Chapter Text
ARC 1 - The Painted First Step
Six equines were scattered about in a lab situated beneath the roots of a well-grown tree. Those very same roots coiled down from the ceiling like serpents, curling around vents and pipes that hissed faintly, all of it feeding into an array of strange machinery. At the center stood a tall mirror, its surface shining, anticipating.
Twilight Sparkle paced in front of it, hooves clicking as she scrutinized the tangle of wires that crawled into its frame. She stopped, squinted, then backed away a step, measuring everything in her head. After a long pause, she exhaled, lowering her gaze. “Hmm. That should be everything...”
The thought was punctured by a sharp clink. Pinkie Pie had tapped a beaker with her hoof, sending it wobbling before it toppled and shattered across the wooden floor.
“Oops! Sorry, Twilight!”
Twilight’s ears pinned back. She swiveled, irritation flashing across her face. “Pinkie! Be careful! These instruments are extremely sensitive!” Pinkie straightened at once, giving a solemn nod far too serious for her tone. “Don’t worry, I’ll be the most careful pony in Equestria! Pinkie promise!”
Twilight groaned softly, rubbing her temple.
From above came a casual drawl: “Relax, Twilight. It was just a dumb old glass thing.” Rainbow Dash said, reclined midair, wings lazily fanning, looking incessantly bored.
Applejack turned, narrowing her eyes. “Now ah bet you wouldn’t be laughin’ if Pinkie dropped one of’ your Daring Do books off the edge o’ Cloudsdale.”
Rainbow bolted upright, wings snapping out. “H-Hey! That’s totally different! Those are actually valuable!”
Applejack rolled her eyes, frowning. “Funny. Sounds like the exact same thing to me.” Rainbow landed with a heavy thump, crossing her hooves. “Yeah, yeah. Whatever.”
Rarity’s voice drifted across the room, rather elegant but frayed with discomfort. “Honestly.” She stood with one hoof delicately lifted, as though the dirt and dust might cling to her. “Twilight, darling, I promised I would assist with this little experiment the princesses tasked you with, and of course I shall. But must it be so dreadful down here? How much longer is this going to drag on?”
As Twilight formulated a response, Fluttershy stepped forward, hooves clicking faintly against the floor. Her eyes roamed across the labyrinth of pipes and glowing consoles, wide with quiet awe. “I-It really is amazing,” she murmured. Then her ears drooped. “But Angel will get so rowdy if I don’t brush him before bed... and the others will be hungry too...” Her voice trailed, then she caught herself and smiled quickly, a little too bright. “N-Not that I’m rushing you! I know this is very, um, important.”
Twilight knew they had things to do, and really, really didn’t want to take up her friends' time. Though waiting on this didn’t seem like an option. The princesses hadn’t given her a deadline, but getting this done as soon as possible had to take precedent.
She finally lit her horn, pinkish aura shimmering across the machinery. One by one, switches flipped with sharp little clicks, gauges trembling to life. “Not much longer, girls. I just need to finish the diagnostics. The mirror’s going to channel an incredible amount of energy—we have to be certain it’s stable.”
Turning to the cluttered desk, an open tome waited, its pages scarred with her hurried notes, lines of ink crisscrossing in margins, half-equations scratched out. Her eyes darted over them, searching for confirmation. For a moment, the only sound was the hum of the machines rising all around them.
Minutes passed and Applejack shifted again, scratching at her foreleg. Twilight caught it in the corner of her eye but kept her gaze on the notes. The scratching grew more insistent the longer the room remained quiet. Finally, Applejack broke it.
“Twilight, I’m real sorry, but if we can’t get this started in the next few minutes, I’ll have to leave. Mac’s waitin’ at the farm for me around now. I can’t leave ’em hangin’.”
Twilight’s quill froze mid-stroke. She glanced at Applejack, mouth half-open, but before she could reply, Rarity’s voice came from across the lab, clipped and precise. “Quite. I have a schedule I need to keep to.”
Beside her, Fluttershy ducked her head. “I-I’ve already been here longer than I should…” Her words trailed off into something Twilight couldn’t quite make out. Fluttershy’s eyes flicked toward the stairs, then away. Rainbow had slumped on the floor without Twilight even realizing when, a faint snore rising above the quiet hum of machinery.
Applejack’s ear twitched, her jaw tightening. “Rainbow!”
The pegasus jolted upright with a yelp, wings flaring. “Huuh?! Is something happening?!”
Twilight winced. Not now.
Pinkie Pie was suddenly at Rainbow’s side, bouncing in place. “The walls are just closing in around Twilight, that’s all!”
Rainbow squinted at her, “What?” but Twilight’s attention had already snapped elsewhere—a creak on the stairs.
“Twilight?” Spike’s voice, soft, as he appeared carrying a tray stacked with plates. The smell of food drifted faintly through the stale lab air. “I made everything you asked for–” she cut him off, her tone sharper than she’d meant. “Back upstairs, Spike! Not needed anymore!”
The dragon hesitated, blinking. Spike sighed, carefully turning away and walking back. “Of course.. I’ll just throw this away, I guess.” Twilight refused to meet his eyes, instead scanning the room. “Pinkie, did you find the book I asked for?”
Pinkie was gone before Twilight finished the sentence, reappearing in a blur with the worn cover clutched in her teeth. “Yhou bhet!” she muffled. The familiar gold-trimmed spine was enveloped by Twilight’s magic, floating over to her. “Good.” She opened it, ignoring the sound of Spike’s steps dragging back up the stairs, each creak tugging faintly at her.
No time.
Her horn sparked, aura tightening around the page’s diagrams. Six pieces of jewelry rose out of a hidden compartment in the book—five golden braces, each with a gemstone glinting faintly under the lab’s pale light and one delicate crown.
“Alright. Everypony, get in place!”
They obeyed without hesitation. Twilight’s chest lifted, steadied, as the Elements found their bearers: The red lightning bolt circled Rainbow’s neck. The purple diamond fastened neatly to Rarity’s. The cyan balloon bounced once in her grasp before locking onto Pinkie. The pink butterfly rested against Fluttershy’s chest. The orange apple clicked around Applejack.
And at last, the starry crown descended, settling across her own head.
The weight was familiar, yet it hummed faintly with a pressure she hadn’t felt in months. Her magic withdrew, leaving the Elements to glow faintly on their own. “We’re going to test the crystal mirror’s response to magic from the Elements,” she spoke, voice steadier than she felt. “If we’re lucky, they’ll grant it enough power to function.”
She turned toward the mirror. Its surface rippled faintly, catching her reflection and the glow of her crown. “This mirror is a bridge between parallel worlds. The problem is that it only opens once every thirty moons.” Pinkie tilted her head. “Parallel worlds?”
“Yes.” Twilight forced herself to sound patient. “Think of it like this: in our world, you bake cakes. In another world, maybe you don’t bake at all. You might be a musician instead.”
Pinkie’s grin stretched wide. “That’s really amazing! Let’s get to it!” She threw her hoof up, careless and certain. Twilight’s gaze flicked past her, landing on Fluttershy, who lingered in front of the mirror. The pegasus’s ears pressed back as her reflection stared back at her. She whispered something too low to catch.
No time.. !
“Let’s begin.” Twilight said. Her friends’ eyes closed in near-perfect unison. Twilight followed, pulling in a deep breath as the warmth of the Element’s magic rose in her chest. The hum filled her ears first, then the walls, then the floor; an invisible current swelling, vibrating through every root and pipe of the underground lab.
Her eyelids snapped open as the familiar surge overwhelmed her. White light burned her vision; her hooves no longer touched the ground. Around her, her friends floated as one, suspended in the same radiance. The Elements shone, brighter and brighter, until the beam released—a rainbow arc flooding straight into the mirror. Machinery whirred alive. Spools of paper rattled as streams of data lines were stamped out in quick succession.
Twilight’s breath caught. This was it. So far so good. No surges in the feedback. No dangerous spikes. She could afford more. She pushed.
The beam grew sharper, brighter, denser. Energy rolled off it in waves. Metal frames rattled, but the wires stayed taut, the machines steady. On the mirror’s surface, a ripple spread outward like a drop hitting water. Yes. Yes! That was what she had been informed of—rippling surface tension, a thinning barrier. Her grin stretched despite the heat prickling her horn. Princess Celestia was going to be so proud. Now she just—
Crack.
Her ears twitched. The smile vanished. Her mouth moved before she thought. “Wha… No!” The words slipped out unintentionally raw. The white glow stuttered in her eyes.
Crack. Crack. Crack. Crack. Her chest plunged hollow. “No, no, no, no!”
The rainbow fractured, splitting apart like a rope unraveling in midair. The spell collapsed. Twilight hit the floor hard, the crown knocking slightly off her head. All around her, the others fell as well. Rainbow cried out in pain as she landed on a wing.
Dozens of sharp fissures spider-webbed across the mirror’s surface. Data printouts spiked off the charts, alarms blaring in shrill chorus.
Fluttershy’s voice shot high, panicked. “O-oh gosh..!”
Rarity, Pinkie, and Applejack followed, their voices overlapping in a jumble of alarm. “Dear Celestia!” / “Twilight?!” / “Woah, nelly!”
Stupid! Stupid! She’d ruined it. A priceless artifact fractured under her hooves. Celestia’s trust shattered with it. She should have known better. She should have been more careful. This was never guaranteed to work in the first place. She inhaled shakily, forcing her expression into something calm. “Just—just calm down everyone,” she said, raising her voice over the alarm. Her lips wavered around the words, but she pulled them into a smile. “We just fed a little too much magic into it, that’s all.”
The reassurance rang hollow even to her own ears. Her horn flashed as she flicked every switch at once. The alarm cut off. The gears slowed. The silence that followed pressed heavy, broken only by their breathing.
Her legs folded under her. “..Thanks for coming, girls. You can go ahead and leave. I’ve got… a lot of explaining to do to the princesses.”
The others hesitated. Sympathy lingered in their eyes, unreadable but present. Rainbow was first to step forward, brushing dust off one leg before laying her hoof on Twilight’s. “Hey. No biggie. If you’re worried they’ll be mad about the mirror thing, just say I broke it messing around.”
Twilight’s throat tightened. She managed a weak smile. “No, that’s alright. It’s my fault it cracked. I pushed it too far.” Hoofsteps tapped beside her. Twilight blinked at the pale-yellow fur that came into view. Fluttershy leaned in with a small, nervous smile. “I… I think it’s more fair to say we all broke it. This couldn’t have happened if we weren’t all here.”
Twilight opened her mouth, shaking her head. “Fluttershy, it’s honestly—”
Applejack’s voice cut in, solid, steady. “Ah’d say the honest thing to do is admit our collective fault in it.” Twilight didn’t get a chance to reply before Pinkie threw her forelegs around her neck from behind, squeezing tight. “Don’t worry! I’ll bake the bestest ‘sorry for breaking your mirror’ cake ever!”
Rarity raised a hoof to her chest, lifting her chin with a faint smirk. “Or perhaps the princesses would prefer a tasteful set of dresses to offset the loss.”
Tears pricked hotly at the corners of Twilight’s eyes. She swallowed once, twice, before the words forced their way through. “Girls…” She looked at them, each one holding steady. Her gloom cracked, her grin pushing through. “Thank you. I don’t know what I’d do without all of you.”
Rainbow withdrew her hoof, settling back with a shrug. “Maybe try not to shoulder every burden yourself. We’re your friends. Imagine how lame it’d be if we left you hanging?” Twilight laughed softly, though her voice still wavered. She pushed herself to her hooves, brushing dust from her chest fur. “Yeah. I guess so.”
They began to move for the stairs. Applejack nudged her side gently, offering her the faintest smile. “After ah’m done at the farm, wanna come over for some good ol’ apple fritters?” Pinkie was already bouncing alongside. “Ooh! Can I come too?!”
Applejack rolled her eyes but nodded. “Course, Pinkie.”
Their chatter filled the space, light and ordinary. Twilight let herself breathe with it, the weight easing. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. Maybe—
——Crack.
She stilled. Her ears twitched again, the sound sharp, unmistakable. Her eyes darted back to the mirror. Cracks spread further, deeper. Shadows seeped through the fissures, pouring into the room like liquid smoke.
The others were bound before Twilight could even shout.
At first it was like the shadows reached only for their hooves, but in the next instant they climbed higher, twisting into shapes that didn’t belong. Rainbow jerked once before her wings were pinned tight, feathers bent at wrong angles by bands of black. Applejack’s legs strained, but the more she pulled the tighter the coils cinched, wrapping her chest until her breath came sharp.
Pinkie was lifted off the floor entirely, suspended as if strings had hooked into her limbs, her outline twitching in the grip. Rarity’s mane caught in the murk, strands stretched taut until her head was wrenched back, jaw clenched against the pressure. Fluttershy hardly moved at all—she simply sagged, wings and tail swallowed whole by the creeping dark until only her eyes showed, wide and gleaming.
The shadows writhed, each binding pulsing faintly as if alive, tightening with a will all their own.
Twilight’s pulse pounded. She turned back to the mirror just as the surface cracked wider, a black tide spilling through, thick enough to smother the light in the room.
Natsuki Subaru stepped out of a convenience store, eyes dark and nasty. He continued walking, stopping and taking a short glance at the building behind him. The neon light of its sign stung his eyes. He briefly took in the sight before turning away. The plastic bag in his grasp swung from side to side, lightly bouncing against his hip as he moved.
The snacks hardly felt worth the effort it took to get them. At least he’d have something to satiate himself as he fell asleep playing games. He came to the edge of the street, briefly looking both ways before passing over. The soles of his shoes padded lightly against the concrete as he stepped between streetlights.
“—W-What’s going on?!” Pinkie cried, her voice cracking as she writhed against the bands of blackness tightening around her legs and barrel. The shadows clung to her like tar, squeezing until her movements were reduced to jerks and shudders.
Twilight’s horn burned hot, sweat streaming down her forehead as sparks hissed off her magic. Her breath came sharp and ragged. “I—I don’t know! Just focus! We still have the Elements—we can force this back!”
The six ponies shut their eyes. Their bodies trembled, but one by one the jewels on their necklaces and crown began to thrum, a low resonance that seemed to shake the walls themselves. From inside the writhing dark, light bled outward. The shadows hissed as if scorched, slinking away from Fluttershy’s muzzle just long enough for her to gasp in a desperate lungful of air.
Then brilliance erupted—white fire spilling from their eyes, from the jewels, from the very floor beneath their hooves. For a moment, harmony sang. The shadows withered, peeling back as if the world itself had decided to reject them.
But then, like a tide, they surged forward. The darkness pulsed in rhythm, alive. Six enormous, formless hands clawed their way out of the void, slick and dripping shadowstuff. Fingers stretched and snapped around each gemstone at once.
The room buckled. The air itself warped, the colors of the world smearing and tearing at the edges as if reality were stretched too thin.
And then it came.
CRRRRRAAAAACK!
The shattering scream of crystal echoed as each Element splintered, fissures spider-webbing across their surface. Dozens of shards spilled outward in slow motion, scattering like dead embers. Their glow guttered out.
The artifacts were grey. Empty.
Twilight’s eyes shrank to pinpricks. The gloom in her chest hollowed out into panic so sharp it almost split her ribs. The Elements couldn’t break. They couldn’t. They had never failed—not with harmony, not with friendship—
——A voice rang out.
“—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—”
It forced itself into her mind, repeating endlessly, overlapping itself, hundreds, thousands of whispers. It scraped at her skull, pressed into her ears, her bones, her blood.
“ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—.”
Cold. Cold. Cold. Why was she so cold? Why was it inside her? She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t think. Her breath misted, though the air was still. She wanted to scream, to claw it out, to stop it stop it stop it—
“—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.”
Her soul itself recoiled. Twilight’s gaze flicked to her friends, each of them pale, eyes stretched wide, their terror raw and naked.
“…T-Twilight….?” Fluttershy sounded as if she would shatter at any moment. “...A-Are you o-okay?”
She wasn’t. None of them were.
The shadows went taut.
They were all ripped from where they stood, dragged like dolls across the floor. Hooves scraped uselessly, sparks flying where some hit stone. Their muffled screams tangled together, rising in pitch as they were hauled straight toward the mirror’s blackened surface.
“No—!” Twilight roared, her horn flaring violently. Pink fire exploded outward, locking them all in place just feet from the yawning void. The pull fought her, relentless. It wasn’t strength she was using anymore, just stubborn terror and instinct. She strained, shaking, her body shuddering with the effort. Inch by inch, she pulled them back. She couldn’t even tell how she was holding on. It didn’t matter.
They were counting on her. They were counting on her. She couldn’t fail. Not now. Not ever. The bindings began to writhe as she pulled away. Snapping like threads. Almost there.
The shadows writhed. Coils peeled off from the bindings, slithering up her body. Cold seeped in, unnatural, invasive. Then it struck her head—flooding in. Like water filling her lungs, pouring down her throat, through her ears, behind her eyes. She gagged against nothing, horn sparking brighter, brighter, brighter—until it sputtered.
Her purple eyes dulled. Her magic cut out. And the spell snapped.
Their bodies were yanked forward all at once, shrill voices cutting off as the mirror swallowed them whole. The shadows stretched thin around them and then collapsed, plunging everything into silence.
Nothing.
Then—flashes. Disjointed colors. Voices that weren’t hers, weren’t theirs. And through it all, warmth.
Love.
Love. Love. Love. Love. Love. Love. Love. Love. Love. Love. It pounded in her skull like a heartbeat. LoveLovelovelovelovelovelovelove—so much it blurred into static, into heat, into need. She wanted to stay here. The dark was soft, weightless, cradling her. It wasn’t cold anymore. It wasn’t frightening. It was… home.
Moments not her own fluttered through her.
Growing up on a rock farm, the dust, the dull gray horizon, the laughter of sisters she never had. Bucking apple trees until sweat dripped down her neck, tasting the tang of harvest on her tongue. The delicate prickle of a needle as dresses came together stitch by stitch. The thrill of slicing through air, tricks looping high above a roaring crowd. Taking care of sick animals who couldn’t care for themselves. And then, a sky splitting open with a rainboom, witnessed from six angles at once.
It was all hers. It was all them.
Twilight’s body slackened. Something inside her whispered she should resist, that this wasn’t right—but her limbs were too heavy, her horn too still. That voice was so far away. Why fight it? This warmth… this love… it was everything. She smiled faintly, drifting in the black. She was held. She was cherished. That was enough.
She glanced around.
Five other shapes floated with her, blurred silhouettes in the dark. Their manes, their coats—familiar, yet strange. Who were they? Friends? Family? No, that didn’t matter. Nothing mattered. What was she even thinking about, again?
“—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ ᵧₒᵤ.—.”
The words crashed in on her from every angle, overlapping endlessly, smothering thought. It filled her lungs, her blood, her soul. Her mind spun in loops, hollowed out with devotion that wasn’t hers. All that existed was this voice. This love. This love. This love—
For some reason, suddenly, it all stopped. Twilight felt hazy, even disconnected, as a familiar voice whispered out. It sounded almost.. Angry.
The void went still, heavy and suffocating in its silence. Twilight’s smile wavered, though she barely felt it. Her eyelids drooped. Everything blurred at the edges, her thoughts slipping loose like sand through her hooves.
A whisper brushed against her ear. Not warm this time. Not sweet. Chilled.
“——not you.”
The sound rippled through her chest. She wanted to react, to lift her head, but she couldn’t even remember how. The words seemed to peel her away from herself, layer by layer, until she was only a faint outline. Her pulse slowed. Her eyes further dimmed. The warmth she’d been wrapped in thinned to a distant hum.
She tried to think. Of names, of anything, but the images dissolved before she could catch them. Colors bled into darkness. Shapes melted into fog. Her smile lingered, faint and empty, as her body grew heavy. Too heavy to move. Too heavy to care.
Everything was so far away now.
Like a foal tugged back into sleep, she let go.
Approaching his house door, Subaru grasped the knob and turned it. Something flickered at the edge of his vision, just a shimmer, one that left him blinking, momentarily frozen. He rubbed his eyes with the heel of his palm.
“Am I so tired I’m seeing things now..?” he muttered, entirely to himself. Shaking it off, he pushed the door open and stepped inside. Same old, same old.
The smell of miso broth drifted from the kitchen, faintly mixing with detergent from laundry. His mother was moving between the living room and kitchen, apron tied around her waist. She caught sight of him and turned with that same familiar ease, brown hair swinging slightly.
“Oh, you’re back already, Subaru? How was it?”
Without meeting her eyes, he trudged past. “It was fine, thanks.” As he slipped by, her voice followed him, edged with hesitation. “Subaru, wait.”
He stopped, shoulders stiff. Why now, of all times? He just wanted to hole up in his room and let the night swallow him. Unfortunately, her tone left no room to pretend he hadn’t heard. With a reluctant sigh, he turned back to face her. “Yeah?”
She tilted her head, smiling softly, though her eyes carried something heavier. “I was thinking we could go somewhere tomorrow. Maybe the ice rink? You haven’t been there in a couple of years.”
Subaru’s gaze slipped to the side. “I don’t know… my old skates wouldn’t fit anymore.”
“That’s okay,” she said quickly, stepping closer, her hand reaching out to take his. “We can just buy you a new pair. It’d be good for us to all get out together. You’ve been staying in your room so much lately, I just—”
Her words caught in his chest. He exhaled sharply, and she faltered, her sentence trailing off. How long had it been since she’d made an offer like that? A simple family outing. A tomorrow to look forward to.
He thought about shutting it down, about saying he wasn’t up to it. About admitting that being around them, being anywhere, just made the gloom worse.
But the earnestness in her voice, the fragile hope she wore so plainly—it pulled at him. Could he really crush it?
Maybe he could. He was a burden anyway. Even his sigh had been enough to silence her. How much worse could he get?
Still…
A thin smile tugged at his lips, forced through the emptiness hollowing out his eyes. “Sure. Let’s do it.”
The words soured as soon as they left him, bitter on his tongue. But his mother’s eyes lit with a quiet joy, and then she wrapped her arms around him. The suddenness startled him, but he didn’t pull away. The warmth felt undeserved, yet he leaned into it, just a little.
After a moment she drew back, her own smile steadier. “I’ll let your father know, so don’t worry about anything. Just be ready in the morning, okay?”
Subaru closed his eyes and scratched at the back of his neck, grin awkward and weak. “O-Okay. Yeah. I’ll get to bed early in that case.”
He waited for her to reply, but silence stretched. “...Mom?” He slowly opened his eyes. A blinding sting of light seared across his vision. He winced, raising an arm to shield himself. When the brightness eased, his heart skipped a beat.
The world around him changed.
The wooden floor beneath his feet was gone, replaced by cobblestone, uneven and cool. The faint hum of an air conditioner had been swallowed by the clamor of a crowd. He turned in place, heart hammering, his home nowhere to be found.
Behind him, water splashed and bubbled from a towering fountain. All around, strangers moved with brisk steps, speaking murmurs that felt oddly sharp in his ears. A massive reptilian beast lumbered by, claws clicking against the stone as it hauled a heavy carriage. The people guiding it wore strange cloaks and tunics, their faces hardened but not unfriendly.
“What…?”
Subaru’s dull eyes widened, shock breaking through the emptiness.
“What's going on?”
He had just been—what? He glanced around, trying to discern anything familiar. It all escaped him. There was no explanation for this. None that made sense, and yet, the one he had, the one that seemed so improbable..
“I’ve.. been summoned to another world.. ?”
Light poured into his gaze, awe forcing his eyes wide open. His lips curled into a grin, sharp and breathless. He took a step forward, almost skipping with excitement. “No way—!”
His foot caught on something. He pitched forward, yelping as his arms shot out just in time to break the fall. “Wha—!” The bag at his side gave a muffled pop. Crushed chips rattled against his hip. Subaru froze, sweat trickling down his forehead as the weight of multiple gazes pressed against him.
He turned stiffly, pulling his legs in as he began to stand up. He knew he looked like a bit of an idiot, but they were staring a bit too intensely for that. Did his body change or something? As he turned his head up, he noticed what had tripped him.
His gaze fell on a strange creature lying still on the cobblestone, limp but breathing. It wasn’t exactly small, but it wasn’t exactly big either. It seemed about the size of an adult dog. It was yellow with a soft pink mane cascaded over its face. He crouched, tilting his head as he examined it. “A horse?” He spoke with caution, confusion. Something about it was… off. His dark eyes lingered on its unrealistic, feathery wings.
Curiosity overrode hesitation. He extended a hand, fingers brushing across its coat. Soft. Warm. Alive.
“Is this some kind of starting gear.. animal..?..” The mutter was half-joking, half-serious, his lips twitching into a faint grin. The chatter of the crowd around him started pressing in. Passersby slowed, eyes lingering on the horse with expressions ranging from mild curiosity to unease. It sent a prickle down his spine. Whatever this thing was, leaving it out in the open didn’t seem like a good idea.
“Alright, buddy.. Let’s go.” he murmured, bending down. He scooped it up into his arms. It was lighter than expected, delicate in a way that made him hold it carefully. The horse barely reacted, its body limp against him.
As he moved through the street, the dull thud of his rubber soles was drowned out by the constant musings and hurried footsteps of the townspeople. His mind drifted, words tumbling together in the quiet space between his thoughts.
A fantasy world. Demi-humans. Wars. Magic.
It was everything he’d ever dreamed of, every late-night escape into manga and games suddenly bleeding into reality. He didn’t care how it happened. He was here now. That meant he had a chance—a chance to do it right this time.
The equine stirred faintly in his arms, brushing against him. Its long pink mane tickled his cheek, and he spat lightly as he turned his head away. Still, the faint scent lingered—sweet, like strawberries with a grassy edge.
The warmth blooming in his chest surprised him. It made him smile despite himself. “Guess you’re my responsibility now, huh.”
Then a scream rang out, piercing his ears. Subaru’s head snapped up. A little girl stood frozen in the middle of the road, eyes wide as a carriage barreled toward her. The claws of the beast pulling it cracked sharply against the cobblestone, wooden wheels bouncing hard over uneven stone. A man shouted—a warning, desperate—but the creature didn’t slow.
Subaru’s muscles tensed. This was it. His perfect moment. A hero’s moment.
Did he have skills? He had to. Fire magic? Lightning? Water? Hell, even some telekinesis would do. His lips split into a grin. “I guess it’s my time to shine!”
His arms twitched, body ready to move—
—but something held him back.
His eyes flicked down. The unconscious creature weighed against his chest.
“Oh, crap.”
Before he could even attempt to set it down, a blur of silver streaked across his vision. A figure in armor lunged forward, grabbing the girl and rolling to safety just as the carriage rattled past, missing them by mere inches. The impact of boots hitting the ground, the scrape of metal against stone—the knight stood, adjusting their grip on the child as if the entire act had been effortless.
For a brief second, the entire street stood in silence. Then, cheers erupted from the crowd.
Subaru exhaled, shoulders sagging as tension bled from his body. His grip eased, realizing only then how tightly he’d been clutching the creature. The adrenaline still burned in his veins, but the edge dulled into relief.
“…It’s fine. I couldn’t have let go of you anyway.” His voice was quiet, a little bitter, almost as though he was speaking to himself. “Can’t risk someone grabbing you up.”
He glanced down, eyes softening at the sight of the fragile thing in his arms.
“Yeah… that’s right. You’re still asleep. Way too vulnerable.”
The words were nothing, but they steadied him. He shifted his hold, turning away as the crowd cheered the knight behind him, and walked on.
The streets around Subaru felt simultaneously familiar and foreign. The stone-paved roads bore a medieval air, yet the occasional sight of demihumans—a rabbit-eared child playing with a ball, a scaly merchant haggling with a customer—reminded him he wasn’t in Japan anymore. If the lizard-drawn carts lumbering by hadn’t already made that clear, the peculiar smells of spices hanging in the air certainly did.
His wandering led him to a small fruit stand, run by a green-haired man with a piercing gaze. Subaru carefully set the unconscious pegasus down by a nearby wall before approaching the stand.
The fruit on display looked very familiar—rounded and red—but the signs on the cart might as well have been written in hieroglyphs. Subaru squinted, trying to make sense of the jagged, looping symbols. “No good. I can’t read a single character.”
“Hey, boy!” The shopkeeper’s voice cut through Subaru’s thoughts. His tone was gruff but curious. “Those are some strange clothes you’ve got on. You a traveler?”
He ignored the question altogether. Instead, he pointed toward one of the red fruits. “What are these?” The man folded his arms. “Appas.”
Subaru tapped his chin in thought. “Alright, they understand me... so the question is…” He reached into his pocket, fishing out a few coins. Yen, glittering faintly in the sunlight. The shopkeeper glanced at them, then scoffed. “What kind of money is this? You can’t use this junk in Lugunica!” He waved Subaru off dismissively.
“I.. Um..” Subaru lowered his hand, a bead of sweat forming on his brow.
“You’re flat broke, huh?” The shopkeeper’s grimace deepened, his arms folding tight across his chest. “Scram! Quit interfering with my business!”
Shit. Subaru’s hands shot up instinctively in surrender, his words spilling out in a rush. “Hey, wait, wait! I have another question!”
The man’s expression only darkened further, eyes narrowing like slits. “Questions are for paying customers! I don’t have time for this. Get out of here.”
Subaru’s throat caught. “But I—”
“Go!”
The bark sent him stumbling a half-step back, heat prickling across his cheeks from the attention it drew. His protest shriveled in his chest, leaving him no choice but to turn away. He exhaled through his teeth, rubbing the back of his neck as he made his way back to where the little horse lay.
“Great first impression, huh…” he muttered, voice flat with embarrassment. He bent down, scooping the unconscious creature carefully into his arms again. She felt lighter than she should’ve been, her limp form pressing against his bruises as he adjusted his hold. His gaze softened despite himself. “I’ll just… ask someone else about you.”
So he tried.
Minutes stretched into long, awkward exchanges. Each time he approached someone, a vendor, a passerby, even a guard, the response was the same. Cold eyes. Tight lips. A clipped tone at best. At worst, a glare sharp enough to cut.
And every time their eyes flicked down to the pegasus cradled against him, Subaru caught something harsher: disdain, revulsion, even fear. No matter how he framed his questions, people recoiled. Some wouldn’t even speak.
It left him unsettled. Animals like this, pegasi, whatever she was, were they hated here? Cursed? He frowned, hugging her closer as if shielding her from the burden of their stares.
From his perspective, she just looked… different. Small, delicate, out of place. But different didn’t mean dangerous. Different didn’t mean bad. Still, that didn’t stop the way the crowd’s judgment burned at his back, turning every word of dismissal into another unanswered question.
Giving up on that, Subaru kept walking. His sneakers scuffed against cobblestone, the sound oddly out of place in the sea of leather and cloth around him. But no matter which street he turned down, the result was the same; stares. Dozens of eyes stuck to him, drifting from his face to the creature in his arms.
It sucked. He didn’t want people whispering behind his back, didn’t want to pick up some bad reputation just for… carrying a horse. A tiny horse with wings, sure, but still. The thought of leaving it behind gnawed at him, though. Unthinkable. Something about it—her?—being left alone in the street made his stomach twist.
He shook the thought off, quickening his pace.
A bridge stretched out ahead, arching gently over a narrow canal. Subaru stepped onto it, only to find his path blocked halfway across. Six people stood together, clustered like they’d been waiting for him. Five men, broad-shouldered, sun-toughened, and one woman lingering behind them.
One of the men stepped forward. Brown-haired, heavy jaw, eyes set in a scowl. His voice was low, suspicious.
“So, what’re you doing carrying around a Witchbeast?”
Subaru’s throat tightened. He forced a smile, raising his free hand in mock surrender. “‘Witchbeast’? I’m not really sure what you mean, sorry.”
Before he could even blink, the blonde woman behind the men shouted. Her voice cracked with raw fear. “Lies! It’s in your arms! How can you even stomach touching something like that?!”
Her words hit him like a rock to the gut. Fuck. A compulsory event. He’d seen this trope a hundred times. Cornered by hostile NPCs. Except these weren’t pixelated sprites, they were people, and they outnumbered him. Five against one. Subaru swallowed hard, his heart racing.
He tried to steady himself, to throw up a shield of words.
“Listen, I don’t have an honest clue what you’re talking about. This ‘thing’ is just a horse.” He gestured down toward the limp body in his arms, awkwardly. “I mean, okay, it’s small, and yeah, it has wings, so it’s more like a pegasus, but still. A Witchbeast sounds pretty frightening, which is the exact opposite of this equine.”
The brown-haired man’s lip curled. He cracked his knuckles, the sound sharp in his ears. “We’re not falling for that. Good little act, though. Sorry to say, even kids know what Witchbeasts are.” The others shifted forward in unison, shoes grinding against stone. Five men advancing slowly, tightening the noose.
The first fist came swinging without warning. Subaru’s breath caught in his throat. “W-Wait—Hrrgghhh!”
Air left his lungs in a grunt as a meaty fist slammed into his back. Pain exploded sharp and raw, tearing a hiss out of him. His knees buckled, arms tightening instinctively around the horse in his grasp.
It hurt. No, it really hurt.
The kind of pain that pulsed through his ribs, left his spine trembling. There was no disconnect like with a video game, just bone and muscle screaming where the punch had landed. He staggered forward, wheezing, then twisted his leg out, aiming clumsily for the ankle of the man nearest him. Desperate. Sloppy. If he could just trip one of them, maybe he could—
The weight in his arms betrayed him. The little equine shifted against his chest, wings limp, and his motion faltered. He couldn’t swing his body the way he needed to. His foot clipped air.
The blonde woman shrieked from behind the men, her voice raw with hysteria. “Kill the Witchbeast! Kill it before it kills you!”
Those words lit the fuse.
All five men descended on him at once. Fists, knees, feet—he couldn’t tell what hit him where. Pain thudded through his jaw, ribs, stomach, shoulders. His breath tore ragged as each blow knocked him further back. He clenched his teeth, refusing to loosen his hold on the equine.
“D-Damn it!” Subaru coughed, spittle flecking his lip. He stumbled, heels scraping the stone, vision flickering as he realized the wall of bodies pressing him back wasn’t just the men. It was the bridge’s edge.
One more step. One more push. His heart lurched.
The brown-haired man stepped forward, drawing back his arm with cold precision. Subaru’s eyes widened, his chest locking tight with fear.
The punch crashed into his sternum.
The world tilted. His body flew backward. Cold air rushed past his ears as his heart thundered out of rhythm. The stone edge vanished beneath his feet, replaced by empty space.
“—!” Subaru’s breath cut off in his throat as he plummeted, eyes stretched wide in pure panic. The water rose to meet him, rushing up like glass. He hit with a resounding splash, the icy chill swallowing him whole.
Injured and struggling, Subaru clawed his way through the current, every stroke a knife twisting in his bruised ribs. His lungs burned, his teeth grit tight as he clutched the limp pegasus against his chest, forcing her head above the water no matter how much it dragged him under. He kicked, flailed, pulled—more instinct than technique—and somehow, somehow, his hands found the edge of a raised stone path.
By the time he staggered onto shore, both of them were soaked through, water sluicing from his sleeves, his hair plastered in wet strings across his face.
Each step was a stumble, knees nearly buckling, but he still refused to let her slip from his grasp.
He found his way into a shadowed alleyway. His legs gave out and he collapsed against the cold stone wall, hunched, trembling. The smell of damp brick and stagnant water clung thickly to the air.
Subaru wrung out his jacket with shaking hands, water dripping in erratic splashes onto the cobblestones. The sound echoed faintly, a cruel rhythm—splish, splish, splish—mocking the hollow ache inside his bones.
“This… This is so wrong,” he groaned, voice cracking. Pain flared hot across his body as he shifted, bruises screaming their presence. His lip curled in a half-bitter smile, half-grimace. “Wasn’t I summoned into a different world? Where’s my protagonist status..?”
His hand drifted over his arm, brushing against a deep purple welt. The sharp, raw sting made him hiss, jerking away. Every breath, every throb of pain reminded him how breakable he was.
In spite of himself, his eyes slid to the pegasus lying beside him. She hadn’t stirred. Her pastel coat was dulled and heavy with damp, her feathers bent out of place, wings splayed clumsily across the stone. She looked fragile, porcelain-delicate; something that might crack into pieces if handled too roughly.
Her lips parted faintly, her breaths shallow, and for a terrible second Subaru thought she might not be breathing at all. She looked… cold. Too cold.
“Shit.” Subaru twisted the jacket hard one last time, wringing out the last pitiful trickles of water, before carefully spreading it across her small frame. The fabric clung damply, barely worth the effort, but it was all he had.
He hovered over her, hand trembling in the air, hovering just above her cheek, unsure if he dared touch. Then, with a shaky breath, he let it fall back to his lap. For a moment, he just sat there, drenched, battered, teeth chattering, watching her. The silence pressed in, heavy and unkind, broken only by the faint drip-drip of water onto stone.
"..You better be okay. I took a pretty serious beating over you.”
Subaru tiredly dug into his pocket, fingers stiff and clumsy from the cold. Miraculously, despite being soaked through, the phone’s screen flickered to life, its pale glow throwing faint, uneven shadows against the alley walls. For a moment, hope sparked in his chest—only to die just as quickly.
“No bars?!” His voice cracked in outrage. “What good is this thing, then?!”
He groaned, jamming it back into his pocket with more force than he meant to. His body punished him instantly—pain lanced through his ribs and shoulders, sharp reminders of the beating and the fall. He hissed between his teeth, sagging against the wall.
With a sigh, he tugged the soaked convenience store bag into his lap. It sagged, flimsy and pathetic, every item inside waterlogged beyond saving. His hand sank into cold mush—potato chips turned to slop. “Gross,” he muttered, flicking the soggy crumbs off his fingertips.
That left the instant noodles. He pulled them out with a resigned grimace and tore the lid open sluggishly. Dry noodles, no hot water. Even the river he’d crawled out of didn’t look safe enough to gamble on. His stomach growled anyway. He’d never thought he’d stoop this low, but hunger didn’t leave much room for pride.
He stared at the little plastic seasoning packet for a long moment, debating if it was worth the trouble.
“—nnggh…”
The sound stilled him. Subaru’s head snapped toward the pegasus.
Her ear twitched, delicate and uncertain, followed by a faint scrunch of her nose. Her chest rose in shallow, unsteady breaths, pink strands of her mane clinging to her damp face like wilted petals. Slowly, her eyes cracked open; a sliver at first, then wider, unfocused teal swimming with confusion.
She blinked once. Twice. Then her whole body jolted upright.
“W-Why am I wet..?”
Her voice was feather-light, thin with panic. She tried to stand, hooves slipping and skidding across the slick cobblestone. Her wings flared on instinct, scattering droplets everywhere, feathers snapping wide.
“Wait, careful!” Subaru lunged forward, catching her before she toppled. They froze together, her trembling form locked against his arms. Her gaze lifted warily until her eyes finally locked on his face.
He forced a nervous smile. “Hello—”
“WHAT ARE YOU?!” Her scream tore the air apart. She shoved him back with raw, desperate strength, sending Subaru sliding across the ground like a ragdoll. His shoulder cracked against the stone. “Wha—ack!”
She staggered in a scramble to get away, wings half-spread, hooves clattering awkwardly as she tried to press against the wall. Her breath came in short, panicked bursts. “G-Get away!”
Then her hooves betrayed her—slipping on the slick stones. Her jaw hit the ground with a sharp clack. “Hhk—!” Subaru scrambled upright, heart hammering, voice tight. “Look, just—breathe, okay? I’m not gonna hurt you!”
The words only seemed to make her panic sharper. Her pupils shrank, her chest heaved, and she thrashed to stand again. Wings beat frantically, feathers spraying water, her body jittering. “Wait! Don’t leave!” Subaru shouted, darting toward her.
For an instant, her wings caught the air, lifting her just enough. She veered sideways in blind desperation—straight into the wall. Subaru was right behind, unable to stop in time. His shoulder slammed into the stone, rattling his bones with a burst of pain.
She flinched at the sound of impact, wings shuddering violently. Subaru clutched his shoulder, teeth gritted. “Agh—seriously?!”
Water still dripped from the walls, the air damp and heavy as the alley became a chaos of flapping wings and stumbling feet.
“Wait—stop! Just listen to me!” Subaru called, stumbling after her. His shoes squeaked on the wet stone, every lunge just a hair too slow. The pegasus skittered sideways, hooves clattering against the wall as she spun, teal eyes darting in every direction for escape.
Her feathers brushed against a crate, scattering splinters. She hissed out a panicked whinny, breath coming sharp and shallow. Subaru raised his hands, palms open. “Calm down, I’m trying to help you!” The horse didn’t. Her gaze caught on the faint strip of light at the end of the alley, wide as if salvation itself had appeared.
“No—wait, don’t—!”
She bolted. Her hooves pounded, wings beating clumsily, head low as she aimed for the open street. Subaru cursed under his breath and threw himself forward. His arms wrapped around her hind legs just as she reached the exit.
The two of them went crashing down in a tangle of limbs, Subaru’s back slamming against the cobblestone with a wet smack. Pain jolted through him, knocking the breath from his lungs.
“Let me go!” she shrieked, thrashing violently. Her kicks lashed out blindly, striking Subaru in the face again and again. White-hot pain exploded across his cheekbone, then his jaw, then his lip split with the copper taste of blood.
Still, he held on, arms locking tight around her legs. “Listen!” he shouted, voice breaking as another hoof smacked against his brow. Stars danced in his vision but he forced the words out. “I know you’re scared! I just wanna help, okay?!” He clung tighter, tears stinging his eyes as much from the pain as the desperation. “If you go out there, you might get attacked! They—they don’t like you! Please, just—please—!”
His voice cracked on the last word, raw and strained. The pegasus froze mid-kick. Her chest heaved, her wings trembled, but her movements slowed.
Her wide teal eyes locked onto Subaru’s battered face. His lip bled down his chin, one eye already darkening into a bruise, sweat and riverwater plastering his hair to his skin. Despite the sorry state he was in, he only looked at her with desperate sincerity.
The fight drained from her. Trembling, she went still, and slowly, her expression shifted, panic giving way to guilt, her mouth tightening as though she’d finally realized herself. “I… I’m sorry… Oh gosh…” Her voice quivered.
Subaru finally released her legs, his arms falling limply to the wet cobblestone. His head lolled to the side, groaning. “Agh… N-No problem… Are you… willing to talk now?”
She hesitated, then awkwardly pulled her legs in and stepped closer. Her feathers drooped, her movements unsteady, but she extended a foreleg out to him. Subaru blinked, surprised, before grasping it. She tugged, helping him back onto his feet with a strength that startled him all over again.
Her teal eyes flicked over his bruised face, and her expression crumpled. “Y-You’re… gosh, is this… is this all because of me? I’m so sorry, I was just—” Her words tangled as tears welled, dripping down her damp fur. “You’re this hurt because of me… I’m sorry!”
Subaru’s chest squeezed tight at the sight. He dropped back to a knee in front of her despite all of the pain, forcing a grin as wide as he could manage. “Hey, I’m fine! See? Barely hurts at all!” He tapped the side of his cheek with mock bravado, though the wince that followed nearly broke the illusion.
She flinched, ears flattening as she stumbled a step back, like even looking at him might hurt him further. “..I still shouldn’t have—” Subaru cut in quickly, “Listen,” his tone was firm but not harsh. “I’m the one who got beat up, not you. And I’m telling you—you’re good. That’s the end of it.”
Her legs wobbled beneath her. She looked like she might collapse right there, every breath shallow, every feather trembling. But Subaru stayed steady, hands open, gaze fixed on her, not accusing, not afraid.
Seconds stretched.
Then, just barely, the tension left her frame. Her wings tucked in closer, her eyes softened, and she let out a long, shaky exhale. “…Okay.”
Subaru smiled lightly, though his lips trembled from exhaustion. He had finally managed something. Almost losing his companion on the first interaction was just embarrassing, but here she was — alive, trembling, but breathing. “You’re wet because I, uh…” Subaru rubbed the back of his head, letting out a sheepish chuckle, droplets flicking from his damp hair. “Fell off a bridge. With you. That part was… not ideal.”
A flicker of uncertainty crossed her face. Her wings stayed half-flared, trembling like they wanted to bolt on their own. Water clung to her coat, tracing tiny rivulets down her sides. For a long pause she just stared at him, searching for something in his expression, and then her wings lowered an inch. Her mane hung heavy, plastered to her cheek, half-obscuring her eye as she looked down.
“T-Thank you…” Her voice was barely above a whisper, soft but sincere. “For getting me out of the water. I’m sure… it couldn’t have been easy.”
Subaru cracked a tired grin. His shoulders ached, but the sound of her voice was oddly grounding.
“Don’t thank me, I didn’t really do a good job at avoiding that situation…” He stretched out his arms, shaking off some of the lingering dampness. Droplets spattered against the stone behind him before he glanced back at her. “But… now that you’re awake, what’s your name?”
She hesitated, tension flickering across her jaw, her lips pressing tight like she was weighing whether to speak at all. “…shy.” he leaned in slightly, cupping a hand to his ear. “Huh? Say that again?”
She swallowed—a small, nervous gulp—then straightened just enough to lift her voice. “It’s… Fluttershy.”
Subaru blinked at her, tilting his head. “Fluttershy, huh? That’s… honestly a pretty cute name. Fits you.” Her blush came almost instantly; she turned her head away, trying to hide behind a curtain of wet mane. “O-Oh, um… thank you. I guess…”
Subaru chuckled, scratching at the back of his head where his hair stuck up from the water. “Man, I gotta say, I’ve been in this world for like, what, a few hours? And you’re the first friend I’ve got here. Isn’t that kinda sad?”
Fluttershy’s eyes flicked back to him, her expression softening as the tension in her shoulders eased just a fraction. “Oh, um… I wouldn’t say that. It sounds like you’ve been having a rough time…”
Subaru sighed dramatically, leaning back against the cold stone wall. The moisture from his clothes chilled his skin, but he kept grinning. “You have no idea. First, I get dumped into this place without warning, then I can’t read anything, I get punched, shoved, and soaked… Honestly, you’re the only good thing that’s happened to me so far.”
Fluttershy’s ears drooped, discomfort flickering over her face like a shadow. “B-But.. I’ve caused you s-so much trouble already..”
Subaru immediately waved his hands, droplets flying off his sleeves. “No, no! Don’t take it that way! You’re not trouble at all. If anything, you’re like… my emotional support right now.” Fluttershy blinked, tilting her head just slightly. “E-Emotional support?”
“Totally,” Subaru replied with a grin that was wholly honest. “I mean, you’re adorable, you’re polite, and you can talk. That already makes you ten times cooler than most of the people I’ve met here.”
Her blush deepened; she looked down again, pawing at the stone floor with a trembling hoof. “I-I’m definitely not ‘cool,’ but… I’m glad I’m helpful to you, even if just a little…” Subaru grinned lopsidedly. “See? That’s what I’m talking about. You’re a real morale booster.”
She seemed to retreat a little into herself, her mane falling like a heavy cloth, dripping faintly as it clung to her cheek. The shy gesture only made Subaru’s smile soften further.
Subaru blinked, then folded his arms behind his head, winking. “Well, nice to meet you, Fluttershy. I’m Natsuki Subaru. Looks like we’re stuck together for now.”
The name hung in the air, oddly grounding despite the absurdity of the situation. For a while neither of them spoke. The muffled chaos of the city pulsed around them; footsteps, clattering wheels, snatches of harsh voices, but here in the narrow alley, it all felt distant, like the two of them had been tucked away in a pocket of stillness.
Finally, Subaru let out a long exhale and pushed himself upright. His damp pants clung uncomfortably to his legs, so he shook them out with an exaggerated flourish.
“Alright, here’s the plan: we’re broke, hungry, and definitely lost. But no worries!” He clapped his hands sharply, the sound echoing against the stone walls, and grinned as if sheer confidence could bend fate in his favor. “I refuse to let that get me down. We’re gonna find some shelter, maybe some food, and figure out how to survive in this world. Sound good?”
Fluttershy flinched faintly at the clap, her ears twitching in sync with the noise of the city beyond. She shifted her weight from hoof to hoof, gaze flicking between Subaru’s open grin and the safety of the ground. There was hesitation in every line of her body, wings still tucked tight, posture drawn in, but not the outright panic from before. After a small, almost imperceptible pause, she gave the faintest nod.
“O-Okay…” The word slipped out like a mouse, barely louder than the breeze around them.
Subaru flashed her a thumbs-up, entirely oblivious to how timid her agreement really was. “Good enough for me.” The gesture, though silly, carried deep sincerity.
Then a thought struck him and he perked up, patting himself down before producing the battered convenience bag he’d somehow managed to keep through the fighting. “Oh, uh—” He crouched and placed the cup of noodles in front of her. “Do you want these? They’re a little dry, but if you’re hungry, it’s not too bad.”
Fluttershy tilted her head, lowering her muzzle toward the strange container. The smell was foreign. Wheat, salt, a faint oily tang; nothing like she had smelled before. She nudged the dry brick with the edge of her nose; the brittle surface crumbled, scattering pale crumbs that bounced across the cobblestone. She flinched back at the sudden sound, wings twitching, glancing at Subaru with wide, uncertain eyes.
“I-I’ve never seen anything like this before…” she admitted, her voice carrying that same breathy hesitation. Her stomach, however, betrayed her with a quiet, needy growl. “…But I am a bit hungry.”
Subaru smirked, the corner of his mouth tugging upward. “Then dig in. Not exactly a five-star meal, but it beats starving.”
For a long moment Fluttershy stilled, as if waiting for the food to prove itself safe. Then, carefully, she lowered her head again and bit into the edge of the ramen brick.
Subaru leaned back against the chipped stone steps, stretching his legs out in front of him with a lazy sigh. The faint chill of damp stone pressed through his clothes, but compared to everything else, it barely registered. Fluttershy had settled a short distance away, her small frame curled neatly beside him, wings tucked in tightly against her sides.
“Man, it’s been a while, hasn’t it..?” Subaru muttered, more to himself than to her, eyes drifting toward the narrow strip of sky above the alley. He forced a half-grin, voice carrying a note of self-mockery. “When’s the beauty that summoned me gonna show up?”
Fluttershy’s ears twitched. She blinked, lifting her head slightly. “Summoned?” The word left her mouth carefully, as though she were testing it for meaning.
Subaru waved his hand in a loose, absent gesture. “Like, you get brought to another world from somewhere else.”
Her teal eyes widened. “You’re from another world?”
Subaru smirked, turning his head just enough to catch her reaction. “Yeah. Impressed yet?”
But Fluttershy’s brows furrowed instead, her lips pulling into the faintest frown. “U-Um… I suppose it is… but why did you leave your ‘somewhere else’? Did you not like it there?”
The question blindsided him. Subaru froze, mouth half-open, the reply dying in his throat. He hadn’t really thought about it, but hadn’t he…
“——just be ready in the morning, okay?”
Subaru forced his gaze away, scratching at the back of his neck. “...I didn’t really get a choice,” he admitted, softer now, “there were some things I’d have liked to do, but… I can’t change anything about that now.”
Fluttershy’s ears drooped slightly. She lowered her head back into her forelegs, curling tighter against herself. “I-I see…” Her voice was quiet, subdued, carrying a sympathy he didn’t understand.
Subaru glanced at her, catching the small dip of her neck, the way her mane shadowed her face. Something in his chest twisted, but he didn’t speak. Instead, he leaned back against the steps, letting the silence rest between them.
It didn’t last.
The steady tap, tap, tap of footsteps echoed down the narrow alleyway, bouncing off the walls. Subaru tensed immediately, his head snapping up. At the far end, three figures emerged from the shadows.
They glared at Subaru, their expressions cold and contemptuous. They looked to be in their mid-twenties, their ragged clothes and sneering faces making them appear as though they thrived on intimidation.
“Great,” Subaru muttered under his breath, dragging himself upright with a wince. Fluttershy shifted nervously beside him, her teal eyes flicking between him and the strangers.
Subaru exhaled sharply, trying to keep the ache in his body from showing in his voice. “Fluttershy, I think we should leave.”
She rose to her hooves, glancing at the trio wearily as she backed up behind him. “O-Okay…”
But the trio didn’t pass by. They stopped. Their gazes locked on Fluttershy—and instantly, their faces twisted with something nastier than contempt. Disgust. Even fear. The first one, considerably shorter than the other two, spoke out. “What is that thing? It looks.. wrong.”
The second, taller and lanky with tufts of dyed hair poking unevenly from his scalp, tilted his head. His lip curled. “Yeah… its eyes are all big and beady. Don’t like looking at it one bit.”
His hand drifted behind his back. With a practiced flick, he produced a blade, twirling it between his fingers until the metal caught what little light the alley offered. “Not that it matters. Weird pet or not, he’s gonna hand over everything he’s got, unless he wants to watch it get gutted.”
The third man, broad-shouldered and silent, cracked his knuckles like punctuation. The three of them advanced slowly, their boots striking the cobblestone in unison, each step echoing like a countdown.
Seeing the glint of his blade, Fluttershy took a step back, then another, and another, She froze. Her breath quickened, ears pinned flat against her skull. Then—step by step—she began retreating, her hooves scraping against stone. First one step, then another, then another, trembling all the while.
Her chest hitched. Panic overtook hesitation. With a sudden burst of movement, she bolted, darting out of the alleyway, wings half-flared.
“Fluttershy—!” Subaru’s shout tore from his throat as he lurched forward, ignoring the protests of his battered body. He sprinted after her, but the three thugs were faster than he wanted to admit—their footfalls hot on his heels.
He grimaced, legs pumping, lungs burning as he fought to keep up. Fluttershy was fast—too fast. Her wings flared awkwardly as she bolted, clearly spurred on by her fright than anything else. He shouted after her, words tearing out ragged and breathless.
“Slow down a little, at least!”
Whether she heard him or not, it didn’t matter. She glanced back for a split second, panic etched across her features, her teal eyes wide and unfocused. That one moment of distraction was enough. Subaru’s stomach dropped.
“Look out! Ahead of you!”
The biggest of the three thugs had already moved to intercept, stepping out with surprising speed for his size. His arms swung wide, palms open, ready to snatch prey.
She didn’t react in time. With a grunt, the brute caught her by the neck, yanking her into a crushing hold against his chest. She let out a strangled cry, wings flailing. “N-No! Let go of me—!”
She thrashed wildly, forehooves slapping against his face again and again. The smacks were frantic, desperate, but they found their mark—his head snapped back under the blows, blood splattering from his nose.
“Gh—damn—!” The thug staggered, momentarily stunned.
Skidding to a stop, Subaru clenched his teeth, twisted his body and threw his fist forward with every ounce of momentum he had. “Hnngghh! The bigger they are, the harder they fall, right?!” his knuckles cracked against the man’s jaw with a sickening impact. Pain shot up his arm, fire lancing through his body, but Subaru didn’t stop—he forced the blow through, shoving his weight behind it.
The brute reeled, then toppled backward under the strike, crashing to the cobblestones with Fluttershy slipping free of his grip.
Subaru staggered, clutching his aching arm, gasping through the flare of agony that made his vision swim. “God, that hurt…” but he grit his teeth through the fire. He’d landed the hit.
Before either of them could scramble to their feet, the other two thugs barreled into the alley. Their footsteps slapped against the stones, anger radiating off them like heat from a forge. One spat a curse, face twisted with rage.
“You’re gonna pay for that!”
The man lunged, blades glinting in the dim light.
Subaru’s breath hitched. His stomach turned to ice as the weapon closed in. No magic. No weapons. Nothing. He couldn’t block it. Couldn’t run. Should he beg? No—begging would only buy him pain. He spun toward Fluttershy instead, reaching for her, hand trembling. Fine. He’d just—
The thug’s foot struck a loose cobblestone with a sharp crack. His balance vanished. He pitched forward, arms windmilling. The blade plunged.
A wet, meaty sound tore through the alley.
Subaru froze as cold steel punched through his side. For a second, there was no pain—only a hollow pressure, like something had scooped his insides out. His eyes went wide.
The thug’s face went chalk-white. He let go of the hilt instantly, stumbling back. “W–Wait, that’s not—shit, shit, that’s not what I—!”
Subaru’s teeth clenched so hard his jaw screamed. Then the pain came—a sharp, searing bloom spreading outward from the wound, his body convulsing against it. Fuck.
Fluttershy’s gaze flew open. She crumpled to her knees, hooves hovering uselessly in front of her. “Subaru?” she uttered. He couldn’t respond. His own blood was hot and sticky under his fingers, dripping down to the stones. His vision jittered, like the world had been shaken out of alignment. “…F–Flutter…sh…” even forcing her name out cost more breath than he had.
“Subaru?!” her voice cracked. She started hyperventilating, tears shining at the corners of her eyes. “Subaru, get up! Please!” She lowered her head, nudging at him frantically. “Nononononono, this can’t—Subaru, get up!”
He tried to swallow but choked on the air in his throat. He was dying. Actually dying. Like this, on a filthy street, without having accomplished a damn thing. She shrieked, despair twisting her voice into something raw and animal. “W–What do I do?! What do I—?!”
He wanted to tell her to run, to drag him into the open, to gamble on anything—anything—to save his life, because he didn’t want to die.
He didn’t want to die.
He didn’t want to die.
He didn’t want to die.
He didn’t want to die.
The world blurred. Shapes smeared and streaked like wet paint across a black canvas. Fluttershy’s yellow coat became nothing more than a trembling slash of color in his fading vision. The two thugs were darker blurs against a deeper dark, their movements jagged and wrong, like shadows fighting each other.
He thought he saw one yellow streak dart at a larger shape, and a smaller one veer away. Voices warped into static, consonants breaking apart mid-sound. “—x him..! You…—rt him!!” a thinner voice then cracked through the mush, strained and desperate, “—ff me—!”
It was all inaudible mush, before something hot struck his face with a wet pat, splattering across his cheek and lips. He blinked, and the smear in his eye came back red. Blood. More blood. What?
He received his answer just moments later, as a yellow blur stumbled, lurched, then toppled onto the ground next to him with a dull, sodden thud. The impact jolted Subaru’s fading focus back for a moment. His stomach clenched.
God oh god oh god god please not like this.
He knew he’d messed up, he knew he hadn’t done what he should have, he knew he was loathsome, burdensome, but he didn’t deserve to die like this.
Fluttershy lay just close enough that the darkness thinned and he could finally make her out. Her throat was a ragged red gash. Blood pulsed out of it in uneven spurts, each breathless convulsion weaker than the last. She was choking on her own life. Crimson soaked her fur until there was no yellow left, only a sticky sheen of red.
It was so warm. So wet. So horribly, horribly real.
He was going to die.
He was dying.
His eyelids slid down over his vision, slow and heavy as iron gates. There was no more strength left in him to hold them open. His old life had already been stripped away. And now this one would follow, disappearing into the same black void.
Darkness swallowed him whole.
...
......
.......
“―Wha... Are you okay?!”