sweat traveled down her face, moving past the three white freckles under both of her eyes. “Are y’all alright? Hope ya didn’t get hurt none,” she said with a look of concern in her green eyes.

“We’re all fine and dandy, Applejack!” piped up Pinkie Pie.

“So why, pray tell, were you two were bouncing a ball in the first place?” asked a slightly agitated Twilight.

“The two of us were tryin’ ta break the record fer tha most consekitive ball bounces between two ponies,” Applejack answered.

“Did you break it?”

Rainbow Dash stopped hovering and set herself on the floor. “Well, like AJ said, the ball flew in the wrong direction. We were so close, too! It would’ve only taken another fifty or so bouces,” she said, obviously disappointed.

Applejack patted her on the back, “Oh, don’t let it get t’ ya, sugarcube. Ah reckon’ we can obliterate that record next time, fer sure.” She moved over to Twilight and Pinkie Pie. “Now, ah don't suppose anypony found us a place to eat our fill? ‘Cuz ah know we worked up quite an appetite.”

Twilight chimed in, “Rarity found us the perfect spot to eat. She’s waiting at the plains with Spike right now.”

“They’re just waiting up there?” Rainbow Dash asked, “Well what the hay are we waiting for? Let's go eat!” Rainbow sped off, returning back towards the group of ponies after a few seconds. “Uh... it would probably help to know where the picnic is, wouldn’t it?”

Twilight nodded and said, “This way, everypony.”

**********

Rarity and Spike sat on the blanket in silence. The other ponies had taken so long that there was virtually nothing left to talk about. Spike would occasionally take a quick scan of the area for any sign of their friends, and Rarity would lie relaxed on the blanket, occasionally playing with her hair due to sheer boredom. She sat up with an agitated groan and said, “What in Equestria could be taking them so long? Did they get distracted by somepony? Come to think of it, the only ponies that could distract them would have to be Rainbow Dash and Applejack. They had better not be in another one of their silly little challenges again.” Rarity sighed at that comment, since it was the most likely of possibilities.

She turned her head towards the sky and noticed the clouds above. It could’ve been boredom, or it might’ve been a faint interest, but Rarity began to envision what they looked like. “Spike, do tell me,” she said, attracting the dragon’s attention, “what do you suppose that cloud up there looks like?”

Spike walked towards where Rarity sat and looked at the cloud in question. “I see... uh... a cat.”

“You see a cat, huh? Interesting, I see a phoenix,”

“A phoenix?” Spike replied, “How do you see that? I don’t see where the wings could be.” Spike studied the cloud for a bit longer to try to see what Rarity could see, but he just couldn’t do it.

Rarity noticed Spike’s struggle to see as she saw, so she decided to assist the dragon. “See, look at the arc right there... yes, now look at the lighting and the shading of the right side. See how it could look like a wing? Also, take a look at the bottom, don’t you think those looks like talons? The more Rarity pointed out the phoenix, the less confused Spike became.

“Wow, I never would’ve seen that.”

Rarity just smiled and continued to look at the clouds. “Isn’t it funny how perception works, Spike? How two different ponies can look at the same object, yet both of them see something completely unique? Some can only see what’s in front of them. Others can perceive an object other than how it was intended and turn it into something different. Then there are those few who can look past what’s in front of them and see how they can make that object into whatever their vision sees. I find it simply fascinating.”

She turned to Spike. “I tend to think of myself as one of the few. When I take a look at fabric, or materials, or even a pony, my mind just wanders off towards how I can change what I see before me. Sometimes I immediately act on that vision, and other times I play with the idea in my head before trying it. It’s actually been like this since school.” She looked up once more, letting out a wistful sigh. “Everypony would take a look at a drawing of some scribbles and yell out usual thoughts, like ‘It’s a ball’, ‘It’s a puppy’, and the ever popular ‘It’s a dragon’. However, I looked at those scribbles and I could see so much more than them. I would see an island with a beautiful sunset, luscious trees and huts, and birds flying just over the horizon. I would see nebulae and other spacial masses moving through space, stars going supernova and even black holes. I would even see into the eye of a hurricane, destruction surrounding the chaos, yet a calm setting within.” She let out a small chuckle and continued, “ The teacher was impressed by my vision, as any teacher would react towards out-of-the-box thinking at such a young age, but the other fillies and foals wouldn’t even acknowledge what I saw. In a sense, I suppose seeing what they couldn’t see is what truly made me special.”

Rarity hadn’t truly discovered this fact until she was a young filly. She had been in charge of making the outfits for a school play. However, she could never get the dresses to look right. When all hope seemed lost, something unexpected happened. Her horn began to glow and literally started dragging her away. After much time passed, she ended up being led to a giant rock. The young filly was quite outraged that she was led to a rock of all things, but a boom in the sky ended up breaking the rock into many pieces, revealing a bounty of jewels inside. She used these gems to perfect her dresses, and the play was a huge success. It wasn’t too long after that she realized she could use her magic to find gems and valuables buried in the ground, which resulted in her earning a cutie mark.

After the wave of nostalgia had passed, Rarity said to herself, “You would think they’d be back by now.”

“I know. It really shouldn’t be that hard to find Applejack and Rainbow Dash.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, Spike,” Rarity apologized. “I was talking about Fluttershy and Angel. It shouldn’t be that far of a walk to the cottage from here.”

“Well, everypony will be back sooner or later. It shouldn’t be long now.”

Another bout of silence set in. Spike took a look at Rarity, who was busy lazily observing other ponies in their vicinity. He swallowed the lump in his throat and took a deep breath. “Hey... Rarity?” he said, attracting her attention. He almost got locked into her eyes, but managed to persevere. “I was wondering... You wouldn’t happen to be super busy during the Summer Sun Celebration, would you?”

“Well, it usually gets busy the few days before the big day, but I close the boutique during the celebrations.”

“Oh, really?” Spike said as he lightly clasped his hands and rubbed his thumbs. “Because... I was thinking that maybe w—”

“We’re back!” Pinkie Pie cried as she burst out of the top of a nearby tree, startling her two friends.

A frazzled Rarity said, “Well... here you are.” She and Spike took a moment to calm down. “Must you always do that?”

“Do what?” Pinkie Pie asked with an innocent look in her eyes.

“Where you... never mind.” She shook her head before noticing Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Twilight approaching. “We’ll talk later,” she whispered to Spike.

He tried his best to smile through his glum mindset as he nodded and said, “Okay... later.”

**********

Near the outskirts of Ponyville, there was a wooden cottage that had vegetation growing around and on the humble abode. It played host to a wide variety of animals, as evident by the different sorts of bird feeders and houses in the trees, the many burrows and tunnels around the cottage, and the pony that cared for all of these animals.

“Oh, Angel. Thank you so much for helping me with these lunches,” said a yellow pegasus. “How could I forget to bring them? I hope nopony’s too hungry.” It was Fluttershy and her pet bunny, Angel, who rested atop her head. She took a quick glance at her inventory, her blue-green eyes scanning for innacuracies, before strapping the meals to her side. “If only I had fed the animals sooner, then I wouldn’t have forgotten about the food,” she said to herself.

Fluttershy felt Angel tap on her head, through her long, pink mane. She looked up to see the white bunny give her a look which could’ve meant, “Don’t worry, Fluttershy. I’m sure they’ll live. If they’re that hungry, that crazy one will get them food. She always has food.”

Fluttershy giggled at the overtly, “Maybe you’re right, Angel. Still, let's hope we get there soon.” She took to the sky, but she was quickly becoming exhausted as her wings worked harder than ever to keep her airborne. Carefully, she herself down onto the path below her. All of this food is heavier than I thought, I guess I’ll have stick with walking. She made sure to position her equally long, pink tail so it wouldn’t drag in the dirt, and began the trek towards her friends. Angel allowed himself to relax, lying down on her head, when he noticed a little carrot on the floor next to a batch of trees. He jumped off her head to take it, off-putting Fluttershy’s balance. After the yellow pegasus regained her stance, she turned to her friend and said, “Oh, Angel. You know you shouldn’t eat carrots off the floor; they might give you a tummy ache.”

Angel picked up the carrot piece and noticed another not too far from it. As he went to collect this piece, he found another not too far from it, and another after that. Angel thought nothing of this and proceeded to follow the trail of snacks. When Fluttershy noticed Angel disappear into the vegetation, she gently unbuckled the lunches and followed him.

“Angel?” she called out, “Angel! Where are you? There’s no telling what’s out here, so please come back!” Fluttershy started to fly in-between trees, growing increasingly anxious as the minutes dragged on. After what felt like an eternity, she spotted Angel in a clearing. “There you are, Angel! Please come this way!”

He stood there with his back turned to her, completely motionless. “Angel?” Fluttershy called out, concern starting to take over her voice. The illusions of what awaited in the trees made her apprehensive, but she knew it would have to be for Angel’s sake. The timid nurturer took a deep breath and flew into the area. She found it increasingly difficult to fly, as the fear of the unknown tightened its grip on her. With every last ounce of her free will, she made it to Angel’s location, lightly panting as she allowed he beating heart to rest. “Angel, what’s wro—” she stopped when she noticed what Angel stood by.

It was unlike anything she’d ever seen before. It was a strange creature with odd looking legs, but it had arms similar to that of a dragon, minus the claws. She looked over the creature’s browned body. “It has... clothes? Is this even an animal?” While some of its features were completely foreign to her, she was able to recognize one other item on it: red glasses. “I thought only ponies wore glasses,” she said to herself. “Does this creature need them too?” Fluttershy picked up the object, examining them as she noticed how badly damaged they were. She placed the glasses on the floor when she noticed something odd about her hoof. It looked like she simply got some dirt smudged onto it, but she realized the color was darker than any dirt around them. The only logical answer hit her like a ton of bricks: blood. “B-b-blood?” she stammered. “Why... why does it have blood on it?” She felt her breath grow short as she noticed more blood stains on its clothes. As the yellow pegasus grew queasy, she gave herself some distance from the creature.

Angel decided to run up and check the creature for himself. Fluttershy yelled, “No, Angel! Don’t touch it!” It was too late, however, and Angel had hopped onto it. Nothing happened, but Fluttershy still kept a watchful eye on the white bunny. As he moved on the body, he gave it a kick to the stomach. Given his size, Angel’s kick wasn’t strong, but it was enough to cause a slight stir. At that moment, Fluttershy’s nurturing instincts took over and she flew towards Victor.

As she tried her best to ignore the blood, the yellow pegasus braced herself and grabbed a hold of the creature. “I don't know what this thing is, but we can’t just leave it here. We need to bring it to the cottage.” Fluttershy dragged Victor towards her abode. “I’ll take this one inside. You tell the girls that they need to see this, and I’ll make sure it’s okay.”

Angel gave a nod and began to hop towards the grounds, remembering the path from earlier that day. As he hopped towards the party, he knew it would be a simple task. Suddenly, a realization came to light, stopping him in his tracks. He remembered that being a bunny would make it difficult to communicate with ponies. He facepawed at that realization, but figured that there should be a way to make himself understood.

**********

“So you two were trying to get a ball bouncing record?” a disbelieving Rarity asked Applejack and Rainbow Dash. “I don’t know how you two enjoy things like that. What with getting so sweaty and dirty afterwards.”

Applejack just rolled her eyes and said, “Fer the same reasons you like yer fancy-schmansy dresses, Rarity. It’s what you enjoy, and ain’t nopony gunna stop ya, right?”

“I suppose you have a point, though I still don't see the appeal.”

Spike piped up, “So, how much longer is Fluttershy going to take? I mean, I can handle waiting as much as the next guy, but I’m getting pretty hungry.”

Twilight was about to tell Spike that he should keep being patient, but a grumble from her stomach said more than enough. She chuckled as she said, “Oh, I’m sure she’ll be back soon.”

Applejack said, “Even so, ah’ve gotta agree with Spike. Did somethin’ happen in her cottage?”

Pinkie Pie added, “Is she hiding too? Maybe we should go look for her.”

Rainbow proclaimed, “If she is, I’ll go find her.”

“Good idea,” Rarity agreed, “Would you like any help, Rainbow Dash?”

“Nah, it’s ok. If she’s not at her place, I know where she’d be otherwise. I’ll be back in a jiffy.” Before anything else could be said, the pegasus pony took to the sky. First stop, the cottage! As she flew, she sped right past a white bunny that hopped along the path towards the party. “Hmm... I wonder...” She flew down to the animal, who looked visibly exhausted. “Angel?”

He turned around and looked overjoyed. He made a face that looked like, “Colorful, speedy pony! You need to take me to Fluttershy’s friends. She needs your help!”

Angel continued his game of charades, further confusing the speedster. All she could understand was how Angel would point in one direction for a second or two, then hop up and down frantically while waving his arms. “Uh... are you constipated? I’m sure there’s something Fluttershy can get you for that.”

The white bunny glared long and hard at Rainbow. Deciding this wasn’t worth his time, he ignored her and ran towards the party, hoping to find a pony that would understand him. The white bunny didn’t get too far, though. Rainbow Dash had flown up and landed right in front of him.

“Where are you off to in such a hurry?” Rainbow Dash queried. “If you’re looking for the others, I can take you right to them.”

He nodded very fast at her question, making another face which said something similar to, “Yes, colored pony, you’re not as brain-dead as you look!” Angel got on Rainbow Dash’s back and prepared for take-off.

“You’re gonna wanna hold onto something,” Rainbow advised the white rabbit. When she felt him take a grip of her mane, she took off towards the other ponies.

When they landed, Angel was greeted by all the other ponies. Spike asked, “Where’s Fluttershy, wasn’t she with you?”

Angel had no time to waste. He pointed in the direction of Fluttershy’s cottage and tried mimicking the creature’s unconscious body, all of which could be seen as “We found this living, breathing thing in between a bunch of trees, and Fluttershy is trying to take care of it. She needs us to go help it!”

The ponies crossed glances with eachother as they tried to interpret what Angel was trying to say.

First was Applejack, “Is there some sorta crisis in the Everfree Forest?” Incorrect.

Then Twilight, “Did a bunch of animals get sick?” Negative.

Spike was next to try, “Did... uh... did her cottage get infested with grubs?” Not even close.

Finally, Pinkie Pie, “Did somepony fall down a well?” She received confused looks from her friends. “What?” she said, defending herself, “It can happen!” Unfortunately, it didn’t.

They tried more and more guesses, but couldn’t figure out what Angel was saying, all the while making him frustrated. However, Rarity could faintly make out what he was trying to tell them. “Does Fluttershy need us for something?”, she asked.

Angel started jumping up and down with a big grin on his face, which could’ve meant, “Right! Fancy pony gets me!”

With that out of the way, everypony followed the prancing bunny towards Fluttershy’s cottage, wondering what they could possibly be needed for.

**********

Fluttershy quietly closed the door to her room, making sure not to disturb the creature that slept within. “This is very strange,” she said to herself as she walked down the stairs, “I don’t think there’s ever been a creature I haven’t recognized. Does he have any friends? What if he’s all alone?”

She took the time to open a window, feeling that the house was slightly stuffy. As she took a look out said window, she smiled with glee. She saw Angel run up the road, her friends following close behind. She went out the front door to greet them. “Oh, hello everypony! I'm so glad you could come down here so fast!”

Spike said, “Angel was acting really frantic about something. What's happening, anyway?”

Fluttershy looked a bit surprised. “You mean... Angel didn't tell you?” She replied incredulously as she took another look at Angel, who looked like he was trying hard to forget his bout of charades.

“Sorry, dear,” Rarity answered, “We could only understand so much of what he was trying to tell us.”

Rainbow piped up, “Did something bad happen around here? Like really, really bad?”

Fluttershy looked down for a bit before she stammered, “Well... um.... you see... it's nothing really bad, per se. It’s just... we found a strange creature unconscious in a clearing around some trees... It had some blood stains on it, but it wasn't hurt... The thing is, I've never seen anything like this before, and I don't know what to do.”

Everypony looked at each other in shock. “A strange creature, ya say?” Applejack asked. “Are we talkin' Manticore strange or outta this world strange? Cuz what's strange fer you might be perty normal t’ the rest of us.”

Fluttershy backed up a little and said, “I... uh... I have to show you,” As she walked into the cottage. Her friends took that as their cue and they proceeded to walk into the cottage.

Twilight turned around to see Spike staring at the arrangement of trees. “Spike, are you coming in?” He didn’t respond to her question, so she waved a hoof in front of his face, as she inquired, “Spike? Hello, anypony in there?”

The baby dragon snapped back to reality and said, “Huh? Oh, right... uh, you guys go do that, there's something I need to check out.” Before Twilight could protest, Spike ran towards the trees and was out of sight.

What was that all about? She deduced that the matter wasn’t worth looking into, so she walked into the cottage. She noticed that nopony was in the living room, but she heard her friends chattering away upstairs. As she followed the sounds of their comments, she started to make out what was being said.

“Woah, it really does look weird!”

“It looks so... tacky.”

“Y’know, it looks kinda funny!”

“I ain't seen nothin' like this before.”

As she got close to the door, she heard Fluttershy say, “You see why I had to tell you girls? This creature might not even be local to Equestria. Before it wakes up, we should find out what it is.”

Twilight finally made it to the room, and she started to ask, “So what does this thing look li—” but stopped her speech cold after seeing the sleeping creature. She couldn’t forget something that looked like this, it was Victor. Every memory of her nightmare began to flood her mind in less than a second, and she let out a blood-curdling scream. She fell backwards and backed herself up against the wall as adrenaline began pumping throughout her body. Her pupils shrank and she started breathing heavily, all while beginning to tremble. “No no no no no, that thing can't be real, it just can't!” she pleaded to herself, “It was only in my dream, how can this be here now?! If this thing is real, then that means... that means...” She clenched her eyes shut and hid her face in her hoofs, wishing to block out possible visions of the future that appeared in her head.

“Twilight, dear, what's wrong?”

There has to be an explanation for all of this!

“Twilight, yer scarin' us, whattsa matter?”

Oh please let this all be fake, a dream within a dream, maybe?

“T-T-Twilight, what's wrong? Why are you shaking?”

Please let that be it! At least then I can laugh about it later...

“Twilight, if this is a prank, it's not very funny!”

But what if it's not a dream... Oh no, I can't let it get to me, I just can't. Please let this all be a terrible, terrible nightmare!

“Snap out of it, Twilight!!!”

A sharp pain to her cheek brought Twilight back into Fluttershy’s bedroom. She slowly turned to face Rainbow Dash, who looked regretful for her previous action.

“Uh... I-I'm sorry, Twilight, but you were really acting crazy. What’s going on?”

Twilight stood frozen for a few seconds. She slowly slid onto the floor, as she tried to recuperate. Okay, this confirms two things. One, that was no dream; Rainbow helped prove that. Two... I think it’s safe to assume that everything I saw was real, but I’ll need to talk to this Victor human first. “It's okay, Rainbow,” she cooed, “I must've scared you all. I'm so sorry.”

Pinkie Pie was the first to respond. “You really did scare us, Twilight! We should really do something about that nightmare.”

“Woah woah woah, you had a nightmare... and you’re this freaked out about it?” Rainbow Dash asserted. “If it’s bugging you this badly, you should’ve said something.”

Twilight looked away from her friends and didn't say anything. “It was only a nightmare, I didn’t bother any of you about it.”

Applejack walked up and placed a hoof on her shoulder. “It’s okay, girl,” she assured, “we're yer friends. If something’ buggin’ you, there ain’t no harm in tellin’ any of us.”

Twilight reluctantly looked up and stuttered, “I-I would've told you all what happened, but... you might've thought it was just nothing.”

Rarity exclaimed, “Nothing?! Darling, we wouldn't judge you like that! Applejack is right, we're your friends. Talking about something as nerve-wracking as this would be beneficial.”

“So, is it related to this?” Applejack said as she pointed a hoof towards Victor.

Twilight nodded her head.

The farm pony continued, “Whatever it is, it’s sure as sugar a heavy sleeper. Yer hollerin’ didn’t even snap it awake.”

Fluttershy informed, “Whatever happened to it must’ve been exhausting. He didn’t even stir as I dragged him into my home. Just give him some time; he’ll come around.” She turned to Twilight and said, “It’s okay to tell us, Twilight. I know I might not be the bravest of ponies, but I'll still hear what you have to say, um... even if it is scary.”

Rainbow commented, “Let's hear it.”

Seeing the backs of confidence from her friends slowly got her back onto her feet. She took a deep breath and said, “Okay, I'll do it. I'll tell you what I saw. First, let's go into the living room.”

As everypony filed downstairs, more of Twilight’s concerns plagued her brain. They won’t think I'm crazy, but will they understand it all? She shook the doubt from her mind. Calm down, Twilight, everything's going to be alright, you'll see. She turned to face her friends. “I don't know if this is all the truth or not, but a lot of bizarre instances occurred in my nightmare. It all started on...” Twilight then went into exact detail over what happened in her dream. The scientists, the laboratories, the soldiers, the security and agents, Dr. Clamely, and finally the chaos that broke out on the last day. “...then this... blade-thing pierced through the barricade, killing another human... and that's all that I remember.” As she finished, there was nothing but shock and terror written on everypony’s faces.

Rainbow Dash shook her wings out of their frozen state. “Jeez, Twilight, you have some crazy dreams.”

Applejack chastised, “Now Rainbow, Twilight went through sumthin’ fierce, the least y’all could do is show some sympathy.”

“Well, I get it, but come on. If you had a dream like that, would you call think any different?

Before an unnecessary argument could break out, Twilight intervened, “It’s okay, Applejack. All that matters is tha—” Suddenly, she remembered her assistant. “Wait, where’s Spike? He told me that he was going to check something out in the trees, but...”

Fluttershy stuttered, “W-w-w-what if one of those things got him?”

Twilight didn’t want to think about that. I’m sure that nothing followed Victor into the portal... but who’s to say none of those other creatures found a different way in? “Come on, everypony, we need to go find him!” They rushed out the front door and began to search the area for any sign of their dragon companion.

“Spike! Where are you? Please, just say something!” Twilight frantically called out. The ponies looked high and low for their dragon friend. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash took to the skies while Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Twilight, and Rarity looked through all the trees and bushes.

Rarity was taking a few looks around by herself, but to no avail. “Where could he be?” She asked herself as she scanned the forest.

Applejack walked over to Rarity and asked, “Any luck?”

Rarity shook her head. As she took note of the many trees surrounding them, the gears in her head began to turn. “Maybe... maybe I can find him with my gem finding spell.”

Applejack raised an eyebrow. “Would that even work?”

“Probably not, but I cannot think of a better plan.” Rarity then closed her eyes and her horn began to glow a light blue color as she focused on Spike.

“Do ya see anythin’?”

Rarity did just as she would when making a dress, she stayed silent and blocked out all outside distractions. She envisioned all of Spike’s physical characteristics, but there was no luck. Everything is so hazy. I have to concentrate. This time, she focused on both his looks and personality. Her face began to scrunch as she put more power into her spell. “It’s no use,” she admitted to the orange mare. However, the instant before powering down her spell, a small figure shimmered through the trees. She muttered, “Did I... did I just...”

“Somethin’ happen, Rarity?”

“I have to try again. Let's hope the third time’s the charm.” Rarity emptied everything from her mind, save Spike. With complete concentration, she could see Spike’s outline as plain as day. “I found him! He’s over there!” she exclaimed while pointing her hoof in the young dragon’s direction.

Applejack flinched in surprise. “Well I’ll be, that spell a’ yers can sure come in handy.” She called the rest of her friends towards their location.

Twilight nearly crashed into Spike as he stood there, staring blankly at the trees. “Spike? Why are you still out here in the forest? Next time you need to... Spike?” His expression didn’t change.

Rarity tapped Spike on the head, “Are you alright, Spike?”

The dragon jolted himself back into reality, as he quickly turned around and saw everypony staring at him. “What happened? Did I... uh... miss something?” Spike had seem a bit flustered, but nopony paid any attention to it.

Twilight motioned for him to walk with them. As they walked back to the cottage, everypony filled Spike in on what Twilight had seen in her nightmare and the creature that slumbered in Fluttershy’s cottage.

“Yeesh,” he said, “and I thought nightmares never got that bad.” As the cottage came into view, Spike said, “Where did this thing come from, anyway? Maybe if we find that out we can send it back. I doubt anypony would be willing to look after that thing.”

Pinkie Pie got the door opened for her friends and said, “Oh, I’m sure we can find it a place to live!”

Applejack was the first to walk in, as she said “Well, it should still be out fer quite some time, I’m sure we’ve got plenty a’ time ta fi—” She froze once she entered the door. As the other ponies walked in, they followed suit. Victor was awake and pressing himself against the walls.

As he perused the house, he muttered, “Wish I could find those shoddy glasses. Can’t see a damn thing, but I know I can feel these walls. However, what if this is still a dream? What if I’m still in bed and this is all a sham? Oh, Gary is going to love hearing about this.” As he knocked on the walls, the group of ponies stayed silent, relying on facial expressions for communication. In his delirious state, Victor called out, “Hello? Is anybody home?”

“You’re right Fluttershy, he does need glasses!” Pinkie Pie chimed in, with little to no concern about the volume of her voice.

“So you are here? Do you have my gla—” Victor turned around, only able to see techni-colored blobs. “Is this some sort of game to you?” He asked as he tried to identify the source of the voice. “I really don’t have time for games, and I’ve got to go. Can I please have my glasses?”

Fluttershy gasped, “Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry, creature! Wait right there, let me get them for you!” Fluttershy flew up the stairs.

Victor vainly rubbed his eyes. “That... that yellow thing just... flew. Did it speak too? That’s not possible. It couldn’t have talked unless... oh no. Are any of you things human? Please say yes.”

Twilight honed in on that keyword, human. This thing knows what humans are. It must have the answers I’m looking for!

Rainbow interrupted Twilight’s train of thought and whispered, “Not only does that thing look weird, but it talks weird too.”

Fluttershy had returned with the glasses, “Ok, now hold still. I’m going to put your glasses on.”

Victor stood petrified in shock at the sight slowly coming into focus. He didn’t know what was more unbelievable: the fact that he was talking to a living, breathing pegasus, or the group of additional horses to his right. He began to lightly hit himself in the face, followed by a series of dream-proof tests. After every test pointed to reality, Victor resumed his side conversation. “I am dead, there’s no question about it. I died when going through that portal, and this is... heaven? Or is this hell? Considering this looks like my niece’s dream come true, it has to be hell. What did I do to deserve this punishment?” As he finished those words, he felt an apple hit his head. “Ow!” he exclaimed, “The bloody hell was that for?”

Applejack pushed her hat back and said, “Ya done talkin' to yerself, partner?”

Victor tried to process this massive influx of information, but he began to see spots. “No... not now... bollocks, that portal really did a number on me.”

Fluttershy flew forward, “Oh dear, you haven’t had enough rest, you really should go lie down... um, if you don’t mind.” She started to lead him by the arm towards his bed, but Victor instinctively shook himself out of her grip.

Victor quickly apologized, “Oh no, a thousand pardons, my lady... mare... what exactly would I call you?”

“You know, for a creature with such an eloquent accent, it really has no class,” Rarity whispered to Twilight.

The purple unicorn stepped forward. “Excuse me... are you alright?”

Victor attempted to steady himself and said, “Yes, quite alright... In fact... I’ve never felt better!” It wasn’t even a second later that Victor blacked out and fell flat on his face.