Radiance

Chapters

1. Reach
3. Tempest
4. Alight
5. Giants
6. Legends
7. Numb
8. Static
9. Fear
10. Mirrors
11. Bleed
12. Passage
14. Penance
15. Echo
16. Clover
17. Balance
18. Token
19. Prime
20. October
All The Same To You
2. Rain
13. Visions

1. Reach

[Reach]

A bright blue light shined above all others. Even the sun was no match for its instantaneous luminosity. One moment, the calm atmosphere of the cloudless sky teamed with a constant breeze. The next moment, a trio of figures shot out of the brilliant orb that dissipated in a matter of seconds.

Twilight began to fall.

A strong wind rushed upwards onto her entire body at tremendous speeds. The intimate attack of moist air brought her mind back to reality after her mind went blank seconds earlier. She turned to face the ground, but saw that there was none. All she could make out were twinkling dots of light bouncing off a blanket of blue. Her arms and legs flailed in a frantic attempt to slow her plunge, but her efforts rendered useless. She could not determine her altitude relative to the water below, for the sea stared up at her, waiting to swallow her whole. With the constant rush of air that slapped her in the face, it made screaming a difficult task to preform. She instead closed her eyes and hoped that the gravity pulling her down would go easy on her. There's nothing she could do.

*whoosh*

Almost immediately, the blast of air in her ears stopped wailing and her plunge came to a halt. She kept her eyes tightly shut and shook violently.

“I gotcha, Twilight!” said a voice above her head.

She felt another pair of hooves wrap around her chest. She carefully tore her eyes open and found rough dunes of water rising and falling with glitters of sunlight reflecting off the surface. She looked up at her savior and saw that her friend Rainbow Dash had caught her just in time.

“Are you alright?” the pegasus asked.

The relentless power of the wind continued to blow onto the purple unicorn's face, though it was significantly less extreme than her sudden free fall. Her dark-purple hair flailed wildly and the cold temperature made the hairs on her coat stand on end and a chill creep all over her body. Rainbow used more wing power to keep their collective masses hovering up and down in the air.

“I-I'm... okay.” Twilight replied with evident shaking in her voice. “Wh-where is Cadence?”

“I'm here,” said the voice of the pink alicorn as she dropped from high above down to her two friends. She hovered beside them. “Need some help?” she asked Rainbow Dash.

“You can take over. She's too heavy.”

“Alright.”

Rainbow used her might to pull Twilight higher above the ocean in lighter air. The light-blue pegasus was almost ready to drop her purple friend from her sore forearms when Cadence relieved her of Twilight's weight, lowering the mare on the unicorn-pegasus' back. Cadence had no trouble carrying Twilight on her back for it wasn't the first time she had her as a rider.

“Cozy?” she cooed.

Twilight refrained from shifting into a different position as her initial shock of falling hadn't worn off. She remained scared stiff from the subsequent drop from such a wildly high altitude. The fall itself was vividly burned into her mind.

“Uh hu,” Twilight finally muttered.

For the next several seconds, Rainbow Dash and Cadence hovered beside each other. They took a moment to observe their surroundings. The wind was unusually strong, but nothing they couldn't handle. Along with a shaken-up Twilight, they examined the total area around them.

There was nothing but ocean as far as the eye can see. Gentle waves sloshed up and down below them as updrafts of air displaced the water in all directions. The sound the waves produced was faint and uniform, yet soothing, in a way. Across the horizon, the ocean kissed the sky with opposing shades of blue. No other distinct sound sang along with the whistling of the wind that carried an incoherent tune. Because the strong breeze swirled in circles, constantly recycling air particles, there were no detectable smells that were familiar to them. In fact, there was no odor of any kind. It was as stale and flat as ever. What was most unusual about the atmosphere were the clouds, or a complete lack thereof. Nothing but a pale blue sky and a vast blue ocean plagued the landscape. In short, the view was boring, in a serene soft of way. An endless tarp, draped over the curvature of the planet.

There was just one tiny problem.

“Where are we?” Rainbow asked.

For a moment, all three of them knew quite obviously that they were above a sea or an ocean. That much they've determined. Just exactly where in the world they were relative to Equestria remained unclear. They were not sure what happened before appearing in such a secluded place. It was difficult for any of them to recall what exactly they were doing minutes before teleporting away from their previous location. Everything was fuzzy in the front of their minds. Neither pony could remember anything more than twelve hours prior. The last thing Twilight remembered doing was some rudimentary task for Princess Celestia. Hopefully the details would come back to them.

“I don't know,” was all Twilight could say. It was one question she did not have the answer to. However, it was a question that deserved an answer and finding answer was Twilight's specialty. Her first thought was develop a plan that would lead them straight to the truth.

“What do you suppose happened?” Cadence asked.

“I-I can't say for certain,” Twilight stuttered. “I suggest we find land first.”

Twilight was anxious to set hoof on solid ground before making any sort of investigative path to determine the nature of their apparently random teleportation. The only thing that scared Twilight more than slamming to the water below was being unorganized, and her thoughts were among the first to be neatly arranged when dealing with a problem. She had to start somewhere and since their current location was unknown and completely foreign, it bothered her more than ever.

“So where do we go from here?” Cadence turned to the blue pegasus hovering next to her.

Rainbow spun in a circle to get one last look at the landscape, or in this case, waterscape. This was one instance when she had to use her 'expert' sense of direction to choose a spot that would lead them to land, and therefore, safety. However, she had difficulty figuring out anything from the dynamic wind currents that shifted every few seconds, assaulting Rainbow like invisible slaps in the face. There were obviously no stars in the sky, since it was broad daylight, and reference points were almost non-existent.

“That way.” Rainbow pointed off into the distance she was initially facing. In her mind, it was a total guess.

“Is that... West?” Cadence raised an eyebrow.

“I don't know. I can't tell.”

“How can you not know?” Twilight looked at Rainbow. “Did you consider using the sun?”

“We've only been here for like, five minutes? I wasn't paying attention to the sun. Plus, this stupid weather is really weird. I don't know where anything is.”

Twilight glared at the pegasus before Cadence spoke up.

“Well, there's no use staying here. We've got to get moving. I can't carry you all day.”

“Fine.” Twilight grumbled, still unsure if she trusted Rainbow Dash. “Let's go.”

Just like that, Princess Cadence swiftly flew in a random direction with Rainbow in tow. Although Rainbow Dash was the faster flier, she was merely following the leader. All she did was choose a heading. East, West, North, South. None of it was clear. She just had a feeling they were going West. She didn't know for sure, but it didn't matter. She was overly confident that she was right.

Everything seemed to be going fine. Cadence's pace fluctuated in order to compensate for the force of the wind. Twilight had her doubts, but because she did nothing but ride on Cadence's back, she had an obligation to be the eyes of the group. Rainbow wanted to complain how thin and mushy the air was compared to that of what she was used to back home, but she restrained a verbal rant. It would only slow her down.

Further into the flight, things got more complicated when the bland scenery remained constant, but the weather did not. A gray overcast suddenly began to form and the wind strengthened. Twilight almost fell of Cadence's back a couple times due to gusts of cold air blowing in different directions than their heading. There was nothing to grab onto except for Cadence's neck. The lavender unicorn held on for dear life. It wasn't so much the flying part, but of how high off the ground they really were. The uncomfortable feeling of hitting a wall of wind made it hard to breath.

Along their linear path, uncontrolled swirls of the strange wind knocked the trio off balance more than once. During each instance, Twilight fought to maintain her grasp on Cadence's neck and chest, which only decreased their pace further.

Only once did a blast of downward surge of wind – stronger than any other – cause the purple unicorn lose her grip mid-flight and sent her to face another free fall. Fortunately, Twilight was able to tug on Cadence's tail with her mouth just in time, pulling both ponies down in an uncontrolled dive. Rainbow Dash was quick to react and rushed over from behind to help push Twilight up onto the alicorn's back once more. Shortly after that little diversion, they continued flying as if nothing happened. Their prime focus was on a destination. Any destination. That sliver of hope was worth forgetting the numerous delay that tried to strike them down.

For what felt like an hour, it didn't seem like they were making much progress. Throughout the three hours Twilight timed while traveling through the choppy weather, Cadence's velocity slowed to almost half her initial speed. For all her strengths, there were weaknesses, and long distance flying was not one of them. Her wings were preparing to fall off her body from intense usage. Despite having flown over fifty miles (according to Twilight's guesstimate), the increasing strain that attacked the muscles in her wings – with extra weight from Twilight on her back and gold slippers – she pushed herself to her limits. Darn those gold slippers! She couldn't remember why she ever put them on to begin with. She refused to think about the weight of her royal necklace and crown.

“How are you doing?” Twilight said close to her ear, concerned for her health.

“J-just fine.”

Twilight knew that wasn't true. The only thing she could do was give Cadence quick massage on the joints and ligaments that connected the bones in her wings as she spread them wide for a aerodynamic glide through the air. Her two and a half meter wingspan was large enough to provide support for Twilight's weight for only a limited amount of time. Sooner or later it wouldn't do much good if they haven't found a solid surface to rest on by the time the tension and aching became unbearable.

Twilight was unable to calculate how much longer Cadence could take. Her physical body just wasn't built to carry passengers over long periods of time. The unicorn glanced over to her pegasus companion following close behind. Even Rainbow Dash appeared tired by the long flight and noticed she too had to submit to genuine state of heavy breathing. Although, as soon as Rainbow noticed Twilight look her way, she immediately shrugged off the drunk look on her face and acted as if the last three hours were nothing but a simple warm-up.

She used any skills and knowledge of navigation over the years of reading every book she could get her hooves on. She read one about that gave intricate details on using the stars, wind currents, and reference points as guidance. Considering their situation, absolutely none of that was useful. She couldn't even recall the title of that book. Stupid book. She'd make sure to demote that book as her least favorite. A different book on geography vaguely mentioned the use of the sun's rotation around the planet. It took her a while to finish evaluating their direction. Oh Celestia! Why must your sun move so slowly!?

She grunted at her conclusion. They were actually going south.

“Stop,” cried Twilight.

As instructed, Cadence dragged to a halt and hovered in place. She was too tired to give a verbal response right away. Rainbow flew up beside them.

“W-what's wrong?” Rainbow asked, catching up on her regular breathing.

“We're going south.”

“What? H-how do you know?”

“Well, I've been monitoring the sun's movement across the sky. It's been moving to our left.” Twilight gave Rainbow an annoyed look.

“Hey, I thought we were going the right way.”

“That's the thing, there is no right way. We're lost.”

“C-can we please c-continue on,” Cadence finally said. She was getting weaker by the minute. From that moment on, the pink alicorn refrained from talking since is took so much out of her.

“Go west,” Twilight pointed to her right.

Without further argument, Cadence did just that. Her strength was diminishing faster and faster, but held on for as long as she could. Rainbow followed suit, having her own set of interruptions with her fluid flying style, squeezing energy out of her system and plaguing her with recurring wing cramps. The wind often contributed to the difficulty of flying in straight line.

Hardly a half hour after their change in direction, Cadence began losing consciousness in small blips. Blood from her head quickly flowed out of her eyes to accommodate her wings to keep them flapping. She occasionally saw flashes of white, and it definitely wasn't the sun. The sun was behind them the whole time and flaring reflections from the water below were too weak to produce a bright enough glint. Her brain throbbed just enough to cause significant pain, as if her heart was placed inside her head and amplified the impulses within her ears. It caused extreme discomfort for both her physical body and mental state.

Throughout Cadence's growing deformation on her limits, Twilight did her part by keeping a sharp eye fixed on the horizon. Either they were getting closer to the safety of land, or there was nothing but ocean for hundreds of miles. She could not keep herself from thinking whether or not they were not going to make it at all. There was still a chance, but from very sight of it, that chance dropped with every passing minute. She had no useful spells that could heal the growing pain in Cadence's wing joints, and even if she did, she needed more time than a gliding maneuver would allow.

Their altitude decreased significantly, from about a thousand feet high to roughly three hundred in just a few minutes. Cadence swerved irregularly from left to right as her energy began to drop and their magical reserves were almost depleted. Rainbow Dash shared a similar loss in altitude and wing power, not that she tried hide it anymore. Twilight could only watch as the ocean got closer and closer and their chance of survival approached zero.

Cadence wouldn't give up, despite all that growing pain. She had come too far to lose herself and endanger Twilight's life if she failed. She needed to fly just a little bit further.

Rainbow Dash could hardly think of anything at all because the significant blood loss from her mind was taking her further from reality. As a result, she began to hallucinate. She could have sworn the ocean bellow was made of ice cream topped with white sprinkles. Rainbow had never flown longer than three hours in wild weather, let alone above an entire ocean. It was another first for the fastest flier in all of Equestria. Though, all she could think about – other than swearing to have seen Spitfire fly right next to her – was one more flap of her wings.

“Look!” Twilight shouted.

Cadence and Rainbow Dash used what little energy they had left to peel their eyes open and lift their heads enough to see a dark green speck peaking over the horizon. They couldn't tell if it was real or another delusion. The dark spot was just enough to give the Princess and Rainbow a small boost of motivation both physically and mentally to rise a little higher and fly a little faster to reach their goal.

“Come on! We're almost there!” Twilight said. She had neglected to mention that an achromatic mist began to thicken that hid most features of the land in front of them.

It was at this point that Twilight could see the mountains on the horizon start to shift and grow with more gray silhouettes of land. The regions were now layered with a hazy silver fog that was either an illusion of the atmosphere between them and mountains, or tangible fog that would pose a problem that could throw them off course. The coast stretched far enough to either that side of the natural skyline for which Twilight determined it to be significantly large landmass rather than an island. Maybe it was Equestria. Maybe it was the Gryphon Kingdom. Maybe it was the Dragon Lands. Twilight was unsure. She couldn't recognize a single mountain, landmark, or village that would give her a relative location to home. In fact, there were no settlements or towns to speak of.

Cadence and Rainbow Dash were at their peak of their might with almost no energy left, leaving them to descend rapidly. They spread their wings and used all their remaining strength to glide through the air. Both of them were unaware of their disheveled manes producing an excess amount of drag that slowed them down significantly. They weren't quite close enough to the land to pat themselves on the backs just yet. All they had to do was pace themselves... well, it was much easier to think of the idea than to actually put it to use.

After about twenty minutes from the first sight of land, Twilight figured they were no more ten miles from the coast. However, the pony carrying her and the pegasus flying beside them, the proximity to safety was not enough to cool down the sizzling exhaustion and pain that brought them ever closer to the ocean.

Approaching the coast, Twilight had full view of the continent that sharpened with vivid detail, even with the overlaying pillows of mist obstructing certain parts of the sky. Scanning the landmass, she could almost make out fields of green grass in flat plains on the landscape bordering a forest filed with incredibly tall trees. For Cadence and Rainbow Dash, however, they saw nothing but a blur of blues, greens, and occasionally, blacks. Everything was out of focus except for the entity of the land itself and the ocean below their hooves. All that had to do was to keep flying forward.

Less than a thousand feet from the coast, They could barely hear the sound of waves sloshing into the rocky beaches and short cliff sides of the seemingly untouched territory. Twilight was able to detect a distinct seaweed smell that churned up below the surface of the water which mixed with air around them.

At the corner of Twilight's eye, she saw what looked to be a small brown hollow structure right on the edge of the coast, and another, much larger house further inland. The smaller building appeared to be incomplete that were missing two walls across from each other that faced the very edge of the land that bordered the coast. It may house ponies that could guide them home. Luck at last!

“Head for that house over there!” Twilight exclaimed. “Don't give up! We can make it!”

It was too late. As soon as they corrected their course, Cadence finally blacked out mid-flight and fell into the shallow depths of the ocean. Hew wings silently screamed out in agony. Rainbow Dash followed after her just five seconds later. Twilight let out a gasp before they made contact with the calm water and too a deep breath.

*SPLASH*

Fortunately, the ponies were just several meters from land where the waves were highest, softening their impact. Cadence sank like a rock and hit the bottom of the ocean in seconds. Rainbow Dash landed further in front of her two friends and began to tread water in a panic from her inability to swim. She was conscious enough to keep the blood from leaving her head completely, and as she slammed into the water, the blood vessels in her face quickly came rushing back to warm her facial muscles.

Plunging deeper underwater, Twilight used all her conserved strength to pull Cadence to the surface of the water as she was dragged down by the alicorn's body. Twilight didn't want to let go. She needed to save her.

The sea water was freezing. As cold as the northern waters east of the Crystal Empire. It was as if Twilight had dunked her head in a bucket of ice water to keep herself from falling asleep and it was one heck of a kick. Though, this water felt far colder than ice water. However, the dramatic shift in temperature didn't quite work for the other two ponies. Their status remained unchanged. Cadence was unresponsive and Rainbow paddled in the water like a foal learning to swim.

Roughly a minute underwater, Twilight finally managed to pull Cadence to the surface to take a huge breath. Cadence was unconscious and floating in the arms of the purple mare. Rainbow Dash ceased her frantic flailing to keep her head above the surface when her hooves finally touched something solid less that a meter down. She didn't want to admit how foolish it was to panic as much as she did when she found that she was standing in shallow water the entire time. Rainbow quickly limped her way onto dry land and collapsed in the sand, breathing heavily.

Twilight had trouble reeling Cadence to safety on the rocky bed of soft sand of the coastline. She saw a trail of mist shoot up like tiny geysers in plumes of white smoke as it sprayed water into the air. It was followed by another small wave crashing onto shore. She rapidly thought to use the natural current to her advantage. Timing it perfectly, she let the next wave do the work for her as it toppled tons of sea water onto the beach, taking Twilight and Cadence for a mildly fierce ride to shore. After what was soon to be the longest journey of their lives, they coasted to a rough stop, precisely where the ocean rested on the sand. Twilight was ready to join her friends by collapsing in exhaustion, despite the fact that she hardly did anything physical arduous for the past three hours. All she could do was pant to justify her efforts to save Cadence and lay on her back.

For several more seconds, the withering shiver from the frigid water, obstructed sunlight from the fog, and irritating sand was – for the lack of a better word – uncomfortable. However, because she was no longer fighting for her life and the life of Princess Cadence, her body heat began to wash away the shivers. Her own fur coat was like a thin blanket to protect her against any external agents. She was barely able to regain enough energy to pull her upper body off the ground. She looked down at her hooves and then at Cadence's expressionless face of unconsciousness.

“Cadence?” she loudly whispered.

…

No answer.

“Cadence?” Twilight raised her voice slightly.

Still no answer. Twilight knew it was useless. She didn't possess the necessary strength to conjure up a spell to aid the pink princess and refused to use physical contact, for she was afraid that beating down on her chest would only make it worse. She hung her head low and leaned in to place an ear to the Princess' chest. Subtle movements of the pony's chest indicated that her state wasn't grave. The weak breaths that escaped Cadence's mouth every few seconds and the slow, but stable, heartbeat relieved Twilight of her darkest fears.

A sudden chill ran up the length of her hind legs as a gentle wave of water brushed up against her lower body, then receded back into the ocean. It didn't help that she began to have doubts that they would survive if she succumbed to the exhaustion. Twilight started to get sleepy, which was the last thing she wanted to do. The life of her friends were in such dire shape that she wouldn't think to take a nap. She cared too greatly for their safety.

Using every last fiber of her being, Twilight took one final look at her surroundings, searching for a particular blue mare. She found Rainbow Dash tossing and turning in the bed of sand, groaning in pain and displeasure. It was probably the first time Twilight had seen the pegasus so distraught. Nevertheless, that sight was enough to convince her that both her friends were fine.

She wouldn't hold onto that thought for too long.

No more than a minute went by until Twilight became weary beyond measure. She laid her head on her forearms, closed her eyes, and let her mind drift off into space. One by one, her senses ceased to function. Sounds of the howling wind became muffled, the wet coastal smell became stale, and the salty taste in her mouth dissolved completely. She wouldn't let herself sleep until her most painful worries subsided.

Fatigue finally came no matter how hard she tried to overcome it, giving her much needed rest.

3. Tempest

[Tempest]

5:50pm
Somewhere offshore

The storm raged on everywhere with seemingly no end in sight. A dull gray sky lingered over the navy blue ocean as the temperature dropped below freezing. The storm could be easily be mistaken for a hurricane. The winds were no stronger than normal wind currents at the top of the highest mountains on Earth, but unpleasant nonetheless. Tropical storms were uncommon in the South Pacific during that time of year, especially cyclones.

A lone fishing boat rocked back and forth on the violent waves that slammed into its hull, kicking the vessel around in the water like a plastic toy in a bathtub. With the engines shut off to avoid damage to the propellers, internal vibrations were brought to a minimum, allowing the natural swaying motion dominate. Unlike the devastating power of a true hurricane, the waves never rose higher than a few meters above sea level, but like a hurricane, the crazed winds blew frigid raindrops in every direction and howled with every breath.

The small boat appeared to have no chance of surviving mother nature's ongoing onslaught, despite the strength of the carbon fiber exterior protecting the occupants inside. Behind the skin of the ship, a disoriented crew of three struggled to keep it together. Not only were the compact living quarters below deck chiming with loose objects shifting back and forth, but the constant motion made it difficult for the sailors to sleep.

Within the largest of the two small rooms, two men sat on opposite sides of the compartment.

“So this is it huh?” calmly said the captain, resting his elbows on his knees and rubbing a hand over his mouth before laying his back on the bed.

“Shut up man!” retorted the young navigator, giving him a nervous frown. “We're gonna make it.”

The two were situated across from each other on cushioned beds built into the walls of the floating cabin. The captain suppressed a laugh, but managed to crack a smile from the foolish thought of dying at sea. Neither men looked at each other and avoided eye contact as much as possible. They shuffled around in their beds to get comfortable on the old, worn-down bunks that have flattened overtime.

“Just sayin', man.” The captain made a series of waving hand gestures. He took amusement from scaring his fellow crewman and sat up again. “It's hell out there.”

“How do you know what hell looks like?”

“The same way I can tell a man like you can't score with the ladies.” The captain teased, chuckling to himself.

“Now that's just uncalled for.”

“Hey! Keep it down in here!” interrupted a female voice as the door to the tiny compartment swung open. The black-haired woman banged her fist on the door to emphasize her irritation. Both men flinched from the sudden intrusion in the middle of their bickering session. “I'm trying to sleep. You sound like idiots when you argue.”

“Come on, Kate, at least be on my side,” said the navigator, hoping to gain the majority.

“I'm on nobody's side,” she huffed, holding onto the metal railing attached to the ceiling to maintain her balance from the stirring motion of the boat. She changed her grumpy attitude into a more composed one to alleviate tension among them. “Now that you guys woke me up,” she looked at the young navigator. “Where are we now?”

The navigator looked at his cheap portable GPS device while squinting eyes, and started to groan in a low pitch voice.

“Uhhhh...”

Kate rolled her eyes and turned to face the captain laying on his bed across from the inexperienced navigator. Upon entering the extremely narrow hallway of the cabin, the insufficient lighting and low ceiling served to increase her claustrophobia. She had learned to suppress her fears in the event her emotions ran wild, but was struggling to do so at that moment. In such a confined space, it's amazing how three people with numerous disagreements could live together, let alone tolerated one another.

“And why aren't you driving the boat, Lucas?” she asked.

“In this?” He pointed a finger at the ceiling. “I don't think so.”

“Fine, if you're going to sleep all night–” she paused to take a breath. She was prepared to close the door the moment she spoke. “I'll do it.”

“NO!” Lucas immediately shouted. He quickly sat up from his comfortable position on the bed and glared at her before she could leave. Kate saw his reaction coming. “Don't. Touch. Anything!”

“But it's my boat,” she argued in her defense.

“And I'm the captain.”

They had a staring contest for several seconds before Kate gave in. She sighed and dropped her defensive posture. Even though she was standing over Lucas to look more intimidating, it didn't alleviate the fact that he was right. She had no idea how to steer the small ship and any attempt on her part wouldn't end well.

“Go back to bed and we'll make sure not to wake you up again,” Lucas continued. “Deal?”

Without giving a verbal response, Kate slammed the narrow door behind her, knocking over Lucas' backpack that hung on the door frame. Following Kate's departure, a roaring silence lingered between the two men for once.

Stanley – the ship's navigator – exchanged looks between the captain and the closed door, darting his eyes back and forth.

“What's her problem?” he asked.

The captain looked down, having felt like he made a big mistake for yelling at her like that. Stanley was unaware of the history Kate and Lucas shared. He was only hired to be their navigator two months prior, but had since gained enough of their trust to earn their mediocre friendship. Before his job as a crude navigator, he endured family afflictions with his family in Wellington, primarily his father. So he decided to move north to seek a new start and support himself in any way possible. His first priority was to find employment before settling down. He ran into Lucas on his journey up the eastern shores at a small town after taking another pit-stop to look for work. When the Lucas offered him the job, it was during the interview when they discovered they were cousins. Since then, they've gotten along well...

“Don't ask,” Lucas said in a flat tone.

...but not well enough.

“Too late,” Stanley joked.

Stanley knew Lucas wasn't going to give him a speech on their past and a lesson on women, but it was worth a try. He noticed that his boss moved his eyes away from the door and continued to stare at the wall in front of him as if pondering the meaning of life. When Lucas finally shifted his gaze at the young navigator with no other detectable emotion in his expression than that of irritation. Those dark eyes just stared in his direction as if the grim reaper was preparing to rip his soul apart.

Stanley cleared his throat.

“Sorry.”

“Don't be.” Lucas shook his head and put a hand to his forehead to wipe his brow. “What time is it?” Lucas slowly asked in a quiet voice.

“Um,” Stanley cleared his throat and pressed a few buttons on his GPS. “Almost six o'clock.”

Lucas showed his displeasure with the drop of the head while rubbing the back of his neck. He pinched the base of his nose – between the eyes – and sighed.

“Where are we now?”

“Uhhh,” Stanley stammered again, wildly tapping the buttons on his GPS.

“That's the same answer you gave Kate. How can you not know?”

Stanley could easy detect the stress in Lucas' voice. He didn't like how the man was handling his temper after the interruption, but was not compelled to argue any further for Kate's sake, which would only lead to another undesirable debate. He just wanted to leave the awkward situation behind.

“There's something wrong with the signal,” Stanley explained. “The GPS is fine. It's the connection that's all screwed up.”

“Then fix it.”

“I'm trying, nothing's working.”

“Could you get anymore useless?”

Stanley glared at his boss. He was hoping that it was just a joke, but his tone was frighteningly convincing. He wished he had bought a better GPS, but he didn't have the time nor the money to do so.

It was then that Lucas was no longer interested in playfully insulting his employee, regardless of genetic relations. He turned to face the wall again and shuffled in his bed sheets as he tried to think of ways to control his emotions. Maybe treating others like crap is the reason why people return the favor. People can be so confusing.

Stanley watched him in complete silence for a few seconds, thinking of how that could have gone better. He wanted to blame himself. How could he be so senseless to his boss? That's just asking for trouble. The worst thing that could happen was for Lucas to fire him. Strangely enough, it was a fate worse than death at that point. Stanley was not prepared to lose him his job over some stupid argument.

The three of them were only out at sea for one simple reason, to map potential fishing hot spots for later in the season. Kate's old business survived the last couple of recessions because of how well she handled her finances and profits, as if she knew the economy like the back of her hand. Maybe it ran in the family. Even though her parents aren't around anymore and a brother living in Europe, she never lost sight of how to get the job done, alongside her small team of employees. Those employees, however, were seasonal workers, and would not return for months. But for Stanley and Lucas, on the other hand, were needed year-round. For such a small business, it was doing pretty decent considering the rise competition in the last decade.

Stanley took one long breath and looked over his GPS again. No surprise to find it showing random pixels in obscure positions across the screen. Curse 90's technology. For a brief moment, the crude map would return to normal displaying the same location over and over again, but then have its signal scrabbled once more.

He managed to get a good look at the map with his photographic memory before it went away again. He then realized that their location was off. The dot in the center – the their exact coordinates – was reading an extremely close proximity to land, about twenty meters from the coast. But the boat is fifteen meters long.

That's impossible. That means...

*BANG*

Everything in the room was immediately lifted into the air, including Lucas. He and Stanley were violently thrown out of their beds and onto the floor, landing next to each other.

“What the hell!?” Lucas shouted.

*CRASH*

Now the entire cabin vibrated like an earthquake. Earthquake? At sea? Tsunami maybe?

*BANG*

One last eruption of sound sent everything flying around the room and landing in nearly every corner of the room. The lights flickered and the cabin eventually faded into darkness. The boat shifted back and forth a couple more times before coming to complete stop. Absolute silence never came. The wind that continued to howl outside became more noticeable and the rain never ceased to beat down above them.

*creak*

The body of the boat moaned like any damaged vessel would, but it was the first time either men on the floor had heard it for themselves. It sounded nothing like in the movies.

“Stanley!?” Lucas yelled again.

The navigator rubbed his forehead from the blunt impact of the ceiling when his body flew in the air.

“What?”

“Did you do that?”

“You blaming me for this!?” Stanley was not happy with being accused of wrecking the boat. It's been only half a minute and Lucas quickly labels him responsible. Unfrigginbelievable.

“You lied to me.”

“What!?”

“You knew we were gonna crash and you didn't tell me.”

Stanley had enough. He stumbled around in the dark and quickly got to his feet to get away from Lucas. He blindly searched for the door, feeling for the knob. Once he found his target, the door refused to budge. With a little more effort, he finally managed to pull the door free from the latch.

The next room fared no better than the last. Objects were thrown all over the place and cabinet doors sung outward. Damage to the walls and ceiling was minimal at first glance, but there was reason to suspect some structural damage was prevalent. He sniffed the air to check for any leaks that might have spilled from the gas tank if it was ruptured, only to get the normal dusty stench that was never faded ever since setting foot in the cabin at the beginning of the day. After making the connection in his head of the two things that were needed for the boat to explode, he sighed in relief when neither components were present.

The mess in front of him appeared as if the room was ransacked by burglars.

Stanley found Kate lying on the ground, confirming that she was also thrown out of her bed. Only, she wasn't moving. He motioned over to her, stepping over several objects and papers without any shoes on. He placed a hand on her head and lightly tapped her shoulder. He received no response.

This day just got worse.

“Katherine?” Stanley whispered, silently panicking in his mind.

When Kate's body remained lifeless, Stanley put two fingers to her neck. It was very subtle, but he could feel weak throbs over the major arteries. He stared off to the side and sighed with relief for the second time that day.

“She alive?” Lucas asked from behind, apparently watching Stanley check her vitals. What annoyed Stanley the most was how he asked that question. His voice was noticeably flat and apathetic, though it may have just been an false assumption.

“She need's help,” Stanley replied without turning to face the captain.

Lucas started to weave his way through the mass of fishing accessories and papers in the room, walking past Stanley, who was kneeling next to Kate. He opened the door at the far end, allowing cold, wet air to collide with the warm comfortable air of the cabin. Rain droplets soaked the narrow wooden staircase on the other side of the door that led to the upper main deck of the boat.

“Let's see where we are, call for people to help us, then I can go back to bed.”

Stanley shook his head at such a remark. He didn't want to give him a disapproving look, but he couldn't ignore the first thing Lucas said. Something happened to the boat and they have no idea where they are. He was curious to figure out exactly where. They could be in Gisborne for all they know.

The silhouette of the captain stood in the open doorway for a few more seconds, apparently in thought. It took a flash of lighting from the storm to light up the room for a split second, but it was enough time for Stanley to notice that Lucas was dressed in his full rain gear and coat while wearing his backpack. Before he could protest, Lucas had slipped out into the storm, leaving him and Kate alone.

“God dammit, Lucas,” he said out loud.

Alongside his naïve and defensive qualities, Stanley was modest and tactful to the core. Running after Lucas and punching him in the face would not only break every bone in his hand, but would go against everything Stanley believed in, and fighting was not one of those beliefs.

After musing over his own enigmatic personality, he began to think of what to do first. A situation like this required paramedical knowledge in the event of an accident, but he had little experience with handling an emergency on his own. Kate's life was on the line. He didn't know where she kept the emergency medical kit that is required on all private boats and was unqualified to evaluate her condition.

If Lucas was here, he'd know what to do. He could tell him where the kit is and properly assess Kate's injuries. But he just walked out. How could he do such a thing?

He pushed all thoughts of Lucas out of his mind for the moment to focus on the woman laying in front of him. It seemed that all she did was hit her head, but the severity was unknown. Her purple turtleneck sweatshirt and navy blue jeans were hardly scathed. Reaching over towards Kate's bunk, he grabbed one of the bedsheets and draped it over Kate's body, leaving her head and feet exposed. Hopefully it would keep her warm in the storm. He then grabbed her velvet jacket off the floor and put it on himself for protection against the weather.

“You have to be strong, Kate.” he whispered in her ear. “For me.” Her head rested on his knees, showing no signs of acknowledgment other than quiet breathing.

He sighed and carefully slipped one arm under her back and one arm under her legs. Taking a deep breath, he used his strength to lift her up and keeping her balanced in his arms. He wobbled in place before finally finding his footing. Since he left his shoes in the room behind him, he managed to wiggle his bare feet into Kate's rubber slippers that were left at the foot of her bed.

With Kate unconscious in his arms and enough clothing on to survive an hour or two in the rain, he took cautious steps towards the cabin entrance. Fortunately, Lucas was kind enough to leave the door open for them. Stanley wondered if Lucas left it open on purpose. Only downside was that the inside of the cabin started to fall victim to minor flooding. As Stanley made it to the door, he gave one last look at the room as nature began taking over. He was unsure whether Kate kept something important that he could carry with him, like keys or paperwork, but the cold and wet sensation creeping down his spine broke his train of thought. He exited the cabin, kicking the door closed on his way out.

Stanley had trouble clearing the stairs, for he almost slipped on the wet surface twice. From the time it took for him to reach the top, enough rain had poured onto his body to fill roughly ten gallons of water. Even though those measurements were a complete guess, it still didn't help the fact that it increased the weight he had to carry, in addition to Kate herself.

Finally, on the main deck of the ship, Stanley slowly swiveled his head side to side to observe his surroundings. The fishing boat itself, although old and rusty, appeared to be in complete working order. It suffered almost no visible damage from his vantage point, but mechanical damage was a high possibility. Stanley was aware that the boat crashed somewhere on the coast even before exiting the cabin due to their lack of swaying motion and slanted orientation within the boat.

It took no more than a minute to figure out where they were marooned.

As soon as Stanley fixed his eyes on one particular hill in the distance along the northern end of the shore, his eyes widened. He recognized his location immediately. The very sight of the hill gave him the strength and energy he needed to carry Kate down off the boat and across the stretch of beach that separated him from hill. Of all the places they could land, they crash less than a kilometer from where they originally sailed from.

Luck at its finest.

As the wind and rain continued to blow in his face, Stanley carefully stepped towards the starboard side of the boat, which angled itself almost perfectly so that he could jump from the boat onto the sand with ease. It was no more than a one and a half meter drop. Before planning to jump, he scanned the beach between the boat and the hill. He saw a tiny figure slowly moving towards the hill. It was none other than Lucas.

Why the hell did he just leave us like that?

Taking a mental note to give that man a piece of his mind later, he readied himself on the corner of the wooden deck where the starboard and stern guard rails met. In order to time his landing just right, he waited for the waves to recede before he made an attempt to jump.

Counting to three in his head, he pushed both legs off the edge of the metal frame he was standing on and hit the sand a second later, twisting his right foot in the process.

“AHHHG!” he screamed from the sudden jolt of pain as he fell to his knees. Similar to hitting the funny bone, he started to laugh away his pain.

He managed to hold onto Kate the whole during his landing, refusing to let go of her. Despite his new injury, he stood up and twirled both his feet to rid himself of any stiffness and readjusted his posture. As a wave of water came rushing up the beach, he let the freezing temperature serve as a natural healer for his sprained foot. When it receded again, he sighed heavily.

“Let's go, Kate,” he said.

Knowing she wouldn't respond, he began to trek across the bed of wet sand. He noticed the rain dying down just a bit, but the storm wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. The sky was covered in the same dull gray mist that hovered above the earth as it was hours earlier. Every now and again, a bolt lightning struck the ocean in his peripherals and the thunder followed shortly afterwards.

Halfway to the hill, Stanley noticed three tracks of footprints in the sand, one of which belonged to Lucas. He assumed Lucas knew the station was just over the hill and is on his way there now.

But what's with the other two tracks? They appeared to be older footprints, having been eroded by the rain. Their shapes were different as well, unlike that of a normal person's foot. They couldn't be older than an hour at most or else they would have disappeared completely. Stanley was no expert tracker, but they seemed to lead up the hill as well.

Stanley couldn't let himself get distracted. He was already burning time just staring at the tracks that may just be regular animal pawprints. Kate's condition was his highest priority. She was still out cold as a stone. He picked up the pace and tried running up the slope of the hill, only to succumb to a slow hike.

As he reached the top, Stanley could finally see the safe haven he was looking for. The boat house and station were quite small from the top of the hill, but were the only things visible for several acres, save for the dirt road that that cut through the grassland surrounding the estate. It was an everyday sight, for he enjoyed standing alone on the hill during his free time off work and watching the sun set every Sunday.

Pausing to catch his breath, he closed his eyes and let his mind wander one last time. He never thought he'd have to carry Kate in his arms while walking nearly a thousand meters on a beach after crashing her old boat on the shore due to a stupid storm.

All he cared for at that moment was Kate's life, and wouldn't stop to rest until she was safe.

He inhaled the damp air around him and quickly puffed it out in a cloud of hot steam. Stanley started walking towards the main building of the small fishing business. The one with the lights shining through the windows.

4. Alight

[Alight]

The wind began to die down and the rain became a light drizzle as opposed to the full force of the storm. During the last leg of Stanley's journey to save a life, the mushy green grass was extremely uncomfortable under his feet with each step he took as his strength was only getting weaker as the seconds ticked on. Several more factors piled onto his decreasing pace since abandoning ship, but he stood his ground and firmly readjusted Kate in his arms. Her arms and legs swung from her body from the momentum with each step her savior took. Stanley would not give in, even though he damn near wanted to. He cursed Lucas for putting him through this.

Stanley approached the large wooden building from the southern end as it grew larger in front of him and eventually filled his field of vision. Yellow light emanated from the first floor windows, illuminating the outside just enough for Stanley to see where he was going. By the time he reached the front porch of the building, darkness had reigned over the landscape. Whether or not Lucas was aware of Stanley's presence, he was thankful to have the indoor lights guide him to safety. As odd as it sounded, he wondered if Lucas knew he was coming and was waiting for them to arrive.

With soaked feet and aching legs, he limped up the wooden steps of the porch. The floorboards squeaked with each step. When he stood just an arms length from the front door, he kicked it open with enough force to break it off it's hinges. The door flew open violently and Stanley rushed inside. He didn't stop there. Stepping towards another door to the end of where he entered, he used his body weight to slam his back into the door. Stanley could hear noise within the lounge as he stormed in.

“Put her right her,” said a voice at the other end of the room.

Stanley turned to see Lucas standing by the foot of a large tan sofa.

“Why did you just leave?”

“Shut up and put her down,” Lucas repeated.

Without arguing any further, Stanley gently set Kate down on the soft cushions of the sofa, relieving his arms of the increasing agony from holding her for so long. He removed the wet cloth that stuck to her body and stepped back to give her some room.

Lucas grabbed a pillow and blanket from a smaller sofa and placed it under Kate's head and over her torso respectively. He turned and started to leave the room, opening the door labeled 'Employees Only'.

“Where are you going?” Stanley growled.

“She'll be fine.”

With that, he closed the door behind him. Stanley sighed and shook his head.

“This isn't like you, Lucas,” he said to himself.

After a few minutes of rest, Stanley got up and paced back and forth in the dimly-lit room. There was nothing he could do but wait for Kate to wake up. He weaved around the polished wooden tables that were placed around the room and circled the empty couch across from Kate. He never stood in one place longer than five seconds, even when sitting to rest on a chair. For a while, he thought of nothing in particular. He let his mind wander; from thoughts of his personal possessions, to the boat marooned on the beach; from thoughts of stars in the night sky, to his training on navigation; from disaster movies, to the storm outside; from memories of his adolescence, to the times spent with Kate and Lucas.

Subsequently, everything he thought of brought him back to the present. He continued to wonder what was really going on, hoping to come up with the most plausible answer.

Somehow, Lucas started acting less of a cousin and more of a jerk. Perhaps the storm was affecting his behavior, but he couldn't prove that. Surely with the boat crashing on a desolate beach made him angry, but putting the blame on Stanley instead of the storm was uncalled for. He didn't understand how Lucas can just get up and leave like it's no big deal – not to mention his lack of concern for Kate. What's up with that? Lucas has never been so heartless before. Why now?

*click*

The unlatching of the door at the far end of the room stopped Stanley dead in his tracks. The door creaked open and Lucas entered with a few papers in his hand, only to walk towards the door to the lobby and exit the room again. He didn't seem to notice Stanley frozen near the bookshelf. As the door closed behind Lucas, Stanley defrosted his statue-like posture and held his head low. He ran a hand through his short hair and rubbed the back of his neck.

His fear came from the simple thought of talking to Lucas about his recent problems, only to second guess himself, thinking of the possible way the conversation could go wrong. He strayed away from getting himself into other people's business, but he really needed to know the truth before it was too late. Maybe they could come to an understanding and, if all went well, perhaps he could help Lucas reform his behavior. Stanley had been unsuccessful in the past when speaking with his father, so past doubts flooded back into his mind and were practically spilling over the top of his head.

It wasn't until an elegant silence filled the room when Stanley finally realized it stopped raining outside. He glanced through to nearest window to confirm his findings, but saw that the wind continued to blow the grass carpet outside.

Letting the silence sink in, he took a deep breath. Grabbing a wooden stool from the corner of the room, Stanley walked over to the couch where Kate was left to sleep and positioned himself next to her. It took some effort, but he managed to set aside some of his worst doubts and go forward with talking to Lucas anyway once he returns. He just hoped the conversation would go smoothly and would get a simple straight answer. If not, things could get ugly.

Stanley didn't have to wait long. The door to the main lobby opened again and Lucas strolled in with a two dish-shaped electric heaters. He dragged them over to the table in the center of the room, letting the electrical cords slither across the decorative rug on the floor. He placed one on top of the table and left the other on the floor, positioning both to face the sofa. Stanley wondered why he decided to use electric heaters instead of lighting the fireplace nearby for classic warmth.

“Plug this in,” Lucas said, handing him the cord.

Stanley obliged, searching for the outlet on the wall behind him and sticking it in the slot. Lucas did the same with his, but in the opposite wall. They returned to the table and switched the heaters on, bringing them to life. Stanley tinkered with the dials on his heater, even though he didn't need to. He was simply fiddling with it and nervously waited for the right moment to speak.

Lucas stood up.

“Call me when she wakes up,” he muttered as he started to leave.

“Wait!”

Lucas stopped and turned to face Stanley with a blank expression.

“Can we talk?” Stanley asked.

The man sighed.

“Later,” he said in a flat voice.

“What's a better time than now? You've been acting up lately.”

“So?”

“Do you want to tell me why?”

“Not really.”

The conversation was already dragging much slower than Stanley had expected. He chose his words carefully in hopes to keep Lucas in the room.

“Listen,” Stanley raised his hand. “I need to know what going on. You can tell me anything. I won't hold it against you.”

It worked, even though that last statement was a white lie. Lucas took a seat on the large chair leaned his head against his right arm. Stanley felt his heart pound harder when Lucas made eye contact. He twitched anxiously while his boss stared at him with a definitive look in his eyes.

Stanley blinked profusely. He recognized that look any day of the week. What scared him the most was how Lucas would respond while looking at him like that. So, he temporarily shifted the subject away from him.

“I-I'm worried about Kate. Are you not?”

“Of course I am,” he replied, looking Stanley his death glare. “What makes you think-”

“You left us there alone!” Stanley raised his voice, quickly regretting the action. “You act like you didn't even care.”

“And?”

“Seriously, man? What's gotten into you? I mean, after the accident, you blame me for everything and just leave the boat like that. That's not right at all.”

Lucas looked away for a moment, allowing Stanley to regain his confidence.

“Speaking of which,” Stanley continued with more control in his voice. “What are we gonna do about it? Did you call the coast guard?”

“No.”

“Why not? We can't just leave the boat there.”

“Yes we can.”

Stanley looked at his own feet and put a hand on his forehead.

“What's up with you today?”

Lucas said nothing as he continued to stare off to the side. He tried to not pay attention to what Stanley was saying, hearing only certain words that replayed as incoherent chatter in his ears. The humming noise and warmth of the heater relaxed and dried his skin. He thought of how cozy that feeling was when the heat wave washed over his body. So soothing, in fact, he began to get drowsy and let his eyelids gravitate towards each other and stitch themselves closed, sinking his face in palm of his hand. Any noise around him became muffled. He could fall asleep right there and then, if it wasn't for one thing.

“Hey!” Stanley exclaimed, giving Lucas a weak shove.

“Huh?” he muttered, sitting up straight and shooting his eyes open.

“Wake up.” Stanley paused. He saw the neutral look on Lucas' face, but repeated himself anyways. “Do you really want that to happen?”

“Do I want what to happen?”

“Never mind.”

“No seriously. What are talking about?”

“Oh, so NOW you care all of a sudden.” Stanley grunted and threw his arms in the air in his frustration, slapping his knees as he let them drop. He got up off his chair and walked to the window behind him.

Lucas raised his head and squinted his face in confusion, wondering what made Stanley so angry. His own annoyance with forcing himself to talk to Stanley had faded and was replaced but a feeling of guilt. Maybe it had something to do with him falling asleep in the middle of a lecture.

“Why are you so mad?”

“Why am I mad?” Stanley retorted, turning around and stumbling over to the couch as he put pressure on his sprained foot. “You tell me,” he said, pointing at Kate.

It was at this point that the attitude of each men had completely inverted.

“I told you she'll be fine,” mumbled Lucas.

“Come on, man! You just left me there alone with her when she needed help. You can't just assume she'll be fine when you don't even know what happened. First off, you just blame me for damaging the boat. Then you just waltz outta there like you don't give a damn. I didn't know what to do and it was dark and cold and I had to carry her all the way over here in the rain and I sprained my foot and I left my stuff in the boat and-”

“Whoa hey!” Lucas interrupted. “Calm down before you do something stupid.”

“You telling me to calm down!?”

Stanley continued venting words on how stupid everything was; from the storm outside and to his fake career. Any hint of his inherent tactful qualities were completely non-existent at that moment. Lucas just watched the scene unfold. He waited for the fire inside Stanley to burn itself out. Hopefully it would end in Stanley doing something stupid.

Twilight shuffled around in her sleep. She made occasional grunting noises before a monstrous yawn broke her dreams, which then faded away instantly, leaving her mind blank. She stretched her legs and kicked something with a hind leg.

*thunk*

An metal bucket fell over, spilling water all over the floor. Twilight rolled over and stood up to stretch some more, but winced in pain. Her sore muscles cried out for mercy. Letting out another yawn, she slowly opened her eyes.

It was still dark out. She had no idea how long she'd been asleep or if it was morning yet. Despite the looming darkness outside their temporary shelter, her immediate field of vision was as bright as several candle lights. Strangely enough, she could see most of the boat house, with the docking rails at the center and the wall on the other side. She glanced down and found Cadence and Rainbow Dash still sleeping soundly on the floor.

Twilight's wondered why her normal hearing hadn't come back to her since everything was nearly silent. She rubbed her ear with a hoof, but could still hear nothing. Either it was awfully quiet, or she's deaf.

…

She went with quiet. Damaging her eardrums in her sleep was highly unlikely. It was right then when she noticed that the rain had stopped falling and the wind blew as a peaceful breeze that crept along Twilight's fur coat, making her shiver.

Remembering how well lit her surroundings were, she searched for the source. Her eyes darted around the sizable building, checking the walls and floor. Her gaze finally made it to the source, on the very top of the indented ceiling above her. The single point of yellow light appeared to hover above in a perfectly fixed position without flickering or dancing from the draft. She stared at it for several seconds, mesmerized by its mysterious brilliance.

*clank*

A faint, sharp noise broke Twilight's concentration and she shook her head after staring at the the light for an unknown period of time. She snapped her head to where she thought she heard the sound, somewhere in the darkness just outside the building. It sounded like shattering glass. She leaned forward and waited for another noise to follow. None came.

“What was that?”

Twilight jumped at the sudden voice.

“Oh, Rainbow Dash.” She let out the breath she held in. “You scared me.”

“Didn't mean to.” Rainbow proceeded to stretch her legs and back. Her wings were far too sore to spread out completely, so she carefully fluttered the main joints while they were still folded to her sides.

“Did I wake you?”

“No. That weird sound did.”

“Oh.”

“Let's go check it out.” Rainbow prepared herself by wiggling her legs and deliberately swaying her body in place as if getting ready to sprint in a race.

“No wait.” Twilight said, holding up a hoof. “We don't know what it is. It could be something dangerous.”

“That's what I'm here for,” Rainbow gloated. She punched the air a few times to mimic the fighting match between her and a monster she fantasized in her mind.

Twilight cleared her throat, narrowing her expression to look more serious. Rainbow quickly recognized that familiar stare.

“What?” she shrugged

“Please don't to anything that would make things worse,” Twilight stated. She turned to face the moonless night. Though, the absence of the moon was odd, to say the least. Maybe the clouds above obstructed the moonlight and she just couldn't see it yet. “I'll go see what it was. Maybe find some help. We won't last much longer out here.”

“Right behind ya,” Rainbow squeaked.

“No. I need you to stay put.”

“Why? I can be your backup.”

“I need you to stay here and watch over Cadence and make sure she's alright,” Twilight ordered, looking back at the sleeping pink Princess. “We're on somepony's property. Maybe they're home now. I can talk to them and find out were we are and ask for their help to figure out a way home.”

“Fine,” the pegasus grumbled.

Rainbow Dash appeared disapproving of Twilight's plan of having to look after Cadence and let the unicorn go out on her own. She should be the one to go, not Twilight.

“I won't be long.”

Twilight lit up her horn, with effort, and started walking out into the dark. As the veil of the night swallowed her whole, the wind became stronger without the protection of shelter. The sky was blanketed with a dark-brownish color instead of its usual midnight black. With the lack of light and vibrant colors surrounding her, the only two things that stood out from all that darkness was the boat house behind her, and the larger building she saw earlier.

Both had their lights on. She couldn't recall it having them on earlier. She was right. The owners of the building had returned when they were sleeping.

She glanced on last time at the boat house where she left her friends to rest. In no way did she like having to leave Cadence and Rainbow behind like that, but they really needed help and she was confident that the residents could provide some kind of aid. Any aid would do. She tried to suppress any doubt that would lead to an bitter encounter with the ponies inside if they were unable or unwilling to help.

As Twilight crept closer to the building, she noticed just how enormous it really was. From afar, it looked similar in size to Ponyville's own town hall. Up close, however, it was easily larger than it that. It loomed over her like a classic haunted house from horror stories. It wasn't long until she heard muffled voices seep through the walls.

At that moment, her legs began to shake and her heart rate increased. She tried to calm herself with some controlled breathing and a slower pace from a walk to a crawl. However, when she remembered events in her life that were far more terrifying, it practically made her forget that it was just an old house at night. Maybe the horror stories getting to her head.

She made it to the wooden steps. Refusing to back down now, she forced her body to keep moving and eventually found herself at the front door. The light from the windows illuminated the porch around her.

Her eyes widened as she gazed up at the length of the door. It was huge! At least twice her height. What kind of pony lives here? Why do they need a door so big? The again, the doors of Canterlot Castle were enormous as well, but those served a purpose. There's nothing royal about this place, that she was sure. Also, why does the door have an image of a fish on it?

Twilight shook her head free of all the questions that bombarded her mind at the same time. She'd have time to think about them later, or just forget about them completely.

Finally gaining the courage to move her trembling muscles, she lifted a hoof and properly knocked three times.

With Stanley cleaning up the mess he made, Lucas sat back down near the sofa next to Kate. He stared at her and secretly apologized to her in his mind about his recent faults. His original effort to avoid any trouble had failed, so he decided to pull a one-eighty by caring about people a little more, starting with Kate. For some reason, Stanley's speech actually got through to him more than he wanted it to, who was right about everything so far.

Perhaps a speech was exactly what he needed to hear to get him thinking.

*knock knock knock*

Lucas perked up at the distinct, yet distant knocks coming from outside the room. He looked at Stanley as he continued picking up shard of the ceramic lamp he broke, apparently lost in his regretful action and oblivious to anything else. His mind was probably playing tricks on him. He was exhausted after all, and insomnia was probably kicking in. He let his head drop again where he sat and buried his face in his hands again.

Pity began to sink in hard once the idea of losing Kate was implanted in his mind. Despite all their fighting in the past, he wouldn't know what to do without her. She was his employer after all.

*knock knock knock knock*

Lucas perked up again and whirled his head towards the lobby door. Those thuds were much louder and couldn't have been formed by his imagination.

“Visitors?” Stanley asked.

Lucas was too distracted by his thoughts to notice the room had gone quiet.

“You heard it too?”

“Aren't you gonna see who it is? Or should I?”

“No.” Lucas' expression turned to one of concern. His first thought was that the local police in the area had come to investigate. Pretty fast response for such a scarcely populated area. Besides, the closest town was about five kilometers away. “I'll take care of it. You stay here.”

Lucas huffed and stood up to stretch. The police theory stuck in his mind. Who else could it be at this hour? They hardly received any clients or distribution representatives during that time of year. Not to mention the extremely rare traveler who happens to stumble upon the estate with the primary excuse of 'exploring new frontiers'. Pretending to be a prestigious adventurer who is trying to visit every place on Earth within their lifetime take away all your credibility. Come on people, Lucas thought. Be more realistic.

He left Stanley to his cleanup operation and swiftly waddled his way to the lobby. He had to come up with a convincing story to fool the lawmen into believing the boat was supposed to dock at the marina several kilometers north, but missed their target due to the storm. If is wasn't the cops, he prepared to restrain a junkie who may try to rob them, or immediately slam the door on the weird traveler and tell them to get lost. Lucas chuckled at that last scenario. What if they were already lost? He knew it was wrong to think that way, but laughed anyways.

As he entered the lobby, he paused less than a meter from the face of the front entrance to fix his hair and straighten the collar of his jacket. He cleared his throat and leaned in where he stood while closing on eye and peering through the lens of the tiny peep hole with the other.

The porch was empty.

He waited a few more seconds before shrugging off the huge waste of time. Sighing for the hundredth time that day, he walked away.

As soon as he reached the living room door, he stopped a mere foot from the doorway, wondering if he wanted return to the same room was Stanley again.

He extended his arm to leaned against the door and dropped his to look at the floor. He needed to stop thinking to lowly of his cousin. Deep down, something inside told him that their relationship wouldn't last if he continued faking his friendship to only get what he wants. He hired him for a reason. Was it empathy that made him change? Or the fact that this whole situation was finally starting sinking in?

*knock knock knock*

Lucas snapped his head towards the front door and frowned. Whatever prank this was, it was starting piss him off. He stomped his feet on the ground as he walked. Instead of taking the time to catch a glimpse to the perpetrator outside through the peep hole, he violently grabbed the doorknob and forced the door open.

“Eep!”

Not a second after looking out into the dark, he flinched as a tiny squeal pierced his ears. He immediately looked down to find a small creature frozen in place with its large eyes frozen in fear. It cowered back a bit, but remained in a frightened stance.

Lucas relaxed his muscles and rubbed his eyes with both hands. The poor lighting made it difficult to see any detail, but it was surprisingly horse-like in form. It was some shade of purple with perfectly combed locks of a darker tone of violet. It looked like an oversized stuffed animal.

He rubbed his eyes one more time, but the creature was still there. The did a quick double-take, but the creature refused to disappear. One last attempt to regain his sanity, he slapped himself in the face. He hoped that would work.

It didn't.

He exhaled a visible puff of hot breath and put out his arm to touch the animal.

“AHH!” screamed the tiny animal as it scurried away from Lucas.

“Whoa!” Lucas yelled as he, too, jolted his entire body back while flailing his arms around, falling to the hardwood floor. He was not expecting that to happen.

The door creaked halfway closed, obstructing his view of the porch. Lucas rapidly got to his feet and threw open the door again. The horse was nowhere in sight. It must have ran off into the night after he scared the crap out of it.

“What the hell?” he whispered to himself in a curious voice.

He solemnly stared off into nothingness as the living room door behind him blew open.

“What happened now?” said Stanley.

Unable to take his eyes off the porch, Lucas took a deep breath and pushed the door closed to cut off his own hypnotic stare.

“I, uh-” he stammered and swallowed the saliva in his mouth. He tried to find the right word to describe what he saw.

Stanley raised an eyebrow, waiting for a response.

“You what?”

“There was a pony at the front door.”

Author's Note

This chapter has only been proofread and edited once, so don't be surprised if you find yourself confused at times. Changes will be made in the future if necessary.

5. Giants

[Giants]

Twilight ran as fast as she could. Her panicked heart rate and panting made it difficult to call out for help, only to be reminded that her help needed help. She could barely see the ground in front of her as she galloped away from the building with the tall being. As she approached the boat house, Rainbow came running outside.

“I told you you needed backup!” she laughed as Twilight stopped to take rest. Rainbow started looking around. “Where's the monster? Let me at 'em.”

Twilight tried to control her oxygen intake in order to secure a healthy breathing pattern, that would in turn normalize her blood pressure. Even though control was one her many strengths, she would never fully develop the ability to override her natural instincts. Hyperventilation never did good to anypony, and overreacting at every unexpected thing that she encountered would only make things worse.

“I don't think it was a monster,” she said.

“What?” Rainbow grimaced. “Then why did you scream like filly?”

“Was it really that loud?” Twilight's face went red.

“Uh hu,” Rainbow nodded.

By now, Twilight's fears had subsided altogether. Her initial shock and awe was just a precaution, hence the lack of control over natural instinct. Or was it a reflex? Which would fall under the same category. It wasn't the first time she ran away screaming, nor was it the first time her fears had been transformed into curiosity. However, in this case, it was the first time both seemed to happen simultaneously.

Thinking back no more than couple minutes ago, she had never seen a creature quite like that before. The strange being appeared to take the form of a tall, skinny diamond dog with clothes on in place of fur. Though, the height may have been defect that caused the height difference than a typical diamond dog. However, it couldn't have been a diamond dogs. They don't live in houses. If anything, it was a giant. An dark creature depicted in ancient tales of myth and legend. There weren't any pictures to illustrate those legends, but this tall creature was the closest thing to a giant.

Any words to describe what she saw were just not enough. The more she thought about it, the more curious she became. She wished she had never gotten scared in the first place.

“Heellooo, Equestria to Twilight?” The stomping of hooves snapped her out of her thinking.

“Huh?”

“We're not safe with that thing running around,” Rainbow stated. “We should take it out before it eats us.”

“I told you, it wasn't a monster.”

“Then what attacked you?”

“I wasn't attacked.” Twilight sighed. “I was just... scared. That's all.”

Rainbow Dash stared at her unicorn friend with a blank face. One of those words was not in her vocabulary. Nothing frightened her, or at least, nothing in Equestria. This place, however, was uncharted territory... as far as she knew. She remained strong in the face of her enemies. Although in this case, Rainbow fought to keep the uneasy chills that ran down her spine locked up within, no matter how hard it tried to escape her body.

“Fine. If it wasn't a monster, that what was it?”

Twilight blinked. What exactly was it she saw?

“I don't know. I never seen anything like it before.”

Rainbow grunted. She rarely heard Twilight say those words, for she was the smartest egghead ever to walk Equestria, except for maybe the Princesses and that Star-something bearded guy she keeps talking about.

“Maybe I should do some recon to make sure there aren't anymore of those things out there,” Rainbow suggested, trying to rid herself of the boring job of watching over Cadence. Watching the Princess sleep was a new level of boring, not to mention creepy. She really needed to do something. She needed to stretch her wings and fly around.

“Those 'things' are not 'out there',” Twilight twirled a hoof in the air. “They live in there.” She pointed to the building behind her in the distance.

Rainbow's pallid composure sank a bit more. Whatever scar- … attacked Twilight lives close by. To close for comfort. They might attack again at any moment.

“Is that where the sound came from?” she asked, holding her gaze fixed on the building.

“I'm not entirely certain, but it's highly possible.”

“Come on, Twilight. Where else could that sound come from?” Rainbow questioned. She then grinned devilishly as she narrowed her eyes even more. “Imma check it out. Give 'em a piece of my mind.”

Before the loyal pegasus could take off running, she was pulled back by Twilight's magic.

“NO!” she shouted with a roaring whisper. Rainbow was mildly surprised at the outburst. “I know I was scared the first time, but we need to be ready next time around. I want to try my luck at calling for help again, but I don't want you attacking that thing in its own home. It will send the wrong message and put us in more danger than just being here. Just wait until we're in a better position to defend ourselves if that giant turns out to be hostile. I'm in no position of fight, and neither are you.”

The glossy look in Twilight's eyes in the dim light from the boat house was beyond serious.

“Come on. We should check on Cadence.”

*bang* *bang*

The familiar sound made Rainbow tense up again. Her defensive instincts kicked in, but before she could take off running for the second time, Twilight stopped her from taking a step.

“Let's not stay out here any longer that we have to,” Twilight reassured her with a nervous look. “We need all the energy we can get. Lets not worry too much about what's happening out here and focus on our survival.”

Twilight walked past Rainbow, leaving her to reconsider her options as she stood by herself. The pegasus' glare softened while staring at the structure with monsters living inside. She loathed the idea of having to stay within range of her enemies. These 'giants', as Twilight labeled them, can't possibly be that dangerous. She recognized those new sounds were the echos of doors slamming shut. She and her friends have heard worse of worse sounds.

After staring at the building for while, she obeyed her friend and followed her inside. Heck, she didn't even know what these giants looked like.

“A pony?”

Lucas nodded.

“Are you just trying to distract me and make me forget you're problems, or did you hit your big head on the door and your in candy land?” Stanley huffed.

“N-no seriously, i-it was right there!” Lucas stuttered. “Right here! It was weird.”

“Ha. Ha. Ha.” Stanley said, unamused. “Maybe you should call a therapist and get that head of yours screwed back on tight.”

“It was purple, too.”

That very statement made Stanley genuinely chuckle, but used that to fake a loud comedic laugh.

“Oh man, that's too good.” Stanley wiped an imaginary tear from his eye. “A purple pony is the weakest excuse you can come up with for falling on your ass. It still doesn't change that fact that it's your fault Kate's in a coma, or did you forget that she is hurt because of you. You should have been driving the boat like you were told.”

“You know what, it doesn't matter. Blame me all you want.” Lucas was now angry. Stanley's tantrum from earlier was beginning to drive him nuts. He hoped his cousin knew better than to stay mad at him for doing him a favor – if you could call leaving him behind with Kate on purpose a favor. “If you're gonna be like this all night, I'm outta here!”

With that, he stepped outside into the cold night and slammed the door, almost breaking windows on either side.

*THUD*

“Fine! See if I care!” Stanley shouted from inside as another door violently echoed its impact across the walls.

*thud*

Lucas sighed heavily. It was then that he noticed he locked himself outside without a jacket. He was now stuck outside to endure the extreme uncomfortable sensation of damp shoes and goosebumps. He didn't want to go back inside now. All he could think about now was what he had done to upset Stanley and that weird pony thing that made it worse when it freak him out.

The wind outside was a light breeze, but it was still freezing against Lucas' skin. The storm must have passed overhead by now and moved on further west. He cursed the storm for screwing his day up. Not only was Kate's fishing boat left stranded on a beach, but apparently his way of handling the wreck had infuriated his cousin. All he tried to do was remain calm about the situation.

It was the first time something had seriously gone wrong with Kate's boat. There had been a few defects here and there, but this one took home gold. He knew exactly what to do in the event something major happened to it, but recently he started to care less about private property that didn't belong to him. The fishing boat was Kate's property and he vowed not to do anything but drive it for her, but since she was unconscious right, he'd wait till she wakes. IF she wakes.

Actually, his whole plan from the start was to wait for her to wake up before doing anything about it. Besides, he would never hear the end of it when she found out what happened to her boat. She's go absolutely crazy and point the finger at him. Somehow, everything was his fault. Although, considering how poorly he treated her mere minutes before the incident, he'd face major pay cut, if not the loss of his job.

He was actually glad Kate hit her head. It gave him time to think what he would say to ensure she wouldn't replace him.

Lucas buried his thoughts about Kate and Stanley for a while. He turned to focus on the weird creature that knocked on their front door. Of all the things he's seen in his life, an animal knocking on their door like a civilized person was definitely not one of them. Maybe it happened elsewhere with trained animals, but not to him and not this far in the wild. For what he could recall, the pony also screamed in a human-like voice, though it might as well been his imagination.

He wanted to believe it was a hoax. Some stupid prank by some stupid kids. However, the more he thought about it, the more he wondered why kids would come all the way out here past their bed time to fool him with a fake pony. He'll never understand the younger generations after that stunt.

He stepped towards the edge of the porch where the light was replaced by its polar opposite. As he gazed out into the darkness, he could see the boat house across the yard shining with a single light.

Strange. The floodlight in the boat house doesn't turn on by itself. Well, it does, but it was motion sensitive to anything larger than a house cat. Lucas knew the local wildlife consisted of deer and such, but they never came out this far, and he was sure they didn't own a cat.

He took it upon himself to investigate and maybe take his mind off things. Lucas walked on the muddy dirt path in front of the station, which then shifted into soggy grass after a couple meters. The squishing sounds under his feet whipped up a smell that resembled the rotting pollen flowers.

The further from the station he got, the colder it became. With each breath he took, a puff of steam was expelled from his mouth. It was as if he swallowed ice cubes that melted instantly on his tongue every time he exhaled. He hugged himself and constantly rubbed the goosebumps creeping all over his exposed skin. He really wished he never took off his jacket.

His pace was slow. Sluggish even. He would often trip up on the smallest imperfection of the wet soil that sank beneath every step. It wasn't until a distinct sound stopped Lucas dead in his tracks, only making in halfway. It was difficult hear anything over the white noise swirling in his ears, but he couldn't ignore his keen sense of sound. It came directly from the boat house.

They were voices. Muffled voices. Faint, but very real.

Lucas' neural activity skyrocketed. There's someone in the boat house! Either strangers have taken shelter there or were just passing by with a pit stop, they were still trespassing on their property. This was unacceptable. Confirming his own suspicions, people have invaded their land and were quite possibly the ones responsible for the pony prank they pulled on him.

Lucas backtracked slowly, trying to make as little noise possible. The only thing he wanted to do go up to those trespassers and kick them off the property, literally if may be. But first, he needed was his trusted Remington hunting rifle by his side to ensure dominance and appear more intimidating. In order to convince those intruders that if they wanted to keep their heads, they'd better have some good reason for being so stupid.

When Lucas reached the dirt road, he jogged the rest of the way. He didn't bother with the porch steps and jumped over them and made his way to the front door. He firmly grabbed the silver doorknob and tried twisting it. It wouldn't budge. Resisting the urge to bang on the door to vent his frustration, he sought to find another way inside without alerting Stanley.

With the only option in mind, he stepped away from the porch and ran around to the driveway where he left his truck parked close to the building. When he spotted his target, he climbed on top of the vehicle and prepared himself to jump. Without a second guess, he lunged his body forward to the drainage pipe that ran down the side of the wall and quickly secured a grip around the cold metal tube.

Shortly after climbing to the roof, he pulled himself over the top of the roof and carefully crawled his way on the coarse shingles, scraping his hands and knees to increase traction. With no balconies built into either of the walls, he'd have to enter his own living quarters through the window on the second floor. As he positioned himself above where his room would be, he stopped at the gutter and leaned over the edge of the roof.

Immediately recoiling by pushing away from the edge, he felt a sudden sensation churning in his stomach His heart pumped faster with every second as he tried to regain his balance. He took a deep breath in an effort to exile the panic flowing in his veins. It was at that moment when he couldn't believe how foolish it was to try such a dangerous stunt like this. Maybe putting up with Stanley's out of control antics was a better fate than having to dangle off the roof.

C'mon you coward. You got yourself into this mess. Now man up! Lucas yelled at himself in his mind.

For a minute, his muscles were stiff. They refused to listen to his commands. Unlike the dangers of the sea, the dangers of falling were far more daunting. The sea was his calling card, whereas heights gave him a bad case of vertigo. He was so caught up in his anger that he had forgotten about his childhood phobia before it was too late.

Finally snapping out of his shell after remembering why climbed on the roof in the first place, he shook off the chills and took one long breath. With his mind screaming in terror, he crawled over the edge.

Closing his eyes, he propelled his body down as he held tightly onto the wet gutter and kicked his window open with a foot. Gaining momentum like child on a swing set, he used his legs to pick up speed. With near perfect aim and coordination, Lucas released his grip and launched his body inside, landing directly inside the room with a wobble in his step. Without stopping to praise himself for his acrobatic abilities, he rushed straight for the closet.

Sliding the screen open and turning on the single light bulb inside, he grabbed his personal hunting rifle hanging from the wall where it always was if he ever needed it. Today was that day. Making sure it was fully loaded, he grabbed a couple more shells from the shelf and slid the door closed. Before making his way out of his room in a heartbeat, he grabbed his raincoat from the wardrobe and slipped it on.

With that taken care of, he left the room and practically sprinted down the hall, skipping every third step as he bolted down the staircase. He reached the door to the lounge where his employer and employee were settled, and without pausing to second guess about what he was about to do next, he kicked the door open, almost breaking it in the process.

“Those little brats better have a good reason for pissing me off,” he growled, shoving everything that got in his way.

“What the hell are you doing!?” Stanley cried to get his attention, startled by the sudden entry. He stepped back in shock, assuming the man had murderous intentions.

Lucas ignored him and continued to march through the lobby with a loaded rifle in his hands and a boiling expression on his face. Nothing in the world could stop him from completing his mission. A mission of vengeance. Vengeance which would redeem his anger. Those intruders would pay for what they did.

As he pulled open the door to the lobby, Stanley started to chase after him.

“Where are you going!?” he yelled at the crazed man.

Once again, Stanley heard no response other than incoherent mumbling and the fading footsteps on the porch as Lucas walked out of the house once again. This confused him more than ever, but he had no time to think if Lucas was on a mission to kill someone. Sure, Stanley was still mad at him, but this is just insane. This never happened to the man before.

“Dammit Lucas,” he muttered under his breath as he snatched a flashlight from a cabinet in the lobby and ran outside.

It was too dark to see anything, except for the boat house across the field in front of him. Stanley could barely see the silhouette of Lucas, but the moment he sighted his insane cousin with the flashlight pointed at his back, he took off sprinting.

Running as fast as he could, the out of shape navigator finally caught up to Lucas as the man silently walked towards the boat house.

“What are you-”

“Shut up,” Lucas interrupted with a whispered shout. “Turn that damn thing off.”

“Not until you tell me what's going on!” Stanley growled, refusing to lower his voice.

“Shush!”

“Listen to me. This is insa-”

Lucas quickly turned to the young man following him and shoved him back.

“I said shut up!”

“Shh!”

“But this is important!” Twilight said, almost shouting She had trying to tell Rainbow about their eminent predicament for the past several minutes. “We don't know where-UMMPH.”

Without letting her finish, Rainbow Dash suddenly pulled Twilight close and covered her mouth with a hoof to keep her from saying another word. The airwaves went silent.

“Something's coming,” Rainbow said with a tone that could scare foals out of their fur. Her guard was beyond maximum alert and her wings were ready to be put to good use at the first sign of trouble.

The purple mare clinging to her chest appeared genuinely worried for no more than a few second, but when she listened for any noise in the stillness night air for longer than ten, she pushed away from her jittery friend and brushed herself off.

“Stop horsing around, Rainbow. This is serious!” Twilight scowled. “I have no idea where we are. I don't know what I saw back there, but I don't think we're in Equestria anymore. We can't stay here, but we can't just leave. We need to make sure Cadence is okay before we do anything.”

Rainbow ignored her. She readied her body in a defensive stance and darted her eyes around the dark and mucky environment that sat a few yards the boat house.

“I don't believe the creature in that building is dangerous.” Twilight continued. “If it lives in there, it must intelligent, or at least sophisticated enough to understand basic thought. If there's more than one of those things and has realized we're in trouble, they might help us. I admit, my first impression wasn't great, but that's because I didn't know what to do. In fact, I think the creature was just as frightened as I was when I ran off. Maybe I scared it, too. I have to go back.”

The blue pegasus continued to listen for everything that wasn't her friend's voice. For an ambitious adventurer and athlete, Rainbow learned to be acutely aware of her surroundings while drowning out certain sounds that were distracting. In this case, Twilight's rambling. Throughout her experiences on so many excursions alongside her circle of friends, she has been an expert at detecting impending danger like it was second nature to her. Her skills came in handy every time.

“Are you listening to me?” Twilight leaned closer to Rainbow.

“Shh!”

The lavender unicorn sighed.

“I told you a hundred times already, there aren't any monst-”

Twilight was cut off by a faint voice outside. Her ears twitched when quieter voice followed less than a second later.

She immediately charged up her horn with magic and stepped backward to closely guard Cadence. The alicorn continued to sleep like a rock. She was vulnerable without the security of her unicorn protector. What bothered Twilight the most was the yellow light on the ceiling that lit the interior of the entire boat house, essentially serving as an invitation to the outside world. They were completely exposed anything that may be lurking behind the walls. This thought shattered any hope of remaining hidden for their safety. No good would come out of her careless deeds.

Rainbow remained in the shadows behind wooden crates with her battle ready stance, but instead of backtracking with Twilight, she slowly and silently crept ever closer to the end of the wall. She was ready to spring into action at any moment.

For a minute nothing happened. It was quiet. Too quiet. Enough to hear the heart drum to the beat of alarm bells that went off in their head. Out in the darkness, a small streak of white light throbbed back and forth across the grass that appeared to get closer and closer.

It took some convincing to get Stanley to stop talking. To be more accurate, Lucas pointed the rifle at him long enough to scare him into submission. Not that he enjoyed it, but it was the only way to silence his cousin's unending chatter once and for all. There was simply no time to argue for another hour about stupid things, for their voices would give away their position.

Stanley didn't stay mad for long. In fact, his anger had almost completely vanished. The grave threat from Lucas made sure of that. As far fetched as it was for his own cousin to go so far as to point a gun at him, he wouldn't be surprised if it happened sooner. To make up for his previous ranting behavior that caused the heated mess to run wild in the first place, he yielded to Lucas' authority by believing him. He wasn't sure whether or not Lucas was doing the right thing, but he'd tag along to see what exactly prompted the man to act so strangely.

He swallowed the lump in his throat and walked beside Lucas, cautiously sneaking to the boat house. Because the pair couldn't see a thing, Stanley was glad to have brought a flashlight along with him, something he never left home without.

By the time they got within a dozen yards from the boat house, it was then that Stanley finally realized what Lucas was on to. Knowing how the lights worked within the dock, something must have tripped the motion sensor to the light. Although Lucas neglected to mention what exactly took shelter in the boat house, it mattered more as to why he would go through the trouble to come out here by himself to take care of it without so much as a clue how to deal with wildlife. He can't even deal with himself.

The closer the two approached the wall of the structure, the slower their pace dragged along. The wall obstructed their view of most of the interior, but it was a way of sneaking up on the unsuspecting interlopers with basic stealth skills. Stanley constantly thought to himself why Lucas would even care to do something like this. Why not just leave it alone? Was it rage that compelled him the do it? Was it something he said? Or is he faking it?

Lucas' thoughts were unchanging, only focused on one objective. He fiddled with the rifle in his hands, checking the chamber to see how bullets were ready to fire.

*click click*

He winced at the sound. Even though it was a quick ping, it was deafening in the freezing silence that clashed with the slow coastal breeze. He noticed how close they were to their destination, only to realize one other thing that gave away their position.

“Turn that off,” Lucas whispered.

“But I can't see,” Stanley replied.

“I don't care. Shut it off now.”

*WHOOSH*

Before Lucas could turn and point the gun at his cousin again, a quick gust of wind blew right by his face and the light beside him suddenly dropped to the floor.

“OOF!” Stanley uttered as he was thrown back some unknown force.

“GOTCHA YOU MONSTER!” yelled an unfamiliar voice.

“ARGG! Get your damn hands off me!” Stanley pushed off his assailant and struggled to get back on his feet.

Lucas reacted by snapping his head around in all directions and pointing his rifle in every direction. As he whirled around in circles a couple times, had found nothing. All was silent again. It was truly too dark to see anything. He really wished he hadn't said anything, and now that Stanley was tackled to the ground by one of the intruders, he could really use the flashlight right about now.

“Show yourself, you damn kids!” Lucas shouted to sound terrifying. “I'll kill you all!”

Lucas looked back at Stanley getting up off the ground. He let his guard down as he lowered the rifle to reach for the flashlight, but as he did, he was hit from behind as something slammed into his back with a powerful blow and violently shoved him directly into Stanley's gut. The hunting rifle slipped out of Lucas' hands and both men fell over onto the wet bed of grass on top of each other.

“And stay down!” shouted the same voice that attacked Stanley.

Stanley and Lucas untangled themselves and shuffled around on their backs in pain. Before they could get up to continue the fight, another swift whoosh sound brushed over there heads. They looked around in attempts to find who it was that attacked them. They saw a fuzzy figure fly around in the air within the black mist. After doing a few more aerial maneuvers, it landed at the directly in front of the flashlight that shined right in their face, revealing nothing but the shape of their attacker.

All they could see was the dark silhouette of a small quadrupedal creature. The unique contour was unlike anything they had even seen in the animal kingdom to the best of their knowledge. Lucas was slow to recognize the form, but he then realized where he's seen it before. Only this one was different. It spread its feathered wings as a show of aggression towards them. With his rifle out of reach, all he could do was lay there powerless with his eye fixated on the pony.

Stanley was on the verge of having a cardiac arrest. The very sight of the horse-like creature was like something out a dream because the first thing he noticed were the appendages that stretched out from either side of its body. As impossible as it sounded, he couldn't ignore the pain it inflicted on him, despite it being almost half his size.

If both of them weren't mistaken, it was some sort of winging animal with a bad attitude.

“Don't you ever hurt Twilight again,” the creature said, growling.

A talking winged animal. Apparently it was angry about something.

The defeated sailors looked at each other. If they could make out the detail in each others' shocked expressions, they'd be more confused than children trying to learn how to file taxes. As they faced the talking animal again, they stared at it as it stepped closer with an intent to kill. Instead of paddling backwards, Stanley and Lucas were chained to the ground by shock and began trembling.

The creature lifted a foreleg.

“You giants better watch your back!?” it said with a female voice.

“No Rainbow! Stop!” another voice called out from behind.

A second creature of the same size appeared as it ran from inside the boat house and galloped towards them. It positioned itself between the winged creature and the humans.

“Why did you hurt them?” it said.

“Somepony had to.”

“NO!” the wingless one shouted. “No you didn't. You put yourself at risk when all of this could have been avoided.”

Stanley and Lucas continued to stare at the ponies absolutely dumbfounded. Their faces said it all and their bodies responded by staying frozen and bruised. However, they listened to every word the small animals had to say as they communicated with each other in perfect English. The wingless one sounded annoyed with its companion.

“Now apologize.”

“What? You can't be serious, Twilight. They were gonna-”

“Now!”

“Fine, my bad,” she heartlessly muttered.

“Not to me.” The wingless creature turned to the two men laying on the ground, and pointed in their direction. “To them.”

The winged pony looked at Stanley and Lucas for a moment before snapping back to narrow her eyes at her friend.

“Like that's gonna happen,” she said in a flat tone.

With that, she flew back towards the boat house, leaving the wingless creature alone with the injured men. As the airwaves became quiet once more, the humans were beyond baffled. Stanley was convinced he's lost his mind and Lucas wanted to believe it was all fake. Being neither a figment of the imagination or a prank, the creature in front of them sighed deeply.

“I-I'm sorry for what happened,” she said, trying to keep a calm composure. The pony stepped closer to them and was now inches from their shoes. It stuck out a forearm. “Are you alright?”

6. Legends

[Legends]

“U-uh,” Lucas heavily stammered. “Y-yeah.”

Both him and Stanley had trouble processing everything that happened in the last few minutes. They simply could not come up with the proper words to describe the creature that spoke perfect English to them in a crystal clear voice.

For a moment, timed seemed to loop around on itself in a perpetual cycle as the three of them just stared at each other silently. Inside Lucas' mind was a myriad of thoughts spewed out over the top of his head, but never really manifested themselves into coherence. He blinked sporadically, hoping the creature would disappear every time he opened his eyes. However, what really set off the alarms in his head was the fact that it apologizing to him. It never crossed his mind in the lifetime of the universe when he would see the day that something other than a human would speak to him.

Stanley, on the other hand, was waiting for his mind to come back online so he could regain control of his muscles in order slap himself in the face.

Then the creature spoke again.

“Thank goodness,” she said. “I thought my friend hurt you badly.”

“S-she did.” Lucas clarified.

“Oh. Well I'm going to have a talk with her about that. I'm so sorry. Please forgive her behavior. She was only trying to protect me.”

When Stanley's mind finally came back online, he lifted an arm to give Lucas a small shove. Lucas responded by returning the favor, shoving him back with a little more force. It escalated to a point where Lucas punched Stanley on the shoulder hard enough to finally realize they were acting like immature kids. The pony creature watched in confusion.

“I told you I wasn't crazy.”

“Please tell me this is for real?”

The moment a purple light flickered above the wingless pony's forehead, both of them scurried backwards in the grass in surprise.

“Holy Jesus!” Lucas said as me hurried to stand up.

The surrounding environment lit up with a purple glow.

“Oh please don't be afraid,” the pony said with a gentle tone. “Let me help you with your wounds.”

When both of the injured men get to their feet, they look at the creature who had seemingly just created a light source from nothing, but when they squint to see how the mesmerizing glow came into existence, they see it originate from the tip of a spiral horn that stuck out of her forehead. Her physical features become slightly more defined, but not enough to make a conclusion about the creature. A large pair of purple eyes remained fixed on them as it stared in awe.

Stanley quickly realized just how small the creature was compared to his own size. Even from a couple meters away, he towered above the creature as if she is a 8-year-old kid. With that distinction in mind, he dropped most of his initial fears and lets his suspicions flow freely. He barely noticed his cousin lean into his ear.

“What should we say to it?” he whispered.

Stanley almost jumped from the sudden intrusion of space. He flinched and lightly shoved Lucas away from him. Without thinking too much about his next action, he took a small step forward and knelt down to eye level with the creature. She continued to stare at Stanley as if he is the most interesting thing she has ever seen.

“Hello pretty pony,” he said in a cheesy high-pitched voice and cracked a nervous smile. “What's a small thing like you doing all the way out here?”

As soon as Stanley finished speaking, Lucas walked up right beside him and slapped him upside the head.

“You're such an idiot, man,” he snickered. “You're gonna give the thing cancer with a stupid voice like that.” Stanley merely growled at the insult.

“Pardon?” the purple pony murmured, scrunching her face in confusion.

“Don't mind Stanley here,” Lucas said after clearing his throat. The break in his voice returned for a split second before forcing his mind to settle down its wild roller coaster ride. “Um, who are you?”

“Oh, my apologies for not introducing myself, my name is-”

“Twilight!”

The purple pony was interrupted by a distant scream. All three of them snapped their heads to the boat house where it had originated. Lucas and Stanley saw the dark form of the winged pony. They could only assume it was the same one who had attacked them earlier. As it trotted over to them, they backed away quickly, ready to fight back if it decides to attack again. Lucas used the distraction to go for his gun.

“What is is now, Rainbow?” the horned pony asked.

“Come quick!” other creature said. “Cadence is awake.”

Twilight's eyes widen and turns back to the humans.

“Excuse me for a minute.”

With that, she and her winged companion took off towards the boat house and disappeared around the wall. Lucas was about to defend himself with his rifle if a second retaliation came, but lowered his weapon when the creatures were no where in sight.

“What the hell is going on?” Stanley said. All his previous negative emotions have started to resurface and his skeptical nature refused to be evicted from his mind. “There's no way that things can talk. I mean, seriously! Are we dead?”

“Stop acting so immature.”

Lucas gripped the trigger of his rifle and held the barrel in front of his chest. He tried mimicking a soldier's stance from all the war movies he'd seen. For some reason, the method in which he held the rifle made him feel like a real soldier in the national guard. He often enjoyed imagining himself in the battlefield of some epic war or zombie apocalypse when having nothing better to do.

“Oh, I'M immature?” Stanley's anger never seemed to leave him, even after witnessing something something that put his mind to the test. He was ignored when Lucas started creeping towards the boat house. Stanley shook his head and followed after his crazy relative. He paused to pick up the flashlight that was knocked on the ground when he was hit.

“I'm supposed to believe those weird animal things talked to us.”

“Did you forget that one of them hit you? Or do you need to be reminded?” Lucas put his fist up to Stanley's face, but the threat only shut his cousin up for no more than five seconds.

“Still, any animal can hurt us. I'm just saying, we probably hit our heads and imagined the whole damn thing.”

“Well, does your head hurt?”

“No.”

“Then that answers your question. It's all real.”

“Ugh, why can't I just wake up from this damn nightmare already,” Stanley grunted only to receive no further comment from Lucas.

When they finally reach the wooden wall of the boat house, they slowed their pace significantly and Lucas raises his rifle higher, motioning for Stanley to stay close behind. With one long pause, Lucas slowly and quietly rounded the corner like some secret agent for the government infiltrating a secret base, but saw no signs of life in the immediate vicinity.

He stepped further inside. The scent of the dusty air almost made him cough, but he swallowed the saliva in his mouth to rid his throat of the irritation. The single blub above their heads provided enough light to see most of the boat house, which was just as they had left it earlier that day. A mess.

Only one part was not visible. The large wooden crates hugging the walls nearest to him obstructed his view of a portion of the interior, casting a dim shadow on the other side. He and Stanley cautiously walked closer to the crate, but winced when each step squeaked under the floorboards. Approaching the foot of the crates, they lowered their heads and put their back against the wall.

“Is this really necessary?”

Lucas' heart skipped a beat and glared at Stanley.

“SHH!”

All of a sudden, one of the creatures poked its head out from behind the crate. Lucas quickly reacted and pointed his firearm directly at its face. But before he could do anything else, the creature's head retreated.

Out of sight, both men could hear voices.

“Twilight?”

“Yes?”

“How long until Cadence wakes up again?”

“I'm not sure, but her condition is worse than I thought. I think she coming down with something.”

“Oh okay. What do we do about the giants?”

“You know, I'm still disappointed in you for doing doing that. You need to think before you act.”

“I know, but what if they decide to jump out on us with a surprise attack.”

“Don't be silly.”

“You sure? Because they're right behind the crate ready to strike.”

There was a pause.

“Oh, well don't give them another reason to. I'll talk to them and ask them for help.”

After overhearing the conversation, one of the creatures could be heard walking just a few meters around the corner. Lucas tensed up, but never let his guard down even when his brain begged him to lower his weapon and relax. He didn't trust Stanley to handle himself in another fight. He eventually gave in to the internal strain building up inside and quickly stepped around the crate to reveal himself.

Lucas' immediate presence startled a purple pony as she froze her body stiff. He pointed the barrel of the gun directly at her.

“Stay where you are,” he demanded.

The sight of the pony was an odd sight to behold. The yellow light on the ceiling was enough to illuminate the complete form of the creature. Although, she looked nothing like he had expected. The creature was most definitely a pony, but with proportions that resembled nothing like that of any normal pony found on Earth. She had the most perfectly cut hairstyle made up of multiple shades of violet. The most striking characteristic about the pony was the spiral horn protruding from its forehead.

He also saw a light-blue winged pony with the craziest hairstyle he had ever seen. Fortunately, his immediate reveal was not met with another attack. The blue creature simply stared at him, emotionless. The color of her hair was... strikingly colorful. Did someone dye its hair to support gay rights? He assumed it was the other creature that attacked him and Stanley.

Yet, even the blue creature was not the main focus of his findings, but rather the one thing that made nearly made his eyes pop out of his head. On the floor, laying on top of an old fishing tarp, was another pony creature. It was larger than the other two with colors and features that looked like they were ripped straight out of the most feminine fairytale fantasy world imaginable.

Shortly after stepping out into the light, Stanley followed suit and looked over his cousin's shoulder. The moment his gaze hit the purple pony, he glared at it angrily.

“Shoot them.”

Lucas frowned at the absurd demand and shoved the petrified wooden stock into Stanley's gut.

“Ow!”

The armed man leaned into his shoulder.

“Shut your face,” he growled in a low voice.

With that extreme display of disrespect and insensitivity, Lucas began to think of ways to diffuse the situation that seemed to get worse with every second. Although, the blame was share between them, he had the power to end their feud. The reason for ever coming out here alone in the first place was to investigate the boat house. It was a stupid decision to begin with. All the while, he let his frustration dictate his actions and all he wanted to do was take his anger out on something.

Dragging along the source of his anger only served to aggravate their conflict. He wished Stanley was knocked out in the fishing boat instead of Kate.

After readjusting his mind for more rational thought, Lucas sighed. He lowered his rifle and smiled.

“Sorry about that,” he said to the pony. “He's a bit unstable at the moment.”

“Unstable?” Stanley questioned with irritation in his voice. “It's your fault I'm angry.”

Lucas ignored him.

“I didn't quite catch your name.” His warm smile seemed to defrost her posture.

“Twilight Sparkle,” she replied, returning an equally warm smile. Stanley chuckled while Lucas' expression remained without emotion.

“So, uh, where did you come from?” Lucas felt like the question lacked something important, but couldn't quite put a finger on it. He wanted to make sure he wasn't crazy and hoped his sanity was still around.

“W-we come from the land called Equestria,” she responded.

“How did you get here?”

Twilight hesitated at the question. She broke eye contact to look at the ground and began pawing the floor with a hoof.

“We-”

“Twilight,” interrupted the winged pony from behind.

Twilight sighed.

“What?” She glared at Rainbow.

“Um, we still have a big problem.” Rainbow pointed at the pink alicorn.

“OH!” The purple pony turned to walk away.

“Um, do you need any help?” Lucas asked, faltering over his voice. He just couldn't get over the idea that he was talking to something that isn't supposed to exist. Unicorns were stuff of fiction for cheeky novelists like C.S. Lewis. He tried to be as formal as possible, but his continuing struggle between believing what is fiction and was is real reality ceased to settle.

Twilight stopped in her tracks and quickly turned around again.

“That would be most helpful,” she said with a little more glee than the man expected.

“You want their help?” Rainbow grunted, clearly not liking the idea at all.

As soon as Rainbow spoke, Stanley was about to charge at her if it weren't for Lucas to act as a roadblock. A roadblock that fought back. Lucas shoved the provoked navigator backwards before the situation could implode completely, but this time, it wasn't enough. Stanley shoved back, trying to get around the older man by force. He just wanted to teach the talking blue horse a lesson. Both men wrestled amongst each other, but Lucas had the advantage with the rifle in his hands. The struggle in seconds.

“Stop it!” Lucas shouted, startling Twilight with his voice. “We are NOT gonna do this right now! What the hell is your problem?”

“My problem?” Stanley hissed. “People like you who treat me like a child. What's your problem?”

“Get outta here.” Lucas pushed Stanley away and pointed to the direction of the station. “We'll talk about this later. Go inside the house and make yourself useful. Now.”

“Why can we talk about it now?”

“NOW!” Lucas yelled, point the gun at him again.

“Alright alright, fine!” With that Stanley quit arguing and took off towards the station, taking his boiling attitude and flashlight with him. “This isn't over.”

Lucas watched his troubled cousin vanish into the darkness and sighed. He felt relieved to have Stanley out of his sight for the time being, but also felt embarrassed with that display of hostility that may have hurt his image. He did not want to seem like a cruel person, but with Stanley throwing a fit and his attempts to deal with it, he was unsure whether the ponies see him as anything but.

He slowly turned around and cleared his throat.

“I'm really sorry you had to see that. He's not usually like this.”

“That's quite alright,” said Twilight, much to his relief. “It seems you two have issues with one another. Are you having trouble with your friend? Why are you fighting? Was it something I said?” she asked with deep concern.

Lucas held up a hand.

“It's not your fault. Don't worry about it. It's just that things happened recently that I don't want to talk about.” Lucas flung the rifle over his shoulder. He sighed once more. “So, what do you need help with?” he asked.

“Oh, uh,” Twilight cleared her throat. “We need a place to stay for the night. Do you suppose-”

“You wanna stay at the station?”

“Is that what you call it?” Twilight cocked her head. “Well, if it isn't too much to ask, can we stay with you for the night? Cadence here needs medical attention.”

“Her?” Lucas pointed at the pink pony.

“Yes, I don't know how long she will last in her condition. I thought she just had a cold, but it seems she's getting worse.” Twilight sat down next to Cadence and caressed her mane. She knew some medical spells to heals wounds and bruises, but was highly inexperienced in detecting certain biological infections or diseases, assuming Cadence contracted some sort of illness.

Within a second, Lucas immediately rushed over to them.

“Why didn't you say so?” Lucas said in a serious tone. However, Rainbow Dash quickly reacted by blocking his path, putting herself between him and Twilight.

“Don't come any closer,” she growled.

Lucas back away and put his hands up as if to surrender. Sure he had a gun, but he didn't think of using it anymore given the circumstances.

“I don't want any trouble. I was just trying to help. We have an extra couch in the station where she can rest. I can let you stay of the employee rooms if you let me help,” he reasoned.

Rainbow stood in her defensive stance for several more seconds. She glared at him threateningly, keeping an eye out for any sudden movements. Her overly cautious and protective nature was now in full swing, putting her laid back qualities to sleep.

“Rainbow,” Twilight cut in. “Relax. Let him help.”

“I can carry her to the station. You'll be safe there. You look like you could use a break.” Lucas tried his best at a sincere smile to ease off any hostile thoughts that were going through the rainbow pony's head.

Rainbow Dash finally let off some steam and stepped aside. However, her laid back attitude were still asleep.

“I still don't trust you,” she muttered.

Lucas remained silent as he walked over to Twilight and Cadence and knelt down. He loosened his arms by shaking them free of any stiffness and scanned the pink pony. He took note of the colorful coat and hair of the pony. Her coat was very glossy from the misty reflection of the individual hairs that shined back at him. Her chest slowly and irregularly inflated and deflated, indicating just how weak her breathing was.

Questions began to form in his mind on just he was looking at. This creature had everything: wings, a horn, and expensive looking jewelry. Just what do you call this pony? A pegasus? A unicorn? A pegacorn? What's with all the valuable jewelry?

That gave him an idea.

He held out both arms and hovered his hands inches from her body. For a brief moment, he hesitated to touch her. Taking a deep breath, he slid his arms under her. With a little bit of effort, he lifted her off the ground.

“Whoa, she's heavy,” he remarked, spitting out the breath that was held up in his lungs.

Lucas began to stumble outside the small boat house with the other two ponies in tow. He was careful to keep his balance and headed towards the station. Apparently karma hates him.

“How did I get into this mess?” Stanley asked himself as he stared at his reflection in the mirror.

He tried to calm down in the silence of the bathroom and control his breathing. One moment, he was afraid of talking to Lucas, and five minutes later, he yells at him like some child who broke a window. Well, he did break the ceramic lamp in the lounge. Not his best idea at trying to illustrate just how pissed off he was. Everything should have stopped after that, but it didn't.

Stanley shook his head and took a deep breath. There was still that issue with the talking creatures that attacked him. He was sure it wasn't prank. No one would go so far as to cause him physical pain for a laugh. It wasn't a dream, or else there would be space aliens and zombies. There's no way that he heard those tiny misshapen horses talk. It just didn't seem like something that was possible.

Taking one last look at himself, he laughed at the ridiculous notion that ponies could talk. The purple one seemed act as if she was curious about him and the blue rainbow one was ready to kill him in his sleep.

He exited the bathroom and turned off the light, heading back downstairs to check up on Kate. She still hadn't woken up from her coma, which had Stanley more worried that he already was.

As he reached the door to the lounge room, he heard the front door open that reverberated throughout the house. After a pause, he rushed inside the living room to find Lucas carrying one of the pony creatures in his arms, reminding him of what he did for Kate. Lucas walked over to the empty couch across from Kate and gently set the creature down.

“Why did you bring that thing here?” Stanley asked.

“I had to do something. They need a place to stay, so I agreed to let them crash here for tonight.”

“Is this a joke. Tell me you're joking.”

“Will you just shut up and help me,” Lucas barked. “Grab one of those heaters and aim it towards her. I'll go get another blanket.”

Lucas set his rifle on the table and quickly exited the room through the door Stanley just came from. Confused, Stanley stood in the shadows of the dim room for a few silent seconds to think whether or not he wanted to follow orders. He took a deep breath and walked around the sofa Kate slept on and grabbed one of the heaters. He placed it on the floor near the second sofa and positioned it so it warmth of the heat waves hit the pink creature's face.

It was then that he heard a set of footsteps come from the lobby. He turned his head towards the open door to discover the other two creatures cautiously entering the room. Stanley quickly snapped to his feet and suspiciously held his head high, staring at the ponies that have just entered the room. He slowly stepped closer to Kate and stopped once he was at a safe distance.

Studying the strange creatures, the first words that came to him were 'unicorn' and 'pegasus'. He knew enough about myth and fairytale to make that distinction. The what really bothered him was their facial expressions. They looked almost human. Their eyes were huge and their fur looked as if someone dunked them in a pool of paint. The very sight of them in the white light was unsettling.

The two small ponies noticed Stanley staring at them, but were more concerned with their pink friend on the couch. They inched their way further inside the room, taking in the exotic and spacial dimensions of the room like they've never seen anything like it. For some odd reason, the longer the seconds ticked on, the more calm he became. It seemed like they have been through hell and back, like he did. It would still take some convincing to accept that they weren't a threat.

Breaking Stanley's concentration from studying the ponies from a safe distance, Lucas returned with a large navy-blue blanket and draped it over the body of the pony.

“She should warm in a few minutes,” he said. “Why don't you two make yourselves comfortable. Was gonna make some coffee. Do you drink coffee?”

Both ponies nodded.

“Okay then, I'll be right back.”

As soon as Lucas turned to leave, Stanley took the opportunity to follow after him. Once Lucas opened the door, he shoved Lucas into the next room.

“Why did you bring them here?” Stanley questioned.

“It was the right thing to do.”

“Do you have any idea what those things are?”

“I don't care what they are, they needed our help.”

Stanley frowned.

“Are you freaking kidding me? You left ME behind on the boat. I needed your help, too. What that hell is wrong with you?”

Lucas sighed.

“I'll admit it, it wasn't my best decision, but this changes everything. Did you see the crown the pink one had on? It was gold. Real gold. She must be some kind of queen of something. Maybe they can help us out.”

“With what?”

“I don't know. That crown and necklace gotta be worth something.”

Stanley's eyes widened.

“Oh hell no,” he said, shaking his head. “I'm not gonna let you steal anything.”

“Think of what this means.” Lucas smiled, in a somewhat maniacal fashion. “We just found creatures of legend. We could tell the local press about this. We'll be world famous.”

Even though Stanley accepted the pony creatures in lounge to be real, he refused to deceive them. The only reason he wanted to cause them harm back at the boat house was out of self-defense. His provoked and angry attitude was too much to overcome then, but now that he had a moment to think himself of the consequences of his actions while alone in the bathroom, he was able to compose himself in a more civil and calm manner. It seems now that his empathy started to kick in while staring at the sad and exhausted look on their faces. For some strange reason, he felt something for these creatures.

“I said no.”

“You don't have the authority to tell me what to do.”

Stanley simply stared at Lucas for a moment. The silence allowed him to think. His expression was so devoid of emotion that it could qualify for the best poker face award. Internally, his fury was so close to bursting, the fuse was on its last inch. Moving ever closer to edge, only one course of action would enable the breaks and put out the fire.

Stanley raised a fist and punched Lucas square in the face.

7. Numb

[Numb]

“Twilight?”

“Hmm?”

“Who's that?”

Twilight Sparkle looked up from having her head rested near Cadence's chest for the past few minutes. She didn't hear any doors open, so who else is in the room?

“Where?” she asked.

Rainbow Dash pointed at the other sofa across the glass table in the middle of the room. She saw a face of another giant. Most of its body was covered with a blanket, which was why she didn't notice it until Rainbow pointed it out. It had a longer mane than the other giants, thus giving the impression that it was female. If Twilight wasn't mistaken, the giant appeared to be in a deep sleep.

With Cadence safe and secure in a warm and comfortable position, she got to her hooves and slowly walked over to the sleeping female giant. Twilight was half expecting the creature to wake up before she got close enough to inspect it. The unicorn prepared herself for anything.

As Twilight neared the creature's head, she examined her more closely. The light in the room was far brighter and more defined than the single floating lantern in the boat house. The giant's face had no fur or snout to speak of. Only tan skin. Pinkish even. A color that closely resembled her friend Pinkie Pie gone pale after seeing a sad pony. Its narrow nose pointed downward while pink lips protruded out of the mouth as if swollen from a tumor. Although, she couldn't conclude it puffy lips were normal for their species, it certainly wasn't normal for ponies. She couldn't see any ears on top of her head. Either that meant that they hid behind the long black mane, or the creature lacked ears entirely.

The one thing that nagged at Twilight were the creature's eyes. Even though the eyelids were closed, they were unusually small compared to the rest of its face. She could only assume the spherical membranes were no larger than marbles. Upon closer inspection, the eyelids lacked the common involuntary motion found while in REM sleep. They were completely still, like the brain was devoid of any cognitive function, carrying out information in the receptors and mixing them up into warped visions, therefore translating the information into dreams.

Setting aside her mystifying understanding of dreams—which was more of an educated guess—she moved on with her observations.

Dangling out from underneath the blanket was one of its forelimbs. Twilight examined the long and slender claws on the end of the limb, only to find that they didn't look anything like the claws her draconian assistant, Spike, had. It appeared to be more of a paw, with multi-jointed digits and thumbs. The thumbs and “fingers” were interesting, to say the least. This being could do so many things with careful precision that even magic has trouble preforming. The scientific term that most accurately described the paw was hand. A term that a certain mint-green unicorn mare had told her once before.

Sifting through her thoughts of what she knew of species classification from her brief studies of biology, it looked very much like a primate, or somewhere within the ape family. There were some apes in Equestria, but none were quite as evolved as the one right in front of her. This thought both fascinated and frightened her at the same time. Just where on earth were these things and why haven't she heard of them before? She didn't even know the proper name of the creature. If only Fluttershy were here.

Twilight was unsure whether to wake the giant or wait till she woke up on her own, but either way, the giant would not be happy with Twilight standing mere inches away from her face. It would be frightening for both of them. Twilight back away slowly and moved closer to Cadence.

“So what are they, Twilight?” Rainbow whispered.

“They look like very advanced or evolved forms of primates,” she answered with the same volume. Rainbow gave a confused look.

“What's a primate?”

“Sort of like an ape, or monkey. They stand on two legs and have hands to grab things. Though I don't know how intelligent they are. They might be smarter than they look.”

“Are they dangerous?”

“I would like to say no.” Twilight sheepishly grinned. Even she knew the implications of the giants' size, which brought her at odds with her certainty.

“What if they decide to attack again?” Rainbow asked. Her concern was reflected through the serious tone in her voice.

“I don't think they will. But remember what I said, don't give them a reason to. I will tell them we mean no harm and we just want to get back to Equestria, but we need their cooperation and we can't do that without more information.”

“Can we wait till Cadence wakes up?” Rainbow looked about the room. “This place give me the creeps.”

“She should wake up soon,” Twilight said. She knew little of the status of her health, hoping that she was right. “But if you're so scared, I can do all the talking.”

Rainbow blinked rapidly and quickly inhaled.

“I'm not scared!” she growled with more volume than intended.

“AGHH!” a muffled, yet loud cry echoed through the far door. “God damn! Aggh!”

A few seconds later, one of the giants fiercely opened the door. He quickly closed the door behind him and took a deep breath while looking at the floor.

“I'm so gonna regret that later,” he said to himself.

He raised his head and scanned the room. When his gaze met those of two ponies, he sighed. He slowly walked off to the side, stepping closer towards the couch all without taking his eyes off of the miniature mythological manifestations.

He came to a stop directly behind the sofa and casually leaned his arms on the long headrest. He appeared to be studying them with indifference. His bittersweet expression only served to reinforce the silence that clawed at the air. The awkward and emotionless stare had never been so formidable.

Twilight finally cleared her throat.

“Hel-”

*thud*

Before Twilight could even finish the first word in her sentence, the loud thump bumped the far door. A second later, the second giant forced it open and stumbled through. Twilight's eyes went wide when she saw blood trickling down his face

“You broke my nose you little prick!”

His silent friend looked unamused as he turned his head to address him.

“You deserved it,” he said, much to Twilight's disgust.

The injured giant looked furious, that much Twilight could tell. She had to do something before it went too far. She didn't know what was going on between the two of them, but the one with the broken nose looked as if he was about to attack his associate.

“Let's see how you like it!”

She was right. He started to charge. His friend reacted by bracing himself.

Before the man could reach his target, Twilight instantly lit up her horn and teleported right between the two giants in less than a second. The resulting pulse wave that warped the space around her managed to send both of them away from each other. They fought to maintain their center of gravity and were forced to tumble away to opposite sides of the room.

“STOP!” she shouted. She hoped she didn't have to, but the fighting left her no other choice. “Please don't do this! This is not the way.”

If there was an award for diplomatic prowess, Twilight would win gold. She devised a plan in her head that would settle the dispute between the two beings and hopefully solve the problem.

“What is going on? This is not how friends should treat each other. Friends don't fight.”

“We're not friends,” one of them muttered.

Twilight's heart skipped a beat. Those three words nearly ripped all the air out of her lungs as she face went cold. She thought for sure these creatures were friends, but had some issue to sort out first.

“You're not... friends?” Twilight said with a deflated voice. “I'm so sorry.”

Both of them fell silent, looking at her. She was now the center of attention, which was the last place she wanted to be. In trying to be cooperative, she was at great risk of becoming their enemy. Her very intrusion upon their property earlier that evening and putting herself between their social interactions in their own house was not making the situation any better.

Twilight let her head drop after her apology. She lit up her horn and teleported across the room to her original spot. She didn't feel like doing it the old-fashioned way.

Stanley and Lucas blinked at each other with wide eyes. The purple unicorn just suddenly appeared out of nowhere to break up their fight and disappeared in a flash of white light. One moment she was there, then she was gone. It only took a minute to form for them to realize what happened.

“Uh...” Stanley muttered.

He and his cousin half-expected to enter a world of hurt with another pummeling from the blue creature as a result of their fierce actions. They slowly turned their heads towards the latter half of the room where the three creatures were located. The blue and purple creatures were living breathing Pegasus and Unicorn respectively. The pink one on the sofa was a combination of both. To their relief, the blue one was looking at them amused while leaning against the armrest of the sofa. She didn't seem to care that he and Lucas were fighting. The pink one was still sleeping, no surprise there, but the purple one that interrupted their brawl was quietly waiting for something to happen.

Lucas was still angry at Stanley for breaking his nose, but because they had more important things to think about, like the fact that the little unicorn possessed some super powers, his anger started to fade. Their ordeal would never truly end until they could figure out what to do with the strange ponies in their house. For once, he hoped Kate would just wake up and solve everything.

He and Stanley remained apart, separated by several meters of floating dust and humiliation. Lucas slowly regained his movement after snapping back to reality. He grabbed one of the old cushioned chairs from the corner next to the employee door and cautiously set it next to the sofa. All the while with a broken skip in his step.

Stanley simply stepped towards the chair that he already placed on the opposite end of the sofa a half hour earlier and sat down. They were on opposite ends of the couch while Kate slept silently in the middle, blissfully unaware of the schism between her colleagues.

What did I get myself into? Lucas thought.

For a few seconds, it was quiet. Lucas and Stanley exchanged looks between the pony creatures and each other. The ponies did the same. They could hear the wind blowing much more violently outside the windows, and feel the warmth of the electric heaters that stimulated their senses.

It was then that Stanley noticed just how bizarre the immediate scene looked. Across the glass table at the center, the sofa and the creatures were pretty much the position as them. More like a mirror image or a metaphysical reflection of themselves, which were silly—yet wildly disturbing—thoughts formed in his unstable mind. With the pink creature laying on the sofa and the smaller two ponies standing on opposite sides of the couch, it was like someone took a picture and replaced them with mythical pon-

Stanley chuckled to himself, hoping he wasn't the only one who saw it.

“What's so funny?” Lucas asked him.

“Oh nothing,” he replied, scratching the back of his neck. “So should we ask them what they are?”

“We're not deaf ya know,” uttered the blue Pegasus.

Stanley looked at her and cleared his throat.

“Well... what are you?” he asked, trying his best at being formal.

“What are YOU?” the Pegasus repeated.

“I asked you first.” His attempt at formalities left him faster than they came. So much for that idea.

“I think can answer that,” said the Unicorn.

“Hello. My name is Twilight Sparkle.”

Twilight Sparkle? Seriously? Stanley nearly choked on air upon hearing that name. He thought of it as more of a collection of words that sounded cool when put together. It also reminded him of a certain bestselling book that was recently published a couple week ago.

“I am the faithful student of her majesty, Princess Celestia, keeper of the Sun and co-ruler of the Kingdom of Equestria. I am also steward of the Ponyville Public Library and the Element of Magic,” she continued with pride. Both men simply nodded without a single clue of what she said. Their stack of questions just tripled. “Over there is my friend Rainbow Dash.”

“The fastest flier in all of Equestria,” Rainbow added with more pride than her friend.

“Uh hu,” Stanley murmured. The blue pony's name was already given from the look of her hair, but now it was official. The rest of Twilight's explanation came out as coherent gibberish. The word magic caught his attention for a second, but didn't think too much of it. “So you're a...”

“Unicorn. Rainbow Dash is a pegasus.”

“That's what I thought.” Stanley rolled his eyes where his gaze landed back on Lucas, who was sitting silently, thinking to himself and carefully rubbing his nose. Trickles of crimson continued to flow from his nostrils as he tried to wipe it off on the sleeve of his coat. He could care less about his clothes at that point.

“Wait, you know what I am?” Twilight asked. The glint in her eyes and surprised tone was a clear indication that she was not expecting to hear that answer.

“Yeah. You're not supposed to be real.”

“Neither are you,” Rainbow contended. “What are you anyways? A giant monster disguised as a monkey or something?”

Stanley couldn't help but bring his hand to his face and laugh. It was the only way he could illustrate his vexation. She just called him a monkey. Unbelievable. He sighed and looked directly into her magenta eyes.

“I'm a human. And so is my stupid cousin over there, though I'm not too sure what he is.”

Lucas perked up at the remark and shot Stanley an annoyed glare.

“What's that supposed to mean?” he argued, wincing at the pain of his facial muscles. Stanley snorted and turned back to Twilight, leaving the question unanswered.

“Anyways, what did you just do?” Stanley looked at Twilight straight in the eye.

“Do what?”

“You just appeared out of thin air. Is that some sort of mind trick or something?”

“I used a teleportation spell. Very advanced magic. I am just a handful of unicorns who have mastered the spell completely. I'm sorry for startling you like that. I really am.”

Lucas and Stanley glanced at each other in disbelief. Shortly after communicating with the skeptical squints in their eyes, they finally came to an agreement.

They both started laughing. Twilight's brow furrowed at the reaction.

“Did I say something wrong?” she curiously asked, clearly no sharing their sense of humor.

“Either you're playing tricks on us, or you're lying,” Stanley proclaimed. “Magic isn't real.”

With those three last words came a grievous battle that had begun to eat away at her mind. Those words were like poison to her ears, slowly turning her brain into goop and slowly oozing its way out of every pore in her skull. She didn't believe him. Magic has to exist. There's no way it can't.

“Who are you calling a liar!?” barked Rainbow Dash. She stared at Stanley dead in the eyes. She looked like she was ready to charge at any moment. He took notice and stopped laughing. Lucas held up his hands in response to the outburst.

Twilight blinked uncontrollably for a second in concurrence with her pegasus friend. She quickly came back to her senses and shook her head.

“N-not real?” she stuttered. “But that's impossible!”

“No, MAGIC is impossible.” Stanley solemnly stated. “I know that from twenty-five years of my experience as an atheist. There's always a scientific explanation for everything... well most things, but I'm not gonna bother telling you about the things I know nothing about. So do us a favor and don't to it again. Got it!” He rose his voice slightly to seal his request.

“O-okay,” the unicorn answered in a hushed voice, clearly dejected after the statement. She knew magic existed, but would wait to prove it again. She had teleported quite easily and used an illumination spell earlier, so that should be proof enough. Why weren't they convinced? She wondered if humans explained nature from a scientific perspective, but that's still only half of the bigger picture. How else do they explain Celestia and Luna raising the sun and moon respectively? How do they explain the weather? How do they explain the seasons? Surely they have something similar to Earth pony magic.

Though none of those queries answered some of the more vital questions she wanted to ask.

“Now,” Stanley began again. “Since you asked, my name is Stanley. That's my cousin, Lucas.” Stanley made up for his rude comment speaking in a more modest tone.

“Hi.” Lucas waved by plainly raising his right hand and putting it back down. He wore a nervous expression with his left hand covering his nose to put pressure on his injury. The longer thought about what Stanley did to him, the less cared. Besides, Stanley was right. He deserved it. He knew he couldn't stay mad at his cousin forever.

“Who's your other friend there?” Stanley pointed at the pink mare on the sofa. “Is she a queen or something?”

“Her name is Princess Cadence, ruler of the Crystal Empire and my childhood foalsitter.” Twilight answered. “Equestria has no queens.”

“Princess huh?”

“What about your friend there?” Twilight flipped the question on them, pointing at the sofa next to Stanley. “Is everything alright with her?”

“You mean Kate? She's fine. She just hit her head. Don't worry about her.” Stanley waved a hand in the air. “So why are you here? Or better yet, why were hiding in our boat house?”

“We got lost,” Rainbow finally spoke. “We needed a place to crash.”

“Okay,” Lucas mumbled. “And how did you get here?”

“We flew.”

It wasn't hard for the sailors to figure what she meant by that. They obviously had wings, but it still begged the question.

“From where?”

“Er...” Rainbow trailed off. “Twilight?”

“I'm not sure. The last thing I remember was writing a letter to Princess Celestia before going to bed in the library yesterday. I hardly remember what I wrote in the letter. Something about my daily report on friendship by helping Pinkie Pie with a party.”

“Wait, then how did you know that Cadence was with us when I caught you from falling?” Rainbow Dash asked. Twilight was surprised her friend even remembered that little detail.

“That, I don't know. My memory is fuzzy from anything else but who I was with.”

“Falling?” Stanley questioned after snapping out of that short and confusing conversation between the two ponies. “From where?”

“I believe we teleported high above the ocean and I started to fall. I don't know where I was before that. We got lost trying to find land for about three hours, but we managed to find it before...”

The image of falling into the freezing cold water and the thought of Cadence's potential grave condition gave her shivers. Even though the hospitality of these humans was more than enough nurse her back to health, she was still worried of the potential threats of disease or injury that she might have overlooked.

“Before what?” Stanley leaned in, breaking her unblinking stare.

“Before we found the boat house to take shelter for night. That's how we got here. I'm sorry I can't tell you more. I don't know exactly what happened, but I want to find out.” Twilight paused. “That reminds me, where are we?”

Stanley shrugged. “About five kilometers from Tolaga Bay?”

“Where's that?”

“North.”

Twilight was getting a little impatient.

“What I mean is, what country are we in?”

“New Zealand,” Lucas replied.

“Where's that?” Rainbow asked.

“Do you want all the details?” Lucas said with obvious sarcasm. Twilight nodded, apparently ignoring the sarcasm.

“South Pacific, west of Australia, the only place on Earth I'd rather live,” was all the detail Lucas cared to provide.

“I've never heard of New Zealand before.” Twilight tapped her front hooves together. “Where is it relative to Equestria?”

“There's no such place as Equestria.” This time it was Lucas' turn to lay down the bad news.

“That can't be right. We were just there yesterday.”

“Well I don't know it you know this, but this ain't no fantasy land full dragons and elves,” Stanley chuckled at his reference. “Your... kind—unicorns and pegasus and all—are not supposed to be real. Ponies can't talk, nor are they purple or blue. Come to think of it, I don't know how you're talking in perfect English either.”

Stanley leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. Their predicament—at least, that's what she made it sound like—would take some time to sink in (assuming they would accept everything he said). He knew they weren't going to believe everything she was on the fly.

On the other hand, he wanted a little more proof that they were really from some magical land that didn't exist. The colored ponies were anything but ordinary. The perpetual conveyor that pulled him through the universe in a linear path mocked him with every second as the colored ponies in the room refused to disappear. In all his year of being alive, nothing had been more out-of-this-world than what happened in the last hour.

The search for the truth would have to start somewhere. Just not today. He really wanted to get some sleep, but until he could trust the ponies, that was a bad idea. A slight caffeine filled inhibitor should take care of that.

“Just one more question?” Twilight began, returning to her normal senses after staring at the humans for several seconds.

“Yeah?”

“What's the date today?” Twilight hoped that she could prove her credibility if the years were still the same among countries.

“October 14th,” Stanley quickly answered.

“And the year?”

“2005.”

Twilight put a hoof to her face and sighed. She was lost and defeated. This place was far more alien than she thought. Not only was the year off by a significant amount, the number suggested their civilization to only be two thousand years old. Ponies have been around twice that long.

“Why is that relevant?” Stanley continued.

“Oh, uh... no reason.” Twilight looked around, trying to draw attention away from her lie.

Stanley accepted the answer. He stood up and brushed his coat with his hands.

“Alright, I'm gonna go get that coffee Lucas promised.” He began to walk toward the employee door on his way to the kitchen. Before he got halfway he turned to address Lucas. “It's the least I can do for... you know...”

Lucas crossed his arms and leaned back to give his cousin a sour look.

After Stanley hurried out of the room, Lucas sighed and buried his head in his hands. He finally had some time to think. He was no longer infuriated with Stanley, only retaining some aspects of anger that would eventually evaporate. He mused on his ambivalence of their crumbling relations, so he hoped their new guests would help them with their slight problem. They seemed pretty intelligent and reasonable for mythological ponies that could talk.

His nose continued to pound at his face. It hurt like hell when he touched the bridge of his nose where skin was bruised. It's not like he didn't see this coming. He'll admit that his overreaction to Stanley's justified assault was a bit off the wall, but adrenalin was too much to overcome. His carelessness had dragged the ponies further into their conflict. Speaking of which...

Lucas slid his palms to his cheeks and moved his finger away from his eyes. They never continued to stare at him, keeping a watchful and curious eye on his every move. A curious bunch they must be.

There was only one thing he wanted to ask of them.

“Can you show some of your magic powers?”

8. Static

[Static]

A smile spread across Twilight's face to the point when she could smile no longer. A plethora of possible demonstrations began to circumvent the interconnected web in her mind that would not only prove her magical abilities to the human, but could bring her one step closer to improving their already broken relations with each other—which had not turned out as well as she hoped. Plus, since the human claimed to have never seen magic before, she thought she'd impress him with some of the basics.

She quickly activated her horn and focused her magical aura onto the thick book that lay lifeless on the glass table at the center of the room. The book was lifted into the air with ease and Twilight flawlessly levitated it towards the dumbfounded human.

Lucas' eyes nearly popped out of his head. He watched at the small purple unicorn—aka 'Twilight Sparkle'—raise his favorite history book off the table without touching it. The book floated near his face and gently descended on his lap.

“Wow,” he silently mouthed. Lucas poked at the book, making sure there were no wires attached. He picked it up and flipped through the pages. They all seemed to be in order. No pages wrinkled or missing, just the extensive content of world history.

“That's just a simple levitation spell,” Twilight chimed. “Most unicorns learn that spell at a young age. I've known it more than half my life and now it's like second nature to me.”

Lucas looked up from the pages.

“Here on Earth, we call it telekinesis.”

“So you do have magic?” Twilight scrunched her face, confused at his comment.

“Well no. Magic is supernatural mumbo jumbo. Telekinesis is supposed to be scientifically possible, theoretically. We believe that because we know that if our brains were slightly more evolved than they are now, we might have the mental capacity to manipulate objects with out minds,” he explained. Lucas felt smart with what he knew about science fiction becoming reality from reading X-men comics. “But there's no strong evidence that humans can do it, even on a microscopic scale. I don't know if I want to call it magic just yet.”

Twilight heart sank a little for her failed attempt at convincing Lucas of magic. He seemed to know much about psychology. She rapidly thought of another method that would certainly change his mind.

“How about this.” Twilight pointed at her horn from Lucas to see. Despite his skepticism, he looked positively enthralled again when she lit up her horn for a second time and pointed at another object on the table—which in this case was a glass apple.

“Observe the apple,” she drawled.

The spell she was about to preform was one she had not used in a while. It was advanced for any normal unicorn, but intermediate spell for her abilities. Twilight concentrated her magic onto every molecule in the glass apple and levitated it a few feet above the table. The apple gradually began to spin as she poured more magic into the very quantum construction of the glass and began to break apart the very atomic bonds it was made of and recombine them into something different, changing the order and shape in front of their very eyes. The object was soon enveloped in a bubble of white as the room grew significantly brighter. There was a small electrical spark that orbited the sphere which let out a screeching hiss.

Lucas shielded his eyes from the white light that flashed from the glass apple. Seconds later, the light suddenly died down and eventually faded into darkness. His eye sight was slightly burned and fuzzy, but he recovered enough to see properly again. What did the unicorn just do to my priceless apple? He thought.

Twilight carefully placed the object back on the table and grinned.

When Lucas blinked away the dark spot in his eyes, he looked for the glass apple, only to find something else entirely. The object in question was replaced by a perfectly crafted sculpture of what appeared to be a diamond heart. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Even Rainbow Dash—who watched the entire lighting display from behind—was rather impressed.

“What did-”

“I just sculpted it into the exact shape of the Crystal Heart,” Twilight interrupted, too pleased with her work to let him finish.

“The what?” Lucas asked, still wearing an awestruck expression. He reached over to pick up the diamond-shaped glass heart, but hesitated to touch it. He wasn't sure if it was real, would collapse in a pile of dust, or explode the moment he touched it. A pair of worried eyes had befallen the lavender unicorn.

She nodded. “It's safe.”

He took a deep breath and grabbed the diamond heart. He held it up to his face and inspected every neatly cut surface with his fingers. It looked like it was crafted by a professional sculptor who was so precise in the geometric shape that it could pass for a real diamond. However, it was still glass. A slender vertical support molded out of the same material as the heart kept it upright and balanced on the table.

“I thought I'd show you a more difficult spell that most unicorn aren't able to preform,” Twilight continued. “It's called the Transfiguration Spell. What you are seeing there is the Crystal Heart, the primary energy source of the Crystal Empire. It was the first thing that came to mind because Cadence here is the Crystal Princess. She runs the Empire with some help of my brother, Shining Armor.”

Lucas listened intently on her dubious explanation on the significance of the heart. It seemed he had a lot to learn from these sentient ponies after that wave of important information that he was certain did not exist. He was pretty sure there was so such thing as the Crystal Empire anywhere in human history, and even if there was, he would have surely known about it.

Twilight watched Lucas as he seemed entranced by the heart, wearing an expression of doubt and incredulity. This worried her deeply. It was as if he was trying to believe something that shouldn't exist in his world, which accurately described his perspective on the nature of magic. Either he was scared or shocked, emotions within him began to flood his mind.

“Amazing.” Lucas uttered as he finally broke from his delicate operation of inspecting the glass heart. Though his tone of voice implied the difficulty in trying to accept what he had just witnessed, whether it be magic or an illusion. “How is this possible?”

“I can show you another-”

“No no, that's alright, you don't have to.” Lucas held up a hand. “I believe you.” He rubbed his forehead. “It's just that... I don't know what to say. This is all so weird to me.”

“I don't blame you,” Twilight assured. “Magic is a difficult concept to understand. I myself have spent years studying it so I can discern its inner workings from other known natural phenomena.”

Lucas sighed. “I don't want to sound harsh, but with your... supernatural powers and all, you make me feel so...” he paused as he bashfully looked off to the side.

Twilight waited for him to continue, but when the seconds ticked on longer than she wanted, she spoke up.

“So what?”

Lucas took a deep breath while trying his best to say the word that had him at war with himself.

“Powerless.”

Twilight gave a confused, yet empathetic look. “Why do you say that?”

Lucas took a long breath and exhaled slowly. He waited for the day he could tell someone how he really felt about the world compared to himself. However, he never thought he'd express it to a small purple unicorn sitting a few feet in front of him. Clutching the glass heart in his hands, he began.

“I don't know, I guess every person who has ever lived has wanted something greater than themselves and wanted the power to change things. Power to control our lives and have the ability to do anything beyond what nature would allow. You just showed me that that's possible. But the way I see it, I just felt a little smaller. Outsmarted by a mythical creature. An insignificant human who is smart enough to understand everything around me, but too feeble to do anything with it. So close, yet so far away.”

Twilight head sank. For the first human she had met, she was quite surprised he gave such a philosophical statement. She knew exactly what he meant, but didn't know how to react at first. She thought she could reassure him with her own choice of words.

“Don't say that. You DO have the power to change things. You don't need magic to do it. You don't have to belittle yourself like this.”

“Easy for you to say,” he countered. “You've always had it. Our species has known of the concept of magic and the supernatural since the dawn of man, but it's never been proven to actually exist. I've always liked the idea of magic of modern fantasy stories, even though I never believed that any of it was remotely applicable to the real world. Now here you are, proving the world wrong. But also reminding me of my own little misfortunes.”

Twilight now remained silent. She could see that the human was indulging in self-pity for who he was and what that meant of his species. Her benign instincts searched for a way to voice her logical concerns with his pessimistic thoughts. Although, he made a good point and had a good reason to think negatively of himself on one simple fact. She unintentionally played a part in his recent dysphoria. This was partly her fault. She put him in this position. She could only understand the surface of his plight, so she began to wonder what she could do to fix the damage she had caused.

She was at a loss for words as Lucas stood up to stretch his legs and began to pace around. If Twilight had a quill and parchment with her to record ever observation of the human, she'd run out of ink. However, out of respect, she opted to write nothing if had a quill and parchment.

“I know I can't have everything I want,” he continued. “But I can always count on my imagination to fill the emptiness I feel every day. No matter how hard I try, I never get to where I want to be. I'm not saying that I'm waiting for everything to be alright—because I know that idea isn't true for everyone, I'm just doing what I can to get by. But you know what, that's fine, That's just how it is. I can't change that now. When you try enough times, you start to learn that it doesn't matter. Even then, it doesn't hurt to keep searching for something you'll never find.”

Lucas paused to catch his breath and recollect his thoughts.

“I've always thought about why things happen the way they do and why they tend to pick on me rather than someone else. First the boat, then Stanley, and now this.”

By now, Lucas had ignored exactly who it was he was talking to, avoiding direct eye contact with Twilight and Rainbow Dash. He slowly paced back and forth behind the sofa and continued to think out loud.

In the fairly sized kitchen of another part of the building, Stanley frantically searched every drawer and cabinet for the can coffee beans. He had been looking for over five minutes, but still failed to find his prize. In the meantime, he began to run scenarios in his head on how the rest of the night would play out now that they had colorful creatures of pure myth to look after. He also wondered what Lucas was doing with his alone time while sitting in that room with talking ponies. For some reason, that thought made him chuckle.

With every square inch of the kitchen checked, Stanley gave up looking for the coffee beans and began thinking of alternatives. He opened the fat white refrigerator at the end of the room and started sifting through its contents. He was relieved when he found a substitute.

“Hm, this is even better,” he mumbled.

He grabbed four cans of Pepsi out of the bottom shelf and placed them of the table. It was tricky to hold all four in his hands at once, but managed to do it would dropping a single one. He made his way out of the kitchen and back to the lounge.

As he approached the door, he stopped as he remembered one crucial thing before reentering the room. He turned and walked up the stairs to the second floor. Down the dim and narrow hallway, he made his way to his own temporary living quarters to retrieve his most expensive possession.

Setting down the soda cans on his small bed, he turned on the light and began rummaging through what little belongings he owned. He glanced at the digital clock on his nightstand, reading eleven-twenty. When he found what he was looking for, he wrapped the strap around his neck, grabbed the soda cans, and hurried out of there. He skipped every third step on his way down the stairs and barreled his way through the living room door.

“-and to think I could solve the problem on my own, I never knew what it was like feel so helpless.” Lucas finished his solemn speech as Stanley loudly entered.

“Are you talking about me?” Stanley jested as he set the cans of soda on the glass table. He noticed a particular heart-shaped sculpture on the table that didn't use to be there.

“Partially, but no. Did you get the coffee?”

“I couldn't find the coffee beans, so I brought Pepsi instead.”

“What's pepsi?” Rainbow asked, suspicious of the drinks in question.

“Only the best soda brand ever made,” Stanley commended. “You know what soda is, right?”

“Sure I do,” she quipped, glaring at him.

“Okay then, there you go.” He rudely slid one of the can in her direction.

“What are you doing with your camera?” Lucas asked as he walked up to grab a can for himself, quickly opening it and taking a sip.

“What else do you think?”

“But why?”

“For evidence. You know how in some horror movies when people take pictures of ghosts that aren't really there and the images come up fuzzy or completely empty. I'm just gonna make sure we're not the only ones seeing them.” Stanley pointed a finger at Rainbow Dash. She recoiled her head a bit, but leaned forward. She opened her mouth and chomped her teeth together directly on his index finger.

“OW!” Stanley screamed as he quickly snapped his arm back.

Lucas reacted by pulling his cousin away from the blue pegasus and stepping away from the table before things could get worse. Twilight activated her horn and forced Rainbow back with her magic.

“Rainbow Dash!” she yelled.

The throbbing pain in Stanley's finger reminded him that it was all real after denying their very existence since.

“Does that answer your question?” Lucas said with a smirk.

“She bit me,” Stanley complained.

“I can see that.” Lucas chuckled in his cousin's ear. “It was actually kinda funny.”

“But that really hurt.”

“Stop whining you big baby. You're lucky she didn't kick you in the balls.”

Across from them, Twilight was giving her blue friend a nasty look as she tried to talk some sense into her. The rainbow-haired pegasus remained unscathed from the assault of Twilight's words that failed to convey any further than another boring lecture. After the few words of intervention from the unicorn that had fazed right through Rainbow Dash, Twilight turned to address the two men.

“I'm really sorry for Rainbow Dash's behavior. She doesn't trust you.”

“How is that our fault!?” Stanley argued angrily, being held back by Lucas to prevent him from doing any more damage that already dealt.

“It's just that she's never seen your kind before. Neither have I, but it seems she still can't get past the fact that you might still be dangerous.”

“Well she's got a point,” Stanley quickly said before Lucas squeezed his hand to penalize him for siding with them. “AHHH- I mean, why does she think that?”

“Well, she is concerned with my safety and the security of Princess Cadence.”

Lucas whispered something in Stanley's ear, but Twilight's couldn't hear what was it was. Stanley sighed before being released out of his cousin's grip.

“What do you want us to do?”

“Prove to her you're not a threat.”

Stanley rolled his eyes. He knew he had been doing a piss poor job of showing his peaceful side. He grabbed his can of soda, opened it, and took a sip.

“And how do we do that?”

Twilight started thinking of ideas that could potentially work, but didn't know if any of them applied to humans. Lucas, on the other hand, had one idea in mind that had been itching at him since the first demonstration of magic. He sat down in his original chair and rubbed his chin.

“Okay how about this; do you have a spell that evaluates injuries?” Lucas finally asked, breaking the ice that froze the group in place. “Or maybe something so you can read minds?”

Twilight was taken back by the question. She was reluctant to articulate an honest answer, but was afraid of how it would affect her perfect record of obeying Equestrian law. It would potentially hurt her reputation if Celestia found out she broke the rules of giving that sort of information to strangers. Mind spell were highly illegal in Equestria.

But one thing was for certain, she wasn't in Equestria anymore.

“Um, I don't know about reading minds, but I do know a reliable cognition spell that helps me detect critical changes in brain activity. It lets me shadow a host's mind for a few seconds.”

“Even better.” Lucas nodded

Twilight—despite her knowledge of Equestrian policy—had learned a few psychological spells from Princess Celestia herself, but could only be use for emergencies only. She wasn't allowed to tell anypony about them because they were considered unethical by the majority of pony society, but given her current circumstances, this particular case outweighed the law. Although, it all depended on the reason for why Lucas eagerly wanted to know such forbidden magic.

“Why do you ask?”

“I want you to use it on my boss, Kate.”

Stanley immediately shot his cousin a glare and trying to slap him in the head, but Lucas deflected the incoming arm just in time.

“Are you out of your mind?” he retorted. “You going to trust HER with Kate's life?”

The navigator's protest was ignored as Lucas continued to ponder in his seat. Stanley would have drawn the line right then, but if it wasn't for the fact that he longer possessed enough anger and frustration from earlier to set things straight again. Instead, he became curiously concerned with that Lucas was insinuating.

“I agree,” Twilight said, garnering the attention of them both. “Are you sure you want to trust me with such a monumental request? This spell is very complex and I don't like to be tricked.”

“The way I see it, we have to start trusting each other if we want things to work out and prove to you we are willing to cooperate. I mean we're just having a bad day and I can't stand it anymore. I really want to know it Kate is alright. I'm starting to have doubts about her condition, which I'm sure you do too for your... princess. But Kate's been unconscious for a while and I just want to make sure it isn't too serious.”

Twilight thought for a moment on the validity of his request. He had a point. She and her friends were lost in an unknown country with no knowledge of how they got there. If she's learned anything about friendship, it's that trust was important to buildinging a strong relationship between ponies, and breaking that trust is the fastest way to lose a friend.

Stanley hated to admit it, but he agreed with his plan. When he first found Kate unconscious in the fishing boat, he was practically panicking. The severity of Kate's condition was unknown and they had no way of finding. It this plan worked, then maybe he'd believe that it was truly magic and not some insipid stunt.

Twilight confirmed their consent through their expressions and nodded.

“If you wish.”

Twilight stepped towards the sofa were the female human named Kate lay unconscious. Lucas and Stanley took a few steps back to let the unicorn conduct her magical brain scanner through that small spiral horn of hers. Fortunately for Stanley, he came prepared. He took off the lens cap of his digital camera, pressed the power button, and pointed the lens at the sofa. He switched the camera function to video mode and began recording.

Twilight gave one last look at the humans before taking a deep breath. She closed her eyes and activated her magic. As she channeled enough magic to sustain a working mind spell, she immediately felt something strange floating around in mana-space, almost like an entity made entirely of energy. In fact, as she focused more on the pool of the invisible mana-space that surrounded the room, she actually felt two separate energy signatures that were hovered above them.

Ignoring the small distractions, Twilight leaned in closer to Kate's forehead and concentrated all her magic onto the dynamic network of brain waves that pulsed within the human's mind. She instantly noticed just how advanced the neural network of the human's psychological activity really was. It was unlike anything she had seen before. Perhaps they were more advanced than she thought.

As Lucas requested, Twilight monitored Kate's brain waves to see if they were in working order. They were. However, it was much weaker than she expected. Her mind seemed to dodge her every attempt to grab hold of the central core of Kate's consciousness. As she did that, Twilight sent a significant portion of her magic elsewhere to warp the space around the room, sucking in every sliver of energy to help maintain the spell.

This was a huge mistake.

As soon as Twilight entered her mind completely, a spark from her horn ignited. Her own magic began to fluctuate out of control. She tried to fix the problem by manually shutting down the magical flow from her horn, but it was too late.

“What's going-” Lucas tried asking before something cut him off.

Within a fraction of a second, a quick burst of neither light nor sound shook the entire room. The displacement wave reverberated throughout the floor and the walls of the building with enough power to knock books off the shelves of their respected tables around the lounge. Twilight remained stationary as the Stanley and Lucas jumped upon feeling the noiseless pulse.

For a moment, Twilight began to glow purple just like her aura. A screeching sound came shortly after the mini shockwave, scratching at the everyone's ears, but then suddenly dissipated as quickly as it came.

After several hair-raising seconds that the spell was active, Twilight was able to regain control of her magic. Knowing an abrupt cutoff from preforming a difficult spell could be fatal, she brought down the power output from her horn ever so slowly.

As it finally faded completely, everything when back to normal. Twilight collapsed to the floor. Rainbow Dash quickly ran to her friend's aid.

“Twilight!?” she cried, lending the exhausted purple mare a helping hoof. “Talk to me!”

“Huh?”

“What did you just do? I've never seen you do that before.”

Twilight finally got to her hooves and stumbled around. Her head pounded as if she threw her head against a wall. As dizzy as she was, she was able to recover fully within seconds.

“Do what before?”

“Was that supposed to happen?” Lucas asked. “With the boom and everything?”

“I have it all on tape if you want to see it.” Stanley complied a few feet next to him and kept recording. He would wait another minute before ending the video feed.

“I felt something strange, but I was managed to enter her mind for a short period of time before everything when white,” Twilight explained. “I can tell you that she is doing fine, but her brain activity, is weak, like she isn't even dreaming.”

“That doesn't sound good,” Lucas muttered.

“I have done what I can. I'm sorry I can't do anything to help her get better. You'll have to wait till she wakes up to find out.” Twilight yawned.

“Did that take a lot out of you?”

“Not really,” she paused to take a breath. “I just haven't had a good night's sleep yet.” Twilight's eyes felt heavier with each passing second. “Speaking of sleep, I could use some of it.”

Rainbow helped Twilight crawl over to Cadence where the unicorn slumped down and fell asleep almost immediately. Rainbow then stood up the address that humans.

“Don't try anything funny, ya hear,” she warned with a suspicious squint. “I got my eye on you.”

She was on the verge of collapsing herself to take a quick nap, but the humans kept her from doing so. So she simply sat on her haunches next to Twilight and continued to observe the two humans, no matter how boring it was.

Stanley and Lucas looked at each other, communicating only through rapid eye movements.

“What should we do now?” Stanley lowered his voice enough so only Lucas could hear, but didn't qualify as a whisper.

“I'll tell you what.” Lucas began. “I'm gonna take their advice and go to bed, and we'll take care of this mess in the morning. When Kate wakes up-” he hesitated with a sigh. “If Kate wakes up tomorrow, I will tell her about the damage to her boat and take the blame.”

“So that's it? You're not even going to tell me why you've been acting so different lately? And you're gonna kick those things out in the morning? Did you even see that the purple one just did? How do you explain that?”

“Yes, I saw, and no, they are staying until they're healthy again. I will help those three for as long they need it.” Lucas then slowed his speech rate according to resurfacing creed. “I've got a lot on my mind right now, especially with those ponies here. I'll tell you everything later. I promise.”

With the bitterness in Stanley's heart, it was difficult to forgive Lucas right there on the spot. He needed more time to think things over as well have some time to himself. After all that he went through that day, he was the only one among the three who tried to keep everything together while caught in the storm on the boat. They have been skating on thin ice for a while now and he hoped it wouldn't get warmer. His health and sanity would return after a good night's sleep after being to overworked with exhaustion and hysteria that had crippled him for the past five hours.

Lucas grabbed his half empty Pepsi can and turned to leave the room, dragging his feet along the carpet. He knew the caffeine would keep him up for another hour or two, so he'd rather get himself comfortable in the warmth of his bed rather than sleeping on a chair in the lounge. He paused just before he was opened the hallway door.

“And stop calling them 'things', they have names you know. Don't do anything stupid. Again.”

The navigator rolled his eyes.

“What do you take me for? An idiot?”

“Actually yes, I do.”

With that, Lucas exited the room and walked up the stairs, leaving Stanley to figure out a way to handle himself with vibrant ponies in the same room. On one hand, he wanted to follow after Lucas and head to his own room, but on the other hand, he had didn't want to leave Kate alone with the ponies. He had a personal obligation to protect her and he had been failing so far. Suspicions of the ponies were the basis of his mind. Their very existence was enough to keep him up all night.

A few minutes of silently thinking to himself, Stanley huffed and borrowed one of the blankets draped over Kate and walked to the single-person couch near the window. He sank his figure into the soft cushions and laid his head on the arm rest, all while in view of the blue pegasus that stared at his every movement. He shuffled to find the most comfortable position that made him feel secure.

Within a half hour, Stanley's eyes began to flutter involuntarily. They gravitated towards each other ever so slightly. He tried rubbing his eyes to scrape off his exhaustion, but it was no use. His mind started to drift away from reality and closer to the depths of his subconscious that manufactured his dreams.

The one time something cool shows up in this world, it had to go and screw everything up for him. He'll be the first to admit—unless there's a scientific explanation for all the things that happened up to that point—that is was all magic. That was his last thought before he fell into a deep slumber.

9. Fear

[Fear]

The sun slowly began to peek through the windows as it climbed above the flat horizon of the South Pacific. The old, worn-out blinds split the light onto the polished hardwood floor, which amplified the individual rays that funneled throughout the glass of the window and illuminated the entire lounge of the lone fishing station. Microscopic dust particles twinkled like hundreds of fireflies floating in the limelight of a movie theater. As the brilliant yellow hues intensified upon the faces of the sleeping occupants, one of them continued to grumble in its sleep.

Stanley scrunched his face and shuffled in the couch chair. His head wobbled back and forth along the armrest as a lucid dream had him fighting for his life in an alien invasion in some obscure battlefield in a futuristic setting. The external heat from the sun began warming his face, warping the dreamworld as his senses threatened to break the surreal dream apart. Everything twisted and turned as if melting from intense heat that distorted and twirled the very structure of the world around him. He was too lost in his dream to end it too soon. He didn't want to go just yet and leave mankind to fight the aliens without him. He was in the middle of a skirmish when something appeared in his line of sight of his delusional world. The creature—a blue pegasus pony—hurled itself directly at him and-

The dream ended. Stanley shot his eyes open, immediately closing them after a brief attack of sunlight pierced his sensitive vision. His upper body jerked out of the awkward sleeping position he found himself in curled up in. The scruffy blanket that covered his torso slid to the floor as he secured an upright posture on the comfy chair that contoured to his shape. The rapid heartbeat pounding in is chest forced him to slow his breathing to a more calm state to ease the pulses that pounded at his head.

For a few short moments, Stanley sat silently with his eye closed. He took a few deep breaths as he tried to remember the dream he had. Not so much the dream itself, but what happened just before it was rudely interrupted. He wanted to ignore what it meant, but it seemed like there was no denying the events of the day before that started to seep into his subconscious and manifest into his dreams. Either that, or he going crazy.

He finally recomposed himself after thinking about the strange dream. He could always forget it ever happened, but this one was quite the jolt when it was cut off. A single bead of sweat trickled down his right temple. He quickly wiped it away with a shaky hand and stretched his limbs and popped his finger joints. Stanley scanned the brightly lit room, hoping it was just as he left it.

Nothing within his immediate vicinity had changed, except for one crucial thing. Besides the empty cans of soda on the glass table at the center of the room, the rainbow pony he was looking for was nowhere to be seen. His first thought was that she fell asleep like he did, but was unsure. She was not in the exact place he'd expect to find her. However, the sofa obstructed a large portion of the room, so it was only fair to assume she was behind the couch.

In order to answer his own question, he got out of the chair and slowly walked to the sofa to check, careful not to step on the purple pony curled up in a ball. When the pegasus was not there to greet him, then he began to worry. He had a feeling she had to be somewhere close by doing... things. Who knows what kind of things. Dangerous things. Evil things. Stupid things. Stanley had no idea what these mythical ponies did in the morning.

He tried setting aside his growing concerns for something more important. He stepped towards Kate on the other sofa and crouched next to her head and put two fingers on the side of her neck. He was both relieved and confused. Her pulse was strong. Like really strong, as if she was awake, but it was apparent that she wasn't. He sighed and headed to the kitchen to grab something to rid the bitter taste in his mouth.

The noise he created caused another soul to shuffle in her sleep. The sound the door made when Stanley left the room woke a very refreshed Twilight Sparkle. Despite the solid surface of the floor she slept on, her psyche and physique had gotten the rest they needed. She cracked her eyes open and yawned as she stretched her legs. Shortly after getting to her hooves, she noticed the room was void of the two humans and Rainbow Dash. Cadence and Kate were still asleep, which lifted any anxious thoughts regarding the side effects of her malfunctioning mind spell the night before. Nothing seemed wrong with either of them.

Twilight walked next to Cadence and caressed her mane. The threads of her hair were a bit frizzy, but nothing that a simple comb couldn't fix. She secretly thought of using the same cognition spell on the princess just to make sure she wasn't sick, but quickly decided against it. Preforming that type of magic on royalty without prior consent was not only strictly forbidden, but an act of treason Equestrian law.

Twilight looked up from Cadence and craned her head to face the light shining through the window. Even with the blinds blocking some of the light, Celestia's sun felt warmer than she remembered. Perhaps it was because it was no longer the sun that her powerful mentor rose every morning. That thought sent a shiver down her spine.

No longer did she have to think alone when the door at the end of the room opened up, revealing an exhausted bed-ridden human with another one of those metal soda cans in his hand.

“Good morning,” she greeted with a warm smile.

“Hm?” Stanley croaked as he took a sip. His demeanor was nothing short of the usual morning exhaustion that all ponies were known to exhibit after waking up, which meant he woke shortly before she did. The way he looked at her when he entered didn't lighten the mood.

“I hope you slept well,” Twilight chimed, using the most polite voice she could muster.

“Never been better,” he joked, passing the unicorn to enter the lobby at the other end of the room, but stopped directly in the doorway. Stanley noticed the front door was open, half assuming his cousin Lucas had begun working early, and half assuming something else entirely.

“What's wrong?” Twilight cocked her head.

“Where's your finger-biting friend?” he asked. “She better not be wrecking anything.”

“I assure you she's not. I know Rainbow Dash all too well to know she wouldn't go so far as to destroy your property over a small misunderstanding.”

“Small misunderstanding?” Stanley contended. “If you ask me, she hates us.”

“She doesn't hate you, she just... needs more time.” Twilight stumbled over her words. It was tricky to come up with a suitable reason for her friend's attitude. Hopefully Rainbow would come to her senses sooner or later and view the humans the way she does. They are intelligent and advanced creatures from another world, not monstrous manticores that lived in the wild. Is it really that hard to comprehend that key fact?

Stanley chose to trust Twilight's word that Rainbow wasn't up to some mischievous activities elsewhere around the isolated manor. He returned inside the lounge and headed back to his chair to relax a little.

“If she really wants to fight, we could take it outside and duke it out there,” he laughed. No matter how convincing his challenge was, Stanley was lying through his teeth. His chances of winning a one-on-one fight were slim to none to a creature like her.

“Duke what out where?” said a voice from behind.

Stanley immediately sat up and snapped in the direction of the voice, almost dropping his drink. Upon sighting the vibrantly multicolored pegasus known as Rainbow Dash in the lambent room, his dream resurfaced in his short term memory like a buoy shooting above the surface of the ocean after being forcefully submerged. He snarled at her.

“What are you up to now?” Stanley got up, set his drink on a nearby shelf, and started walking towards her. “You better not be wrecking this house.”

Rainbow stood her ground as the tall human stopped a foot away, towering over her like a minotaur with a bone to pick. The man stood almost twice her height, rivaling that of even Princess Celestia, the tallest pony in Equestria. They glared at each other for a second until Twilight broke the ties.

“Where did you go, Rainbow?”

Rainbow Dash never took her large fuchsia eyes off of Stanley's own.

“Flying around,” she replied.

“How do I know you telling the truth?” Stanley accused.

“Oh, so you're callin' me a liar now huh?” Rainbow retorted.

“No no! We are not doing this now!” Twilight jumped between them, forcing the pair apart.

Stanley stepped away and sat back in his seat. For once in his life, he doubted himself. He obviously refused to let his fears be reflected in his facial expressions and stature, but the idea of fighting another human being—or in this case, flying pony—did not turn out good in his head. He merely wanted to scare the pegasus into submission, which proved to be futile after so many attempts.

To fake his persistence, Stanley continued to stare at Rainbow Dash, who glared back with just as much distrust. He really wanted to do something about her attitude, which seemed to improve a little bit, but not enough to redeem what she did to him. If she was really determined to keep her two pony friends safe, she should have already realized that they were already safe. The generosity of their hospitality made sure of that, thanks to Lucas. At least it's better than sleeping outside. She should be grateful.

Stanley heart beat faster the longer he stared at Rainbow Dash. The more he thought about it, the less he actually wanted to resort to violent action to settle the ill conflict between them. Though, if it came down to a physical brawl, he hoped it wouldn't hurt too much. He didn't have life insurance if it went too far. Perhaps he needed to understand her perspective to get a better sense of why she was acting so aggressive, which could offer a solution to avoid such a serious conflict later on.

After about a minute of consultation and contemplation, the back door opened behind Stanley.

“What's going on in here?” asked a groggily Lucas, rubbing the sleepiness from his eyelids.

As soon as he entered the room, Rainbow turned to leave. She insolently flicked her tail upon excusing herself out of the lounge, then out the front door of the lobby.

“What did I say?”

“Is she always like that?” Stanley asked Twilight, ignoring his cousin's intrusion.

“Not usually, no.”

“Is there anything you can do to change her mind? I can't keep doing this. She can't go on like that forever. I'll agree to lighten up if she does, too.”

Twilight was somewhat surprised by the shift in his tone of voice, which wasn't what she was expecting. Although, her judgment was one-sided, based on the attitudes he expressed from the night before. It sounded more earnest and mature this time around.

“I'll see what I can do.”

“One more thing.” Stanley said. He glanced at Lucas who was now standing beside the chair. Twilight stopped before leaving the room.

“Yes?”

“I just want to ask one question. Are you afraid of us?”

Twilight didn't reply right away. She honestly couldn't give an genuine answer. A question like that required more time to formulate a truthful response. Her reluctance to look at Stanley came down to the decision on whether or not to listen to what her emotions were telling her. She lifted a hoof to rub the back of her neck nervously.

“Maybe a little,” she slowly murmured.

Stanley nodded his head slowly. This confused Twilight, unfamiliar with the vague gesture. She quickly shook off the uneasiness from her shoulders.

“Look,” she continued, cutting the conversation short. “I'll talk to Rainbow for you and give you a detailed answer when I've gotten through to her. Sound fair?”

“Sure,” Stanley agreed with a nod.

As Twilight exited the lounge and made her way outside the building to find her friend. Lucas turned to face his incredulous cousin.

“I told you not to do anything stupid.”

Stanley shook his head and got up to leave as well, shoving Lucas out of his way.

“Whatever man.” He dragged his feet along the carpet. “I'm starving.”

Stanley walked over to the table and grabbed his digital camera. He then departed the room to head straight for the kitchen, letting the weight of the door shut flush out any noise that disturbed the equanimity of the lounge. Lucas simply stood where he was pushed without an active thought about they way his cousin acted more fairly. He sighed and motioned over to the sofa to check Kate's vitals. Her heartbeat seemed to reflect his own, strong and healthy.

After feeling her pulse, he left to join Stanley in the kitchen.

“I could use some grub, too,” he said out loud, swiftly leaving the room.

It's gonna be a long morning, he thought.

“Rainbow!”

Twilight trotted further towards the end of the wooden porch. The weather was clear and calm without a cloud in sight. The weather still baffled her on how a storm wrecked havoc over the land less than twelve hours prior without so much as scratching to the outside of the building with a few blemishes. The vibrant grass fields surrounding the building glistened from the dew drops like tiny prisms that were sprinkled all over the ground.

Beyond the field was the boat house that had protected her and her friends from the storm, and the shifting surface of the sea extended for miles without end. The view was unlike anything she'd seen in Equestria. It was difficult to look away.

“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight called a second time.

The unicorn didn't have to wait long before her friend answered back by landing right in front of her, touching down on the dirt path that ran from the edge of the porch to a white fence a few yards away. The pegasus craned her neck, giving it a loud pop.

“You called?” she said as she walked up to the porch, looking up at the purple mare.

“Where did you go?” Twilight asked.

“Around.” Rainbow twirled a hoof in the air.

“No Rainbow,” the unicorn grunted, getting more upset with her by the second. “I need you to stop being so vague and tell me what you've been up you.”

“Ugh fine, I was just flying around to stretch my wings and check out some sights. I'm not doing anything bad if that's what you're asking. I found a huge boat near where we landed on the beach over there. So what are you out here for anyway? Are those hornless minotaurs giving you trouble?”

“That's that I came to talk to you about.”

“The tall hornless minot-”

“Don't call them that, they have names.” Twilight almost shouted in Rainbow's face for having to correct her again. She managed to control the irritation that itched in the back of her mind that threatened to manifest into an loud outburst. “I need you to be completely honest with me, what do you have against these humans?”

Rainbow Dash never looked away from Twilight's piercing gaze. She could tell her friend was not playing around. The last time Twilight was this upset was about a month ago when she tried to break into the library to pull a prank on her. However, this was way different.

“I don't know, I just don't trust them.”

“Why don't you trust them?”

“You see what they did,” Rainbow hinted.

“And can you tell me exactly WHAT they did?” Twilight challenged.

“Well... you know... sneaking up on us.” Rainbow was confident she had a good point. “I had to do something.”

“No, Rainbow. No you didn't.” Twilight narrowed her eyes at the pegasus and walked down the steps to meet her at eye level. “They were just curious, as any intelligent and sentient beings are. They were simply investigating their property and happened to find us here.”

“But what about that dull spear they had with them. It gave me the impression that they were hostile and knew we were there.”

“Maybe, but do you honestly think they wouldn't take the necessary precautions. I know you had good intentions to think they were not friendly, but upon seeing us, I could tell they were shocked. What you did was not acceptable. Attacking them without any second thoughts only heightened their fears. Anyways, did it ever occur to you that they were generous enough to take us in and shelter us from the storm even if it meant giving up their own safety for our own?”

Rainbow looked down at the ground and pawed a hoof in the dirt, feeling a shard of regret poke at her mind. The corner of her frown started to twitch.

“Yes,” she flatly said.

“Not only that, but you continue to cause them hurt when they were willing to help us out and gain our trust. We can't do that if you keep acting like this.” Twilight's words seemed to work their way into her friend who appeared more dejected with each word. If anything, Rainbow knew what she had done was wrong. Twilight could see the uneasiness flood those magenta eyes. “The Rainbow Dash I know would be more considerate of her surroundings and not assume too much to repeat her mistakes.”

Twilight paused to let the speech sink in.

“Remember when you insulted Rarity on her dress making skills because the dress she made for you for the Gala was not exactly how you wanted it? Even though you didn't really mean to hurt her feelings, she wouldn't talk to you for weeks. Remember that?”

Rainbow looked away, surprised that Twilight brought up that unpleasant break in friendship that was more heartbreaking than being rejected by the Wonderbolts for the fifth time.

“yes,” she whispered.

“Please don't put me in Rarity's position. I'd hate to have to shut you out for any more than half of what she went through. I had to comfort her everyday before she regained her confidence.”

“What if these... humans... are just pretending to take care of us so they can catch us when we least expect it?” Rainbow countered with her own slap of speculation, trying her best to justify her behavior.

“If you really think that's true, then why did they start fighting each other? I believe they are no more of threat to us than they are of themselves.” Twilight shuddered at the thought, even though it wasn't too far from the truth. “You saw how they argued with each other. I feel like they can get along better, but our presence has only added to their stresses. We are already a burden to them as it is for just being here. Maybe we can help them with their problems, but we just need to give them our trust first. I don't want you to shatter our chances of befriending the humans when we need them the most.”

Rainbow look up with a sad look in her eyes.

“I just want to go home.”

Twilight smiled, feeling the same level of homesickness.

“I know, so do I.” Twilight paused to sigh. “But right now, we can't go anywhere until we know where we are and until Cadence wakes up. Think of it this way, the humans could be the scientific discovery of the century. I have a feeling they think the same way about us. They know what we are, but claim us to be just a myth. I have good reason to think we are not on the same planet anymore.”

Rainbow's eyes went with at her final words. Another planet? Aliens? Her misguided fear, overprotective paranoia, and regret were replaced by the same interest that Twilight held since laying eyes on the new creatures. Upon reading the many Daring Do books, one of her favorites was Daring Do and the Kingdom of the Sapphire Skull. Despite the negative review by disappointed fans regarding the latest addition to the series, she was fascinated by the idea of alien creatures from other worlds.

Her brief fangirlish thoughts were quickly shadowed by a doubt.

“Wait wait, they don't look like aliens. They're more like an ancient Equestrian race in those of old stories. I hardly think they're harmless. I was just trying to protect you. The shorter one just gets on my nerves a little bit.”

“Stanley?”

“Yeah, him.”

Twilight looked at Rainbow with a sympathetic smile.

“Look, I know how far your loyalty extend, but we aren't exactly in danger anymore and this isn't the time to go around provoking everything you see. We just need to show them we come in peace and see if we can gain their trust without anypony getting hurt.”

“If it makes you feel any better, I will do my best to get us home.” Twilight continued. “Fortunately for us, Cadence in an alicorn, and with out magic combined, we shouldn't have a problem getting back to Equestria. I really need you to be a little more merciful, for both our sakes.”

Shortly after a howling silence and a light breeze brushed up against the coats of the two ponies, they heard a familiar scream coming from behind them. As soon as the sound hit Twilight and Rainbow Dash's eardrums, they instantly reacted by throwing themselves onto the porch and blazed their way through the front door.

3 minutes prior

The silence inside the lounge was enough to hear the beat of a fly's wings from several meters away. In such a peaceful and calm setting, the two souls lying across from each other began to stir. As exhaustion washed over them, neither had the energy to open their eyes, trapped within a dark plane that separated them from the outside world.

Katherine was somewhere, she didn't know where. It was too dark. Was it a dream? Or was she awake and it was just too dark to see? Her consciousness slipped in and out of reality as if she woke up and went back to sleep in mere seconds. It didn't feel like a dream, but more of a state of limbo. It felt like she couldn't move anymore than a few muscles before her entire body screamed in pain. And scream painfully it did. The blistering feeling finally pulled her out of her drifting awareness.

She wanted to open her eyes, but they wouldn't comply yet. She could feel a soft cushion material underneath her and the warmth of bed sheet spread on top of her body. Her sense of touch was weak across all areas of her hands and she felt an unusual sensation creep up her back and up to her forehead. The strangest part was when that same tingle moved beyond her forehead, hovering a few inches above her skull. When it dissipated, she was able to think again.

The last thing she remembered was arguing with Lucas and trying to rest her eyes in the cabin of her boat. Shortly after, she felt weightless and everything went black.

Kate soon gained the use of her arms, but with sore results. It was like her entire body had worked itself to death. The rest of her body was still asleep, so all she could do was wait for her brain to start giving them commands. She didn't have to wait long.

She took one long breath, but when she exhaled, it came out an unfamiliar snort. Her eyes shot open the instant the sound entered her ears. The brightness of her surroundings caused her to tightly squint in order to handle the onslaught of light. After a several moments of trying to adjust to the light, it took longer than normal. She brought her hands to her face to rub her eyes, but as they met her face, she hit herself with more force than she intended.

Kate huffed after lightly punching her own face, but upon bringing her palm to her eyes with more caution, she quickly noticed that her hand would not open. In fact, she could not feel her fingers at all. Her mind struggled to stay afloat as she swam in swirling whirlpool of her panicking thoughts. Her entire body was now operational, allowing her to roll over and drop to the floor with a thud. The moment she tried to stand up, she fell back to the floor on her fists. Trying one more time, it became apparent that the ends of her arm did not feel like fists she was familiar with. They were more like hard gelatin molds attached to the ends of her shortened arms.

For some reason, her posture felt more natural on all fours. If that didn't scare her, the moment she opened her eyes again to view her arms sent all of her emotions exploding all at once.

Kate stumbled backwards upon seeing a completely foreign set of limbs where her long tan arms used to be and let out a shriek from a voice that did not belong to her.

Lucas and Stanley stared at each other with wide eyes.

“Did you hear that?”

“Sure did.”

Cutting short their delicious morning meal of canned soup and toasted bagels, both men hurried out of their chairs and darted out of the kitchen and into the lounge. The exact moment they entered, the purple unicorn and blue pegasus also ran in to investigate the same cry that originated from the lounge. All four pair of eyes fell on a startled pink alicorn pony who was stumbling beside the sofa she had previously occupied.

Twilight ran to the frightened pony's side, trying her best to calm her down with her voice.

“Cadence,” she cooed, wrapping a foreleg around the pony's back. Upon contact, the princess flinched. “Cadence, it's okay, look at me.”

The moment the pony turned her head to Twilight, her eyes nearly shot out of her skull and forcefully pushed her away and fearfully staggered away across the floor, kicking up dust from the floorboards that sloshed in the air.

“No no no, y-you can't be real,” gasped the alicorn, inhaling the dust and coughing. The navy-blue blanket was still dragging along the floor while hanging off her back as she tried to get away from Twilight.

“What?” Twilight muttered as she noticed the confusion and fear in Cadence's expression. “No, we are safe here. I'm glad to see you're okay.”

“W-what are you?” she stuttered.

“Please, Cadence, settle down. Everything is alright, these two creatures took us in last night.”

The alicorn's heartbeat pounded in her chest as the small pony continued to speak to her. Her body began to jitter and shake from the strange and unfamiliar sensations of her physical form. Reluctantly, her unblinking gaze followed the direction of the unicorn's hoof that pointed behind her. She slowly turned her head around where two bemused humans stood, silently staring at her.

Rather than another shriek of terror from the royal princess, the men noticed the her distressed expression turn to one of relief.

“Stanley? Lucas?” the pink pony said, crawling closer to them. “What is going on?”

The moment it uttered their names, their hearts skipped a beat. They started backing away in shock as the pony princess struggled to crawl over to them. Reaching to the rifle that had been propped up near the door since first contact, Lucas felt uneasy when the pink mare invaded his area of comfort and approached them. She called them by their names, too. There no way he imagined that little detail.

He pointed the rifle at her.

“Stay back,” he demanded. “How do you know who we are?”

Stanley hid behind his proactive cousin, unsure of what to do. He couldn't comprehend the way she said his name like she knew him.

“Don't tell me you two idiots are serious?” the pony snarled. “This better not be one of your stupid pranks. And don't point that thing at me.”

Lucas knew only one person in the world who gave him that sort of attitude, aside from Stanley. He lowered the barrel of his weapon and crouched.

“How do you know our names?” he asked.

“Come on, Lucas, I've had enough of your silly games. Take this stupid costume off of me.”

“What are you talking about?”

The pony sighed and glanced at the man behind Lucas.

“I'm gonna kill you for this, Stanley.”

The navigator continued to stare at the pink pony with his mouth agape. He did not respond and remained silent as she spoke to him.

“Cadence?” Twilight echoed from behind. “Are you alright?”

The mare returned her gaze toward the purple creature that spoken to her. She didn't have to study the creature's figure before looking back at the humans.

“What's all this?” she asked, pointing at Twilight. “You guys have really outdone yourselves into scaring the hell out of me. Now help me up.”

The pony shifted her weight on all four of her hooves trying to find a center of balance that was most comfortable. However, she was not satisfied with remaining on all fours, trying her best to stand on her hind legs with little success.

Neither party wanted to move to help the princess to her hooves. They were more confused than ever. Seeing how she was acting, Stanley had an idea.

“Kate?” he croaked.

“What?”

“Is that you?”

“Are you blind? Of course it's me.”

Stanley chuckled and put a hand on Lucas' shoulder. For once, this was an opportunity to mess with Kate's mind.

“Relax, dude. Can you see the Princess needs help?” he walked over to the pink pony and stooped down to his knees. “Need some assistance, your Majesty?”

Before she could comment on the charming remark, Twilight also walked over to lend a hoof. When not-Cadence noticed, she jolted her body away again, slamming her horn onto Stanley's forehead.

“GAH!” he yelped, covering left his eye with a hand. “Watch where you point that thing.”

“What's that thing still doing here?” she beckoned, ignoring what had poked him in the face.

“Her name is...” he paused, snapping his fingers for the right word. “I forgot.”

“Twilight Sparkle,” the unicorn replied. “I'm sorry, but I'm still confused. Do you remember who I am, Cadence?”

Not-Cadence ignored the fact that a small lavender unicorn was talking and continued to think of it was part of Stanley's prank. She didn't care about her brief humiliation as long as she had the power to punish her employees when this was over.

“Can't say I do. And stop calling me that.”

“It's your name, isn't it?”

“No, it's not.”

“I'm sorry, but if you are not Cadence, then who are you?” Twilight was sure of the answer, but needed confirmation that her assumptions were correct.

“Kate.” She paused and turned her head, flipping the conversation. “Hey Stanley, how did you get this robot pony to look so real.”

“That's because she is real.”

The conscious manifestation of Kate in the body of Cadence looked at Stanley with a blank face and glared at him with her lilac eyes. Her first instinct was to call him out on his lie, but he looked dead serious as he spoke. Unlike his previous attempts at playing small tricks on her, this was far too extraordinary and expensive for either Lucas or Stanley to pull off. Besides, what happened to the boat and the storm? How did she get here? The station was never this serene. This has got to be a dream, she thought.

The fear and pain, however, contradicted anything she could think of to explain the situation she found herself in.

While thinking about what that meant for the “costume” she was dressed in and the talking purple unicorn by her side, she shook her head, refusing to believe what eyes were seeing. She opened her mouth to speak.

“Wait!” interrupted the lavender unicorn before the Cadence imposter could articulate a single syllable. “If you're the Kate human in the body of Princess Cadence, than that must mean...” she trailed off as she slowly glanced over to the sofa where the physical body of Kate began to groan beneath the blankets.

Author's Note

Who did not see this coming?

10. Mirrors

[Mirrors]

Cadence's head pounded. Of all the unpleasant feelings in the world, a rapid pulsating migraine was by far her least favorite. With each shot of pain throbbing within her head, her closed eyelids involuntarily twitched to the beat of the headache. With every wince, she was forced through the barrier of darkness where the light blended with the bubble of black.

Strangely enough, the place she was in was no dream world, that much she could tell. What she couldn't figure out was why everything was nothing or how she was able to exist in nothing in the first place. She couldn't remember anything as brief pulses distorted the space around her, drowning out any cohesive thought that zapped into existence and then vanishing into oblivion. The longer she was bound within the space between reality and the dream world, the faster the pulses became.

It wasn't long until the pulses drummed so fast that her mind couldn't take it anymore, quickly shattering subspace to pieces.

Cadence finally slipped back into consciousness with the sensation of a soft pillow pressed against the side of her face. She let out a gurgle that escaped her lips and infected the pillow with heat. She tried to pull her eyelids open, but they were locked together. Half of the senses in her body received instantaneous signals sent by her overworked brain and she gained the ability to lift her forelegs. Sweat had accumulated from the stuffy and damp cocoon of fabric she was wrapped in.

After a few seconds of exposing her forelegs to the cold air around her, goosebumps crawled along her limbs as she stretched them outward. Oddly enough, it was as if somepony had shaved off her fur coat down to her bare skin. The feeling was unfamiliar and uncomfortable. After shifting her other foreleg, she squirmed beneath the sheets to ease the discomfort of shivers.

As she sat up, the fog over her memory began to clear up and she remembered the last few minutes before falling in a dead heap. It was cold and wet. She remembered a strong downpour that showered on top of her, keeping her awake until it all stopped. The very last thing she saw was a faint yellow light that provided no warmth when her body shut down. The rain was all too vivid in her mind as if she could taste the moisture and salt in her mouth just by thinking about it.

Cadence's eyes remained glued together, but the intense amount of ambient light penetrated the thin membrane of skin that separated her from the outside world, producing a red glow behind her eyelids. The room was silent. Even with the groans she made when she shifted her weight, she could hear sounds close by. They sounded similar of hoofsteps.

When her ears failed to swivel towards the sounds around her, she quickly shot her upper body up. A sharp pain tore along her spine and she quickly dropped back down to the soft pillows. She wanted to yell, but all she could do was open her mouth as if she had. She sighed and placed a hoof to her forehead.

When a soft tingle coasted through the length of her arm as it came in contact with the skin around her eyes, she instantly pulled her hoof away from her face. She didn't remember her hoof being so sensitive... and flexible. She could feel her hoof shifting as she moved her fingers that had grown from the end of it.

Wait what?

It was then that she ripped her eyes wide open, exposing her vision to the luminescence of the room. She was too afraid to close them again, let alone blink. That unusual sensation kept her mind spinning in circles. As the flash flood of light drained into her pupils, the first thing she saw made her gasp.

Upon sighting the alien appendages on the end of her arm, Cadence tried shaking it off like a giant spider crawling on her hoof. When it wouldn't go away, she flailed her hand even more in desperate attempt to remove it. All the while, a figure loomed over her, casting a fuzzy shadow on her arms.

“Whoa there,” said a deep voice. “Calm down, you're gonna hurt yourself.”

Cadence soon felt another pair of hands grab onto her own to stop her from waving her arms like a crazy mare. She snapped her head to the being that spoke to her. Her crooked gaze landed upon a silhouette of a monstrous creature that only existed in ancient tomes.

She couldn't say a word. She didn't have to. Her face said it all as the emotions of curiosity and wonder emitted from her expression. She pulled her hands from the creature's grip and rolled off the sofa, dragging the blanket and pillows with her. She tried shuffling to her legs, but they were completely out of proportion. The feeling at the end of each her limbs tickled her now sensitive skin. Her back hooves were covered in some sort of thick sheath that wrapped up past her ankles. Not only that, but her entire body was covered in cloth, from her feet to as far as her neck. She could feel every velvet fiber tugging at the grooves of her skin.

As she craned her head back like any normal pony would, her extremely short neck restricted her from bending back any further. She cease her movements and sat down on her rump and looked up at the figure as it crouched next to her.

“Don't freak out,” it said. “Just stay still and relax.”

As soon as it spoke again, Cadence's mind started spinning and flipping in perplexity as her mouth hung open.

“What- w-who-...” Cadence faltered. She couldn't form a single question. She had so many.

“I'm not gonna hurt you,” he cooed, holding out a hand. “Here, I'll help you up.”

Her human eyes fell onto the hand of the creature that offered to help her. She stared at it for a second, then back at the silhouette. She hesitantly lifted her right foreleg—now right arm—and placed her palm on top of his. The creature's fingers wrapped around her hand and used its strength to pull her to her feet. As soon as she stood on her hind legs, she lost her balance and stumbled forward. Fortunately, the tall being caught her from falling and held onto her shoulders.

“Easy there,” he said. “I take it you're not used to standing up like this.”

For a few seconds in his arms, an enigmatic expression constricted as her face displayed a mix of conflicting emotions. She was able to recompose herself shortly after pressing against the creature's soft clothing, feeling the soothing rhythm of the delicate heartbeat within his chest.

“Thank you,” she finally responded.

Cadence could feel his head lean closer to her ear.

“Now just hold on to me and stand up normally, or like a human would.”

She lifted her head from his shoulders and with her vision returning to normal, she saw his face for the first time. The man noticed her look turn to one of awe.

“How are you doing?” he asked.

“What are you?” she whispered.

The man cleared his throat. For a moment, he thought of calling her out on her identity after giving his, but thought against it. As cheeky as it sounded, he wanted this situation to get even more confusing for his own amusement. He knew it was wrong, but he enjoyed the look on not-Kate's face as she stared at him with those brown eyes.

“I'm your captain, remember?”

“You're not my Shining Armor,” she hollered.

“Your what?”

“Cadence?” said a familiar young voice from somewhere in the room. Not-Kate's head perked up. Her ears would have done the same if she still had pony ears.

“Twilight!?” she cried, swiveling her head side to side, trying to find the owner of that gracious voice. Not-Kate tried pushing away from the being that she used as support for standing on two legs.

“Behind you,” Twilight called.

The creature that continued to hold her up in an upright posture firmly grabbed her shoulders and turned her body around to face the unicorn that called her name. As soon as their eyes met, Cadence was released from the creature's grasp and she attempted to launch herself into the hooves of the lavender filly, but was unsuccessful. Upon being released, she fell to the floor after her legs wobbled from her first few steps. Twilight ran to her aid.

“Oh Cadence!” Twilight whimpered. “I'm so sorry! I don't know how this happened.”

“It's okay, Twilight. I'm here.” Cadence did not recognize the voice that left her mouth as she tried to comfort the unicorn with her words. “Why does my voice sound different?”

“Am I going crazy, or did I just hear myself talk?” said a familiar female voice.

Cadence looked around as if she heard her own voice speak to her from a distance. Directly behind Twilight was none other than herself. Her jaw nearly fell off her face. It was like she was looking mirror, only without the mirror.

Kate returned the same shocked stare.

“That's impossible,” they both said in unison. “You're me!”

Stanley couldn't help but chuckle.

“Don't act so surprised, Kate,” he smirked. “You still think this is all a joke.”

“But how?” both Cadence and Kate sang simultaneously. Neither one of them could take their eyes off of each other. They stared at the exact image of 'themselves' like someone had copy and pasted an exact replica of their physical bodies down to the last detail.

Cadence and Kate began to crawl towards each other with the help of Twilight and Stanley. When they were no more than a few feet apart, they eyes grew even more. Kate thought of it like looking at an extremely realistic 3D model of herself and Cadence was disgusted at the condition of her own mane. At exactly the same instant, they each lifted an arm and reached out to make sure they weren't hallucinating.

As hoof and hand made contact, they quickly pulled away by reflex.

“Wow,” pony Kate said. “I look so real.”

“Me as well,” Cadence said with Kate's voice.

“Wait wait wait,” Rainbow Dash spoke up, looking at the human form of Katherine who to claimed to be their princess. “How do we know you are who you say you are?”

Fake Kate looked at the pegasus and grimaced.

“That's a fair question, Rainbow Dash,” she said. “Is this one of your new spells, Twilight?”

The purple mare next to her sheepishly smiled and rubbed the back her neck with a hoof.

“That might explain what's going on.”

“What did you do?” Cadence asked with more force in her human host's voice than she would have liked.

“I- I don't know.” The unicorn was on the verge of bursting into tears. “I'm sorry.”

“No no, Twilight, don't cry,” Cadence said. Despite the voice differential, it helped comfort her. “I believe you. Whatever you did, I know you didn't mean it. I'm not angry for what you did even though I'm still confused about all this. Shhhh.” Cadence ran her fingers through Twilight's mane with Kate's hands and pulled her closer into a warm embrace. She ignored how strange the touch felt on her bare skin.

Kate and Stanley watched the scene unfold in front of them as the small lavender unicorn was sobbing in the arms of her human self.

“Aww, isn't that nice.” Kate joked as she raised an eyebrow. “Why am I hugging pony?”

“Because you're not,” Stanley replied, adding to her confusion. “That isn't really you. You're in the body of a pony.”

Kate still wouldn't believe it. She forced out a sarcastic laugh.

“Ha Ha, very funny, guys. I want out of this costume now.”

She found it more challenging to move her legs without the ability to feel the floor beneath her hooves. As her rose off the floor, she stood no more than five feet off the ground. Her long violet, pink, and gold mane swung from her head and hovered mere inches from the ground. The blanket that hung from her back slid to the floor, exposing the rest of her body to the warm air. The bright pink and violet wings dangled from her back with the feathers in disarray.

Lucas walked over as she struggled to find her balance. Her attempts to stand up on her back legs by pushing herself off the ground resulted in failure. Instead of helping her with support, he hesitantly stuck out a hand and tapped the tip of her horn with his index finger.

Kate broke from her silent internal frustration from failing to stand normally and looked up to see the captain grinning at her.

“What are you smiling at?”

“You just don't get it, do you?”

“What?”

With a intrepid look on his face, Lucas snorted.

“I'm just gonna say this loud and clear. You're not dreaming, we aren't pranking you, and you are definitely not in a costume.” His voice exhibited a mixture of certainty and sincerity.

Kate rarely saw him as serious as he was just then. She squinted her large eyes and gave him the most skeptical face she could muster to cover up her fear of it being true.

“Alright, prove to me that it's all real.”

Lucas raised his arm and tapped on her horn again.

“Can you feel that?”

“Yes. Why?”

“You shouldn't. Humans don't have horns.”

“A horn?” Kate angled her head back to look up, but saw nothing but the ceiling. However, when she did catch a glimpse of a pink blur above her forehead, it seemed to move everywhere her head did. “I don't see anything,” she lied.

Lucas grunted and shook his head. It was as if he was talking to a six-year-old. Could Kate get any more clueless? He tried to come up with more ways of showing her than she was in the body of a magical pink pony, but Kate was a hard nut to crack.

He lowered his hand to her foreleg and grazed his fingers over pink hairs of her fuzzy fur coat that grew on her forelegs. Her eyes widened as his touch sent a strange sensation shoot up the length of her pink limb.

“Tell me you feel that,” he said.

His voice broke her muse on how that was even close to possible. Kate definitely felt his delicate touch, which frightened her more than it should have. Up until that time, she had ignored how vivid her new form appeared to be and the sore wings on her back that had ached since waking up. She took a deep breath and forcefully expelled the gasses from her elongated muzzle.

“That doesn't prove anything.”

Lucas smiled, knowing Kate would hold on to her disbelief and lie to herself. He looked up at Stanley and gave him a sinister smug, darting his eyes between him and Kate. The navigator silently mouthed a response and nodded, having understood his cousin's intentions and backed away slowly.

“How about this?”

Less than a second later, he promptly slung his right hand at her face.

*THWACK*

From behind, Twilight and Cadence gasped at the slap upon the alicorn's face. Rainbow Dash was about to tackle him to the ground when all of a sudden, Lucas went flying across the room with a light blue glow surrounding his entire body, slamming into a book shelf at the opposite end of the room.

*CRASH*

He fell to the carpet like a rag doll as all the books rained down from above.

“Oh no.”

Stanley quickly rushed over to Lucas' limp body, removing the hardcover books that landed on top of him, and flipped the man over. Lucas fluttered his eyes open and coughed up a lump of blood. Either a loud bang had erupted across the house or his ears screamed in agony.

“Gaahaha!” he cried while laughing away the pain. He stretched his eyes open as wide as he could. “That woke me up.”

Stanley helped his injured cousin by holding his head up and shot Kate a dreadful look.

“What the hell did you do that for!?” he nearly shouted.

Kate panicked as she stumbled backwards, running into the wall behind her. She was shocked at what she had done. She knew it was her fault because she felt a strong release of concentrated energy lock on to Lucas and pick him up off the ground. She didn't mean to throw him so hard.

“I- I don't know,” she stammered, clearly filling up with regret. “H-how did I do that?”

The Twilight and Cadence exchanged looks with their mouths open while Rainbow Dash walked up next to Kate. The terrified human in alicorn form didn't seem to notice and shut her eyes tight. She pressed into the wall as close as possible. The pegasus cleared her throat to make her presence known.

“I've seen a lot of things in my day and even I know that was harsh. Are you humans always like this?”

Being an expert in pranks and mischief—as well as her skills in distinguishing between the two—Rainbow was spot on on her assessment. Despite the initial confusion between who was who in Cadence's body, it mattered little. Throwing somepony across the room out of spite was a line that nopony crossed—including Rainbow. Regardless of who's fault it was, Rainbow actually felt sorry for the man who took a nasty hit. She planned on apologizing for her actions from their first encounter. She sat next to Kate, hoping she wouldn't have to be the one to control the human who took over her princess' body.

Kate's head dropped and buried her head in her hooves. She no longer cared about whether or not she was really a pony. What scared her the most was the what she just did to Lucas. Surely there must be an explanation for how she managed to hurl him in the air without touching him.

Stanley finally took his eyes off of pony Kate and looked down at his cousin squirming on the floor.

“Can we both agree that was a bad idea?”

Lucas looked up as Stanley as he stretched his facial muscles, wiping away the wry and somnolent look that followed after the impact.

“It wasn't that bad,” he croaked. “But yeah, let's not do that again.”

He painfully rolled over on his stomach and pushed himself up, leaning against the empty book shelf. Stanley sat down next to him in the same manner and brushed up his cousin's shoulder. Lucas didn't mind the awkward intimacy and picked up a random book to distract himself of his surroundings and started reading.

Throughout that unfortunate and brutal scene, human Cadence simply sat silently in the same place she had been since collapsing to her knees. Twilight stood by her side with as much surprise and tension bubbling within. They were uncertain of which end to side with. Pony Kate was trying to hide from everyone in the room by cowering in a tight ball and the other two humans fared no better. They have been through enough as it is.

For Twilight, she was trapped somewhere in between. It was a deadlock, to say the least. She couldn't bear to see this struggle go on any longer. It was time she did something about it.

She took a long breath and whispered something in Cadence's human ears. They both nodded in agreement. Twilight then turned and slowly paddled over to the distressed form of the pink alicorn, her loud hoofsteps echoing through the silence that had infected the lounge of the station. As she reached Kate, she gestured to Rainbow Dash to give them some space.

Twilight was now standing directly in front of the royal alicorn, wearing a deep sympathetic expression as Kate sniffled behind those pink hooves and golden slippers.

“Katherine?” she purred quietly.

I took a few more sobs and some silence for the frightened human to look up. As their eyes met, Kate cowered again.

“It's okay,” Twilight cooed once more. “We can help you get through this. Please don't cry.”

The angelic voice of the young bookworm mare was enough to bring Kate out of hiding. Still carrying a feeling of sorrow that sank into her every corner of her mind upon the realization of fault for her fierce act, Kate rose her head.

“It's not your fault. I can explain what happened.”

“I'm a freak,” whispered Kate, shuddering at the fact that her voice was completely foreign to her. She tried to ignore as much as possible.

Twilight was going to pretend she didn't hear that rather offensive remark. The Princess' physical body was neither ugly nor disfigured. It was as perfect as a pony could get to perfection.

“What you experienced was a magical provocation, one that any unicorn is able to control at will. Unfortunately, since the owner of the body you now inhabit is no longer in control, that magic is now flowing loosely. I am deeply sorry for my mistake.”

Kate looked at herself one more time, then back at Twilight. She was able to compose herself as Twilight apologized.

“What are you talking about?”

“What I mean is,” Twilight paused to gulp, unwilling to articulate the thought. “You switched bodies with our friend, Princess Cadence.”

The alicorn continued to stare at Twilight. The purple unicorn couldn't tell if she was scared, surprised, or amused. Either way, she was hoping for a response or some clue on how Kate was feeling at that particular moment. Switching bodies was not unheard of in Equestria, Twilight had experienced it herself during an accident with Pinkie Pie. She was uncertain whether humans shared similar mishaps and anomalies.

Kate opened her mouth again to speak.

“H-how?”

“I'm not sure, but I may be the one at fault.”

“You did this to me?” Kate asked with more coherence and structure in her voice. Twilight immediately caught on to the change in tone and building agitation.

“Please, you must understand. I didn't know this would happen. I can fix this.”

“You did this?” Kate repeated, her cheeks twitching sporadically.

Kate's sadness had been replaced by frustration rather quickly. From the other side of the room, Stanley and Lucas immediately noticed the tone. Stanley quickly stood up and walked over to Kate, who never took her eyes of Twilight.

“Come on, Kate, chill out. She said she can fix it. No big deal.”

Even when he tried to intervene, she refused to let loose.

“Well, it's a bit more complicated than that,” Twilight noted, wincing at delivering the bad news. Playing with consciousnesses of sentient beings—regardless of species—was by far the least studied and least understood subject of magic. The level of magic required to return the human back to normal would be enough to teleport a few hundred miles. There were no conventional means, fail safes, or shortcuts in order to ensure a successful transfer of consciousness back to their original bodies. The spell would take some time to learn, let alone preform.

Stanley glanced at Twilight with just as much concern as Kate, only without the fervent glare that beamed from the eyes.

“Shouldn't be a problem, right?”

“Um,” Twilight sat down where she stood and scratched the back of her neck. While searching for a positive answer that wouldn't anger the humans, she looked over her shoulder to Cadence, who sat on her human knees, returning an equally sad expression. “It's going to take some time.”

Kate's disheartened features nearly fell off her face. Whatever hope she had left to hang on to was too brittle to stay intact. She could no longer form any thoughts that would save her from the animosity that began to take over.

“It is a difficult spell to construct,” Twilight continued. “But it shouldn't take any more than a day or two to learn every aspect and variable. I need to conserve as much magic as I can to maximize probability of a successful transfer.”

Kate ignored all details of that meaningless explanation. She could care less about what the unicorn meant by spells and magic, she was more focused on her own well-being.

Stanley recognized the state Kate was enduring internally and noticed the twitching on the corner of her mouth. That was not a good sign that she was in control of her rapidly deteriorating sanity. He wasn't going to let her snap.

Once Twilight completed her conjecture with another apology, the room went silent. This gave Stanley the chance to prevent what he was sure was about to happen. He positioned himself between Kate and Twilight.

“I know what you're thinking, Kate,” he accused, snapping his fingers close to her face. “Snap out of it. This isn't like you.”

Kate ignored him and stood up on her hooves. She began advancing without faltering over her steps. Once she reached Stanley, she pushed him out of the way, knocking him to the floor. The source of her troubles was now in her line of sight. Twilight backed away slowly.

Stanley immediately got to his feet and jumped on top of Kate before she could carry out her confrontation. She let out a muffled grunt as the brute force of the man's body pinned her to the floor.

“I said stop it!” he yelled.

“Get off me!” she growled.

“Not until you get a hold of yourself. I'm not gonna let you do this.”

Kate struggled between his grip and her focus on Twilight. The more she moved, the tighter Stanley crushed her. Twilight backpedaled to Cadence as the both of them looked at the alicorn who attempted to break free of the human.

“Let me go!” Kate cried.

With every kick and jab, Kate seemed to lose energy through her useless efforts. Stanley used his upper body strength and every muscle in his arms to hold her down. He remained calm as she relentlessly protested and grunted at her apparent disadvantage.

“Don't hurt her,” Cadence suddenly pleaded with Kate's human voice. “Let her go.”

Stanley looked up. “She's not herself.”

“Of course she is not herself, she is in my body. Please let her go. You are harming me as well.”

Stanley realized he was chocking Kate. The mare ceased her squirming and as Stanley let loose, she laid limp on the floor, out of breath, almost paralyzed. The navigator scurried away like he had committed some horrible crime. The pink alicorn coughed a few times as dust settled inside her mouth.

After having seen enough, Cadence crawled on her hand and knees to Kate's aid, deeply worried for both the human and her own body. It was the first time she had ever seen herself from the outside. She slumped down next to Kate and carefully hovered a hand over her mane. The pink and gold dreadlocks slipped through her fingers like the bristles of a hairbrush.

“Please relax,” Cadence chimed. “You must control your emotions. My- our magic is extremely sensitive, which draws its power from emotion.” Cadence could feel the shivers vibrate throughout the pony's body and unusually warm to the touch with sweat accumulating on the side of her forehead.

Kate finally showed signs of life when she lifted her head off the ground to look at her human self in the eyes.

“You stole my body.”

“It was an accident. I'd be more than happy to give it back to you at this very moment,” Cadence replied. “We need to work things out together as a group to return us back to normal. We require your help and cooperation to in order to do that. Do you think you do that for us?”

Kate let her head drop to the floor again. Cadence took that as a yes.

“Allow me to formally introduce myself,” she continued. “My name is Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, or Cadence for short. As a representative of Equestria and the Crystal Empire, I apologize for our intrusion upon your land and sincerely apologize for this unforeseen and unfortunate mishap. I assure you, Twilight Sparkle will do everything in her power to return you to your original body. I would very much like to have my body back as well. When all is well, we will leave by your terms and compensate you for the trouble we have caused.”

“Twilight Sparkle?” Kate's ears perked up. She filled her lungs with air and sat up.

“Correct.”

“Why does that name sound familiar?”

“Hm. I could only speculate that you have retained some residual memories of mine as do I of your memory. I believe it is only a side effect of the spell. If I may prove it to you that I have some of your thoughts, may I ask why you no longer needed your captain's services.”

Kate winced. Within the pile of books, Lucas immediately looked up from his fantasy novel that kept him occupied for the past few minutes. Even Stanley looked shocked.

“What!?” Lucas shouted.

Kate began to panic. The manner in which Cadence disclosed personal information out loud and without knowledge of the significance of said information had ignited the fuse that was her captain.

Lucas quickly shuffled to his feet, limping his way over to her. No longer did he show signs of pain or amusement, but grief.

“What is she talking about?” he asked after kneeling down next to them. His voice was nearly shaking with horror.

Kate opened her mouth to deny what Cadence said, but she knew she couldn't. Cadence soon realized her mistake and put a hand over her mouth, but it was too late. Lucas' dismal frown could be read from a mile away.

“You were going to fire me? How long ago were you planning on doing that?”

“I-it was just a thought!” Kate defended. “I was never really going to let you go.”

Lucas continued to display a foul disbelief through his voice.

“Why would you do such a thing? Am I really that bad for you to get rid of me just like that?”

“I didn't-”

Lucas interrupted her by standing up and walking away. Rainbow Dash backed up out of his way to let him leave the room through the lobby door. He stomped through the entrance hall and outside the building, slamming the front door as violently as his derelict strength would allow. Everyone in the lounge shuddered at the booming noise that rippled through the walls and roared in their respective ears.

After a several seconds of silence, Stanley glared at Kate.

“Is that true?”

There was nothing Kate could say to make the withering situation any easier or make her feel any better. She looked down at the floor, absolutely drained of humility and dripping with torrid guilt.

Stanley lifted himself off the carpet he sat on and went to follow his cousin's footsteps. Before leaving to the lobby, he turned to address the Kate and the three ponies.

He open his mouth to say something, but closed it upon having nothing intelligible to say. He sighed and gently closed the door behind him.

11. Bleed

[Bleed]

Stanley jogged to the edge of the porch. He scanned the area for Lucas, but was nowhere to be found. He jumped the steps to the dirt path, kicking up dust as he dragged his feet further afield. With a more open vantage point, only then did he spot his cousin to the side of the building, walking towards the small hill in the distance.

As soon as he found Lucas, he ran as fast as he could to catch up. His shoes sank into the muddy grass field like running on a long springless mattress, causing him to falter and trip a couple times. When he was about ten paces behind the captain, he slowed to a sulky stride with heavy breathing and fatigue hanging loose.

“Wait up,” he cried out of breath.

Lucas ignored the distraction behind him and began to hike up the slope of the hill. Even when Stanley was only a couple meters and closing in, he paid no mind to anything but his only objective of walking until he could walk no more.

Stanley finally brought his winded gasps under control as they walked and then sighed, breaching the cold silence that separated them.

“Don't listen to her, man. She was probably making it up. You know she wouldn't do that.” As much as Stanley wanted that to be true, their history and the odds told a different story. “I don't believe a word of what that pony said, and you shouldn't either. It was probably a coincidence.”

Lucas didn't respond. With the absence of howling coastal winds and the rustling of dry grass beneath their shoes, is was nearly impossible to drown out Stanley's rambling. He cared little for what his cousin had to say. Every sentence, every word, and every syllable that had been directed at him recently were either under temperament or overly stigmatized, so nothing mattered to him anymore. He had enough.

Despite Lucas' efforts to conceal his disposition, Stanley could read the disingenuous look on his face. His cheeks were radiating with agitation while his eyes stared straight ahead. They made it to the top of the hill, overlooking the elegant landscape that dipped into the sea. With the sun rising higher in the sky and not a cloud in sight, the view was breathtaking for anyone lucky enough to see it.

“Look man, if you're angry just tell me. I'll understand.”

“Understand?” Lucas stopped and turned to look at Stanley directly in the eye. “I've been thrown around like a rag doll, beaten to the ground, and punched in the face thanks to you. For years I had to deal with this type of crap from her before you showed up. I don't need you to spit on me like she did. I'm not mad. Just surprised.”

“Wait, you actually wanted her to fire you?”

“I didn't say that.”

“Then what are you saying?” Stanley was lost with his denial.

“I'm saying maybe it's for the best. You've seen it for yourself, she can't stand me. It's like you said, this can't go on forever. I'm as much as nuisance to her than you are to me.”

Stanley frowned. It was the first time he had actually heard him admit his aggravation about the only two people in his life. It was no surprise that Lucas thought of him as a burden, but the fact that his status of captain was threatened by the only person that can take it from him added to his plight that reflected in his current behavior. It was a sign that something was wrong.

“So you're just gonna throw all this away?” Stanley asked. “After how far you've come?”

Lucas chuckled. “I'm not throwing anything away. I'm making things right.”

“How is walking away from the problem gonna help anyone?”

“By taking me out of the picture, maybe your days will get brighter. I might as well since you haven't had a good day since I met you.”

“But what if Kate reconsiders on giving you another chance?”

“Do you honestly think she will? Even when she...” Lucas paused, reluctant to admit it. “...switched bodies with that pony demigod or whatever she is, she still looks at me like I'm the one to blame for everything. Even if she decides not to fire me and kick those ponies out and tell them to go back where they came from, we'd be right back to where we started. Nothing will change. Maybe it's about time I took the first step.”

“Maybe you have to look at this a different way. As much as I hate to believe that they really have magic powers, maybe we can learn from them. We just have to give them a chance.”

Lucas put one hand on his hip and the other to rub his broken nose—which began to hurt again—while a single drop of red trickled his nostril. He paced back and forth to wipe away the blood on a sleeve and compose his thoughts. For a second there, it seemed like Stanley had won the argument, but the fact that he had actually never won an argument with Lucas before, he was unsure of whether the outcome of the conversation was resolved in his favor.

Lucas stopped pacing and continued to stare at the ground for a moment.

“Do you want to know why I left you behind on the boat?” he said, looking up at Stanley. “I was so close to snapping. I didn't want to deal with her anymore. I was actually kinda glad she hit her head, because if she didn't, I wouldn't be standing here talking to you right now. Up to that point I realized how bad things got between us. I wished things would get better when you came along, but I was wrong.”

“So why leave me with her?”

“I was testing your ability to handle the problem, even when it was a real emergency. I wanted see who you cared for the most, me or her.”

“So... all that was a test?”

Lucas nodded. “And you passed.”

“How would I have failed?”

“You would have left her there and came after me.”

Stanley contorted his face in confusion.

“How is that a bad thing?”

“Because I'm not worth coming after. I should be the least of your concerns. The fact that we are cousins doesn't change anything. We're hardly friends. Relatives or not, it's who you care for the most that matters. Kate is more valuable than me. She has business to run, and brother to support, and a reputation to live up to. I don't. If I'm treated like an empty shell all the time, then I might as well not exist. I'm probably better off somewhere else. If you can't accept that, nobody will. The bottom line is, you don't know me.” Lucas paused. He summoned a white piece of paper from his pants pocket and held it up close to Stanley's face. “You'll never understand.”

Lucas then threw the white form on the grass next to Stanley's feet and walked away. The man wasted no more of his time waiting for a counter response from his younger cousin and descended down the hill without another word. Stanley failed to construct any coherent thoughts that would help repair what was left of his associate's value. He was left staring off into the horizon where Lucas once stood. He blinked as if he was hit by a tidal wave of guilt that yanked at every fiber of his being.

Stanley slowly twirled his head in the direction of the station within the valley to his left, then over to his right where Lucas continued to hike down the hill. After letting it all sink in, one word at a time, he began to weigh his options on who to follow. Go back to the station and tell Kate how far gone Lucas was? Or join his cousin. As for the magic ponies, they could wait.

He took one good look at the blanket of water that blissfully hugged the earth bellow the cliff a few meters in front of him. The endless expanse of ocean reminded him of how the beauty of the world made him feel. If only he could be like the wind coastal, fluttering peacefully—yet chaotically—without a care in the world, maintained only by time that allowed it to dance for as long as the earth spun. That would be the day he would truly be free of fear, free of hurt, and free of the misery that brought souls to their knees.

Stanley let his head drop, looking down at the wrinkled paper Lucas left for him. Taking a deep breath, he slowly picked it up and unfolded it.

After reading what was inscribed on the paper, he looked up, devoid of the bitter expression he wore while confronting Lucas. His vision began to fog up, but he fluttered his eyes just in time before the condensation could form into a tear. He hadn't even noticed his mouth quivering along with the dread that washed over him.

Coming to a decision, he turned and walked down the path that—after giving it some reasonable thought—meant more to him than anything.

Kate remained motionless. She had lost the will to care about her own ego at that particular moment as she thought more about what just happened. It was a mortifying thought that she was responsible for destroying Lucas' life—and potentially his spine—with a small misunderstanding. That small misunderstanding made a big difference. From the moment she first argued with him months following his employment six years earlier to magically hurling him several feet in the air ten minutes ago, it had to fall apart like this.

She rested her head on her forelegs and leaned against the knees of her human counterpart. Cadence tried calming her down by carefully brushing her mane with her hands. It was a soothing sensation, but not enough to make up for her mistake. She knew nothing of complex human customs or appropriate social behaviors that defined their species as a collective society. She managed to intrude upon their lives and break apart their relationship without even knowing it. All she could do now was comfort Kate—and herself, technically speaking.

Twilight and Rainbow Dash kept their distance from the distressed human. They could tell that the way Kate tried to defend herself had no effect on the injured human that walked out the door. The moment Lucas found out that his employment would be terminated, they have never felt so bad in all their lives—except maybe for when Twilight discovered that Nightmare Moon was Princess Celestia's sister, Princess Luna.

For several minutes, the lounge was quiet. Not a peep or chirp was uttered, only the sound of ringing silence, muffled hoofsteps, and the faint high-pitched sound that a horn makes when a unicorn's horn glows with magic.

Even thought Twilight felt horrible for her transgression, she used the silence to her advantage. Fulfilling her promise, she began to formulate an incantation by weaving the cognition spell that would return them back to their original bodies. The first stage was to make sure she had enough magic to preform such a spell. However, without a extensive book of spells to ease the process along and guide her through the process, she'd have to no choice but to construct it from scratch. It was a common misconception among ponies that spells required a written version with fancy words, random rhyming, and clever verses, but magic was more complicated than that. Even with the lessons she had learned from her friends in Ponyville, mere words were not enough to quantify the meaning of friendship.

Twilight centered her focus into the backbone of the spell, using the minimum amount of magic required. She needed to save her energy for when she would actually cast the spell. With all the drama that had taken place after discovering the humans, she had almost forgotten about the initial mystery of how and why they teleported above the ocean upon arriving in this new world. If Equestria truly didn't exist in this world, than neither did magic.

Strange, she thought to herself, then how am I able to use magic if it should defy the physics of this reality?

As much as her questions begged for answers, they would have to wait. Returning Cadence back to her own body and Kate to hers was far more important.

“What do we do now?” Rainbow asked, breaking the unicorn's concentration.

“Huh?” Twilight blinked. Even though her magic flow was interrupted, the incomplete proto-spell remained intact.

“I'm bored out of my mind. Isn't there some way to pass the time that won't make me tear my eyes out?”

“Be patient, Rainbow. We must approach this carefully. We don't want to create a greater mess we've already have.”

“But this isn't out problem.”

“No, Rainbow, that's exactly what this is.” Twilight professed. “This whole ordeal would not have happened if it weren't for us.”

“No.”

Both mares snapped their heads as a familiar voice spoke. Kate finally rose from her grievous state after having came to her senses. Cadence helped her sit up into a more comfortable position.

“It would have happened anyways,” she continued. “It was just a matter of time.”

“But you couldn't have known this would happen,” Twilight argued.

“No, I couldn't. But it doesn't matter. I knew I had to tell him sometime. Now that he knows, I don't think I can go through with it now seeing how he reacted.”

“I'm sorry,” murmured Cadence. “I didn't know.”

Kate rolled over and tried to stand up again. Her legs wobbled in place a few times until she found her bearings. She shook off any excess discomfort and stretched her legs.

“Just... watch what you say next time.”

“I will.” Cadence promised with a smile.

Kate took a few steps to get the feeling of how walking was like for any other four-legged animal. It was far from normal for her, but it wouldn't take long to adapt to the awkward posture of a pony.

“This must be weird for you, huh?” Rainbow quipped.

“I don't know what to think,” Kate replied with more cunning movements of her oddly shaped figure. “To think something like this would happen to me.”

“Do you feel any different?” Cadence asked, leaning her human back against the sofa.

Kate rolled her eyes. “You tell me. You're in my body.”

Cadence looked down at her slender feminine hands that just felt so free, like she could intricately control anything and everything with the five dexterous digits on each hand.

“What she means is, can you feel your wings?” Twilight clarified.

“I have wings?” Kate twirled around like a dog chasing its tail. Her efforts were pointless when her equine neck allowed her head to twist further than that of a human. Of course, she didn't know that. She was unaware of pretty much all qualities of an equine's physiology—assuming these ponies were anything like that of a normal pony on Earth.

Rainbow Dash took the liberty of jumping in the air and flying over to assist. She landed next to Kate and stopped her from making a bigger fool of herself than she already has. The pegasus began inspecting the pink feathers of her left wing that dangled lifeless from Kate's back. Her initial contact with her hooves had elicited no response in return or any sort of reflex whatsoever.

As the pegasus worked her way up the feathered appendage, the more she became concerned with the potential long term effects of the alicorn's injuries. She made it to axillary nerve of the wing where the shoulder joint connected the humerus to the spinal chord—Rainbow Dash knew this from her many trips to the hospital. For once, that information became useful. As soon as she applied pressure to the nerve, Kate winced and jolted forward.

“Ow! Watch it!” she shrieked.

“So you do feel that?”

“Yes! It hurts.”

Rainbow took more care in tending her Kate's wings. When she lifted them from her sides, Kate said nothing, having not felt as if anything touched her. But when she applied pressure to her joints, Kate winced and her wings stiffened. It was a familiar sensation of lactic acid burning beneath her skin from experience of working out, but in an unfamiliar in being in the wrong place.

“Your wings are in pretty bad shape,” Rainbow concluded. “You won't be able to fly with them for a while. They'll take a few days, if not more, to heal up.”

“Fly?” Kate raised an eyebrow. Rainbow smirked at the nervous comment and finished her rudimentary diagnosis. She manually folder the wings to fit snug on Kate's sides.

“I'm sorry Cadence, but you worked your wings to their limit. I suggest you stay grounded for a while or else you'll damage them permanently. I, on the other hoof, am strong enough to keep on flying.” The athlete pegasus couldn't help but throw in a gloat of her superior qualities that gave her an advantage over other pegasi, and essentially alicorns in general. However, she was so wrapped up in her own ego that she neglected to account for one crucial detail.

“I carried Twilight the entire time,” Cadence pointed out, which as is turned out, she had a finger to do so. “I'm not fit for flying for long distances for that amount of time. I'm surprised I made it that far. Getting Twilight to safety was my top priority.”

“I'm actually impressed with your endurance, Cadence,” said Twilight. “Some say that alicorns such as yourself and the Princesses are able to channel their unicorn magic into their wings to improve performance.”

“What they say is true, Twilight. I wouldn't have made it without my magic. It's strange though, I felt a significant depletion in my magic.”

Twilight walked up to Cadence to give her another hug. At least she wasn't the only one experiencing weird blips in magic. Most of the time, it was normal, but something occasionally interfered with the mana-space—which registered with significantly weaker connections than in Equestria.

“What are you talking about?” said Kate with a confused look.

“Oh,” Cadence chimed. “We were discussing our rather unpleasant journey over the ocean to get here. Right, Twilight?”

“Well, we sorta fell short before reaching the coast, but we made it nonetheless.”

“Where did you all come from?” Kate asked. “There aren't any talking ponies anywhere in the world and I don't think you came from space. You shouldn't exist as far as I'm concerned. I don't pretend to know how you're real. Well, not anymore.”

“What do you call yourselves, in terms of race?” Cadence insisted.

“Um, human.”

“Interesting,” Cadence mumbled, thinking to herself. “Our nation and our neighbors consist of many different races from all walks of life, but I have never heard of humans before. With intelligence such as yours, according to the primitive nature of your interior design and architecture of your establishment, certainly Equestria would have made contact with your species by now.”

Cadence curiously scanned the room, admiring the polished wooden interior of the building through the lens of her own eyes. Although, her unsubstantiated assessment had little to say for the reality of other accomplishments by humans that she was completely unaware of.

“Primitive?” Kate objected, having heard this description before. “This building is over eighty years old. My family built this place with their bare hands and all the money they had when they immigrated back in the 20's, and they did a damn good job too for lasting this long. The world is different now. We've advanced so much since then, even when this is probably the most rural as you can get in today's world. I wouldn't dare call this primitive by any means.”

Cadence and Twilight exchanged a series of confused and somber looks. Somehow, inadvertently insulting the human brought a new wave of information that hinted to something larger than they could imagine.

“Besides,” Kate continued. “There have never been talking unicorns or flying horses in the history of the forever, as far as we know. They are just myth and fantasy, symbols man has created for epic stories and legends, or just used to entertain young people.” Kate looked down at herself. “I look like I was pulled straight from a kids coloring book...” She smiled. “...no offense.”

For a second time, Cadence glanced at Twilight. The hint was not so subtle with the words 'fantasy', 'myth', and several others. Cadence caught onto the implications right away.

“Twilight?” she began. “Is there something your not telling me?”

“Oh! I'm so sorry for not mentioning it sooner,” the unicorn confessed. “W-we may not be on our own planet anymore.”

Cadence's human eyes went wide. Like the human who inhabited her own body, she tried to stand in the way she was most accustomed to her whole life. Using her hands and knees, she crawled over the window. When she saw that the environment that was no different to that of most Equestrian landscapes, a sigh escaped her lips.

“Where are we then?” she asked without turning around.

“Well, to be accurate, we're on the eastern coast of North Island, New Zealand,” said Kate. “I thought you had my memories? Did you not already know that?”

“I don't have all your memories,” Cadence corrected. “Just a few. Apparently, some more significant that others.” She realized what she was implying, so she quickly thought of something to deviate from that topic. “Do you keep a map of your local region or country perhaps? That would help a great deal in visualizing our relative location to the rest of the world.”

Twilight facehoofed. How could she have forgotten to ask for a map? It would have made much more sense to know what Lucas was talking about when asked where they were.

“Uh yeah, I actually have a modern atlas. It's that big book over there on the stand.” Kate pointed a hoof to the corner of the room near the lobby door where a large brown book was on display on top of a wooden podium.

Twilight immediately levitated it with her magic. Kate jumped as if a poltergeist had possessed her expensive book, flawlessly floating in her direction. She quickly backed away, running into the sky-blue pegasus that had been standing beside her studying her wings the whole time.

“Easy there,” Rainbow croaked. “Chill out. It's just magic.”

Kate was a little shaken up as the fragile book hovered a few inches off the floor before being gently lowered onto the carpet in front of Twilight. It reminded her of her brutal assault on Lucas once more. She desperately to rid herself of that memory. The fact that the explanation was 'just magic' did not suit her well.

Cadence crawled over to Twilight as she started flipping through the pages. Neither mare could take their eyes off of the slick illustrations of the world's continents, high resolution photographs of famous sites, and strange—yet similar—names of cities, countries, and geographical features.

“This is amazing!” Twilight nearly shouted.

Cadence shared the unicorn's enthusiasm. She then looked at Kate while her lavender friend indulged in every shred of information the book had to offer.

“I must say, we have much to learn from each other.”

Kate smiled with a light chuckle.

“Oh you have no idea,” she said rolling her eyes.

Lucas thought about what he said over and over again. He wondered if he was too harsh on his cousin for putting him through such a test with Katherine. Stanley was twenty-five, but he still acted like a child. He needed to learn to be more mature. His actions the night before shed some light on how bad the kid's attitude could get if his anger was pushed to its limits, having already suffered the consequences from the end of a fist. He wonder why Stanley was so angry in the first place. Was it the fact that he abandoned him on the boat? Was it because the man was unstable? Did it have something to do with the weird ponies? Or was there something in his shoddy past that motivated him to snap?

Either way, Lucas was starting to regret leaving Stanley on the crest of the hill alone like that.

With the fishing boat in plain sight and no coast guard or other rescue units on the scene, he continued walking along the beach. Each step seemed to carry more weight with every thought that flickered in his mind. The weather was near perfect for a Saturday in October. Even the sun—the giver and taker of life—was one of the few reason that kept him fighting on.

The heavenly aroma of marine life evaporating from the edge of the beach while the ocean eroded the sand bit by bit helped Lucas to subdue his apparent depression. It reminded him of how he thought of the world. The sea—as lavish and restless as ever—acted like time itself, withering away at the grains one wave at a time; and after a while, the grains break apart and disappear, paving the way for a new generation to suffer the same fate.

In the end, everything that ever was or ever will be comes and goes. The worst part is never being able to watch it happen in a single lifetime.

“Hey wait up!”

Lucas was pulled from his reverie and slowed to a stop. He swiveled his head around to find Stanley running behind him, eager to catch up. As his younger cousin slowed and walked up beside him, he fidgeted his hands together nervously.

Before the navigator could speak, Lucas returned to face the boat several paces down the beach and started walking again. Stanley followed.

“Look, I'm sorry,” he finally said. “I-I didn't know.”

Lucas sighed. For once, he felt relieved when he revealed his most closely kept secret at Stanley's feet. He knew he couldn't hide it forever and that very conversation was the perfect opportunity to tell him the truth. Now that Stanley knew of the number one source of his problems, he was afraid he would tell Kate.

“No one does. I want to keep it that way.”

“Why don't you want anyone to know? This is serious.”

“Yeah, but there's nothing I can do about it.”

“Another reason why we should tell someone. It can't be that bad.”

“If you're trying to make me feel better, it's not working.”

“I just want to help,” Stanley implored.

“Help?” Lucas stopped, arguing yet again about Stanley's inability to mind his own business. “Ten minutes ago you thought I was just some guy who has issues with people and hates the world. Yesterday you thought I was crazy when I saw a purple pony at the front door. Like I said, I'm nothing more than a walking disaster and anyone following me is just asking for trouble.

“Besides,” Lucas took a deep breath. “ALS is a death sentence. You should know that.”

Lucas ended it there and continued walking towards the boat with Stanley in tow. When they finally reached the bow of the ship, he inspected the underside of the hull to see if there were any breaches or cracks. Other than a few barnacles and seaweed attached to the sleek surface, the hull was free of external damage. He approach the rope latter than dangled from the starboard side of the boat. He had left it there the day before. He grabbed hold of the soggy rope and started to climb to the top.

“Where are you going?” Stanley called.

“To getting my stuff.” Lucas hollered back. “It won't take long. I don't have much anyway.”

The captain then disappeared over the edge and out of sight without giving the navigator a chance to respond. Stanley grumbled to himself, debating whether following him was a good idea. He scanned the boat for himself and the surrounding area where the vessel had landed. Considering the violent storm they were caught in before running aground could explain how the sizable fishing boat was able to settle this far onto shore. Normal waves were far too small to carry the ten ton behemoth onto the beach.

When he heard nothing from Lucas, he sighed and decided to check up on him. Stanley jumped up to the latter and climbed. Clearing the top of the handrail, he pulled himself all the way up and set his feet on the deck of the ship. Disregarding the dangers of the soaked wood beneath his shoes, he slipped on his first step.

Fortunately, Stanley regained his balance before he fell completely. Scanning the main deck, everything from the stern to the forward compartment was intact. The windows of the bridge suffered some minor cracks, but other than that, the boat was fine.

Using the guardrails as support, he cautiously made his way to the stairwell and down in the cabin. He left the door unlocked for when he'd return, but his cousin beat him to it. Upon entering the inner realm of the boat, he found the same mess as he left it. Disorderly and disturbing. He could barely see Lucas through the half-opened door at the far end rummaging around his own bunk.

There must be something wrong with the ship's generator, Stanley thought. Other than the brief sounds of drawers opening and closing by his noisy captain, it was quiet and dark. The engine and internal power generator probably suffered some damage or other malfunctions, most likely due to the destructive typhoon-like storm that ravaged the night away. Come to think of it, storms never showed mercy to sailors. Once caught in its grasp, it did everything in its power to make a living hell out of everyone's day. It declared victorious once again.

Stanley carefully stepped further inside the cabin, making his way down the uneven floor that slanted to the right a few degrees. In addition to all the fishing manifests and silverware that were thrown all over the place, water had soaked the floor rugs when the room started to flood the entire compartment in light of their landing. Fortunately, Stanley managed to block the excess rainwater from entering the cabin with the cabin door that was properly fitted with a rubber seal to keep the moisture on the outside. He was glad he kicked the door closed or nature would have claimed the inside with mold and corrosion.

Stanley looked towards the room he and Lucas shared.

“What are you doing?” he called.

The noises stopped and the door was pulled open, revealing another room in a state of disarray. Lucas was shuffling through the mess, collecting a select few of clothes and books laid out at the foot of his bed.

“Packing.”

Stanley wanted to argue again, but now that he knew the reasons for Lucas' behavior and beliefs, he decided to roll with it. Changing the man's mind was next to impossible.

“What about your stuff at the station?” he added.

“Eh,” Lucas shrugged, “I'll get that later. Right now I need make sure I'm prepared.”

Stanley glanced around nervously, taking a series of conscious breaths. He silently vowed to help Lucas through with his decision and comfort him if need be, even when he loathed the idea of losing his only living cousin to the likes of Kate. Although, there were some things that Lucas hadn't considered.

“Ya know,” Stanley cleared his throat. “You're do have a life here, albeit not a perfect one or even a great one at that, but a life nonetheless. I didn't believe for a second that that Cadence princess or whatever was able to read Kate's mind and so happened to spill out her thoughts which turned out to be a personal secret. If you want to quit now, think about who else you'll be affecting instead of yourself.”

Lucas paused what he was doing and looked up at his cousin leaning against the doorway. He said nothing with a conceded expression on his face that fell between guilt and indifference.

“I admit I'm not the best guy in the world to be around and you proved to me I can how much of an ass I can be, but that doesn't mean I'm not trying,” Stanley explained. He took paused to breath more slowly. “If you leave, where does that leave me? I tried hard to escape the past to start over. My father didn't like me and I paid the price for standing up to him. I came out here to find something that was worth living for, and you know what, I found it.”

“What are you trying to say?” Lucas curiously asked with a hint of empathy in his voice.

“Don't go. You are the reason I'm here. If I haven't found out we were related by blood, I wouldn't have cared so much about this job and wouldn't be here right now, same as you. I know we don't get along very well, but we can fix that. It's just that things are different now even when things got a little crazy back there.”

As if Stanley had meticulously planned his monologue for days before this very moment, he looked down and off to the side, then sighed.

“The point is, I need you. I don't know what to do with myself if you left.”

“Are you asking me to stay?”

“I'm asking you to consider what you're doing and whether it's what you really want. You say you're not worth anything to anyone, but that's where you're wrong. Forget about Kate right now and forget our fights. Not a day goes by without me hoping that the longer we spend together, the more we'll understand each other. I'll trust you more and I'll even go so far as to say we're friends. So yeah, I am asking you to stay.”

By now, the silence between the two men had never been so reassuring.

12. Passage

[Passage]

Twilight Sparkle was busy cramming as much of the overwhelming amount of information as she could into her hungry brain. Her eyes were glued to the pages since the instant she opened the book when it displayed a multitude of maps and images of a entirely new world. Every description and excerpt she came across pieced together the world's political boundaries, cultural territories, and geographic wonders, as well key points about topography, politics, and science. It was almost like a fantasy world for ponies, especially those who enjoyed fiction. Twilight adored fiction.

What was more mind-boggling was the fact that the book was only one in a potentially larger pool of knowledge that the humans possessed. She wondered if they had libraries near here, no matter how small. Any amount of books would do, but the more the merrier. A stream of questions poured into her mind like flash flood overcoming a large waterfall.

So much history, so many countries, so many people. The moment she glazed over an estimate the global population of human beings, her eyes widened. Why so many? Equestria easily had less than one percent of all humans on the planet. Ponies wouldn't reach a billion for a long time, let alone six.

As for types of humans, that matter was a little more complicated.

She was so lost in the book that she had forgotten everything around her, including the voice of a certain pegasus pony standing right next to her. The voice was muffled despite no obstructions to her ears.

“Twilight?” Rainbow chirped, nudging the unicorn with a hoof.

“Hm?” Twilight mumbled without looking up from the pages.

“Are you listening?”

Another nudge finally brought Twilight back to the present.

“I'm sorry, what was the question?” she said, finally looking up.

“What does the book say?” Rainbow asked.

“Oh, uh, it just shows me where we are,” Twilight lied. The book showed much more than that. She hadn't actually found where New Zealand was on the map yet, she was too busy with short summaries of human history and famous landmarks. Because she wasn't finished reading the book yet, she wanted to read every section before forming any sort of synopsis.

“Is that all?” The blue pegasus tilted her head.

“Let her read, Rainbow Dash,” Cadence cut in. “She needs some time to finish.”

Rainbow obeyed and stepped back to give Twilight some room to read. She looked around the room once more. The female human and the pink alicorn—who were no longer themselves—were busy learning how to walk like each other. It was boring watching them fail a few times before getting it right.

When her eyes landed on the lobby door, she smirked defiantly. Who says she has to stay a prisoner in this house forever? It was time she stretched her wings and, if possible, make things right with the other humans. Besides, she couldn't stand being cooped up in a room all day long.

Cadence was too busy to notice a deep creaking sound of metal hinges while instructing Kate how to walk like a pony. In turn, Kate would teach Cadence how to stand and walk like a human. “Now, as we were saying, you're gonna want to put your forelegs...”

Twilight quickly got back to the atlas in front of her and let her friends talk. She really wanted to join in, but a new book from another world was too good to pass up. It seemed some habits from her Canterlot days never died.

There were so many sections and subsections on the human world. The learned that the name Earth was used to describe the name of their entire planet instead of the soil beneath their feet. She didn't know if they used it both, but is was a definite possibility.

She was a little heartbroken when the section called 'Planet Earth' never went any further than that. Her life would have been complete if the book featured astronomy or some other field of science. Even a single diagram illustrating the solar system would have been most helpful. Taking into account the amount of books on the shelves and those riddled on the floor from earlier, there was a good chance at least one of them was a science book.

She flipped the pages and eventually landed on the major differences in human physiology, but only briefly. Twilight didn't expect to find an entire rundown of everything about everything. No such book could exist, unless the humans found a way to bring together all their knowledge into one convenient location.

The next section mentioned human evolution, which was strange concept at first glance.

Humans seemed to only differ in appearances by value of skin tone rather than hues of fur color. Apparently skin color served a purpose. The pigmentation in the skin helped humans develop a resistance to ultraviolet radiation laced in sunlight. Interesting. The darker the skin, the more resistance. Twilight was surprised a book of maps like this had that kind of information. Perhaps this book was a guide to the human species or a basic manual. The vibrant color of ponies, however, had no survival qualities whatsoever. Even though coat color stayed consistent among families, it can be completely random at times—like Pinkie Pie for example—and primarily served as a pony's identity before getting a cutie mark. Nothing more.

The section ended there. Twilight had no doubt there were more books on the subject. This just gave her the basics.

According to the book, there was only one type of human, but divided only through cultural, ethnic, and genetic differences. Reading a little more into the brief description of such characteristics, it seemed race—as it was generally called—had created countless problems among those of differing skin color and cultural perspectives. The further she read on, the more it intrigued and bewildered her. How could beings be so advanced, yet continue to struggle with internal fears and prejudices. Was there no harmony and peace throughout their world?

Witnessing firsthoof the kind of conflicts these humans endured by observing Stanley and Lucas, perhaps not. Although, her observations weren't nearly enough to determine if they accurately reflected all humans.

It was then that the word 'war' was used to illustrate the nature human beings and their history. She was almost forced to close the book on herself when the excerpt she was reading went on to say that war was highly common throughout the globe and history and had gone so far to transform peaceful civilizations into authoritarian empires. Even though the lacked depth on the subject, she just couldn't read that part. So, she skipped to the next section.

Twilight let out a quiet sigh of relief when a picture of a large city started off the next chapter. In fact, there were several photographs of different cities of different countries. Her mind started doing backflips on the sheer scale of the city skylines compared to cities in Equestria. Even a place like Manehattan was dwarfed by the tall structures of a human metropolis. Under each picture read the name of each city: New York, Tokyo, London, Singapore, Los Angeles, Chicago, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Seattle, and... Fillydelphia? No wait, it's spelled differently, but the pronunciation is nearly identical. There's no way the similarities is a coincidence.

More relief set in when a map of the world was finally shown—all other maps she saw were merely separate parts of the greater picture—as it appeared from space. Wait, space? This image... a photograph! No, a compilation of thousands of photographs. She was inclined to believe anything the book told her, including the fine print below the image the medium it was created in, but the fact that humans were able to send a camera that high in the sky was mind blowing.

Twilight shook her head from trying to think of an explanation on how that was possible. Without anything more than this book, she wasn't sure if it was anything worth worrying about. Humans, oddly enough, shared the same language as ponies. Even the written form was spot on. That was one thing she simply could not wrap her head around. The fact that they were separated by an entire universe—assuming it was a different universe or some distant planet—should render their languages so different that neither species would be able to communicate or understand one another.

This went against everything she believed about alien life on other planets. Even Equestrian was a difficult language to learn. None of this made any sense to Twilight.

The lavender unicorn slowly realized she was skipping around the book rather than reading it chronologically when a section on climate change was addressed. Only then did she realize that the book had no particular order of events based on their occurrence in history anyway, like it was all one big fact printed in one single tome.

After climate change and a short paragraph on some place called Greenland, another section talked about government. It listed a dozen different types of systems, many of which were familiar, including democracy and monarchy—which Equestria was a little bit of both. Each country of the human world had its own rules—some more defined than others—and each government was a part of something called the United Nations. As the name implied, it was a conglomerate of almost all nations that existed in the modern world. A total of one-hundred and ninty o-

…

Twilight had to stop reading when that number entered her mind. Next to the number of humans on the planet, that number was unbelievable. Her mind had been suffering from information overload that poured into her brain in the last five minutes. 191 nations!? Why so many!? She yelled in her head. How are they able to maintain that many political entities under one unified system of leadership?

Twilight closed her eyes and took a long breather. This was the moment when even an intellectual mind like hers was overworked to the point of contracting a headache.

After taking a moment to pause for the last time, she looked back down at the book to continue reading. When a section called 'religion' appeared as a subsection of nations, she closed the book. She was almost hyperventilating from the many times it mentioned conflicts of human rights, clashes of two different peoples, and wars for dominance. Twilight had never read a book so full of new information, yet have the information be so far removed from what she had expected.

“Done already?” said Kate through Cadence's voice.

Twilight closed her eyes for a second, then snapped her head up.

“No no, I'm fine,” she sputtered.

“Something wrong?” Kate asked with true concern.

“Do you have a book that is less... broad?”

“What do you mean?”

Twilight got her hooves and walked over to the pile of books on the floor where Lucas had hit the floor.

“A book with more... …” she paused for a few seconds. “Specifics.”

“What subject are you looking for?”

Kate used her basic training of walking on all four hooves to join the purple unicorn in finding a new book to read. She kicked some of the hardcover books out of her way and flattened the pile by sifting through the books on the top first. All the while, Twilight was staring blankly at the pile without moving a muscle.

Cadence tried to stand up, but wobbled in place and was forced to stay on her hands and knees. She grunted at her failure to maintain balance and crawled next to Twilight. She noticed something was bothering her closest friend. She waved a hand in front of the mare's gaze.

“Twilight? Are you alright?”

The unicorn turned her head and blinked as if she forgot where she was.

“What was that?”

“I asked if you were alright.” Cadence tilted her head a little. “Are you sure you're okay? You're were just staring at the books for a while.”

“I was?”

“Were you thinking of something? You appeared to be in thought.”

“I don't know.” Twilight shook her head. “I just remembered what I did yesterday morning.”

Cadence widened her eyes. “Before teleporting here?”

“I believe so,” Twilight replied.

“That's great news! You know how we got here then. You have the answer.”

“Well, I don't know exactly how or why yet. I only know what I was doing a few hours before.”

“Oh... well how long until you can recall the full memory?”

“I can't say for certain, this memory just came to me all of a sudden, like somepony lifted a blindfold from my eyes,” Twilight surmised. “Maybe the side effects of the spell are wearing off and my memory is returning to me piece by piece.”

“Hmm,” Cadence put a hand to her chin. “Then why can't I remember anything from the same time? We did teleport at the same time. Or do the side effects of amnesia wear off a varying rates?”

“I think it may be because you no longer inhabit your own body, thus not capable of accessing your most recent events from your past just yet.”

Twilight and Cadence bounced ideas back and forth. Even though their guesses were clearly speculation, they had reason to suspect that the nature of the teleportation spell was not an accident. Twilight vividly remembered receiving a letter from Princess Celestia which granted her access to the Crystal Archive in the library of the Crystal Empire. Before the empire's resurgence, the books and knowledge of the crystal ponies had long been forgotten.

Twilight had trouble making the connection on the nature of that single letter and their apparent teleportation to a different world. Often times she could piece together events in her head quite precisely, but in this instance, she did not have every piece of the puzzle. A key event was still missing.

When she and Cadence had no more leads on the probable cause, they looked at Kate for a response, only to find her sitting absolutely still while staring blankly at the wall.

Lucas reconciled in his thoughts. He agreed to stay as long as Stanley shaped up, because if not, he made it clear that he would quit again at the next sign of trouble. He hated to admit that his younger cousin was able to change his mind with strong sentiment, but he could tell the remarks were far from fake. They were as sincere as sincerity could get.

Despite his agreement to keep his job, the captain still packed his things from his cabin bunk into his travelers backpack filled with his belongings, including his old excuse for a laptop, shiny MP3 player, black binoculars, and a couple of his favorite H. G. Wells novels.

After stuffing his backpack full of all the things he cared most for, he zipped it up and slung it on his shoulder. Stanley was next to him pack a few of his own things for himself like his GPS and satellite phone. Even though the boat wasn't going anywhere anytime soon, they still didn't want their belongings out in the open where anyone can find them. They felt safer where they could see them, especially for Lucas.

Lucas took one last look at his wrinkled bunk and made through the rest of the boat. Being Kate's captain, he had access to her fishing manifests and schedules, as well as the registration and license for the ship. He sighed when he stared at the chaotic mess of documents all over Kate's cabin. He didn't have enough time to organize everything, so he started searching for the most important of information that would be unwise to leave unattended. Some of the papers were confidential.

With the boat dating over thirty years, Lucas had wondered if Kate's family owned others before it. Her business did trace back to the 1920's, so how did they manage to survive the competitive market with only one vessel? He had yet not found one shred of information or contract that she—or any other of her family members—intended to expand the small business to other cities or ports in order to increase revenue or profit, assuming such an agreement existed. Not once had Kate mentioned expansion and whenever he brought up the topic, she always replied with the same answer. Tradition.

As old school as that sounded, Lucas liked tradition. He was all for sticking to family values and heritage, but to a certain extent. The economy was total whack these days as opposed to the sixties. He just thought Kate could use a little more buyers of her goods after having to recommend it several times—all of which she refused.

Lucas finally found what he was looking for and put them in his backpack. The rest of the papers were replaceable. After taking care of what needed to be salvaged, he stood up and stepped to the cabin entrance. He was about to leave when he remembered his cousin was behind him. Any other day before this, Lucas would have just left Stanley on his own again without saying anything, but because of recent events, his heart and conscience wouldn't let him. He turned to call out to him.

“Are you coming?”

A few seconds of shuffling bed sheets, the ruffling of nylon from a backpack, and a zipper being fastened, Stanley emerged from the small cabin.

“Yeah, I had to get a few things,” he said.

“So you DO think it was a good idea to come here,” Lucas accused.

“I never said that. I might as well get my things while we're here. I don't want to leave it out in the open when someone can come in here and take our stuff.”

“You do realize there's nobody around, right? There's not a soul for miles.”

“I'm just saying, you can never be too cautious.”

“Of course you- … never mind.” Lucas didn't want to argue any further. In fact, he didn't want to argue with Stanley at all. If they were going to stick together from now on, it be best if he improved his approach. “We should get outta here.”

Without a second to spare, both men exited the cabin and made their way to the main deck of the boat. The brightness of the sky blinded them for a few seconds until their eyes adjusted. Stanley almost tripped over the fishing net and fell over the edge.

They looked around for any changes in weather or any other boats nearby that they can see. It reminded them on how alone and isolated they really were to the rest of civilization. The closest town to the north that rested on a bay was about six miles up the road from the station. The next large town from that—Gisborne—was about thirty miles south. Despite the shortage of people, it was one of the most beautiful places on Earth.

“That reminds me, did you call the coast guard?”

Lucas stopped at the question. He had completely forgotten about the coast guard. The whole fiasco with the ponies at the station and Kate's freaky mind swap had officially purged the idea from his mind. He thought a reasonable excuse would bail him out.

“I haven't gotten around to it yet. I was gonna do it this morning, but as you know, we have bigger problems.” He pointed a finger to the bridge. “You're welcome to try the radio if you want?”

“But that's your job,” Stanley groaned. “Aren't you gonna do it?”

Lucas stared at him silently for a few seconds, and then shook him head.

“Nope.”

The captain abandoned his ship by reeling himself down the rope ladder hanging below the side of the boat.

Stanley huffed and rubbed his forehead. As sad as it was, he had no idea how to operate a simple radio.

While waiting for Lucas to jump to the beach below, he looked towards the hill across the beach. A sharp rainbow streak shot straight up into the sky and then away towards the tall cliff in the distance that was the natural monument to the locals of the area, even if it was just a small mountain peak used to guide sailor to the harbor back in the day.

Stanley was slow to realize that he had been staring off into space for a minute or so. He could already see Lucas walking along the beach. He quickly vaulted the railing and climbed to the sand. With more weight on his back than before, his pace was slowed significantly, but was still able to catch up to his cousin.

“Hey man, did you see that?” Stanley said pointing at the sky above the hill.

“What?” Lucas looked up, but saw nothing. “Don't tell me it's a UFO because I don't believe in those anymore.”

“Never mind. I probably just imagined it.” The navigator shook his head and reached into his pants pocket. “Oh, um, do you want this back?” He held out the medical report. Lucas' answer came with him snatching the paper from Stanley's hand.

“You carried it around all this time, but never told anyone,” the young man continued. “It seems to me like you were really bent of holding on to it.”

Lucas looked down at the small piece of paper that had been the bane of his life for years. From the day the doctor gave him the bad news and diagnosed him with incurable neurological disease, he always kept that copy with him at all times. He tried to let it go ever since, but throwing away the report did not get rid of the disease.

“Oh, uh, yeah thanks” he mumbled, swallowing the saliva in his mouth. “I keep it in case I need it, and I gotta say, it came in handy for once.”

“You didn't have to be so dramatic about it.” Stanley laughed.

Lucas laughed with him. “You left me no other choice. You were the one who was so uptight about yesterday. But I'll admit it, I regret leaving you there alone.”

Another period of silence lingered between the two as they continued to walk on the the dry sand of the beach. The gentle white waves of the coast was so soothing, it was hard not to interrupt their enchanting sound that calmed their nerves. There was no better time to spend with Lucas than an incredibly mundane stroll on the beach with nothing but their closest possessions and each other.

It was close to noon time. With the sun's rays beaming down on the beach, bouncing vibrant colors of the serene environment in all directions, it was the perfect setting to alleviate any negative emotions from the darkness within most people.

This time, it was Stanley's turn to reform. This was the point he had been waiting for a long time. To feel like he belonged somewhere with someone he really cared about. All it took was a few fights and magical ponies to tear him apart. It was up to him now cross over to the light and set things straight for the better.

About halfway to their destination, Stanley began to worry about the future after letting his thoughts wander aimlessly.

“So, uh, about Kate?” Stanley said as he adjusted the straps of his backpack while walking in the most casual manner he could maintain.

“You told me to forget about her.”

“No, I told you to not let her be the one who controls your life. Not shut her out completely,” Stanley clarified.

“Okay, so what about her?” Lucas repeated.

“You're gonna tell her what happened to her boat?”

“Of course not,” Lucas said a matter of factly.

“She's going to find out sooner or later.”

“That's why I'm not going to tell her, I'm going to show her.”

Stanley already hated that plan. Even though it would be more convincing, it was the reaction he was most concerned about. If Kate flipped out that her boat was grounded, there's no telling what she'd do. Losing his job seemed the most plausible since she already revealed her intentions for Lucas.

Also, it just so happens that Kate is not who she normally is anymore, so his dislike for the idea grew even more. One more reason to upset her was one step closer to having to hitchhike on the highway. He preferred to stay employed than have his life shattered with those two words everyone has heard at least once.

“Don't you think we should just tell her instead? Maybe she'll go easy on us then.”

“I don't think she's going to do anything to us, so it doesn't matter.”

“How can you know that? She can just give us up with a second thought.”

Lucas stopped walking and put a hand on his cousin's shoulder.

“Dude, stop worrying so much, everything will work out. Just trust me on that.”

Stanley wasn't sure if he wanted to. Striving towards a life certainty and bold inquiry, trusting someone on a whim did not suit him so well, but if he wanted their relationship to work, this was a good place to start.

“Fine, we'll do it your way. I don't know how though, considering she's not in her own body anymore.” He chuckled at that thought once more. He still couldn't get over it. “But I take your word for it.”

“Good. Now I need you to let me do the talking.”

Stanley put his hands in his pockets and tried to keep his mind off of Kate for the rest of the way.

*Whoosh*

A sudden distinct wave of wind whizzing behind them made them flinch. The men quickly turned around the find out was flew by with blazing speed enough to displace the cool air around them to cause such a sound. When they found nothing out of the ordinary within plain sight, they looked at each other and shrugged, assuming it was just the wind playing tricks on them.

When they turned back around, they nearly jumped out of their skin when a blue rainbow-haired pony was standing directly in front of them look at them curiously. They immediately put their arms up in cowardly defense.

“Dammit you!” Stanley snarled.

The pegasus did not react in a way expected. No retaliation or threatening pose came. She simply cocked her head to the side, looking at them innocently. Her expression was more pleading than aggressive.

“What do you want?” Lucas growled.

“I saw you two walking, so I thought I'd drop by.” Rainbow tried her best to keep her cool while attempting to smile. Her behavior had been improving, but the only thing that would strip the guilt completely would be to talk to the humans personally in a more friendly manner. She needed to face her fears she wouldn't admit she had.

“That's all?” Stanley frowned. He then tapped Lucas on the shoulder. “Let's go, man, before this clown beats us up again.”

Both men walked around Rainbow Dash and continued up the beach, leaving the pegasus standing alone. Unbeknownst to them, Rainbow was thinking whether or not entailing a casual conversation with them was a good idea. She was never good with plans.

“I'm sorry!” she suddenly shouted with a hint of regret in her voice.

She stood with her back towards the humans as they turned their heads in surprise. Sucking up the courage to face them again, she slowly turned around with her head held high. With her recent change of heart and soft side flowing through her, she was ready to correct her mistakes.

“I'm sorry I hit you both. I wasn't thinking straight, I was just... afraid... that you were going to hurt us. I was just protecting my friends. I know you would to do the same for your friends. It's just that we've been under so much stress lately that I get a little carried away.”

Lucas and Stanley examined the pegasus' facial features for any sign that would hold true to her word. The longer they looked into her large magenta eyes, the more they could see how solemn they were. They remained silent to let her speak.

“I know now that you're not dangerous monsters anymore and I don't want you to think I'm one either. Twilight told me to stop assuming and I shouldn't judge you. I don't want to lose her as a friend. She trusts you and I will to do the same. If we can work this out, we can go home and you won't have to hear from me again. Can you forgive me?”

Rainbow swirled a hoof in the sand bashfully. Her head slowly fell while the humans gazed upon her. Their stares gave her the feeling that they were considering rejecting her proposal.

Lucas shrugged.

“I don't know it we can forgive you, but if you want to make it up to us, just promise you'll never do it again.”

Stanley leaned in the captain's ear.

“Is that it?” he whispered. “That's kinda weak. Make her do something for us.”

“I promise,” said Rainbow, giving a salute.

“And how do we know you'll keep your promise?” Lucas asked, not quite sure if he should believe her.

“I'm the Element of Loyalty,” she said proudly. “I'm always loyal to my friends.”

“Oh, so now we're friends, huh?” Stanley jested, making a face the closely resembled contempt. “That's not how it works. Unless you can prove it, we have nothing left to say.”

Rainbow's head dropped again. The conversation kept veering off in a direction she didn't want to go. She expected it to be easier to fix her wrongdoing with her words, but apparently she needed more practice in that department.

Stanley turned and began walking away. Lucas watched his cousin storm off towards the hill until he was just out of range. He faced the blue pegasus once more and displayed a more relaxed expression than before.

“I'm not the one you should be talking to,” he professed in a low voice. “If you really want to make things right, then maybe you should stop thinking about yourself and more about others.” Lucas stood there to let Rainbow figure out whom he was talking about.

Her head perked up as if having an epiphany. She pointed a hoof at Stanley, who was already walking halfway up the hill.

“Oh, you mean-”

“Yes, exactly,” Lucas confirmed.

“I don't know if he'll listen. What can I say that will change his mind?”

“I already changed his mind,” he noted. “Now it's your turn. Don't tell me you're afraid to try.”

“Afraid? Me? Pfff, never.” Rainbow laughed nervously.

“Then what are you waiting for. I'll watch your back I case thing get ugly. Stanley is unpredictable. I know.” Lucas ended, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

Rainbow Dash nodded, and just like that, she was gone. The pegasus rocketed straight up in the air and swiftly sped towards the hill where the other human grumbled off to. As she flew closer behind Stanley, she decided to be a little more considerate and land a few meters behind him. Surprising him did play out well, even when it was unintentional.

She quietly watched him reach the top of the hill. She was about to do the same, but she stopped when came to an abrupt halt. His head dropped a bit. Rainbow took the opportunity to approach the man. He gave no indication that he was aware of her presence.

Stanley slowly gazed skyward and then looked off to the side, resting his eyes on the ocean. Rainbow ducked below the top of the grass so he wouldn't notice her in his peripherals. From what she could tell, he seemed to be having a hard time being alone. She heard him sigh before he changed course and walked to the edge of the hill. He waited at the very edge of the cliff for a moment, taking in the view as the light above the water reflected back into the atmosphere. He took off his backpack, got down on his knees, and sat down, dangling his legs over the edge of the cliff.

Rainbow Dash sighed. If there was a time when she felt pity for another pony—or in this case, person—this was the first. She slowly waddled over to him and sat down right next to him without a moment's hesitation, staring off into the blanket of blue before her just as she would back home.

14. Penance

[Penance]

Stanley couldn't believe how nearly all his personal indignities had been cut free by a talking pegasus in less than ten minutes. Although she was supposed to only exist in fairytale and mythology, she showed her true colors by forcing out her untold story that not even her friends were aware of. He could tell it took quite the effort to submit to genuine sentiment, so it was only fair to return the favor. The amount of information he gave about his own life was enough to lift his heart out of the dark where it could relish with the warmth of a friend. The fact that it had been locked away for so long was what drove him to go against his better judgment since leaving his home behind.

He was growing fond of calling her a friend in his mind several times over, but never out loud. He needed to know if she held true to her trust with more than petty words. Her actions would give him the insight he needs to place his life in her hands—or hooves in this case. She already proved herself loyal by saving him from serious injury.

The fact the she was even there at all to fly after him had gone way over their heads. If Lucas hadn't sent her to talk to him, he would have plummeted to his death. Go figure.

Even the limits he set for himself were as weak as that portion of the cliff that nearly killed him. It was the first time he ever told anyone about his father—and to a flying pony no less. There wasn't a clear reason as to why Rainbow Dash revealed that personal part of herself, but it got him thinking. Even Lucas knew very little of the full story.

It was now up to him to fulfill his duty. To trade disdain for humility and to curtail his irrational antics by promoting his humanity from a moral standpoint.

Stanley and Lucas finally arrived at the dirt road that led to the front porch of the fishing station. The building was just as old and dull as ever. That would never change. However, what is on the outside doesn't accurately represent what is on the inside. As cliché as that sounds, it just so happens to apply to Stanley and Rainbow Dash at that particular moment.

The two men sluggishly walked up to the edge of the porch and stopped to rest on the wooden steps. Rainbow quietly sat down with them. All three of them waited a few seconds for the strong breeze to settle before they would enter the building. It also gave Lucas and Stanley the time to think things through before repairing the damage done to their boss, Kate.

“Are you still gonna show her the boat?” asked Stanley.

Lucas breathed in. “Nah. I'll think just tell her. If she doesn't believe me, then we'll have no other option but to show her, even if we have to drag her out here to see it. I'm just wondering what her reaction will be like.”

“You are gonna tell her everything, right? Like, where it is? The time of the crash? Who's fault it was? Maybe even a damage report?”

“We have to. She told me to keep a captain's log for each day assessing the performance of her aging boat. One for official purposes and one for personal use.” Lucas removed his backpack and took out a small journal. “This is my personal copy. I haven't missed a day in six years, but ever since the crash, I haven't written anything yet. The moment the whole cabin shook, I thought that was the end if it.”

He stared at the journal for a moment. “You know what, this stupid thing was a waste of time anyways.”

Lucas craned his arm back and chucked the notebook as far as he could. He watched hundreds of hours of work disappear somewhere in the grass, narrowly missing the white fence. He smiled. A feeling immense weight came tumbling down all around him. It was quite the relief. Possibly the best decision he's made all day.

“Good riddance,” he uttered.

“I hope Kate goes easy on us. If she does happen to fire you, it's not the end of the world.” Stanley then spit on the ground in front of him, hardly noticing a blob of red muck stuck to his saliva. “You'll survive, because you know what, if you don't work for Kate anymore, neither will I.”

Lucas looked at his cousin in mild shock. He shook his head and huffed.

“No don't do that. You need this job more than I do.”

“The way I see it, I could care less about this job if it means you have to let some stupid disease control your life. I know you don't have anywhere else to go, and I'm sure as hell not gonna let you go through it alone.”

“You have a disease?” said Rainbow Dash, snapping her head in their direction, obviously overhearing their conversation. She was ready to back away until Lucas replied to reassure her.

“Don't worry about it. It's not contagious,” he said. “...or so I'm told.” He gave a sly look. He then leaned into Stanley's ear. “Sometimes you gotta learn to keep your mouth shut.”

“Oops.”

Rainbow wasn't too fond of diseases, pathogens, disorders, or sickness in general. Although she never got any closer than a few meters from the older human since meeting him, she now had a good reason to keep her distance, even when she didn't to ask what kind of disease he actually carried or how devastating its effects really were on the host. At this point, it was already too late to do anything about it, so she didn't want to know. Ponies probably don't get the same diseases as humans anyway. Perhaps it was best if she kept her paranoia to herself.

“I think we've been out here long enough, don't you?” Lucas spoke up after a brief silence and rose to his feet. He put his backpack on and helped Stanley up. Sitting down gave him the rest he needed to walk on his own. He used the wooden railings and Lucas' hand for support.

Stanley wobbled in place, readjusting his footing for greater balance. His center of gravity was off from his injured left leg.

“Can you walk now?” Lucas asked.

“I can manage,” he replied. “You ready to face Kate again?”

“Bring it on.”

The both of them sucked in as much of the soothing, outdoor air to prepare for their next move. Slowly walking along the porch, they quickly ran through several scenarios on how the situation would play out. Most were automatically negative, but some weren't so bad. If only there was a perfect way to deliver the message diligently and fearlessly, and with as much confidence as humanly possible, then MAYBE their chances of keeping their jobs was in their favor. However, neither one of them was capable suppressing their anxiety after what happened the last time they were here.

“No pressure, right?” Stanley laughed nervously.

“Let's just get this over with. I'm tired of waiting.” Even though Lucas' voice sounded confident, his body still tried to resist what his brain was telling him.

As they stepped inside the station, a strong wave of heat hit them in the face. They had almost forgotten how warm it was indoors compared to the chilly winds beyond the thick walls. They were so absorbed by the coastal climate that the temperature difference nearly stole all the air from their lumgs. They tiptoed their way to the lounge door like ninjas on a secret mission, making as little noise as possible.

Lucas placed an ear against the door. Oddly enough, no voices could be heard from within the room.

Upon pushing the door open and entering the lounge, they found that it was empty. Stanley set his backpack at the foot of the door while Lucas left his on. They spread out throughout the room while Rainbow stood by the doorway as a quiet observer.

“Where did they go?”

“Don't ask me.” Stanley pointed at Rainbow Dash. “She's the one who saw them last.”

“They were in here when I left.” She grinned slightly. “I did sorta sneak away without them noticing.”

The men fell silent as they stared at the pegasus.

“What?” she defended with a shrug. Her nervous look resembled that of fake guilt. “I was bored. Twilight was reading and your friend was teaching Cadence how to walk. That's all I know.”

Thankfully, the men accepted the answer by looking at each other and shrugging as well. The group remained still, looking around for any clues as to where they might have run off to. They took advantage of the silence to also listen for any sounds other than their own for the same reason.

They were in luck when very faint, muffled voices seeped through the cracks in the walls that originated from another part of the building. When all three of them were aware that it was voices they heard and not figments of their imaginations, each converged at the hallway door and quietly slipped out of the lounge, following the noises that accompanied the voices.

They were led down the narrow corridor which led to the kitchen. The carpet below their feet was not nearly enough to absorb the amount of strain that squeaked from the floorboards under their collective weight. As they approached the kitchen door, all noises stopped, including their own. The standoff of silence only lasted a couple seconds when the door burst open to reveal the pink alicorn ready to defend herself at the drop of a dime.

Her stance forced each of them back up. Even with the dim lighting, that long horn of hers was aimed directly at their heads. It was even glowing slightly from the tip.

“Whoa whoa, e-easy.” Lucas put his hands up to surrender.

The pony let loose and sighed.

“Don't sneak up on us like that,” she calmly scolded. Lucas noticed the change in her tone that went against everything he expected to hear from her. “You guys are just in time for lunch.”

With that, she casually returned to where she came from. Stanley and Lucas looked at each other with raised eyebrows. If their expressions didn't accurately frame their confusion, their reluctance follow gave the impression that they were slow to process Kate's actions with ease.

Rainbow shook her head and chuckled to herself. She walked pass the two men—who remained frozen in place—and followed after the alicorn. When they were alone, Lucas pinned his back to the wall and took a deep breath.

“How do you wanna do this?” he whispered.

“Maybe we should start a conversation first. You know, play it slow I guess.”

“But we've already waited long enough. She needs to know now before she—“

“A few minutes longer won't kill you, dude. Chill out. We'll both need to contribute. I got your back.” He paused when Lucas remained motionless.

“So how do you wanna do this?”

“You asked me that already.”

“I did?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh, I didn't even notice.” Lucas blushed slightly from his moderate embarrassment. His forgetfulness was just one of many side effects of his current anxiety. He puffed out a gust of hot air from his mouth and turned around to face his companion, his voice shaking. “I don't know if I can face her now after walking out on her.”

“You can do this.” Stanley sighed and wrapped an arm around his cousin's shoulder. “Tell you what, I can go in first if you want.”

The older man perked his head up and nodded. “Yeah yeah, good idea.”

Lucas stepped aside to let his cousin take the lead, gently shoving him in front. Stanley brushed off his sleeves and stuck out his chest. Wasting no more time confined in the hallway and hidden behind the barrier of wood and contempt, he opened the door and walked in as composed and collected as possible. Time to man up.

As he entered the kitchen, it was as they had left it, with some exceptions. Their breakfast was still sitting on the table, but that wasn't the first thing he noticed. The rich, delectable smell of salmon sizzling on a frying pan on the stove top hit him like a slap in the face. Of all the generic seafood produced by an independent fishing business on the coast of New Zealand, it had to be salmon.

Stanley couldn't complain. He liked salmon.

All three ponies and Kate were present. Twilight Sparkle was sitting on the far end of the table, eating a plate of salad. She immediately stopped to look at him. Same thing with Kate—or Cadence rather—who was previously fiddling with a few eating utensils with her hands with an empty plate in front of her. Kate, on the other hand, stood in the most spacious spot in the entire kitchen on all four hooves, staring at him silently. All her adornments were off, including slippers and crown. They were piled together in the middle of the dining table. Rainbow Dash was busy pacing around the room with her nose in the air, trying to find where the heavenly smell was coming from.

A few seconds later, the door behind Stanley finally opened. Lucas slowly, very slowly, poked his head through, his body followed suit moments later. When his eyes met those of the pink princess, he froze. Those lavender eyes seemed to spell trouble the instant her emotionless expression transformed into a frown.

“Whatcha cookin'?” said Stanley. “Smells good.”

“Salmon,” answered Kate, not taking her eyes off Lucas.

“Nice. Is it ready?”

“Not quite.”

“Alright.” He looked at the kitchen table. “Is it cool if we sit here?” Stanley held out a hand and gesturing at a chair across from Cadence.

“Be my guest,” Cadence sang.

“No, you're our guest.” He pulled out the old wooden chair and sat down. “In fact, you're more than a guest, you're a friend. We're at your disposal. If you need help with anything, don't be afraid to ask. We have now decided to do our part and help figure out how to fix this so you can go home.”

Stanley raised a hand at his cousin to wave him over. Reluctantly, Lucas obeyed and stepped to the corner of the table between Stanley and Twilight. He pulled up another chair from the side of the room and rigidly plopped down, removing his heavy backpack and setting it by his feet. He stared down at his hands when he noticed the purple unicorn hadn't continued eating, the silence eating him instead.

“Hello there,” she delicately cooed with a warm smile.

“Hi,” he muttered without looking at her.

“So did you guys talk about while we were gone?” Stanley curiously asked.

“Not much,” Kate responded. She surprised him and Lucas when a spatula levitated from the counter and flipped the salmon over on its own. The neon blue glow dissipated as it gently floated back onto the counter. Kate seemed unfazed by what happened. Unbeknownst to him, she had been using her new found ability of unicorn magic to perform all the handy tasks just as she would if she had hands.

The both of them looked at Twilight who was smirking at them.

“I taught her a thing or two about magic,” she chirped. “Levitation spells are relatively easy.”

“We've been waiting for you to come back so we can talk,” Kate added. “I hope you're hungry.”

Stanley put his elbows on the table and rested his head on his hands. He glanced at the half-eaten bagel and oatmeal sitting at the edge of the table. He remembered back to why his breakfast was still sitting there in the first place.

“Well, you did scream your head off and interrupt our breakfast. I guess we forgot to finish our food.” He reached over to slide over the plate towards him. He grabbed the bagel and took a bite. After taking a moment to chew and savor the flavor, he started nodding. “Still good. So what do you want to talk about?”

Kate took the liberty of relieving the shivers around her body by shaking like a dog soaked in water. Her mane flowed from side to side as she stopped moving. She then cleared her throat.

“I wanted to apologize.” She looked at Lucas' modest figure slumped next to Stanley. “I am deeply sorry for hurting you. I didn't know that could ever happen and Cadence's slip of the tongue was unexpected. It's all my fault. If I had been a little more careful, you wouldn't be so frustrated with me right now. This all happened so fast, I'm having trouble keeping up with it all.”

“No,” Lucas murmured, holding up a palm. “I'm the one who should be sorry. If you knew what I told Stanley, you'd know that I lost my sense of ground, but I know now I can't run from this. So I think it's fair to say that we were just being complete jerks to you for a while now. We already agreed that helping you should be our highest priority.”

Kate cocked her head in confusion. “What did you guys say to each other out there? I've never seem you two like this before. It's like you both changed into completely different people.”

“We did,” Stanley confirmed. “Let's just say we are not mad at you anymore. We don't care how we got into this mess or why this happened the way it did. We want is to help fix it. That's the way I— we see it,” he glanced at the blue pegasus standing next to her. “We're all having a bad day. Might as well make the best of it.”

Twilight noticed the human's subtle eye contact with Rainbow Dash. She wanted to say something then and there, but restrained herself from rudely interrupting.

“How did you manage to come up with that?” Kate joked.

One more glance at Rainbow reassured him of the gratification of his previous conversations. The pony winked in return.

“Let's just say we settled our differences without a single punch thrown. It's all in the words.”

“That fast, huh?” Kate was slow to accept that cheeky answer, but arguing would only defeat the purpose of trying to make things better. “Alright then.” She looked back at the stove. “Looks like lunch is ready.”

“I still don't know how you human's eat fish,” Cadence finally said after keeping silent for the past several minutes. Although she was lacking in knowledge about human anatomy and their omnivorous nature, she new her part a “Ponies are not designed to digest such meats in large quantities without getting a wicked stomach ache. The salt content is close to that of several bottles of cider. Only pegasi are able to eat fish since they require more energy fly.”

“Well now that you're in my body, you can eat all the fish you want.” Kate lifted the black metal pan off the stove and levitated it over the the table. Channeling more raw magic into her horn by concentrating onto two objects, she used the spatula to cut the oily salmon into several pieces and slid one onto Cadence's plate. “My metabolism is very durable. Besides, fish is delicious.”

“Are you gonna have any?” Stanley questioned.

“She just said that her body can't digest fish. I can survive without it for now. I'm gonna have some salad.”

While Kate prepared some more plates using her magic, Rainbow took the time for seat herself on a chair between Cadence and Twilight. She was licking her lips in preparation for the salmon that she desperately wanted to taste. Her friends watched Kate hover more ceramic plates on the table with a chunk of salmon of everyone but herself and Twilight. Kate even took the liberty to add a fork and knife with each serving except for Rainbow.

“I always wanted to do that,” she said shortly after the last plate was set before Rainbow Dash, relieving herself of having to focus that much magic at once. The blue pegasus sniffed the salmon first to see if it was fresh. After briefly licking the skin, her appetite shot through the roof and she dug in. Cadence was trying to teach herself how to use the fork that she played with earlier and Twilight went back to eating her salad. Lucas didn't even look at his food.

“Magic looks like fun,” said Stanley, the corners of his mouth twitching in between bites. His beliefs on the existence of magic continued to rage on in his head.

“Of course it is,” Twilight almost blurt out. “The power to manipulate objects through magic is a useful tool and its what gives unicorns an advantage in skill when working with delicate objects that require precise movements.” She ignored the glare Rainbow shot at her. “An alicorn like Cadence is naturally able to generate larger amounts of magic with less effort than a regular unicorn like myself. That is why my mentor, Princess Celestia, and her sister, Princess Luna, are able the control the sun and moon respectively. They can access the mana-space quite efficiently and can channel vast quantities of magical energy at will that would normally take a hundred unicorns to achieve.”

Lucas slumped in his chair a little more and rubbed his forehead upon hearing the unicorn's statement on magic. He had articulated the night before on how he felt about telekinesis and magic being exploited—even though he knew very little on the subject, but to have Twilight explain it in greater depth served as a grueling reminder.

“Let's not talk about that, okay,” he insisted. “I've had enough lectures for today.”

Twilight looked at him, trying her hardest not to take offense.

“Is something bothering you, Lucas,” Kate asked with a hint to annoyance in her voice. He was not making to easy for her to be stuck inside a pony's body and having to steal her gift of unicorn magic. “You look like you have something to say.”

The man turned to Stanley, whom was busy distracting himself with the wonderful crisp taste of tender fish meat.

“I thought we came here to tell her about... you know,” he said in low voice.

“I know, but this stuff is good,” the navigator replied between chews. “You should try it. Another few more minutes won't hurt.”

Lucas sighed. His younger cousin started to sound like he cared little for their original mission of confession and more invested in gobbling up every last piece of his fish. He decided to go ahead and eat his own slice of salmon.

When he took his first bite, he realized why Stanley was literally smearing his face into his plate. It was amazing! Pure bliss with each bite of the salty meat. As he fell under the spell of good food, he hadn't even noticed the satisfied smile Kate was giving him from across the table.

Kate watched her 30-year-old captain lose himself to her brilliant cooking. She still had it in her, even as a pink pony princess. This was the perfect way to repay him for what she did to him. He deserved that much. She just needed to know why he's been acting differently since returning. He was no longer angry or contempt, but afraid.

“So,” she began, directing her voice at both her employees. “Is there anything I need to know that you're not telling me?”

There was a brief period of silence and the occasional squishing sound of chewing. Stanley and Lucas exchanged looks when they finished eating their fish. After nodding at each other, Stanley finally looked at her.

“Kate?” He paused. “Do you even remember what we were doing yesterday?”

“Out fishing, why?”

“Well... then what?”

“What do you mean?” She nervously stroked her mane with a hoof.

“What was the LAST thing you remember before waking up like that?”

She relayed the same hoof to her chin. “Hm... you guys were arguing on the boat, I told you keep it down, I went back to sleep on my bunk...” A few seconds went by before she continued. “That's it. And then this happened. How did this happen anyway? At first, I thought this was a prank. When did we dock last night? I couldn't have slept that deeply for you guys to drag me all the way to the station.”

“Um... we didn't dock.” Stanley scratched his neck uneasily.

“There where did you leave the ship? It doesn't have lifeboats.”

“We didn't leave it anywhere.” Lucas answered this time. He was a bit more calm that he was before eating her beautifully prepared meal.

“Where is it then?” Kate was growing more impatient with each question.

As each of them stared at the other, Rainbow Dash decided to speed things up. She was close to gouging out her eyes from the suspense. Her method of delivery would be more indirect and teasingly. She'd hate to ruin her recently acquired trust, but what was trust without courage?

“Is it the one sitting on the beach?” she said.

Stanley face palmed. If human pupils could shrink the way a pony's does, Lucas eyes would be as small as ants. After giving Rainbow a sharp glare, they looked back at the pink alicorn.

Kate seemed unfazed, starting directly at the blue pegasus, but upon closer inspection, her face was flushed of any positive emotion. Even the color of her pink coat was drained of its usual vibrancy that seemed to liven up her surroundings everywhere she went.

“Kate?” Lucas sat up and leaned forward. “Please, you have to understand, it was an accident.”

She rotated her head ever so slight to look at him and Stanley, but remained silent.

“We were going to tell you when you woke up,” he went on. “But I wasn't expecting you to wake up as...” he gestured at her, trailing off. Everyone at the table needn't him to finish, knowing exactly what he meant.

Kate blinked. “Is it... intact?” she asked flatly, implying that she was indeed upset.

“Yeah, it's fine,” Stanley replied. “The boat suffered minor scratches... and maybe some engine failure.” He said that last part in a low whisper before quickly inhaling. “But other than that, everything is good condition.”

Lucas was expecting an angry outburst or some form of rage-induced explosion of noise disguised as furious shouts from Kate. After all the times it has happened before, no one could blame him for assuming. However, his assumptions were now out of date.

Kate looked down at the table and blinked rapidly. The small twitches on the corner of her mouth was the only indication that her emotions were in conflict inside her. The entire room went quiet. Cadence was darting her head at each of her companions and the human across the table. Twilight did the same.

“I'm sorry, but what is going on?” Twilight said.

Cadence was wondering the same thing. This ambiguous conversation bouncing back and forth still left her scratching her head. She saw Stanley slither his hands through his messy hair as if considering answering the unicorn or just that his head was itchy. The fact was the former, but Rainbow beat him too it.

“I believe their friend just found out her boat is grounded on shore not too far from here.”

Kate looked up.

“How did it happen?” she woefully asked.

“The storm.”

Even with that simple answer, it was unsatisfactory to her standards. She wanted more of an explanation.

“But we were miles out at sea, how can we blow in that fast?” She stared at her chief navigator, who was fidgeting with his fingers and his fork. “Surely you were keeping track of our location.”

“Don't blame him,” The captain defended. “It's my fault. I wasn't driving the boat like I was supposed to.”

“No,” Stanley croaked without looking rising his head. “It's both our faults.”

Lucas frowned. He leaned closer to his cousin.

“What are you doing?” he whispered. “I won't let you take the fall for this.”

“We fall together, remember?”

Lucas was reluctant to come to terms with Stanley. They both knew Kate was not blind to recognize mistakes, and this was one mistake with both their names on it. With a smile, they both stood up.

“We can take you to your boat, assess the situation, and maybe repair the damages ourselves.
Then we can figure out what to do from there. Before you ask, I did not call the coast guard.”

“Yeah, I'm with Lucas on this one.” He cracked a cheeky grin, backing up the suggestion one hundred percent.

“Wait,” Kate bellowed before they moved an inch. A familiar expression was painted on her face. It was sadness. “What happened to me when we came ashore?”

Stanley hesitated, but quickly shook off the shivers that spawned from his memory. “You hit your head and fell unconscious. I carried you over here.”

He deliberately left out the part of Lucas' sole abandonment of the ship out of his lack of care at the time. He also neglected to mention his own meltdown against Lucas, shredding most of his inhibition and causing him to lose his nerve on more than one occasion.

“How did you guys meet these... ponies? And how is it that I switched bodies with one of them?” Although her three 'guests' could hear every word they were saying, they were more invested in listening to see how this plays out. Cadence was not offended one bit. She was rather interested in the same question.

“Um, we can save that story for later.” Stanley coughed to change subjects. “Why don't we show you your boat so you know we aren't screwing with you.”

“No that's alright, I believe you.” She pushed herself away from the table. She then starting pacing around the room flawlessly.

The men exchanged confused looks. They surmised that something was affecting Kate's usual emotions and psychological traits that were the foundation of personality. If they were to take a wild guess, it probably had something to do with inheriting instincts, memories, and intuition floating around the brain of a divine—and undeniably powerful—pony princess from another world. It's like her negative feeling were trumped by something more mighty, something more valuable that defined the original pony's characteristics.

It was by now that Kate needed some time to think. Lucas sat back down. He opened his backpack and took out his old laptop computer and placed it on the table. Waiting for it to boot up, he tapped his cousin on the shoulder.

“Let me see your camera?”

Stanley scanned the counter for where he left his digital camera. Resting next to the fridge, he grabbed it and handed it to Lucas. As the man removed the SD card from the hidden chamber, Twilight was watching with widen eyes like she was witnessing the most amazing observation of another culture from two feet away.

Lucas transferred the memory card into the its proper slot built into the body of the computer. Shortly after logging in, he used precise finger movements across the touchpad to open the file aptly named 'removable disk (E:)'. Within the folder, only one file was recorded onto the drive.

A two minute video clip.

If either Lucas or Stanley were paying any attention to the lavender unicorn sitting right next to them, they would recognize that face almost instantly. Although, when one sees Twilight reduced to a drooling statue slapped with a hypnotized stare, it usually meant one of two things.

Author's Note

The title might be a little misleading, but not completely irrelevant to the chapter's theme. It has nothing to do with religion.

15. Echo

[Echo]

“What's going o—”

*BOOM!*

…

“Twilight! Talk to me!”

“Huh?”

“What did you just do? I've never seen you do that before.”

“Do what before?”

“Was that supposed to happen? With the boom and everything?”

“I have it all on tape if you want to see it.”

The high quality video clip continued playing for another sixty seconds until it ended shortly after Twilight gave her best explanation of what happened at the time. The clip cut off right as Twilight went to sleep seconds later.

Lucas glanced at everyone standing to watch—all except Kate, who stood by the fridge listening from a distance. All eyes were fixed on Twilight with stares that accused her of being guilty of some horrendous crime she didn't commit. The unicorn's own eyes were wide and pupils dilated to the point of looking like she had seen a ghost.

“Um...” she trailed off. Her nerves reciprocated within her, finding it hard to process what she had seen on the computer monitor—all to which having not the slightest idea of how such a device could display such sharp images of past events. Her rapid rate of blinking surpassed her heartbeat. “I don't—“

Twilight fell silent again, unable to form an intelligible sentence. She blushed from embarrassment and gulped nervously. Her gaze returned to the screen while her mind frantically searched for a restart. Her questions regarding the mechanics and purpose of the sleek device were nowhere near as substantial as the issue at hoof. Even more so than their misguided reveal to the humans. The seemingly malfunctioning spell that turned their world on its head was captured on film.

“Twilight?” Lucas began. “What exactly happened when you were casting your spell? You said you felt something strange. Strange how?”

For a few seconds, the unicorn said nothing. Then she slowly turned her head to look at each of them, one at a time, from left to right.

“I-it's hard to say,” her voice cracked. “Once I activated my horn, I not only feel Kate's mind, but Cadence's as well. It's strange because before I started searching for her consciousness, I detected significant fluctuations of energy hovering around both of them. They had to have been at the same level of sleep which is why I had a hard time distinguishing between the two. I was able to find Katherine's mind and monitor her brain activity, but I think I used too much magic. I panicked and lost control.”

“So this occurred while we were sleeping last night?” Cadence asked, stroking her chin with a hand. Every time the Princess used her human hands, Kate watched her every move to make sure she didn't do anything rash, like poke herself in the eye or cut her fingers off with a knife.

“Yes, but I don't recall anymore events later that night after that spell. I guess I fell asleep shortly after using that much magic.” Twilight shrugged.

“Which kind of spell did you cast?”

“It was an advanced cognition spell for... um... observing brainwaves of a subjects mind.” Twilight's hesitation was enough for Cadence to gasp.

“You know those spells are incredibly dangerous. Drawing that much power without compensating for the multiple variables of mana-space is a complex operation that takes time and practice to master. Are you sure you've used it before?”

“I have once.” Twilight paused to formulate her confessions. “Princess Celestia is the pony who taught me how to use the spell, but only for emergencies. She— uh... told me to never use it unless it is absolutely necessary.”

Cadence pondered for a moment. The short pause gave her the time think of what that meant. Her eyes lit up, horrified. She broke eye contact with the purple mare with her mouth slightly hung open. Twilight recognized her reaction right away. Information like this was too great to keep to herself.

“I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier.”

“What reasons did Celestia tell you that restricted the spell to emergencies only?”

“Well,” Twilight gulped. “The spell I used is not strictly speaking 'legal'.” This statement carried enough weight for Lucas' heart to skip a beat. Stanley nearly choked on his own spit. “But don't worry, I doubt Equestrian law applies here and for the sake of discussion, it WAS an emergency. I was asked to use it.”

The moment she uttered those last words, Kate snapped her head at Twilight from across the table, her loaded gaze eager to attack the culprit.

“Who?”

Twilight looked directly at Lucas. “He did.”

Kate darted her eyes at Lucas the moment those words left Twilight's lips. Instead of walking straight up to him, she stepped towards the opposite end of the table across from him and plopped down in an empty chair, all while maintaining locked eye contact with her every stride.

“Why would you do that?” She put her forelegs on top of the table and lay her head on a hoof. Lucas sat up straight to regain his confidence.

“I just wanted to know if you were alright. I mean, you looked like you were dead when Stanley brought you over.” He licked his lips and shrugged innocently. “She told me she could do it.”

“And you trusted her?”

“Well yeah, I didn't exactly have the right medical tools on me and I don't know anything about treating injuries. I probably would've made things worse. I was worried about your health. I thought you had some internal trauma and needed immediate medical attention, but like I said, I'm useless. I don't have the skill or experience to check how bad your condition was, and neither does Stanley.” As Lucas finished his defense, Stanley nodded in agreement.

“I'm not the one you should be talking to,” the captain continued. “Twilight cast the spell, not me.” He gestured with his head in the purple mare's direction. The unicorn cleared her throat.

“I can explain—“

“Can you?” Kate cut her off, apparently revisiting similar feelings of agitation when Twilight confessed her faults not long after throwing Lucas with her magical grip. “I wanna know why you decided to—”

“I didn't decide to!” Twilight yelled, startling the group. “It just happened. I don't know how. I don't know why. But I can fix this.”

After a few moments to let the steam roll off her cheeks, Twilight closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. Cadence was speechless, whereas Stanley and Lucas where exchanging confused looks. The men were hoping the purple pony would learn not to stoop to their level of indignation. If only they knew how sensitive Twilight was to mistakes, they'd show more empathy.

“I'm sorry,” she pleaded. “I just need you to understand how terrible I feel for doing this to you. I want nothing more than to return you to your own body.” She brought a foreleg to her nose to muffle a sniffle. “If you would let me help, I will find a way. Please, I ask that you have faith in my ability to correct this mistake.”

The room went silent again. If it weren't for the short periods of intense shouting, periods of silence would lose their meaning, especially when they were a common symptoms of suspense and drama.

Kate looked around the room like she was the guilty one. She then felt the pressure bear down on her and began nodding.

“Okay, okay,” she waved her hooves. “I didn't mean to hurt your feelings.”

“That would be an understatement,” Lucas muttered.

“Hey,” Kate shot him a glare. “Don't think you're getting off easy just because you thought I was dead.”

“I didn't think you were dead, but I also didn't think you were sleeping either, like you were in a coma or something. What would you have me do, let you suffer?”

“But all I did was hit my head. You don't really think concussions kill people.” Just as she uttered those words, Kate began thinking about the connotative implication of her own statement.

She craned her head to the ceiling and grunted. Both her human companions found this somewhat amusing and cute... to an certain degree. They understood how freaky her situation was for having to swallow so many surprises in such a short amount of time, but like any rational human being, she managed to retain her sanity and get over the initial shock rather quickly. Some people would have gone absolutely crazy, if not severely traumatized. With the body of a mythical being, the inherent qualities of her equine features—wings and a horn and pink and everything, the whole package—brought a smile to their faces.

The conversation seemed to veer off into a different tangent, only to gravitate back when one of them caught the irrelevancy of their respective topics.

Halfway into the boring meeting that seemed to go on and on about magic and stuff, Rainbow slithered under the table unnoticed and quietly started snooping though Lucas backpack. She was so curious to find out what else was inside his bag besides the awesome futuristic looking machine he placed of the table. It had the shape of one of those snazzy gadgets from the Star Trot book series—her second favorite book series behind Daring Do—where such a device displayed vivid images from an impossibly small operating system for storing electrical data. It even shined from its silver surface.

Of course, Rainbow Dash would never admit her short bursts of nerd rubbing off on her when things like this happen, but when her high flying fantasies of adventure were brought ever closer to reality—from ancient temples to space aliens, those urges for explore further was made a top priority.

Rainbow examined Lucas' backpack, searching for any recognizable features. It was unlike any ordinary saddlebag in Equestria, certainly made for the curvature of these tall bipedal giants known as humans. Even the materials it was made were out of the ordinary, creaseless and meticulously crafted. Rarity would kill to get her hooves on the unique design.

She gripped the top handle with her teeth and pulled it away from the human's legs. She dragged along the floor. With the largest of the pockets already unzipped, she opened it further to find some more strange objects and a couple books.

One of which was a pair of sunglasses. A large grin cut her face in half when she picked them up with her hooves and put them on. She looked around from under the table, satisfied with her work of wearing human shades. At least humans and ponies have some things in common. They sure look radical.

The books were quite uninteresting at first glance. She took both paperback novels from the pocket and stared at the book covers for a moment.

The Outline of History

H.G. Wells

Eh, looks boring, She thought. That's a book for Twilight.

The Invisible Man

H.G. Wells

Rainbow's eyes light up for a second. The title struck her as both odd and menacing. Whoever this Wells guy is, he may had inadvertently given her a good idea for a future prank... not like she was looking for one.

She slid the books aside for a pair of normal binoculars. Nothing strange there.

The next item puzzled her the most. It appeared to be a flat, shiny box with a circle and a rectangle on the top. At least, she thought it was the top. It was smooth to the touch. Every angle she studied it from, not a single straight answer came to her.

“What is this thing?” she whispered so quietly, she could barely hear own voice.

There were holes on the sides and a picture of a white apple on the back with the word 'iPod' under it. She assumed that was its name. A strange one at that. The metal device certainly couldn't be food, much less an apple.

Rainbow set it aside for now. There were a few more items deeper inside that demanded attention and begged for her prying eyes, especially the cube with all the colors of the rainbow mixed up into squares.

“I felt something strange, but I was managed to enter her mind for a short period of time before everything when white. I can tell you that she is doing fine, but her brain activity is weak, like she isn't even dreaming.”

“That doesn't sound good.”

“I have done what I can. I'm sorry I can't do anything to help her get better. You'll have to wait till she wakes up to find out.”

Playing the video a second time to catch what Twilight had said seconds after preforming her spell, the brought the question back to how. Her brief description of the misty experience into Kate's mind hinted at the problem.

“Like she isn't even dreaming? Weak brain activity? What does that even mean?” Stanley asked.

“I'm not entirely sure, but I think it may have something to do with the amount of power I used for the spell,” Twilight theorized.

“Okay, what is this mana-space anyways?” Lucas quickly said, but a sudden idea popped in his head. “Wait wait, no don't tell me....” He sat up in his chair. He held out his arms in front of him, but paused when his right hand began to shake involuntarily. He curled it into a fist to control the trembling until it went away on its own and stared at his arm for a while. Time seemed to slow for him at that point. It's too soon, he panicked in his thoughts.

It wasn't until the pause went on longer than anticipated for Kate to notice something wasn't right.

“Hey Lucas?” she said as she cocked her head to the side. “You okay?”

The shaky captain looked up and shook his head. “Yeah yeah, I'm fine.” He cracked his knuckles to conceal the minor convulsions and brushed it off as an excuse of the cool room temperature giving him unwanted shivers. “It's just cold in here,” he lied.

Lucas dragged his index finger along the touchpad and opened up the internet browser icon on his desktop.

“I was just gonna say I'll just Google it.”

As soon as he fired up the Wi-Fi, Twilight and Kate both sensed a noticeable tingle beneath their foreheads like the base of their horns were being tugged on from the inside. It hit Kate harder Twilight. The feeling wasn't painful, no. It was a stimulating sensation that tickled the frontal lobes of their brains. If one could imagine taking a feather and physically tickling the brain, the sensation far surpassed that. It gave them a cold chill and fuzzy vision.

Kate stumbled off her chair, but managed to land on her hooves.

“Kate?”

Stanley's deep voice and capricious tone echoed in her ears. His serious concern for what was happening was overshadowed by humming noise that only she could hear, alternating in short bursts, each one weaker than the last. She pressed her hooves against her forehead like her horn was burning her the surface of her skull. After watching in horror for a few more seconds, she blinked rapidly.

“What was that?” she said.

“I don't know,” said Twilight. “I felt it, too.”

Stanley pondered the mystery for a moment. He was quick to notice a connection between the computer and their brief magic onslaught.

“Hey Lucas, open up a new browser will ya?” he requested.

The captain did just that without question. As a fresh window popped up on his screen and started to load, Twilight and Kate brought their hooves to their horns again and tightly squeezed their eyes shut. As the browser stopped loading, having completed its task of displaying the Google homepage, the ponies appeared disoriented, Kate especially.

“Okay, that's not good.”

“What is happening?” Cadence eagerly asked. She was holding Kate in her arms after collapsing from the second wave. “Is there some form of dark magic lurking around that you haven't told us about?”

“Uh nope, it's called technology.” Stanley expressed subtle amusement form her ridiculous question with a snicker. When he saw that Lucas frowned at his remark, he immediately forced a fake cough to clear the airwaves. He plastered a more serious complexion and looked at Twilight with his arms in a Thinker position.

“So, I have a question,” Stanley began. “Are ponies sensitive to EM?”

“EM?”

“Electromagnetic waves.”

“Oh,” Twilight still looked confused, but then it hit her like a brick to the face. “OH! You mean to say if unicorns are able to detect changes within the electromagnetic spectrum?”

“Uh, yeah let's go with that,” he said, rolling his eyes.

“It depends of the frequency. There are certain ranges that interferes with our magic, the least significant of which is that of visible light. Which frequency are you referring to?”

“Radio.”

With a slightly puzzled face, Twilight blinked like she was struck by a revelation. Only it wasn't another resurgence of memory, but a crinkle of the nose that suggested a face a scientist would make when something extraordinary was discovered. She then let out the tight breath trapped in her lungs.

“How can that be!?” Twilight chimed. She was close to shouting out her merriment right on the spot. “Radio waves are a rare occurrence in Equestria. Unicorns magic emits both visible and ultraviolet, but I've never felt radio before. I never knew it can have that kind effect on us.”

Lucas pointed a finger in the air. “Well, one, this isn't Equestria, two, magic doesn't exist here, and three, you're telling me you guys haven't invented radios yet?” Lucas ended with three fingers rubbing his temples. A smile partnered with the last statement.

“You can detect these waves, cool, but does it hurt?” said Stanley.

“Not in the same way as physical pain.” Twilight rubbed her forehead again. “It comes as a mild to severe headache, depending on the frequency. There isn't much research done into determining which frequencies are more significant that others, it doesn't follow any sort of pattern.”

“So... it's random?” said Stanley. Twilight nodded. “That's unfortunate.”

“I wish I could say more about it, but until I understand more on how your strange machine works and how it disrupts our magic, I don't have an definite answer.”

Kate temporarily recovered her balance with a little the help from her human counterpart. An awkward silence lingered. It was assumed that they each were coming up with viable ideas on explaining the phenomenon, but it was quite obvious to Stanley. He felt guilty for testing such a theory while having to indirectly harm Kate and Twilight in the process.

“You really don't have radios where you come from, do you?” Stanley said.

“I can't say we do” Cadence replied. “Most mechanical devices in our world are operated by magic. It does take a lot of effort on our part to recharge certain instruments, so we haven't been able to successfully create devices that are efficient enough the for average pony.”

“That's probably why you were looking at the computer like a kid stares at people, like it's the most amazing thing ever,” Lucas added.

“Is that what this device is?” Twilight pointed at the laptop. “I've been meaning to ask you its true functions and purpose.”

“You're looking at the wrong guy.” Lucas sat up straight and held up his arms. “Even I don't know how computers work. I just know how to use them.”

“You said you were going to Google 'mana-space'? What does that mean?”

“It's a search browser. I can search anything about anything and it will give me millions of pages of results.”

“You mean like a library?” Twilight was practically flooding with glee through the smile on her face. She was strong enough to hold in her excitement.

“It's a whole lot bigger than a library. More like a collection of everything man has dared to ask and share with the world. So in a sense, it's thousands of libraries.”

By the time his response ended, Twilight was drooling from the corner of her lips, speechless. She stared deep into his eyes like he had hypnotized her and under his command. Though, that wasn't too far off from what was going on in Twilight's head. The gears shifted so fast in her mind that it overheated, leaving the rest of her body unresponsive.

“Hello Earth to Twilight?” Stanley said. He turned back to Lucas. “I think you broke her.”

“I didn't do anything,” his cousin denied. Lucas went ahead and snapped his fingers in front of the unicorn's face.

“Did you say thousands?” she said softly.

“I did,” he replied. “I guess that was more than a surprise to you than I thought.”

“Very much so.”

There was so much Twilight wanted to ask, but based on the overlying issue, she managed to fight the overwhelming urge to attack them with questions. A quick demonstration of the computer's capabilities would be nice. The thought that the strange machine produced and/or received radio waves was key factor in her victorious battle of suppressing her inner Twilight. It would be very unwise to endanger herself and Kate through callous negligence.

“It's not all good information by the way, most of it is junk and meaningless. I'm not going to explain it because it's there's too much to say about. Despite that, the internet has some good stuff on it that will keep you up for days, not to say I've done it before. What I mean is, I'm bound to find somewhere on the web if I'm looking for it. Speaking of which...”

Lucas leaned in to type in the word 'mana-space' when Stanley quickly stopped him by grabbing his hands.

“No don't!” he warned. “That's what causing them these headaches. If you do anything that will transmit a strong signal, that's what happens.”

“Oh yeah. Right.” Lucas agreed to close the internet browser and shut off the internal Wi-Fi connection to the laptop. The router was back in the lobby, but it did no harm from that distance if it remained dormant. “I can search it later. So what do we do now? We still don't know how were get Kate back to her own body. I'm no expert, but I don't think we can be much help, because... ya know...” Lucas shrugged and twirled his hands in sync. “No magic.”

“Actually, I've been thinking of—“

…

Twilight was unable to finish her sentence when a familiar—yet strong—jolt of pain surge through her horn as the previous two. The hair all over her face and neck stood on end and she stumbled backwards in her chair as if her brain ceased sending commands to the rest of her body and limbs.

The same happened to Kate.

This time, Lucas was aware of the dangers and was prepared to catch her. He jumped from his chair just in time to save her from violently slamming face first into the hard ceramic tiles of the kitchen floor. She fell limp in his arms. He held her head up to reduce further injury.

As for Kate, she was lucky to have Cadence already by her side to avoid another incident of collapsing to the ground in a crumpled heap. The Princess protected Kate and her own body from repeating the past.

All the two ponies could hear was the incoherent noise of high-pitched humming and the drowning echo of voices nearby. The pain would not stop.

“Where is it coming from!?” Stanley shouted, frantically searching for the source, quickly rummaging the variety of appliances on the counter tops beside him.

For every second that the waves seethed through Twilight's skull, Lucas lent a hand for her the struggling unicorn to squeeze while enduring the waves hitting her brain. It took long enough for Lucas to realize that the kitchen was missing an important member. The rainbow pegasus. She hadn't said a single word since the discussion about the fishing boat.

The only action required was to pivot his head left, and as he did so, he found the source.

“HEY!” he yelled.

Rainbow Dash jumped in the air in complete surprise and hit the table above her, knocking a plate to the floor and the sunglasses off her face.

“Ouch.”

When she landed back on the ground after being pinned to the underside of the table, she froze in a defensive stance, only to direct her recently acquired attention to Lucas.

“Oh, hehe,” she smiled sheepishly. “My bad.”

“What the hell are you doing?” His gaze then met the ransacked bag riddled with various items scattered on the floor. His eyes have never been wider. “WHAT DID YOU DO!?”

“I- I just thought—“ Rainbow stuttered with true fright. Her heart was pounding from being caught red handed—or red hoofed in this case.

“What did you do?” Stanley cut her off, joining all the commotion. Repeating the question a second time was influenced by concern than for intimidation. He wanted to shout, but his heart wouldn't let him.

“W-what's going on?” Rainbow asked, unintentionally avoiding the question and finally coming to terms with her surroundings. She was distracted by the horrific sight of Twilight pressing her hooves tightly against her forehead. She appeared to be in serious mental pain.

“What's happening to her?”

Lucas shot her a sharp glare. “What is WRONG with you? Weren't you listening to anything we were saying?” He noticed the volume of his voice higher than he intended and paused to calm down. “Now, tell us what you did?”

“Uh, I was playing with this yellow thingamajig... with all these cool buttons and—“

“Stanley! The beacon!” Lucas immediately roared. His cousin got the message and frantically sifted through the pile of his cousin's belongings under the table. When he found the yellow, satellite-phone-like device, he picked it up and violently threw it at the wall, breaking it to pieces.

Lucas slapped himself on the forehead and huffed. “Wow. Was that really unnecessary?”

“Sorry, but it was the quickest way to kill the signal.” Stanley smiled like the idiot he is. “I'll buy you a new one.”

At that moment, Twilight stopped squirming and shifted in Lucas' arms like she was just waking up from a nightmare. The mare rolled over and shuffled to her hooves, wobbling vicariously before falling again. Trying a second time, she finally found her balance and shook herself off. Her vision was blurry, taking in only blotches of colors and moving figures. A mosquito ring disoriented her hearing and her horn pulsated with pain.

“Ugh...” she groaned. “Where am I?”

“Thwhilhghht?” called a muffled voice. “Twilight?” When it spoke again, it was more distinct. Even her eye sight was returning to normal.

“Hmm?” She felt something grab her by the shoulders and steady her posture.

“Are you hurt?” said the voice Kate. It wasn't until she looked up, straight into the hazel eyes of the female human and saw her face scrunched with heavy concern. It took her long enough to remember the real voice behind that mask.

“I'm fine.” Twilight smiled. “Although, I am a bit dizzy. Where did that come from?”

“It appears Rainbow Dash activated some sort of device that I assume was causing the transmission of radio waves.” Cadence helped groom the unicorn's tousled mane like it had gone through tremendous static shock of a thunder cloud.

Twilight coughed and searched for her light-blue friend. Upon finding the rainbow mare, she frowned. For once in her long friendship with Rainbow Dash, she felt betrayed.

The blue pegasus was standing underneath the table, doing her best to reflect her innocence through her motionless stance. She stared wide-eyed at Stanley, who was kneeling down and stared back, extremely disappointed.

“Why would you do such a thing, Rainbow?” Twilight asked.

Rainbow shot her head left. “I didn't mean— I didn't know— I was just—” She quickly rambled, soon realizing how pointless it was to justify her careless actions. “I'm sorry.” She looked down, her composure begging for resolve.

Fortunately, she knew Twilight better than anyone. The studious purple unicorn mare of Ponyville was not easily angered unlike herself, holding on to her highly praised integrity that even Princess Celestia commended, making her the most respected pony in Ponyville, if not all of Equestria.

“I know you didn't mean it,” Twilight said. “I can see you were curious about the human's saddlebag, I would have done the same. I assume you weren't listening to our conversation on our recent discovery. I don't blame you. For that, I'm not angry. Just don't do it again.”

Both mares smiled at each other, having come to an understanding. Lucas had watched her speak with interest, exchanging worried looks between the two of them. He expected for yelling or retaliation to take place. He was dead wrong. Perhaps his expectations were based on his own relationship with Stanley and how each of them handled certain situations, which weren't usually friendly. If he was Twilight, he would not have explained his reasons for not being furious and would have jumped straight to enraged shouting.

The way these magical ponies calmly communicate with each other was beyond him. He could use a lesson or two on self-control, but from the moment that thought entered his mind, his right hand began shaking again. He put his arm behind his back to hide his jittery fingers.

Lucas bit his lips and slowly stood up, bending his spine backwards. When the shaking stopped, he clenched his wrist and winced at the new aching pain that twisted his muscles. His ring finger twitched while he tried massaging the carpal bones in his wrist joints. He did so subtly so no one would notice, including his cousin.

To distract himself from his hands, he sighed.

“Why were you looking in my bag anyway?” he asked Rainbow “Were you looking for something?”

“Uh, no.” She got out from under the table and stepped aside. “I saw your computer thingy and I thought you might have more futuristic gadgets with you. You have some cool stuff. Like that yellow box thing that Stanley broke. I liked the glowing buttons on it.”

“You mean the distress beacon?” Lucas laughed. “Uhhh yeeeah, if you don't already know, that's what caused Twilight and Kate to collapse. Their bodies are sensitive to radio waves, and beacons transmit radio waves. I—“ He suddenly paused. “Wait, why did you activate it?”

Rainbow shrugged. “What does that mean?”

“Did you press red button?” He elaborated. He didn't like the fact that she was able to operate his beacon without his knowledge. Judging by the mess she created out of his stuff, Rainbow emptied the entire bag of its contents, but to his relief, there was nothing dangerous to hurt herself with.

“I— I think so, I don't know. I pressed them all.”

Lucas craned his neck backward to look up. He drew a breath the obnoxiously exited his mouth. Judging by how long his 406MHz distress beacon was active for, it was more than enough time for the signal to reach the New Zealand Coastguard. If he knew anything about rescue operations conducted by the coastguard, it was that they didn't play around. They were dedicated people, always on duty, valued the lives of others more than themselves, and don't take kindly to jokes.

It wouldn't take them long to arrive at their doorstep.

“Perfect, you've screwed us all.” Lucas grunted and pinched the bridge of his nose. “This is the best day ever.” He ended with a laugh filled with the ever so glorious charm known as sarcasm.

In reality, things just went from bad to worse. He went to pick up the pieces of his distress beacon riddled on the kitchen floor to take his mind off the potential problems the Guard could create if they came to their rescue, only to find much more than the three of them in need of assistance. It posed a threat to the ponies since people are highly cautious of the unknown.

“Well that's a good thing, right?” Kate said walking over to him, ruffling her wings that brushed up against her sides. “I mean, we could use some help with fixing my boat. It ain't going to stay on the beach forever.”

“Not with you looking like that.” Stanley gestured a hand at her, having to remind her of her current form. “You can't stay like that forever either. What would happen if they came crashing through the door and saw you like that, huh? They'd think it's a prank and hate us forever, and probably haul us off to prison. Or in a worst case scenario, they believe you're real and take you away for experimenting... or whatever it is the government does to aliens.” He made small hand movements, mimicking a mad scientist holding up a beating heart. “I won't let that happen.”

Kate took a good look at her hooves again. “Oh... yeah.”

“Oh yeah is right! So why don't we move on?” He looked at Twilight and Cadence. “You ready to try the same mind spell as before to return them back to normal?” It took some effort to conceal the panic in his voice. From his uneasy breathing and rising tension in every muscles in his body, it was apparent that Stanley was frightened of the inevitable arrival of a rescue team. Him and Lucas shared similar levels of alarm that only they were aware of. They weren't exactly in need of help in the way the beacon intended to provide, but there was no way to stop what was already set in motion.

“I guess I can give it a shot.” Twilight replied hesitantly, wondering what was scaring the two humans so much. “I have been conserving my magic for a while, but I still need more time until I am at full capacity.”

“Well we'd better hurry. We don't have that much time.”

16. Clover

[Clover]

With a little more composure and a little less panic, tension among the six never rose to dangerous levels, at least not enough to undo the stitches of old wounds.

Twilight entered the lounge, followed by Kate, then Rainbow Dash. Stanley was directly behind Cadence as her escort back through the hallways of the building. He was more concerned for the condition of Kate's body than the imposter in her head. If she happened to fall over, he'd be there to bolster her balance. Given the recent events thrown at him over the past several hours (and then some), protection of his friends was vital to his ever fracturing faith in desperate need of repair.

Lucas was the last to return from the kitchen, finding that all his companions were accounted for and waiting for the next step.

Minutes earlier, each of them took part in cleaning up the kitchen by simply putting away dishes, picking up stray ceramic shards from the plate knocked down by Rainbow Dash, and set every little appliance back in their place, all within two minutes. It had been weird day for everyone and they were glad to have gotten to a point where their differences were [almost] sorted out, only to be replaced by an even greater problem. With what little they had to offer to each other, the most important of which was trust.

All six of them spread throughout the large decorated lounge in pairs. Twilight and Rainbow Dash stood next to the sofa nearest to the lobby. Kate and Cadence settled by the pile of books, looking at each other again in keen study of 'themselves'. Stanley and Lucas stood side by side behind the largest sofa like they were already best friends. Although far from being true, they had no reason to hate each other anymore. If anything, they needed each other to change for the better.

There were only two words in Stanley's mind to explain the dangers they were now facing. If only he could say them with as little apprehension as possible.

“They're coming,” he finally said after a minute of silence, being as succinct as possible.

“Who's coming?” Rainbow slowly asked.

“The people that received the radio signal you sent with the beacon. They're on their way.”

Stanley deliberately left the information vague so that the ponies wouldn't worry. It was the wrong approach. One would think such bargain would be less effective by having the opposite effect, for terror is fueled by obscurity. His deep, rugged voice was just enough to inflict his message with fear.

He noticed the exchange in confused glances between the ponies.

“So how is this going to work?” The navigator put his hands in his pockets and pivoted his both side to side. His trembling nerves doubled with every minute that went by, because every minute the ponies were stuck on Earth was a minute closer to being discovered.

“Wait, hold on.” Cadence spoke with the utmost content. Her brow furrowed. “Who is 'they'? Please, we want to know why we must hurry the use of a most delicate feat of spellcasting.”

“Let's not worry about that—“

“But we need to know what is going on,” Twilight interrupted. She immediately did her best Fluttershy impression of sinking back shortly after speaking. Her instinct to know had kicked in. “If I may ask, why the sudden rush? You mentioned prison and government, surely you don't mean they have something to do with us? I assume you were only kidding by the sarcasm in your voice.”

The young man was slightly taken back by her apparent conclusion of the illustrative gestures he made back in the kitchen. Twilight struck him as the type of person—or pony—that was too much of an intellectual powerhouse who was also socially inept to recognize the lack of a serious tone in casual, if not all conversations.

Stanley ran a hand through his hair. “I wasn't joking, but I may have exaggerated my point a little. But it's not impossible, those things could happen.”

“But why would those thing happen?” Twilight questioned, eager to get him to elaborate. “I would feel better if I knew exactly what is bothering the two of you.”

Stanley stared at her for ten seconds too long. She couldn't tell if his look was an attempt at intimidation with some form of silent treatment or was studying her closely. She was already starting to feel the heat of interrupting him and vexing him for an answer.

He quietly filled his lungs with air and—when he was prepared to talk—he puffed it all out in one swoop.

“A Coastguard rescue team is on their way here,” he said with a straight face. “That small device you saw on the floor, the one I broke in order to spare you from that painful headache that was attacking you, which you're welcome by the way, it sent out the radio waves...” he tapped on Lucas on the shoulder as he explained. The captain held up what was left of his beacon for her to see. Two halves of it actually. “Well, it's a distress beacon we sailors use as an SOS, a call for help. It sent out a strong signal to a response team in the event we needed help at sea, which means it won't be long until they get here.”

Kate sighed. “I would estimate about twenty minutes to a half hour until they arrive,” she concluded. Because such aid has happened only once before a few years back, she judged by that experience. That amount of time for rescue was actually pretty slow considering, but it also depended on how long the beacon was active for. The longer it was on, the easier it was to trace, but there's no way of knowing until it's too late. “And since it we aren't exactly in mortal danger, they won't be very happy when they show up.”

Twilight and Cadence now began to share the same concern as the humans. Rainbow Dash, however, interpreted the news differently, thinking that it's wasn't a big deal as long as they were hidden from sight, or back home by then. She thought it would help to apply what she learned from her friends and be more optimistic. Turns out being friends with Pinkie Pie had some redeeming qualities in sticky situations.

Although, they all could agree that what was coming—as Stanley so bluntly put it—was not something to look forward to.

The room felt a little warmer in the sense that each one of them understood exactly what to fear from new company and that each one of them were all in it together. After letting the information sink in, Stanley stepped forward and repeated his original question.

“So how is this going to work?”

Despite informing the ponies on the new threat, his question brought them no closer to speeding up the process. Each of them fell silent once more as a triangle of stares hovered above the room. Twilight was the one who could fix the mishap between Kate and Cadence, but in the grand scheme of things, it still didn't answer the question of how they were going to get back to Equestria. She hadn't the slightest clue on what spell brought them here in the first place. She was still waiting for the last piece of the puzzle to manifest as a forgotten memory.

It shouldn't be too long.

“So... do you think you can repeat the exact spell as before?” said Lucas. “Are there some weird words you have to recite like any other wizard? Like Harry Potter?” Twilight gave the man a quizzical look. He grinned and twirled his hands wildly. “He's a fictional wizard from a famous book series.”

“Spells are more than just words, but you're right, some incantations such as curses and hexes require high-level spellcasting abilities while reciting old verses from a spellbook. Fortunately, the spell I used is neither a curse nor a hex, nor is it spellbook oriented. All I need to do is perform the same spell and repeat the malfunction that occurred with my magic.”

“Repeat the malfunction?” Cadence gulped. “I-I don't know. Isn't that a bit dangerous? Not to mention unpredictable.”

“Don't worry.” Twilight stood up, helping the human Princess to her feet. “I'm sure it will be fine. I just need to replicate my error and it should work.”

“Are you sure you have enough magic to get it right?”

“I'm sure.”

Twilight reassured her with a warm smile, which in turn gave Cadence the strength to do the same. It was all they needed from each other to remind them of what they lived for.

“Do I have to be asleep for that?” Kate asked.

“That can be arranged.” Lucas smirked, intentionally instigating naïve transgression for his enjoyment.

“Oh Ha Ha,” she laughed dryly. It didn't take her long to realize the ruse in his voice. She stuck a hoof at him, puffed her lips, and scrunched her muzzle. “Now that's the Lucas White I remember.”

“I could be a lot worse.”

“Good thing you won't. I know you too well. I do like the new you, though.”

“Ah, same for you. How's that horn working out for ya? Careful not to impale someone with it.”

“I could make it look like it was an accident. You'll never it coming.”

“Too bad you can't fly. It wouldn't been funny to see you try.”

“Hey man, these wings are beautiful.” Kate nodded at Cadence. “You have lovely wings by the way.” The Princess feebly nodded back, unsure is she was sincere.

“I didn't say they weren't beautiful.”

“You jealous?”

Lucas blinked. His hesitation was a reflection of his actual disposition, but got back in the game and pinched his fingers together.

“Maybe a little, but hey,” he shrugged and wrapped his arm around his cousin's neck. “We are who we are.”

“And you are?”

“I am me.” Lucas posed in a flashy manner. Soon after he felt a light nudge on his left shoulder, snapping from his silly self-portrait stature.

“You guys done screwing around?” Stanley taunted dearly.

All three of them have been through this kind of antiquated rapture many times in the past. It seems they never could outgrow whimsical habits of immaturity. It happily reminded each of them of the better days of their partnership, that much they were grateful for.

Although it ushered a drop of entertainment, the sort of comedic relief they were looking for, it threw the three ponies for a loop. Cadence and Twilight couldn't say they have witnessed behavior like that before, but Rainbow Dash chuckling to herself. Humans were interesting.

Indeed.

“So anyway, I don't mean to be picky,” Lucas proclaimed. “But how do we know this will work? If this is high-level magic you're talking about, then there's a good chance it might not work out as planned. Forget the amount of magic you need for a second. What about the small details? I'm no expert in computer programming—or anything really—but if it works like a code, errors are never usually a good thing. You might mess up her mind more than it already is.” Kate shot him an affable glare at the remark. “Or worse.”

“I will make sure that won't happen.” Twilight took a step forward in his direction.

“But I'm just saying, maybe it be best if you take your time with the spell. Stanley is just overreacting to our little problem. We can worry about the Guard later, but right now, we need to focus on what we need to do.”

“Of course.” Twilight nodded took another step.

“But if Twilight doesn't succeed in time,” Stanley wailed. “Then we'll have to run—“

“I said stop worrying about it.” Lucas pat his cousin on the back, hard enough to make him jerk forward, but too soft to hurt. “Rushing things only make things worse. I'm saying we have to think about this more carefully.”

“And what do you suppose we do when it's too late.”

“I will take care of it, so ultimately it's my responsibility to keep them safe.” One moment Kate was wearing a frown as her captain spoke, and the next, it had nearly vanished, replaced by fond display of pride for the new Lucas she came to like. She was still dying to know what exactly the two men talked about what outside. “I decided to help them yesterday, so I intend on doing that.”

“So, as long as you're here, you're in charge?” Stanley said in a patronizing tone.

“I didn't say that.” Lucas was getting tired of hearing Stanley complain. “All I'm saying is to make sure we don't let things get out of hand from being so careless. So like I said, think about this for a second.”

A quick, reluctant sigh shot out the navigator's nose in hopes that his older cousin was right. He mentally berated himself for losing sight of the obvious issues concerning the greater good. In retrospect, he turned into the fool he constantly tried to avoid.

“Fine.”

By the time they were done arguing, Twilight was directly in front of Lucas. Standing half his height, she waited until the man returned his gaze to her own to complete her vows.

“I will do everything in my power to make things right for my mistake.” She then bowed to him like he was royalty and looked up at him as if she was begging for mercy. “Please, I understand that it is particularly overwhelming to those who underestimate my ability in magic, but as a humble pony who has been through similar concerns for a friend, I only ask that you trust me.”

The simple action surprised the captain. Not a day in his life did he think something like this would occur. A lavender unicorn from a fantasy-filled universe kneeling before him made him both nervous and enlightened at the same time. Searching for the appropriate feeling was nearly impossible. Whether or not she saw him as divine or noble—or a combination of the two—he held back his initial impulse to protest. It would only evoke delay.

Glancing at everyone standing around to watch the silly deed unfold, no one said a word, or gave any indication that what had transpired between him and unicorn was awkward.

Little did he know, Twilight thought of him as an intelligent and exceptional individual. The few ideas he had lectured to her the night before about how the concept of magic made him feel and how he envied her raw abilities was inspiring, regardless of whether it was intended to be. Inspiring in a way that made her rethink of the way she viewed equality and the real potential of others. His words tugged on something deep inside her that she never thought she had.

Their first encounter took her completely by surprise and—at the time—she had no clue how to react. At first, the mere sight of the human caught her off guard, sending her screaming into the night. She had to admit the hilarity of that outcome. Now, she was beginning to see who he really was. Even though she hadn't spent a whole lot of time around the man, she didn't need to. It reflected in his motivations. Extensive conversations would not have been enough. He already showed how much he needed a friend judging by the conflicts between Stanley and his interactions with Kate. Still, she knew he had the potential to change if she showed him a little compassion.

It was about time she banished her pretentious ego and adopt an entirely new set of values that changed the way she understood the will of others, all to ensure her sense of self would not inflate much larger than her integrity could withstand.

The unicorn raised her head high.

“What would you like me to do first?” she asked.

Lucas cleared the dryness in his throat and took a step back.

“Well, let's get this place cleaned up before we do anything else. Kate?” he snapped his fingers to garner her attention. “Why don't you and Cadence start with the cleaning off the table and figure out who sits where. Twilight, you can help Stanley and I sort these books and put them back on the shelf.”

As luck would have it, Twilight was positively shaking with glee for being assigned to help the men sort their collection of priceless volumes of human literature. She made a mental note to ask if she could take one back with her to Equestria.

“As for you,” Lucas finished off, looking at Rainbow Dash. “Do you think you can keep watch? Maybe fly around and explore a little?”

The pegasus grinned widely, her cheeks puffing at the corners of her mouth, enough to produce an audible squee. She was already on her way to the door when Lucas spoke again.

“Look out for any signs of other boats or airplanes that come this way. Don't let them see you. When you see them, notify us right away.”

“Wait, what's an airplane?”

“You'll know when you see it. Now go!”

Rainbow saluted with a hoof and out the door she went.

Kate walked to the center of the room and stood beside the glass table between the two sofas. She proceeded to use her alicorn magic to move the two heaters off the table and placed them on the floor next to the pile of books. Next on the list was to relocate the hard-cover history book and empty soda cans somewhere else. Conveniently enough, she found a trash can against the side of the large sofa and threw the cans away. As for the book, she added it to the pile of books her friends were currently busy with.

All that was left on the table was an expensive-looking glass heart that appeared much like a neatly cut diamond.

“What's this?” she asked the only person who could hear her.

Cadence—who had finally found her balance with walking on two legs on her own—sat down on the couch, opposite of Kate.

“Hmm, it looks like a miniature replica of the Crystal Heart.” The Princess picked up the glass figure and held it closer to her face to get a better look. Her features scrunched in amazement and confusion. After all this time, she hadn't noticed it until now, probably because it blended with the table beneath it. “How— how did you acquire such an item from our world?”

Kate shrugged, ruffling her feathers that started to irritated her sides again. “I didn't know we had one. Weird.”

“From what you have told us, your world does not know of ours. This cannot be.” Cadence became captivated by the existence of a totem of the power source from her entire kingdom in the human world. There must be an explanation.

“Hey Lucas?” Kate called out to the three behind couch. “Where did we get this?” She pointed at the small Crystal Heart in Cadence's hands.

Having already sorted half of the books on the floor, the trio stopped and turned their attention towards them. Lucas stood up where he sat. It was difficult to see the item in question from that distance—and also because Cadence covered most of the object with her palms, examining every cut and corner of the object that bestowed love and joy to all ponies.

“Where did we get what?”

“That.” A hoof pointed at Cadence. “That tiny glass heart.”

Cadence lifted her gaze from the heart and looked at the captain. She clutched it close to her chest for a moment like a foal's plush doll and then held it out half an arms length away from her, inches above the table. She balanced it on the palm of her hand and cocked her head at it. The moment Kate's eyes came in contact with the heart again, they locked in on the center of the gem with an unblinking stare.

“Oh.” Lucas dropped his shoulders, unimpressed and undervalued. He rolled his eyes, mockingly. “That? Well it used to be the glass apple you gave me for my birthday.”

“Really now?”

He nodded, a short huff escaped his nostrils. Taking a temporary break, he walked up to the sofa and leaned on the headrest. “Yup. Twilight turned it into a diamond with her magic powers. I guess we can't always keep everything we own.”

“Not just any diamond,” Cadence quipped without looking away from the glass heart. She was squinting at it curiously, not a blink ensued. “The physical manifestation of love and joy, the source of courage and serenity within us all, the symbol of harmony and peace for the subjects of the Crystal Empire. The eternal energy that sparkles within me. My life's destiny, my inner spirit.”

Lucas stood up straight and took a step back, kicking a book back across the carpet. He crossed his arms and bit his lip, a bit offput by the delegated statement as if she rigorously rehearsed the words so flawlessly so that she could deliver them at this particular moment in time. Everything she said sounded like it could have come out of a fantasy manual on magical treasures.

“That's quite a mouthful,” he said after the whole room had gone quiet. “Are you look possessed by it or something? It's just an ornament.”

“However, this is just a representation of the actual Crystal Heart, but for it to be so perfectly drafted in every way puzzles me.” She turned to the purple mare who had move closer to the table during her speech. “I admire your accuracy and craftsmanship, Twilight. Where did you learn such precision in the art of sculpting?”

“It was just a demonstration to show Lucas the existence of magic. It was the only thing that came to mind.”

“The only thing? Are you sure?” Cadence looked at the heart again. She gently lowered it to the table—Kate's hypnotized gaze followed—and set it down nice an easy, giving a whole new meaning to the phrase 'handle with care'. A myriad of branching thoughts sprouted out of the single idea that the glass heart was more than just a fashionable party decoration. She stared at it long enough to know that something was off about it.

Twilight noticed the Princess' enchanted study of the heart.

“Is there something wrong?” she muttered.

“I'm not sure.” Cadence paused, unsure if her worries were worth noting. It took no more than a couple seconds for the decision-making portion of her brain to choose a path. “Did you... do something to it, Twilight?”

“Um.” The mare shook her head. “Nothing that should affect the mineral composition of the silicon molecu—“

“No no, I mean... are you sure it was safe to rearrange this object without sufficient knowledge of the true power of the Crystal Heart?”

“Are you suggesting I altered it too much? So much, in fact, that I somehow created the real Crystal Heart, only a smaller version of it?” Now that that ridiculous hypothesis floated around in her mind, Twilight could no stop thinking about it, no matter how improbable it seemed.

“Out of my apple?” Lucas added after having understood where the avid discussion was leaning towards. If there was one thing he could heed to, it was his own personal belongings. His apple/Crystal Heart was the center of attention now. Even Stanley joined the fuss by getting up from his post and standing shoulder to shoulder next to him again.

“I don't think so.” Twilight answered, given the silence as affirmation. “I don't even know that's possible. No, it IS impossible,” she rephrased. As much as she hated to call horsefeathers on the assertion, she couldn't believe that she believed it to be true, even without evidence. For some reason, all it took to believe was Cadence's word.

“Okay, I'm lost here.” Stanley raised his hands and rounded the sofa to get a better look of the lavishly cut heart. “You're not making any sense.”

“You've done an marvelous job, Twilight.” Cadence slipped off the couch and sat on the floor, leaning in at eye level with the Crystal Heart. “If it has some of your magical residue left over, we can use it to our advantage.”

“You've all gone nuts.” Stanley murmured, but his remark went unheard.

“Perhaps,” Cadence continued. “it is the solution to the spell that brought us here. Maybe it could take us home, or at least show us the way.”

“That's wild speculation,” Twilight mildly objected. “But I don't disagree with you. I hope the answer lies with the Crystal Heart. Teleporting to this world may have something to do a powerful source of magic. Although, we can't be sure if that source is the Heart itself. I remember Kate saying—”

“We don't have time for this!” Stanley interjected, turning the serious meter on high alert. “We've already wasted enough time looking at that useless thing and joking around instead of moving on more important things...” The young man's ability to see the big picture as clearly as the rest of them had gone way over his head. From the way he spoke, he sounded more annoyed than cordial. “Like putting this mess away and getting on with fixing everybody's life so everything can go back to normal.”

He back tracked and returned to the tedious mission of organizing their assortment of published works, old encyclopedias, nonfiction novels, and copies upon copies of various history books, one of which didn't belong on the shelf.

“Don't get so worked up, Stanley. We are doing the best we can to make sure we get through this.” His cousin pat him on the back, reassuringly.

“Our best is not enough,” he replied angrily, ignoring eye contact.

“No, stop.” Lucas scolded, standing over his associate. “Look at me.”

Stanley stopped what he was doing and froze in place on command, refusing to face the man after giving him that attitude. His voice was so deep and dominant, it scared him to the bone, chills creeping down his spine. The light of the room seemed to flicker, but he was pretty sure it was an illusion from the blood rapidly draining away of his face.

“Look at me,” he repeated more calmly.

Stanley eventually did, but with all his new friends watching, he did so slowly and shamefully. The saddened grimace revealed much about his prevailing feelings. Lucas could tell.

“I know we are in a tight situation here, but you need to loosen up and not stress yourself out so much.” He bent over to pick up a book, read the cover title, then flicked it back in the pile. “Come on, forget about the books, it's a stupid idea put them away anyway. A waste of time, as you so smartly put it.”

“Um...” Twilight's voice hummed from the side. “I don't mean to interrupt, but it looks like your friend Kate is currently in the process of discovering the final piece of the puzzle.”

Both men looked at each other and settled the ties with sighs.

“What does that mean?”

“See for yourself.”

They did just that. What they found when carefully relocating to the other end of the room was a drooling stare from the violet eyes of the pink alicorn. Her equine ears flicked irregularly, but other than that, the sight of her appeared like her mind had been wiped clean or hypnotized by spinning black and white spirals. It was a little creepy, which worried them.

“What's wrong with her?” asked Lucas.

“I believe she's having another vision.”

The humans took that a joke.

“A vision?” The captain simply played dumb by putting his hand on his hips. “Really? She's gonna make us think she's seeing into the future or something? I don't buy that.”

Following her gaze, her light of sight pierced into the center of the glass heart. He prodded over and sat down next to Cadence on the opposite end of table. He thought he'd have some fun.

“Watch this.” He stuck an arm out over the table.

“No please! Don't touch me... I mean her... I mean us...” Cadence's pleaded through Kate's soothing voice. Lucas repealed his hand from. Within an instant, he had another, safer idea.

“I was only gonna test if she's faking it or not. She does put on a convincing brainwashed face.”

Stanley quietly knelt beside Twilight to watch what happens. Lucas waited a few more seconds as the time ticked on, raising an eyebrow after the fifth second. Kate still remained a lifeless statue. He was beginning to lean away from it being another joke, making way for an uncertain state of mind. As much caution as he had around Kate now, there was a point where the line was unclear. He didn't know what to do if the risk was a blind gamble, an anxious bet cold enough for his sclerosis to resurface.

Lucas' right hand started shaking uncontrollably again. He pulled his arm away just in time to hide the building convulsions, but not before snapping his fingers loud inches from Kate's face.

Just was intended, Kate jolted her body up slightly, rigidly joggling her head side to side after being pulled away from the magical memory. Unaware that each her companions were watching her every move—having been absorbed by her eerie hindrance of character, she rubbed her eyes and propped up straight, her vision still fuzzy.

“Whoa,” she grumbled.

“What is it, Kate?” Twilight quickly sputtered, eager to hear about. “What did you see?”

“What did I see?” Kate said, searching for a purple blob in the blur coated withing her corneas. Twilight's repetition of question placed the unicorn some three feet away. “I saw white.”

Twilight's ears flattened, largely unsatisfied with the answer. “Is that all?”

“Did you see robots fighting aliens in the near future?” Stanley joked.

“What? No.” She giggled. “Just white. A very shiny white void. It was so surreal.”

Kate's eye sight soon returned to her, and not long after the vision, everything was back to normal. She glanced at every one standing around her, brightening the room with each of their faces. For some reason, that last vision felt like hours to her. She felt so alone and lost, having only herself to stand next to. Not quite a comforting memory to begin with, but she was convinced it was a mix between a memory and Cadence's own weary perception of worth. For a Princess that was one with the element of Love and tremendously powerful in every way, this was surprising to Kate. She understood Princess Cadence's deepest feelings, which consequently guided her through every emotion. EVERY emotion, no matter how small.

The woman felt like a criminal, an innocent spy, trapped inside the personality of another. Forced to endure the hidden side of an alicorn Princess that very few knew and play the unwilling thief that steals the secrets held dearly behind her mind. This thought did not help her any more than sitting quietly as her friends waited for her to continue.

Kate looked at Cadence across the table.

“I'm sorry.”

Her human counterpart tilted her head.

“What for?”

“I— uh...” Considering all the ears listening in on her every word, it probably wasn't ideal to articulate the personal stigma that WAS Cadence. It's best to keep the matter incognito and leave it be. It was to remain unsaid, even among her closest friends. “Nothing. I'll tell you later.”

“So Kate,” Lucas began. “What happened? Twilight is saying you had some freaky vision, like those crazy psychics claim to have.”

“Uh, yeah. But it's not about the future...” She turned to the unicorn mare between them. “I'll let her explain it.”

Twilight nodded once and cleared her throat. “It's an abnormal ability that unicorns have that only occur after periods of short term memory loss. Usually a pony would not have vivid images come to them in pieces, but under certain circumstances, like ours for example, the gaps in our memories return to us as distinct visions.” She smirked. “I read about them in Starswirl the Bearded's journal. He briefly studied of the side effects of magical misfires, including amnesia.”

“So that's what that was?” said Lucas. “A vision? A memory?” Fixing his eyes back on Kate, the look he gave her was exactly like that of Twilight's. “Well... what kind of memory was it?”

“The same thing I told her. Just white.”

“There must be more to it than that?” Twilight could not bring herself to accept how her visions was nothing but a blank image, no detail at all. Also, she herself expected a new resurgence of her own vision to verify the memory, but was awarded nothing. No strange feelings, no misty cloud showing her the past, and no illusions. Just the now.

“I'm pretty sure white doesn't have a shape,” Kate added. “Right? I mean it's a color, or lack thereof.” She looked down at the crystal heart resting at the middle of the table. A light-blue aura surrounded the precious jewel and hovered towards her. Using her magic, Kate delicately set it in her right hoof, sticking to the bottom like paste.

“Sure, but what does that have to do with anything?” Twilight grunted, slightly irritated and almost frustrated.

“Twilight, Twilight,” Cadence called, raising her chin with a hand. She was the only one to notice the building panic. “Remember what I taught you.”

With her new human forearms, she patted herself on the chin, breathed in, then let her arm flow outwards away from her body, breathing out. The corner of Twilight's mouth tugged into smile. The recently stressed unicorn copied the familiar gesture, taking a deeper breath to ensure calm stability.

“Better?” The response came with a nod. “Now what she means is, we don't understand what you mean by that? Care to explain?”

Kate lifted the Heart higher where a single ray of sunlight fractured beams on several different directions. It was nice to admire the light show, but it did nothing more than a brilliant spectacle. Though, it wasn't the rays Kate was staring at, but the ornament itself.

“I told you the vision was white, but that white was shaped like this, the Crystal Heart. Like a glowing orb in the sky.”

Twilight perked up, now sharply interested. However, it said nothing about location, time, or who she was with. With one more detail, the clear picture did not reveal itself any further.

“Can I see that?” Cadence asked.

The pink alicorn obeyed and lowered the heart to eye level. As soon as the Princess grabbed hold of the objects while still in contact with Kate's hooves, she stopped. Both of them felt a strange, yet strikingly familiar sensation flow through them, channeling some kind of acute energy from their intimate touch, down their arms, and up to the core of their brains. Their hands began to vibrate, neither of them could control it.

In fact, neither of the two could let go their grip on each other. A small breeze started to swirl within the expanse of the room, startling the humans.

“W-what's going on?” Stanley stuttered, feeling an uneasy chill on his skin. Him and Lucas stepped back, along with an equally confused Twilight Sparkle. It was then that a humming sound gradually wailed to a point of shaking the entire room. The indoor wind intensified, blowing papers of the shelves and drawers in the air, even moving something as heavy as a book.

The room appeared to rage out of control. It knocked over books, blew the window blinds for a ride, and sent Stanley and Lucas' loose clothing flailing in the flustering gale. The mysterious storm spawned a vortex, one which circled around the Princess and the house's owner, producing a bright light at the very center of the glass heart they were holding on to. The rapid displacement in pressure was almost too much to bear, coming dangerously close to that of a trashing tornado.

The three spectators could barely make out the faces of their friends caught in the middle. Their expressions were unmistakably unpleasant, squeezing their eyes tight and gritting their teeth.

“Let go of the heart!” Twilight shouted over the volume of the fluctuating hum, the hairs in her mane threatening to tear off her scalp. The two men behind her had the same problem.

It was too late, by the time the white light became blinding daggers, a seething, crackling sound electrified beyond measure, nearly rupturing the painful decibel limit of their eardrums.

*BOOM*

17. Balance

[Balance]

North of the fishing station, Rainbow Dash sat motionless on the ledge of the highest peak she could find, one that had a good view of the entire region. It was good to revisit the cliffs, having snuck out earlier to find them. She could see everything from that elevation, towering over the vista that rose out of the ocean blue, surrounded by the most soothing winds and fantastic landscape she has witnessed so far. Rumors of places like these on Equestrian shores spread as long as there had been ponies to hear them, but never she had the opportunity to go out and experience them for herself. I was like a dream come true.

There was only one problem.

This was definitely not Equestria. Worse yet, it was not home.

Still, the blissful scent of the churning currents crashing into the continent blow filled Rainbow with a peace known only to her, a kind of nostalgic repose that she longed for the second she left home. Her real home.

It reminded her of her days with her dad. The days that—until very recently—she wouldn't admit she had. Days cuddling in the soft embrace of her father while watching the sun dip below the western edge of the world. The only thing that could make the splash of vibrant colors of the sunset better was the one pony able to make her feel at home. He was her home.

Wherever he may be, she hoped he was okay.

This place, however; this mysterious place, way off the map, beyond the horizon, was the kind of frontier she set out to look for. She always wanted to travel—especially as a member of the Wonderbolts—showing ponies of Equestria her skillful moves and unique stunts. Though, there were times where she thought of slowing down. It would have been nice to just see the world on a more personal level, with her father by her side. She had already begun that journey long ago, but was never able to finish after deciding to leave home.

She closed her eyes in brief regret.

Rainbow's complexion stayed as neutral as possible when she thought about her past, her sleek body and spectacular hooves planted on the rock that locked her in place. All that moved was her tail and mane fluttering with the breeze and her feathers ruffling for the same reason.

The series of islands east of her position were quite alien to her. She had seen no such display of weird rock formations in her life, not even in pictures. If there were books about them, she hadn't read them. It was close to stealing the spotlight from the rest of the scenery, but upon finding the full view of the encompassing bay and countryside from her present location, it came a close second.

The yellow glow of the sun captured the land so perfectly, it adorned the earth with its divine protection. She thought of who to thank for raising the sun in the human world, assuming humans controlled the celestial body that gave them glorious light and life. Such beauty tempted her to frolic in the sunshine, fly high and free, and forget the world.

Life called out to her, one whisper at a time.

She angled her head downward, peering over the edge of the sheer hundred-foot drop to the cluster of sharp boulders below. Just beyond that, poking out like a needle, was a long wooden pier stretched out into the bay. Beyond that, a small town, about the size of Ponyville—if not a bit larger, and a river flowing out into the sea from the mainland. The settlement was probably populated with a bunch more humans.

A sigh left the blue pegasus. It reminded her yet again of the past, only this time of her friends. The five ponies that lit up the void inside her with their brutal honesty, demure delight, hyperactive antics, charming glamor, and brisk genius.

They were her new home now. If only she could find a way to let go of her old one to make room for a little more.

Since separating from her best friends, she started to miss every one of them, even Twilight. The purple unicorn hardly gave her credit for anything. Everything Rainbow did here only upset the mare even more, and she got yelled at a number of times for it. Yet, the athletic pegasus could only handle the scrutiny for so long that her pride was beginning to deteriorate right in front of her.

It was a battle between captive compliance, and lawless liberation. She was somewhere in between; fighting her instincts, keeping it together, and suppressing the guilt.

Despite not seeing eye to eye, she and Twilight were lost in the wilderness together, stolen from the rest of their friends by an unknown force for Celestia knows how long. News of their disappearance would no doubt reach the other Elements of Harmony. They were probably searching Ponyville at that very moment. Pinkie Pie was most likely leading the hunt, tirelessly digging through every crack and crevasse to find her missing friends. It was the logical thing to assume from the illogical party pony.

The loyalties she shared with her friends was stronger than ever, or at least, thus far. If she had her Element with her—the shiny red necklace—maybe have her chance at proving her worth and help with the drive to find a way back to Equestria. Although, on second thought, the Elements never worked individually, but as part of the whole.

That wish didn't make her feel any better.

Rainbow felt useless, having to sit by idly and have Twilight and Cadence do all the work. This did not suit so her well in their current predicament. If anything, she wanted to help.

Even the humans were more productive the she was; letting go of past wrongs, correcting most of their mistakes through compromise, discovering problems largely overlooked—one of which causes collateral impairment to unicorns—and proposing solutions to said problems, all in good nature. They proved to be fierce towards each other, sure, but they also revealed to have a soft side. Ponies weren't so different, but in the humans' case, it seemed to affect their behavior far more deeply than in equines.

As ascribed in her own personal assessment, humans were interesting indeed. Wicked and complex beings lacking in magic, but strong at heart.

The female one, Kate, trapped within the body of Princess Cadence, handled the change well. She fought to keep her hysteria at bay—even if some screws were loose—and persisted under the weight of distress. Vanquishing fear for a more collected inner state of mind, recognizing that it was best to stay relaxed under desperate circumstances. She held on, refusing to fall. Most of the time, she was quiet, admiring the godlike equine form that took her life by surprise.

Good thing the power of magic didn't corrupt her.

The older one, Lucas, unofficial de facto leader of the group, was the most dignified and translucent. That's more of a compliment than an insult. She didn't know much about the man, only that he always knew what do every time something came to bite them in the flank, or threaten to tear them apart. He did his best to solve the overwhelming issues while holding the group together. When all was well and done, he'd move on, only glancing behind as a means of advice for avoiding future calamities. That couldn't be any more true when he started to rant about power and magic and fantasy and emptiness and hurt and the misfortunes of man. Whatever was going on in that cryptic head of his, he actively tried to dispose of the negative thoughts that grew like a cancer.

He was the only one Rainbow could not sympathize with.

As for Stanley, a man bravely seeking for a new life, he took the longest to befriend—even though it had only been less than a day since their first encounter. He constantly saw her as a ruthless demon who was sent to punish him for his disregard for authority and did everything to make his life miserable. As exaggerated as that might sound, such caricature applied to herself in a way. Whether negating nefarious resistance or doubling its effects, it didn't matter, both of them unstable... to a certain point. It took but one tall tale to find out he wasn't evil, just misunderstood.

Yes. All just a big misunderstanding.

She and Stanley had a lot in common as it seemed, and were rather emphatic about their respective histories while up on that hill, but kept the matter confidential. That conversation felt so long ago. Shortly afterward, it's like it never happened, saved as a tactic of emotion to boost moral spirit. Yet again did it remind her of her father. But with Stanley, it made her nearly cry about it. She wasn't about to be turned into a sap by a human.

Though, in all honesty, that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. If her friends knew what she told Stanley, they'd show far more acceptance and empathy and strain themselves everyday to help her through rough times if and when they affected her, perhaps even help her search for the truth about her dad.

No.

She couldn't to go through with it. She couldn't.

She needed to stop thinking about it.

It's all just a distant memory.

Weeping about it would get her nowhere.

Telling her friends would only cause further hurt.

But would it? They were her best friends. They'd understand. Right?

She didn't want rejection. She refused to step over the line she set for herself.

Sometimes it's best to keep things to herself.

Sometimes.

Someday she'd free herself from the pale clouds clogging up her mind.

The mist was thick. The repercussions returning. The hunger rising.

Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and waited. Her ears flicked on occasion.

She yawned. She hadn't been able to get a good nights sleep in days, that much she could tell. Though not in vain, her body was quite versatile. Though, she could only go so far. The hype of adventure to the Crystal Empire kept her from slowing down, and now, after the storm of wild surprises and into a bittersweet daybreak, she became so much more aware of her weaknesses. Too many nerves in her body wouldn't allow her to take a break, denying her comfort and security. She vowed to protect her friends at all costs, but failed at every turn.

Her thoughts coiled in on themselves, senses drowning with the unbroken wind all over her body, and a distant thumping sound boomed in between each heartbeat.

...wait.

The rapid thumping sound made her eyes shoot open and sent her ears swiveling and flicking reflexively. As soon as she heard it pound in on her ears, she quickly determined that it was not a figment of her imagination, but from an external source that compressed the air molecules together in short bursts, orbiting a single point and vibrating the hairs all over her body, soaking as far into her skin. Any pegasus could have felt it.

Rainbow Dash snapped up, her brain revving into overdrive.

What is that sound? She asked herself.

She began slicing away at the landscape before her. She saw nothing. She quickly turned around. Still nothing. Then where is—

The moment she looked towards the blue sky, a small shiny object sped in her direction at blazing speeds. She could clearly see that object getting closer. Upon closer inspection, it had the shape that resembled one of Pinkie Pie's strange contraptions with thin metal blades spinning so fast, all that could be seen was a perfect circle, creating strong pulses, ferociously slashing the air it swam in. There were other blades on the tail jutting from the rear of the craft, though much smaller and less noisy.

Maybe this was the airplane Lucas warned her about. Although Pinkie called her crude machine a chopper, aptly named for the way if chopped the air on each rotation. How exactly such a craft worked, Rainbow would never know. It seemed like a redundant gimmick; a useless gadget, serving no real purpose for pegasi.

As she thought about what it could be, it flew closer. She had nearly forgotten about why she was up on the cliff in the first place. She was supposed to stay vigilant, but her mission took advantage of her gloomy state and slithered away unnoticed.

What was she out here for again?

Upon realization, her eyes melted in her sockets, irises nearly vanishing, and head spinning in circles.

Oh no.

Immediately, Rainbow Dash flared her wings and took the air, blowing dust off the cliff and creating a large cloud. She had no time to worry about subtleties. The others needed to be informed on the impending company.

Rainbow was about two miles from the station, having to traverse over the green mountains and untouched fields of trees. She picked up the pace, flying as fast as her wings could take her, but the sound and metal aircraft continued to pursue the azure pegasus.

Whatever it was, it was fast.

But not fast enough. Flying at maximum velocity; fast enough to blow clouds apart, but far short of a sonic Rainboom the coastal valley and beach finally came into view. A pegasus' sleek shape depended to their breed and muscles. Not all pegasi were equally aerodynamic.

Pitching her body right, Rainbow Dash banked and quickly descended to the wooden structure below, a long rainbow streak tailing in her wake.

*Thud*

*Clunk*

*SMASH*

A series of loud noises, followed by tiny distinct pings and rattles, ricocheted throughout the room to create a cacophony of unpleasant sounds. As the bright light eased its intensity; Lucas, Stanley, and Twilight Sparkle had their eyes shielded behind their hands and hoof respectively. Stitching their eyelids shut was not enough.

Soon, the light died to safe levels and the sounds ceased splintering their ears. Each of them froze where they stood like they were paralyzed by the blast of intense light and sound waves, too afraid to discover the lounge in complete disarray. It was the right assumption. Those crashes were unmistakeably the sound of two bodies violently hitting the floor and shattering glass/

Lucas was the first to lower his arm from his face.

A gasp slipped up.

What he found was what he expected. Complete chaos. Paper was everywhere, the sofa tipped over, thousands of glass shards sprinkled on the floor, and worst of all...

Lying motionless on the floor, on opposite ends of the room, was Kate and Princess Cadence. He quickly determined that the deafening sound wave proved to be a little more physical than anticipated. The woman was pushed back, violently enough for her body weight to knock over the large sofa on its back, while the alicorn was thrown clear across the room, narrowly missing the couch behind her and smacking into the wall, creating a jagged hole of rotting wood older than the building itself.

A cloud of dust swallowed the alicorn.

When Stanley and Twilight finally recovered from their temporary immobilization, Lucas ran to the pink mare's aid, picking up her head up and pulling her away from rubble that continued to crumble. When all was made sure that she was clear of the debris, he brushed her pink and gold mane from her face and free of dust, giving her clean air to breathe.

He tried shaking her awake, but she would not come to. The captain fought the urge to slap her again and instead opted for alternatives. He had some ideas, but would not leave Kate to endure it alone. He also held back the mist that began to seep into his eyes. No tear would be shed just yet. Of all the horrible disasters that could happen, this was the worst possible one, and just as things were looking up, magic came to strike them down without mercy.

She appeared to mostly unharmed, only a few bruises and cuts. Nothing the alicorn couldn't handle. Her state of mind, however, was a totally different story. She remained unresponsive to his touch and attempted to joggle her mind from the abyss that ripped open beneath her, trapping her in the dark yet again. Lucas whispered in her ear.

“W-wake up,” he quietly said, shivering. “I need you to come back. Don't do this. Don't leave us leave again.”

He seriously hoped things wouldn't go from worse, to downright heartbreaking, if not tragic. The man pulled her closer to his chest and hugged the sleeping pony's head, careful not to poke his eye out with her spiral horn.

The captain could feel the weak thuds of her equine heart, making an effort to keep the pony alive. A true sign of life.

He looked down and smiled, slightly relived.

“You're gonna be okay.”

It was then that Stanley slowly took a few steps closer, having watched his cousin quiver with Kate in his arms from a safe distance. It was crushing to think how unexpected moments like this can really bring a person to their knees. In Lucas' case, this prospect was literal as it was figurative, but he wasn't the only one affected by it.

“Is she alright?” Stanley said softly.

His cousin glanced at him, waiting a few seconds to respond. The man blinked irregularly, studying Stanley's composure. Lucas nodded.

“She's fine.”

The navigator desperately wanted to let out a sigh of relief, but those two very words were usually a disguise for the dread churning inside to cover up an obvious lie. He placed a hand over his mouth and rubbed his cheeks. His breathing was silent, laced with that nagging feeling of doubt, hoping—no—begging it wasn't true.

On the other side of the room, Twilight drowned in a similar state. She attended to Cadence, flipping the human on her back. She lit her horn and detected no broken bones or internal hemorrhaging that greatly affected her health. Fortunately enough, she was still alive. The type of magic involved from the resulting blast was anypony's guess. After her brief scan, she ran a hoof through her silky brown hair and looked at her sadly.

There was nothing she could possibly do to make the guilt go away for putting her the loving alicorn—her dearest foalsitter—into such a position. Ever since using the mind spell the day before, it has caused nothing but trouble, and to have it end like this, Twilight wouldn't consider thinking about the possibilities.

With a rueful expression swallowing her whole, she was oblivious to the footsteps approaching from behind.

“How is she?” Stanley asked a few feet away.

Twilight slowly turned to face him, keeping her composure fixed on staying hopeful.

“She is stable,” she said. “She has no major traumas to her body or any visible abnormalities. She is, as you can see, unconscious and her clothes mangled, but otherwise she is fine.”

There go those words again, Stanley secretly complained.

“How did you manage to figure that out?”

“I used a rudimentary medical examination spell.” She smiled proudly.

Stanley looked unsure of her quick thinking.

“Really? So what about her... mental state? Did that weird magic affect her in some freaky way? Again?”

“We can't be absolutely sure until she wakes up.” Twilight grimaced. “I hope not.”

“Now what do we do?” Stanley generalized.

Lucas and Twilight both glanced up at him. They couldn't see each other from their level, but through Stanley's solemn demeanor did the uncertainty transfer in full. They were quiet of a second. None dared to continue thinking about the harm done to their friends.

All that could be heard was the crackling of glass dust beneath Stanley's think shoes as he paced and the hum of the outside howl filling their ears. Each of them were secretly panicking about the consequences of tampering with untold powers of magic conflicting with their lives, Lucas especially. Even Twilight was speculating whether magic was highly unstable and extremely dangerous in the human world.

Some theories adhered as such. In Equestria, most magic was controlled by ponies, for ponies. However, there were certain things that exist; callous things, morbid things, mysterious things, things that were only found in specific areas designated as hot zones of cryptic and dark dwellings. Most famous to the residents of Ponyville was the Everfree Forest, filled with danger and haunted by nothing but nightmares.

Princess Celestia had taught the prodigious unicorn to overcome her fears of the unknown, but it wasn't until her friends came along that she truly realized how much she valued the strength of courage. In doing so, she managed to successfully defeat her greatest horrors and immortal enemies, including the evil of Nightmare Moon and the corruption of Discord. As for Chrysalis and Sombra, she had Cadence to thank for that.

And now, the pony that saved her life twice, needed saving. It pained her to be responsible for ripping her consciousness from her own body and implanting it in the identity of another. Nothing could describe it better than the simple act of betrayal, intentional or not.

It was a cold feeling, the shivers diving deeper.

She snapped out of her self-conscious contemplation when the inharmonious noise of glass clinging together rippled in her ears louder than she could think. She followed the sound to find Stanley in the process of sifting through the mass of broken pieces of the table for something. At first, she was confused on what he was doing, but suddenly remembered the cause of this mayhem.

Twilight levitated a pillow from the floor and slid it under Cadence's head for comfort. Reluctant to leave her side, she stood up and carefully walked around the sofa, stepping over each glass shard that pinched the bottom of her hooves.

The young man was crouched in the middle of the room, pushing handful after handful of glass out of the way in search for the small Crystal Heart. Created out the same material, it was a challenge identifying the Heart buried within all the individual fragments. The only thing that remained intact were the silver legs that once supported the unified slab of glass that used to be the coffee table.

About half a minute into the search, Stanley finally found what he was looking for. He paused for a second, staring at his find for a moment. Sweeping the surrounding glass away from the figurine responsible, encircling it in the chaos it created, he was careful not to lay a finger on the ornament for fear of suffering the same fate.

Stanley turned to Twilight.

“I take it this wasn't supposed to happen.”

“No,” she regretfully admitted. “Not at all.”

“And you're not the one to blame?” He said, catching her by surprise.

“I— ...what?”

“Don't get me wrong, I know it wasn't your fault directly, but if this magic followed you here, who knows what else it will do? For all we know, it could blow us all up if it wanted to. Hell, it could even spread across the world and reek havoc.”

Twilight tripped over words to refute that. Magic itself, no matter the kind, was not a living entity. It could not think. It could not feel. It had no benevolent or malevolent intentions. It was not capable of rationale, no more than a rock having no feelings of love and hate. Whatever the case, this incident had to be something far more prominent than a simple spell and arbitrary magic.

“W-well...” the unicorn began.

“Come on, man,” Lucas cut in, now standing behind the couch. “You know that's ridiculous. That can't happen... well... at least I hope it won't happen, but we can't just go on saying we're all doomed.”

“I strongly agree.” Twilight lifted her head high. “Magic does not run rampant whenever it wants like smoke. It is contained within all living creatures, like me for instance, and sometimes even inanimate objects, like the Elements of Harmony, but I don't know how magic affects the physics of this world. It is unpredictable, yes, but we must stay cautious of the risks and remain resilient and on task.”

“Yeah,” the captain nodded and grinned. “what she said.”

Stanley felt like the center of scrutiny, picked apart by logic and obscure information about the supernatural, two ideas that weren't always mutually exclusive. The silence made him feel smaller, their stares boring down at what's left of his dignity.

Eventually, he gave in.

“Okay okay, I get it,” he muttered. “But what about this thing?” He threw his hands at the glass heart. “If it's not a curse, than what happened?”

“I don't know.” Twilight twirled her head at both at the embodiment of Cadence and Kate, then at the real Kate and Cadence respectively, hoping to formulate theories by doing so. It was the first time that she forgot who was who. It took only her guilt and another look to serve as a reminder.

Stanley grunted. “Well, then what can you tell us about magic? Is there something else we need to know that you're not telling us?”

Lucas frowned and leaned closer to Twilight. “Don't answer that.”

“Dude, we know nothing about anything regarding magic.”

“And maybe it's best we don't.”

“You can't be serious?” Stanley was almost ready to burst. He then beamed at the purple mare. “Please tell me!”

“I'd rather not take sides.” Twilight backed up slowly.

“That's enough.” The captain left his post and walked around the sofa for intimidation purposes. Luckily, with less contempt eating Stanley alive, his cousin did not explode into a fit of rage. It wouldn't have been a pretty sight. “You need to calm down and back off.”

Stanley plotted down on the last sofa standing and crossed his arms, grumbling to himself incoherently.

Lucas left it at that, unable to find the right words to say. Another argument would get them nowhere, speculation said nothing about what was true or not, and switching topics was just a waste of time. They were tight on time as it is. He started pacing back and forth, praying for a miracle.

His plead was answered, but not all components of his request were entirely accurate.

He could hear faint whoosh outside, zeroing in on the station. Unfamiliar with the sound, it could be a number of things, but only two came to mind.

Before he knew it, Rainbow Dash came blasting through the door, skidding to a stop after sliding halfway across the room on the carpet. Her expert feat of acrobatics landed her just shy of the wall at the other end. Without taking a moment control her rapid breathing that took hold, she shed her body from head to hoof from a thin layer of dust, then opened her muzzle to speak.

“There's an 'airplane' thingy coming this way.” She panted dizzily. “And fast!”

“Okay, NOW we're screwed.” Stanley immediately threw his arms in the air, emphasizing his hysterical vexation.

Lucas quickly sprung into action and ran back over to Kate, lifting the alicorn's head. He ignored the pain it may inflict on her and shook her more vehemently, desperately needing the madness to end.

“Come on, Kate. You have to snap out of it. Come on. Come on.”

If he payed any attention to Rainbow Dash, he'd find her ears flat and mouth hanging open in absolute shock. Actually that's exactly what he did, heeding to her silent cries after receiving no response from Kate. A single drop of sweat trickled down her left temple.

“Whoa, what happened in here?” she shrilled. Lucas stirred upon hearing her exorbitant squeak right in his ears. He shook out the ringing in his ears and considered executing his emergency plan.

“There's no time for that. Here, I need you to hold her head up.” He gently lowered the Kate's head. “I need to get something.”

Before Rainbow could ask him to specify, he was already halfway to the hallway door.

“Where are you going!?” Stanley yelled as he disappeared out of the room.

Twilight promptly attended back to Cadence. All she could do was wait for their existence to become known to more humans, no telling what will happen when that time came. A sliver of Stanley's paranoid ramblings and absurd conjecture about the Coastguard made it's way into her subconscious as she began to feel the same sort of anxiety that would have been appropriate for the situation.

But she knew better.

Rainbow circled the room, examining the discorded state of the lounge wide-eyed, leaving no sight unattended. Everything was left in nothing but shambles. There was glass everywhere. The only thing not entirely broken were the windows, holding steady with minor cracks near their hinges. It was almost too much to look at, but she's seen worse.

She joined Twilight, brushing up against her shoulder.

“What happened here?”

The unicorn did not respond. Only her fixed gaze on the female human at her hooves.

“Uh, Twilight?” Rainbow waved a hoof in front of her face.

Twilight blinked and looked at her friend, using only her sadness to transmit her message.

“Is she...?”

Twilight said nothing.

“No way. There's no way.” Rainbow raised her voice only slightly louder than a whisper.

Twilight finally opened her mouth to reply, but the creak of rusty door hinges interrupted her train of thought. Lucas had returned from wherever it was he went, carrying a metal bucket in his hands. By the way he was holding, it appeared to be filled with water. This confused her greatly.

The captain waddled over to Kate, dragging his feet along the carpet. As he reached the alicorn, towering six feet over body, he pushed the bucket above his head and pour the water out, dumping it all over Kate's face.

As soon as the ice cold liquid bombed onto the unconscious pony, she immediately jolted off the floor. Wiping the water from her soaked fur with her dry hooves, she flipped over on her stomach and lifted herself off the floor.

Quickly shaking away stray droplets from her mane, she activated her horn with ease, ready to fight the assailant who assaulted her with water.

“Easy there, Kate,” Lucas said, slowly lowering the bucket, gently putting it on the floor. “It's just tap water.”

The alicorn swiveled around to face the voice from behind. Upon sighting the man, she eased the flow of magic shooting into her horn and pointed it somewhere else, backing down.

“I'm glad you're awake, we've got a major problem,” he continued. “The Coastguard is here and we're out of time. Do you remember what happened a few minutes ago.”

The mare noticed Lucas' height compared to her own. He stood taller by a couple feet, all while standing in a comfortable posture. She looked down, discovering a familiar sight before. Pink hooves and long ethereal mane of gold and violet. Crossing her eyes even more, a short muzzle protruded from her nose.

It didn't take long, not long at all, for her eyes to light up gleefully and recoil like a spider crawled up her face.

She gasped.

“I— I'm—“ Her smile intensified.

Stanley and Lucas were exchanging confusing looks, unsure of what to make of her shock. Whether she was thrilled or mortified, they stood frozen in place.

“I'm me again!” she exclaimed, jumping up and down.

It was then that Twilight Sparkle rushed over and stopped short of the sofa, doubt crossing her mind. With the alicorn as happy as Pinkie Pie on a normal day and her instinctual display of magical self-defense, there was only one explanation.

“Cadence?” She chimed delicately, taking a step forward.

“Twilight! How did this happen? How did you do it?” The mare's enthusiasm was positively swelling through every muscle in her virtuous body.

“Are you really you?” Twilight sang skeptically.

Cadence cringed at the unicorn apparent disbelief. She realized how out of character she was behaving. It wasn't like her to be overexcited. Adjusting her footing, planting her hooves firmly on the floor, she closed her eyes. Once she was in the proper position, she bent her knees she inhaled and brought a foreleg to her chest. After being absent from her body for nearly a full day, she held in the breath longer than usual to ensure an inner sanction of tranquility.

Breathing out and completing the hoof gesture, she slowly opened her eyes to find the lavender mare frowning. It was long shot, but Cadence had another—more personal—skit that hit closer to home.

The pony flexed each of her legs, bowing her upper body, and began skipping in place.

“Sunshine, sunshine, lady bugs awake. Clap your hooves—“

“—and do a little shake.” Twilight slowly completed the rhyme, only voicing the words and standing still, eyes sparkling.

With no time to spare, she hurled herself at the graceful alicorn, nearly tackling her.

“Oof.”

Twilight wrapped her forelegs around Cadence's neck in tight embrace, a single tear leaving the corner of her eye. Burying her muzzle in the back of the pink pony's mane, sniffling.

The hug lasted a good while, a few more sniffles and heartbeats ensued. For the longest time, Twilight longed to share warmth with her oldest friend. Of all the times that she was at the brink of losing a friend, this ranked among the most devastating. She'd do anything to keep the fellowship that had been built since she was a little filly.

Twilight finally pulled away, rubbing her eyes.

“Oh Cadence, I'm so sorry for what happened to you. I promise it will never happen again.”

“I know you didn't mean it, Twilight. I do caution you the be careful next time.” A smile, a gentle smile, curved upon the true Cadence.

During their short reunion, Lucas casually left the room and returned yet again with another bucket of water, pouring the load on Kate. The impact was quite painful as water splashed every which way, drenching the woman's skin and clothes.

Kate didn't react as strongly as Cadence, choking on the water that raided her throat. She sat up on her elbows, coughing painfully. Several moans and globs of saliva flew from her tongue, spitting the burning irritation on the roof of her mouth.

Her voice shivered with every breath. Every second from that second on, the pain began to slowly subside, but still strong enough to leave her crippled.

“Ugg...gumph.”

She brought a hand to cover the excess drool that accumulated in her mouth, fighting the urge not the vomit on the spot. Upon the short contact between her hand and face, she stopped moving, a spark igniting in her brain on the salient sensation. Opening her stoic eyes, the blurs splattered her vision with dull colors.

The first thing she saw after her eyes sight slowly improved was the dismantled state of brown hair dangling from her head. Beyond that, the sofa obscured the rest of the room, begging the question of how and what.

Suddenly she felt the intimate contact of another set of slender arms lifting her up from behind. It gave her quite a scare.

“Welcome back, Kate.”

18. Token

[Token]

Lucas helped Kate to her feet. Lacking proper balance, she wobbled in place, her head spinning in all directions. Side to side. Forward and back. In and out. Adjustments did not come easy. It was like waking up after being struck in the head, which is exactly what happened... for a second time. The first time hitting her head back on the boat came as a surprise. This time, even more so. Funny as it were, she had not gotten the chance to feel the full effects of her earlier injury.

Now that she was back in her own body, the discomfort and dizziness doubled over.

Using Lucas' shoulders as support, she tried standing vertically, but achieved with little success. She tripped over her own feet, having to relearn how to walk on two legs. Walking comfortably on all fours for the last few hours gave her a new sense of balance, overlapping her human instinct of bipedalism.

To experience what it's like to be an equine of fantasy; with exaggerated proportions, pink fur covered body, large violet eyes, horn and wings, flowing curls of purple and gold, and, most of all, the ability to speak.

It turns out that even though all of these characteristics were far from anatomically accurate to real Earth-bound ponies, it perfectly described the whole of Princess Cadence. From horn the hoof, her features bloomed in the sunlight glow. It's a shame she never got the opportunity to experience the stamina of an equine, like running through the open fields as would a horse and to feel the wind blow past her mane, the grass squishing beneath her hooves.

Although, hailing from a far off land of pure imagination and sparkling castles, it's no wonder how a being like her would reflect the very opposite of such. The very essence of Cadence was represented though her looks more than it did her endurance. The epitome of nearly all female fantasies, to be princess of a majestic kingdom and hold true to a legacy to a royal bloodline.

What a life it seems, but to rule a great nation was not her own. That honor is to be returned to the Princess of Love, the harbinger of love's powerful magic, the bringer of heart's spark of harmony.

The only thing missing, of course, were her royal adornments and crown. Made of solid gold embellished with the finest of amethyst, they completed her image as the Princess of Love, along with the lovely mark on her flank. Though, for Kate, they did get a little heavy, and slightly bothersome. It was probably a mistake to take them off in the first place. Those were not to be left behind.

Kate's thoughts trailed. Her stares were followed by rapid blinking to wipe away the ragged wrinkly look on her face. Not to say she has wrinkles, but a day without care and maintenance brought unwanted cracks of age. At twenty-seven, no woman would ever be caught dead with such a senile complexion.

She shook her head numerous times when the severe headache overcame her, but as it slowly died down and her thoughts became more clear, her mind fell on Cadence once again. In fact, within the fog that clouded her thoughts, she couldn't keep her mind off of the Princess. It's as if a part—a key part—of her personality had transferred with her, making its way into her subconscious.

That, in a way, made her a thief of sorts, stealing the identity of Cadence.

She only wondered if it worked both ways.

Resurfacing memories—through magic nonetheless—and close friendships, Cadence was one of a kind, even if she didn't see it that way herself. The way she showed her devotion to keeping her friend Twilight in close comfort, the way she worked to learn through the eyes of human experience, and the way she changed her heart to recognize the fear of loss. These were attributes of a great leader in every regard. How could Cadence see herself any less?

Did something happen in her days as alicorn princess that made her doubt her value, made her grow weak through a hidden guilt that tore her from the inside, and made her forget who she really was? For the answer, she had to look into her past as find the point of decline.

Though, that road may be more treacherous that once believed.

To travel there and back again, down into the deepest portion of Cadence's inner being against her will, served as a window into two worlds. When subjected to the last piece of the puzzle, the last forgotten memory, she saw through the eyes of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, but because she could see nothing but white vapor, a passive haze, a crawling dark; she witnessed something else entirely. Something that no one—not even royalty—should ever have to bear. Ever.

That something was a thought. An idea, formed by the darkness, disguised as love. Although not an axiom of evil, but an impure and incomplete notion. A qualm. An offense. An emotion that ran deep withing each chamber of her heart, growing in desperation for escape to be buried six feet under. Simply put, Cadence felt at a loss of worth.

Wha—huh?

That doesn't make any sense. How can this be? This goes against all that was previously conceived about Princess Cadence. Why does this negativity flow? Why is it allowed to flow, slowly decaying her spirit to a crisp and leave her bones like glass? At what point did all this happen? Was there something missing?

These were question for which she knew not the answers, nor where to find them. Cadence had long locked that information away with a secret incantation to keep it from herself. Perhaps, as to save herself from future pain, it was the right choice. Kate knew exactly what it felt like to live with past burdens, but because she is human, the burdens remained in hind sight when looked upon. They linger in the shadow of the past. Always and forever.

The only power to vanquish a heavy heart was to let it go.

Let it go.

Three words. Three powerful words that shape the future along and keeps it moving. Words defining of an individual and exonerating to another.

If only Kate could bring herself to speak those words would things change at that moment, only then would things look brighter for the Princess. Things would look brighter for everyone. However, to maintain high respects for Cadence's privacy, she elected not to. She just hoped that her most moral of human traits infused with the alicorn's own to provide light when she needed it.

Putting the issue of Cadence personal indignities aside, the issue of inter-dimensional travel remained unresolved.

If the ponies could not find a way to return home, to be trapped in the world of humans, the world could change. They'd be treated as a gods—no—pantheons. The evidence of divinity would transform man, some turning to guidance and salvation, others not so much. Though this might sound like a good thing, humanity was far from ready for that kind of prospect. Some would be afraid, some even angry. With the existence of creatures of myth, there will be those who would seek to control its power. There were always people who craved the will of gods.

Kate would not let than happen.

Not while she had anything to say about it.

Perhaps she was in desperate need of catharsis.

For her sake.

For the sake of her friends.

For the sake of all.

…

“Kate?” A deep voice echoed in her ear. “You alright? Come on, snap out of it.”

She rubbed her eyes, wiping away the awkward visage that painted her face. “Yeah?”

“You've been staring at Cadence this whole time,” said Lucas. “Something seems different about you.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, you were kinda creeping her out,” Stanley commented. “You were creeping me out, too. It's probably because you just went through hell and back, twice. I'm impressed you've made it this far.”

Lucas held the woman up by her left arm as the other half on her body gave in to the will of gravity. He couldn't hold her up any longer. He led her over to the brown couch chair and gently set her down. Her body sank into the cushions as if drunk and leaned her head as far back as the head rest behind her would take, wincing in sharp pain. She could settle for some real rest for once.

“Is there something you're not telling us?” Lucas coughed up. “Like what is really going on and how they're supposed to get home?” He decided to be a little more aggressive now that Kate was back to normal. Well... almost normal. “Come on, tell us what you know. I know you know that we know that they can't return home unless there's more to that spell that almost killed you for a second time. We don't have much time.”

“I'd say seven minutes,” Rainbow Dash confirmed based on an educated guess. With a couple flicks of the ear from a distant thunder only detectable by pegasi senses, she corrected herself. “Make that five.”

“Please, Kate, we need your help. We can't do this without you.”

As Lucas tried to choke the answer out of Kate, Cadence trotted from behind.

“I'm afraid your friend is right.” She eyes the woman closely. “I do believe there is more to the spell than you think. It gave me the necessary boost in magical output, enough to transport us back to where we came, but there it will only work under a certain conditions. I must know where it is we must travel if we are to depart this world and safely return to ours.”

“You mean, you don't know?”

“No, but I do know who does. Surely the mysterious spell cast by the Crystal Heart shared its secrets among the both of us. It gave back our lives and little more.”

This time, Twilight waddled up to the trio, drawn in by the conversation.

“Is that what happened?” the studious unicorn questioned. “This was all by the power of the Crystal Heart?”

“Of course, Twilight. And I have you to thank for it. If you have not forged the symbol of love out of...um...”

“My glass apple,” Lucas clarified for her.

“Yes, his apple, then none of this would have been possible. Since you sculpted the Heart using magic, it left a small residue of your magical signature which allowed it to grow over a short amount of time, eventually creating a new and true heart, thus replicating the magic that was used to undo the spell you cast on us. I believe it did more than just return us to normal.”

“A true heart? So the Crystal Heart not only hold the power of love, but it can manifest out of any type of magic if the spellcaster is connected to the Crystal through love?

Cadence smiled. “Exactly.”

“How did you figure that out?” Stanley said, mildly grimacing. Twilight's expression was more positive and quite thrilled.

“I thought it was rather obvious really,” the Princess grinned nervously.

“Well, it still doesn't make any sense. But what do I care huh? The clock is ticking.” Stanley glanced at the antique clock face engraved in the wall near the hallway. “Three minutes.”

“Okay okay, um...” As Lucas tried to hurry things along, thinking of several scenarios in his head at the speed of light, his brain became overloaded with panic, temporarily shutting systems down. A cold cringe distorted his features and washed his face of all patience. He snapped his fingertips rapidly to start up again, gritting his teeth together. “So where is this place we have to go to?”

“Only Ms. Park knows of the location,” Cadence formally replied.

“Ms. Park?” Kate bit her lip as she a light frown wrinkled her expression. She gulped arduously. “I haven't been called that since...since my parents died.”

“Oh no, I'm sorry.” The pink alicorn grimaced apologetically at her pronounced intrusion. “I didn't mean to—“

“No it's alright, don't fret. It's not your fault, it's just didn't expect you to say it like that. It's nice to hear someone call me that again. Thanks.”

“Can you guys hurry it up!?” Rainbow rudely interrupted, and for the right reason. “This is no time for a boring chat!” A pause gave the pegasus just enough time to remind the group of what was coming. “Two minutes.”

With the active countdown alternating between Stanley and Rainbow Dash—whom seemed to be the most alert of the six— but as far as time goes, a lot can happen in two minutes. Even though Kate rested in the chair for a couple minutes, it was more than enough to regain the strength she needed to move. She quickly lifted out of the chair and brushed herself off. She turned to Lucas.

“Get your bag, we have to leave. You too Stanley.”

Before anyone could ask why, she lightly shoved the fisherman out of her way and exited the room with haste. Lucas could tell she was scared by the apparent fright in her voice. It wasn't quite clear what she was scared of other than the Coastguard discovering a false alarm and colorful ponies. It was now that he was certain that Kate was withholding valuable information from them. The rest of the group were victims of not knowing what would happen next.

As the clock approached five in the afternoon, they were almost out of time until all hell would break loose. The ponies and humans were dwindling with hope. Hope that hung by an impossibly thin thread. For every second they did nothing to do something about their crumbling situation was every second closer to the end.

Lucas was shaking, terrified of what's to come. He wished that when he woke up that morning that the night before was just a bad dream. A sort of nightmare that was nothing but his brain making up stories to scare him in the night. But it wasn't a dream. It was real. And worse yet, it did not happen by mere coincidence. All this time, he felt drawn by an innate power. One that too some effort to control, telling him to move on. He knew this feeling. Kate used to talk about it all the time.

It was empathy. An emotion so strong that, it was not exclusive to humans. Rainbow Dash—a light-blue pegasus pony with a mane striped with all the colors of the visible spectrum—had proved that to him. She proved it to Stanley. Whatever confided sentiment they shared to purify broken relations and undo major misunderstandings, he didn't want to know. It would be better kept between them and them alone.

Now he wondered: Why now? Why, when in the middle of a inescapable crisis, would it choose to reveal its full effects? It was like Lucas' heart and mind were working together, trying to shake him of a terrible guilt. A guilt known only to him. A guilt he hoped to amend with time. Time long overdue. Over the years, Lucas did not take his feelings seriously, nor did he take them lightly. He was somewhere midfield. He thought that if maybe he waited until the right time came, everything would improve on its own.

He was never more pleased to be wrong in all his life.

With amber and ashes, the silence thickened.

Taking advantage of the noiseless air, he did as Kate said and put his backpack on. He made his way towards the lobby and came to a halt at the front door. It was so quiet, in fact, that he could hear very faintly the crashing of waves beyond the grass field ahead of him. Normally he couldn't hear the ocean, but without the moaning of coastal winds, they were as clear as the sky.

There was only one sound he cared for. Lucas listened for the roar of an airplane engine.

…

Nothing.

Not a chirp. Not a cricket. Not even a whisper.

For a few seconds, all was serene, until a screech hit him in the back of the head. Turing around, could hear Kate's voice as she had returned from wherever it is she went.

To those who watched her enter, the woman was carrying a little extra other than a pair of shoes, her favorite leather jacket, and a scarf. In her arms were four gold slippers, a necklace, and gem encrusted crown, reflecting yellow rays like a disco ball around the room. She dropped them by Cadence's hooves.

“We almost forgot about those,” she said smiling as the pink pony swiftly slipped into her shoes. “Stanley,” she called to her chief navigator, who was in the process of reorganizing the contents of his bag at the foot of the lobby door. Using the deliberate pause, she grabbed a pad and pen from a nearby desk drawer and wrote down a series of numbers. “I need you to punch in these numbers in your GPS.”

Kate tossed the pad to him. He caught it mid-flight and read the note.

“What for?” he questioned, brows furrowing.

“That's where we have to go.”

Kate neglected to clarify because she knew that he knew what the numbers meant.

“You mean to say, you know of the location we must travel to?” Cadence chimed, her features brimming with delight. She looked at Twilight who showed the same reaction.

“That's what I said,” Kate responded almost nonchalantly. “But we need to get out of here now. Let's go.” She then noticed the absence of a key individual. “Where's Lucas?”

“Here!” the man shouted from the lobby. He poked his head through the door. “What's going on?”

“We're getting out of here,” Kate stated. “Grab anything you need. We're won't be coming back for a while.” As she finished her demands, she started packing her own bag she brought from her private room on the second floor. Just a few important papers and documents and she was good to go.

“We already have everything we need,” Stanley announced, leaning against a window behind him. “We're waiting on you.”

Kate paused and looked up at her two employees. They reassured her with their heads held high and hands on the straps wrapped over their shoulders. In fact, she was the only one unprepared. The ponies didn't need to carry anything and her fellow shipmates cared little for anything they'd leave behind. She hurried with the last two binders of shipping manifests and threw the bag over her back.

“Okay, now all we need to do is—“

*Thump Thump Thump Thump Thump Thump Thump Thump*

*WHOOSH*

Kate was cut off by a sudden booming thunder that flew right above the roof of the building, making the group look up at the ceiling. The deep thumping moved east but remained loud and choppy.

*crack* *crack*

*Smash*

It was then that all four windows of the lounge gave in from the stress of previous onslaught and exploded into white dust. Each particle acted as a projectile from the difference in air pressure on both sides of the window pane. Several shards blew inwards, raining down on Stanley from the right side, pelting him from head to toe.

All the fragments either hit his clothes or flat first, but one relatively large piece slashed into Stanley jeans and slicing his dominant leg, forcing a yelp from unsuspecting human.

“Argh!” Stanley clenched the wound, collapsing to his knees. Blood oozed from his pants and dripped into the carpet with a stain of crimson dark. With every beat of his heart, a sharp sting burned like a bullet to his right leg. Despite the pain, Stanley held on strong, rising to his feet like nothing happened, all while stiffing fluctuating grunts.

His cry went unheard, his friends busy shielding themselves from the same swarm of flying glass. The thumping pulses were much louder now that the sound slipped through the broken windows. A strong wind blew through the front door, making a mess of countless papers swirling into a wild vortex. Lucas used his strength to close the lobby door to reduce the rushing air flow.

Twilight started to panic.

“What is that!?”

“That's no airplane!” Lucas yelled over the noise of the helicopter's spinning blades pushing the air in circles. He peeked out through the window curtains. Their fears had arrived. “They're here!”

“What do we do now!?” Rainbow wailed. “We're trapped!”

Several books from shelves began to tip over and the glass on the floor rattled against each other from the constant vibrations of the aircraft outside. Lucas watched it hover a dozen meters in the air before is slowly descended to the ground. When it came into to full view, it read in bold black letters:

Coastguard, Eastern Division, ZK-H6

The nation's flag was also painted onto the metal just above the tail rotor and the symbol of the organization on the door. When the door slid open, Lucas retreated back and closed the blinds.

The thrashing winds outside slowly abated, diminishing with each breath, barely enough to reduce speech to normal volume.

“Is there a way we can sneak by them through a back entrance?” Cadence asked. Although her voice was far from normal, it displayed brief signs of panic just like her lavender friend.

“We have a back door,” Kate replied. “two actually, but we have no trees or bushes for cover. The station is surrounded by nothing but grass. They'll see us from any angle.”

They were running out of options real fast. Across from the woman, a light went off in the cerulean pegasus' head.

“How about we cause a distraction?” Rainbow suggested. “Make them look somewhere else while we escape.”

“The Coastguard aren't easily fooled.” Lucas pointed out. “Plus we can't risk one of us getting caught for the sake us all. It's too dangerous, and reckless.” That last word made Dash cringe, but decided not to respond any further than a growl. The man shrugged. “Any more more bright ideas?”

As if directed at her, Twilight thought hard for a second. The rapid pulses of the strange machine outside continued to stir a gale all over the place, creating a current close to that of a raging storm. A storm brewing from the center of a said machine. A storm like that of— ...wait...a storm? Hmm... Storm...rain. Rain...water. Water...ocean. Ocean...ocean...ocean...

Of course! She barked in her thoughts. That's it! All this time thinking of a solution to their home problem and the perfect idea had slipped her mind. It just so happened to be the last option they've got.

Twilight glanced at her friends who were ready to give up on hope of getting out of this circus. Fortunately for them, she was aggressive enough to take her ideas at full speed under stressful conditions.

“Take my hoof,” she said, stretching a foreleg at Lucas.

“What?”

Twilight sat on her haunches and reached out with another leg to grip Cadence's own left.

“Trust me. I know what I'm doing.”

The captain looked down at the unicorn's tiny hoof. He stared at it for longer than necessary, watching the artificial breeze sway her lavender fur every which way. He tried to guess what her plan was like some sort of game, but he found the she was dead serious. He didn't have to ask nor did he have the time to.

He exchanged wary looks at each of the ponies, then at Kate. They were each holding hands and hooves, waiting for him to join them. The last to connect the line was Stanley, whom limped slowly around the large sofa, wincing with every other step. Why is he limping?

The answer could be anything, but because there was no time to worry, it was a minor detail of least importance. Reluctantly, Lucas wrapped his fingers firmly around Twilight's hoof. It was a soft touch, silky and pure. Similar to that of Cadence's fur coat, but more smooth and kempt, having experienced less disruption like jumbled spells or solid walls.

To successfully abscond was no easy task. He wasn't sure how her plan would play out, but there was no other way but to agree to trust unicorn. What's she gonna do? Freeze time? Reverse it? Turn them invisible? Those ideas sound both cool and dangerous. He'd just have to wait and find out. Besides, he'd be accompanied by Stanley and Kate, the only two people on Earth he cared about. Their smiles reminded him of a simple thought; they were in this together.

It just took a collection of courage to take a deep breath to filter out the anxious substance of suspense.

Soon enough, shallow thuds echoed from the lobby, pounding away at the door from the other side. The guardsmen were right outside the lounge now, knocking eagerly to enter, shouting muffled words.

Each of their heart's pounded faster and faster. As the bangs escalated into shouts and the wind moved more violent, a distinct ringing sound traveled through each human and pony. It was more of a sharp vibration and high-frequency pitch rather than the loud chime of metal bells. Lucas had to close his eyes to attenuate the fire and fear of the guardsmen bursting through to door in the event Twilight's plan failed. It became increasing difficult to concentrate, or think of anything really. His skin tingled, hairs raising above goosebumps, and eyes filling with white. The sensation felt close to being burned alive, every nerve and neuron in his body suspended in a weightless void of wasted space.

*Poof*

That was all that could be heard.

Everything went silent for a nanosecond until an ambient noise sang softly in his ears. The mosquito ring was gone, but there was also no presence of loud eruptions of fumes and flames and smoke and heat and explosions of light and dark and death and destruction and—

—the list goes on.

The apex of the fire pinching his brain died enough for thoughts to flow freely again, and in seconds time, the bright light had vanished. Lucas cracked his eyes open to find his vision a green blur and layered with a natural coating of misty dew. Once he blinked, the familiar substance formed into tears, dripping down his temples to tickle his ears. Neither of joy nor of pain, but of protection against the foreign air that rubbed against his frail corneas.

By the time his hearing came back online, the voices of Stanley and Kate bounced around in his head, talking to him, whispering to him. Whether they were imaginative or not, they provided the warmth he needed to moved his arms comfortably again. Just please let this not be the afterlife. He didn't believe in that stuff anyways.

Accumulating his new found strength, he grazed his hands over the material of a damp, prickly surface, its texture overtly familiar. A new scent fill the air that flared his nostrils and riled his tongue to bear the salty taste in his mouth. His better judgment finally fell upon the realization of a sudden shift in location.

A fine green bed of grass.

But where?

Lucas concealed a cough and grunted under his slurred speech, finding it hard to heed the words through a short hiccup. One thing he didn't account for were the side effects of whatever freaky magic spell plagued him. Hopefully such a sickness left less of a mark than the real traumatic calamity of ALS he was already learning to accept.

“Ugh...grrgr, w-what hap- *hic* happened?” As Lucas sat up, the grass tugged on the grooves of his dry hair strands.

“Good to see you're in one piece, cousin,” Stanley said from somewhere in the vicinity. The captain then felt his cousin's arms pick him up off the cold soil, his bones aching up a sweat. A splash of fervent color slapped his vision as it returned to normal in no time.

The question of where was answered. Lucas witnessed the blue sky kissing the flat horizon of the sea off in the distance. The surrounding scenery punched him with all its might while evoking a startle from the man. This place, this one place, has seen its share of unlucky encounters and dire omissions.

The southern hill of change.

That's what he came to call it now.

Of course, every time he was up on this hill, he felt both enraged and reprieved simultaneously. No other place he knew could do that to him, not the station, not the boat, not even the house he grew up in near Auckland as a child. Right now, he couldn't think about those repercussions, for a more pressing issue was at hand.

He found Kate and the other three ponies laying on their stomachs, peeking over the top of the hill, overlooking the valley in which the fishing station was located. He quietly chuckled to himself. Their postures were like that of amateur spies from a revenge comedy flick. He might as well join in.

Lucas crawled on the grass next to Twilight. What he found in the distance was a lone helicopter sitting several meters from the front porch of the station. The rotors blades continued to slice the air and make the grass dance. A couple figures walked back and forth between the building and the orange craft.

For a few more seconds, it seemed like the guardsmen were relaxed for finding no one inside, but the very moment the began a conversation together, another chopper rose from the mountains on the opposite end of the valley. Each of them ducked below the crest of the hill.

“Okay, I think we better get moving,” insisted Lucas. “We don't want to be here any longer than we have to.”

A feminine gasp brought heads up, alerting the collective gaze of Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Katherine Park, and now Lucas towards a Princess in shock. However, her look of horror was directed at one of the members of the group. Following her stare, they shared her daze when the sight of red seeped from Stanley's leg onto the grass.

“Oh no, w-hat h-have I done!?” Twilight shrieked, her ears dropping as low as possible. She covered her mouth with a hoof, unable to rectify her resilience. The guilt of fault loomed on her shoulders. She panicked internally. My teleportation spell was flawless! This shouldn't have happened. I must have miscalculated.

“Don't scream!” Stanley shot back at her, unaware of the surprise aimed at him. “They'll hear us.”

“B-but, you're leg!”

“What...this?” He pointed at the red stain on his mutilated jeans. “No, that wasn't your fault. It was the glass from the window when it exploded.”

Twilight let off some relief through a feeble sigh.

Lucas did the same. So that's why he was limping. Stanley sure has guts to ignore the pain. It sure looks like it hurts. The wound continued to secrete a large stream of blood and wouldn't let up. There was only one road this would lead if left unattended.

“Dude, this is serious, you need to stop the bleeding!”

“N-no it's o-okay. I-I c-can still walk.”

Stanley tried standing up, but fell immediate after pressure reigned on his injured limb. Similar to the disorientation of the teleportation spell, the navigator's head spun in circles, drowsy overcoming him. He fought to keep the dark at bay, the blood loss shoving his body down under.

“No no no, stay down and stay calm this is not good.” Lucas sprung into action. He clapped his hands above his face, the human slipping out of consciousness. “Okay, relax. Come on, stay awake for me.” He removed his jacket and tied it around Stanley's left leg to cut circulation to the gaping wound. At least he learned a thing or two about common medical emergencies like these from survival movies.

“AHH!” Stanley yelped in agony, now fully aware of the pain. “Not so tight!”

“No man, it needs to be tight.” The captain looped the last knots with the sleeves and pressed down on his cousin's thigh. “How can you ignore something so urgent? Are you that stupid? Actually don't answer that, we all know the answer.”

Stanley was in too much pain to give Lucas an arctic glare, sucking in the frigid air through his teeth, producing a broken whistle that got lost in the coastal draft and sang like a sorry tune. He pinched his facial muscles as tensely as possible, biting his pale lips till the pain subsided. It worked...for a while.

Kate held the young man's neck from bending too much to cause further impairment.

The five surrounding Stanley did as much as they could to provide first aid. Cadence and Twilight used their magic to stitch the large gash on his skin, using loose thread from his own shirt to seal the exposed flesh. Rainbow Dash managed to whip a sufficient amount of water from a cloud she coalesced from the aquatic moisture in the atmosphere to clean the rosy stains off his bare skin. Kate supported his spine with her arms, holding him up to ease the aching pain that had traveled to his chest. Lucas put pressure directly on the wound.

As the muffled drumming of the second helicopter grew in rhythm, the captain rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed.

“Where are we supposed to go from here, Kate?”

“We take the boat out to sea.”

Lucas looked at her with disbelief.

“Are you serious?” She nodded emphatically. “Are you really seri— and how do you propose we do that? Do you not see what happened to it?” The man's slender fingers pointed at the fishing vessel on the beach not two hundred meters from their present location.

It sat motionless as waves of white hugged the stern half of the boat as the bow cut into the sand below. A red flag with the insignia of the stars and the British Red Ensign fluttered calmly in the sun. Although the exterior was completely intact and hull unscathed, there was no telling the mechanical conditions of the engine, whether it worked at all anymore.

Kate pondered for a seconds, coming to terms with how sure Lucas was in the critical status of her boat. This couldn't get any better, their options run dry at last. That is, until Cadence ventured with a polished remark.

“I think I can help with that.”

19. Prime

[Prime]

“Okay up we go.”

Stanley pulled with all his might, grasping Lucas' hand in his own right and Kate in his left. With two helping hands, he was able to stand up for moment before dropping.

With his legs unable to support his much of his upper body weight (his uninjured leg aching bone to bone), his body slumped forward, caught up in trying to reduce the pain pouring over. Fortunately, Lucas and Kate were on either side on him, holding him up by both arms. His shoes barely hovered mere centimeters above the grass, but it was enough to walk by without much pain to bring him down.

Within seconds, a new sensation surfaced, yet this one far more excruciating than he could bear on his own. Stanley's legs felt like they were injected with molten needles, burning his sensitive muscles in his left leg. Of course, this was his body's way to telling him his muscles had had enough turmoil for one day, squeezing every last bit of energy out of every fiber in his leg. However, it only hurt when significant pressure was applied to either leg independently. Using both would only render him inert, so he did everything to avoid a rapid jolt of pain that would shoot up his spine and assault his brain with screams.

The best thing he could do to minimize further agony was to stay awake, stay alert, and stay together.

Several grunts and whines slipped from the young man's mouth.

“Alright, let's get going,” said Lucas.

“We must hurry,” chimed Cadence, eagerness embedded with each word.

“Hold on for a second, not so fast,” Kate began, slightly offput by the alicorn's growing worry that manifested through her new apprehensive tone. “Let's take it easy. One step at a time. This will only get worse if we push ourselves too hard.”

It was unusually difficult for Cadence to accept the change in pace, slowing from a walk to a limp, then to a crawl. She was afraid they might not make it to their destination in time. A time fast approaching. A destination only she knew. She bit her lip and carried on, trotting down the hill.

As the three humans took the first footstep, Stanley nearly fell over. If it weren't for the support of his friends, he would have taken a nasty tumble down the slope of the hill. It wouldn't have been a pretty sight, the man was already in dire need as is and he couldn't just flag down the Coastguard for risk of jeopardizing the existence and security of the ponies. He held onto that fear until there was no reason to quail.

“Whew, let's try that again,” he said, brushing off his pain with a bit of laughter.

Slowly, the three started at a reasonable pace down the hill. Careful not to drag their feet or trip on hidden stones, each step was less stiff and less of a hassle than the last. Stanley grew ever more resistant to the hurt poking at his thighs. It provided for some relief knowing that he'll recover, hopefully sooner than later.

However, Stanley was unable to fight off the lightheaded feeling fizzling with each passing second, which in turn made him more drowsy. With the amount of blood lost from his wound, this heart had to work over time to pump the necessary cells to the part of his body that needed it, especially his brain. Every now and again, his vision would swell up, the environment around tainted with a kind of static seen on untuned television sets.

By the time they reached the beach below, they took a five second breather before continuing their journey onward. Twilight trotted not too far ahead of them, stopping every once in a while to make sure the humans caught up in time. The purple unicorn kept herself useful by carrying two of the three backpacks they brought with them, having tied them by the handle and wore it over her back like a saddle bag. Cadence carried the third bag.

Speaking of the Princess, she was the only one who didn't slow down, doubling her step to a slow canter, now more than two dozen meters in the lead. She assumed the humans were close behind, waiting until she was too far ahead to turn around, and when she did, she froze in her apparent disgrace.

A strewn frown infected the alicorn's expression. Not for her straggling friends, but for the realization of her apparent actions. She didn't know why she elected to run off like that. A strange feeling funneled throughout her thoughts, filling her mind with negligence, a concept equally foreign to her as the feeling of contempt. Both had not affected her in such a way before. There were still countless uncertainties flustering about behind closed doors, several of which were present while inhabiting Kate's body. Oddly enough, the new traits seemed to originate from the human, which could only mean that they have somehow transferred as a part of her.

That may prove to cause long term difficulties with future judgments, but it may also possess a maiden compass to finally ameliorate—if not extricate—her of great woe. For years, the careworn sliver of a petty sort would rise like the shadows of a day's end. At first, she thought that maybe a flake of Kind Sombra's dark magic survived and slowly began to infect her, but after a while, she learned that was not the case. It came from deep within her own being.

She could feel it.

Hopefully this new development was the cure she's been looking for since her induction to princesshood. A remedy that may illuminate the dark corner made of uncanny attrition in the back of her mind. If a human is able to face chagrin and contrite, then maybe she can, too.

There were so many things she didn't understand about humans. Having only spent a few hours as their company and as one of them, they proved to be a very fascinating bunch, despite their flaws. With only three of them, that is not much of a statistic to properly judge their entire species based on that low a sample. From what the atlas tome depicted in the highly detailed passages Twilight had flipped through back at the station, there were millions, if not billions of humans spread throughout the world, with a plethora of cultures, regions, and personalities. It would be like defining all art by looking at just one piece. It could not possibly be done.

But even so, she would give anything to open a relation with such intelligent creatures. The first teleportation to this world was an accident, but maybe she could replicate a more stable spell and return. It would pose new insight into humans.

The idea far exceeded her ability to consider it fully.

…

Her mind drifted again, disturbing her senses with each thought gone astray. She barely realized that she was staring abroad, out into the scope of the ocean's touch, standing motionless, tentative, and silent. A certain part of Cadence had been searching for an explanation for the new qualms swelling inside, while the other part was busy coming up with an excuse to defend her impatience.

Wasting no more time under the influence of temptation, she snapped out of a perturbing reverie. It wasn't the best time to forebode coming attractions. The likelihood of it taking hold against her will would only rise if she let it.

Cadence did a double take, exchanging glances between the humans and the fairly large floating craft sticking half out of the water. The only path that could make up for her simple mistake was walking her way. She took a long breath, tucked in her wings under the bag on her back, and trotted to their aid.

It was the right choice.

With a change in terrain, the coarse flat of sand actually helped to soften the strain on Stanley's legs, especially that of his injured one. Keeping just shy of the shallow waves creeping up the beach, the irritating slate beneath their feet dug into the sand under their collective weight, slowing their pace to a moderate limp. The slower their trek became, the more they fought to pick up their feet.

It's like Cadence said, they needed to hurry.

But why? Lucas asked numerous times in his head. That's the question, isn't it? Why rush this along now that we're clear of any danger? At least for now. That danger being the Coastguard.

Sure, he never really liked to admit his mild resent for their aid based on a past encounter a year ago while down in a marina south of the island on a short excursion with Kate, but does she really have to push them this hard if time was now on their side?

The sun's defined rays shined on through a crack in the clouds that began to form in the west, high above the mountains. A quarter of the way to the boat, Lucas looked east. Over his cousin's shoulders and towards the shifting sea, darkness climbed across the horizon. The clock ran down, second by second, minute by minute, stealing the light of day as a cruel climate blew around them.

Though, the Earth's shadow that towered beyond was far from total darkness, allowing for a few more hours for the crew to sail off to their still undefined destination. The question of the functionality still remained. Whether the boat was able to run again was a top priority, but not of primary concern. That award was given to Stanley's health.

Lucas was too exhausted to speak, along with his two colleagues. Each of them shared the same level of lethargy, which was diminishing with each step. Having to carry Stanley a couple hundred meters was no easy task, especially with the whistling winds blowing the every which way and a timeline to beat.

They were almost halfway to the boat now, just another leg up from how far it's been.

They needed to keep going, the Guard weren't too far behind. Hopefully the raided condition of the station would keep them occupied for god knows how long. Lucas didn't come this far to fall shy of their goal.

But some things are to heavy to bear. Right as Cadence trotted back to regroup, Stanley made a short swizzle motion with his eyelids and fell unconscious. The fight was over, he lost the battle.

“Whoa whoa whoa, Stanley!” Lucas quickly shrilled. He shook his cousin's arm, trying to jerk him awake with no success. “Can you hear me?”

Not a flinch, nor a twitch. The young man had finally slipped into the plane between life and death. His head hung rolled loosely on his neck,

“He's lost too much blood,” Kate noted in panic. “We need to get him to the boat now! I have some medical stuff that will help him.”

Lucas thought for split-second on what to do, and within a small amount of time, he had an idea. He double checked his cousin's pulse, placing two fingers over a major artery on his neck. His heart rate was definitely below average and weakening.

“Okay, I'll run ahead and—“

“Wait wait wait,” Kate interrupted. “Do you really think that's a good idea?”

“I have to make sure the boat still runs. There's a good chance it will. If I can get it started by the time you get there, I can put it in reverse and we'll be on our way. See look,” Lucas pointed at the stern. “More than half the boat is still in the water. If the propellers are strong enough to pull it back, then we can get sailing much quicker.”

The captain's explanation was enough to satisfy. Kate nodded.

“I guess that could work.”

Lucas nodded back and released his grip on Stanley's limp arm, gently letting it dangle freely.

“Besides, you owe him this favor.” Lucas grinned. It was funny how Stanley was the one that needed to be carried across the beach this time instead of her. What an interesting turn of events. He turned to face Twilight and Cadence. “You, stay with them. You, come with me.”

“O-of course,” the Princess replied.

As the human readily walked past the pink alicorn, she gave on last look at Twilight, noticing the change in Lucas' tone. Either it was from worry to anger, or vice versa, they were unsure. The purple unicorn understood what Cadence meant through a communicative gesture by a tilt of the head. She winked back, a secret code of confidence.

As Kate watched the unlikely duo speed off to the boat, she knelt a bit and put her other arm under Stanley's legs, picking his whole body off the ground. Contrary to what most people that knew her believe about her, she had enough strength to stand. Born into a family whose job was to do both tedious manual labor and finances was quite rare among the population. She was lucky to have a way with certain qualities that benefited her on more than one occasion, but this was a first for her. She never thought she'd have to carry Stanley a fair distance to save his life.

Twilight Sparkle remained quiet, but vigilant. If she was ever needed to remove certain obstructions from Kate's path, be it the wind or the waves, she'd be on it without a moment's hesitation.

Their pace was slow, but because Stanley was no longer awake to slow them down, they made greater progress than when he was forced to walk on an injured leg. This was actually more effective than when he dragged his feet along the uneven terrain of the beach.

It didn't take long for Kate to realize they were missing someone, or rather, somepony. The only one who hadn't said a word since making their way across the beach. Little did she know, there was a good reason for that.

Kate paused a twirled her head in all directions.

“Where's Rainbow Dash?”

Up ahead, Princess Cadence walked side by side with Lucas. For the first few minutes he said nothing, she glanced up at him to read his face to make out his emotional state. She got no further than a hint in disappointment strictly directed at her. They way he ignored her sent the message that he was doing his best to remain indifferent and/or stoic.

As they approached the starboard side of the boat, Lucas stopped and looked up.

“So you said you can help us with the boat,” he finally said. “How exactly do you intend on doing that?”

“Oh—um,” Cadence cleared the sinus from her throat. “I was going see if I could handle the mass of the boat as a whole.”

“What the hell does that mean?” He gave a quizzical look along with confusion. It was the way he spoke that which she could tell the declaration of distraught present in his voice, as if it wasn't clear enough before.

“I thought it would help if I attempt to levitate the boat out of the sand in back in the water.”

Lucas' heart jumped to his throat, choking on surprisingly thin air.

“The entire thing!?” he yakked, emphasizing his word by gesturing to the boat before them. “This thing is like ten tons of wood, steel, and glass. You're pulling my leg here! Oh wait, never mind, it's all magic.” A growl crackled as he finished.

“I am most capable of moving large objects with my magic, for I do have the necessary reserves for such a task!” she responded with more force and fury. It began to annoy her how he regarded an alicorn such as herself as a cheat who fixes everything with magic.

Lucas didn't retort from her change in tone to match his own, ignoring her defense. He humphed and jumped to the rope ladder and began to climb to the deck. After vanishing around the corner, he didn't return to lend her a hand. How rude.

Cadence thought of her own way to board the vessel as quickly as possible, one of which turned out to be a method of teleportation that used less magic than the conventional teleport spell. She couldn't fly, for her wings were still sore, incapable of carrying her any more than a few feet airborne before it became too strenuous.

Blink teleportation was the best option.

Fluttering her eyes to prepare, she lit up her horn and blinked. The next thing she knows, she is on the main deck of the ship, looking over the edge to where she was just a second ago. Looking around, the boat was somewhat different from known designs of equestrian vessels built by ponies, and even that of gryphons. It certainly had the right elements, along with several unfamiliar contraptions, presumably the parts need for fishing, hence the net.

Lucas was nowhere to be found. He couldn't have just disappeared or ditched her behi—well...the latter was somewhat true. At the front of the boat stood two openings to different areas of the boat. One led underneath the deck, and the other stood on an elevated platform, no doubt the captain's bridge. Both quite small in size, barely enough to fit no more than half a dozen ponies total, and possibly even less humans.

The human was probably where she'd expect him to be, piloting the ship.

Cadence cautiously stepped over the polished hardwood floorboards riddled with a disarray of rope and over to the captain's bridge. Slowly opening the stained glass door, a stale yet stuffy smell rushed at her, dashing to collide with the fresh air exposed through the open door behind, trapping her in a swirling mixture of foul gasses, causing the mare to cough.

After the horrid stench faded, replaced by the overwhelming cool wind, Cadence shivered by means of astringent instinct, a quick brush of goosebumps bubbling up under her skin. It was a sort of feeling normally associated with the creeps. She felt and unnatural vibe swamp over her, then vanish quicker than it appeared.

Vanquishing the thoughts speeding to make sense of it, she recollected her composure with a sigh, the air still too vile to take a long breath. She resumed her exploration of the bridge.

It was empty. No Lucas in sight.

A majority of the room was alien to her. Three glass panels, one at the center and two on either side at an angle provided for a one-eighty degree view of the forward section of the boat. An old setup of a number of gadgets and gizmos, most of which appeared highly advanced technologically, though it also contained some traditional components like a conventional wheel for steering and a chair. A single chair. The captain's chair. Made of a shiny brown leather worn from age and extensive use, complete with a head rest and armrests made of the same material, it was anchored with metal bolts with a cylindrical pole as its only leg.

The pink alicorn walked closer to inspect the chair. From her current position, she was hardly tall enough to see above the consoles to peer out over the bottom of the windows, but if she were higher up, she could see everything.

Cadence looked at the chair again. She second guessed herself on whether or not it was a good idea to sit on the thing. Then again, there was an inner child curious to experience what it's like to be play captain.

When all was quiet, she hopped on the chair and sat down. The chair squeaked and spun from her forward momentum. It spins too, her inner child squealed. If only there was a cheesy hat to go with it, thus completing the image of a brave naval sailor, or maybe even a pirate hat for the same reason.

For the minute she stared out the windshield to view the trees over the edge and through the woods, she began to think. Some made her smile, some wiped it away. Some where silly, some were of utter importance. Swimming in a fluid of thoughts, she lost track of time. Time gone to waste as she sat alone on the captain's chair on the bridge of a human fishing boat.

That last thought brought her back to reality. She nearly forgot what she was supposed to be doing, staring off into space like she had time to kill. The fact was just the opposite.

Cadence looked down at the wheel in front of her, cocking her head at the different levers and buttons. Most—if not all—of the controls displayed a variety of words and numbers for certain functions, explaining which gauge was which, none of which she understood. There was also a small black box with a spiraling cord attached to a black device, like that of a microphone. With a series of knobs and numbers on the side, she could only guess what it could be.

The instrument in question intrigued her with the utmost curiosity.

Cadence unconsciously reached out to grab the black microphone.

“What are you doing?”

“Ah!” Cadence flinched with a jolt, instantly retracting her hoof away from the device. Her heart rate shot to panicked levels, the chain reaction of chemicals in her body causing a cold shiver to course through her blood stream.

Twirling around, she found Lucas standing in the doorway look at her with a flashlight in one hand and a red toolbox in the other.

Another moment of surprise came when he smirked. She expected something different, mainly an angry barrage of shouts, or maybe something less severe and more believable like a disappointed objection of her actions.

Yet, neither anticipation came. Lucas looked at her with an amused—almost sinister—grin.

“You don't want to touch that,” he said, shining the flashlight on the black box.

“O-oh, o-of course, I'm sorry.” Cadence was a bit shaken up to be caught red-hoofed, but got over the shock with a puzzled look. “What is that device?”

“It's a radio, and like I said, you don't want to mess with it. We already know what it can do to you, so I advise you stay away from it.”

Cadence smiled reassuringly. “I will.”

“Why are you in here anyways? And more importantly, what are you doing on my chair?”

The pony could sense a bit of tension surrounding the man, the stress apparent in his anxious voice. Although she had noticed it a while back, it began to affect his behavior to the point of indulging in untamed suffering. It pained her to watch it tear him apart from the inside, but there were not much she could do to alleviate some of that stress without knowing the root cause, so she decided to use a tactical approach to find out. Passively, persuasively, and slightly poetic.

She hopped off the chair, planting her hooves on floor, squishing pockets of water from the thin, damp carpet.

“I sincerely apologize. I know it was wrong of me to intrude on your property without your permission.” Lucas quirked an eyebrow while she spoke, still uneasy about the over-compassion. “I must say I admire your position to operate the boat. It's looks fun. I've known many ponies in similar position, several of them my friends, all good souls. I have the utmost respect for your kind. Humans fascinate me to no end. Though, it can prove to be a stressful job for a single human, especially with a large responsibility for safety of those on board hovering over their shoulders.”

Lucas was not that clueless to recognize how nice she was being. Too nice, and strangely deceptive.

“What are you trying to say?”

“I just want to ask if you're alright?”

“What do you mean if I'm alright?” He looked outside to window. “I'm fine.”

“I know that's not true.”

Lucas lifted his head at the accusation, stealing a glance at the equine Princess. She took a step forward to be more direct.

“I have noticed by the way you speak and by certain actions and gestures that you are not well. It can only guess as to what you are dealing with personally, but I have a feeling you might be taking your anger out on me. If it's affecting you, please, don't let it.”

Lucas' eyes went wide, full of a dying remorse and temper rising. “Is that what you think I am? Angry?”

“Are you not?”

“I'M NOT!”

The human's sudden shout, however, was a direct contradiction. Cadence recoiled back an inch or two, cringing from being yelled at. It was a first. Even Shining Armor didn't go that far. She remained still, the silence on her side. For the seconds the two were quiet as the wind brewed a gust that flustered Lucas' clothes, a stalemate ensued. Cadence however, was using the momentary silence to her advantage, waiting for the human to realize his mistake.

A sigh passed over the captain's lips.

“I'm not,” he repeated softly.

“Clearly something is bothering you. If it's not too much to ask, you mind telling me what it is?”

“You really want to know?”The pony nodded. Lucas sighed heavily, not believing what he was about to do. “I'm scared, okay. That might not sound odd to you, but it does to me. And I'm a little stressed out.”

Cadence grimaced at that last part, contorting a dissatisfied look.

“Okay fine, REALLY stressed out.”

“What are you scared of?” she said, now looking at him sympathetically.

“I don't know, everything I guess.” Lucas' frown mirroring his words. “All the chaos that happened recently; like crashing this boat for one, almost getting fired for it, the Coastguard, Stanley's leg. Not to mention you and you're pony friends, magic spells, crystal hearts, body swapping and what not. It's been one hell of a day and I don't think I can deal with it all.”

He had a point there. Given recent events, it would come as a surprise if any of that didn't affect him. Lucas paused to rub his forehead with a wrist and walk past the alicorn. He put the toolbox down and took a moment to take a seat on the chair that gave him purpose.

“Maybe what I'm really scared of is the future,” he concluded, slumping in the comfort of the leather brushing against his back.

Their respective gazes met halfway, with Cadence pondering the implications of his fears. For so long she had not been able to talk to someone who incurs a life of promise and sacrifice that can be defined by a simple idea. The idea of being afraid of what to make of one's self, not being able to see the light that will allow them to move on.

There were only two words the Princess could say to that.

“I understand.”

A scowl rose as a response. “I don't believe you do.”

“On the contrary, I do. While you may see me as a powerful princess with unlimited magic and authority who rules over a great nation of loyal ponies for whom they look up to, praise for nobility, and bow before my hooves, there are many misconceptions about me. I'll have you know that I have my share of distress, sorrow, and angst in my days. Ponies feel melancholic at times. Often, actually. My case is no different. I am not automatically free of dread, fear, even regret, just because I am a princess. My ascended status is not nearly enough to rid me of my inherent ability to be sad.

“Fear is found within us all, it's a normal reaction to the world around us, which in your case, two worlds. I can't begin to tell you how sorry I am for forcing you into this situation. I am doing every I possibly can to fix this, but I need your help to do that.”

If there was any indication that this was news to Lucas, it showed. He shifted in his seat, biting his lip and looking down bashfully. Although his intent was to act like he wasn't interested in what she had to say, it didn't stop him from listening. If pretending to ignore her words wasn't bad enough, they seemed to hit him head on, sinking in, further imprinting the strong feeling of empathy, anxiety drying up.

Lucas couldn't tell whether Cadence was doing some mind trick on him, getting up in his head and whispering the calm words of a sad song, or his inner being was just naturally vulnerable to reason. The longer he stared at the alicorn while her eyes stared back, the more he trusted her. A kind of trust that he never got the chance to give to anyone.

He was beginning to regret taking his frustration out on her. It was wrong to blame her for his misfortunes, but it always came down to him and him alone. No one was at fault but himself. If only he could take back his outburst and 'not-so-subtle' conduct while in her presence, then things would be better. But no. Impotence and insolence reigned supreme over his conscious effort to suppress an overwhelming flood of envy and dander. Only little snippets of cheer and what little laughter he had left in him opposed that negativity.

There was break between an appeal to reason and an appeal to emotion. This time, reason was more appropriate. Some things take time to develop, other are just temporary distorted reflections of the real thing. Whether or not his trust in her was either of those things, it mattered little.

“Now I know we may not entirely see things the same way, but please, it would be best if we do not let our emotions get the best of us, no matter how corny that sounds. We don't have much time to go over our differences, so let's set them aside and focus on fixing your boat.”

Lucas could only nod.

“My offer to help still stands,” Cadence added. “I will be able to lift the boat from the beach and set it back in the water, but my magic is limited for such a large object. It won't take very long, but it will deplete my magical reserves. Don't worry, my magic will recharge en route.”

“Okay,” the captain finally responded. “So what are you waiting for?”

“Our friends of course.”

“Oh yeah,” he croaked as if he forgot.

“Is this boat ready to go once we're all aboard?”

“W-well, that's what the toolbox is for.” He pointed down at the red metal case at his feet. “I need to rewire a few things in here, which will only take a minute, and make sure the ignition for the engine is not completely shot.”

“I'll leave you to it then.”

Cadence smiled before exiting the small space that was the bridge, leaving him to his work and something to think about. It took a few moments for the rest of his body to catch up to what his brain had gone through, a short pep talk and moral support from a colorful pony princess from a fantasy dimension. Any other day, he'd laugh at the idea, but right now, it had a profound impact on his state of mind.

Discarding against further distraction, Lucas went to work.

Kate was only a few paces from the boat now. After a little scare from the missing blue pegasus, they were back on track.

Minutes earlier, Rainbow Dash was busy making herself useful. She had secretly flown westward to collect a few clouds that formed as an atmospheric marine layer by close proximity to the shore and dropped them on top of the hill they teleported on. Rainbow took the liberty to create a thick wall of mist and vapor in attempts to further decrease the risk of the 'rescue' humans spotting them.

The white curtain was unrolled high into the sky by skill of weather manipulation, even spreading it out over the cliff and out on the water for greater coverage. Throughout the gradual—yet simple—procedure, Dash proceeded with caution with the quiet and delicate operation by means of stealth flight. After her everything was done, she admired her work and flew back to help her friends.

Now a towering white brume divided the shore north and south, the station on one side, the beach and boat on the other. It was an effective barrier providing for much needed cover in case their luck changed. This long exposed out in broad daylight was too high of a risk.

Trotting close behind, Rainbow decided to save her wing power after noticing a significant drain in energy the longer she stayed in the air. By the time she finished her little protection project, she could swear her body was much heavier than she remembered, like gravity increased by a tiny bit. She couldn't have gained a few pounds. Rainbow Dash does not gain weight. It probably had something to do with the physics of this odd world.

Maybe that's why she gets so tired while flying fast, and for an extended period of time.

Yes, it was probably physics. That's egghead stuff. Twilight would know.

Finally reaching the side of the boat, the three of them halted their slow trudge and arched and briefly examined the ship in their path. Looking up, a rope ladder hung freely from the over the edge of the deck.

A sigh left Kate. “How am I gonna get him on board?”

“I'll help with that,” Dash said, jumping in the air at the first opportunity and hovered inches above the unconscious human in Kate's arms. “Give me his arms, I'll carry him.”

Kate released her grip on Stanley's limp legs, lifting his upper torso higher for the robust pegasus to grab hold. She wrapped her forelegs under the man's arms and beat her wings as fast as a humming bird.

“Careful now.”

“Don't worry, I've got him.” The mare pulled Stanley skyward just like she did when he fell off the cliff a few hours earlier. He was pretty heavy, but nothing the mighty Rainbow Dash couldn't handle. Clearing the top of the ship, she set him down on deck, panting at her efforts.

Not two seconds later, a flicker of white flashed a few feet away. Twilight had easily used her limited supply of magic to blink teleport aboard.

“You're here!” A harmonious voice chimed from the bow of the ship. Cadence quickly trotted to them, careful not to slip on the damp floorboards. “Where is Kate?”

It was right then that a hand rose from out of sight to grab hold of the railing on the edge of the boat. Kate climbed the rest of the way with ease, jumping over the metal poles that were locked in place. She dropped to her knees and began the process of picking Stanley up again.

“We need to get him inside,” Kate pressed on, her haste in full swing. Nearly dragging her feet across the hollow floor, she paused at the stairtop leading to the small living quarters below. She stole a wincing glance at the three ponies standing in line. “There's not enough room for all of us in there, so I need one of you to help me out.”

“I'll come with you,” Twilight volunteered, putting the bag down where she stood.

“Follow me.” Kate blinding descended every step until the cabin door stared her in the face. “Can you do me a favor, Twilight, and open—“ before she could finish, the door opened on its own, a glowing purple nimbus hazing the doorknob.

“Thank you. Stay close.”

With each step came a squishing sound from a soggy rug flooring the cabin and a sticky smell. They picked up their feet, for the corridor perturbed with a dark and dusty atmosphere, almost like walking into a walk-in closet from a horror film. The only light source was ambient and the only way to get past the mess on the floor was with more light. Kate's hands were full and the flashlight was missing from the—

A peculiar glow pulsed from behind. Kate turned to discover a violet orb surrounding Twilight's horn.

“Thanks again.”

Now they could see where they were going. The two carried on.

“Can you pull out the first aid kit from that cabinet there,” Kate gestured with a knee as she wiggled her way down the narrow isle of the cabin.

Twilight did as instructed and open the wooden cupboard. Inside was a white plastic box with a red cross painted on top. She pulled it out with her teeth and followed after the woman.

They entered an even smaller room at that back end of the cabin just enough for the three of them to fit inside while enough elbow room to spare.

Kate gently set Stanley down on the soft velvet sheets of his bunk, careful not to jab at his left leg in any way possible. When all was set and done, she began working on removing the makeshift bandages and used the sterile new ones in their place. Opening the health kit Twilight placed by her feet, she unwrapped the roll of bandages, made of perfectly woven nylon threads for maximum efficiency to absorb the blood seeping from the gash on Stanley's leg.

The injury itself was in terrible shape, a large open cut across half his lower leg, needing more than a few bandages.

After finishing with the patch work for the wound, Kate fastened the fabric in place with tape and covered it with extra cloth, wrapping the entire lower half of his left leg. Admiring her work, Kate glazed a hand over the navigator's forehead, radiating with heat. With a fever to add to his plight, just another step back after taking two steps forward.

Without proper medicine to give him, there was one last thing she could do.

Kate leaned close to Stanley's ear and whispered.

“Hang in there, you're gonna be just fine.”

After covering his body with more layers of blankets to warm him up, including her on coat jacket, she slowly rose to her feet. “Let him rest.”

With one last glance, Twilight and Kate made their exit, keeping the door open to allow enough fresh air for him to breathe, which as it turns out, his breathing was dangerously weak.

Returning to the surface, Twilight stepped aside while Katherine stumbled her way to the captain's bridge. Upon entering the small compartment in control of the boat's maneuvering functions, she found the man she was wanted to see, digging around under one of the control panels wired to the engine block to the rear.

Click, clangs, and clanks echoed as Lucas bypassed a blown fuse used for the ignition.

“How's it's coming?” she asked, making her presence known.

“Perfect timing,” he replied, pulling out from under the console. “I'm done. The engine is fine, only the ignition was shot. Had to rewire a few cords, but it was a piece of cake. We're good go!” Lucas ended by throwing the wrench and pliers back in the toolbox.

“Wow,” Kate almost stammered. She was beginning to like the new Lucas, with more charisma and confidence to amend his competence in engineering. “Good job. Remind me to give you a raise.” Her proposition ended with a smile.

“Right!” Lucas perked up. “Tell the others we're ready.” She nodded, but before she could exit the room, he asked, “By the way, is Stanley alright?”

“Yeah, he's fine, I patched him up and let him rest on his bed in his quarters,” she said, the assurance spilling with her reply. “He's gonna need stitches sooner than later, so I might as well try it myself if I want to learn how. I'd like your help with.”

“Okay.” As Lucas considered the option of the minor medical operation, Kate left him alone to think about it.

Ten minutes later...

It was finally time to head home, the engine ready to go, the crew waiting to sail, the ponies prepared to travel with the humans, and the time counting down the seconds. But, there was still one problem.

“You see, when I channel enough energy, a certain type of perpetual energy derived from mana-space itself, I am then able to see the natural signatures of the world around me. The respective densities and types of energy charges differs from object to object and varies among identical objects that share the same image. So while while my horn is active...”

Cadence went on and on.

While explaining technical gibberish regarding levitation magic to Lucas and Kate, Cadence got confused looks in return. After seeing their faces contort every few seconds, she abruptly stopped talking and looked at them with a blank face.

“You have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?”

All the human did was shake their heads. Cadence brought a hoof to her face.

“Okay, let's try this again, how—“

Twilight obnoxiously cleared her throat, cutting the Princess off.

“Oh right, sorry. So, anyway, do I have your permission to go ahead with this plan?”

Kate and Lucas exchanged a long, comprehensive glance at each other. They each shrugged after silently coming to an agreement. Even if they didn't know the specifics of magic, they knew what she was talking about in terms of practical use of levitation.

“Sure,” Lucas began. “We're waiting on you.”

“Oh!” Cadence chirped, somewhat dumbfounded. “In that case, I suggest you hold on to something.”

One after the other, Lucas, Kate, Twilight, and Rainbow Dash grabbed hold of the railings attached to the outer walls of the captain's bridge they were leaning against. Within seconds, Princess Cadence activated her unicorn horn, glowing with a neon blue hue.

For a moment nothing happened. The four spectators looked around, waiting for something to happen. Feeling a bit awkward watching Cadence stand at the very center of the main deck of the boat, Lucas felt like expressing his concerns.

“Are you sure you know what—“

*screeeech*

A piercing sound scratched, like metal against metal, cutting Kate's words short.

Not a second later, the ground began to shake. What felt like a mini tremor, grew into an unstable earthquake that felt like the ship was ripping apart. At first, the uneven shaking startled her, forcing a tighter grip on the railings, but after it faded in moments, she took a breath of relief. Next, the environment beyond the boat began to sink below the bottom of the boat, but after close inspection, it was not that Earth itself was moving by an obvious margin, but the boat itself, living off the ground, foot by foot.

The entire hull and exterior became shrouded in a thin mask of a neon blue, like that of the halo of Cadence's magic.

The alicorn was the only one unfazed by the moving boat. Her head was craned skyward, horn spiraling vertical, and eyes elegantly closed. Her spell was going perfectly, no hiccups or breaks in her magic. A good sign of good health. With such flawless precision, she used just enough magic necessary to do the job, saving the remainder of her reserves for later.

At a safe height hovering above the ground, the boat started to move again. This time, horizontally. Over the white waves, beyond the tall tides, above the pearling perfume of saltwater dripping from the polished underbelly, the boat hovered.

A flying boat...who would have known?

It was by this time that any word Kate had were now lost. She could not accurately describe how the experience of riding a flying boat. That fact that that it was hers made the feeling even more thrilling.

As the vessel soared through the air, backing up to a safe distance from land and clear of the seabed, Cadence's magic held strong. The integral welding of the boat was holding steady.

The boat stopped moving for a second, and then gently descended to the water underneath, several bolts and screws rattling under pressure from the magic that moved it and kinetic stresses of immense tension. Thankfully, the Princess' concentration on all aspects stabilized all moving part aboard.

One thing to mention, gentle was not gentle in the common conception of gentle. Unlike a slow touch on the surface of water with a hoof or finger, the size and weight difference was a large factor that contributed to the added stress of having to levitate it by powerful magic.

Mere meters from the ocean surface, Cadence released her magical grip on the boat, letting it safely drop into the water.

*SPLASH*

A white mist sprayed from either side of the boat as the boat hit the water. It may have been loud, but they were far away from anyone to hear it. The chopping ocean current and sloshing waves kicked in, pushing the vessel side to side.

For Twilight, the rocking motion differed from any other moving carriage they've been on before. More sway than blimp or flying chariot, but more flexible than a pony drawn carriage. Cadence already grew accustomed to the motion, keeping proper balance with certain adjustments to her body movements. As for Rainbow Dash, she wanted off the boat immediately, not at all comfortable with the flustering feeling of seasickness.

Rainbow couldn't take it, even after a minute of holding her swelling gut roaring at her to fly. That's just what she did. The pegasus jumped in the air and hovered six feet in the air, wiping her forehead with a hoof as a flood of relief washed over her. Even looking at the deck below, shifting to and fro, made her dizzy.

Once they were sure the magic boat was floating on its own, Lucas and Kate started laughing.

“That was quite something, huh?” The captain noted. “Like some Yoda magic, but in real life.”

There was only one word the boat's owner that managed to roll off the tongue.

“Wow.”

Lucas carefully walked back to the bridge to start the engine, the others following close behind. Lucas sat in his chair, cracking his knuckles and popping his finger joints. Now on to their prime directive.

“Let's get out of here before any more helicopters show up.”

20. October

[October]

6:50pm
Somewhere offshore
Thirty minutes into their voyage

Kate and two of the three ponies sat across from each other in the cabin. They have agreed to lay low as Lucas blindly headed Northeast of where they had begun based off vague details.

Up on the bridge, Lucas—or Captain White as he liked to be called on occasion—aligned the boat and manually steered down a certain path, a straight shot to an undisclosed location. Undisclosed meaning that he had no idea where this place was. Judging by their heading, it was in the middle of nowhere, far from land.

Cadence sure was eager to reach this obscure location without even telling him why. Kate wasn't much help either, for she gave a bunch of numbers to Stanley for him to find on his portable GPS. He didn't have a chance to actually punch in the numbers to his GPS to see where this place was, but there was a reason for that. A GPS device sends a signal of compressed data to satellites in orbit, thus emitting radio waves, interfering with Twilight and Cadence's magic.

Smart of him to know that. It sure saved the trouble of more hurt for the ponies they were trying to help. Besides, there was already a built-in GPS on the console of the bridge, a more sophisticated model, right next to the radio transmitter. The one Stanley owned, the one he carried with him, the one that caused the boat to crash, was of his personal possessions. It had no official qualities associated with the boat itself.

But, the fishing boat GPS was of official make, a reliable addition to the many necessary instruments aboard the ship, even in harsh waters. The problem would be to turn it on without harming the ponies in the process. Maybe there was a way to modify the frequency and still maintain an accurate map of where they needed to go, decreasing the output to longer wavelengths. Based on what little information Twilight and Cadence said about magic and EM, he thought that if the signal was weak enough and in short bursts, but still able to make it to space without being corrupted, then it wouldn't be so bad.

Sure, both devices transmitted radio waves, but the radio box was the only one of the two instruments that can control the flow of information.

Looking at the radio bolted onto the center control panel, an idea surfaced. Brilliant, but complicated. His plan was to combine the radio to the GPS system, calibrating certain functions of the two systems thereby modifying their true purposes to create a new invention. If it could be done, it would save a hell of a lot of trouble. He didn't want a repeat of EM attacks on the magical ponies.

He was glad to have sufficient knowledge of electrical engineering and some training in naval navigation. That's what got him hired in the first place. Stanley was hired for the same reason. There was no way he would let his condition get in the way or bring him down. What he would give to rid himself of sclerosis for good.

All he needed was were tweezers, pliers, copper wiring, some tape, and a someone the steer the boat for him.

Outside the bridge, Rainbow Dash did a few flybys near the windows like an air traffic control tower. Lucas followed the blue blur to the rear of the boat as she flew in circles, doing a few stunts and rolling with skillful precision.

Rainbow finally got the chance to fly.

A whole day cramped in a house was enough as it is, and there was no way on Earth she was going to sit in that tiny living compartment beneath the boat with her friends. That was pushing it too far.

The freedom gave her the time to practice of some moves to pass the time.

“Hey Rainbow!” a voice shouted from below.

Skidding to a complete stop and snapping her head to the cry, she found the Lucas human waving up at her. As the boat continued on speeding away, she broke her hover and flew parallel with the ship.

“What's up?” she called back.

“Come down here,” said Lucas.

Rainbow's grin transformed into a stiff representation of a sardonic frown.

“Oh nu uh!” She shock her head vigorously. “I'd rather stay in the air. This thing is a death trap to pegasi like me.”

“But I need your help.”

Striking the mare's inner chords, she stopped from sprinting away. Help? What does he possibly need my help for? Pondering for no longer than ten flaps of her wings, she began to drift closer to the boat. In such a situation, she'd do anything to keep herself useful until the were home safe.

Reluctantly, she did as she was told. Lowering her flight path, she did one last flip before landing on the boat. Anchoring her four hooves on the deck, she wobbled as the ship's forward momentum threatened to pull her off her hooves.

“You alright?” Lucas asked as he walked up to her.

“I don't like boats.”

“You're not the only one. Now come on, I need you to help me with something.” The captain walked up the steps and disappeared through the stained glass door of the bridge. Rainbow took cautious steps to follow. Upon making it to the door frame, she paused, unwilling to enter to small room.

“In here.”

Right then, Rainbow trumped her phobia of small spaces by taking a deep breath. She pressed on, finding Lucas on his knees with tools in his hands.

“Uh...s-so...what do I do?” Rainbow muttered.

“How would you like to drive the boat?” was his response. He patted the leather chair on the left most side of the room.

Rainbow's eyes were a mix of doubt and glee.

“Really?”

“Really really.”

The pony had a watchful eye on his expression, checking for signs of sincerity, hoping it was no joke. She didn't detect the slightest change to convince her otherwise.

Rainbow slowly crawled to the chair and hopped on, squeaking under her weight. From that elevated position, she could see out the windows where the wide world wavered beyond. That feeling of control and security—like that of flying high in the clouds—inflated within her to counterbalance the undivided fear of tight spaces and volatile surfaces connotative to her being, giving her strength to cope with the rocking motion jarring her brain.

Plus, the chair was as comfortable as a cloud.

“All I need you to do is steer the boat straight ahead,” Lucas explained, easy enough for her understand. He wrapped his fingers around the glimmering petrified wood of the wheel protruding from the metal panel in front of her. “Hold on to the wheel. Don't let it slide one way of the other on its own.” He then pointed at a circular slate of glass with a needle pointing in a certain direction. “This here is the compass. You see the arrow pointing the NE, that's North East. Make sure you stay that route.”

Rainbow nodded and obeyed his every command. After getting the hang of the sway and his instructions, she felt a little bit of thrill shoot up her spine, tingling her brain with newfound delight. Her mouth cracked into a grin.

“This is awesome,” she mumbled to herself.

In her mind, there were many different kinds of awesome. This was awesome number seventeen. She was actually controlling where the entire boat goes just by turning the wheel right or left. Ponies of Equestria did have boats with similar functions, but not on this level. There were so many levers and buttons all over the slanted panels that made up the ships controls. It was like she was driving a futuristic version of Equestrian vessels, whether it be blimp yachts or ships of the Celestia's Royal Navy Guard.

Lucas stifled a chuckle as Rainbow's eyes lit up, enjoying her new position as his substitute. Returning to the radio, he unscrewed the bottom of the machine and pulled out several wires and the motherboard laded with a complex structure of microchips, tiny transistors, and the receiver. Amazing how technology has improved in the last decade.

Next with the GPS, he unopened the thin covering underneath. Working his magic with improvisation and skill, he brought both devices together in a tangled mess of different colored cables. He removed the rubber sheets of the red wires and added a new line with the extra copper he conveniently found in the tool box. At least it came in handy for once.

Using a combination of masking tape, pliers, a flathead screwdriver, his shoe laces, and elementary knotting skills, the connection was almost complete. Just one more detail and done.

With the two devices turned off, he twisted the many knobs in a particular order, tweaking the settings to the desired amount.

Done.

First up, a test.

“I'll be right back.”

Lucas left without giving Rainbow a chance to say anything. She looked at the mess of wires hanging out of the strange devices and undulating around each other, connected to a green plate that looked like a shrunken city. It looked like the work that her friend Rarity on a bad day of sewing dresses, only with each thread ten times larger and made of copper.

Now Rainbow was alone, remaining as quiet, going against her usual outmatched nature of agility and toil for adventure. All around the ship was a three-hundred-sixty degree view of nothing but the dunes of a free flowing fortune by bewitching foresight. Brewing on the north horizon were dark clouds forming a super cell high in the atmosphere. A tingling drizzle rained down on the window as the wind picked by a few kilometers per hour.

Another storm was on its way. This would pose some problem for their journey. Hopefully they'd beat it before it hit.

Shortly after leaving, Lucas returned, but he wasn't alone. Standing in the doorway, Twilight and Cadence joined him in tow. Beyond them was Kate, overlooking the whole room with how tall she stood over her friends.

“What is it, Lucas?” Twilight questioned with considerable curiosity. She noticed Rainbow Dash on the captain's chair. “Wait, is she steering the boat?”

Kate and Cadence here wondering the same thing.

“Yeah, I needed a replacement so I could work on this. Anyways, do you see this?” He gestured to the weird mishmash of wires that looked like some crude excuse for a practical network for receiving any sort of digital data. “Since I need to use the GPS to know where we are going and since they transmit radio waves, I thought I'd hook it up to the ship's radio and lower the frequency.”

“The radio can do that?” Kate said.

“Well yeah, it's really easy. What do you think these numbers are? They're a certain channel tuned to different frequencies.”

Kate now felt stupid for asking, but nodded in understanding.

“And connecting both system will allow you to use that device for our safety? By changing the frequency?” Twilight added. A genius idea like that deserved understanding from someone equally as clever as Lucas.

“Exactly!”

“Again, remind me to give you a bonus.” Kate's impressed smile sealed the deal. Lucas' only acknowledgment was a scratch of the neck and a blush.

“I just want to test it first so I know I got it right. I didn't want to do it secretly, and if anything went wrong...well...that wouldn't be good.”

“You have my consent,” Twilight chimed.

“Mine as well,” Cadence sang.

“Right then, here we go.”

Lucas turned on the radio first. So far so good. No explosions yet. The GPS came next. As both instruments booted up, Twilight and Cadence didn't feel a thing. To make sure, he typed in their position in the keypad. The pixels of the old monitor lit up, showing an arrow icon at the center, representing the boat, and the surrounding locations, which was blank, indicating nothing but ocean.

Checking to see any reaction by the ponies, nothing happened. Perfect!

“Yessss!” Lucas celebrated with fist pump. “It works! Now all I need is the coordinates.” The jovial captain brought up the GSP data on screen. He turned to Kate thing time. “Do you remember what it is?”

“Yeah, it's uh... 37 degrees, 50.46 minutes South, and 179 degrees, 59.99 minutes East.”

Quickly typing in the numbers, the computer transmitted the coordinates at the speed of light, but took a little whole longer to display the image. Even before the results finished drawing the map on screen, Lucas recognized the last set of numbers faster than the computer.

“Are you kidding me?” he gave an amused smirk. “That's like...right on the International Date Line.”

This time, it was Kate's turned to be surprised. She shrugged. “Coincidence maybe?”

“I still don't know how the hell do you know all that,” he teased. “You don't even understand global coordinates.”

“I don't know, I guess I—“

*beep*

The monitor sounded off, cutting the talk short and bringing their attention back to the GPS. Three lines slowly converged on the screen to a single pixel, pinpointing the exact location. One for longitude, one for latitude, and the other a line was a course needed to sail there. With the lower frequency, it was fair for the chunks of data to load slowly. Lucas analyze their heading by pointing at the glass screen in order make a correction to their trajectory.

“Cool, we're more than halfway there. Alright Rainbow, turn right and set a course Northeast for another fifty-seven kilometers.”

The pegasus gave him dumb look as if he gave him some alien code.

“Never mind.” Lucas manually turned the wheel a few degrees and locked it in place by manually tying his other show laces to the console. There was no autopilot, hence needed the assistance of Rainbow to keep the boat level. “There, I invented autopilot.” He laughed at his own joke. “You are relieved of your duty, Captain Dash.”

“Yes sir,” she saluted. Her simulated discipline tugged the corner of his grin. “By the way, what does GPS stand for?”

“Global positioning system. It's kinda complicated,” he said, twirling his hands in circles. He then closed the red toolbox, turning to address everyone. “But...we have some time for that. There are things we need to discuss.”

Below the deck of the boat, squeezing shoulder the shoulder inside the cabin, the five sat in crude formation. Kate and Cadence on the bed, Lucas and Twilight on the floor, their backs against the wall. Rainbow refused to place her whole body the cabin completely, choosing to stay outside. Though with compartment door open, she was close enough to hear her friend's voices, laying her back on the stairs.

They made it work. While not entirely comfortable, it had to do.

“Now that we're in the clear,” the captain began. “can you tell us what's really going on? I noticed you've been getting us to rush since the Freaky Friday magic spell something or other. I only ask because we've been through a lot lately and we wanna know if it was really necessary to hurry things along. Why do we need to push ourselves so hard? I thought we were just trying to avoid getting caught.”

The face Cadence made suggested a long awaited confession.

“As you may already know, we are not from your world. Because we do not belong here, we must return to our own world before it's too late.”

“Too late for what?”

“The method we took to get here was by a highly complex teleportation spell. I have created a portal that brought us here from the Crystal Empire. But as portals go, ours is getting weaker,” she answered. “It is located at this exact place we are heading to now. Every minute the portal is active, it slowly seals in on itself and eventually...it will close completely.”

Lucas was nearly speechless, sucking on his lips as he squirmed around on the damp carpet.

“Why didn't you mention this before!?”

“I only just found out not too long ago, shortly after retuning to my own body, in fact. I now remember the final memory minutes, even seconds before teleporting to this world. That may explain why I'm worried whether or not we will make it before the portal closes.”

“But all you said we have to do is go to this secluded location in the middle of nowhere, but you never said anything about a point of no return. That would have made much more sense back on the beach.”

“I regret not informing you of this matter before. I'm sorry.”

Lucas and Kate needed to hear what else the Princess had the spill, for there was much ore to be said. Even Twilight was eager to tell them the full story.

“You could be less vague and tell us what you know, and why you're really here.”

The pink alicorn presses a hoof to her chest and rid her throat of lump, preparing to speak.

“To begin, Twilight Sparkle was invited to the Crystal Empire a few days ago. She received a letter from Princess Celestia, Equestria's noble leader, notifying her of a great opportunity. Twilight was granted access to the entire library at Crystal Empire, known as the Crystal Archives, including section off-limits to ordinary ponies. The day she arrived, which as it turns out was yesterday morning along with Rainbow Dash and her friend Pinkie Pie, I joined her in exploring the lost knowledge of the Empire and its history. After skimming through countless shelves, volumes upon volumes of written records, we found what appeared to be a crystalline door that we thought lead to a different part of the Archives. It wasn't until after entering this door when we realized that it was only a small room of old texts.”

“We learned that this section was long forgotten in the many centuries of its burial. We simply gave it the name, the Crystal Chamber. It was an amazing collection of old scrolls and spell books we never knew existed. We were so excited to have discovered such a treasure of ancient knowledge and history, so perfectly preserved after so long. Twilight and I were quite overwhelmed by the find. Rainbow Dash, not so much.”

“Well, once we passed the initial speechless joy upon finding the remarkable room, we began going through many of the oldest scrolls we could find. Strangely enough, the oldest were several thousands of years old, long before the reign of Nightmare Moon and even before King Sombra.”

The two humans each raised an eyebrow, confused by that last part of the story. Cadence took notice and briefly cleared her throat.

“Oh, um, Nightmare Moon was a dark entity that took control of the overflowing negative emotions of Princess Celsetia's sister, Princess Luna, turning her into corrupt mare of darkness who attempted to cover all of Equestria in the night's shadow forever. Her reign of power didn't last very long. Many battle took place and lives lost, but she was eventually defeated by Princess Celestia using the Elements of Harmony. Both Nightmare Moon and Luna were banished to the moon for a thousand years, only to return a few year ago to continue her reign. Twilight here, helped defeat her and free Princess Luna from the curse.”

“I embody the Elements of Magic,” Twilight jumped in. “The sixth element that completes the Elements of Harmony. Five of my closest friends hold the others, Rainbow Dash included.”

“What's her element?” Kate beat Lucas into asking.

“The Element of Loyalty.”

Lucas' initial instinct was to laugh out loud at how absurd and bull that sounded, but refrained to no more than a chuckle. A thousand year was just plain ridiculous. Giving it some thought, it did put some justice on her decisions to defend her friends.

“That explains a lot.” This earned a glare from the blue mare. Lucas ignored her and motioned with a hand. “And this...King Sombrero guy...?”

“King Sombra. There's not much to say about him, other than he was dark despot who took over the Crystal Empire, eventually defeated twice. Once by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna a thousand year ago. A second time by the Elements of Harmony and myself.”

“Well,” Lucas wrinkled his nose. “He's got to be one of the worst tyrants if you ask me, seeing you can overthrow him that many times.”

“Tell me about it.” Cadence rolled her eyes.

He and Kate nodded with quite a history to fathom. Lucas resume the conversation. “Go on.”

“Of course...where was I?”

“You were saying how you found scrolls...in some secret room...”

“Ah yes, we dug up a number of ancient scroll older than Equestria itself. Several contained fascinating information of the origin of the crystal ponies, but one was a spell. A teleportation spell to be exact. A spell that would allow magic users to travel between worlds. It was very complex for a unicorn, but in my case, the spell could be done with relative ease compared to others by using my level of magic.

“We are here because of that very spell. I suggested we give the spell a try while Twilight observed. However, the problem came when a certain somepony interrupted my concentration while I was at the height of forging the spell, causing a spike in my energy output and the magic to go wild.”

Cadence stopped there. She angled her head at a bored pegasus, slumped against the stairs while trying to act exhausted. The humans and purple unicorn followed her gaze. It took a few seconds to realize that all eyes were on her and Rainbow Dash sat up straight.

“What?” she said, shrugging her feathers.

“Hm,” Kate hummed, amused that the fault was placed on her. “What a surprise,” she said with a sarcastic chuckle.

“What? What is it?” Rainbow repeated. She was now staring back at her friends, more confused than usual. “Come on, I know it's about me. Don't leave me hanging.”

“You're partly responsible for bringing us here,” Cadence stated.

“I am?”

“Yes. As I was explaining to them about how and why we came to this world, it is because you came crashing into the Crystal Chamber while I was preforming a teleportation spell. It malfunctioned, bringing you, Twilight, and I here, to this world, over the face of the ocean.”

“Oh.”

Rainbow flattened her ears, dejected. It pained her to be at fault for putting the Princess and her best friend Twilight in mortal danger. Her lips began to quiver, the stares now piercing her soul. The only words she could muster were along with a nervous smile were, “I'm sorry.”

“I have already forgiven you,” said Cadence.

The glum pegasus snapped up. “Really?”

Even Twilight was a bit puzzled for Cadence to forgive so quickly, but she understood why. Look where it has led them? They have made a great breakthrough in the art of teleportation and in the discovery of human beings. If Rainbow hadn't gone and messed everything up, they wouldn't have gained incredible insight into the world of humans, no matter how small their reach. At least, it was incredible in Twilight's eyes.

“Yes.” The alicorn nodded with warm smile.

“O-okay,” Lucas stuttered to start. “Everything you just said sounds like fantasy fiction to me...” A pause gave emphasis to his next few words. “But I believe you.”

“Me too,” Kate seconded.

“So let me get this straight, all this was because some mishap that Rainbow Dash caused while preforming an ancient spell that would have brought you here anyways.” The captain crossed his arms and leaned back.

“I believe so.”

“If I may hazard a guess, if she hadn't busted in on you, the spell would have worked properly and would have teleported you somewhere else? Somewhere safe? And not over a big ocean?”

“Yes.”

“Never meeting you?” he added, the connections coming together. “And none of this would have happened?”

“I wouldn't say it like that,” Cadence caught on to his disappointment coming from him again, which she hoped he'd show less of. “If the spell did go perfectly, I may have teleported alone and in a highly populated area. The situation may have been dramatically reversed, and by the way Stanley had described your authorities, I would have been captured and experimented by your government.”

A pause floated between then group.

“Wow...okay...” Lucas ran a hand through his hair. “I didn't think of it that way.”

“I believe it's fair to say that if Rainbow Dash had not done what she did, the outcome may have been very different and our lives may have taken a dramatic turn for the worst.” With her logical conclusion to relieve spirits, it did the trick. The five of them cringed at the thought of local government involvement and media breaking out to the world, while reveling in each others company knowing it didn't.

Lucas finally split the silence to continue analyzing past events. Kate let him do all the talking.

“So if this portal closes before you we get there, you'll be stuck here forever?”

“I'm afraid so.”

“But didn't you say you have the required magic now? Why does that matter if all you need to do is go back through the portal before it closes?”

“Because the portal is unstable. It is too weak for us to travel through it in one piece. I must strengthen the spell's properties and maintain a stable energy field for us to make it through safely.”

“So you're saying there's been a portal in these exact coordinates all this time? Then why didn't you go back through it at the time after teleporting here when it was more...you know...stable? Why fly all the way to shore from there?”

“That's just it, we didn't know what happened at the time. The spell cause temporary amnesia, scrambling our most recent memories. A minor side effect. So, by the time we fell through and were deposited on the other side, we had no idea what was going on.”

“That's why were waiting the spell's side effects to wear off.” Twilight chimed in. “Our memories came back to us one at a time through visions.”

“What? When did this happen?”

“Oh yeah,” Kate looked at Lucas. “You weren't there when it happened. It was like some weird psychedelic mind dump like watching a very fuzzy movie inside your eyes.”

“W-wha?” The captain humorously cocked in head.

“Pfft, never mind.”

“O~okaaay...not gonna bother.”

“So how do we ensure getting to the portal in time.”

“Well we're not gonna sit here wasting all this time talking, let's kick this party into high gear.” The group shuffled to to stand, but as he finished that sentence, they halted. He noticed that after his horrible attempt at humor, the awkward embarrassment lingered for longer than he wanted to take. “Um...forget it. Let's—“

*Thud*

Lucas froze. The fall of a muffled sort echoed behind him. He turned, finding his friends equally frozen. So it wasn't his imagination after all.

All eyes pivoted to the room at the back of the cabin, where the sound presumably originated from. When a low-pitched grunt stirred behind the half closed door, Kate was the first to spring forward.

“Stanley!”

As she and Twilight entered the room, Stanley lay flat on his stomach on the floor, clenching his leg.

“Arrgh,” the injured man gurgled again. He felt something pull him up from the waist, a wince pained his expression. Opening his eyes, the face of his savior stared back like sparkling glitter.

“Let's sit you back up, Stanley. Easy now.”

“Ugh, what ha—happened?” he mumbled.

“You fainted, out cold for an hour,” Kate purred. “You gave us quite a scare dropping like that. For a while there, I thought you fell into a coma.”

“Welcome back, buddy,” Lucas tenderly uttered across the corridor. “How do you feel?”

“Like hell.” Stanley pressed a fist to his pounding forehead.

“You'll get used to it,” his older cousin chaffed. “We all will eventually.” A brief pause gave the man the opportunity to move things along. “Just so you know, we're on a tight timeline and I need to speed the boat up.”

“Why?”

“They'll tell you.” Lucas gestured at Twilight, Cadence, and Kate encircling the navigator for supportive comfort. With that, he skipped out of the cabin, jumping over Rainbow Dash, and vanishing to the surface.

After about another ten minutes sailing out on the water with increased acceleration, going an average of twenty knots, they were nearing their destination.

Only a tenth of a kilometer or so and—

*Pop* *Pop*

*Clank*

Lucas jumped at the noise from behind. It scratched his ears relentlessly in and out. He quickly ran to the door to check the source, screaming from back of the boat to discover a gray smoke rising from the water.

A pair of footsteps ran up the stairs from the cabin, also having heard the crackling sparks of snapping metal. Kate rushed to the stern to check it out.

“Shit,” Lucas hissed as he walk up next to the woman. He huffed the agitated air out his nose to his affliction, glaring at the smoke. “I was hoping that wouldn't happen.”

“What do we do now?” asked Kate, sharing the worry.

“Well, we can't go anywhere with the engine blown.” He shrugged discontentedly. “That's it then, we're stuck.”

“What happened!?” asked a tomboyish voice, turning to find the rainbow-haired pegasus trotting up from below deck.

“The boat died, and now we're adrift.”

“That doesn't sound good,” Twilight added as she, too, ascended the steps to see what's going on.

“Couldn't be any more right. Let's not start panicking just yet.” Lucas put his hands on his hips and scanned the surround seascape.

“How much further?”

“A-about a hundred meters.” Twilight could see the human's eyes searching for something out on the water as he hesitated his answer. “If we're this close to the portal we should see it by now. I don't see anything.”

“What's going on?” Surprisingly enough, the last new voice came from Stanley. The crippled navigator limped his way over to them while Princess Cadence aided his broken stance.

“As you can see,” his cousin pointed at the charred smoke steaming from the rear of the ship. In addition to what was seen as a huge problem, a particular odor contaminated the air. The type of smell that could only be known as a highly dangerous substance. Gasoline.

“We're leaking gas, too. At least there's no fire, from what I can tell.” His suggestive remark did no justice to their new problem.

“Have we arrived yet?” Cadence finally got the chance to ask.

“It's what I told Twilight, we should be able to see it from here, not a hundred meters from where we are now. But nothing that looks like a portal.” A grumpy grimace took over. “So where is it?”

Another detail in which Cadence neglected to mention. All she had to do was crane her neck back, looking up at a steep angle. She smiled to have found what they were look for all along. A way home.

“Look up.”

“What?” Lucas saw her gaze pointed skyward due East. It was then that a gasp from the lavender unicorn inflated her lungs.

“Up there! Look!” Twilight repeated, squealing with delight.

Lucas follow the gazes of all who were staring directly at the same thing. High above, a bright as day, was a glowing orb of light giving off a blue tinge, fluctuating in intensity. The luminous portal Cadence told them about a fifteen minutes earlier, floated on a single point in space.

“Oh wow,” his lips murmured. “How did I miss that?”

“Quick guys, let's go!” Rainbow Dash launched into the the air. Assuming her friends were right behind her, she flew on. She was about to speed far away what a shout pulled her back.

“WAIT!” Lucas roared, throwing his arms in the air. “Not so fast! Don't leave your friends behind!” He took a second to calm down, facing the equines still grounded on the boat. “Um,” He examined Cadence. “Aren't you gonna fly with her?”

“My wings were burned out during my flight to shore. I guess I forgot to tell you.” A sheepish smile was her apology. “Twilight rode on my back during our journey, making it much more painful to carry both our weight.”

“Okay okay, so how are you going to get up there?”

“We fly.”

For the first time that day, Lucas face palmed. “Obviously, but you just said—“

“Come on guys,” Rainbow yakked as she carefully swooped back down to the boat to hover. “What are we waiting for?”

“Hold on one moment.” Cadence chimed. “There is something I need to do first.”

Cadence's elegant pink wings unfolded slowly, letting them hang off her back, stretching to the floor. She took one long deep breath. Her body glowed in all her vibrancy and a swish motion of her mane as she flicked her head back. Those watching squinted their eyes as the light intensified. Her wings suddenly flexed high and flapped a few times for testing measure.

The alicorn was now engulfed in a white cocoon, only to release its light into the sky and burn out in seconds.

The embodiment of beauty and love, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, regally flared her wings out far. The golden slippers and necklace had changed, now more distinctive and declarative than before. Her crown, now twice the size and far more intricate with a larger amethyst gem at the center, was an icon of her magnificence, deserving of worship by her loyal subjects, fit for the highest level of grandeur. The humans, however, were not her subjects. The way she saw it, the truth was the other way around.

A surge of felicity ran throughout her being, perpetual and pure. Her radiant features sang like the heavens, strumming a unique score for those in desperate need of its harmonious melody. Slowly, very slowly, Cadence opened her eyes. For a brief moment, her world filled with a white glow, blinking deep. It soon faded back to her precious purple eyes to look at the world of mystery around her.

Though there was hardly much to see.

With the change complete, now slightly taller than her earlier counterpart, she stood at eye level with the human standing before her. After taking a moment to breathe, she looked at Lucas with calm smile curling up the corners of her lips.

Without a second thought's hesitation, she lowered her head, bowing before Lucas. His entire expression was speechless of what had become of the alicorn, his mind so blown away that no coherence spilled in the form of thoughts. Her wings were larger, same with her horn, which rested gently on his shoulders with her head like royalty honoring him into knighthood, which wasn't too far from the truth. All members of the group shared similar ties with the sudden change, Twilight and Rainbow Dash included. Amazement and disbelief, nothing less.

She then lifted her head high.

“Thank you,” she said delicately. Even her voice sounded majestic, the soothing expectation for a goddess of any kind. “I am eternally grateful for your courage and strength at helping my dear friends and I find our way home. For that, you have my honor and my love.”

Lucas blinked.

The princess lifted her head and looked at Kate and Stanley. “Thank you all. Each of you showed me something new, a kind of friendship I may have never gotten the chance to know without your touch of hospitality.” She nodded once at the woman and the navigator, flushed of proper emotion in her presence.

“Here,” she started again. Charging her horn, she removed the necklace from her chest and levitated it in Lucas' hands. “A symbol of my gratitude.”

The captain's mouth hung wide open. His cousin was no different. Though, Stanley could swear he's seen this in a movie once—only—it was accompanied by uplifting music. It wasn't easy to imagine it playing in his head.

With that exceptional compliment, she motioned for Twilight to hop on her back, and that's just she the mare did. Another flap and the ponies were ready to go.

“This will be our farewell.”

Before Princess Cadence could take off, an idea ticked in his head.

“Wait!”

The pony froze.

“Yes?”

“Wait here.” Just like that, Lucas took off running to the bridge at the other end of the ship with the necklace in hand. Seconds later, he returned, the item in his hands replaced by his old backpack. Unzipping the largest pocket, he took out a book. He then handed it to Twilight. “Here. Take this.”

“Oh no, I couldn't possibly accept—“

“No please, I insist.” He would let them leave without returning the favor. “It's the least I can do for your help, with everything.”

Twilight smiled and the gripped the book with her magic, holding it tight like the innocent school child she was made out to be. She nearly gasped with what she read on the cover. The Outline of History by H.G. Wells. Her smile turned into a full blown grin, as wide that of Pinkie Pie.

“T-thank you.”

“Hey, take care, it's been one hell of a day. Now you gotta go.” He took a few steps back, waving them off.

Cadence readied herself with a kneeling stance, and with one strong push, she kicked her hind legs off the boat and threw herself and her passenger into the air. The swift motion of her wings sent her flying with the autumn wind carrying a howl in her wake, heading off toward the light that which floated high above.

Rainbow Dash waited momentarily to face the humans, now standing side by side by side as they watched the Princess take off. Walking up to Stanley, still in pain and intrepid, she stuck out a hoof at him. The man was confused for no longer than a second, realizing what it meant.

The navigator stuck out his own arm, curled his hand into a fist, and fist bumped her blue hoof. Rainbow smirked when he did that. She was not aware that humans had similar social gestures as a hoof bump.

One last nod and Rainbow was away, rocketing off the deck, doing a few loops, and racing to catch up to Twilight Sparkle and Princess Cadence. It felt good to have new companions—no—friends that weren't afraid to bite the bullet, reckless and strange—yes—but responsible.

Lucas White, Stanley Clarke and Katherine Park watch as the figures in the darkening clouds became the shadows of silhouettes, disappearing away. A roar of lightning flashed just above where the portal began to stabilize by the power of unicorn magic. Once the last thundering boom pounded down on them by the glowing light in the sky, it intensified to the brightness rivaling that of the sun, fluctuating, until it broke apart, waned away, and vanished into darkness.

Then...

...silence.

...a long silence.

...a silence long forgotten.

Looking up at the gray cloud beyond, shifting with the storm passing over the fishing boat.

Rain began to fall. A downpour, separating skies apart.

Temperature dropping. Winds howling. Night approaching.

For the sake of all of those who cross his path, Stanley's only hope was to let go of the past, go off the beaten path, and find a new way through. That way, if anything, anything at all, came along to block the road, he would no longer turn around and run from the problem, but work with it. No more insane transgressions, only ideal innocence can save him now.

Colorful creatures of magic and myth was a prime example of such an obstacle. Only this obstacle was no hurdle, but a force of goodwill in disguise, waiting to change him forever. In such a small world, where in all his life, in all the days of rain, in all the nights of cold consolation, and of all the qualms on fellowship, there was resolve.

It just so happens, that's just what he needed.

That's just what they all needed.

The three of them carried an expression seldom shared amongst each other, telling of a living concord of genuine emotion that defined them.

Each sailor walked to the bridge to get out of the onslaught of rain.

Lucas sat down, readjusting for the perfect posture on the leather chair. Looking solemnly at the two newest additions to what he would call a family, scratching his ears and tucking his lower lip under his teeth, he wanted to rejoice in that moment forever.

Ticking in sycn with their heartbeats, the second hand of the analog clock on the wall reminded the crew that it wasn't over, the world hadn't ended yet, and they were still alive. A necessary break between the dream and reality.

Reaching out his hand over the console, past the radio, over the dead gauges, and beyond the aging silver knobs, an orange button waited to be pushed. Directly below, a label read the button's true purpose.

Emergency Beacon.

His index finger hovered a couple centimeters from the button. A genuine pause.

Lucas looked at his crew, his shipmates, his friends.

“For once I'd like to use this for a real emergency.” A sniffle heralded his courage to admit defeat, in order to let go of his failures.

“Are we in an emergency?” said Kate.

“In one way or another.”

They looked at each other for what felt like ages. Seconds turned to several. After several, they smiled.

“Maybe it's about time things changed,” Lucas stated.

Kate and Stanley agreed with a simple nod.

Rubbing his fingers together, the captain pressed the button, broadcasting their location to every local Guard in the area.

Lucas grabbed the radio's microphone, held it up, pushed the button with a thumb, and opened his mouth to speak.

“This is Captain White on behalf of the crew of the Radiance. If anyone is listening, anyone at all, we need some help out here.”

Deep within the Crystal Archives
Sometime early evening
October 15th

Silence reign over and through and out. Twisting like vines, the invisible field of a noiseless sort dominated a small room, one filled with archaic scrolls and timeless information. If conditions were just right, one could hear the humming of the vibrations of air molecules, or the sound of blood flow within one's self.

That's exactly what Pinkie Pie struggled with.

The deflated party pony sat alone at the very center of the Crystal Chamber, expression lonesome and eyes drooping with sadness. A sadness felt once before when presumably betrayed by her friends on her birthday. Unmoving, she stared at the crystalline floor, her reflection staring up at her. This was the last place her friends were before they went missing.

No pony had heard from Twilight, Dashie, or Princess Cadence for almost a full day. A full day was too much time. Enough time that anything could have happened to them, even the bad stuff. Pinkie dared not to think of the possibilities. Where could they be? Are they alright? What happened here in the first place? There was a bright light coming from this room, but when she came to check up on her friends, they were already gone. Are they playing a trick on her?

No. They would never do that to Pinkie. They'd especially wouldn't do that to Pinkamina.

Her most positive of ideas were soon overshadowed by grave scenarios. One of which was a question she continued to ask herself. If I was with them at the time, maybe I could have prevented the terrible-horrible-dreadful-awful-disastrous thing that happened to them. Whatever that thing was.

Though Pinkie Pie's thoughts usually consisted of a universe of sweets and smiles, her mind turned sober when she turned blue, allowing her to properly access the intellectual—and slightly insane—part of her brain, producing words too smart for even Twilight to understand and scenarios too bizarre to even be considered plausible. One scenario of which involved green space ponies and another involved giant talking monkeys.

That last one could make for a good story.

If anything, she wondered it they were on their way back right this second. Oh what she'd give to tell them how much she feel bad for not being there for them. She has waited too long without much progress in her friends whereabouts. Twilight is probably worried sick about Spike and Rainbow is probably doing what she can to fly home. For Princess Cadence, she will probably figure out what happened and fix everything again like a few incidents recently. She's a really really really really really nice princess. She can do anything.

But how much longer do they intend to keep me waiting? Pinkie asked every five seconds nothing happened as her posture remained under the weather and in stasis.

Beyond the double-doors of the chamber, the rest of her friends stood watch. Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy kept their distance. It pained them to see Pinkie like that, but this time, it wasn't their doing. Twilight and Rainbow Dash were missing, and they've search all over the castle for them.

They even tried talking to Pinkie, to some temporary success, but she would return to a sad state minutes later.

The three ponies were called to the Crystal Empire on such short notice, at first assuming no real value to visit the nation after already spending a month's vacation in the castle just a few weeks ago. Little did they know the call was far more pressing.

Once they arrived, Shining Armor explained what happened. Rarity did everything she could to give Pinkie a shoulder to cry on. Applejack joined the search for the Princess and her friends on castle grounds. Fluttershy cried with Pinkie.

Shining, on the other hoof, was uptight on the unknown whereabouts of her wife and sister. His immediate thought was that somepony kidnapped them. A wild assumption, but being on the tip of his hooves was his job, and after the epidemic of the changeling invasion not too long ago, he had reason to suspect a crime.

It's been over a day and no word of their friends.

Now all they could do was watch the breakdown of their most enthusiastic friend, having exhausted all measures to cheer not only Pinkie Pie, but the group as a whole.

Pinkie shuffled her hooves occasionally to relieve some tension, but that only helped to do the opposite. With every minute ticking and ticking, every minute stabbing and stabbing at her heart. She hadn't slept since they disappeared, and it showed. Her features blemished with bags under her bloodshot eyes, filling ever more with unhappiness. She tried smiling to keep her composure up, but the thought kept coming. The simple fact of not knowing bounced around in her head like a tiny rubber ball, only she was not in the mood to bounce with it.

*zzt*

A sizzling sound slowly began to rise, kinda like electric static, but Pinkie ignored it. She was focused on staying awake. Even the most hyperactive of ponies needed a break.

*zZzZzt*

The sound returned, only slightly louder. Again, Pinkie brushed it off as a draft seeping from the cracks in the ceiling or from the great hall from the door behind her. She shuddered at an invisible wind that tickled her nose, wiggling her muzzle to scratch it.

*ZZZZT*

For a third time, the sound spliced the air just above her head. Pinkie's ear flicked with excitement, realizing a definitely disturbance in her unusual Pinkie Sense that had little significance. It was then, only then, did she open her eyes for her own to stare back at her through a faded reflection. In contrast, while she was looking down, she saw the divide that was a glowing chandelier hanging silently on the ceiling and a crack in the mirror beneath her hooves.

Wait...that chandelier hadn't been there before. And it's...glowing? Glowing and shifting like Princess Celestia's mane, only with more neon and sparkles. It was a snazzy décor, as Rarity would say, and a bit like the color of the moon, or the color of magic.

This perplexed Pinkie greatly. The entire surface of the chandelier was covered with this stuff, or perhaps, it was made out of this stuff. Blue swirly stuff. Sparkly stuff. Waving like a river, dancing like stars.

It looks nice. Why have I not seen it before?

Her ear flicked a little after several more humming noises pulsed from the lighting fixture. Pinkie though hard on why that stumped her as supper duper strange.

Then it hit her. No, not literally hit hit. No slapping involved, just a sudden realization.

*ZzztWwzzt* *Crack*

As the sounds picked up the pace, further increasing in volume and brightness, Pinkie Pie brought her head up, looking at the bookshelves opposite of her. When another crackling noise, she snapped her head back down at her reflection, the chandelier now undulating like a snake that can pass through and in on itself like mist.

The light spiked to the point where looking at it was painful.

But not for Pinkie.

*CRAAACK*

One last piercing thunder from static shock and the pink Earth pony shot her head directly above to witness a stroke of powerful magic bursting from the ceiling, consuming the chandelier all together and engulfing the room on white.

Before she knew it Pinkie Pie saw a trio of figures materialize before her very eyes and fall towards her. Because it happened so fast, she was not able to get away in time. A mass of ponies dropped directly on top of the pink pony, squashing her down under.

*Thud*

“OOF!”

A series of grunts and gurgles ravaged the walls of the Crystal Chamber. Voices instantly recognized by two ponies running into room.

“What in tarnation!?” Applejack barked as she skid to a stop near light than slowly began to fade like dust. Rarity and Fluttershy joined her in shock not far behind.

A high-pitched ring, known only as unicorn magic, marked the entrance of Shining Armor as he came running to catch the culprits of his sister's kidnappers, his horn on full. Waiting for the light to die down, he could hear the grunts, very familiar grunts, of a mare he held most dear.

Only when the light faded did he get more than a wish.

There, laying on the gloss of the crystalline floor, was Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and, of course, Princess Cadence.

The very sight turn his frown upside down.

“Cadence!” he shouted, running to her aid.

“Twilight!” Pinkie followed with her own fit of giggles after an explosion of pink flooded the purple unicorn's vision.

The two pair of ponies embraced like there was no tomorrow, never once stopping to take a breath. Twilight was used to the tight squeeze of Pinkie hugs after so many before it, but this was a new kind of hug. One filled with intense joy, relief, and guilt. A combination not unheard of, but it was a first for her.

Shining helped Cadence to her hooves. She shook off any excess chill that threaded under her skin from a rapid change in temperature, from a cool southern air to the warmth of the Archives. Having passed between realms so quickly, one would need to adjust eyesight before walking. To her carelessness, she took a step, but dropped, only to be caught in Shining's forelegs for another leg to stand on.

“I thought I'd never see you again!” Pinkie squeaked, letting Twilight after a good ten second hug.

“It's nice to be back, Pinkie.”

“Ya gave us quite a jolt there,” said Applejack, much to her approval by Rarity beside her.

“Indeed! I couldn't possible think of any other form of entry than a teleportation spell to alarm us, darling.” The paper white mare join with a hug the Twilight.

“I've missed you so much, girls.”

“What did you do while you were gone?” Pinkie asked.

“It's a long story.”

The last pony to receive a welcome was Rainbow Dash. Now it would right to assume her diligence and immunity to teleportation spells, but that fall took its toll. It felt like she was bucked in the head real hard by somepony, hitting right where it hurts. She now lay on her back, looking straight up at the ceiling. Only it wasn't she expected to find. Staring down at her was the the blurry image of two great blue eyes and pink flowing mane.

The yellow pegasus said nothing, only smiling.

“Uggh...” Rainbow rubbed her forehead. “That was something.”

As her eye sight improved of the expanse of another few seconds, hoofsteps aproached from nearby. By the time she could see clearly, she was looking up, under the umbrella of smiles from each of her friends. No other sight in the world could make her more happy than she was right then. Euphoria rushed through her, but is seems she learned a thing or two about overreacting to the things

Looks like the spell worked.

More importantly, she was back home.

She'd have to remind herself to be more careful when roaming libraries.

“That was one hell of a day.”

When things go wrong like that, they usually don't send you to dangerous places.

Places bigger than one could even imagine.

Imagined only in the eyes of those who have seen it before.

Before the sunsets and after the storm.

Seen again for the first time.

After the storm.

No one can predict what is to come.

Riding on what was, what is, and what will be.

A life worth living.

Beside friends and among freedoms.

Getting to the edge of the rope.

But...

Picking up the pieces and building anew.

To what do we hold most close to our hearts when all was once lost?

After the storm.

Author's Note

Regards:

Thank you to those who read this, especially to those enjoyed it, I would not have written it all without readers from a select group of people known as Bronies, and an even smaller group of people who go on websites like these and reads what other people care to share with others and still relate to ponies. I can honestly say that with the pressure and solitude while writing this fic is shown to reflect what I have written in some, if not several, chapters where things do tend to get a little weird and out of place. As you may have already noticed, the entire story takes place in the expanse of 24 hours, which is a style of storytelling I like to write in. As a writer with almost no experience writing stories (original concepts or based off existing universes), I can say I have improved my style and abilities to make something that is not complete junk, but fit for the criteria of social standards strictly bound to my subconscious and punches hard with every blow.
With much needed criticism, my confidence in writing goes up with every word.

As a wise man once said, “Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself.”

I don't feel the need to say this, but I will say it anyways...

A short disclaimer:
This fanfiction is comprised of characters, both human and pony, solely created and dedicated for the enjoyment of fans of the cartoon TV show, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, developed by Mrs. Lauren Faust and is owned by Hasbro, Inc. The characters are completely fictional along with certain scenarios and settings throughout the story.

A disclaimer on this chapter (20):
Before you say anything about the way Lucas rewired the radio and GPS, I made it up. I don't claim to know how a radio or GPS works, but that's why I devised a clever way for him to connect the two together in some complicated way that doesn't really make much sense. It's not supposed to be a hundred percent accurate, or even work in the real world. Just pretend for a second that it works in such a situation.

Out of the thousands of stories to be read, millions of words to be spoken, you chose to give this one a look. Even if just one person read it, I least I know I did something right.

Thanks for sticking with me on this one.
~flamevulture17

All The Same To You

Five years later.

Stanley woke to the motion of his bed, rocking back and forth within the small compartment he was in. The light inside the cabin was dim, but just enough to see his surroundings.

“Sleep well, kid?”

The navigator looked to his left to the deep voice that spoke to him. There sat his cousin Lucas, sitting on his own bunk with his arms wrapped around his knees.

Stanley sighed. “No.”

“Well now that makes two of us,” said Lucas.

“Where are we now?”

“We'll be docking inside an hour, and get off this god-forsaken boat.” Lucas rubbed the shivers on his legs. The cabin was a bit chilly.

There was an awkward silence between them as they tried not to look directly at each other. The sounds of the waves beyond the cabin door didn't help to curtail their anxieties. It only made it worse.

“So...” Lucas started. “You still, uh..., you still thinking about them.”

“What else is there to think about.” Stanley replied, visibly heartbroken. “I can't believe it's been so long. Five year can really test your memory.”

“You can say that again.” Lucas pulled the bed sheets close for comfort. “I didn't think it had that much of an impact on us. I mean look at us, we're practically best friends. I never once felt the need to smack some sense into you anymore. You seem more in control of yourself. I'm still curious at what you and the rainbow pegasus talk about on the hill that day.”

“Nothing,” Stanley lied. “We were just admiring the view.”

Even after five long years, he had continued to keep his past a secret from everyone. However, it's not like he needed to tell anyone anyways, he had moved on. Nothing was more important to him than his future.

“And Kate?” Stanley continued.

The captain contemplated for a moment before answering.

“She's doing well. She should be back from her trip this afternoon.”

Stanley hadn't spoken to Kate in little over nine months since her leave to the United States earlier that year. She said there was important opportunity that she wanted to take in California. He wished he could go to California, the place of dreams, movies stars, tasty wine, and everything. Kate neglected to mention what the job was, but trusted her to tell him right away if she got the position.

For the last few days, Stanley the navigator and Captain Lucas White set out to plot their routine sweep of their prime fishing grounds during the off season. There wasn't any place they'd rather be. For many, traveling the world seemed appealing to experience at their age, but they weren't like most. All because of that day when their lives changed forever.

Living boring and hostile lives one day, colorful talking ponies the next. They tried figuring out a reason for that encounter, but came to the same conclusion.

Bad luck.

Or good luck, depending on the how you look at it. At that time, that day was considered as a slap to the face and a sad coincidence. Now five years later, not one day goes by without thinking back to how much that day changed their lives.

And now all they could do was think about it some more. In the days that followed the whole Coast Guard incident, the three of them had quite a stressful run-in with the local authorities. As expected, they were happy with time wasted and a very flimsy explanation to cover the truth. Jail wasn't so bad for either of them, having the ponies on their minds for week to keep them busy.

Stanley kept thinking about that rainbow pony and her story. He wished he could ask her species come in that color or she was one of a kind. She seemed rather proud of herself while not doing a very good job of hiding it. After the shock wore off, she finally showed her true colors, so to speak.

“That time is it?” Lucas asked, laying on his back with his eyes closed.

Stanley took out his new cell phone from his pocket.

“Five thirty.”

“Huh.” Lucas sat up and reached reached under his bed. He took out a bottle of wine and two three ounce glasses to boot. “Well let us toast.”

Without another word, Stanley took the glass his cousin handed to him. Lucas poured sweet wine in Stanley's cup, then in his own. He set the black bottle next to him and raised his glass. Stanley did the same and they quickly drank their share of the moment.

For several seconds, Lucas looked straight up even after he lowered his empty cup, staring to nothing in particular. Stanley observed looked at him with a curious expression.

“What is it?” he asked.

“I don't know,” Lucas replied. “I was half-expecting something magical to magic just now.”

“That's just your imagination running off again.” Stanley rolled his eyes, chuckling. “I hope it's not like that time you got drunk on New Years Eve last year thinking Kate was still that princess pony in her body.”

“Was that the time I started acting like she was a god and kneeling before and all that, and I said some crazy things—“

“Like I love you.” Stanley finished.

“What!? No! I don't remember saying that.” Lucas defended, much to his embarrassment.

“Everyone knows it, we just decided to keep it from you to spare you the pain.”

Lucas crossed his arms and grumbled like adorably like a child. “A good friend you are, keeping secret and stuff, telling me I said those stupid words to Kate. Meanie.” He stuck his tongue out at his co-worker.

“Real mature man.” Stanley said jokingly, tossing his empty glass to Lucas.

“I didn't say those words.”

“I'm pretty sure you did.”

“Pretty sure? Not absolutely sure?”

“Look man just let it go,” the navigator pleaded. It was too late, the damage was already done.

“Did I really say those words?” Now Lucas was contemplating to himself while saying the words out loud.

Stanley grunted, wishing he had kept his mouth shut. Now he had to deal with to profound revelation Lucas would have for saying the magic words to the one person that could potentially return the favor. He decided to give his honest opinion.

“I think it's pretty clear you love Kate,” he said firmly.

Lucas looked up at him with saucers for eyes. The curling of his eyebrows suggested a mix of anger and denial.

“I do not!”

Stanley tilted his head. “There's no doubt that you have a thing for her. But hey, before you rage on me, I was hoping you'd make your move on her years ago. She seems really important to you.”

“You don't understand anything,” Lucas crossed his arms once more, looking off to the side. “A guy like me is not right for a girl like her.”

“How do you know that?”

“I just know it. The way she's treated me in the past was what set her apart from me.”

“That was five years ago, you have let it go and move on. If you keep up that mindset forever, of course she'll never see the real you.”

Lucas looked at Stanley as if he was prepared to kill him. This assessment was accurate as the captain launched himself across the room to attack him to get Stanley to shut up. The younger man narrowly avoided the surprise attack and managed to dart out of the cabin in a flash. He was on the deck of the ship in no time, but Lucas was close behind.

The captain was both playful and serious in his attempts to grab Stanley and knock some sense into him, but he was getting too old for that.

Now that they were on the main deck, they stopped their shenanigans. Lucas surveyed the area and found the New Zealand coast a couple miles west.

“Enough of this,” the captain said. “I want to go home.”

Lucas pushed his cousin out of his way and headed for the bridge. Stanley just stood there wondering if he was faking his anger in a friendly way or truly upset by the what he said. All he could do was go back to the cabin and wait for him to bring them ashore.

Not a half hour later, the fishing came to a perfect stop in the boat house. Lucas hopped overboard and tied the ropes on the starboard side to anchor the vessel in place. Stanley grabbed his backpack and followed him up the grass fields to the station further inland. Once the building cam into view, the first thing they noticed was the blue Honda sitting behind the white business truck.

Both men looked at each other and grinned. They picked up their speed and were running in no time. They quickly approached the porch and nearly launched themselves indoor to the lobby, nearly tripping over the suitcases sitting on the floor. Lucas didn't see them in time and lost his footing, falling to the floor in a loud thud.

Stanley snickered in amusement. “Nice going.”

The captain rapidly picked himself up and brushed himself off, but not before Kate walked in from the lounge holding a nice cold soda. She was wear and thick brown jacket and tight jeans just like the day she left.

“You would think a captain would be more careful,” she laughed.

“Kate!” Stanley shouted, walking over to give her a welcome home hug.

“Hey! What about me?” Lucas pouted, not liking being left out. Their hug was longer and more intimate. Stanley cleared his throat to end the lengthy hug.

“How you boys doing? You finish this week's charts? I'll be needing those course mapped as soon as you can.”

Lucas grunted. “Five seconds from your trip and you're already giving me orders.”

“Well it's your job isn't,” she teased, taking a brief sip.

“I know that, but couldn't you at least wait until you're settled in,” Lucas protested, picking up the luggage and moving it to the front counter.

“It won't take long. I see you're already doing that for me anyways.”

Lucas looked down at his hands. He didn't even realize he was carrying her bags away. He eyes opened wide and immediately dropped the suitcase where he stood.

“Hehe, o-oh, um, r-right,” he stuttered. “I uh-”

“Okay,” Stanley pitched in, pulling Lucas away by the shoulders. “I think that's enough fixation for now.” He pushed the love-drunk man into the next room where she could see of hear them. “Dude, you need to chill. You're embarrassing yourself out there.”

“Am not! I'm fine.”

Lucas could quite break free from Stanley's grip, whom had him by the elbows. He squirmed and squirmed, but would budge. Stanley brought him to the couch and sat him down on the spot.

“Stay here.”

He then walked back out to the lobby. “Kate!” he shouted. “There's something Lucas wants to tell you.”

Lucas immediately bolted from his seat and tackled him to the ground in the middle of the lobby. Luckily, Kate was not there.

“Stop it!” Lucas yelled. “You're not helping.”

“Why don't you just ask her to dinner.”

“W-why would I do that?”

“Why would you do what?”

The men on the ground snapped their head to the side to find Kate standing there again, but without her jacket and drink.

Stanley pushed the captain away from on top of him. The men got up and stood there side by side, one extremely nervous and one with a smug on his face.

“Umm...” Lucas scratched the back of his neck. “Uhhhh.”

She turned to young navigator. “What's wrong with him?”

“I think you broke him,” Stanley chuckled, patting her gently on the back.

She looked at him quizzically. “What did I do?”

“He's too afraid to ask you-”

He was interrupted by an object hitting his face. Stanley recoiled as he saw a book bounce off his face and hit the floor.

“OW!” he screamed, but shrugged it off. “Damn, you're so defensive.”

“What did you do that for?” Kate said to Lucas, then gasped. “Wait, you two aren't fighting again, right?”

“Nope,” Lucas rapidly chirped. “Not at all.”

Hiding his lies innocently were not his strong suit, but luckily she bought it with the cute look on his face.

“Good to hear,” Kate smiled. “I'm gonna need help finding next year's manifest, I misplaced it somewhere in my room. I'll unpack later.”

Without another word, Kate exited the lobby and headed upstairs. Lucas started to follow, but paused before Stanley. He leaned in and whispered, “I hate you.” He then proceed up the staircase and out of sight.

Stanley sighed. He was now alone to tend to himself. But what? Indecision struck him often, but suddenly remembering what day it was, he shrugged and walked out the front door with his trusty backpack in tow.

The young navigator walked south to the beach, only he wasn't going to the beach. With the hill just in sight, it brought back vivid memories of times past. Or just simply a conversation never to be forgotten. When he discussed his life's past with the blue pegasus, it got him thinking about what his life would be in five years.

“I guess some things never change,” he commented aloud to himself.

He reached the hill minutes later and sat down on the cliffside with his legs dangling over the edge. He removed his backpack and took out his mp3 player, put his headphones on, put on some instrumental piano music. He laid his back on the grass and closed his eyes, face towards the sky. He couldn't ask for anything better, this was his place of peace til the end of time.

Even before the first song ended, Stanley felt a strong, yet brief gust on wind blow right over him. He flinched and sat upwards in a panic, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The ocean was still and ocean, the sky was still blue, and the green coastal landscape around him was as beautiful as ever.

He shrugged it off, but was still cautious. It was probably nothing to worry about.

No longer than ten seconds after laying back down. Something tapped on his forehead. His ripped his eyes open once more expecting to find either Lucas of Kate coming up to bother him, but he was dead wrong. His gaze came in contact with something far more surprising and colorful.

“Ahh!” he jolted awake, ripping his headphones off as his heart raced beneath his chest. He scurried away from the edge of the cliff and away from the perpetrator of his peace.

“Heya Stanley,” said the one and only blue pegasus with her rainbow mane, oddly dressed in a nice rainbow cape and gold adornments.

The navigator looked at her wide-eyed, bringing his breathing back down to normal, but his heart was still pounding in joy.

“Y-you remember me?” he said sluggishly. Stanley couldn't not believe his eyes, but knew it to be true.

“Yeah ya knuckle head, why would we forget the humans who saved us.” Rainbow Dash approached the man slowly well aware that she had spooked him more than intended. Fortunately, he didn't put his arms up to defend himself, but appeared to have frozen in place.

“Are you alright?” she asked as she tilted her head, holding out a hoof.

Stanley still struggled to figure out what's going on.

“We?”

“Oh yeah, how else do you think I got here?”

“M-magic?”

“I know that, but I'm no unicorn. That takes some egghead skill or alicorn power.” She laughed. Stanley didn't, but merely smiled. “Besides, who do you think is standing behind you?”

He slowly whipped his head around to find yet another pony towering over him, this one seemly radiating with a soft pink glow and a shimmer so subtle it almost looked like she was transparent. Like the day she left, but this time with a dress and flower in her long flowing hair. Her proximity caused him fall roll left right away. Staring up at her violet eyes, all he could articulate was one word at that moment.

“C-cadence?”

“How do you do master Stanley?” she greeted in a strangely formal manner.

He gulped. “What are you two doing here?”

“Three,” said another voice from above.

The human quickly rose to his feet, wobbling in place as he stepped back, looking for the third voice. “Who said that?”

“I did.”

Stanley looked up to discover the purple unicorn know as Twilight Sparkle, only something was obviously different about her apart from the crown on her head and pink dress with yellow ribbons. She's... flying!?

“H-how did— what are— huh?” The poor man was extremely confused, overwhelmed at the sudden appearance of what seemed to be the magical ponies that turned his life around.

“I apologize for showing up so suddenly,” Twilight said. “I was hoping I wouldn't catch you and your friends by surprise, but it seems Rainbow here was far too excited to see you again.”

Despite knowing each other a day, she like a best friend to him and was now sure she felt the same way.

“Why are you here?”

“Well, we thought we'd pay a visit to the ponies— I mean people who helped us at a time of our greatest need. Without you, we might not have made it back to Equestria.”

By now, the initial shock had worn off and Stanley nothing but happy.

“Well why don't we take this inside. I want any trouble if someone spots you out here, that won't be good.” He stuffed his music player into his backpack and flung in over his shoulder. “Come on. They'll be happy to see you.”

They three followed just above his head as all three of them hovered gently in the air, respecting their distance.

Arriving minutes later at the station, Stanley high-stepped his way to the porch and hopped the step, running across the floorboards to the front door.

But something stopped him. Stanley paused dead in his tracks right before reaching his hand for the doorknob. The three flying ponies landed behind at the foot of the steps but didn't advance any further. They could sense something wasn't quite right.

Stanley looked back at them, the put his ear to the door. He could hear voices inside, though oddly louder than usual, as if they were shouting. The words were muffled and incoherent, but present somewhere in the house.

He carefully opened the door and stuck his head inside. Nobody in the lobby as a silence dominated the interior. Strangely enough, the voices ceased. Me moved on to the next room to the left, the lounge. The carpet helped to suppress his footsteps, hoping to sneak up on his co-workers to see what the fuss is about.

There was no one in there either. He thought by now they found what they were looking for and were working on other tasks, but their voices didn't seem pleasant. Heading to the kitchen, he heard loud footsteps pound their way down the stairs in another part of the house followed by a door slam.

Stanley ran to the lobby as Kate came running down the stairs after them.

“What happened?” he asked, very concerned with the sound of those footsteps.

“Nothing, I just told Lucas maybe later and we should take it slow,” she replied, garnering a reaction from Stanley. Kate was about to run after him when she was interrupted.

“You what!?” came a yell from Stanley. He skipped on over to her to stop her from exiting the house. “Wait wait, what did he say?”

She stepped back and rolled her eyes.

“He wanted to know it I was seeing anyone yet. I said no, so he asked me if wanted to go to the local diner tomorrow tonight.” Kate rubbed her back regretfully. “Then we started to argue more than just dinner.”

“So that's what you two were yelling about?”

“Was we really that loud?” Kate's features sank low, saddened by the outcome of their confrontation. “I didn't mean to upset him. Now I need to make this right.”

She tried to push Stanley out of the way, but he wouldn't have it.

“No hold on,” he began, holding up his arms to block her exit. He breathed in slowly. “You know, this may be my fault.”

Kate crossed her arms, interested the nervous stance he was in. “How so?”

Stanley now took one long deep sigh to prepare himself for what he was about to say.

“Well, when we were out on the water earlier today, I kinda sorta pointed out his love for you. I told him he should just go for it and stop beating himself up for not seeing it sooner.”

Kate hugged her chest innocently, her eyes staring narrowly yet curiously at his. She pretended to show anger by angling her brows.

“Look look I didn't think he'd actually ask you out yet. I mentioned that you had similar feelings for him, you and I both know it.”

Kate turned his back on him for a second, pacing back and forth. She rubber her cheeks in thought, taking in the inevitable confession, but later rather than sooner.

“If you want, I can do talk to him.” He continued.

“No no, that's fine. I can handle it,” she waved a hand at him.

“Why did you reject him anyway?”

She snapped her head his direction. “I didn't reject him.”

“You didn't? But but, what about—“

*creak*

The door behind Stanley opened slightly to reveal Lucas' head.

“Are you quite done?” he said.

Stanley retreated the center of the room. “Y-you heard?”

“How can't I when I'm standing right outside.”

Stanley was visibly embarrassed, running his hands over his pale face.

“And when were you going to tell us we had visitors?” Lucas said, pushing the large front door wide open.

Outside stood the three brightly dressed ponies waiting patiently.

“Oh! U-uh,” Stanley stuttered. “I was going to tell you guys when I heard you two arguing in here.”

“Well that's all in the past,” Lucas stated, looking back outside and held out a hand. “Come on in folks, make yourselves at home!”

Kate was just as surprised as Lucas was. Stanley, on the other hand, felt guilty and relieved simultaneously.”

Twilight trotted inside, followed by Rainbow Dash and Princess Cadence respectively. They formed a semicircle around Katherine. Cadence took a step forward, smiling.

“If it's all the same to you, I heard you're struggling with love. I think I might be able to help with you with that.”

Author's Note

Unedited.

2. Rain

[Rain]

Cadence woke to the soothing sound of gentle waves crashing on the ocean surf.

As her senses slowly came back to her, a small uncomfortable sensation washed over her hind legs. It didn't take long for her to notice a dark shade of gray above her as she shot her eyes open. Her body was in a strange position. She hardly felt the ground underneath her like the usual sensation a cloud often provided. But she wasn't on a cloud, no. She was on a beach.

Her equine form dug into the flexible terrain as would any sandy surface. Solid rock, and even he softest dirt floor, wouldn't allow for her body to carve to the shape of her back.

After a few seconds of staring off into the sky, an agonizing pain suddenly struck almost every muscle and ligament in her body. She didn't even have to move a single inch to feel it. To substitute for a loud scream to voice her extreme discomfort, she tightly wrinkled her facial muscles and squeezed her eyes shut. She inhaled deeply as she attempted to stretch, but the pain was unbearable. She finally let out the yelp she was looking for. She could feel the bitterness that resided in her dry mouth, cringing to the awful taste.

Shortly after her painful groans, she felt that same cold, uncomfortable sensation creep up her hind legs. All senses of touch in her lower body finally reached full potential. Refraining from moving her head, she angled her half open eyes as far down as she could. She found white sheets of cold sea water rising up to cleanse her lower body, then recede back into the ocean of which it came. She wondered how long she had been out cold and just how the others were doing.

Her last question was partly answered when another, more direct, sensation brushed up against her left side. She turned to find Twilight curled up in a ball and snuggling against her wing. From any perspective, that was an adorable sight. Twilight began to stir from Cadence's small movements. The purple unicorn perked her head up and yawned.

Twilight opened her eyes to find purple irises blinking back. Not her own, but those of a very gloomy looking pink mare with a disheveled name and mild scratches on her face. With the very sight, Twilight quickly propped from her fetal position, only to scare herself in process.

“Cadence,” she tried to shout, but her weary state wouldn't allow for anything louder than a whisper. “Are you hurt?”

“I'm okay, really,” Cadence let out a painful cough, followed by a wince as she tried to sit up further. “I can't feel my wings.”

Twilight shared a similar numbness in her legs when moving about so quickly. She had no problem getting to her hooves, and she knew Cadence was far too weak to stand on her own. She only hoped no bones were broken or limbs out of place.

“Can you move?” Twilight asked.

Despite her sore legs and muscles, Cadence was not limited in her speech.

“Hardly,” she replied. “How's Rainbow Dash?”

Twilight was so caught up in Cadence's condition that she forgot about an equally incapacitated pegasus. She glanced over her shoulder, but in an effort for relief, none came when her eyes widened and her mind raced in a panic.

Rainbow Dash was nowhere to be found. Twilight frantically scanned her entire surroundings, side to side, up and down, but received the same result every try. No tracks in the sand and no way of determining where she went or what happened to her. Her heart rate elevated in her chest.

Cadence interrupted Twilight's thoughts when she let out another grunt when she attempted to lay on one side and push herself on her stomach. Her wings did not register when she attempted to fold them. Once again, she scrunched her facial muscles in response to the unpleasant sensation of cold water that added to her plight.

She paused, waiting for an answer from the unicorn.

“Well?” she said.

“Um... …” Twilight couldn't take her eyes off the empty beach. “She's not here.”

A dreadful thought hit Cadence over the head, one that she wished to have never thought of it in the first place. She immediately tried to stand up with little success.

“AHHH!” she screamed as the sting of tight muscles squeezed every bit of energy from her brain to compensate. She collapsed in the sand, landing on her stomach.

“No no no no, hold still! You're hurt bad.” Twilight leaned in the catch Cadence from falling over.

“Is she...” Cadence trailed off.

“I highly doubt it.” Twilight lowered her voice to a near whisper to save energy and in hopes that she was right. “She was just over there before I fell asleep. She could be anywhere. It's not like her to get up and leave like that.”

Indeed, Rainbow would never do such an act. The Element of Loyalty was never one to abandon her friends on the beach. Such a thought was completely absurd. Although in this case, Twilight was unsure of what to determine of Rainbow's disappearance. Several scenarios ran through her head as she tried to come up with the most plausible reasons that did not contradict the facts. Loyalty and desertion did not mix. You couldn't even put faith and surrender in the same sentence.

...oops.

One possibility may have been that somepony spotted them and helped Rainbow recover first and would return for them later, though it would make more sense if they were all helped at the same time. Ponies had a tendency be more caring for those in worse condition. At least, that was based off Twilight's experiences with ponies she knew in Ponyville, so there's no telling how ponies acted in this place. Cadence was in more critical shape than Rainbow from her appearance before Twilight took her short nap, so it would have been fair if they were rescued first.

Perhaps they weren't in Equestria at all. What if this was the Gryphon Kingdom? Celestia knows that encountering gryphons in their own territory was less than desirable, especially if you trespassed without their permission. This couldn't be the Dragon Lands. This environment was far too cold and calm, whereas the land of the dragons was nothing but hazardous volcanoes and rugged plateaus. The largest city in Equestria is built on the eastern coast. Even though Manehattan sees a heavy flow of traffic in and out of the city, this place seemed completely uninhabited. Surely this land must be on a map somewhere.

“Do you think... she was taken?” Cadence managed to ask.

Twilight thought of that as the second most plausible scenario, but was convinced that couldn't have been the case with her earlier thoughts. The cold breeze that brewed in the last few minutes caused her to hesitate before responding.

“Unlikely. If bandits took her away, we would be right alongside her.” Twilight shuffled again to shake off the chills and position herself into a more comfortable stance.

Cadence was quite once more, allowing Twilight to think again. The rattling wind and crashing waves drowned out complete silence, making it harder to composed any more critical thoughts. Cadence tried to figured she'd get herself standing properly. She no longer felt so sore from screaming pain in her muscles as they began to relax. She tested the status of her body by shifting in the sand and stroking her wings with a hoof. She winced, not from pain, but from the lack of any feeling from the wing she crushed under her own weight minutes earlier. She became increasingly anxious for the overall condition of her wings, whether she'd have the ability to use them in the future. Losing her wings was like losing a large part of her identity. She couldn't let that happen. They were part of her original self before her status of Princess.

After a few minutes of redundant observation, Twilight cautiously trotted in place on the sand to regain her balance and shake off any remaining discomfort under her fur coat. She then lent a helping hoof for Cadence to grab hold of to pull herself up. It was no easy task, but the pink alicorn wouldn't give up until she was on all fours.

Once Cadence found her footing in the sand, she wrapped a hoof around the base of Twilight's neck for leverage. Her wings dangled off her back as the feathers brushed along the sides of her body.

“Where to?” she asked after a quiet yawn.

Twilight thought back to the moment before they fall into the ocean. Now that she thought about it, she can't recall how long it has been since then. It still daylight, so they couldn't have been asleep for more than a few hours. While they were still airborne, she saw what looked to be two small structures bordering the coast not too far from where they had landed. There may be ponies living there who can tell them where they are and maybe give them directions to home. She couldn't make out any detail of the structures at the time, so that was another reason to investigate.

“This way.”

Twilight pointed a hoof to a hill rising above the beach. The hill also hugged the ocean, but did so vertically. The water had carved into the rock over the eons, leaving a jagged cliff face behind. Even though they could not see the houses from their vantage point, she was convinced they just over that hill. If only they could get there before nightfall, which appeared to be approaching quickly. The sky harbored nothing but a thick blanket of gray that stretched for as far as the eye can see.

Cadence walked with a limp while Twilight provided the necessary brace for her injuries. They drifted further inland to escape the annoying waves while maintaining a consistent and parallel track with the ocean.

Hardly ten minutes into their snail pacing and Twilight heard a faint boom in the distance following a brief flash of light that she regarded as a hallucination. Cadence heard the sound, too, and the both of them stopped walking, frantically searching for the source.

All went quiet again.

Instead of another sound, another brief flash of light flickered at the corner of their eyes. It originated far off shore. A few seconds later, they heard a boom much louder than the first and fade away just as quickly.

“Thunder?” Cadence said.

Twilight did not take her eyes off the horizon. She appeared to be looking for something.

“That's weird,” Twilight muttered. “No weather ponies.”

That was her original assumption. However, not only did pegasi have control over the weather, but even gryphons and dragons possessed some ability to manipulate their environment, including the weather. Not a soul in sight.

“That can't be right.” Cadence realized what the unicorn was looking for. She then shared Twilight's confusion.

Another flash of light and a loud boom followed shortly afterward. They couldn't see the lightning itself, but each discharge sprayed light upwards to illuminate the clouds above. With each flash and thunder, the lightning seemed to get more frequent and closer to shore.

“A storm?” Cadence suggested.

“Let's not be here when it hits.” Twilight remarked.

Before they could press on, Twilight felt a tiny tap on her back. Shortly after, more tapping sensations followed suit all over her body. It became apparent when small streaks of water raced past line of sight. She looked up, letting tiny, invisible droplets of water collide with her face. It was like hundred of small feathers tickling every point on her face. As much as Twilight disliked the rain, she let it slide this once.

Both mares continued their journey. The rain was nothing but a light drizzle, but they knew it would get worse over time. They tried to pick up the pace to reach their destination. In less than five minutes, their bodies were soaked from horn to hoof. However, a little rain wasn't enough to stop them from carrying on.

Occasional lighting flashes flickered and thunderous booms came and went. Cadence and Twilight were focus on more important things. Twilight had her mind on two things, the houses and Rainbow Dash. Cadence, on the other hoof, was focused on more sleep. She would normally lose all motor functions in her body and collapse if she was alone, but with the modest help from her lavender friend, she was sure a good night's sleep was her reward for her past efforts. She hoped their goal had a nice large bed with warm plush pillows and soft fuzzy blankets. The more she thought about it, the larger her smile became.

Twilight wasn't sure how much further the hill was. They had been walking for about an hour now maybe more. The sky grew darker, lightning flashed brighter, the thunder sounded closer, the rain spilled stronger, the wind blew wilder, and her stomach growled louder. Boy, she was hungry. Starving. She couldn't remember the last time she ate. For some odd reason, she craved Pinkie's famous rainbow cupcakes. Speaking of which, if Rainbow Dash were here, she'd get rid this rain for us.

Cadence's condition got worse by the minute. Her breathing sank heavier and her steps made her falter several times on the sand, but she held strong, keeping herself awake by shaking her head and taking deep controlled breaths.

Finally, after walking on damp, squishy sand for over an hour, they made it to the field of ill-maintained grass that covered the hill. The beach itself just transitioned into a slope and the sand disappeared to make way for soft soil and vegetation. Cadence was tempted to lie down and sleep on the bed of grass if it weren't so wet and dirty.

Before they reached the top, a sudden whoosh sound and a gust of air sped past their ears in the opposite direction. Twilight and Cadence whirled their heads around and Twilight's horn lit up in defense. Behind them, a blurred figure was flying away from them, a rainbow streak trailing behind it.

“Rainbow Dash?” Twilight whispered to herself.

Her worries seemed to wash away at that moment. A huge wave of relief drowned out all concerns she had about her fast flying friend and was replaced by a new state of mind. Anger.

She tried to yell out to the pegasus, but was too weak to conjure up anything louder than her normal voice. With a stroke of luck, Rainbow Dash seemed to spot them before flying any further away and managed a loop before turning around. She headed their direction, slowing down to greet them. Rainbow touched down directly in front of them with a sloppy landing.

“There you are,” Rainbow said, panting.

Rainbow Dash's mane was no different from that of Cadence and Twilight. She had a few cuts and bruises of her own, but nothing that didn't add to her pride or constitute as a sign of weakness.

“Where did you go?” Twilight quickly asked, obvious voicing her frustration. Cadence, however, was indifferent, on the verge of collapsing.

Rainbow finally got herself to calm down from flying so fast while injured. Twilight's attitude towards her wasn't surprising. She half-expected some form of annoyance.

“I flew around to see where we are.” Rainbow shrugged. “I still don't know.”

“I thought you left us to-”

“No, I would never do that!” Rainbow cut her off before she could finish that sentence.

*BOOM*

The sudden thunderous sound pounded in their ears. The ponies were startled, but they expected it to happen. They shook off every strike as it came.

“I'm sorry,” Twilight apologized. It was at that moment she let off a some steam and let curiosity take over. “I was just so worried about you.”

“You looked like you needed the rest when I woke up. I thought I would look around a bit.”

“Did you find anything?”

“There's these weird houses over here.” Rainbow Dash turned around and gestured a hoof up the hill. “I was on my way to tell you. How did you know?” She furrowed her brow.

Just as Rainbow finished speaking, Cadence let out a painful cough, grabbing each mare's attention.

“Never mind that.” Twilight said. “We need to take shelter there. Cadence is hurt bad.”

Without a moment to spare, Rainbow trotted to their side to lend the Princess another hoof without further argument. This made walking significantly easier for Cadence rather than having to limp the rest of the way.

As the trio reached the top, the hill then inclined back down to sea level. Two large shapes became visible about two dozen paces from the base of the hill, a fair proximity that alleviated another long walk. They appeared to be uninhabited with the lack of light emanating from any of the windows. Not a sound was heard other than the rain hitting their ears and their hooves squishing against the soggy grass. When the structures came into full view under the dim light of dusk, they paused a moment to observe the sheer size of the strange houses. It was nothing like any building back home, or any other city and town known in Equestria for that matter. They needed to find a good spot to crash before the storm got any worse.

As they approached the houses, Twilight devised a mental analysis of their unique contruction.

The smallest structure appeared to be incomplete, missing half of its walls. It stuck halfway out on the ocean and halfway on land. The wall missing were on opposite sides, yet perpendicular to the ocean. It almost looked like a tunnel made of wood that ran straight into the water. It lacked any variety, with only thin slabs of wooden panels for walls and tall metal beams supporting the weight of the angular roof above. There were two rails inside that appeared to sink into the ocean on the far end, like a railroad track sticking out of the water. Twilight guessed it was some type of boat house, unlike any she has read about in all her architectural history books.

The largest building appeared more natural and complete than the first, but was surrounded by a variety of objects she had never seen before. First of all, the house itself was enormous. It was as big as Ponyville's town hall at least three stories high, if not more. It stuck out of the empty green field around them like a huge rock sticking out of the ground. No wonder she could see it from a mile away. On the edges of the porch, tall vegetation grew directly onto the wood and slithered up the walls. Off to the side sat a large white object, near a tall wooden fence. It appeared to be a strange misshapen carriage with small black wheels. Twilight presumed it was made of metal and glass. However, Rainbow Dash was more focused how a pony could to pull such a ridiculously large carriage. They must be extremely muscular. Not really the type of stallion she was interested in, but impressive nonetheless.

When they finally reached the small boat house, the rain decided to pour down on them much harder harder than before. They finally made it to safety and found a dry spot on the wooden floor, next to some boxes and barrels. Conveniently, Twilight found some crude textiles lying on top of the boxes and used her magic to lay them out neatly on the floor. For some reason, it was exceedingly difficult to use her magic to lift such a light object. Her magic shouldn't be depleted for she felt healthy enough to preform advanced magic. She made a mental note to figure out the problem later.

Rainbow and Twilight gently set Cadence down on the rough tarp and lay down next to her. The alicorn fell asleep immediately.

“Whew.” Rainbow Dash wiped her forehead with a hoof after slumping next to her purple friend. “The storms coming down pretty hard, huh?”

*BOOM*

Now that each of them were safe for the time being, Twilight contemplated their situation more carefully. The boat house was more comfortable than the rough bed of sand on the beach, but far less gratifying that her bed in her own room at the library.

“I didn't see any pegasi in the air.” Twilight stated. “Or gryphons. Or dragons.”

Rainbow shuffled around in her previously slumped position, unsatisfied of any position for no more than five seconds.

“And?” she replied, uncaring.

“Well, what do you think that means?”

“I don't know. Maybe the weather schedule is different here.”

“It's a bit much, isn't it?” Twilight put a hoof to her chin. “I mean, a storm this big, don't you think you would see pegasi roaming around up there.”

“Uh hu,” Rainbow yawned with even more lack of interest, stretched her legs, and cracked her hooves together. She didn't seem to care what Twilight meant.

“No ponies means no weather control,” Twilight continued, unaware of Rainbow's deliberate snores. “No weather control means wild weather. Wild weather moves on its own. The only place I know that has wild weather is the Everfree Forest, and we're definitely nowhere near the Everfree. If were not in the Everfree and the weather here does as it pleases.” Twilight gasped. “Rainbow! Do you know what this means!?”

Twilight looked back at the rainbow-maned pegasus. The only response she got back was flick of the ear and a snore. The unicorn sighed. Turns out she was talking to herself the whole time.

“Humph, I guess I'll explain it in the morning,” she said to herself.

With that, she laid her head down on the ground and closed her eyes, hoping things would improve when she wakes up. Again.

13. Visions

[Visions]

Stanley closed his eyes as he loosened his shoulders, adding a few careful breaths to allow in the smell of the sea overtake him. Having nothing particular in mind, he let his thoughts wander. As unorganized and stale as they were, the cool air massaging his muscles acted like a natural filter, helping to bring out the good and discard the bad. Ever since the first time he found this spot on the hill, it was the only place that felt right. It provided just enough comfort for him to think with far more clarity than other stressful environments, which happened to be everywhere else but the hill. Until recently it had been a sanctuary for peace and quiet.

He thought about the grinding issues troubling him. One in particular was the flying blue equine that had no regard for his life and acted under her own interests. He felt that what she said back there was not sincere enough to redeem her contrasting behavior. More like a forced apology that was read like a malformed appeal to self rather than an enriching soliloquy that suggested something from deep within. He could tell her facial expression contradicted her underlying message.

If it wasn't for Lucas standing right beside him, the outcome of the confrontation would have resulted in a broken spirit—and quite possibly broken bones. Now that he had more to live for than a meager search for unfounded purpose, the road ahead was far less bumpy than before, even if it meant improving his inhibition.

There were a lot of things going on. Stanley wished everything would just slow down. People need a break before they break apart. With the days that brought him sorrow, there would always be days of cheer. It didn't matter to him how many days that would last, it matter more on how much longer he'd have to wait.

Stanley slowly rubbed the space between his eyes and leaned back to crack his neck. The pain of having to deal with this new problem—his disdain of the rainbow pony—never ceased to leave him alone. He hoped it would, but problems were never good at solving themselves. Running a hand through his short hair, he tried to think of something else to keep his mind from slipping into rage.

While trying to relax in the exact spot he would sit and empty this thoughts, Stanley felt something brush up against his arm. His immediate assumption was Lucas.

“I'm not in the mood, man,” she said, refusing to open his eyes. “Go away.”

What was odd was how he was able to hear the fluttering of wings instead of the familiar wrinkling of clothing to clothing contact. That little detail ripped his eyes open. He promptly turned to find the rainbow pegasus sitting right next to him.

“OH jeezus!” he yelped, leaning as far away from the pony as he possibly could without falling over the edge. “What the hell!”

Stanley continued to scoot over until her voice stopped him.

“Sorry,” she squeaked. “I didn't mean to scare you.” Rainbow pointed down with a hoof. “Is it alright if I sit here?”

The man was about to crawl up and walk away again when he saw that she sat perfectly still, showing no signs of attack or sudden movements that implied attack. She simply looked at him calmly. Now over two meters away from her, he retorted.

“You shoulda asked me before sneaking up on me. And no, it's not alright,” he snarled.

“Please... I'm not here to hurt-”

“No!” Stanley interrupted, slicing the air with a hand. “Just stop.” He paused to breath normally again and calm down as best as he could. The unexpected jolt really sent his heart pumping. “We told you never to do that again.”

“I'm sorry.”

“If you say that one more time, I swear I'm gonna-”

“I really am!” she exclaimed, eager for him to listen. “Please, if you just give me the time, I... I can explain myself.”

Stanley looked at her critically. He noticed her posture mimicked his very own before being startled. Along with a guilty complexion and her body resting comfortably on the grass, she let her wings droop from her back as if she had lost the ability to control them. Her display of sorrow and the cold wind loosened him up a little. He almost forgot how sensitive he was to both.

The navigator sat up straight and adjusted his sitting position on the cliff. By the time he brought himself to his previous relaxed state, the awkward silence was chewing at Rainbow Dash's patience.

“Look, I know we got off on the wrong hoof,” she began, rubbing her forehead.

“Let me stop you right there,” he said, raising a hand again. “We? Who's we? This is all your fault. You're the one who attacked first and starting acting like a paranoid brat.”

“I—“

“Let me finish.” Rainbow closed her mouth to let him speak. “You bit by finger, invaded my dreams, and insulted me and Lucas.”

“Wait, I never insulted you,” Rainbow challenged.

“You called me a giant monkey.”

The pegasus frowned. “How was I supposed to-”

“Are you kidding me?” Stanley roared. “You're never seen a monkey before? I look nothing like one. But you had to go and say it anyways. You pissed me off.”

Things seemed to get worse. Rainbow expected to have gotten on his good side by now, but her monotonous approach and choice of words stretched that goal for Celestia knows how long. She could not see an end to this bickering that carried more weight than she thought. She had a tough time presenting herself in a way like how each of her friends taught her; how to be logical from Twilight, how to be truthful from Applejack, how to be optimistic from Pinkie Pie, how to be selfless from Rarity, and how to be considerate from Fluttershy.

She had literally none of those qualities.

Her way with dealing with emotions was more rigorous than preforming a sonic rainboom—and she's only done it three times throughout her life. Her innermost feelings were what kept her and Stanley apart and she didn't quite know how to fix it. She was lying when she said she could. In reality, the wall of contention that separated the two of them was as thick as a high level storm cloud.

The wind blew her multicolored mane to the side. The view was almost exactly like how she remembered from her childhood. Up in the clouds, she was in perfect harmony with both herself and nature. On the coast, that feeling multiplied tenfold. Nothing like the beauty of the oceanic landscape and a great view to make a pegasus drown in bliss.

Only this time, she wasn't the only one who had the same idea.

“Why are you still here?” Stanley finally asked, more composed than he was a few minutes earlier. Rainbow looked at him from her soothing reverie and gave a warm smile. She decided that the only way this would ever work would be to step out of her comfort zone.

“The view is amazing,” she said. “It reminds me of home. You?”

Stanley sighed. “I come here to unwind and let go.” He was neither angry nor aggravated. Those last few seconds of silence was all he needed to recompose.

It was then that he remembered she and her two friends were from some far off fantasy land called Equestria. “You miss home that badly?”

“Yeah. My friends must be worried sick. Pinkie is probably ripping Ponyville apart looking for me and Twilight. If only there was a way to tell them we're alright, I'd won't have to worry so much.”

Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and lowered her head.

“I never told my friends how much they really mean to me, even when I don't show it all the time. Everyday I wake up, I always want to go back to sleep and wait for when for when we spend our time together. We see each other a lot, but as we get older, they will never know how lost I'd be without them. They made a big difference in my life. If you told me I could never see them again, I'd go crazy.

“I think you've already seen that happen. I know Twilight is here with me, but with her more worried about the Princess, I hardly have anything left inside to help myself with. I owe my friends everything, but I have nothing to give them.

“My dad used to take me San Franciscolt to see the Wonderbolts preform their annual acrobatics show near the city, and when the show ended, he took me to the beach to watch the sunset. I always enjoyed the sunset. I loved my dad more than anything else in the world.”

Stanley had fallen absolutely silent while hearing her story. He found it hard to look directly at her forlorn figure when her words were uttered. Her slumped position on the grass was a result of trying to replicate how she spent her days with her father, savoring in the coastal breeze. Although, he had an idea what she meant with her story.

“When I got older, things happened that nopony, not even Princess Celestia, could predict. Our family sorta faded until day I entered Summer Flight Camp when I was nine. It was a chance to follow my dreams. When I finished flight school, I needed a place to go. My first bet was to stay with my folks in Cloudsdale, but I found a job in weather management. Later I found a place of my own where I can live up to my name, build by career, and make some friends. Luck came through when I first met Twilight Sparkle in Ponyville.”

“Wait,” Stanley jumped in. “You didn't say what happened with your family, or your dad.”

“That's, uh...” Rainbow faltered over her words. “...something more personal.”

“Care to share it anyways?” he calmly asked. “I mean, it'd make more sense if I knew that part. You seem reluctant to tell me.”

“Well—“

“I mean if you don't want to, I won't make you.”

“No no, you're right. I shouldn't keep it bottle up inside. Like my friend Applejack always says, it's better to be honest with yourself than to hide behind your fears.” Rainbow looked away for a second before continuing. “So to be honest, I don't know what happened to my dad. The day I went off to Flight Camp was the first time I left home. He always wanted me to aim high and become the pony he could never be and the daughter he could be proud of. That's why I try to make the best of myself.

“But ever since left home for good, I've been distracting myself to keep myself from finding out the truth.” Rainbow sighed heavily, readjusting her posture by leaning side to side.

“The truth about what?”

“The truth about my father. The last time I visited my old home, which was about three years ago, it belonged to a different family. The only original item left from our old family possessions was a picture of my dad and I were on a trip to Canterlot. It was left in a closet in his old room. I look at it for hours before hiding it under my bed at night.” With one last pause to make sure she articulated her message as genuine as possible, she looked down at the crashing waves below the cliff. “I never saw him again.”

Stanley rubbed his eyes in the excuse that something was caught in them. He never thought a being with such a tough and lawless personality could open up like that so fast. Over the past fifteen hours, she's been nothing but trouble, but now he it seemed the mask had been lifted to reveal what she was really about. Her arcane tale caused him to think about his own past.

His muscles had gone stiff, but he lacked the will to relieve the tension. Stanley just let his body and mind absorb the hurt she was feeling from her loss. The thought of never having a father to see her grow up to become the pony she is today was heartbreaking. Never being able to relish the love of a proud parent and never knowing what it meant to be happy.

This was the first time he met someone who he can relate to. That someone was a flying blue pony no less. He took a conscious breath in order to bring himself to the same level.

“My father...” he wiped a tear from his eye. “...was the opposite. All my life he wanted me to grow up just like him so I can do his job one day, but that wasn't the life I wanted. He saw me as unworthy of a son if I tried to do something that was different from what he wanted. I told him many times that I didn't want to work in marketing. I hate the advertising business.”

Unaware of his surrounding, Rainbow Dash slowly got up and walked over to him, plopping down close to him to listen more intently. Stanley stared straight ahead, leaning his elbows on his knees and rubbing his hands together.

“When I graduated high school, I went to live with some friends to avoid my dad's disappointment of not following in his footsteps. He wanted me to skip college and get a commercial job in downtown Wellington so that I might be like him someday. God knows that didn't happen. I went through a couple semesters at university, but when I found out I had no money to pay for it, I dropped out. My dad was really pissed when he heard about it.”

“What did he do?” Rainbow asked, startling him. Stanley jolted up in surprise, but immediately felt his rapid heartbeat slow on its own. He took advantage of the interruption to stretch his back and arms, washing the stiffness that conflicted with his ability to stay focused.

“He didn't want me around anymore,” he responded. “So he kicked me out of the house. He said never to come back until I'm ready to be a real man. He yelled at me a lot, too. I didn't know what else to do.”

“Oh.” Rainbow's ears fell flat. “Does he still love you?”

“I'm not sure. He said nothing personal about us, just a lot of complaining and arguments. I still consider him a good guy, even with his bitterness, but he gave me no choice but to leave. I had no where else to go but up.”

“You reached for the sky too?” She cocked her head slightly.

“Not exactly.” He laughed. “I mean up north to the unknown. I left the city and traveled up the coast to find a new start and to get away from all that stress. I always wanted to explore new places and travel, so I tried my luck at different ports. My luck came through when I met Lucas at a restaurant a few miles from here. It wasn't until later we found his mother was my dad's sister. I don't know if that factored in his decision to hire me, but I got the job as navigator. Then I met Kate. She asked if I wanted to be chief navigator of her fishing boat and a full-time member of her business.

“The rest is history. Been working here ever since.”

As Stanley finished, he took off his heavy backpack and pushed it away, not wanting to deal with the acing pain of carrying all that weight. The light-blue pegasus next to him watched him rest his head on a hand in deep thought.

Although Rainbow was embarrassed by her past, sharing a similar abandonment by family had mitigated her burdens of having to feel like the the only one with such loss of love. Their respective histories would haunt them as long as they live.

“I'm sorry for treating you like that,” Stanley shamefully muttered, expressing his long awaited conviction with a furrow on his mouth. All his emotions were drenched the pity that controlled him like a puppet. Although far from lifeless, he made no significant movements to shake off the creeping sense of solipsism. Stanley knew better than to be reduced to a weeping ball of sadness “It's just that things were getting hectic before you showed up.”

Rainbow Dash looked up at him.

“Is that why you were angry, too? Because of your dad?”

“Somewhat.” Stanley broken his linear gaze and glanced her. “But my case is more messed up than yours. At least you had a dad that wanted nothing more than to see you grow up and not care about who you wanted to be as long as you were happy. Or to put it bluntly, he loved you no matter what.”

Stanley reached over for his backpack to grab his water bottle. He opened it to take a refreshing sip.

“Hm.” Rainbow put a hoof to her chin. “You're cousin was right about you.”

Stanley nearly chocked on his drink, spilling some water on his lap. Much to his surprise, the thought of this whole conversation being set up by Lucas from the very beginning did more to enrich his gratification rather than anger him.

“What did he say about me?”

“He said I should think less about myself and more about others. He said I should come over and make you feel better.”

“Is that what he really wants for me? To feel better?”

“Did it work?” Rainbow said, turning her whole body towards him. His body movements were more fluid and relaxed, replacing the tension in her bones that sought to trap her in a rigid prison of distraught.

“Well yeah, but, how- how did he know it would?” Stanley put a hand to his forehead again, having a hard time thinking of anything negative.

“Because I trust him now.”

Stanley looked at Rainbow for a second as if she told the worst joke of the decade. She was smiling meekly up at him. He raised an eyebrow.

“You serious?”

Rainbow decided this was the right time to conclude her judgment with the words she had waiting to say for while now.

“I trust you, too. I don't see you as a threat anymore.”

“After unloading my miserable life on you?”

“You deserve my trust,” Rainbow Dash said, confidently. “I'm sorry for everything I did to you. Why don't we start over?” She stood up and extended a hoof. “Name's Rainbow Dash.”

The man smiled and shook her soft hoof. “Stanley Clarke. Nice to meet you.”

“All this sappy stuff is getting to me now. I already miss home as much Twilight and the Princess.”

“We do have much in common after all.”

“I swear, I meant every word.”

Stanley hesitated to give his final answer, but he finally came to an agreement with a slow nod. The colors of her mane and tail appeared less pale than before. Perhaps it was his mind's way of telling him that things were already looking brighter. He then laughed at himself.

“I feel stupid for yelling at you now. If I would've known that personal part of you sooner, we'd be best friends.”

“So we're friends now, right?”

“Close, but let's worry about that later, we have other things to take care than sitting here and griping about our own lives and work on the bigger issue.” Stanley swiveled his head behind him and checked his surroundings. “Where is Lucas anyways?”

The moment he tried to stand up, the porous soil and slippery grass suddenly caved in from underneath him, sending Stanley tumbling to the rocks below. He screamed as his whole body dropped straight down.

“Stanley!” Rainbow cried.

Rainbow Dash immediately flared her wings and bolted as fast as she could after him. In less than a second she was able to wrap her hooves around his arms before impacting the ground. Rocks continued to rain from the top of the cliff into the ocean. The pegasus pulled the human with all her might back to the top of the hill where she gently set him down on the grass.

Stanley and Rainbow laid on there backs, coughing heavily from that terrifying turn for the worst. They could still hear muffled splashes of rocks hitting the water as a pair of deep stomps ran up the hill beside them.

“What the hell just happened!?” Lucas exclaimed. He found his cousin and the rainbow pegasus laying side by side on the grass covered in a layer of dust.

Stanley rolled his head right to left, blinking in rapid succession. His head was spinning as he applied pressure to his stomach like his was about to throw up.

“Ughh... ouumph.” He rolled to his front, pressing his face into the cold grass. He grunted a few times before sitting up straight with some help by the blue mare. “I did NOT see that coming.”

“What happened?” Lucas repeated, exchanging concerned looks between him and Rainbow Dash.

“The cliff buckled.” Stanley replied. He then pointed at the pony next to him. “She saved my life.”

Lucas sighed in relief and helped his injured cousin to his feet. With a sprained ankle, Stanley had to used Lucas as a crutch when they limped over to retrieve his backpack.

“How did you make her come over here?” Stanley whispered in his cousin's ear. “There's no way in hell she'd talk to me if she had a choice.”

“I needed you to shape up.” Lucas whispered back. “What did you guys talk about anyway? You're don't look like your grumpy old self anymore.”

“Uh, you know, just some stuff.” He swallowed the lump in his throat. “It's a long story, and I mean a really long story.”

“Good to see you're getting along.” The captain smirked.

After a few grunts on pain, a struggle for balance, and an end to their sour misunderstandings, they sluggishly made their way back to the station with high spirits. Rainbow trotted behind them.

There was nothing but a white blur. Every now and again an image would flash like a subliminal message being burned into the mind of unsuspecting viewers of a clever commercial on television. Only this wasn't television. The images gradually lasted longer and longer until they were coherent pictures.

Lost in awe of what she was seeing, Kate couldn't make out a single reference point to give her any idea of where she was. The view in front of her blurred to white again. Intense flickering of colliding colors caused her to blink rapidly. The flashes lasted only a second, but when another series of images slowed down to show another location, Kate was able to decrypt the information.

It was a memory.

Kate could hear nothing but a distant disembodied voice and a rhythmic humming sound. The location plastered over her eyes was not the pile of books she was staring at a minute earlier, but a fuzzy version of a brightly-lit room with three unrecognizable figures approaching her. She did nothing but stare at the undefined shapes by narrowing her eyes to the perfect angle, hoping to clear up the smudged figures.

Kate realized that each shape had a unique color to them. One was definitely a bright shade of pink—which was also bouncing around the most, another was an unsaturated violet color, and the last was sky blue for sure. While still blurry, they appeared to use asynchronous forms of communication through expressive gestures and head movements. Or at least, she thought they were heads.

The memory ended and she was thrust into another similar location seconds later, this one more defined than the previous. One thing she noticed about this memory was the scale of the room she was in. It looked like a huge palace encased in a transparent material like glass prisms or diamonds, or ice. Taking a closer look at the door frame that was getting closer with each step, the structure was built out of a more natural substance, behaving more like giant crystals growing out of the ground than meticulously crafted glass beams.

She noticed the conspicuous brown door in front of her was beautifully carved into a work of art rather than a usual entrance way. It was like she could reach out and open it.

Come to think of it, and ghostly pink hoof stretched from her first-person perspective to touch the door, and when it did, the vision faded away completely.

“Katherine?”

“Oh!” she snapped her head when a blur of purple was waving in front of her eyes. “Huh?”

Kate looked at Twilight and Cadence like she made a shocking discovery. In truth, it was the other way around.

“What did you see?” Cadence asked, crawling over to her.

“Uh... what?”

“You were staring at the wall for three full minutes. We believe you just had a resurgence of memory. You're horn was glowing as well.”

“I-it was?” Kate stammered. “But I never been to... wherever those places were.” She scratched her head with the tip of her hoof.

“Can you describe what you saw?”

Kate cleared her throat. “Well... it was really weird. I was in a big white room, at least, I think it was white. Everything was fuzzy, totally incomprehensible. Then I saw three figures, they were each a different color. It looked like they were talking or playing a game of charades, I don't know. And later I was standing in front of a huge door with gemstones on it. The door frame looked like it was made out of crystals, or glass.”

“The Crystal Archive,” Cadence muttered with a hand to her chin.

“What?”

“It's the main entrance to the castle library, known as the Crystal Archives, located at the heart of the royal palace in the Crystal Empire. I believe that is what you have seen. Did you see anything else?”

Kate made an 'O' with her mouth. “No. All I saw was a pink arm, or hoof, reach out and touch the door...” She looked at her own forelegs. “And then everything went back to normal. How did I do that anyway? It felt so real.”

“You may have retained unicorn aptitude along with her memories.” Twilight hypothesized.

“Unicorn aptitude? You mean I'm become more like her?” Kate pointed at Cadence, who cracked a smile.

“A unicorn has more than five senses.”

“So do humans.” Kate added. “Are you telling me you have some sort of freaky supernatural sixth sense like psychic powers or voodoo magic.”

“It is an empirical and quantifiable area of the brain that connects natural born unicorns to the mana-space around all things giving off magical signatures, not an uncanny perception of the supernatural. It is certainly not voodoo.”

Kate stared at Twilight. She noticed the lavender pony furrow her brows. The mare was a tad bit ticked off by having to correct her with a highly intellectual explanation. She regretted mocking her intelligence with condescending tone. If she looked close enough, she could almost see the heat sizzling off Twilight's fur.

“I didn't understand a word you said, but I believe you. I'm just saying that most people just think of it as mumbo jumbo hocus pocus.” Kate crossed her invisible fingers, hoping the pony wasn't familiar with those words.

That didn't seem to do the trick. Twilight still appeared to be indignant and Kate was still an idiot. She was now afraid to argue with the highly questionable logic of magic, because the more she attacked it, the further the bubble was close to bursting out of the purple unicorn mare known as Twilight Sparkle.

Cadence laughed nervously. “I think we're getting too far ahead of ourselves. Let's take it easy here, girls.” She placed a hand on Twilight's mane and ran her palm over the palpable imperfections of each thread. The unicorn shuddered when the surprisingly delicate skin came in contact with her hair, calming her down far more efficiently than a hoof had before.

Twilight finally breathed in. “Did you see anypony else with you? What were the colors of those figures you mentioned?” she asked, bringing the conversation back on topic.

“Bright pink, uh, light-blue, and...” Kate squinted her large eyes. “...purple, just like you.”

“That's it!” Twilight shouted. Her smile grew wider as she settled down. “I may have found a connection.”

“What kind of connection?” Cadence asked, picking up on the her friend's brightening enthusiasm.

“If what Kate saw was your memory, and her memory was consistent with mine,” Twilight tapped a hoof on her chin. “Then that means the last place we were before we teleported here was in the Crystal Archives.”

“But how can we know for sure what exactly happened inside the library shortly after that particular time in your new memory? I'm still curious as to how and why you, I, and Rainbow Dash transported at the same time and arrive at the same point in space, and who the original caster of the spell was. Was it an accident or did we intend to come here?”

“Well just have to wait until a new piece of our memories emerges.”

Kate sat on her haunches, more confused than she was before Twilight started to explain the visions. Whether or not they felt real, they were not her own memories. What frightened her the most was who they belonged to.

At the same time, the experience was unlike anything she could imagine. Sure it was easy to look back on past events and remember them rather ambiguously, but to have memories manifest into vivid imagery like they were really happening all over again was most illusive, even if the process reduced you to a lifeless statue.

“Does this happen all the time?” Kate said, blinking away the dryness that tainted her eyes. “These lifelike visions?”

“Only unicorns experience them under extreme circumstances,” Twilight answered. Her knowledge of the particular subject was limited, but her studies on unicorn development was sufficient enough. “They occur at random intervals when a pony has suffered short term memory loss or mild brain damage. I guess the former accurately describes our current situation.”

Kate's equine stomach growled loudly. She crinkled her nose and let out a small chuckle.

“I forgot I haven't eaten all day. I don't think I can last much longer on an empty stomach.”

“Of course, we can talk about this later,” Cadence agreed. “The books can wait.”

Twilight pouted. She really wanted to start reading the books in front of her, but she could deny her hunger no longer. Kate rose to her hooves—wobbling in place as she did, and slowly made an effort to properly walk forward.

Upon arriving at the hallway door, Kate was about to extend a hoof to physically twist the knob when a blue glow encased the entire door instead, pulling it wide open. She was immediately surprised by this, rapidly backing up and bumping into Twilight, sending the poor mare into Cadence, thus knocking all three of them into a pile of limbs.

As they rolled off each other and regained their balance, what followed after the staring contest was a fit of giggles. Their combined laughter evoked the brightest light within each of them to counter the stress of the past hour. They were so lost in the brief moment of elation that they hadn't noticed the absence of a certain rainbow mare.

The vocal laughter fade, but snickers still escaped their lips. Twilight and Kate helped Cadence to her feet.

“I'm not gonna ask how that happened, so I'm just gonna say it was magic. Can you walk right?” Kate asked.

“I don't know how you humans manage without a tail.” Cadence twisted her body around a few times.

“You'll get used to it. Just don't lean forward and only bend your knees when you're taking a step. Your tail is beautiful by the way.”

Cadence smiled. “Thank you.”

“You know, I can just bring the food to you so you won't have to walk all the way to the kitchen.”

“No, I can do this.” She carelessly took her first step and faltered instantly. Thankfully, she had Twilight and Kate on either side of her for support. She leaned on Kate's back, careful not to touch her damaged wings. She set her sights on the first few steps, but after a several more for practice, she was practically walking on her own.

“Yay!” Twilight clapped her hooves. If she had a quill and parchment to document this as her first official observation of human, her paper would be on fire. Although teaching a full grown human to walk again may not be the most exciting display ever, but it was a display nonetheless. With legs like a human, their hands must be their most powerful tool? Her dragon assistant Spike was quite dexterous with those tiny claws of his. If they can build enormous cities as depicted in the atlas she read, who knows what else they are capable of?

“Now,” Cadence began. “Shall we proceed to our destination?”

“Follow me.”

The pink alicorn led them through the midsection—or corridor—of the station. Cadence trailed after her while Twilight took the rear to watch over Cadence's wobbling steps. The narrow hallway that connected the lounge to the kitchen received poorer lighting than any other room on the first floor. Fortunately, the floor was free from obstruction that would otherwise complicate their short journey down the hall. The walls were close enough to use as a brace for when Cadence needed to readjust her balance.

She could hardly feel her feet. She wore extremely comfortable rubber and velvet shoes as opposed to her cold, golden slippers. Much like the other two humans, she was wearing a simple dress which appeared more as a casual outfit than formal attire. Now that she no longer possessed her horn and wings, she felt robbed of her identity while stealing the identity of another. Somehow, things would return to normal, but for how long was a question without an answer.

When arriving at the fairly large kitchen—yet small than the lounge, Cadence did what Kate told not to do and leaned forward. Consequently, she tumbled forward, but not before she caught herself by holding on to a nearby chair. She pulled the wooden chair from underneath the table that was the centerpiece of the white room and sat herself down. Oddly enough, it was an instant relief upon easing the strain in her legs.

There was a bowl of oatmeal and a half-eaten bagel resting on opposite side of the table.

“It's too late for breakfast, and apparently the guys didn't bother to clean up their mess,” said Kate. “You hungry for some fish?”