The Warrior's Path: Part 1

The buildings become more vivid the closer I get to them. I keep advancing further, hoping to find some answers. Before I enter the town, I see a sign on the outskirts of the town. I run towards the sign posthaste. The sign is relatively small, only coming up to my mid-thigh. I get down on bended knee in order to read the sign. “Welcome to Ponyville” the sign read.

“Ponyville?” I say questioningly.

I stand back up, take a deep breath, and I enter the town. When I walk in, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing: Ponies, ponies everywhere. And no two ponies were exactly the same. They were all different in size, coat color, mane and tail color, and etcetera. Some ponies had wings, signifying that they were pegasi, some had horn which meant that they were unicorns, and some ponies didn’t have anything. They were just…regular ponies. I am, simply, blown away by all of this, and I can’t help but admire such diversity. Such things put a smile on my face, but the other ponies didn’t seem to share my emotions. In fact, the other ponies give me some questionable look, and some even smirk and giggle in my general direction. This makes me feel uneasy. Did I do something wrong? That simply can’t be. I, literally, just got here. There is no possible way that I could’ve made a bad impression already. I look at the ground as I walked, trying to avoid any unnecessary eye contact. Then a sea foam green coated unicorn with a light blue and white mane blocks my path. I go around her, but she persistently stays on my tail. I go into a fast walk with my hooves by my sides, but she trots at a faster pace as well. I had gotten tired of her shit, so I turn around and face her. I try to be as calm as I possibly can.

“Is there something that you want from me?”

“As a matter of fact, I do. Why do walk like that?”

I look down at my legs, and then I looked at how the other ponies around me walked. They walked, well, like ponies; on all four legs. And myself; I walked on my hind legs like I was still in the human realm. So to prevent further questions and criticism about the way I walk, I conform with the rest of the ponies. I lean forward slowly until I fall, and my arms catch me. Before I knew it, I had been standing on all fours, but my legs were a little shaky.

“Now that’s more like it,” the sea foam green unicorn smiled at me. “Now let’s put those new legs to the test! Walk around for me, if ya will.”

I thought that walking on all fours would be a cake walk, but, boy was I wrong as shit. I was about as successful walking as newborn Bambi. I could barely take a couple steps without falling on my face. The sea foam green unicorn puts a hoof up to her mouth and giggles at me. After many failures and blunders, I finally get the hang of walking on all fours. I became so good at it that I escalate into a graceful trot.

“Hey, look at me! I’m trotting!” I exclaim with a smile.

The unicorn gives me a wide grin. I stop trotting, and I face her.

“What was with that first part?” she says. “It looked like you’ve never walked on all fours in your life!”

“That’s because I haven’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’m…not…from…here…exactly,” I say uneasily.

The unicorn raises an eyebrow

“What do you mean? You’re not from Ponyville?”

“HA! Not even close.”

“Well, where are you from exactly”

I sigh deeply.

“As it turns out, I’m not even from this universe.

The unicorn gave me a wide-eyed stare.

“You mean…..you’re NOT even from Equestria?!”

My eyes grow wide, and my pupils shrink when she said “Equestria.”

“What did you just say??? WHERE ARE WE???”

The unicorn gives me a look of fright and uneasiness.

“Eeequestriaaaa???”

My pupils shrink even further. That giant, super-advanced fridge actually worked on me, to my surprise. I was exactly where I wanted to be. The unicorn looks at me curiously.

“Is something wrong?”

“No. Well, at least not anymore. Sorry for freaking out on you like that,…..I’m sorry. I didn't catch your name."

She smiles at me.

“My name is Lyra. Lyra Heartstrings.”

“Well, Lyra, it is fantastic to meet you!” I say with a smile.

“So what’s your name?” Lyra asks.

“Like I said before, I’m not from this universe so….”

Lyra cuts me off.

“You never did tell me where you came from. Care to explain?”

“Certainly. Well, I came from a universe where there are the creatures called humans, and…..”

Lyra gives me a large grin, and her sunset orange eyes pierce through my soul. This makes me nervous and uneasy.

“What? Did I say something?”

“You’re…….HUMAN?!?!”

“Yes, well, I was...until I entered Equestria.”

Lyra’s grin grows immensely, and then she gets all up in my face.

“What are they like? That explains why you were walking on your hind legs earlier, huh? Did you have…HANDS?!?!...”

Lyra spits out words at a million miles an hour, throwing multiple questions at me about what being human is like. She also tells me about how she always wishes that she could be a human. She also had a strange fascination with hands. Perhaps it was a fetish or something. I had absolutely no idea. The more questions she asked, the more she got up in my face. We were eventually muzzle to muzzle, and I just about lost my shit. But I keep calm and collected.

“Lyra?”

“Yes?”

Lyra grins at me eagerly, waiting for me to say what I was about to say. We’re still muzzle to muzzle. She stares at me with her sunset orange eyes wide open. By the look on her face, it’s as if she wanted me to say something in particular. But I couldn’t quite put my hoof on it. Then she looks at seductively. She walks forward, while still muzzle to muzzle, towards me. I slowly backpedal away, but she’s still right in front of my face. While I’m backpedaling, I stumble over myself, and I fall onto my back. My head had whiplashed onto the ground, and I flinched. With my eyes closed, I rub my head to try and ease the pain. I slowly open my eyes. Then my eyes nearly popped out of their sockets at what I saw. It was Lyra. She was on top of me, looking at me seductively while biting her lip.

“Lyra? I’m frightened.” I say apprehensively.

She puts a hoof on my mouth.

“Shhh. It’s alright. Just let it happen.

“No! I will not “just let it happen! Get off of me!”

“But…but this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance for me, and I….”

“Lyra, get…off…of…me…please,” I say sternly.

“I….”

Lyra starts to say something. She looks ashamed and disappointed in herself at what she had done. Then, as I requested, she gets off of me and backs away slowly.

“I…,” Lyra starts again. “I’m sorry. I…don’t know what came over me. I…I…”

Lyra starts to sob. Just watching her cry almost made me cry. Lyra sits down, points her head towards the ground, and she continues to cry. I haven’t known Lyra for very long, but I can’t stand to see her like this. I put a hoof on her right shoulder, and she looks up at me. Tears still flow down her cheeks. I look at Lyra warmly to signify that I’m not mad at her, and I make direct eye contact with her.

“Lyra, it’s alright. You need not worry. I’m not mad, but you do need to control yourself. I don’t know why you find humans so fascinating in the first place. We’re not that great.”

“Yeah, but I’m still so sorry. I just…”

I put a hoof lightly on Lyra’s mouth.

“I said it’s fine, Lyra.”

I give her a warm smile, and she gives me one right back.

“Thank you for making me feel better…umm….haha! Silly me. Out of this whole thing, I never bothered to learn your name.”

“Well, I’m not from Equestria so I don’t have a pony name.”

“Have you  thought of one yet?”

“Not……really,” I say disappointingly.

“Well, you should take some time, and give yourself one,” Lyra says with a smile.

I put a hoof up to my chin as I pondered what kind of name that I would possess. I wanted my name to be original. I squint my eyes harder, trying to come up with a legitimate name. I think about all the things I’ve done since I entered Equestria. Then I remembered the blue aura that randomly enveloped my hooves when I was stuck in the crater. Aura. That sounded pretty cool, but the sounded bland by its lonesome. So I tried to come up with a second part to my name. I start to think about how I entered Equestria in the first place. All I remember is the teleporter flashing me with its blue aura of light, and I woke up in a crater. Then I remember the huge line of smoke that that lead into the sky. Perhaps that was my doing. Maybe I fell out of the sky like a bolt of lightning from a thunderstorm. The word “storm” had caught my attention. So I put the two words, that I picked, together, and they sounded pretty pleasing together. It was also very original for someone like me. I turn my attention back to Lyra, and I give her a little smirk. Then she gives me a look of confusion and uncertainty.

“What is it?” Lyra said. Did you finally come up with a name?!”

I give Lyra a look of confidence. Then I stand, on all fours, in a heroic pose like I had just slain a massive dragon or some other foul beast.

“I dub myself…..AURA STORM!!!”

Lyra smiles, and stomps her front hooves in a celebratory fashion.

“That’s actually a REALLY good name…, Aura Storm.”

“Why thank you, Lyra,” I say cheerfully.

“Since that’s taken care of, how about I show you what Ponyville has to offer?”

“That sounds like an absolute delight!” I exclaim gleefully.

“Alrighty then. Let’s get goin’!”