Starting on a New Hoof

Chapters

The Beginning of a beautiful beginning
Spread your wings and don't take flight
Not Exactly Alone in this World
Things are always as they seem
Midnight Train to Nowhere
Heart of the Storm
Departure and Arrival
Life's a Train Ride
The Maretro Station

The Beginning of a beautiful beginning

I looked for my friends, which should be near my location at the time, but they couldn't be found in my sights. I laughed. It was probably some kind of prank again. They just wanted to give me a hard time before my trip to ponyville. After a bit, I was just fed up. I sighed and sat my flank down next to a tree. It all felt so strange. Being a pony and all. My name is George Reddam, or, it used to be. Before things began going crazy and all. Now they call me High Wing, as the first time I flew I went far too high and passed out. I don't want to get into details. Most of the time they just call me crazy, but I really don't like it that much. Anyways, I better start from before all this insanity started.

It was a day like any other, y'know, going to school. Not paying attention. Staring at Sarah. You know. The usual. Now, back to Sarah. There's always a girl that none of the guys like, the strong spirit that they can't control. Intimidates them, though they will never admit it. I liked her, though. I wasn't entirely sure she liked me, I was kind of, well, I was a slacker. Never thought school was interesting. They said I was really smart and had potential and whatever, I never bought into any of it. Thinking back know, I would give up everything for just a day back in that life. None of this confusing nonsense to deal with.

Anyways, after a day of being yelled at by my teachers, classes finally ended. Took long enough, let me tell you. Well, as I left the halls, I was looking for Sarah somewhere around. You would think after looking at her for so long in class that I could spot her anywhere, but I guess not. While looking for Sarah, I may have walked too far into the road, and a car drove past me, almost hitting me. I said some things to that guy that I shouldn't really repeat. I felt better for a while, but turns out he had some friends around. They weren't all to fond about what I said. I got beat pretty good, a black eye and chipped tooth an' all. Not that the other guys got out of it unscathed. Think I broke one of their noses and a couple of them will have black eyes as well. Even after taking the beating to that extent, I still didn't give up. I was yelling some profanities at them as they walked away, calling them some pretty bad things and insulting their mothers in numerous occasions. Either they didn't think I was worth it, or they didn't care. They just kept walking away. Anyways, that fight gathered a larger crowd then I expected. Turns out, Sarah was in that crowd as well. And what's even better is she didn't really like the guys I picked a fight with. Get this, she walked over to me and said,
"You OK? You got hit pretty hard"
"Yeah, I'm fine... just hope this tooth isn't loose...." I responded. Not the smartest thing I've said.
"Well, you did a brave thing standing up to those jerks. Even though you kind of provoked them..." Sarah said
"Yeah, well, they had it coming to them eventually." I said. Then in quick afterthought, I added, "Do you want to go to the movies sometime?"
She laughed, and I was sure that meant a no, but her answer took me off guard.
"Sure," She said "But don't take me to any of those chick-flicks that most girls my age overrate. Let's go see the newest horror film" She stated

I could hardly believe this was happening. The insanity of this situation made me think that I actually had been hit by that car, and this was some kind of dream, but that notion was ridiculous, so I just shrugged it off.
"Sounds... nice." I said. I still think I should've said something better.
"Well, it's settled. Saturday good for you?" She asked.
"Um, sure. That'd be great" I said, dumbfounded.
"See you later, then." She said, and walked off.

My joy seemed to make me float over to the buses, but it ended almost as fast as it began. Turns out, I was fighting for a good fourty-five minutes, and I had missed my bus entirely. That meant I had to walk home, and I lived an entire six miles from school. Trust me, I was not happy about this. I made it pretty clear with a fairly loud profanity. I started my walk home, and about an hour in, I saw some strange man approach me. He had a hood over his face, and caried a weird amulet in the shape of horse's head. I thought he was some crazy old man trying to sell me some insane thing for ridiculous amounts. Or a hobo. Either way, I decided to listen to what he had to say. What harm could it do, right? Well, obviously it did a lot more then I expected.
"Don't go into the dark alone. Remember, you will never be alone " He said in a raspy voice.
"What? I don't have any damn time for this." I grumbled.
"Take it." He said, presenting the amulet to me " Do not hesitate to fly free. Be strong, Reddam." he whispered.
"Um, okay?" I took it out of his hand, and then on second thought, I said, "Hay, wait a damn second, how the hell do you know my na-" But he was already gone. Suddenly, the surrounding area was a lot darker then before. It was night. I knew there was no way in hell that was possible. I started to run faster, and I noticed the amulet began to glow. I felt like something was off. I didn't know this road I was running down. I had taken a wrong turn. Suddenly, that amulet flashed with a brilliant light, and I could not see anything. After that, all that I could remember was blacking out. A little while later, I awoke in a grassy plain. I had never seen it before.
"Where the HELL am I?" I shouted. Not like there was anyone around to hear me. Within seconds of saying this, some freaky-ass horse with wings just apeared in front of me. Of course I began screaming my lungs out, making the weird winged horse thing look at me strangely.
"Are you okay?" It said.
"Holy CRAP, you can talk!" I shouted.
"Well, of course. I can talk like every other pony." it responded
"Wh-What?! You're a freaky horse-thing with wings!" I yelled even louder.
He then looked at me strangely, then said,
" Well, I think that would be called a pegasus, and you're one too. Are you okay?"
"What in the name of hell are you talking about? I'm human!" I yelled again, obviously confusing it.
"Human? What's that? Anyways, you can call me Thunder Storm, or just Thunder if you want." Thunder said
"This is too weird. Too. weird. Where am I exactly?" I asked in exasperation.
"You're near Mareopia, a fairly small town pretty far from Ponyville or Canterlot." Thunder explained, as if I had an idea of what those things were even supposed to be.
"This is a joke. This is a joke right?" And after I said, that I spotted that I had hooves, and I began to scream again, the shock causing wings on my back to pop out, further startling me, making me scream even louder. Thunder patiently waited for me to finish my mental breakdown. Real nice.
"You're obviously not well," He started, "We should take you to see a nurse pony."
"A nurse? This guy needs a psychiatrist and a team of neuroscientists to study him. He's the biggest nut-case I've ever seen!" A voice said.
"Great, now I'm hearing god damn voices. Maybe I am going insane." I stated
"No, you nut job, look up." The voice said. I did. And I saw a another pegasus above me.
"Yup, another flying pony. And this makes me sane how...?" I asked rhetorically.
Thunder's nose scrunched up and he looked at me funny. At least, I thought it was funny. I couldn't really tell with these ponies, or pegasus.
"You sure do talk funny. Where are you from, uh... wait, what's your name?"
A name. That I could do. "Uh, my name... yeah, it's George Reddam."
"George Reddam? What kind of name is that?" said the pony flying above me.
"It's a better on then yours, whatever it is!" I snapped.
"Hah! better then mine, eh? My name just happens to be Stormy Heart, and I'm the sister of Thunder Head here." she chided in response.
"Stormy Heart? Sounds like if your mother thought much more, she woulda had an aneurism and died!" I shouted, already past the point of saying reasonable things.
"I don't even know what an anumism is!"
"It's aneurism, numb-skull!"
"Both of you cut it ou-" Thunder started to say, but I couldn't hear the rest of it because the next thing I remember is falling flat on my ass, then promptly blacking out.
After that, I remember opening my eyes just a slit, seeing hooves at the side of me. My head hurt way too much to shout out in shock, though.
"Is he okay?" I heard a voice say to the side of me.
"I think so." A different, lower voice said. I figured the two voices were Thunder and Stormy.
"Did he have an... amuspasm?" the first said.
"aneurism..." I mumbled with great effort.
"Yeah, he's fine." The second said in a very flat voice.
After a couple of seconds, I cleared my head enough to sit up.
" This all doesn't make sense to me..." Stormy started
"Yeah, I never heard of anything like it. This stallion may be spewing random nonsense, but he surely isn't normal. " Thunder responded.
" I have never heard of magic just not working on somepony before." Stormy said.
"Are you forgetting I'm here? I know I'm just about the most forgettable and non-special case around here, but cut me some slack." I said, extremely sarcastically. What could I do.
" It's deeper then you could even imagine. Magic doesn't work on you." Thunder said with grim finality.
"Woah-woah-woah. Hold your..." I looked at him " ... horses. Magic? There's suddenly magic here? Like, wave-your-wand, I-turn-you-into-a-frog kind of magic?"
Stormy responded instead, starting with her head shaking.
"You are really, really weird. I've never heard a remark like that before. No, Unicorn magic."
"Great. Unicorns. Kill me now, why don't you. " I shoved my face into the pillow, trying to bury myself from this insanity.
Thunder, of course, rolled his eyes again then tried to roll me over.
"Don't worry, apparently magic doesn't work on you, anyways." He said, then sighed. "How about coming out with us, so we can teach you to fly?"
"Oh? And what makes you think I don't know how?" I remarked snidely.
" The fact that you don't even know what a Pegasus is." He responded nonchalantly.
"Touché."
"Whatever that's supposed to mean."
"Forget it."
He laughed, as if there was anything funny about this situation. "Come on, the nurse says you're gonna be okay. Only Stormy here thought you had a anuwhatever."
"For chrissake, aneurism! "
"You say the weirdest things" He said, still laughing.
"Whatever. Let's just go try to teach me to fly, or... whatever." I tried to sound like I didn't care at all, but truthfully, I actually kind of did. I mean, who hasn't had dreams of flying before? I just, for some odd reason, felt like I shouldn't show any enthusiasm.
"Sure, just follow us, we'll take you to a place to fly. A nice, safe place." Stormy said.
"Was that some kind of insult?" I grumbled.
They seemed to blow off my last remark and trotted out the door. I rolled off my bed with a loud thump, then rose to my hooves awkwardly. I seemed to have an easier time if I didn't think about actually having hooves. Mainly because having hooves was insane on so many levels. After raising to my feet, or, hooves, I slowly walked out the door as well. Oh, what fun awaits me in the world of magic and flying horses? I certainly wasn't excited.

Spread your wings and don't take flight

This flying thing wasn't as simple as I originally thought. I thought if I just believe and let go or something I would just start flying. Peter Pan lied. So here I am, fervorously flapping my wings like an idiot just tryng to get off the ground.
"No, controlled flaps. If you just flap your wings like a humming bird, you're not going anywhere."
"Right. Controlled. Of course. Because that explains so much to me, now everything is instantly clear. Things I could not see before are now suddenly in view. Thank you for showing me the way, oh exalted one"
Thunder rolled his eyes at my unrelenting sarcasm.
"Try flapping your wings once, taking a half breath, then flapping again. Try that untill you've got a beat down with your wings" So I did, each time slowly going faster and faster. I could feel my hooves lift off the ground. I felt really good about this. I mean, really good. I had the most goofy looking grin on my face, ever.
"Now, the rest of the flying process is as simple as flapping faster to go higher, and shifting your weight and tilting your wings to turn. Mostly, the drafts will carry you up, or let you glide easily for long distances between flaps. Go ahead and give it a whirl."
Even as he said that, the only thing on my mind was, "Hey, I wonder how high I can go?" I'm a real fucking genius, let me tell you.

So, there I was, flying straight up in the air, Thunder screaming something at me, but I was way past listening. I thought, just because I was a magical pegasus or whatever, that I could just fly infinitely. I don't know why I thought that, honestly. So I kept flying up, and my vision began to grey around the edges. At that point, I really should of stopped. But I didn't. Again, I have no idea why I did this. My vision then turned from grey to black in an instant, and I was sure I was going to die. I felt like a complete idiot. I saw a light, and I was sure I was dead. But, instead of seeing some holy figure or whatever, I saw Thunder's face appear into my view.
"Honestly, I don't know what I'm going to do with you." He shook his head
" What were you thinking? I mean, come on. I think I have a better name for you. From now on, I'm calling you High Wing." Stormy chided
"My name is... George Reddam... " I grumbled, only half conscious.
"It sounds better then George Redman." she responded
"Reddam"
"Whatever, High Wing." She stated with a smirk. I didn't even know ponies could smirk, but let me tell you, this one sure could smirk.
"I swear-" I started with a growl, but I was quickly interupted by Thunder.
"Seriously you two, you've gotta stop going at eachother's throat. I do have to admit though, High Wing has more of a ring to it then... George. No offence." I would be shocked, but honestly I wasn't. And what made the whole situation even less amusing is how wider Stormy's grin became after that remark.
"So it's official. You are now High Wing." Stormy chided
"Great, now that I have been dubbed by the great queen, I can now go and slay the evil dragon." I said as I rolled my eyes, meaning it entirely sarcastically. But suddenly, the very humorous Stormy stated,
"No, you're not slaying any dragons if you can't even fly correctly. Besides, we don't have much ferocious dragons around here anyways."
"Unless you count Spike." Thunder said.
" Oh sure, Spike. He's totaly ferocious."
"Yeah, I have no idea who you're talking about. I'm not very familiar with my surroundings, despite how hard it is to notice."
After I said this, Thunder suddenly had a serious look on his face.
"Okay, let's try flying again." He stated while walking a slow circle around me.
" Yeah." Stormy started "I'm getting kind of bored of these grassy plains. I mean, the breeze is pleasent, but it's seriously not much to look at. Besides, Thunder made me promise not to show off and just start flying, so I'm kind of... you know the word... bored." She unfolded her wings and flapped them a little bit.
"Bored, eh? Just wait 'till I figure out how to use my wings" The word still felt weird to me. Wings. I mean, just a while back, I was entirely human. Thinking down that line of thought made me remember Sarah and my family. needless to say, I started to feel pretty down. Thunder seemed to pick up on my sadness.
"Hey, come now, don't feel down. You'll learn fast, I'm sure." He said with a concerned frown
"No... That's not it." I said in a low voice as I sat down. He trotted over to me, the wind was blowing through his ruffled yellow mane. In a less riled up state of mind than I was earlier, I got to fully see how the two of them looked, and not just viewed them as weird winged talking horses. Thunder was slightly taller then Stormy, but I couldn't say if his height was standard in any way. I didn't really know how tall those ponies should be. His eyes were a very intense yellow. Well, at least I thought they were intense. Kinda hard to take ponies' eyes seriously, but hey, they were a pretty cool yellow anyways. His fur was grey like a cloud before a rainstorm, and he had a weird mark on his ass... well, ass wouldn't be the best word for it. I think the best word for a horse's ass would be flank, but I didn't really care. The mark was in the shape of a lightning bolt with a ring around it. He always had a smile on his face and he seemed happy most of the time. Those kinda people used to always bug me, but for some odd reason this made me feel... comforted by him, in a matter of speaking. Not that ponies could really be comforting to me at all.

Anyways, back to my inane observations of those two ponies. Stormy had a yellow mane as well, but it was slightly lighter, almost a blond color. It was fairly well-kempt, but she didn't seem to spend much time keeping it straight, and it was obviously wind-blown. Her eyes were a bluish-grey, and they seemed to contrast her brother's well enough that it looked pretty cool when they were next to eachother. Pretty cool for ponies, that is. Her fur was a light grey color, again slightly lighter then her brother's. Her ass-symbol was a storm cloud, looking as if it were about to shoot lighting but nothing was coming out. At that moment, I decided to change the subject off of myself. I didn't really want to talk about it all that much, anyways.
" Hey, what in the world are those strange symbols on your... flank." I said in my ever-so-stately manner.
"What? You mean, our cutie marks? You don't know what these are?!" He said, shocked. Cutie marks. I mean, cutie. marks. I honestly wanted to explode right then.
" Remember, brother. He's not exactly all... there. He's a couple hays short of a barnyard, if you know what I mean" Stormy said matter-o-factly.
"Hay! I'm all here! " I shouted, red faced.
"Right. What did you say you were, again? A Hoo-mahn?" She chided again. A really sarcastic girl, I'll tell you.
"A human. Hu. Man. And I was! Really!" I was getting really frustrated again. This girl really knew how to push my buttons
"Honestly, you two. Are you going to fight like two foals forever?" Thunder said, obviously not amused by us at all. I started to calm down quite a bit, and I continued with my inane question.
"So, what's a ... Cutie mark?" I said, my curiosity clearly still spiked
"Uh, yeah. It's a mark on your flank that represents your special talent." He sighed and sat down on the grassy field. "Mine is a lighting with a shockwave around it. I got it when I created the biggest lightning bolt ever seen in Mareopia, causing some gigantic... shockwave that caused a bit of destruction."
"Yeah, and I got mine when I made my first storm as a little filly. It was a pretty impressive storm, if I do say so myself." She said with a silly but prideful grin. When she's not insulting me, I kinda liked her attitude.
"So, what's mine?" I looked over at my flank. That damn horse head that was on that amulet. It was silver, and it was just the outline of a horse's head with the eyes a prominent blue. Behind it was some kind of ripple that almost looked like a ripple on water. It was cool, but I had no idea what it meant.
" I honestly have no idea what in the name of Celestia that's supposed to be" Thunder mumbled with a frown.
" Looks cool though. So, what's your special talent?" Stormy said with a silly grin.
"Uh, I have no idea. I used to be kind of... Well, kind of lazy." I said, still observing it.
"How can somepony not be sure of their special talent?" Thunder said while shaking his head.
"That's obvious thunder. He's a nut-job. A really special nut-jub, but a nut-job nonetheless. " Stormy responded. As they were saying this, I was observing myself for the first time. I looked long and hard at the fur around my legs and flank, and it was a light green color. My tail was primarily blue with a green streak running through it. I looked at Thunder and Stormy, and noticed they were still going back and forth about me, so I headed over to a nearby puddle. I looked at my reflection in the puddle. The eyes that stared back at me were a deep red in color, and my mane was blue with a green streak through it as well. It was fairly ruffled and spiked at the top, but slowly began to settle down as it reached the base of my neck. Frustrated, I splashed the reflection in the water. When the water settled down, I noticed Thunder's face apear next to mine in the reflection.
"You okay?" He said obviously concerned.
" No, not really. I wake up as a damn pony, I don't know anything about this place. My family... I miss them, despite how much they bugged me. I'm not even sure how much they miss me, if they've even noticed yet. I really didn't have much friends, either. I kind of regret that now, maybe then more people would even care that I just vanished. And Sarah... I really loved her. She finally said yes to me, I felt like I was on top of the world. But now... now I'm here, as some kind of weird pony... a pegasus. I don't even know how to fly. I didn't have much friends as a human, but now I have no friends at all. I just want to go home." Thunder was silent while I said that, and he sat down next to me and said,
"I believe you. I haven't heard of any of this before, but for some reason I believe what you're saying. And about that friend thing, I can name two ponies that would be happy to be your friends." Thunder said with a smile
"Really? Who?" I said.
" You've probably already met. Their names are Thunder and Stormy."
"What? You'd be my friends? I hardly know you, and I haven't been exactly nice to you... and I took it you didn't like me all that much."
"Hay, I may be sarcastic and a little cynical, and I'm still not sure if I believe you, but I like you. I'd be happy to be your friend." Stormy said with a grin, this time it wasn't sarcastic. I was honestly shocked.
"You two... would honestly be my friends? I guess that makes being here a little better. " I said while rubbing my eyes with my hooves, trying to hide the tears.
Thunder smiled and held his hoof out to me.
"Come on, we can practice flying a little later. I want to introduce you to some of our friends as well."
"Yes, we have friends, despite popular belief" Stormy said with a grin
I locked my arm around Thunder's, and he helped me up. I guessed that this wouldn't be too bad. I missed my family, I missed Sarah, and my only goal then was getting back. With this thought in my mind, I started following Thunder into town to meet his friends.

Not Exactly Alone in this World

The town was lively, that was sure. There were ponies of many different vibrant colors walking up and down the streets. Some were minding their own business, some couldn't stay out of other's buisness, but they were all extremely friendly to everyone. There were no harsh words, no violence, no crime whatsoever. It was insanity, it was utopian. I was feeling really giddy at that moment, for reasoning I couldn't explain. I mean, I still felt like the whole thing was insane. I'm a pony with wings after all, and I'm in a world filled with Pegasi and Unicorns. After some time walking around with thunder, I learned of a third type of pony. These ponies were known as earth ponies, if my memory serves me like it used to. This, of course, made me think of my old home. You know, good ol' earth. I asked if there was a connection, but they of course didn't know what I was talking about.
"So, we gonna meet these friends of yours, or are we just gonna keep walkin' around endlessly? Don't get me wrong, this is a nice city... Just, I tend to get bored when walking for 30 minutes. Who knew, huh?" I stated in my usual ever-so-loving tone.
"Do you have to be so sarcastic?" Thunder said, then finished a second later, after looking at Stormy, who was rolling her eyes. "Of course. I wouldn't want to scare away a second sarcastic pony off, now would I?"
"The more the merrier, if you ask me." Stormy giggled mischievously
" I swear, your cutie mark should've had something to do with sarcasm." Thunder rebutted.

I decided to let their argument continue on and get a better look at the town around me. I had seen much more impressive in my time back at Earth, and my home. Still, it looked pretty cool. In all honesty, I thought that it was a lot less intimidating then what was back on Earth. When you're walking down the street sometimes back in the city, you always had a lingering thought in the back of your mind, worrying if you'd get shot, robbed... that kind of thing. No such feelings were here, really. I felt... happy. It was a stupid, giddy happy that you get kind of embarrassed of, but none of these ponies seemed to care no matter what look I had on my face.
"Hey, you there buddy? Hello? A little lost in thought?" Thunder shouted in my direction. I realized that I had wandered off a little bit, and my face flushed red.
"No! Whatever gave you that idea? I was just... just looking at this one thing at that one place." Thunder just eyed me suspiciously.
"Anyways, let's just... go see your friends." I said, my face flushing further.
Thunder's only reaction was a smile at me, and I knew he was laughing, at least on the inside.
"Hey, is that her?" Stormy said, pointing a hoof over to a crowd of ponies. I tried to tell which pony she was pointing at, but it was pretty difficult. I mean, she just kinda thrust her hoof at a crowd of ponies. It was a bit difficult to tell exactly what she was pointing at, considering.
"Uh, yeah. I can totally tell what you are pointing at." I jeered. It was completely justified.
"No, dumb flank. I wasn't talking to you." Stormy flatly said. Thunder just rolled his eyes at me, probably used to my attitude by now.
"Yeah, that's her. Either that, or her identical twin sister."
"She had an identical twin sister?" I responded.
"No, that was sarcasm." Thunder responded, unamused by my counter-sarcasm.
"You need to work on that a bit, I could hardly tell."
"Okay, you two. You need to cut it out, and we'll introduce you to our Unicorn friend, Picturesque." Stormy interjected, trying to stop our stupid argument.
" Let me guess, she's a photagrapher." I blatantly pointed out.
"Yeah, how could you tell?" Stormy responded, with honest curiosity.
"It was a hunch." They seemed to kind of ignore this last statement. I thought her curiosity was honest, but I guess I was wrong.
" Hello Picturesque, how are you today?" Thunder said, peppy and upbeat. The unicorn that responded was yellow in color, and her eyes were a deep and intense blue. Her mane was white in color, and a single blue streak ran down it.
"Very well, my dears. But, by celestia, is today bor-ing! I'm glad you two came around, or I might've just died of monotony." she settled her eyes on me. "And who, may I ask, is this darling pegasus over there?" At this last statement, I gave the 'Who, me?' look.
"That would be High Wing-" Thunder started, but I quickly interrupted him.
"Yeah, it's George Reddam."
"Oh my, that is a ghastly name. I would stick with High Wing if I wear you, dear."
She smiled, quite fakely, may I add.
"You ponies are all insane... There's nothing wrong with my name..." I grumbled lowly.
"Insanity is the spark of creation, you know." Picturesque grinned. Suddenly, she gasped and used her magic to scribble something in her notepad. "Thanks, dear. Now I have a name for my latest picture." She started writing. "Spark. of. insanity. Fabulous name, isn't it?" I opened my mouth, but before I could finish, she said. "Of course it is. It's even better if you could see the picture I took, but there will be time for that. We still need to finish introductions-" Before she could finish her thought, a white pegasus with a red mane and tail ran past, and looked at us and gasped. He tried to stop, but he crashed into a nearby pony. And even after this epic fail, he got up and crashed into a stand selling apples, knocking them over and further embarrassing himself but tripping over the apples and falling flat on his face. Still laying down, he looked at all the ponies staring back at him.
"He he he, I totally meant to do that. Woooo! Oh, and hello Stormy! And, uh, of course you too Thunder. And Picturelesque. Hehehe." He grinned widely with his green eyes staring back up at us and all the other ponies looking at him. He and rolled up to his hooves in a slick motion, trying to cover up his fail. Picturesque just rolled her eyes.
"Real mature, Fleet Flier. You know, your name makes a lot of sense. However, the only thing nimble about you is your flying. Everything else about you is just ghastly." Picturesque responded, obviously annoyed.
"You're just jealous. It's okay though, not every pony can be as awesome as me. I mean-" He unfolded his wings and puffed his chest out. "Boom. Just look at me. Per-fec-tion." He took off into the air, and flew straight up. He stopped in mid-air, made a show-offy stance, and then corkscrewed straight down. He made a perfect 90 degree turn just inches off the ground, avoided all the ponies in the street, and headed directly for a street lamp. It was beyond me why he wanted to go to a street lamp, untill of course, he kicked out the lightbulb, creating a lightning arc.

Before the electricity could touch him, he flew off, making the arc just crack and form vibrant sparks. He flew towards a support beam at the insane speed that he got from rebounding off the street post, and I was sure he was going to crash. But instead of crashing, he tilted his wings slightly and narrowly avoided it. Only milliseconds after avoiding the pole, he quickly turned his wings and looped around it many times, and to top that off, he was corkscrewing at the same time. Once he went all the way to the top, he kicked off of the roof and skidded to a halt behind us. My mouth was gaping open. I mean, that was pretty amazing. At some points, he just seemed like a white blur. Before that, I didn't think moving that fast was even possible.
"See? Perfection." After he was done doing has wide, arrogant grin, he looked at me and said,
"Hay, who's this pegasus? I didn't know there was a newcomer. That's awesome. Hey new guy, what's your name?
"Geor-" I started, but was rudely interrupted by Picturesque
"His name is High Wing, and he's new around here. Isn't he just darling?" She said with a smile.
"Hah. Nice name there, High Wing. Any good at flying? It'd be awesome to either teach you a few cool tricks, or learn a couple of things from a master. I doubt there's anypony better then me, so I think the first thing I said would be totally correct, right?" Fleet Flier said with a silly smirk.
"Well, actually... I don't really know how to fly completely." The second I said that, his jaw literally dropped. I mean, he was so shocked that even I was taken aback.
"That is so NOT awesome. I mean, you. Come with me, right now. I'm going to teach you. And you're going to learn. Now." Fleet said in a very commanding and serious tone.
"Um, no. He's not. We've still got to introduce him to the whole gang. After that, there'll be plenty of time for a little one-on-one training with you." Thunder rebutted, trying to delay this pony a little bit. For this, I was thankful.
"Okay, that'd be awesome. Just awesome. Get to teach a newbie some tricks. Hey, why can't he fly anyways? Locked in a box his whole life or somethin'?"
"No. Long story, and there will be time when everypony's together again. Speaking of which, have you seen Treble Cleft or Canvas Hart?"
"Those two? Well, duh. Canvas is always by the gazebo, and Treble normaly isn't too far. He says that he likes Treble around because her violin inspires him for his paintings, but I think they're just a couple of lovebirds. He he he." He grinned in his usual overconfident way. I woulda found it annoying if he hadn't amused me as much as he did.
"Well, guide the way." Thunder responded.
"But of course, my awesome friend." He chuckled, and started walking off. The rest of us soon followed, an' I decided going would best suit me as well. The walk wasn't far, but it sure felt so. I guess I just get bored easy, even though I had a lot to look at. I still found this whole thing insane, of course, but it was becoming a little less insane. I had a goal in mind, anyways. And that was getting home, and doing whatever it took to do so. We approached the gazebo, and I could hear a beautiful violin sound bieng played. I mean, it was wonderful. I guess I really hadn't listened to violins before, I was too busy minding my own buisness, but I really liked the sound. The closer we got, the better it could be heard, and the more I could see the two ponies in my view.
" Lovely afternoon, isn't it, Treble and Canvas? So, how are you dears?" Picturesque said while approaching. A real charmer. The violin stopped. I observed how Treble looked. She was shorter then Thunder, however, most of the ponies there appeared to be, but she was taller then Stormy. She was white, and as I said earlier, she was an Earth Pony. Her eyes were violet in color, and her mane was thin and brown, and very straight.
"Good afternoon, everypony. I see we have a newcomer?"
After she said this, the other white pony looked up from his painting that he was working on. I noticed that his horn and his paintbrush were glowing with energy, and I assumed this was the ever-so-amazing wonderful magic of a unicorn. He turned his orange eyes, which matched his spiked orange mane and tail, over to face us.
"Hello! It is a very nice day! It just makes me so happy, and being in a happy mood makes me paint even better. Speaking of painting, I've been working on this really nice one... I'll show you guys once it's finished, but no peeking until it's finished! Promise me, now. It won't be nearly as nice when it's not finished!" He said, quite energetically. He was also very drifty, and even more energetic than that.
"Okay, okay. Don't worry, Canvas. We won't look at your at your painting."
Stormy responded with a happy grin.
"Oh, and the Newcomer's name is High Wing. He's quite a special case, which is exactly why we came to gather you all together." Thunder stated.
" Special case? That's a thunderstatement." I said, trying to make a joke. No one laughed.
"Jeeze, tough crowd."
"Well, anyways." Thunder glanced at me. "Here's what's going on."

Things are always as they seem

They all stared at me. I mean, All of them. The didn't seem to understand the explanation, but they all thought I was crazy. I never once thought, in my entire life, that I would be thought insane by a bunch of colorful ponies. That, I had to admit, was crazy.
"So... you're telling me... this pegasus isn't actually a pegasus? ...What?" Fleet said, obviously confused beyond anything. Then again, reversing the situation, if some random person walked up to me and said that he was a pegasus and asked me why he couldn't fly, I would consider him pretty insane and call a mental ward or two. Then I would run for my life.
"When you put it that way. But, I have no better explanation for why magic doesn't affect him at all."
"Here, let me try something." Canvas said, and then his horn started glowing. Nothing was happening. I felt a tingling feeling reverberate through my entire body, but besides that, I felt nothing at all.
"Oh my, that certainly is odd. I-" Before Picturesque could finish her sentence, I was hit on the face with a plank that flew out of freakin' nowhere.
"What the hell?! What was that! Oh, my nose..." I buried my nose in my hooves, but the stinging feeling didn't stop.
"He's still affected by objects affected with magic!" Canvas said with a silly grin. I felt like punching him. Honestly. That hurt like hell.
" Sometimes, Canvas, you just can't control yourself." Thunder grumbled while trying to hide a grin. I saw that grin, however. I knew he was laughing at me.
"Yeah, it's real funny." I said, still holding my nose. Apparently, I said something funny because everyone broke out in laughter. I found nothing funny about it at all.
"Hey, what's so funny? I just got smacked, in the face."
"It's the way you're talking. It's so... silly." Stormy said while giggling.
"I don't find anything funny about it at all. This poor dear is hurt, you cruel ponies." Picturesque said, not amused at all. She had common sense. There was nothing funny about this.

After all the ponies laughed it up, they wiped the tears from their eyes and collected themselves. My nose still stung, and my face was red with anger, but besides that, I was fine.
"Let's never do that again, okay?" I said lowly to Canvas, who was smiling kindly at me.
"Sure, okay. " He giggled a little bit. I just stared at him with a suspicious eye, and started to walk a small circle in the gazebo. The gazebo itself was nice, it was a very pure color, and there was low-cut grass on the bottom with benches spread out around. Most of the ponies in our little group sat around on the grass, just laughing it up or listening to our conversation. The one laughing the hardest had to be fleet, he was nearly choking on his own laughter.
"Anyways," Stormy started, trying to end all the taunting laughter at me. "I think we need to discuss what we make of this. I mean, this really isn't normal."
Picturesque stopped giving a glare at Fleet, and turned her attention to me. "I do agree. I have not even heard of this, this human thing he says he was, let alone of one turning into a pony"
"I think he's full of muck. I mean, seriously guys. A human? Best joke ever, least serious explanation." Fleet said, still trying to get over laughing.
"Really? I think you're full of shit. Now that we got that out of the way, look at things from my point of view. Say, you're flying around doing your weird pegasus thing, you know, whatever pegasi do on their spare time. Then, suddenly, you're back in my dimension, with humans walking around everywhere and you have absolutely no idea of how you got there. Sounds like fun, right?" I said, trying to get my point across. It seems to have worked, because I accomplished the impossible. He actually shut up.
"So, how... how is your world like?" Thunder asked, bieng the first to really take me seriously.
"Well, it's pretty dark. Unlike your perfect little utopian world here, mine actually had crime. People would harm eachother in horrible ways. We had wars, and if you don't know what that is, it's essentially a bunch of people, or in your case, ponies, gathering up, but instead of partying with eachother, they kill eachother." This seemed to shock them, making them take a step back. "Now, my father, my real father, he fought in these wars. I never really got to meet him, because he died. After he died, my mother tried getting another husband. Who knew my step father would turn out insane? One night, he shot my mother, and them himself. I was crushed, and I was never really the same. After that, the people I called family were just my grandmother and my little brother. They drove me insane, let me tell you. But I'd trade anything just to see them again." All the ponies around me looked shocked, especially Thunder and Fleet.
"I... I had no idea... I'm so sorry... That is just... not cool..." Fleet said, trying to find something to say.
"Yah? Well, it's my past. Let's leave it be because we can't change it." I said and looked into the eyes of all the ponies who know stared at me, obviously concerned. Thunder knew well what I was trying to do, so he decided to pipe up.
"I guess your world isn't the greatest of places, huh?"
"Well, it certainly isn't like this colorful world filled with ponies, but it has it's own beauties, let me tell you. I guess I just always viewed my world as awful. Now that I think about it, I'm pretty damn cynical. Huh. " I stated, with little reference to what I had said earlier. Not like it didn't matter, but my scars will always be there and that doesn't change anything. The other ponies were just looking down, not really very talkative, I supposed.
"So, is there any pony that would have any clue what the hell happened to me? Any at all?" I said, trying to get some kind of reaction from this dead crowd. I regret ever mentioning my past, and these ponies didn't take it very well.
"I... Yes, dear. I think... I think you're best hope would be Ponyville... I will gladly go with you."
"I as well" Said Treble
"Me too, buddy." Fleet said, still kind of down.
"I... would gladly go with you." Canvas said, feeling really guilty like it was his own damn fault or something.
"And you know well that me and Stormy will go with you anywhere." Thunder said with a smile. I really liked that guy, even though he was too peppy and upbeat for me. I looked at stormy as well, with her yellow eyes staring back at me.
"You didn't think you could get rid of me that easily, did you?" She said with a big grin.
"It's settled then. We're going to Ponyville" Thunder said with a big grin. I guess this was my best ticket back, so I was happy.
"Well, I need to be off to get my stuff gathered." Thunder said, and looked at all the other ponies in the gazebo as they nodded in agreement.
"Considering I have no stuff, I guess I'll just walk around a bit." I flatly said. The other ponies just kind of looked down.
"So, how we gonna get there? I mean, I can't exactly fly there." I said, trying to change the subject a bit.
"We're going by train. It's our best bet." Thunder said from just outside the gazebo. "Try to be here around..." He looked at the clock tower in the square "Say, twelve. We'll leave for the train then." That gave me a good two hours to wander around the town and try to get a better idea of where the hell I was exactly. I opened my mouth to speak, but instead of words coming out, a loud growl that came from my stomach came out.
"You seem to be hungry, either that or you're growling at us angrily. I think the first thing I said is probably the case." Stormy pointed out. Yeah, I was hungry.
"Here, take take ten bits. You can buy yourself a hay burger or something." Thunder said, handing me some money and a pouch. Hay. I mean, seriously. Hay. When I thought about it again, I guess I was a horse.
"Hay. Burgers. Honestly? How could I eat that stuff?" I grumbled. I was hungry, but there was no way in hell I was eating hay. Even if I was a horse.
"Fine, fine. Go buy yourself an apple pie or something. I don't care, just don't leave hungry." Thunder said while rolling his eyes. I guess he liked hay burgers, but I didn't care. He had a point, though. I was hungry, and I needed something to eat. I guess an apple pie would have to do for me. It sounded swell, actually.
"Okay, okay, okay. I'll get a pie. It should take me about two hours to find one anyways, so see you here after that." I said with a smile. This answer seemed to work for them, because they walked off. Well, Fleet tripped down the stairs first, but after that he got up and laughed it off while walking away. I was alone, but I guess that wasn't so bad. The town was still lively, but I didn't really feel like talking to any of the ponies around.

Suddenly, I could smell the delicious smell of pie somewhere off in the distance. The smell was amazing, and I realized just how hungry I was. I didn't really like pie, actually, but it sounded way better then the alternative. I walked over to the pie stand and asked,
"So, uh, how much... bits is a pie?" I almost said dollars. I don't know why I was so concerned about not embarrassing myself in front of ponies, but I digress.
"That would be 8 bits, sir." The pony said behind the stand with a smile that was probably used a thousand times. I brushed off his fakeness with a nod, and handed him 8 of the weird coin things that I assumed were used as money. I'm a real common sense wizard, or in this case, unicorn. Still felt weird thinking like that, but oh well. What could I say. I took a deep breathe of the air which was unpolluted by anything and grinned. This world would definitely take some getting used to, but I was sure I would do fine.

Midnight Train to Nowhere

Thunder's voice brought me back to attention. I had zoned off a little bit, thinking about how I got to this point. I still thought that their lateness was a prank on me, and I was getting very impatient.

" So, you ready? I mean, you've not been here very long. Sure you're ready to go?"

"Yeah, well, no. But do I have another choice? If I do, please tell me. All I want is to go back to normal." I said. I didn't really pay attention to his reaction. Instead, I decided to get a better look at the train station. It looked like... Well, it looked like a train station. It had rails extending off in either direction, and the actual station itself was more like a sun cover over a few benches for waiting. I was very familiar with those benches, as I was sitting on one for well over an hour waiting for everyone.

"So, everypony here and accounted for?" Thunder said, breaking the awkward silence that my last comment had left.

" Unless you found another pony laying in the grass and decided to become his friend randomly, or you suddenly have a new imaginary friend that isn't here yet, I think we're all present." Stormy remarked in her usual sarcastic way. I could really get along with that girl, when she wasn't snapping at me.

"Yeah, I think everypony is present." Thunder said, ignoring Stormy's sarcasm as usual.
"Okay, so the next train will be here in like 30 minutes. You already missed one, so we coulda been gone earlier." I remarked, unamused.

"Sorry 'bout that, but I saw a scene I really had to paint. It was amazing, I mean it was really, really cool. You would've had to been there." Canvas said with a stupid looking grin on his face. He really wasn't on my good side, ever since the plank to the face, and this didn't amuse me much more then that.

" We tried to make him move, but we couldn't. We also don't leave friends behind." Stormy said with a grin on her face. Her heart was in the right place, I guess. It all just sounded like excuses to me, however.

" Yeah, there's a reason why pain is a major part of paint. Next time, get here on time, okay?" If they hadn't noticed yet, I really didn't like people being late, and the feeling was mutual towards ponies. They didn't have much of a response to this, just to roll their eyes and come sit on the various benches around me.

"So, thirty minutes, huh." Thunder said, obviously not wanting to wait. I had done plenty of that. He should really be grateful that I didn't just leave and then come back thirty minutes later.

I let out a deep, frustrated sigh. I just let the feelings roll off of me and I looked towards the sky. I had to admit, the sunsets were amazing here in Equestria. I mean, earth had some good sunsets, don't get me wrong, but here it was amazing. Probably something to do with the lack of pollution. But that's aside the point. The sunset itself was an amazing orange that seemed to penetrate the blue of the sky and turn it purple to the furthest reach of the orange rays, and the blue that survived would deepen to a darker blue which seemed to mourn the loss of it's lighter brethren. The sun itself was large, much larger then how it would look on earth, even on the most beautiful of oceans in which the sun would reflect against the water, making it look like a complete circle with half of it rippling and exploding with orange light. This was comparable to it, if not better. The sun itself was surprisingly less bright than I anticipated, as I could look at it without covering my eyes or flinching or something like that. The sun itself seemed to move like a freaking clock when I looked at it closer, which was kind of odd. I was used to the sun kind of slowly moving across the sky, so slowly that you can't see the movements with the naked eye, but this would just kinda snap down every once in a while, just like the hour hand of a clock.

My eyes began to burn like hell, so I looked away from the sun quickly and shouted out in pain. Thunder and stormy stared at me, this weird blank expression on their face.

"Did... Did you just stare at the sun...?" Thunder said, beyond any ideas of why I did that, but truthfully, I didn't know why either.

"Wow, just when I started to think you were somewhat normal, you turn around and shock me again. Good job!" Stormy said. I could tell she wanted to laugh, but was holding back. I knew they all wanted to laugh. So naturally, I defended myself.

"I, uh, I meant to do that. I thought it was a good idea. At the time. I thought it was a good idea at the time." I didn't realize I was blushing like mad, but I was. I mean, my cheeks, or whatever ponies call them, were bright red. The others seemed to noticed.

"Well, I'd say we've embarrassed the poor fellow..." Picturesque said with a slight chuckle at the end.

"Maybe we should call him 'Sun Starer' instead of High Wing!" Fleet flier said. I cut him a glare, but he seemed to be unaffected by it.

I began to just ignore them and go off into my own world for a time. Looking at a cloud, watching it slowly drift from one point in the sky to another, really helped me zone out and think about things. Things like, 'why the hell am I here?' and 'No, seriously, why the hell am I here?' and don't forget 'Why, in the name of all things good and holy, am I at this location at this time, and not at my location in my time?' Those questions, however would likely go unanswered, as I couldn't find any pony around that could answer that for me. That's one of the reasons we're taking a train to Ponyville, see if anypony knows what the hell is going on with me, and to see as well if any of them think I'm nuts and back away slowly, only to break out in a run a second later. Wait, better yet, to see if any of them don't do that. I know that I would of some person came up to me and said that they were actually a pony and they became a human. I remembered that Thunder said that at one point, but it didn't really register at the time. Now it kinda does, and it makes more sense to me then it did before.

The cloud I was looking at suddenly burst as a pegasus rammed into it, and that was enough of a wakeup that it made me jump slightly, and look around only to see Treble shouting like a madman... uh, mad pony... mad mare? Anyways, I saw Treble shouting at me, and I realized the train had arrived, and it might've been there for a minute or so, I don't know. I didn't want to make them miss this train after I made a big deal about them making me miss the last, what, five trains for a painting, a picture, some food, and whatever else they did for those hours they kept me waiting.

"You almost made us miss the train, High Wing" Treble said as I walked into the train

"Yeah, forget about it, okay?" was my quick response.

"Hey, no need to be so hostile. You're the one who-" Stormy started, but I quickly interupted her.

"I said forget about it. Let's just sit down... it's been a long day, I'm not really in the mood for talking."

They seemed to understand, which was an honest shocker to me. I didn't think they could understand anything about me, ever. We walked in silence, aside from one of the ponies quietly talking to another about something. I didn't really care at the time. There were some seats in the train that weren't taken, and suprisingly enough, there were also beds in the train. Those beds looked inviting, and much more comfortable than the bench I was sitting in. Speeding up a bit, I walked towards the bed and jumped in when I arrived.

"Whew, it feels good to relax after a long day like this..." I said, putting one leg over the other and putting my, uh, other legs to my sides.

"That sure is a weird way to lay down" Fleet said, a funny look on his face.

"Yeah, well, it's what I do, okay?" I said, with a frown on my face. He didn't really have a response to that, so I closed my eyes, only to be woken by the sound of hooves on metal.

"What the- What is that?" I said with a start, suddenly much more awake.

"The train is heading off... What did you think?" Stormy quickly responded

"Shouldn't it sound... Different? Like, I dunno, a train starting up?" I offered in return

"And what else would that sound like?" She frowned.

"The sound of coal burning... the whistle of the train that it's starting... the clunk of the wheels. That kinda thing."

"Well, we got all that 'cept the coal. Why would you burn coal?"

"To power the train?"

"That's awfully wasteful... and dirty."

"So you get other ponies to pull the train?"

"Yeah, for a good pay that is."

"Talk about horse power..."

"What?"

"Nothing."

With that last statement, Stormy stopped talking and I went back to my thoughts, my heart slowing down from my sudden wakening. My mind began to drift, and I closed my eyes and faded to sleep.

It was night time when I woke again, a loud screaching reverberated in my ears, making me attempt to cover them, but I hit the sides of my head with my hooves, expecting my ears to be there, but they weren't.

"Ow! Mother of..." I started, but I didn't have time to finish it, because I saw all my other friends were up too, their faces equally as confused as mine.

"What in the name of Celestia is going on?" Picturesque said, rubbing her eyes, obviously not amused by her sudden wakening.

" Who's Celestia?" I asked

"This isn't the time for your jokes, High Wing..." Stormy said, cutting her eyes at me.

"I was serious..." I said, but it fell on deaf ears as a loud screaching sound, followed by a crunching sound blasted through the room. These ponies were confused as to what was going on, but I had a pretty damn good idea. We were wrecking.

Almost in time to this last thought, the train began to tilt to the side, knocking all the ponies in the cabin off their hooves, myself included. Shouts could be heard from them, their obvious confusion having them flailing around, but I know what to do, as I had rode trains in my world, and I guess accidents happen more often there then here. wrapping a leg around a bench that was screwed into the ground, I pulled myself under and then used my other legs to steady myself and hold on with all I had. The train went completely upsidedown, and I knew were were rolling. I could hear thuds around, and I knew it was the other ponies. I could only hope they were okay, but I gad no guarantee. I guess this is when I began to really accept them as my friends, because why else would I care about them?

The cabin made a crunching sound, then a horrible squeal as it began to split in half like a tin can. I felt myself bieng shaked from the bench I was grasping on to for dear life, my heart racing like mad. I saw a matress get shaken loose and fly out of the now gaping hole showing the side of a hill we were rolling down, and my legs gave in to the massive ammount of force bieng put on them. I felt myself bieng thrown out of the train, and I began to kick around in the air as to control myself. Remembering my wings, I attempted to open them as to fly, but I forgot I was no good at flying, in fact, I was horrible, so I only managed to make myself spin out of control and crash into the ground.

Everything was blurry. Nothing seemed to make sense to me right then. I could see a tree in the distance, but it seemed like there were two dancing around in my vision. A distinct ringing sound echoed in my ears which made me consider that I had a concussion, but I didn't think ponies got those. Suddenly, a light appeared in front of me. I thought for sure I was dead, remembering all those 'don't go into the light!' lines from movies and what not, so I began to freak out, but my body wouldn't respond to my urgent want to flail, attempt to stand up, stand up, then run. Suddenly, I felt an energy come over me, and a voice as well.
"Hello, George."

Heart of the Storm

I just stood there, obviously dumbfounded. How the hell did this thing know my name? Better yet, what the hell is that thing? I felt like standing around there wasn't going to get any answers, so I wiped the surprised look off of my face and started to ask some questions.
"What the... How in the hell do you know my name?" Was my very bright response.
"I know a lot of things. But that is aside the point. I am here to warn you."
The weird floating light said. Well, it's more like he sent it into my mind or whatever, but that's aside the point.
"Uh, Warn me? About what?" I responded, a confused look returning to my face. I guess I just couldn't keep a straight face around a floating light warning me about something or the other.
"Your existence here is for a purpose." It said all high and mighty.
"Okay, great. So now I know that my existence is not pointless. And your point is?" Sarcasm probably wasn't the best choice, but oh well.
"Your destiny is a double edged sword. You are meant for important things here, but something was lost to get here..." It responded, it's voice beginning to fade.
"What? What do you mean?! Who the hell are you, anyways?" I shouted at it. Again, probably not the best of choices.
"Who I am is unimportant... As for what I mean ... time will tell." It's voice was practically a whisper at this point.
"Wait! I'm not done with you!" I frantically shouted.
"There will be time later. Your friends approach... " Then, it faded to nothing. I was still frustrated at it's cryptic response to my questions.
"What the hell did you mean!? Come back! I have more questions!" I fell to my knees, all four of them. I was so close to finding out why I was a pony, yet I learned absolutely nothing. True to his word, my friends, or whatever they could be called at this point, came over a hill looking down on the small valley that I had rolled down into. They were standing all next to each other, pretty bunged up and dusty, but besides that, generally okay.
"High Wing! Who are you shouting at?" A voice shouted from the distance, one I recognized as Thunder.
"N-No one. I'm fine..." I said, still trying to get over that weird light thing.
"Well, if you insist." He shouted as he began to run down the hill towards my direction. It took the lot of them a few seconds to get to me, and by then I could feel a searing pain spread throughout my leg. I looked down on it, and saw a red line dripping blood. I was injured.
"Great, as if I need any more excitement..." I groaned, sitting down completely and looked at all the other ponies, who seemed to be at a loss of what to do.
"Well? Bandages? Hello?" I said to the dumbfounded faces around me, suddenly snapping them to attention.
"Right... of course, dear..." Picturesque said, looking through her saddle bag.
All the other ponies followed in suit. After a few seconds, they went out of the saddle bags and shook their heads.
"None of you have first-aid kits on you...?" I said, obviously unamused and in pain, my leg now kicked into overdrive. " Take your time, only losing blood here."
"W-well... We normally don't get into accidents that much... So there really is never a need. In fact, the train conductor doesn't even know why we got in a wreck... It was completely random." Stormy said, freaking out about my leg.
"God damn it! It was that thing, wasn't it?" I let out a frustrated sigh.
"Uh, stallion? What thing?" Fleet Flier said, also staring at me leg. I decided to take some action about that thing before they freak out, or I pass out.
" Do you have any clothes with you... Any kind of shirts or whatever ponies wear?" I flatly said.
" Clothes...? Why, yes I do. I brought an extra dress, just in case." Picturesque said.
"Why do you need some clothes...?" Canvas said, a look of confusion in his face.
"You'll see." I responded as I took the dress from Picturesque and began to tear strips off with my teeth.
"W-what are you doing?" Treble said, pretty silent up until now. I didn't respond, but instead continued tearing until I had a decent number of strips laid out in front of me. I started to try to tie them around my wound, but to little avail.
"A little help here?" I said, a strip in my mouth. Picturesque nodded and the strips began to float up around my wound and tie themselves around it.
"Make sure they're tight. Really tight." I stated. She nodded as the strips tightened considerably. I grunted in pain, but nodded my head for her to continue. After a couple minutes of this, my leg was tied up tight and was pretty damn sore.
"How resourceful." Canvas said, looking at my makeshift bandaging.
"Yeah, just remember I've got to change them every four to six hours... Hopefully we can find some kind of town until then." Looking around, I found the hill I had a pleasant roll down.
"And how are we going to do that, exactly?" Fleet said, a look of confusion on his face. I just shook my head.
"Follow the railroad tracks, of course." Was my response to his inane question.
"Oh." He responded with a straight face. The others just shook their head and attempted to laugh a bit, but none of them could find that sense of humor which they had so much of earlier.
"It's night so watch your step, don't take a pleasant roll down a hill like me." I said. Looking up, I noticed exactly how long I rolled down, and considered it nearly miraculous that I hadn't been considerably more injured. I let out an audible sigh as I began to climb, my leg throbbing with each step. Probably leaking blood. The longer I climbed, the more I see things that could've gone considerably more wrong. A stick jutting out of the ground in which I could've impaled myself on. A large rock I could've hit my head on and suffered some kind of brain trauma. So forth and so forth. If I had died, who the hell would that glowing light talk to? I could imagine hime floating up and saying, ' You're here for a rea- Oh... Probably not the best of my ideas. Huh.' as I was impaled on a stick or something. My frustration turned into anger, which really got my heart pumping. Turns out, your heart pumps blood, which my leg just so happened to be leaking. Now that it was pumping faster, so was my leg. This forced me to calm down as the wound began to sting considerably. The purple strips from the dress was soaked with blood, making the purple around a nice line turn a darker color. I grumbled some curses to myself, but realized that no pony here would know what any of those even meant, so saying them under my breath was kind of pointless.

After my train of thought derailed, it took only moments of perseverating on random thoughts before I realized that I was at the top. Looking down, I could see that we had come a considerable distance up. The rest of my friends followed in suit, looking towards the railroad and then off into the distance.
"So, we gotta walk all that way, huh?" Thunder said, a distant look in his eyes.
"You guys are basically horses, right? So, why would walking be a problem?"
"It's not that it's a problem, it's just so bore to the ing. Come on, walking miles, when I can't fly ahead at high speeds? Sometimes, having non-pegasi friends can be hard." Fleet Flier grumbled.
"Oh, would you be quiet? We've had enough annoyances for the night..." Picturesque said to him, looking off to the distance as well.
"Shouldn't we be walking...?" Treble said, her violin miraculously in one piece and strapped to her side in its case.
" Yeah, that'd be a good idea... This is actually a nice scene. If only I had some paints..." Canvas wistfully said. After that, we just kind of started to walk, not knowing exactly where we were going first, however, my final destination was still Ponyville.

After about an hour of nothing but railroad and hills and seven exhausted ponies, some lights finally came into view. As to where we were, I had no idea. However, a goal in our eyes gave us heart to start running, even myself. I would definitely regret that later with pains in my leg, but I was really, really tired at that point. Fleet nearly tripped over some railing, and the rest of us stopped in our tracks to make sure he didn't fall. I laughed, of course. It was pretty funny, but none of the other ponies seemed to have the energy to even laugh. So, goal in eye once again, we charged ahead.

When we finally got there, we learned that it was just a stop with some glorious, glorious beds. And a first aid kit. Yes, a first aid kit. I was overjoyed. However, when I took off my makeshift bandages, the green fur around my wound matted and stained a reddish green color. I let out a deep sigh and looked around. The walls were a tannish color with streaks of brown right before the roof and the floor. There was a counter where the inn keeper or whatever they call them here normally was, but he was preoccupied with getting that first aid kit for me. My leg stung badly, but it wasn't burning as horribly as it was about ten minutes ago. There was a couple doors to the left and right of the counter, and I wondered where they went. I dropped the thought and leaned my head against the arm of the bench I was laying on, looking up at the white roof and sighing. I tried to make shapes and pictures out of the various bumps and notches on the roof as I laid on the bench, getting insanely bored. He was taking his sweet time. Perfectly in time with this thought, the door swung open and a tall male pony with brown fur and short, white hair that was spiked back slightly came in through the door, the inn keeper in suit behind him, considerably shorter then the large pony that just came in through the door, his fur a light blue with darker blue hair. Both of them were earth ponies.
"Well sir, I'm sorry to wake you up, but you're the only pony here with medical experience. I'd rather not make any mistakes." The inn keeper said to the tall brown pony, obviously trying to suck up to him so he pays well. The aged brown pony just growled lowly as he walked over to me, his stoic expression suddenly changing as he saw my wound. I guess it was bad by pony standards, but I tried to avoid looking at it anyways.
"How far did you walk here?" He said, not wasting time with any introductions.
"I don't know... about five or six miles, I'd say." I answered him like I'd answer any doctor.
"How did you not bleed out for that long?" He said in his low voice.
" Well, I cut some strips from a dress and wrapped them around my bleeding leg, getting some help tying them, of course." I said, slightly imitating his flat tone. What could I say? He kept me waiting long enough.
"Clever. More clever then any of the ponies around here. You're not from around here, are you?" His light, crystal blue eyes seemed to stare right through me. My heart skipped a beat before I realized what he meant.
"No, not really. Just passing through, on my way to somewhere." It's not that I didn't trust him, I just really didn't feel like explaining anything at the time.
"Right. Well, I'm going to clean this wound and your fur, then apply some antibiotics before wrapping it up. In the morning, I'll change the bandages before you leave." He said very routinely, like he rehearsed that in the mirror or something.
"Right, how much is this gonna cost me?" I asked, my human nature speaking out again.
"Cost? You're funny, kid." He stated all high and mighty. However, getting this done for free sounded nice to me. Ponies certainly were kinder then humans, that's for sure.

After a few seconds of me clenching my teeth and wishing I had fists so I could clench them too, the white bandages were wrapped around my right foreleg. I let out a sigh of relief as the old doctor pony walked away, the inn keeper walking up to me after he left.
"Your friends are waiting for you in the the third door to the left past this door-" He pointed to one of the doors on the right side, "You should be able to rest here well tonight. You can pay in the morning, but you need rest right now."
I just nodded, too tired to say anything really. So, there I went, into the room with six crazy, yet strangely lovable ponies, and fell asleep, not even considering what would happen in the future.

Departure and Arrival

The damn shone into my eyes and woke me up before I really wanted to. I grumbled as I rubbed my eyes with my hooves, only to poke my eye and make a quick shout of pain. I suppose I still wasn't used to my body yet, and I just grumbled as I rolled off the bed. My legs were sore as hell, especially the one where I got the nasty gash on. Not to mention I didn't sleep too well with Fleet hogging the blankets all night. Considering how there were so many of us, and only three beds, we had to partner up. They didn't want to spend the money on two rooms, considering we still had to take the train to Ponyville. But seriously, that name wasn't the most clever thing I've heard. Oh well. So, there lay Fleet Flier, wrapped up like a pony burrito, with the stupidest grin on his face.

Sighing as I turned around, I got a good view of the outside from through the oddly clear glass. The ground outside was green. Like really, really green. You know how most grass has at least one or two spot of yellow if it's just growing naturally? Yeah, this didn't. I let out another sigh at this perfect world and began to wonder once more why I was in such a rush to get home. I guess I really wanted to see the people I missed the most, like my family and Sarah. Not to mention being a pony was still insane. And to top it all off, I got to see a bright white light that made my mind trip out a bit. I heard the sound of something hitting the floor, and I turned around to see Stormy standing there, rubbing her eyes in a similiar fasion that I had. She looked over at me and yawned, causing me to yawn short after. After she finished yawning, then laughing at my echoed yawn, she began to speak to me.

"Hello, High Wing. You're up early... I thought you'd be the late sleeper type"

"Yeah? Well, there's more to me then meets the eye" I said with unintentional hostility.

"Nothing could be closer to the truth. You're much more insane then you look" She responded with a half smile. I just frowned and shook my head.

"Oh, think what you've heard so far is insane? Just wait 'till I tell you what happened yesterday. You'd get a laugh out of it. Knowing you, of course" I said, taking my attention off of her, then back outside.

"Why? What happened yesterday?" Was her response

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

"Well, of course I would!" She began to walk closer. I turned around and was met with her face, much to close to mine for comfort. I jumped back and hit my head on the window sill.

"What? Not used to being close to ponies?" She said with a frown.

"Two words. Personal. Space. Heard of it?" Not that I was trying to be rude, but my head was ringing from the shock I recieved. I began to rub my hoof against the back of my, expecting blood but not seeing any on my hoof as I pulled it down.

"You ponies are resiliant... Get in a train wreck and come out with nothing more then bumps and bruises." I continued slightly under my breath. She somehow heard me though.

"Isn't that normal? What, you humans squishy tomatoes or something?" She said with a giggle.

"Squishy tomatoes? Yeah, say that to a gun, why don't you" I said, defensively. She was insulting my species, after all.

"Gun? What in the name of Celestia is that?" A look of confusion began to take root in her face. I realized that none of these ponies would have any idea what that was, and I let out a sigh. Before I could get in an explaining mode, she changed the subject.

"So anyways. Yesterday. What happened to you that would make me think you're insane? Well, more then I do already."

"Right. Well, I guess I can share that with you." I frowned and looked up, letting out a breif sight. Well, here goes.

"Okay, so I just finished rolling down a really long hill and somehow staying alive, which is still a mystery to me, and I began to see double with my head ringing. I saw bright lights around, y'know, like you do when you get a head injury or staring in the sun- Don't say what I know you want to- but turns out, one of those spots of light didn't want to fade. It began to come closer to me, and I started to freak. Now, get this. It. Began. To. Talk. Yeah, it freaked me out too. So, what could a glowing orb of light say to a human-gone-pony? Not much, as it turns out. In fact, it didn't tell me any freaking thing. It's words are more riddled then Confucious explaining child birth to his son. All it told me was I was "Here for a reason" What reason, you may want to ask? I don't fucking know. I don't know at all, and it refused to tell me. And as I began to become frustrated at its cryptic responses, it faded and you guys came over the hill like calvery minus the riders. In fact, you could be calvery all by yourself. Not that you'd know what that is, and I really don't feel like explaining it. Now, I could tell you what happened after that, but you were there, so it'd be kind of pointless. Any questions, refer them to my non-existant psychologist, because my answers will be vague as I have no idea what that was or why it was there."

She stood there, a half frown on her face which signified her trying to process all I had said. She remained relitively silent for at least a minute or two before refering her attention back at me.

"So, this light thing... Sure it wasn't a figment of your imagination?"

"Pretty damn sure. At least, I hope so. Otherwise that would be a full-blown hallucination, and that would signify a high level of insanity, and nothing around me could be real. Hell, that might be what's going on. I don't know" Turns out, I was getting slightly loud. The others began to get up and look at us, with varying responses.

"Dears... What's going on...?" Picturesque said with the smallest little yawn I ever saw, and covered her mouth like it was a gigantic one. Fleet, on the other hand, stretch up and yawned really loudly, smacking his pony lips together loudly.

"Mornin'. You should be an alarm clock, High Wing. You're better it then flying, anyways." He said with a tired laugh. Thunder just silently stood up next to his bed as Canvas rolled off and grunted when he hit the floor. Treble, already standing gracefull, extended her hoof to him as he used it to grapple up, a slight blush on his face and then thanked her non-chalantly.

I cut a glare over at Fleet Flier, then a sidelong glance over to Picturesque and Thunder, who were sharing a bed with Stormy before she got up. I let out a sigh as I began to talk,

"Nothing is the matter. We were just talking about the train wreck... Nothing more-" Before I finished, Stormy whacked me in the back of the head with her hoof.

"Ow! The hell was that for!?" I shouted, quite frustrated

"Don't hide things from our friends... It's not nice" She rolled her eyes as she looked over at them

"He saw a weird light thing which told him absouletly nothing. Just that he was here for a reason. In all honesty, High, I believe you. Just like giving you a hard time." She giggled slightly as she sat down and let out a satisfied sigh, and looking up. The others began to stare, but they decided to stay quiet. I guess it was because how they were woken up. By me yelling, of course.

"I'd hate to be the voice of reason, colts... But don't we have a train to catch?" Fleet Flier said, rubbing his eyes vigorously, like he saw a hot chick and was rubbing his eyes to make sure it was real.

"I have never once imagined I would say this but... Fleet is right. It burns just saying it..." Picturesque said, with a face as if she ate a sour lemon or something

"I am? I mean, of course I am!" Fleet said, suddenly stopping rubbing his now red eyes as he puffed his chest out, staring at his with his wild orange eyes and equally wild red mane. It took a second for him to realize that none of us were amused, which shocked me immensly. Not that it took him so long, but that his dense skull ever figured it out.

"Well, let's stop wasting time then. Come on, the train's not going to wait." Thunder said, the obvious leader of this group. I just let out a sigh as I found myself following him, but not really wanting to compete with his authority, as I didn't care that much. The walk was boring, and the smell of wood never really appealed to me. Didn't change in the pony world either. Not to mention the sight of planks everywhere, not changing or anything, would bore the shit out of me. This didn't change as well. Perfect wood is still boring old wood. We got outside, not quick enough if you ask me, and noticed the train pull up. If we had wasted another moment, we would have missed it.

"Thank Celestia for me, right colts? Wooo! I'm awesome." He smirked and puffed out his chest again in his over arrogent way. Stormy just cut her eyes and whispered over to me.

"Toss that guy a hay stock, and he comes back for the whole bale." She frowned. I roughly translated this into one of my normal sayings, and nodded.

"Right. I'll keep that in mind. Not that I'm apt to give anyone compliments any time soon." Suddenly, some crazy pony rushed past us into the train and bumped into me, knocking me into Stormy. I fell over, but somehow Stormy remained on her hooves. She giggled and blushed as she extended a hoof to me. I just grumbled and helped myself up.

"It's okay, I can get myself up. That guy needs to watch where he's going... Seriously" I frowned and looked over to the train as we continued to walk

"Woah, Staillion, you that oblivious or something?" Fleet said to me for absolutely no reason.

"What are you talking about? He ran into me!" I said, grumbling a bit

"I mean-" Fleet started, but was quickly cut off by Stormy

"Right! Let's keep going! Lest we get hit by another rushing pony..." She said, blushing for no reason at all. I just nodded and zoned off into my own world again, and continued to wal. Before I realized it, we were all in one of the cars of the train as it began to start slowly. We all just looked at eachother, then out the windows, sporatic conversation popping up once in a while. I took part in none of it, not even knowing exactly why we were going to Ponyville. I guess they didn't really know of a better place to go to, and I hoped this was a large city. I seriously can't work with the small talk of rural people, or ponies in this case. I, born and raised in New York, suffered two culture shocks at once in this case. Being in smaller cities, and the inhabitants of those cities being ponies. I looked forward to one of those shocks going away. Apperently, we were closer then I thought. I let out a sigh as the train stopped. Another awkward moment in that train would have driven me insane.

The world I stepped out into was entirely different then I imaged. It was a small city, if it could even be called that. A couple ponies walked through the streets, as pegasi flew in the sky. This town was even smaller then the one I awoke in.

"For Chrissake! I thought this would be a city! It's a small town! What can we find here?" I said, obviously frustrated.

The others just looked at me and shrugged as well. Thunder looked around and let out a sigh.

"I suppose you're right. They have a library here, I think, but it's small." He looked off in some direction. I just let out a frustrated sigh and sat down on something sharp and jumped up quickly, looking for what I sat on, but not being able to find it. Even more frustrated, I turned around and watched as the train took off. Let me tell ya, that didn't help my frustration at all.

"Great! Just shitting great! Well, what now?" Was my response to the rising frustration and anger. Sure made me feel better.

"Well, when the next train comes, we can always go to the Maretro Station... Leads to a really large city, and also branches off to at least 10 others just in case." Thunder said with a frown.

"And I'm all about the now, colts! Let's get something to eat while we wait. Hm... Is there anything good around here?" Fleet said, looking around. Seems his brain was only linked to his wings and stomach. Proving my theory, he tripped and fell down the stairs. Picturesque just shook her head, trying to cover a small laugh that we all saw anyways. Stormy looked off to a rather colorful building. Which was an inane observation, considering all of the buildings were colorful.

"I'm not that hungry, but I can always do for some sweets. That place looks like it sells something sweet. Why not check it out?" She said with a smile. For once, I agreed with her. Sweets sounded awesome right now. Suddenly, I became concerned that their sweets were chocolate coated hay or something, but those concerns got expelled the second I walked in and saw normal sweets. I gave a satisfied smile as I saw doughnuts. Oh, doughnuts. How I missed them.

"Get me a couple of those doughnuts, why don't you!" I said with a hungry smile.

"You know what a doughnut is?" Stormy said, half jokingly.

"Well, duh! I'm not that oblivious..." I said, finding myself on the defencive once again

"You sure, stallion? Ha ha ha." Fleet said with a smirk. Again, I had no idea what he was saying.

"Let's get those doughtnuts! Good idea! I'll have some too! Let's go order now!" Stormy said, rushing everyone over to the counter. I just sat down as I waited. My thoughts had a miscarraige as an energetic pink pony ran out from the back room rather loudly, running past us shouting something about something, but I wasn't paying attention.

"How odd was that?" I said to myself, under my breath. After a few dragging minutes, everyone joined me around the table with some various sweet or another, then placed them around the table. I held my breath, expecting some religious pony thing, but only getting a bunch of ponies digging in to their food and eating it quickly. I just furrowed my brows, and shook my head. I began to eat the doughnut, and my mouth was met with an amazing flurry of tastes. Everything was better in this world. Everything. This doughnut was proof. I honestly thought no donuts were better then that small donut shop I had gone to in New York. But those don't even compare. I. Was. Shocked. I mean, really shocked. Before I knew it, all the doughtnuts were gone, and I was left frowning for more. The others seemed to be equally satisfied, and Fleet let out a rather large burp which had me smiling slightly, and left Picturesque sneering.

"That wasn't very polite for a public place..." Picturesque said, a look of disdain on her face

"Calm down, Picturesque. It's natural, not that you haven't done it before, just he didn't hide it behind a napkin" Stormy said with a slight giggle

"Handkerchief" Picturesque corrected

"Yeah, it's a napkin" Stormy laughed as she whiped her face with a napkin of her own. Or, as Picturesque would call it, a hankercheif.

"Right then. Seeing as Fleet is obviously too busy to be the voice of reason, I'd say it's my turn. Let me just give you a hint. Train." Not that I didn't want more of those wonderful treats, just that I wanted to not miss the train and be stuck here any longer.

"Okay, let's get going then." Thunder said in his straightforward way. I just nodded as well all stood up, well Fleet Flier fell then rolled up, acting like he meant to do that, but I digress. It didn't take long for us to make it to the train. One thing I had to hand, or rather hoof, to ponies is that they're fast. We beat the train this time, but not by much. Before we could gather our thoughts, or for Picturesque and fleet to start fighting, or even before Canvas and Treble to start flirting, the train arrived. And that's fast. Not really wanting to stay for anything, we hurried off into the train. Looking off through the window, I let out a sigh. Hopefully, I'll get more answers at the not very clever named train station, the Maretro Station.

Life's a Train Ride

There we were, gathered in a circle in the train, with nothing but the sounds of the train to keep us from going insane. It wasn't working. I decided to start small talk, the one thing I was the worst at, but much more fun the silence.

"So, Stormy and Thunder, what are your parents like?" I said, my curiousty more based on my boredom. The one who answered was Stormy.

"Our parents are two pegasi, one white and the other dark gray. Our father is the in charge of storm control. His name is Nimbus Heart. He's very kind hearted... And I have his eyes. That's why they gave me his last name... Our mother used to be a daredevil, doing tricks and shows for a living, before she got married. Then her job became being a mother. Her name's Reena Storm. Her mane is very similiar to Thunder's over there.... That's why he has her last name." She became distance suddenly, for reasons I had no idea. I guess I was more oblvious then I originaly thought, but I really didn't care.

"Do you know how the met? I'm sure you're parents talked about it a million times... Knowing parents, of course" I said, trying to keep the conversation alive, she looked back over at me, staring into my eyes.

"Yes, I remember quite well from the many times they've told it to me. My father... Was clearing a stormy day, like usual. Suddenly, he was struck with a lightning bolt, being careless, as he says. He fell from the sky and crashed into my mom while she was doing a show... The both fell to the ground and broke the same wing. They were stuck in the hospital for some time after that... I guess they fell in love then." She continued to look and smiled.

"We were born shortly after they got married. Thunder here, the level headed one, was born first. We're twins, so I came shortly afterwords. I hear stories of how much of a hoof full we were as foals... But they're likely exagerated stories. I would exagerate them when I have kids too, I suppose" She began to blush slightly as she continued on again.

"Me an' Thunder grew up fairly normaly. There was a couple of times when I would get hurt... Being a 'Leap before I look' type of filly, as my brother would put it. However, he would always be there for me. Watch after me... That kind of thing."

"And you would be there for me. Introduce me to people. Keep my life exciting. You're the best sister I could ask for, even though you are a bit of a trouble maker." Thunder said with a warm smile on his face. That guy had a way with words, I couldn't really explain it. Stormy smiled him, then at me.

"The rest isn't that important... I'm sure the others have stuff to say too." Fleet Flier jumped at the opportunity Stormy had just opened to him.

"Yes! I guess I'll start with my parents as well. I never really met my mom, she and my dad seperated, leaving my dad with me. Don't know why it happened that way, but it did. My dad, however is amazing! He used to surf, and he was amazing at it! I mean, he could do things that would beat Pegasi, and he's an earth pony! I grew up admiring his nimbleness on his hooves, yet never really inherited it. So, I spent my years training my wings to impress him. I did finaly get a chance to show him what I had in a school talent show as a little colt, but I totaly blew it. He told me it would be okay, and that there was always next time, but I was so embarressed, I felt like a total failure. The feeling was horrible, and I hated it. After that day, I made a promise to myself to never feel that way again. And sense then, I live in ignorant bliss of my shortcomings. Because your shortcomings only come from your mind, your will power and point of view make up who you are! You should also never live in the past, as I used to before I made the promise, or everything will haunt you by the fact you can't change it. You have a higher change of moving a brick wall with your face then you do of changing the past. However, if you constantly look towards the future, you'll guess wrong often! That leads to disapointment... As well as now not being good enough for you, ever! So, there's anothe reason why I live now, and not tomorrow. I can't change the past, and I can't predict the future, so why bother? I'll just enjoy myself, and love myself, and I'll be happy forever." Treble suddenly began to talk after him, which was a rare sight. I mean, that pony was the polar opposite of Fleet when it came to talkitivity.

"Yes... Now is a good time to live. It's the only place you can be as you play music. You can't think about the crowd not liking your performance... Or about previous ones that may have been better until it's over." She looked over to her violin case, which was leaned against a wall.

"I learned this from my mother. She's an amazing mare... Who plays the Cello, an equally amazing instrument... My father married her for her music, so he was happy as I showed promise in the field as well... They both have helped me immensly. However, I haven't seen my mother for along time... She moved to canterlot a while back, leaving me with only a smile on her face and her violin from her childhood. I hope to one day be like her... So I practice every day, with Canvas listening to my music and helping me with critiques... Though all he ever says is that my music is amazing... Sometimes, I have to ask others." She went back to her silent state as she sat on her bench next to Canvas, who took the mention of his name as an oppurtunity to speak up

" Yes, she does play wonderfully... And it helps me to paint wonderfuly as well. However, my inspiration to paint comes not from my parents in a positive way. They are... Buisness ponies. Living the same way over and over, every day the same as it drives them insane. I strove to live a different life then that... So I began to draw. They, however, are in denial of their own insanity, and for some reason wish me to follow down the same path." He looked out the window, getting a distant look on his face before snapping back to attention.

"They do not think well of my path... But it's the only path I will follow. Every day is different for me. Painting scenery is different, drawing different things, listening to different songs from the wonderful Treble, who will surely end up like her mother, though I have never met her, just heard stories of her playing. My parents don't understand what I want, or why I take this path. However, one day, I'm sure they will see. They will accept me and love me for who I am and what I do. Surely, I won't ever have the ammount of money they do, but at least I will never be miserable and upset with what I do. I guess that's the main reason why I took the path I did." Picturesque nodded after Canvas finished talking, and looked at us.

"I agree, though my parents are amazing photographers. I'll never be that good, I know, but I can always dream. Dears, you'll be here to watch me grow as a photographer as well. My mother was a famous photographer in her day... until she had me, of course, then she had to watch me. I do take blame for that, which makes me feel slightly miserable, but she always tells me it's not my fault, and she could never hope for a better daughter. I smile, though I do not believe it. My father had some reknown as well, but he didn't take pictures of models like my mother did. He was a scenery photographer, taking pictures of various landscape and sending them to magazines and striving movie producers, earning a good deal of money. My parents did have a good deal of money as well, but they understood my dream to be just like them both, so I take pictures of ponies as they stand in their natural surroundings." She looked out the window with a smile on her face, and everyone else started to look at me. They wanted me to talk now. Well, I'll grant their wish.

"You want to hear about my past now? Haven't you heard enough from me? Fine, I'll tell you what you don't know. My dream? My dream was to be with Sarah forever. The job I wanted? Well, I really wanted to be... a fireman. Yeah, yeah. Very typical, right? Well, I don't care. It's what I wanted. My parents were cool, I guess. Until my father killed my mother then himself. But that part you alread know. Now, my grandmother and brother... The only ones I had. Good ol' grandma was the only one I had to watch after me. My brother would drive me insane... But I loved him to death. My daily life before I became a pony was day in and day out boring, but I'd give anything to go back to that. I mean, come one. My life was boring, but at I knew what the hell I was doing. Now, I'm running around like a chicken without it's head and all I want is to go back home." The others continued to stare at me, especially stormy. She looked at me and began to talk again.

"Well, you know, you could always stay here if there's no way back... I mean, you have friends. We'll watch out for you, and we can tell you how to live. No rush." She smiled, acting much more serious then before. I guess it's all the nastalgia.

"Right, I'll keep that in mind." I siad, half paying attention at this point. I still had two goals in mind. One, figure out what the hell happened to me. Two, get home. Keeping those in mind, I began to look out the window. There really wasn't much to see besides trees rushing past at high speeds, and the railroad track below with the steady beat of many ponies' hooves hitting the wood of those rails. The seats were as comfortable as ever, and I sat in relative comfort. Stormy was sitting next to me at the time, with Thunder and Fleet sitting across from us. Fleet was asleep for some reason. Oh, he was also snoring very loudly. I just cut my eyes and glanced back out the window. Nothing was new though. Just... trees. So, I turned back and made like Fleet and fell asleep.

After what seemed like only a couple of minutes, I felt someone nudge me, and I looked up to see stormy. I didn't want to wake up, and I normaly was grumpy when I did. They didn't know that, of course. So, trying not to blow up on them or something, I groggily looked out the window to see we had stopped. That's the thing about sleeping, a few minutes could be an hour or more.

"We're here! Rise and shine, High Wing. Don't want to be late for the Maretro Station." Stormy said, nudging me again. I grumbled as I pushed her away.

"Okay, okay. Whatever. Let's just get going." I responded to her, attempting to stand up but raising slowly. Thunder offered his hoof to me, and I just grumbled and awkwardly wrapped my arm around his. The unfamiliar clink of my hooves against the floor took me off gaurd, and like some kind of dumbass, I jumped a bit. I shouldn't really have been taken aback by the sound at this point, but I guess it still hasn't fully registered in my mind. I mean, come on. Years of being human, and now I'm a pony. Well, no one else seemed to notice, so I just continued along like normal. Or what I figured they thought normal. Going down a flight of stairs, the exit of the train came into sight. I let out an audible sigh. I mean, It's not that I didn't like trains that much. It's also not like I just recently had a bad experience with them as well.

Anyways, when we stepped out, the small town ponies that I happened upon when I arrived were taken aback. However, I, being from a large city, I wasn't impressed. Though, I did have to admit, the many colors of the ponies walking about was a new sight to me. Smirking slightly, I smacked the back of Fleet, who was staring with his mouth slightly agape.

"What? Never seen this level of population? The noise getting to you? At least this I can deal with. Here, if it's anything like back home, sticking with me would be the best idea." I simply laughed at him, as he nodded slowly, and began to walk into the crowded station.

The Maretro Station

I yawned kind of loudly. My boredom level was rising insanely, and all the other ponies seemed to be very content just looking around at the various sights in the Mareto Station, or I've heard it be called before. So, I took some time to get a good hold of where I was, exactly. I used my shopping senses that I picked up from the many different malls I went to with my old friends, mainly to either catch the newest flick or so what they had in the various and varying stores in there. It'd get boring fast though. So, anyways, I found out a few things from some history books and maps. Apperently, Equestria is essientially the name for the continent and the world they live on. There's this forest that surrounds the continent, save from some ocean. I guess they go past the ocean some times, but not much is really said about it.

Well, here's the interesting part. This forest is apperently some dark place where the weather controls itself. That part didn't scare me at all, but the part that got me concerned was talk of monsters. I wasn't that sure whether to listen to my common sense, which told me monsters equals bad news, or to listen to my gamer sense and think that I can kill them and get money. I legitimately thought that for a second, before smacking my face with my hoof and bruising my nose. I guess I used a bit too much force, but I deserved it for thinking that. So, I got a basic idea of where I was. I probably could have learned more, but I was too busy not caring about history. Anyways, I started to notice that one by one, my friends seemed to wander off.

"Well, that's great..." I said underneath my breath. Finding them was going to be a bitch, so I decided to just find some place to sit down and think for a bit. I turned around, only to come in contact with something solid that wasn't there a second ago. It took me a second to realize that I accidently ran into a rather large male pony and knocked him to the ground. His brown hair was in his face as he started back to his hooves, laughing for some reason. I was sure he was the insane type, his red eyes staring at me like he was going to kill me. He raised a hoof, and I was absolutely sure he was gonna hit me. Flinching and closing my eyes, I only felt his hoof pat my back as he continue to laugh.

"That was a bit of force! It's alright, though." He said with a smile across his brown furred face, brushing the darker brown hair away from his face. Don't get me wrong, I was pleasently suprised. However, it's not what I expected at all. I stood there with a dumb look on my face, dumb struck and left without a response.

"What? Something wrong? Is there salad in my teeth again?! Jeeze, I thought I got it all out... I hope none of the mares noticed. " He turned and winked at one of the passing ponies, and I figured that one was female. I was kind of getting that down, the whole male and femal pony things. So the females are called mares, and the males are called stallions. The age complicates things, and sometimes men are called boys, or the equivilant, which would be colts. I found that slightly funny, mainly because one of my friends was a serious Colts fan. Of course I naturally thought of football when I heard that, and I almost mentioned that before I realized how many ponies here would know who that was. A whopping one. The best part is that one would be me. Yeah, I found it a good idea not to mention that.

"You a mute or something?" He said with a laugh. I realized I zoned out a bit, and I shook my head and brought my attention back to him.

"Yeah, I am. I'm so mute that I can talk" I said with a frown and a slight blush that was hidden underneath my fur. He laughed again and patted my back.

"Hey, me too! I'm also blind! Wait, no I'm not. That would suck something fierce. Fiercer then me! I couldn't see any of the pretty fillies around here, if you know what I mean." He said with a wink and nudge. As he got close to nudge me, I noticed he had neither horn nor wings. Earth pony? I didn't catch his cutie mark, but I figured this casa nova de pony would have something like a heart.

"Sure. I wouldn't want that." I said with only a hint of sarcasm in my voice. I know, I know. Me? Sarcasm? Well anyways, he seemed to believe it fully. Another pony who doesn't register sarcasm.

"Right?! Oh, I should tell you my mane! I mean, name. Yeah, that's the one. Though my mane looks fine too... Oh yeah, name. Name's Novaria. Eros Novaria. But you can call me Super Nova. " He made an arrogent half smile and extended his hoof to me

"What's your name?" He continued. I was contemplating what to say, but I figured I should just say my pony name given to me.

"You can call me High Wing." As soon as I said that, and I mean as soon as, I heard some one shouting my name. I looked around, and I saw stromy and Treble standing off to the distance.

"Who are those two fine mares? Friends of yours?" He said, brushing his 'mane' back with his hoof. Shaking my head, I walked towards them without a word. He followed for some reason, but I didn't really care. He could follow us anywhere, he was about as familiar as the rest of them, except maybe Thunder and Stormy.

"High Wing! There you are. We seem to be seperated from the rest... Amazing right? Who knew we could get lost in a crowd of thousands? Huh. Anyways, who's your new friend?" Stormy said with a grin, her yellow mane, wind blown as always, went in front of her eye, forcing her to push back her mane.

"Name's Noveria. But you can call me Nova, young mare." He said with a slight wink, extending his hoof. She burst out in laughter. I mean, she may have fallen to the ground, but at least she didn't do that.

"Not a chance. I have my eyes on another." She made a giggle and Nova nodded. He shrugged and patted me on the back.

"It's always worth a shot, right? Maybe the quiet one will do." He said with a hint of disapointment in his voice. Treble just blushed madly and shook.

"Me? I... I couldn't. No, I couldn't. Sorry." She averted her eyes, but Nova seemed to not be affected by this either.

"Always more mares in the sea, eh? Anyways, what's both of your names? At least give me that." His red eyes set to a less playful, more serious kind of look.

"My name is Stormy Heart. One of the best storm clearers out there! And she's Treble Cleft... A quiet one, but she prefers to let her violin do the talking. Let me tell you, what she lacks in voice she makes up in raw talent." Stormy said with a grin, her blue eyes gently settled upon Treble as she averted her eyes, trying to hide a grin as well.

"I'm not that good. Not as good as my mother... But I guess I'm alright." She said, her hair covering her eyes entirely now. She shuffled her hooves against the ground, but was relieved of the pressure of a whopping three ponies acknowledging her when Fleet flew past, saw us, and did I double take and landed right next to us.

"Hi High! See what I did there? Ha! Oh, and hello Stormy, Canvas and... A newcomer? Who's this new pony here? A water drop as a cutie mark? How the hay did you get that one, spilling water? Is your special talent spilling water?" Fleet said with his eyes closed and laughing like mad. Nova simply frowned and turned his head.

"My name's Noveria. Nova for short. And the story of my cutie mark can wait for another day. It's nice to meet you, Fleet. You have fine fillies for friends." He said with a smile and a wink. Stormy laughed and nodded.

"Right? Oh, and you'll learn how oblivious High Wing is! Just watch'm, you'll see ex.act.ly what I mean." I had no idea what he meant by this. I just kind of glared at him and turned my head, pretending I knew what he meant. Oblivious? Oblivious to what? Well, I didn't really care at the time, nor did I have time to. The rest of them, Picturesque, Thunder, and Canvas all came by at the same time. Thunder began to talk, a wild look in his face.

"Hey everypony. You would not believe what I just heard." A fourth, slightly older pony with a brown mane that had one long gray streak going through it came out from behind him. His white fur seemed to contrast with his stark gray eyes which made my nerves freak out.

"So you're the one, huh? I know something that may interest you." He said, his voice unnervingly deep. Everything about him was unnerving though. Nova shuddered a bit.

"This guy gives me the creeps. It's like... He's bad news. I can feel it." Nova said, his red eyes set and his mouth straight, his body was ready to move in the first sign of trouble. Canvas shook his head and frowned, then locked his eyes on me. He had a real serious look too, which made me panic slightly. You know that feeling when you're called to the office, and you know you did nothing wrong, but you keep feeling like you did, or that they made something else to make you in trouble? And you go up, and it turns out it was nothing? Well, this time I only wish it was nothing.

"I thought the same thing. However, what he said caught our attention... He mentioned humans." Canvas' face remained stoic. However, Stormy's changed insanely fast, as did Treble and Fleets. Nova just tilted his head and made a confused face.

"Humans? Hue. Mans? What in Equestria is that?" He said with a frown.

"I haven't heard much about them. Just rumors and bits from my library. But enough to believe it. When I heard about your friend... Well, you. I had to come. I have heard, and read as well, that the 'humans' come from a world seprate from ours. Their world, however, has no magic. They use machines for everything. Even war. Not much is written about this... And what's written is only in myths and fables. Normaly, I would take your friend as a lunitic. However, there is one barely known story lost to ages... There's only three copies left. One is in the Canterlot castle. Another has a location that is not known. And the third. The third, I have in my library. The story is more of a prophecy. Now, the prophecy reads of these creatures, humans, having a strange event happen in their world... One that normaly happens once in a million years. The dimensions align, two more perfect then others. Those two create a tear, and when certain requirements are met, an essance, either pony, human, or anything, can travel through the dimensions. This story wrote that a human would come here... And something would go horribly awry." My heart was racing. Horribly awry? I had no idea what that could have been. I still don't. And the other ponies seemed to not know either.

"What a... fantastic story. But it's a story. Are you sure it's real? Could something like that happen?" Stormy said, trying to take the attention from the last statement. Her concern was likely the same as mine on that case.

"I'm not sure. But that story is so vague and old... Not to mention rare. The chances of this happening..." He seemed to daze off for a second.

"Yeah, and that would explain why magic doesn't effect you. You come from a world without magic... You're like... Like... A hole in magic here. It doesn't touch you." Thunder said, putting the pieces together. I frowned. A hole in magic? A hole in anything isn't good. Especially underwear.

"A world without magic... How was it?" Canvas said, not being able to imagine not having his magic.

"Well, let's see. We make machines to do everything. We have vehicles to take us places... We're focused much more in sciences. Oh yeah, not to mention have of my world is either insane or going insane. It's fun times. Also, it's all I ever knew. It's like me asking you how it feels to be a pony." I frowned and sat down, thoroughly suprised with myself that I could keep up the whole sarcastic thing, even when I felt as bad as this.

"That seems rediculous... Dangerous... Impossible... And a possible adventure which would involve tons of babes, explosions, and fame. Count me in" Nova said with a grin, his eyes settling to his arrogent look that was rudely broken by his look of shock and confusion. I kind of thought about what he said. It did seem rediculous. I had to see that book myself. Which lead me to my next decision.

"Can we see it? The book, I mean. I'll be damned if it exists, but I've been damned so many times that I wouldn't be suprised. So, how about it?" My trademarked scowl remained on my face for a time before fading to a regular, contented look. He nodded, his creepy stare returning back to me.

"I'll take you to my library. It's in Maretropolis, which is just outside of the station. It's a bit of a walk, but it's a lot faster then taking a carriage."

"Faster then a carriage? How? We're walking..." Stormy said, probably considering flying, but reconsidering because of her friends. I knew exactly what he meant though.

"The streets are probably loaded with carriages, if it's anything like home. It could take hours to get a mile. Much easier to walk." I said, finaly knowing something. Made me feel good about myself. Kind of like beating someone once after losing twenty times.

"That's exactly why." He said, his low voice still creeped me out. I was digging getting something right here, however. Suddenly, Thunder spoke up again.

"Oh, you never told us your name. What is again?" His intense yellow eyes matching his, those two were seeming to communicate even without talking.

"My name is Dr. Mirado Stallionhorde. But you may call me Dr. Mirado." Dr. Mirado said, his eyebrows settling in into his intense look. He began to turn and walk off, the rest of us began to follow.

"We're off to sarotoga." I said with a slight laugh. I mean, I thought it was funny.

"What?" Nova said, not laughing just as much as the others. More like making a confused look.

"Uhn... Nevermind." I said, grumbling slightly. Now the ponies decided to laugh, frustrating me further. I stopped caring after that, but continued to grumble as I headed to the library, not realizing that this would be one of the last calm times for a while.