Chapter Four: The Issue

It had taken around ten minutes to get to the edge of the Everfree Forest, where Fluttershy's cottage was situated.  It must have been getting late, as the sun was starting to set. Following the bouncing pink pony, we found ourselves at the front door to the tree that was Fluttershy's home. Pinkie knocked.

"Hellooo?! Fluttershy, you there? Hellooo!? It's me, Pinkie Pie and my new friend Zach! We came by to say hello!"

The door opened, and the timid yellow pegasus stuck her head out and looked at me quizzically, and then at my companion. She looked a little uneasy, probably because I was a stranger, and one of a kind she'd never seen before. She trusted her friend, no doubt, and it probably wasn't unusual for Pinkie to make new friends.

"H-hello there," she said in a slightly quivering, soft tone.

"A pleasure to meet you, Fluttershy. I'm Zach,"  I introduced myself, trying to look harmless.

"Zach just got here, and he's trying to get home! We're going to help him!" Pinkie Pie said, as though it were all a game. It might well have been a game to the party pony, you couldn't reliably tell.

"Oh, I see..." replied Fluttershy, thinking. She came out of her cottage, lifted off and slowly circled to get a better look at me.

"I've never seen any creatures like you before," she said after landing again, intrigued. It reminded me of when she first saw Spike.

"Where are you from?" she asked.

"Well, I'm from another universe, I think," I said, knowing how silly it must have sounded, despite my having said it numerous times today.

"Oh, my. That sounds terrible. How did you get here? You must be so confused," she said with the concern that was in her nature.

"Oh, he's happy! He knows all about us!" Pinkie added.

"I'm less confused than you'd expect, but I am still confused as to how exactly I got here. Twilight's working on a solution. I hope she finds one. Not that I'm in any rush to leave, it's very nice here... but still, I have to go home sometime," I replied.

"It's good that you like it here," Fluttershy said, slightly relieved.

I looked around, the sun was setting fast. I yawned. It had been the most tiring day I'd had in a while, and definitely the most eventful.

"I think we should be going. It was nice meeting you, Fluttershy."

"Good luck getting home. If you need my help don't be afraid to ask. Goodbye." With that she entered her cottage again.

"We should head back to Twilight's library," I suggested.

"Yeah! It's getting late. I'm tired." She didn't seem tired in the least, but even if she was, how could you tell? She could party 24/7 if there were enough sugary treats to keep her going, and not many would be needed.

Another ten minute trip and we were again at Twilight Sparkle's house. I strained to see Rainbow Dash clear a few stray clouds that had appeared over the course of the day in the growing darkness, then wave at us as she passed over. We waved back.

"I'll be heading home now. Gee, I'm beat!" Pinkie said enthusiastically, and happily trotted off.

I entered the library then, to see piles of books, scrolls and other miscellany in piles in several places, as well as Twilight, in front of a rather large, old-looking book. She hadn't noticed me coming in.

"Uh, hello?" Twilight spun around to face me.

"Oh, Zach, you're back! I've found something that might be useful. Come here." She bore a grave expression, like something was terribly amiss.

"What is it?" I asked, sitting down beside her.

"You see this text?" she asked.

"Uh, yes, what is it?"

"It's an ancient text about magical barriers."

"And?"

"It says here that when Discord- you know who Discord is, right?"

"I do, the Lord of Chaos. Pretty funny when you arn't on the recieving end of his tricks."

"...Right. It says here that right before Discord was banished to stone by the princesses Luna and Celestia, it produced a disturbance. A big one. Apparently, all the universes that exist are linked together magically, and separated from one another magically as well. Discord, in a final effort to cause chaos before his defeat, tried to disrupt the barriers between this universe and a certain other one which was unknown at the time- yours," she explained, with a hint of panic in her voice.

"Wow. That might explain how I got here. Is there something else?"

"There is. It was initially thought that Discord failed, and that there was nothing to worry about. It says that should the barriers be breached, the weakened barriers would be susceptible to being breached by certain rare individuals with certain characteristics. When this happens as it did today, the barrier will begin to rapidly destabilize, and parts of the universes will begin switching places. These individuals that cross are very important, as their actions reflect how the universes shift. It is theorized that heroic acts will reinforce the barrier, doing nothing at all will weaken the barrier over time, and that chaotic actions have a chance to destroy the barrier outright, causing a vicious battle of willpower of all the inhabitants of both universes, the victorious universe utterly destroying the other one... and everyone in it," she explained this part with even more panic. She had to struggle to keep her composure.

"That isn't good at all. If any other humans got here, they could easily destroy this world- there are probably hundreds of millions more humans than ponies. I'd never try to, don't worry. However, we need to be certain that no other humans are here, and if there are, we need to stop them from causing any trouble."

"Shouldn't we look for reports of ponies going missing too? What if a pony does something bad over there!?" Twilight was in a state of panic, as though she would be responsible if something went wrong.

"I don't think we need to worry, ponies are almost all such nice folk, arn't they? We should keep an eye out, though, and if ponies are going missing, let those concerned know what may have happened to them. Our people are, unfortunately... shall I say, ideologically varied, but they probably wouldn't hurt a pony in most circumstances," I tried to be reassuring. I wasn't very good at it.

"I suppose so. We should start looking tomorrow." Twilight was calming down a bit.

"I'm tired, you must be too," I said. Boy, what a day it has been.

"You're right. Where are you going to sleep? I have extra blankets and pillows if you need them."

"I'll just sleep on the floor. There are more pressing matters than me having a bed, don't worry about me."

It was going to be a sleepless night for me, and probably Twilight too. This could be the worst thing that's ever happened to either of our universes, ever. And I was in the middle of it, meaning I had to be a hero or be an accessory to universe destruction. I had never had to do anything of significance, and now I had to save an entire universe.