A Whole New World

I couldn't believe where I was standing. Everything that had happened, the chase in the woods, the talking horses, it must've all been a dream. What I was looking at now confirmed that.

I was home.

It looked exactly how I remembered it. The gravel driveway, the immaculate garden. I was having trouble getting my head around it, but it didn't matter. I was standing on the road just outside, and I could see my dad's car parked outside, with my brother's alongside.

I walked round to the back door and found it unlocked. As I entered the kitchen, I called out, "Hello?" There was no reply. I looked in the dining room, but there was noone there. The living room was empty too. I walked up the stairs, getting curious as to where everyone was. I saw my bedroom, and temporarily abandoned my search as I wandered in.

Everything was exactly where it had been when I left. The bed was made, my laptop sat on my desk, and the dozens of books on my shelf were still there, though a little dusty. I was tempted to stay here, but I left and continued to look for everyone.

One after the other, I entered my brother's room, then my parents' room. Both of them were empty, just furniture and wallpaper. I was starting to get worried now. Where is everyone? I was about to give up and leave when I saw movement from a window. I went over to it and saw my brother, down in the garden, just walking out of sight.

My heart leapt, and I ran downstairs and out the back door. I saw my whole family this time. Dad, Chris, even mum. I saw them posing for a group photo next to an ash tree, dad was just about to press the timer on the camera.

"Guys!" I shouted. They all turned to look at me, "I'm so happy to see you again, I--"

My words were cut short as I got close. I looked in their eyes, each of them was wearing a look of anger and disgust. My happiness was drowned in surprise and sorrow as each of them slowly turned, and began to walk away.

"Where are you going? I'm home now." I tried to follow them, but I couldn't move anymore. It felt like my feet were stuck in the ground. I could only watch as my family slowly walked away, fading to dust as they reached the bottom of the garden.

I gasped as I woke up. My face was gathering cold sweat, and my hands were shaking. I felt a lump in my throat, and I had to control myself and fight back the tears. It had all been a dream. I swore to myself that I would find a way home, wherever I was.

I looked at where I had been sleeping. My mind had trouble recollecting the events of what had happened earlier. They slowly returned as I looked around the room. There had been the fireplace, the dog, and...

...the talking horse.

I felt my strength returning, and managed to lift myself off the sofa and onto my feet. I was still wearing the clothes I had from when I had started the walk, but my trip through the river in the forest had given them a bit of a wash, and they didn't smell as bad as they had before.

I left the living room and walked towards the door leading outside. On the way, I passed a mirror hanging on the wall. I looked at myself, and almost didn't recognise the person I saw. I still had the round, but chiseled face, the fair hair and hazel eyes, but my face had streaks of dirt. Most of it had been washed off though, probably by whoever had treated me when I was unconscious. I also noticed the stitches in my cheek. The attack from that wolf had left a cut about an inch under my left eye, and it traveled downwards, stopping in line with my mouth.

"Whoever stitched this knew what they were doing. I'm going to have to thank them for it later."

I imagined the scar that would be left by the cut. I would look kinda cool, but it would always serve as a reminder of what happened.

As I opened the door and bent down to get through it, I took a moment to take in my surroundings. The sun was high in the sky, so I guessed it must have been the afternoon. This was a big farm. Fields of vegetables and barns were in every direction, and I could hear a variety of animals. I took a second look, but I couldn't see any horses. Maybe it was just a hallucination.

I walked round to the other side of the house and was greeted by a huge orchard. I had never seen anything quite like it, apple trees stretched as far as I could see, some were even planted on the hills in the distance. I felt my stomach rumble, but I ignored it. I couldn't bring myself to eat this farmer's produce, they had taken me in and helped me.

I started walking along a path through the orchard, and heard a noise. I stopped, but I heard nothing. I carried on, and heard the noise again, closer this time. It sounded like someone was hitting the trees with something, hard. I came over a small hill, and saw the same horse I had seen earlier. It was kicking the trunks of trees in its path with its hind legs. Each time it did, apples would fall out of the tree and collect in pre-arranged buckets at the foot. Once the horse was finshed with one tree, it would move on to the next. Every time, it would manage to knock all the apples out in one kick

I kept my distance, but watched with a strange amount of interest. How is something so small able to do that? Every apple, in one go.

I must have strayed a bit too close, because the horse saw me out of the corner of its eye. However, it didn't seem surprised, and beckoned me over with its hoof. I shuddered when I remembered the talking, but I thought I might as well talk to something, real or not.

I walked over to the horse. I think I remember it calling itself Applejack. As I got closer, a smile appeared on its face and it opened its mouth again.

"Good to see ya up and about. How do ya feel?"

I simply nodded, and instantly regretted it. This thing probably thinks I can't talk, because the smile disappeared and was replaced by concern. But it quickly got back to kicking the trees. I tried to think of something to say, but I ended up going for something simple.

"Thank you."

Applejack was surprised by this, and she missed the tree she was about to kick. She looked at me again, and walked over to me, the smile returning to her face.

"So ya can talk! Ah had a feelin' ya could."

"Really? How so?" I was surprised that this was her first statement to me.

"Well, ya had a first aid kit, and yer wearin' clothes, so Ah guessed ya had some smarts about ya. Ya gave me quite the fright when ya talked outta the blue like that."

I chuckled at this, "Likewise. You're the first talking horse--"

"Pony."

"Pardon?"

"Ah'm a pony, not a horse. But carry on."

A pony. Ok, something else I'm going to have to get used to.

"Well, I was saying that you are the first talking pony I've ever come across."

Applejack looked shocked, "Whaddya mean? Everypony talks around these parts. Where have ya'll been where we don't talk."

Crap, that reminds me. I still need to figure out where I am. I quickly tried to change the subject, "It doesn't matter, but it does remind me of something. I was wandering if you could help me with my map. I still need to find out where I am."

Applejack gave me a look of suspicion, but didn't pursue the issue. "Sure thing, lemme just finish up here and Ah'll join ya." She went back to bucking the trees. After another five minutes, she took a breather and said, "Alright then, that oughta do it fer today, let's get back to the house and take a look at that map of yers."

As we wandered back along the path towards, I could feel Applejack's eyes examining me. I turned to her, but she didn't break her stare.

"Why are you staring at me like that?"

"'Cuz Ah ain't seen anythin' like ya. What are ya? Ah didn't even get a name from ya."

I didn't feel comfortable about telling her my name just yet, but I couldn't avoid this question. I thought up the nickname I had when I was in college.

"My name's Dutch. And as for what I am, I'm a human. But how come you haven't seen a human before?"

"Why? Are ya common?"

"Common? There's seven billion of us on Earth."

She seemed surprised. "Well, Ah ain't seen a single one. None of mah friends have mentioned animals like you, and Ah haven't read anythin' about ya in the news."

I didn't reply, I just contemplated what Applejack had been saying. So none of her friends or anyone she knew had seen a human before? Where the hell am I? And if there weren't humans, who did she know? Surely not more ponies. And if they are, how do you stitch a wound with hooves?

We remained silent until we reached the house. When we entered, I went over to the table where my map was still lying and sat down to look at it. Applejack told me that their farm was called Sweet Apple Acres, so I started searching for it. I spent the next hour looking at my map, but I couldn't see anything that went by that name. There were farms and forests, and I found the farm where I had practiced my archery, but no Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack had been doing other chores around the house while this had been happening, and was just finishing up now. She trotted over to me and saw the look of confusion on my face.

"Ya look like yer strugglin'," she said jumping up and placing her hooves on the table. She looked at the map with me, "Ah had look at it while you were sleepin'. Ah couldn't make heads or tails of it either."

"It's not that," I replied, not drawing my gaze from the map. "I can't seem to find a farm like this on the map at all. It's like I'm not even in Britain anymore."

Applejack looked at me when I mentioned Britain, "Bri-tun? Ah ain't heard of anywhere in Equestria like that."

What? Equestria? "Hey Applejack. Do you have a map of Equestria?"

"Sure. Wait here and Ah'll get it fer ya." She promptly left.

While Applejack was gone, I thought about this "Equestria" she had mentioned. I had studied Geography, and I knew there was nowhere on Earth by that name. But after getting rescued from death by talking ponies, I guess I was willing to believe anything right now.

Applejack quickly returned with a rolled up parchment in her mouth. She placed it on the table, and I rolled it out to reveal a landscape I had never seen before. The terrain was extremely varied; there were forests, mountains and flatlands, and I quickly found Sweet Apple Acres.

"That can't be right." I said aloud. I remembered my Ipod in my pack, that had a world map on it, maybe I could show it to Applejack. I grabbed it from the top pocket and turned it on. It still worked fine, and I quickly found my photo folder. Meanwhile, Applejack was eyeing the Ipod with intense curiosity.

"What is that?" She finally said.

I didn't want to go into detail about my Ipod, not when there were other, more important things to do, "It would take too long to explain, but I was wondering if you recognised this." I showed her the picture of Earth. She spent a few moments looking at it, then cocked her head.

"Now Ah'm confused. Are ya sure we're talkin' about the same Earth here?"

I paused. I was about to reply with a yes, but now I wasn't so sure. I sighed to myself, "I don't know. I just... need some time to think about this."

Applejack seemed to understand, and told me she was going to prepare some dinner for her family and me. As she left, I took another look at both the maps now lying on the table. I was still trying to wrap my head around this. What if I wasn't on Earth anymore? To anyone else, that would've seemed to be physically impossible, but I had already experienced my fair share of the impossible.

I was still contemplating all this when another pony walked in through the back door. It was taller than Applejack, and had a considerably larger build. It also had a red coat, a short, orange mane, and half a green apple branded on its flank. It was giving me this stare as it entered, but I was curious about something. I asked him, "Are you Big Mac?"

He seemed surprised, but he quickly put on a neutral face and replied with, "Eeyup." He wandered into the kitchen where he started talking to Applejack, but I couldn't make out what they were saying.

Eventually though, dinner was served. I cleared away the maps and Applejack placed a steaming apple pie on the table. As we were sitting down again, a third pony appeared to join us. She looked older than Applejack and Big Mac, and had a bright green coat. She introduced herself as Granny Smith, and asked where someone called Applebloom was.

"She's in her room," Applejack answered, "She wasn't hungry tonight."

The same couldn't be said for me. My rations on the walk had been used up faster than expected, and I suddenly felt ravenous. I had never tried apple pie in the past, but I didn't care about the taste at this point. I wolfed my food down, but made sure to keep my manners in front of my hosts.

We remained silent as we ate. I assumed they had questions for me, but they didn't ask anything. Good thing too, my mouth was so full of pie I wouldn't have been able to answer. After dinner, my body clock felt like it wanted to mess with me, and I suddenly felt tired. I asked if it was ok if I went into the living room to sleep, and Applejack granted me leave. I shut the door behind me, took off my shirt to keep it clean, and went to sleep on the floor. I know I had slept on the sofa before, but it felt rude to assume I could do it again. As I lay there, I couldn't help but think about the dream I had had before.

My family was rejecting me, what did that mean?

The moon was shining down over the farm, but sleep didn't take hold for a several hours. It usually doesn't for a troubled mind.