Episode 1: The Soul Spectrum Dimension Part 5: The destined

The walls were blotted with blue shades of midnight blue. The ceiling was a haunting void of black whispers calling to rip away Aaron’s mind, leaving only the image of a nightmare horse standing on its four, rotting legs. The living terror stared into Aaron as if it were trying to determine how to assault his humanity. Its black slits glowed with green, poisonous light, melting into his subconscious, and a deceptive sound slithered out between her lips, “What reason are you here for, unfortunate little morsel?”

Aaron was helpless. Why did he come here? Why did this happen to him? Why him?

There was no denying that he was in trouble of losing his life. This demon stared right into him and there was little of anything he could do stop it. But what was there to do? He was broken and strained out and paralyzed on a bed made of large boulders and thorny shrubs, helpless to make a move. He couldn’t even think. The world had grown darker the more he ventured into the void…the forest…

Why couldn’t he think? Where was his control? What was it that made him want to do something as drastic as this…putting himself directly into the thralls of danger? Why did he keep going? The spiders should have been enough to turn him around. But still he kept going, even when the dangers got worse he kept going, into the dark, and the only ones who had tried to save him…he pushed away.

Nothing would help him now. He had run where he was the weakest, because the feeling felt great and exhilarating. However, he had pushed himself too far this time…

Aaron couldn’t think. Time was all that could tell him that he was still breathing. There was nothing else left. Nothing…except for the stone that fell into his hand.

It was small and unremarkable. But it was hope, and that was enough.

Aaron gripped it as hard as he could to try to lift it, but he didn’t have the leverage. His right arm was stuck beneath an old root, and all he had to use to get this object out was his left hand, which had been scraped up amidst the falling. He pulled and he tugged, desperately trying to pry it out from where it was entrenched. The voices and shadows in his head screamed louder at his feeble attempts. Slowly and painfully…the rock shifted from the crag.

For a moment, Aaron felt a glimpse of hope radiate from within him. He was going to make it!

The rock moved from its spot and Aaron prepared to lift it up and launch it at the foreboding beast of darkness in front of him.

But it didn’t remain in his grasp. Despite his attempts to keep it with him at his advantage, the stone slipped from his power… tumbling down the pile of debris…the echoing sound fading into a depth that Aaron wouldn’t be able to discern.

His last hope, gone.

The threat crept up closer to where he was stranded. Like a death knell ringing its toll, the creature whispered soothingly, “It doesn’t matter. You are lost now and you have NO MORE CHANCES!”

Her eyes pierced into Aaron’s mind, blinding every framework of his consciousness with her staggering, lifeless and plaguing stare. He could hear himself screaming, “God! Please! Give me another chance! Another chance!-”

The light radiated through a warm material of cotton and velvet. The sunlight could be seen from beneath the white silk bed sheets where Aaron was sleeping.

“I’m sorry…one more chance…” he mumbled to himself. That was when he noticed that he was somewhere else. The pillows felt nice beneath his head, kind of like two giant marshmallows. He always wanted marshmallows like that. That way he could eat them if he ever got hungry in the night. Speaking of marshmallows, the next time he decided to go camping, he should remind himself to bring extra moist toilettes...

Aaron realized that he was drifting somewhere else and felt that for some reason, he was forgetting something important.

He was awake.

He had been saying something to himself. It sounded like a plead for help, but he couldn’t remember. All he retained in his mind was a pair of monstrous eyes that seemed to stare endlessly into him. He felt like there was more to it than that…but he just couldn’t remember.

Aaron lazily ruffled through his sheets and flipped his pillows to a more comfortable position.

Three seconds later he flipped over to his left side and gasped.

“I’m awake!” He selected a pillow and hugged it to himself lovingly, “I’m alive! I’m awake! It was all just a dream.” he had never felt so glad to be in his lame bedroom and old bed sheets before, “After all that terror! There is no such thing as evil rainbow talking ponies. I still have the apartment. And I had never run through that awful forest…”

Suddenly, Aaron felt slightly distraught that the ponies didn’t exist, which also surprised him. Maybe if he had acted differently, he could have come to enjoy the world better. What could he have done differently?

Still, it’s kind of strange to dream about a world that was just a dream…

Three minutes later, Aaron found himself staring at the ceiling of the carousel boutique.

There was an awning above his bed and the room was circular. Arches shaped the windows that dotted the exteriors. The walls were purple and lined with decorative Victorian-style accents. Sunlight flooded into the room through the windows, displaying the dancing shadows of the trees blowing in the wind behind the curtains.

That unicorn!

She, who took him under his wing even after he threw a punch at Garion last night. She had almost scared the daylights out of him when she picked him up with her magic, and calling him out on his attitude. Nobody else would take him.

“This… just isn’t the place for me” he thought out loud, “I need to get out of here, but how do I leave this house without being caught by Rarity?”

Aaron got out of the bed, and stepped onto the circular rug on the blue floor. After he put his shoes on, he approached an open window that led to an outside veranda, which wrapped around the second floor.

The area outside was pleasantly sunny. Grassy fields, trees, and flowers were all that he could see from that point, besides an occasional canvas tent.

Aaron looked below him. He knew that he was in the guestroom on the upper floor, but now he needed a way to escape without being seen. A large bush and tree protruded from the ground beyond the sloping roof beneath him.

Hopefully, if Garion was right about cartoons, then this wouldn’t be enough to kill him because the situation would have to force itself in a positive or humorous direction. But then again, Garion was the idiot who put them both in astronomical debt. Now he had to think about a decision.

First, why was he escaping again? It wasn’t that these ponies were evil. He knew they weren’t evil. But still, they had put their own town in a place so close to this crazy, dangerous forest. The forest proved to Aaron what this world could do with danger at such a close range; dangers that no human had ever had the need to defend themselves against.

The ponies had also shown him from their first act of helplessness during their arrival, that they had no clue on how to take care of themselves.

It was also a whole new world that they knew nothing about, and there could be more than just happy, sugary ponies out there. It wasn’t that he wanted to leave this universe, as he slowly began to realize. He just wanted to be somewhere else than this particular area, and he especially didn’t want to be captive under people that he didn’t know.

But the unicorn would never let him run away, would she? That was why he needed to get out without being seen by her. If he stayed, she might make him dress differently, along with telling him how to live. He remembered her talking all about hats, dresses, and suits last night, before she showed him the bed. So she must be some fashion obsessed, pony that he didn’t want to be with.

He put a leg over the railing and prepared to make the drop, before the hairs on the back of his neck tingled and told him to stop, “What am I doing?!” he leaned back into the room. ‘You’re going to kill yourself!’ He thought, ‘You’re on the second floor, you idiot!’ He gazed down at the bush and thought deeply.

Is it worth it? He again considered the fact that he may had been dreaming. And this fall would usually be the kind of thing that would wake him up from one. That would be a bummer.

But CLEARLY, this wasn’t a dream, because he could tell. You can always tell. Only in stupid movies, fan fictions, and T.V. shows do people actually ask themselves if they are dreaming.

“Well this isn’t going to work…” he said, pulling himself back into the room, “taking the stairs is much safer anyway.”

He walked to the wooden door to the bedroom and prepared to turn the door knob (it stuck out in his mind that a door knob could have only ever been useful to someone like him in this world, but it didn’t matter). Aaron heard the sound of footsteps, or hoofsteps, ascending the staircase outside towards him.

Aaron took advantage of the keyhole and peeked through. The figure of Rarity wearing a morning bathrobe slowly came into the view of the hallway. And on her back looked like a folded black-silk tuxedo that appeared abnormally large.

‘Abort! Abort! Abort!’ He panicked, assuming that it was going to be for him.

He ran straight to the window. As quick as he could manage, he hung his legs over the outside and carefully positioned himself so that he would be able to land on the bush safely. He took a gulp and let go.

The balcony disappeared and he tumbled like a boss, down the sloping roof the carousel boutique. Aaron braced himself as he flipped over the rim of the gutter and fell… on his face… missing the bush completely.

“Owwww….” Aaron groaned, splayed out on the turf. A bird chirped off in the distance.

He got up slowly. The majority of the damage resulted in a couple bruises on his arms and elbows.

Aaron scanned the surroundings, looking for his next direction. He honestly didn’t think through this far. Wiping his glasses, he saw a couple of ponies walking around, but none of them took much care or notice of him.

“Never again,” he said, before heard noises from above.

Assuming it was Rarity, Aaron stood up and hid behind the tree that stood next to the bush.

He didn’t hear anything, but he didn’t want to move and be caught. Very slightly, he peeked over and looked up at the balcony above. There didn’t appear to be any sign of her, so he took his chance to run.

He thought that maybe he should check one of the tents a few feet away from him to see if he could find anyone who would give him directions to the library. Entering the flap entrance of the closest one, a pink tent with a diamond pattern on the canvas, all he could find was a couple chairs, and a tiny little table with a bowl of potato chips.

Seeing as how he hadn’t eaten anything since the cupcake that Pinkie Pie gave him, he ate a few of the chips and stuffed a few more handfuls into the pockets of his hoodie to save for later.

Then he moved onto the next tent. All that was in it was a small, fold-up table with a dungeons and dragons game set up. The camp seemed desolate of people for whatever reason today. He checked the very last tent and found a rack of foam swords and cardboard shields.

After this, he ran over a bridge and into a park area. There were a few ponies around here, and he approached a blue pony with a white and blue striped mane who wore a butt-tattoo that resembled an hourglass. She was walking alongside a yellow stallion pony with a brown, styled mane who carried three horseshoes on his flank.

“Uh, hi,” Aaron asked.

They both looked at him with overly open expressions, making Aaron feel slightly awkward, “Okay, um… Can you tell me where I can find the Golden Oak library?”

“Why, sure!” the blue one responded, “Just follow the path and take a left at the statue with the happy pony. After that, just follow the road into town square and you’ll see a sign with directions.”

“Ok, thanks,” he said. He ran off, following the dirt path that the pony indicated. Very quickly, he came across not one statue, but two statues. One was a dancing pony on a ball in the center of a ceramic pool of water, and the other was a unicorn who rode a bike, doing a wheelie.

“Turn left at the happy pony,” Aaron repeated to himself. “Which one is the happy pony?”

Both of the statues stood on separate paths that went in different directions. Neither one of them appeared to be going into town. “They both look happy!” Aaron complained, “So how the heck am I supposed to know where to go?” He continued staring aimlessly at the figures, until a familiar pink pony came dancing down the street next to the unicorn statue.

“Hi!” Pinkie Pie greeted happily.

“Hello, again,” Aaron replied.

“What are you doing here?” asked Pinkie Pie.

“I’m trying to find the freaking library, and the gloriously helpful pony back there told me to turn left at the HAPPY statue. But there are in fact TWO statues here, not ONE. Which one of them is the happy one?”

“They both look happy to me,” she answered justly.

“I see that! So which one of them do I turn left at?! I mean, this one’s all like, ‘Oh, I’m a happy statue. Look at me dancing on my ball. I’m so happy that I get to dance on a ball like this, I’m a happy pony.’ Or, ‘I’m a happy pony riding my bike. I can’t tell you where I’m going, I’m just a statue,’” babled Aaron.

“Or maybe, one of them is thinking, ‘I would sure love to trade places with the other statue. It’s hard standing in this position all day,’” said Pinkie Pie. “It must be a hard life for a statue.”

“Yeah, sure. But which one do I take left at?”

“I don’t know.”

“But you live here. Don’t you know where the library is?”

“Of course I do. Twilight’s my best friend. Just follow me,” she said happily, and began to hop down the left path by the left statue.

‘Good Golly,’ Aaron thought.

But before they got far, Rarity, the unicorn, ran up from behind, “Aaron! Where on Earth have you been?!”

Aaron clenched his teeth, but tried to relate, “Well, I-”

“There’s no time for that now! Twilight Sparkle is expecting us all at the train station now!”

“A train ride!” asked Pinkie Pie.

‘Well, it looks like I’m getting out of this town after all,’ Aaron thought to himself.

“Yes, and we must hurry up immediately,” pushed Rarity, moving quickly down the road.

“Cool, and I won’t have to put on that suit,” Aaron muttered.

“Whatever do you mean? The only suit I have is a tuxedo for Thunderlane, who had ripped a gaping hole through it. Why would I make you try on something like that?” she said.

“Nothing. Let’s just hurry on and get to the train station.”

----

Garion was happy. Very happy. But he still felt nervous being around so many ponies in one area. Some shunned him with expressions that he never imagined seeing. Sometimes, if he simply bumped into them, they would give him a look as if they wanted to fight him.

Anyway, it also made him happy to see Aaron arrive in a less angry mood than he was yesterday. Rarity and Pinkie Pie were both with him, and both groups met up inside the station building.

Inside was a wide room with a wooden-framed, slanted ceiling. There was a counter setup against the wall on one side of the room, where several ponies grouped together in lines to get their tickets. There were also waiting chairs and tables set around as well.

Garion approached Aaron by a chair and said, “I just wanted to let you know, I’m sorry for both ignoring you yesterday and for losing our way back home.”

“Hey, don’t apologize for it. I was the one acting like a jerk. Did I hurt you really bad?” Aaron responded.

“No. I guess damage hardly throws a punch in this world,” he responded, sitting down.

“Yeah, I noticed that myself. I fell off a roof this morning,” uttered Aaron, proudly sitting down on a sofa.

“Oh. That’s…interesting.”

Meanwhile, Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Spike stood together a little ways off near the waiting line.

“Where on Earth are the other three?” asked Twilight Sparkle.

“We’re right over here,” said Apple jack, who came in through the side door, along with Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. “Sorry. Are we not too late?”

“Well, according to the timeslots on the wall, the Canterlot Train arrives in ten minutes,” stated Twilight Sparkle.

“Shoo! We just made it then.”

When it was their turn in line, Twilight Sparkle approached the counter, “Ok, we’re in a group together. So, how many of us are going? We’ve got Rainbow Dash, Spike, and me, that’s three… Uh, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, and the two humans. That’s eight total.”

The pony behind the counter spoke aloud, “I’ll need your signatures please,” and he pulled out 8 sheets of paper, along with a quill and inkwell.

They each held the quill in their respective ways to write it out; the two unicorns used their magic to levitate the quill, the other ponies held it in their mouths, and Spike simply wrote it with his hand, but the two humans were still sitting at the table.

Rainbow Dash peeked her head out of the line and called, “Hey, guys! Are you gonna get your tickets now or what?”

The two humans looked at each other and quickly got up.

“We need you to write your names on these ticket billings, sugar cube,” said Apple Jack.

“What in the world did you just call me?” asked Aaron.

Garion picked up the quill and felt its wetness, “Were these just in your mouths?”

“Just hurry up and write your names already, we only got a few minutes before the train arrives,” said Applejack.

“Hey, look. It’s a quill. You have fully functioning quills in this world,” joked Aaron, who wrote his name down after Garion.

After they had gotten their tickets, they moved outside and stood on the platform waiting for their train. It was less crowded than it was before, but there were still a quite a few ponies standing around. Rarity and her friends stood centered in a group and Garion and Aaron stood separately.

All was quiet.

“Well, I’m happy,” said Garion peacefully, looking out at the landscape beyond.

“Well why on Earth are you happy?” asked Aaron with obvious unenthusiasm.

“Because I woke up this morning.”

“Yeah?”

“Yes, I woke up this morning and I was alive. I’m alive, and I’m embracing it. I’ve got the sun smiling down on me, and nice friendly people all around. I’ve made friends.”

“That’s a first.”

“I know, right? And now I’m going to go see the world.”

“Yep, so am I. Soon I’ll be gone away from these crazy creatures, and I can find an area with people that I can actually relate to, like gryphons, or Spanish conquistadors.”

Garion looked to Aaron, confused and mumbled, “The heck?”

“And I fell off the roof this morning,” Aaron continued.

“Oh yeah. What was that all about?”

“Well, I saw Rarity coming up the stairs with a tuxedo. I didn’t want to try it on, so I jumped out the window.”

“You’re an idiot,” laughed Garion.

“I know, but what doesn’t kill me only makes me stronger.”

The train began chugging in at about that time. It was a small, cheesy locomotive train with more hearts smothered on it than Aaron thought was possible. Strangely, he didn’t feel like he was able go to a manlier place now. He was also confused as to why the ponies were coming with them.

They ascended to their area, which was basically an entire car, but it was a small, and it fit for their larger group. It contained five rows of seats, and there was an aisle down the middle. Each seat was doubly facing, so that a group could face each other if they wanted.

When the door closed and the train finally began moving, a speaker on the ceiling resonated throughout the room, “Welcome, passengers. Please sit down until the train to Canterlot has come to full speed. Enjoy your ride.”

Aaron looked at the map on the wall, “Wait, a minute. Canterlot? That’s the capitol. I don’t want to go to the capitol.”

“We’re going to see Princess Celestia, Aaron,” said Twilight Sparkle.

“The princess!? I don’t want to see no princess!” and he stood up.

Twilight Sparkle looked at Garion, who just opened his book and pretended he was reading it.

“I thought you were all taking me somewhere else! You know, to leave me somewhere where I won’t bother you anymore!” Aaron ranted.

Garion looked up and asked, “Where on Earth do you come up with things like that?”

“We would never leave you behind like that,” stated AppleJack.

“Oh come on. I was acting like a complete monster yesterday and drove you bonkers.”

“Yeah, so?” retorted Rainbow Dash.

“And you all made up excuses like, ‘having to go check up on the juicing that I missed’ so you wouldn’t have to deal with me.”

“Or, I could have said that because I actually had to go check up on the juicing,” said Applejack with some kind of laid-back, disgruntled attitude.

“As if.”

“Sit down, Aaron,” said Garion.

“No!” he said as he started towards the exterior door.

Garion got up and said, “Don’t do it. You can survive falling off a roof here, maybe, but jumping off a train may not work the same way.”

Aaron clutched the door handle, “Oh, yeah? Do you want to test that? Isn’t it just going to resolve itself positively like you claimed it would?”

“That’s because people here use their BRAINS and don’t throw themselves away just to avoid having to do some sissy task, like wearing a suit.”

Suddenly the train lurched into a fast speed and the two of them fell back onto the floor with a loud thump.

“See,” said Garion, rolling a side, “I told you to sit down...”

“I know. I deserved that,” Aaron admitted, “But you’re not the boss of me.”

Fluttershy crept up onto floor next to Garion, and asked, “Are you alright?”

She had the biggest eyelashes he had ever seen, “Yeah. Thanks.”

“You should really stay sitting in your seat when the train begins moving, you know,” she said with by far the softest voice out of anybody he heard. Garion had barely met Fluttershy, but what he knew about her so far was that, supposedly, she could take over planet Earth, because that was how dangerously adorable she was. No human could resist it, or at least that was his opinion.

‘I better be careful around her’ He joked inside his mind.

He sat back down next to Twilight and Fluttershy sat on the other side of him, which now made him feel awkward. Aaron sat alone on his own accord.  

When the train had finally reached its maximum speed, Applejack asked, “Why couldn’t we have taken the balloon? That way it wouldn’t have been as public and crowded for you guys.”

Aaron asked, “We have a balloon?”

“Yup. We use it a lot in certain situations,” said the farm pony, who came by to sit next to Aaron, “like when I needed something to hold that silo frame up, so we could put in the footings and the side panels. Occasionally, we use it to simply take us to places that we can’t otherwise reach.”

Pinky Pie popped up from behind Aaron’s seat and said, “Sometimes I use it to hold CRAZY parties that involve being suspended in the air,”

“Okay…” said Aaron, trying a little too hard to ignore them and looked out the window. Mountains and foothills held the foreground, the forests giving way to rocks and crags.

Twilight Sparkle looked at Garion, who was once again reading his book intently. She didn’t catch the title of it, and the words were too small for where she was right now so she couldn’t read along, but it was good to know at least that this human was very literal. Twilight always liked meeting people who took great fascination in books.

“What’s it called?” she asked.

He didn’t answer or didn’t appear to hear. She nudged him with her hoof, and he snapped out of a daze.

“What are you reading?” she asked.

Garion, still recovering from his daydream just closed the book and put it back in his pocket, “Oh, it’s… just something from home.”

Twilight was slightly confused but only persisted with, “Is it good?”

“Oh, yes. It’s very good. It’s very… important to me,” was all he said, but he then he asked, “How are you doing?”

“Fantastic. Do you think you are going to be fine… you know, being stuck here for the rest of your life, if… that’s how it turns out?”

“I don’t know. Hopefully I will never have to face the mile long debt that I left behind on Earth.”

Twilight did a double take, “What exactly did you do that was so terrible?”

“He sold his soul for corn flakes!” shouted Aaron, being a troll.

“Shut up, Aaron! Anyway, it was a mistake. I bought a firework that I thought was for three hundred dollars, but it was actually three hundred and ten thousand dollars.”

“Three hundred and ten thousand dollars!? Whoa!” exclaimed Pinky Pie, “What are dollars?”

“I think those are what they use as bits,” guessed Rarity.

“Yeah,” continued Garion, “but… I don’t have three hundred and ten thousand, so now I don’t have any money to pay for our home. I don’t know much about money and banks, but my account probably doesn’t exist anymore. The government is stupid. I mean, what kind of bill for one single stupid firework would realistically be worth so much?”

“You are the one who bought it,” said Aaron, eating some of the potato chips that he took from the canvas tents.

“Well, did it at least go off?” asked Pinky Pie.

“Yes. But it didn’t do anything but ‘poof’,” Garion answered.

“Well, at least it poofed.”

“Yeah, at least it poofed.”

The trip lasted for only a little while and they began to arrive at the top of the mountain where the tracks passed through a gate, which led them into Canterlot. Aaron noticed two ponies that appeared to be wearing armor and wielded spears, “Oh… my… gosh,” he said.

The train passed into a tunnel in one of the walls of the city and Aaron could see more of these armored ponies standing on the top of it.

Aaron was completely dumbfounded. “They got Spartans with flipping Spears here!”

When the train had finally reached its station, the group descended off out of their car. Garion was amazed at the grand architecture, but also felt confined, the same way that he felt when he visited Washington D.C. with his family; the place where the government thrived. Here, instead of a system of three branches, they used a monarch, which worried Garion, seeing as how only the strongest and smartest empires ever succeeded with one. And he was about to meet this monarch, and he didn’t feel civilized enough to greet such an important person.

Aaron was flipping out… again. He ran up to Garion and rasped, “We’re being contained! They got legit guards everywhere!”

“It’s the capitol! What do you expect?” Garion asked.

“What do I expect? They’re happy-go-lucky sugar coated unicorns!”

“And pegasus’s-”

“Pegasi” corrected Pinkie Pie.

“-And pegasi, plus the regular earth-ponies… And they’re not stupid!”

“Oh give me a break. They build their town around a psychotically dangerous forest that tried to kill me yesterday!”

“They look fine to me.”

“That’s because you’re so naïve. See, look at this pony for example,” said Aaron, approaching a green pegasus who stood happily on the side of the street, “You think this guy is just a normal happy pony when in reality-”

The pony let out a noise that sounded like the honk of a horn from a classic model-T car. Then the Pegasus quickly turned around and flew away.

Aaron swung around towards Garion and shouted, “DID YOU SEE THAT! TELL ME DID YOU SEE THAT?” he jumped up and down and walked up to Garion and pointed a finger at his face, “CHECK-MATE! I cannot believe the awesomeness of how right I was right there! HA! See? He may have looked like a pony but in reality, he was… Actually, I don’t exactly know what that was, but I was still right!”

Garion sighed and looked away. This was going to be a long day.

Up and down the streets, ponies walked in a rather snobbish way in Garion’s opinion. They executed themselves with such high standard clothing, and raised their noses in the air, which contrasted to the ponies of ponyville. Some contended to sit in food courts, and others went in and out of shops.

The architecture and environment was, though cartoony and cheesy in some ways, still pleasing and somewhat enchanting. The spires of the castle and high standing towers reminded him of something from a childhood fairytale.

Garion noted a particular statue in the middle of a parkway that resembled a system of planets revolving around the sun.

They were approaching the castle courtyard entrance and it seemed that it was everybody else’s idea to visit the castle as well, but he didn’t know why. Garion suddenly felt something buzzing in his groin.

“Ahh!” he gasped, but then he realized it was the phone vibrating in his pocket… the phone!

He took it out and tried to see the caller id, but it was hard to view the screen because of the bright light from the sun, and the number of different ponies pushing against him. Apparently, his existence or appearance didn’t wave any questions for the citizens around him, but he didn’t care.

Noises of bazaars and gossiping invaded his eardrums. He hastily answered the phone with a “Hello?” but the phone didn’t respond other than with, “To hear your recent messages, say ‘one’”

“One” he said.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t quite understand you,”

“One!” he shouted more harshly.

“First unheard recorded message,” said the automatic speaker.

“Garion?” came a voice, “It’s me, your Mom.”

Garion sighed “Oh, Thank goodness you were able to call me-”

“Garion!” shouted Twilight from ahead of him. Garion walked faster to keep up.

“I tried to call you but you wouldn’t pick up. Your message scared me. What do you mean you won’t be able to see me anymore? Is everything all right?”

Garion couldn’t respond because it was just a message, and he had to struggle to hear better.

“Please call me back when you can. I would really like to talk to you face to face about this-”

“Garion, what are you doing?” asked Rarity, approaching from the side. Garion lifted his index finger and whispered carefully, “In a moment, please.”

“-But if you can’t, at least call me back to tell me if you’re in any trouble,” his mother’s voice responded.

“What?” The crowd was bustling louder and there were ponies talking and arguing all around him. He almost tripped.

“Garion!” shouted Applejack from somewhere.

“Please! In a moment!” he hollered, instinctively walking faster. He couldn’t see where he was going, but he just moved forward nevertheless.

“If you’re going through something deep or whatever, and you just need to be alone for a while, that’s perfectly fine then,” continued his mother.

“What?” asked Garion to himself.

“Just remember, I’m always here for you, no matter what happens. You can always talk to me. But if you’re serious and you have to stay away, then-”

“Garion, slow down!” Someone called from behind him.

“Please! I’m talking to my MOM! In a moment!” he shouted out somewhere he didn’t see. There were noises all around him.

“-I just need to know if you’re not in any danger,” his mom asked.

“Yes! I’m fine!” he answered out loud, before some pony bumped him from the side, “Mom? Mom? Are you still there?” He realized that he had accidentally hung up the phone and he tried desperately to call back. He fondled with the controls as best as he could and he didn’t bother paying attention to where he was going, “Come on. Come on. Please, work.” The phone rang and rang, but Garion could barely hear it to see if it ever picked up.

“Garion, stop!” alerted Twilight Sparkle.

“Oh come on! Can you please just give me five minutes before you yell at me, I’ll be right- OOMPH!” and he ran into something soft.

The phone dropped to the ground, “Agh! Dang it!” He bent down to pick it up and saw that it had already turned off; he also realized that everything had gone suddenly quiet. “Gosh, it turned off.”

He stared at the face of someone who stood much taller than him.

It scared him nearly half to death.  He jumped back into the group of ponies standing behind him.

She was an alicorn, but certainly no ordinary alicorn. She was white, and her legs stood solid on the ground like four white pillars. She carried an odd expression that Garion couldn’t read, probably due to the heat of his embarrassment. When they said they had a princess, they really meant it.

“Oh my gosh…” These were the words that escaped his mouth at this time.

He couldn’t find anything intelligent to say at that time so he didn’t say anything at all. To his relief, her voice sounded more amused than anything else.

“Yes, quite. Be careful to look where you’re going so you don’t hurt yourself. Are you all right?” she said.

“Y-ye-yes,” he said. He looked around him. They had left the streets of Canterlot and were now standing in the courtyard of the Castle, “How did I get here?”

“You kept walking so fast and you ran right into there before we could stop you,” said Twilight Sparkle, who approached Garion and pulled him aside. In comparison to the other ponies, Celestia’s figure was strikingly different, and it was not at all what Garion had expected. He bowed slightly, and said, “I’m so, so, so so sorry, miss.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it. It’s completely understandable. It looked like you were having a lot of trouble in the market as you were coming in anyway. I was so excited to meet you, that when I heard that you had arrived here in Canterlot, I decided to come straight here to the castle gates to escort you in myself.”

“Oh…well thank you,” Garion said, returning the phone to his pocket, a little surprised at the flexibility this princess suddenly posed. Still, the guards he remained posted in lines up and down the sidewalks.

“Who are you?” blurted out Aaron stepping forth.

“My name is Celestia. And what, may I ask, is yours?” she answered.

“Your mama!”

“My mama?” she asked, obviously confused in some way.

“Aaron, what in the name of Aslan are you doing?” gritted Garion under his breath.

Aaron knew exactly what he was doing. He thought about the fight from last night. How terrible he was. He was afraid he had put on a violent impression on them and now they were going to contain him. Why else would they bring him all this way? Despite what he was told on the train, no one could ever be that nice, especially to him. He just knew that they were going to tell the princess something about his attitude.

This here was a princess; a legit princess. She was going to be the one who ruled over him every day and night. But why was Garion here? Why were they all here? Why was Pinkie Pie here?  Did they all seriously know each other? But one thing was for certain, he was here for a reason and it involved being restrained in some way.

“Lady, I have to get out of here,” he said.

Celestia answered, “I understand that you are stuck, but there isn’t anything I can do at the current time.”

“Oh, I know. I’m saying I need to get out of this place. I need a better atmosphere, one that suits better for a human. Or at least a man!”

“What are you implying?”

“That I should probably be leaving. Ahem, NOW.”

“But why? You just arrived here,” she inquired.

“Yeah, well. I guess I’m…um… Ok, let me try to explain this in a way that doesn’t seem weird,” he stated, taking another step forward, rather bravely, considering how intimidating this pony actually came out to be, “You see. This world, or at least this part of it, isn’t good for the type of guy I am. In my world, if you’re a dude, you like stuff like… giant robots fighting monsters or… sports, or something…” he paused for an awkward moment, “not girly horses with hearts and rainbows all over the place,” he then made a feeble attempt to smile.

Celestia raised an eyebrow.

Garion stood silent with the rest of the ponies when Celestia lifted her head in a dignified manner and looked at him and asked, “Do you have a problem with horses with hearts and rainbows all over the place?”

Garion stood red and silent and muttered, “…Not really, I guess?”

Celestia returned her gaze to Aaron and said justly, “See? This world seems fine for him.”

Aaron spun around and yelled, “GOSHDANGIT, Garion! Why are you so dumb!? Stand up for your gender for once in a while!? BE A MAN!”

“Why on Earth are you acting so absurd?” Celestia demanded.

At this moment Aaron had nothing to say. He looked at her neck and set his gaze somewhere in the depths of his mind for a few seconds. Celestia appeared somewhat annoyed but now it seemed apparent that he wasn’t going to be able to ask himself out of here. So he had to use a different approach. He stuck his hands in his pockets, and felt that he still had chips inside that he took from the canvas tents.

“Potato chip!” he blurted out suddenly, taking fistfuls of chips from his pockets and throwing them at her face. Thereupon he made his break for it.

He dashed as quick as he could towards the gate, when suddenly an armed guard attempted to block his path. The spear itself was only being held with the cuff of his hoof.

Aaron easily disarmed the guard. Now he had a weapon.

“Back! Back! Foul Beasts! I’m warning you! I’m a tough guy!” he said, spinning around like a maniac. A guard with a white coat and a couple of grey guards jumped on top of him, pinning him to the ground. He struggled as hard as he could to get out, but these ponies were bigger than him, which angered him even more. How were these stupid creatures beating him so easily!?

He noticed one of their heads hovering near him that didn’t have a helmet, so he took the opportunity to use his free arm to throw a punch at him, but his fist only pushed into softness. He attempted again and again, but it was no use. It was like punching into a pillow. They eventually had him standing and restrained, somehow.

Princess Celestia slowly approached, carrying the look of utmost disappointment. Not embarrassment, not anger, but authority and power. For a moment, Aaron thought the sky had grown slightly darker but then he saw how much he had been panting and how desperately he needed water.

He shook with apprehensiveness when she said, “I think you should go somewhere where you won’t be bothered by anyone. Guards, please take him to his chamber.”

“No, please….No,” Aaron rasped.

“Come on, kid,” said the soldier behind him, pushing him forward.

Aaron still tried to resist, even as the guards took him out of the courtyard “Garion, you have to listen to me. These ponies are not what they all seem. Yesterday, I saw something or someone. It was evil, and I barely escaped with my life…”

But Garion was too conflicted to pay attention. There were so many worries racing through his mind right now, he couldn’t even pay attention to the action that had happened. This day had started out so well. Why did Aaron have to do that?

Garion watched the other human, who was no longer fighting back. Aaron was being led through the large double doors that would lead into the depths of the castle. But before they carried him all the way through, Garion suddenly remembered what he thought about from last night, about how he cast Aaron aside without at least seeing his side of it. What justice was that?

“Wait!” he hollered, running after them, “What creature did you see?”

“It had holes in its hooves and eyes that glowed,” Aaron hollered before he disappeared behind the doors.

“What?” gasped Princess Celestia. She stared inward for a few seconds before she came to herself. She asked Twilight Sparkle, “Twilight, would you mind overseeing that these two creatures are well taken care of, and given a much needed place to rest, as part of your royal duty?”

“Certainly,” answered Twilight.

“Wait a minute, what?” asked Garion, who barely caught that. His head was beginning to hurt.

“Did she not tell you?” asked the Princess.

“What is going on! Why are you suddenly a princess?” said Garion, rubbing his headache with one hand, “You never told me-”

“Well, that’s because I’m not really... I never wanted to be.  I just carry the title. But that’s why I have these wings now. Because I am a princess… But I hardly ever use them, or my title… It’s just not my style,” Twilight justified glumly.

“Is there anything else you didn’t tell me?” the human asked, thinking about what Aaron said before.

“I don’t think so,” she answered, feeling down.

It was then that the human realized that the only people in the courtyard now were Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia, and himself. Wherever her friends were, he didn’t know.

There was a short moment of silence, before the human related, “It’s not your fault. I’m sorry for being such a burden to you.” Garion then turned his attention to Celestia, who now appeared slightly conflicted. The sun was also beginning to set. “Please don’t put Aaron in a chamber or dungeon, please. He was just being a moron. He doesn’t usually act like that,” he said.

“I’m sure he had his reasons for what he did, but you shouldn’t worry about him. I’m only putting him in a place where he can be looked after in case he has any more trouble. My servants will take good care of him, I promise. As for you,” she said, turning to face the castle, “You should probably see where your room is. It’s been a long day.”

“Actually, all I really did was ride a train,” said Garion. “But I have still have so many questions that I need answered right now. Aaron said something about running into a holed-up pony who had tried to hurt him.”

“I know… I know,” Celestia spoke calmly, “Which is why I need to leave now. I have to be urgent on this.” She flared back her wings, creating a wide horizon of white feathers on both sides of her, sequentially followed by her throwing herself into the sky. Garion watched as the Alicorn glided to a balcony on one of the uppermost towers.

Then it was just him and Twilight…

----

Celestia stepped into her lounge. It was a circular room that contained a fireplace on one part of the wall, and a tapestry that depicted a starry night in another area. A purple mattress with a large, golden, cylindrical pillow sat in the center of the floor.

Celestia sighed and tried to contain herself, “Not again, you won’t. Not this time.”

She nervously approached a section of her fireplace where a golden knob was melded into the stone mantle. She pushed it, and it moved forward, like a stick-shift. The flame in the firebox died, revealing a hole barely within her reach. With her horn, Celestia pushed a button from inside the hole. A panel shifted from one of her walls, to reveal a speaker phone.

This she spoke into, saying “Seven, point thirty nine thousand, sixty five, tetra-b, forty-two, Eden.”  

A Crystal Globe appeared on the floor.

She took this with her to the other balcony, where the sunset could be seen blazing with shades of orange, red, and pink.

A deep blue Alicorn landed right next to Celestia, “Sister! Please don’t! You promised you would never use that again!” she begged. She was only slightly shorter than her.

“I know, Luna. But I have to know if my citizens are in danger. I have to know where she is,” Celestia urged, getting onto her belly. Despite the dark quality of this artifact, she had to take her chance.

Luna did nothing to intercede. Celestia put a hoof on the globe and said, “Luna, please hold onto my back. Your contact would comfort me and would be much appreciated. I’m afraid that the trip might deceive me too far this time.”

Luna silently rested her wing on Celestia’s back, and laid her hoof on her sister’s.

----

The doors opened and moonlight poured into Garion’s vision.

“And these are your quarters,” said Twilight to the human. They stepped out of the hallway and into the two story bedroom.

Garion said nothing, because he would have otherwise screamed with insanity. The suite stretched fifteen feet on both sides of him and reached twenty feet ahead. The far side of the room was dominated by an enormous window and balcony. Four pillars separated the room into quadrants. A large bed could be seen in the far left-hand side.

“Can I ask you something?” Twilight Sparkle asked quietly, coming around to face him from the front.

“Of course,” he responded.

“You’re not still mad about the whole me being a princess thing, are you? I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you sooner.”

“It’s all right. I’m not mad at all, though I will admit, that I was thrown off guard. But I’m actually just worried about Aaron,” said Garion, who walked alongside Twilight towards the balcony.

The night was haunting. Garion took in the view of what Equestria looked like after dark. There was a beautiful landscape laid out in front of him. All the rivers and lakes shined and glimmered with the ghostly light of the large moon above him.

The moon itself was a white snowball suspended in the night, and the surrounding sky was painted with deep purple and blue. The stars massed in numbers of thousands, all looking down on the world, which frightened him, the same way that stars frightened him in his own world whenever he left the city and went camping. Everywhere he could see, were mountains and forests.

At this moment, his legs collapsed and he fell to the ground.

Twilight gasped and tried to help him up.

Garion slumped against the railing, and said, “Sorry. I just felt lost for a moment.”

“Are you going to be alright?”

“Yes. What reason is there not to be alright? I think it’s just me still trying to comprehend that this is where I’m going to live the rest of my life in. I just feel like I’m starting to fall apart, is all.”

“That doesn’t sound alright.”

“Nah, it’ll pass.”

Twilight wasn’t sure what to now. She never had been in this situation before, so she didn’t know how to help him. She began to leave when Garion said, “Wait, Twilight. I just want to let you know… how much I thank you for all that you have been doing for me… since I’ve been here. You’ve been gracious, kind, and you have never left me behind. It means a lot to me. Thanks.”

Twilight smiled, and they hugged.

----

All around her, she saw fire and redness. The world raged at her, hating her, wanting to make her hurt in multiple ways. The alicorn flew as fast as she could, and her conscious avoided all the other thoughts until she could get to the mind she was looking for. She finally spotted the figure of a tall pony with buggy wings and long, stressed mane. Her horn and hooves looked as though worms or giant maggots may have burrowed their way through her.

The alicorn looked all around her, to see where she was. She was in a forest. This scary equine creature had been moving for a while now, but she was far away from town. It was easy to tell that, from the screeching crevices she saw all around. For a moment, she imagined that the creature had been looking at her, but it turned out to be just an owl that caught the creatures attention. The sky was becoming a darker shade of red every second, and the poor little alicorn was beginning to feel hot.

She couldn’t remember what she needed to do now…

“Celestia! Celestia! Wake up! You’re fading away! Wake up!” Luna pleaded, pushing and shoving the white mass until finally she came to.

“Huh?”

“You were almost gone!” Luna howled, tears in her eyes. Celestia realized that she could have only lasted for a few moments longer before she had forgotten herself completely. That was the power of the globe; a power that shouldn’t exist.

“I’m sorry, sister. I’m so sorry. But I had to know,” Celestia lifted the globe with her magic and carefully…smashed it. Several pieces fell on the ground, which she threw into the fire.

There was a dark history behind this crystal, but it was grim, dark, and painful to remember. All that mattered was that this object should have never been harvested from the magical tree that it grew from. The tree is one out of two of the oldest living entities in the world of Equestria, dating all the way back to before the creation.

It was forbidden for anypony to use. Such power rested within it, and it was meant only for the balance of good and evil. But thousands of years after its creation, someone had stolen its fruit and used it for their own personal gain. The power of the fruit corrupted their mind and made them drastically evil. After that… ugh, she didn’t even want to remember.

“Why did you break it?” asked Luna.

“Because it’s not something for anypony to control, not even me.”

“But why now? After all these years of hiding it, why did you break it now?” asked Luna, who had not even known about the globe until Celestia had told her about it hundreds of years after it was even hidden.

Celestia stared at Luna intently, “Because it had corrupted me. Not much, but just enough to keep me from doing what I should have done from the very first day. But after all these years of ignoring it, these two humans show up. They come from a universe more real than ours.”

Celestia sighed and closed her eyes, “This power cannot be destroyed. Though I have broken the globe, its energy still influences the world around us. I’m sorry for keeping this a secret from you sister.”

Luna slowly nodded her head. “I forgive you.”

Princess Celestia regained her breath and walked onto the balcony, where she could see the rest of the castle exterior. Garion and Twilight were talking to each other upon their balcony, and Aaron could be seen through a window, sitting on a couch eating pizza with a couple guards. He seemed to be enjoying himself.

“These humans,” Celestia continued, “Were enough of a wake up call. Though they come from a different universe, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is no stranger to them.” She closed her eyes and a tear fell, “The power exists much more intensely there, making their world dangerous for ours.  Something big is happening that I can’t predict. Even after all the dangers that we have been exposed to, nothing has been as unpredictable as our universes crossing.”

The alicorn opened her eyes and looked at the two humans intently. “…But these are the only humans who have made it across. Just these two, rather than the whole human race. It tells me that this isn’t a random occurrence.” Both Celestia and Luna gazed at the sky and beyond, “It’s so unexpected. I need to protect these humans. I used the globe but luckily, I wasn’t using it to my own self-will.”

Luna stood silently, not sure how to take in the sudden seriousness, but was glad that it appeared to be calm and under their control, “Did you at least find what you were looking for?”

Celestia gazed at her beloved younger sister and announced, “Yes, and as far as I was able to figure out, Ponyville should be safe. Chrysalis was moving in the direction of the Frozen North. Hopefully she won’t turn around.”

Luna looked down and said, “Are you sure it’s a good idea to keep these two humans in our world? Can we trust them? They’re so…aggressive.”

Celestia sighed and said, “These two humans are no different than most other humans in their world, but they are good, even if they don’t believe it themselves.”

“Why do you think he brought them here?” Luna asked, “Do you think they will be able to change their world… Maybe, fix it?”

“No,” Celestia affirmed, “There isn’t any human who can fix their world. Only one alone has ever made a difference big enough to save the souls of millions to come, and he wasn’t completely human either. But we can fix these humans…maybe…if they are willing to let us. They are good humans-”

“Even the weird one?” Luna interrupted.

Celestia looked at her. “Yes… especially him. If we are lucky, we may be able to teach them something that may make a difference in their lives,” she said, watching Garion and Twilight hug each other.

----

“I’ll be in the room next door if you need anything,” Twilight said, turning around to leave.

“Thanks a lot,” Garion answered back. When Twilight Sparkle left the room, he found a chair and brought it into the light of the moon. He sat down and fondled with the phone. It turned on all right, but he couldn’t get the call or text icons to activate. He resorted to dialing his messages. It was the same one from before.

“Garion? It’s me, your Mom. I tried to call you but you wouldn’t pick up. Your message scared me. What do you mean you won’t be able to see me anymore? Is everything all right? Please call me back when you can. I would really like to talk to you face-to-face about this, it would make this seem less weird. But if you can’t, at least call me back to tell me if you’re in any trouble.

“If you’re going through something deep or whatever, and you just need to be alone for a while, that’s perfectly fine then. Just remember, I’m always here for you, no matter what happens. You can always talk to me. But if you’re serious and you have to stay away, then that’s fine. I just need to know if you’re not in any danger.

“I love you my darling, please call me back and any more information would be helpful and very much appreciated. Thank you for telling me ahead of time. Goodbye, Hun.”

“Goodbye, Mom,” Garion said to speaker, though no one would be hearing him.

The call ended and the screen returned to its sunset picture background. He sighed to himself and accepted the fact that it may have be the only thing he’ll ever hear from his world again.

He returned the phone to his pocket and decided to read from his book before he went to bed. 'At least I got to keep this,' he thought. He angled himself so that the light from the moon would be able to illuminate the words on the page. He flipped to where his bookmark was and silently read out loud,

“I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Set apart them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.” –John 17:14-19

End of Episode 1