Darkness is an amazing thing. For some it is a place filled with fears and horrors. For others it is the epitome of calm and rest just like sleeping without dreaming, a place of mending for one’s mind. For the select few it is a place where strength can be pulled from. Not just strength but power, power that is unheard of and is dangerous no matter what the reason one chooses to use it for. Within this darkness could be seen a lone figure. A tall, lean, wolf floated there, suspended in the darkness. His grey and white fur waved ever so slightly as if the darkness had a slight breeze to it. For Calico, it was a place of solace at this moment. The darkness he was dealing with wasn’t that of evil, fear, or dark power but the darkness that came with a soft and dreamless sleep. His sleep wouldn’t last for long though. It never really did.

He opened his eyes slowly as light flooded his vision. He was staring straight up at the roof of the building that he was in, a building that he didn’t recognize. He rolled his head back and forth a bit on the pillow to try and see where he was. If he had to make a guess, he was fairly certain that he was lying in some sort of library or if nothing else he was in a home whose owner really enjoyed reading. There were shelves that were carved straight out of the woodwork that were filled to the bursting point with books of all sorts and sizes. This unfamiliar environment instantly lead Calico to want to explore and find out more. Maybe he could find something explaining how he came to be here. He turned over onto his side and sat up. He had been laying on a bed of very nice quality. It was soft and covered in nice smooth sheets. He placed his feet on the floor, taking note that his boots had been removed. He tried to stand up and straighten his legs to full extension, then felt as they gave out under him and he tumbled directly forward and off of the loft that he had been on while sleeping. His body landed with a very unceremonious thud against the floorboards nearly 9 feet below him. His body looking like nothing more than a ball of fur and… feathers? Something was definitely off about this wolf.

The sound very quickly drew the attention of a certain purple unicorn that was busy and somewhat furiously searching through a stack of books nearly as tall as the loft that Calico had just fallen from.

“Oh Goodness, are you alright” the unicorn asked as she rushed over to try and help Calico up.

Calico could do nothing but nearly scream in agony as he started to realize that his body was badly broken. He curled up holding his left arm tightly against his right. The near blinding headache that he had was enough to not be able to see clearly. He barely opened his eyes to try and see the form of the soft voice he heard.

“Try not to pass out on me there. Hang on let me get you a wet rag,” she turned to run when she was stopped mid turn.

“No need dear, I’ve gotten it already.”

The second female voice was soft and yet held an air of poise to it. From the very first word Calico’s ears twitched in the direction that it had come from. This had been the first time that he thought about the fact that he wasn’t alone in this house, well besides the first female. This lead Calico to wonder just how many people were around him. He tried opening his eyes to see if he had regained his sight properly yet. To his chagrin, it was still a bit blurry but clearing up. It was clear enough for him to realize that his right arm was wrapped in bandages. He slowly tried to sit up but found it quite hard to as his body didn’t want to react as it should. To his great fortune he felt something nudging him up into a sitting position. He looked down to see that his clothes had been mostly torn off but thankfully for him, his pants still remained. Well what remained of them anyway. They looked to have been cut into something like shorts but there were charred edges and burn spots all over them. His fur fared no better, looking like he had just gone 3 rounds with a flamethrower. He also noted the bandage wrapped around his head, seems like much more went on than he knew. Thankfully the feeling of the cool wet cloth that was being pressed against his head was taking his mind off of the disaster that was his own body. His mind was immediately invaded by the question of what was pushing the cloth against his head because he saw no hands obstructing his vision.

“What is going on? How did I get here? What are you?” Calico couldn’t help but blurt it all out. His brain was going a mile a minute trying to piece together how he got into this strange house and what had happened to his body.

“I think that’s the question we should be asking you sugar cube,” yet another female voice spoke up. Thankfully his vision had returned enough to see that he was being addressed by a modest sized orange pony with a blond…well… ponytail. The cowboy hat pulled the look together. He momentarily stared her right in the eyes of the cowpony unsure of what to make of the whole situation. He stared at her very intently, seeming to really analyze her eyes. This was beyond even his expertise, something that even he hadn’t dealt with before. He continued to look right into the cowpony’s eyes until she backed away somewhat nervously.

“Anyway….what’s your name stranger,” she asked turning to help Twilight with cleaning up the rag that was used.

“You’re a pony,” he said somewhat flatly but seemingly amused.

“He’s funny,” A pink bouncing pony said as she bounced into his vision, “Hi I’m Pinky Pie.”

“Heeee, a pink bouncing pony with a poofy mane, I must have hit my head harder than I thought,” the dumb expression on Calico’s face telling everyone that he didn’t really believe what he was seeing. He reached out his left hand to try and touch Pinky but was just out of reach until she walked up under his hand without trepidation. Everyone else however was ready for the worst to happen; to them this was a matter that should have been handled by someone less…what’s the word…spastic.

Calico’s hand did nothing more than flop onto Pinky’s head. His eyes opened wide for a moment as he leaned into see just what it was that he was touching. He pulled a few strands of her hair forward and looked closely as they fell between his fingers, his hand visibly shaking. He couldn’t help himself but to sniff what he had in his hand, then to everyone’s surprise, he licked the strands that were in his hand. His eyes growing wider than before as he looked directly into the large eye of Pinky.

Calico opened his mouth in shock for a moment before announcing, “You taste of sugar and muffin batter. My god this is real.” His shock slowly subsided as he leaned back against the shelving that he had been against before.

“Wow you can taste that? I haven’t made muffins in like 3 days and I’ve bathed since then. What else can you taste?” Pinky was bouncing with joy over this.

Calico thought about it for a minute then answered, “You have a very weak shampoo and there is a taste there I would rather not say out loud.” He somewhat smacked his tongue against the roof of his mouth, almost as if trying to get the taste out of it.

“What about your name? Can you tell us that?” Twilight interjected before Pinky Pie asked something else that would interfere with the “mission” she was on.

“Oh sorry, where are my manners. I am Captain Calico FlashFlicker. I have no idea how I got here or even where here is. So I would refrain from asking questions about that, because I don’t know what happened.” A large grin was across his face as he looked at Twilight. “Speaking of which, where am I? Also where did you find me?”

At least it was an easy question for now, but Twilight was a bit worried that the answer may upset him. “You are in Ponyville, in the land of Equestria.” To the letter, she told only the straight facts and nothing more.

The grin on his face dimmed a bit as he looked around. “Marvelous, but that doesn’t tell me very much. I don’t know of any place known as Equestria. What planet is it that I am on?” It took a minute for his brain to process what he had just asked. Without a single moment’s notice, he threw his left hand to his head and groaned a bit. Certain images started flashing through his mind about where he was before he blacked out. He remembered a ship that he was on, a modest sized thing that he could live in comfortably but not take up much space on the ground.

“You’re on…” A loud knocking at the door suddenly broke Twilight’s train of thought. The door slammed open as a tan and grey maned mare wearing spectacles burst through. Twilight turned to see who the intruder was.

“Twilight we need your magic. The building is growing unstable and it might fall.”

“I’ll be right there Mayor Mare. Applejack, can you take care of things here?” Twi looked at AJ and she just nodded. This seemed like the optimal time for Calico to stand up and take a wobbly step towards the door. His legs were weak but he was still able to take a few steps thankfully. It kind of made him wonder why he fell the first time.

As soon as Twilight had left, AJ turned around to see Calico standing in front of her. Tracing up his body caused her to near instantly fall back on her haunches. Before her stood a nearly 7 foot tall Calico, his wings now clearly defined against his back. The pony, even at standing height only came up to his chest. Calico wasted no time in stepping around Applejack and heading out the door that Twilight had bolted through, ducking slightly so as not to hit his head.

Taking his first steps out into this new world, Calico knew that things would never be the same for him again.

Author's Note

So this is the first story I have even tried to write in about 5 years. I really really NEED feedback, both good and bad. I am hoping that the subsequent chapters are going to be better but I have always had a hard time with initial introductions to characters and locals. Once the world that is in my mind is established then the story will flow much better.