Chapter 4

Connor felt the sun on his face and a slight breeze through his hair as he walked next to Fluttershy on their way into town. He had strapped on his sword and shield, in case anything else decided to mistake them for lunch. However, the woods were quiet, and Fluttershy was relaxed and happy as she trotted along next to him. It really was beautiful here, Connor thought. Much more serene than Hyrule. And the mare beside him wasn’t hurting the view either. Connor grinned.

They rounded the next bend in the woods and Ponyville came into view. Having detoured from it yesterday, Connor was quite curious to see what it was like, and craned his neck to see into it.

It was still relatively early on a Sunday morning, and so there weren’t many ponyfolk about. The few they did pass jumped at the sight of Connor and trotted nervously to the other side of the street. Connor smiled awkwardly at most of them, but it was Fluttershy’s presence that made them relax. Everypony knew Fluttershy was afraid of nearly everything, and if she would walk with this tall swordsman, then he probably wasn’t vicious. All the same, the two talked to nopony other than each other until they reached the large treehouse that was Twilight’s library home.

When Connor knocked, the door swung open slightly. From within, he heard, “Come in, it’s open!”

As they entered, the voice continued. “Spike? Is that you? Back from Canterlot already?”

As Connor paused to stare at the vast quantity of books around him, Twilight came into view. She stopped when she saw them, momentarily surprised again by Connor’s semi-frightening appearance. Shaking it off, she smiled at them.

“Oh, hello Fluttershy!  And… Connor, was it?”

Connor nodded. “Oh, good. I’m afraid I haven’t found anything of use yet, there’s not much here on two-legged creatures besides bears that like to be taller. But I think if-”

Connor cut in with  a smile. “That’s alright; I’m not here for that. I want to know everything you can tell me about the-” here he glanced at Fluttershy- “Everfree forest.”

Twilight looked confused. “Why would you want to know about that?”

“Because a creature from my home land came out of it last night and attacked Fluttershy.”

Twilight paled. “…Oh my. I’ve been in there before, but only once have I gone any farther than Zecora’s hut.”

Seeing Connor’s confused expression, she added, “Zecora is a zebra who lives not far into the woods. She seems to never have trouble with the creatures there.”

Connor nodded, and Twilight continued. “…But I know that the forest goes on for miles and miles. Oh! Hold on, I may have a book here somewhere-” With that, the lavender mare turned and disappeared up the stairs. As she went, she threw back over her shoulder, “You two make yourselves comfortable!”

Connor, who was sure she had more than a book somewhere (more like a couple million), noticed a small couch in the corner of the room they were in. He walked over to it and seated himself, taking off his gear and leaving it leaning on the arm of the furniture. Fluttershy gazed after him, her expression unreadable. Connor decided to try something (he’d already done one stupid thing today; why not go for another?). He smiled gently at the yellow mare and then patted the couch next to him.

Fluttershy seemed taken aback for a split second, and then smiled hesitatingly. She crossed the room to the couch, and climbed up to sit by him, her deep cyan eyes never leaving his. She curled up into a soft ball next to him, and Connor enjoyed the way her tail was lightly touching his leg. He extended a hand cautiously, and, after making sure that Twilight was still far upstairs (he didn’t know if what he was doing was accepted or not; pony manners seemed to work the same as human ones, but he didn’t want to take too many chances) he began to stroke her mane like he had the night before. This time, Fluttershy was not in a state of near-shock, and she closed her eyes and began to sigh softly as he ran his hand down her neck and back up. She began to hum gently, a tune Connor had never heard but instantly liked. They sat in this comfortable quiet for a period of time somewhere between a split second and forever, Fluttershy gradually moving her tail to cover Connor’s leg a bit more than before. Connor was genuinely excited by this; he wasn’t sure what he was doing, but he knew he liked the golden and pink pony next to him…. a lot. He decided to leave things where they stood for now.

As if on cue to ruin the rest of the moment, Twilight began to come back downstairs. Fluttershy opened her eyes and stopped humming, and Connor let his hand fall back to his side. However, he noticed she let her tail remain where it was.

Twilight, who Connor had by now rightly pegged as not being the most socially aware pony, noticed nothing unusual, and eagerly came over to the couch to show them the book she had found.

“Look! It’s called The Truth and the Myth of the Everfree Forest. I knew I had one here somewhere! I’m sure it can help us, it’s got some of the latest research. Your mention of the forest reminded me of something important I’ve read in it that should explain things.”

Twilight climbed up right between the two on the couch, which Connor disliked immensely. However, in the interest of solving their mystery, he kept quiet. He looked at the book held in place by the purple mare’s magic. This was a first for him; though the Apple family and Fluttershy had told him about the different types of ponies and what unicorns could do, he had not until this moment seen magic used. The book seemed to waft gently in the air, and was surrounded by an opaque aura of energy the same color as Twilight herself. Connor noticed this same aura around the pony’s horn.

Twilight, meanwhile, was flipping through the pages at a fast clip, looking for something.

“No… not here…. Where is it? Maybe in the…. Ah ha!”

The pages stopped turning, and Connor saw a picture of a large boulder with a hole in the center of it. Twilight began to read the writing beneath it:

The Portal of Adlez is a large slab of cordite with a perfect circular hole in the middle of it. It is located deep in the Everfree forest, to the northwest.  Thought to be left by an ancient civilization, the portal has unusual properties. Unicorn magic is made null by it, and any magic directed at the Portal is twisted and bent around it, almost as if it were refracted like light through water. The hole is big enough for two ponies to pass through side by side, and perhaps three ponies tall. There seems to be nothing magical about the Portal itself besides its curious aversion to magic, and the feeling of dread and evil that one gets while near it.

Twilight stopped reading. “No, that’s not quite right. Hang on, let me see… somewhere at the end here…”

She skipped ahead in the chapter about the Portal. Connor read a few lines here and there, and managed to pick up that ‘cordite’ was an extremely tough mineral, destructible only by large-impact or small, concentrated explosions. The name “Portal of Adlez” was coined by one of the few explorers to push into the Everfree forest and return, and his explanation for the name was nothing more than “It seemed correct. Perhaps a little backwards, but correct in some way.”

“Here we go!” Twilight finally located the section she was looking for.

VII. Legends of the Portal

The Portal has its share of myths and so called ‘occurrences’ over the years. However, the curious thing regarding this artifact lies in the fact that all the myths have one main thread: the appearance of two-legged creatures. Ponies wandering the forest claim to have met creatures who speak the same tongue as they do and. These reports vary regarding how the creatures react to the ponies who discover them. Some scream and run away, some try to ask questions, and some attack at first sight. It is also important to note that these creatures do not always appear the same; there seem to be more than one type of “two-legger”. However, this is just a theory, and no respectable explorers who have ever come to the portal have ever encountered these “beasts”. In the scholarly interests of this book, the authors will regard these creatures as the myths they must surely be.

Twilight stopped reading, and let the book settle to the ground. She and Fluttershy turned slowly to look at Connor. All had come to the same conclusion.

Fluttershy spoke first. “Um, well… now we know how you got here, don’t we?”

Twilight frowned. “No, actually, we don’t. Connor, didn’t Applejack say she found you in one of her orchards?”

Connor was wondering this, too. “Yeah, I woke up in the middle of it. But-” He broke off, remembering his final moments in Hyrule.

“No! Where are you sending him?”

Twilight and Fluttershy looked anxiously at him. Connor continued, unsure of himself.

“Well, before I was knocked out and found myself here, I was attacked by a phantom of some sort… right before I lost consciousness, I remember the phantom screaming at another entity, and a white light…” Connor’s eyes went wide. “I think something sent me here! To…protect me from that apparition? No, that doesn’t feel right… It was my own fault I was in that mess. There’s another reason… I’m not sure. But I think I was sent through the portal and then further, out of the forest, so whatever sent me knew I would be safe from the monsters within.”

Twilight pondered this. “Well, let’s assume your hypothesis for the time being. If that’s true, then what sent the thing that attacked Fluttershy?”

“Well, this is another guess, but before I left Hyrule I saw a large amount of evil gathering in the land. The people were terrified into staying in their houses, and monsters like that one roamed free. However, this came about because of some evil mastermind… there was something behind it all; though the monsters were just stupid brutes, they obeyed something smarter than themselves. I’m sure whatever it was wanted complete control of Hyrule, and…” Connor shrugged. “Why stop there? If there was a portal to another land to control, why not utilize it to enter that world, and take it over too?”

Fluttershy shuddered. “Oh, how horrible. Is that really what your land was like?”

Connor sighed. “By the end, yes.”

Twilight sat, thinking to herself. Finally, she reached a decision. “Alright. This seems serious. I mean, it’s not every day that two legged creatures begin to invade Equestria, right? What did you call them? Bokoblins?” Connor nodded.

 “Right. I think it’s time for a letter to Princess Celestia.”

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***Author’s Note: When Twi says “It’s time to send a letter to Celestia”, it often means about the same thing as “AWWW YEAH, SH*T’S GOIN DOWN” on earth. Don’t you think so?***