Espirit felt like a massive glutton. It didn't help that during the little feast the breezies were throwing, one entire table of food was barely a tiny little plate for her. She really hoped she wasn't going through their stores too badly.

Then again, none of the breezies seemed to mind. Most had put away their weapons and now kept swarming about her, asking questions she had no idea how to respond to. Fortunately, a little yellow breezie with a pink mane had seemed to have taken a liking to the zebra and was working as a semi translater, getting the questions from the breezies and then translating her answers. The little breezie was getting better at it, too. If Espirit was right, her name was Seel-lean. She was calling the little breezie Selene.

“Sprites gone?”

Espirit frowned before shaking her head. “Sprites tamed.” She answered. “I teach.”

There was a few moments for Selene to translate, followed by gasps of awe and the breezies saying things so fast that her translater couldn't even try to keep up. Espirit enjoyed the momentary lapse and took a few more loafs of bread, popping them into her mouth. They were delicious, at least.

“How?” the breezie finally asked.

Espirit sighed and then motioned to the parasprites. “Feed.”

There were soon more murmurings. Before the breezie gasped and looked up. “You eat?!”

“No! No no no no!” she shook her head quickly before motioning to the breezies again. “Parasprites eat!” She then perked up and trotted towards them. It only took a few seconds for her, but the breezies it took a little longer. She motioned to the parasprite and then held out a hoof. “Parasprites eat this.” She gathered aether into her hand, letting a small ball of magic form. It disappeared in a flash of sparkles a moment later.

Selene flew forward and circled about a few times. She then nodded and sparkles of aether began to flow off her body. “Yes! Just like that! Yes!” She then motioned to the sleeping ones. “Music stops.”

The creatures just stared at her for a few moments and she sighed. “Right. One step at a time. Now you know how to feed them, that's the important thing. You're not attacking them, either, so that's good. We can work on the others later.” She trotted back to the castle and plopped down, nibbling on the food. The breezies were quite cute. She was starting to doubt that they could help her save her friend. How could such tiny things have anything to do with such powerful magics as she'd need?

She sighed and lowered her head. After a moment there was a gently nudge on her nose. “Wrong?”

Espirit smiled. “I think that's the longest word you've said right.” She took a deep breath before tapping her chest. “Friend dying. Needs help. Healing.”

Selene went through her book again, translating each word one by one. Then she looked up. “I help!”

Espirit chuckled and shook her head. “Burned. Dying.”

A quick browse through the book and the breezie looked right up again. “I help!”

“How?”

Selene held up her book for a moment before letting it go. It hovered in the air and started flowing through the air, a moment before white light enveloped and surged through her. Espirit's eyes widened. “Y-you know healing magic? How? When?”

“Oota booga lemur.”

“Right, single word sentences,” Espirit said, before shaking her head. “Nevermind. No, don't look up what nevermind means. No, don't...” She face hoofed. “Yes, yes, nevermind. It means forget about it. Okay, so you do know healing magic.” She looked around. Then her eyes widened and she looked down at the book she'd been given. “Of course. I am an idiot. A complete and utter idiot.” She slowly started going through it, a grin slowly forming on her lips.

“Ohhhh, Fluttershy. If you are that Fluttershy, you're amazing. If you're not, well, you're still amazing. Enhancement magic! Perfect!” There was a little picture of a pony being sprinkled on by one of the breezies. It wasn't easy deciphering all the words, but it sounded like the ponies had strange powers that could enhance the magics of others. Exactly what they needed. The breezies were looking at her in confusion. She took a deep breath and looked down at Selene.

“You. Come? Save friend?” It took a few moments for the breezie to look through the book and decipher it. She then frowned and pointed towards the parasprites.

“Teach?”

Espirit nodded. “Yes.” The little mini pony was getting better at understanding her, too. She was a quick little study.

“Yes,” Selene said before looking up.

The zebra grinned. There it was. A chance. They could, and would, save her friend. Not to mention create a bond with one of the long lost races of Equestria and perform who knows what else. She then nibbled on a loaf of bread and watched as Selene fluttered off to talk to one of the others.

Then the band came out. She eeked and let out a little gasp of delight. They played little tiny air instruments. Her eyes lit up and she motioned to the band. “Come, come!” she ordered, before trotting towards the parasprites. There were a few moments of confusion, but they did follow after her. The band came closer and then slowly the parasprites began to bounce in tune, their eyes still closed as they moved. She grinned, fully expecting them to understand the basic principles of taming the creatures.

She did not expect them to start riding the little round creatures.

Before she could stop them, some of the breezies flew over to the bouncing balls and jumped onto their backs. As the parasprites bounced, they held on and let out their own little squeals of delight. Espirit had no choice but to look away, she could already feel cavities developing in her teeth. “Not... fair... why... so tiny...” she grumbled as she trotted away. She glanced back when the music started to speed up and was rewarded by a whole herd of bouncing parasprites and their breezie riders. “Gahhhh!” She fell back, clutching her heart.

“Obda boo?” Selene asked.

“Huh? Err, no, fine. Just being over dramatic. Not that you can understand a word I'm saying. At least not without looking through your book.” She got to her hooves before frowning. “Okay, how about this. I need to find my way home anyway. Portal?” She took a deep breath and pulled out the book. She then flipped to the page that showed the portal. “This? Where this?” She then frowned and looked at the book. “I am an idiot. It says right here where the portal is. I cannot be... no, nothing,” she said, waving off Selene's confused look. “Just talking to myself and making a foal of myself.” She looked back towards the way she'd come from.

“So, near that village, huh. Not too far a walk, at least. But I'll need to find out how to open the portal again. Wish I knew how I'd opened it the first time. I hope the others are still waiting there for me.”

“Ooben gutten daiz?”

“Right, exactly.”

------

Espirit stared at the night sky, gently sighing as she watched. There weren't any stars and it wasn't like an Equestrian night. Then again, there didn't seem to be a sun so much as three glowing white orbs in the sky during the day. But now the sky was completely dark. It wasn't black, though. It was more a strange dark purple. It gave an unsettling feeling, like she was the peanut butter in a jam sandwich and the sky was going to come down and squash her.

The castle and city was besides her, but it didn't feel like there was a real city there. It felt like she was laying besides a bunch of toys, left out in the sun by forgetful foals. Even though she'd been talking to Selene for a while, she felt so alone. Nothing here felt right. Like a giant in a world of tiny delicate little toys made of glass. She wondered if that was how Celestia and the other aether created alicorns sometimes felt. She then snorted at that thought. She couldn't imagine them ever feeling nervous or afraid of anything. If they even had emotions. How could aether made flesh have feelings?

She rolled onto her side and nibbled a little on the grass. Even that was super small here. How did GRASS get small? It didn't make any sense. It was grass. She closed her eyes and wished the ground, even if small, could at least be soft. But nope, it was the one thing in common with her world. She wished she was back home. She hoped the others were okay.

“Booken aba tide?” a little voice asked from besides the zebra. She looked over to see Selene. She rolled back over to face the breezie.

“Sorry. Miss home. Feeling sorry for myself,” Espirit said with a shrug. “I... wish we could talk. Really talk. I wish you had some idea of what I was really saying.” She grumbled. “I hope everypony is okay. I should be going back soon, though. I mean... I've done a lot. I think. How long was I hear for? A day? Two? Helped you fight off the parasprites and learn how to tame them. You're picking that up very quickly, by the way. Got a book with all the information I need to save my friend. Might actually be able to save him and everything.”

“Oopa dupe doh?”

“Right. Sometimes I just need to talk, you know? Even if you can't understand me.” She held out a hoof and the little breezie flew over to land on it. “Thank you, for everything. For... offering to help me and all. I know it's kind of... a risk. I mean, for all you know I'm some kind of monster that plans to devour you whole.” She snorted and looked around before sighing. “Though, I wonder if you even get things like that. Parasprites are here, so it's not like your world is perfect. But... well, you have those tiny arrows and swords so maybe there's some threats?” She sighed and looked down at the breezie, who just stared back at her. “Is that why you're helping me? Because I'm big? Maybe you have your own dangers and you're hoping my fellow ponies will help eliminate them. Get the help of giants, I guess. It's not a bad idea, I guess. According to Mirage, we all used to be friends. I wonder if the old ponies used to help you.” She looked back to the book at her side. “Well, I guess they did. Mirage is going to freak out when she gets that book.”

“Abben doma doaf?”

“Yeah. You know, I think you'll be pretty freaked out when you get to our world. Everything is so... well, big compared to here. I think you'll like the night sky, though. It's... prettier. The moon, the stars. The clouds, too. You'll be able to eat strawberries the size of your head. Pastries that you could literally bathe in. It might be pretty cool. Hopefully none of the griffons try to eat you?”

“Doma?”

“Right. I guess it's a good thing you didn't understand that part. Or any of it. You all are so friendly, though.” She frowned and looked up. “Trusting, too. I wonder if...” She shook her head and laid down fully, watching the breezie. “I hope we can do this. We can... save him.” She looked back to the book. “Who knows? Maybe I can learn some of the spells mentioned in there, too. There was this weird one that talked about healing and putting a kind of... band aid over the wounded area to keep it safe from harm. I think it was for unicorns, but I can probably learn it.”

“Abben dooben bobben.”

Espirit let out a soft yawn and gave a little nod. “Right, Selene. I should try to get some sleep. Thanks. You're a great listener.” She closed her eyes and tried, as difficult as it was, to drift off to sleep.

------

Espirit stared at the portal ahead of her. She couldn't believe she'd missed it when she first woke up. Then again, she hadn't even noticed many of the 'mountains' then. This one had also given her a bit of a headache so she hadn't wanted to see it. But now that she was close and focused on it, she could see that one of the mountains were more of a wall with a magical circle carved inside it. There were six symbols carved into it. A six point star, a butterfly, a balloon, a diamond, an apple and a lightning bolt. She couldn't even begin to imagine what they signified. Well, except the star, the obviously signified the six symbols.

She stood in front of it and gulped, before looking back towards the gathered masses of breezies. They'd come to see her and Selene off, though a part of her wondered if they truly understood what was happening. What they were about to do was fairly drastic, it could very well alter the course of history. The two civilizations had been separate for so long, now there was no telling how they would react to each other. She glanced up to Selene who was on her head. Mirage was certain they'd been allies before, after all. They could be them again.

Her hoof reached out and touched the portal. She expected to feel a small flow of aether or nothing at all. What she didn't expect was for her magic to be drawn out of her rapidly as the symbols began to glow. One by one they disappeared, creating a swirling mass of aether. A moment later the aether settled and she could see into the cave, Mirage and Tempora were standing there. Mirage looked amazed. “E-Espirit? Quick! Come into the light! Can you see us?”

The zebra sighed. “Of course I can see you,” she said before gently pushing a hoof into the portal. To her amazement, it didn't feel odd at all. It felt more like an open door than a portal. “I... found the breezies and one of them agreed to help me and--”

“Will you come through already?!” Mirage screamed, a hint of panic in her voice.

Espirit gulped and nodded. “Right, sorry.” She glanced back. “Thank you for everything, I will return with better negotiators, I promise. Somepony who can talk and understand you,” she said before leaping through the portal. She could feel Selene tugging on her mane as they went. She skidded to a stop and smiled.

Mirage let out a sigh of relief. “Thank the stars. I thought I'd lost you. I-- no!” She shrieked, reaching out a hoof towards the portal. Espirit turned around and gasped. It had been swirling around the edges before, but now it was shrinking rapidly. She barely had time to reach out, before it closed completely.

“Oota mog durren! Dobba oppa done! Gurren lagann deh ondo!” Selene shrieked before flying off the zebra's head and gliding to the wall. She tapped on it a few times, but there was nothing but stone there.

Mirage stepped forward and put a hoof to it, after a few seconds a smile formed on her face. “I... I think I can open it. We can, but not now.”

“What? Why not now? We should while we have the time!” Espirit said, her eyes widening. “Oh, right, hold on.” She pulled out her book and flipped through it. After a few moments. “Ogden moe eckle curly.”

“Eckle curly?” the breezie asked, looking back towards her.

“Eckle curly,” Espirit said with a smile, watching the relief flow over the breezie's face. It gently glided back to her hoof and she let it climb into her mane. “So, this is Selene. She's a... well, I believe she's now the representative of her people. She's pretty cool. Why do you say we can't open it now?”

Mirage let out a sigh. “Thought we'd lost you for good, Clearpond would have killed me. I'm not even exaggerating, she would have torn out my still beating heart and... no. Not important. Things have changed, come.” She started trotting towards the exit. Espirit followed with Tempora close behind. They made it outside easy enough, though there didn't seem to be anything really important going on. It was still night even. The crystal pony pointed up.

Espirit glanced up and didn't see anything, at first. Then her eyes fell on the moon. The shadow of a mare in the moon. Her mouth slowly fell open. “Is... is that...”

“The mare in the moon,” Mirage said softly. “For the first time in nearly a millenia, Luna has arisen.”

“O-oh,” Espirit whispered. “Does... does that mean...”

“The sisters are united. For all we know, they mean to raise Cadence now. We must leave, now. They'll need us back in Cloudsdale.”

“R-right,” Espirit said softly. The three quickly started trotting back the way they came.

“The pegasi are already waiting to take us back,” Mirage said firmly. “I've had them waiting ever since the mare in the moon appeared.” There was a sigh. “I wish we had more time to talk, but I want to know everything that happened. Everything you saw. But talk as we walk.”

Espirit nodded. “Well, I wasn't there for long, but...”