Acheron, Meet Equestria!

I blinked twice. First, I did not fully comprehend what had happened. Second, even Chrysalis and Trixie were blatantly shocked. With a look of anger, the lavender unicorn glared at me as I backed up slowly.

“L-Listen, I can explain... something, I think. The... whatever that was? No clue whatsoever.” The lavender unicorn sighed, pointing with her hoof at Trixie.

“So then, what are you doing with her? A pony who only understands bragging?” I hardened my face. If that unicorn had been anyone I had met before, there were words I would have said. I am not a polite person unless the situation is exceedingly awkward. Which it was fast becoming. Trixie turned around, glaring at the lavender unicorn. She felt like I did, and I had a sense that Chrysalis was also becoming irritated.

“Well, besides not berating others with questions? Getting us away from Canterlot. Apparently, she's quite the illusionist, something that is quite useful-” Without letting me finish my sentence, the unicorn ripped my new hat from my head, examining it closely. Flipping it upside down, her eyes widened as she gazed inside.

“That's impossible. You are impossible. How did you get this hat?” I rubbed the back of my head, sheepishly grinning.

“Fell through a window. Meant to jump through it, but sort of... jumped wrong. Some crazy pony made me a leather aviator's cap, which, for some bizarre reason, became a captain's hat.” The unicorn held up the hat, glaring at me.

“What is this symbol?! I can read one of the words inside, which says 'Balance', but I don't understand!” The symbol in question was not entirely clear. To me, it appeared to be some sort of wobbling mess of lines. The words, however, were in almost perfect English.

“Uh, I can read this. Huh.” I looked closer. “'The Order Of Balance.' Symbol's a bit... odd, seeing as it's impossible itself. Hope you can forgive me for whatever that flash of light was.” The unicorn levitated the hat back onto my head, frowning.

“We have to speak to Princess Celestia!” I quickly glanced back at Chrysalis, who was shaking her hands in a No way, Jose sort of way. The unicorn backed up, her horn charging. I gulped, hoping I was not going where I thought I was going.

“... and the strange minotaur was spotted assisting Trixie, along with another strange creature. The strange creature had these weird... bumps. Not sure what they-” With a flash, we arrived inside the palace, everything inside my stomach evacuating at once. As I was bent over retching, the three ponies at the table looked up, two becoming very, very angry. I stood up. I felt my face drain of all colour.

“Well, crap.” I bolted for the window, before a large field of energy surrounded me, lifting me back. It was blue, so I assumed it was not of that lavender unicorn. I turned to face one of the ponies I had met when I originally landed.

“Well, look who it is, Princess. Just the minotaur we were looking for!” I looked down at Trixie and Chrysalis, adrenaline beginning to course through my system. Everything stopped when a door opened. I turned to face the door, and lo-and-behold, there was the holier-than-thou pony I had met before. I looked back at the one holding me in the air, frowning.

“I don't care what you do to me, but please, for the love of Pete, let me kick his flank! No one insults my hobby and gets away with it!” I began to struggle, trying to break free. I turned, rage flowing through my veins like roiling water. People say that when you get mad, you only feel it in certain parts of your body. I feel it everywhere. Every fibre of my being quivers in anger when I get mad.

“Prince Blueblood!”

“The minotaur!”

“You bastard!” All eyes fell on me once again, two pairs in anger, one in confusion, and the other in absolute terror. The last one was the desired effect. I crossed my arms, staring down at the white pony that seemed to have forgotten I was floating. “Okay, you gonna let me down any time soon, or is it dangling time? I don't like dangling time.” With a pop, the field dissipated, dropping me from a short height onto the table. While it knocked the wind out of me, I was alive enough to roll off the table and groan. That had really hurt.

“Shining Armour, would you be able to explain the animosity you feel towards this... minotaur?” I stood up, brushing myself off.

“I've taken worse hits. Now, clarification.” I pulled a chair out, sitting down at the oversized table. “I am not a minotaur. Minotaurs are freaky giant bull-goat-things from mythology, while I am a human, who, incidentally, fell from the sky. Now, I'm not pointing any fingers, but someone in this room knows why I fell. Anyone?” I stared around. None of the ones seated had a response. Another of the ponies with a horn and wings entered, this one dark blue, with a moon on its flank.

“Dear sister, what is going- oh.” She stared at my hat as I sat there. “Well, there is nothing more to discuss. This being is now in my custody, and my Night Guards will escort him to my portion of the palace. Good day, Shining Armour, and the same to you as well, Twilight Sparkle. Sister, we will speak of this later. And Cadence? Your chair leg is going to break.” With a crash, the aforementioned Cadence fell to the ground. Strange guards appeared as if from nowhere, ushering me towards the door, with Chrysalis and Trixie close behind. We began to walk the corridors, pushed past beautiful tapestries, ornately decorated stained-glass windows, and lush, iridescent paintings. The pony that had entered before began to walk beside me.

“So, care to explain what that was all about?” Without a word, she motioned to a large set of double doors, inscribed with sapphires and opals the symbol that was upon her flank.

“In here.” As we entered, the door shut, leaving the four of us – Moonbutt, Trixie, Chrysalis, and I – alone. I stood there as the others chose their seats.

“So, seriously, what was that all about?”

“We cannot be too careful about who we speak about this to. We have awaited your arrival for some time, ever since the sky tore.” I stopped breathing for a few seconds, choking on my own saliva. When I had fallen from the sky, the sky had torn? Something was not adding up.

“What do you mean, 'the sky tore?'” Moonbutt glared at me as if I had just spouted nonsense. Something was very off, very... disconcerting. A quick look out the window confirmed my fears. A voice in my head tried to get my attention.

“Acheron? Acheron! Wake up!” I woke up with a start. I had not even realized I had dozed off. I sat up straight in the chair I was in, looking across the room at Moonbutt.

“So, you fell from the sky? Well, something has been amiss since that day. And yes, we have not forgotten about you, Queen Chrysalis.” Chrysalis blushed, looking down. She rubbed the fingers on her right hand together, something that seemed like a nervous habit.

“Please, Princess, it's just Chrys now.” Moonbutt looked from her to me, a red tinge coming across her face.

“Well, in either case, we are glad the human has arrived.” My full attention was given to Moonbutt. She had been expecting me? That was impossible on all levels.

“Uh, if you don't mind me asking, Moonbutt-” I closed my mouth after what I said. Chrysalis and Trixie were giggling, while Moonbutt turned bright red. I felt a thousand times smaller in that room. It was as if the very air was wanting me dead. I swallowed hard.

“Please, it's just Luna.” With a sigh, I loosened up, just in time to have a book slam into my face. The golden aura around it set me off. Turning, I saw the cursed Prince Blueblood.

“Excuse me. I have a murder to commit.” With that, I bolted out the doorway to chase down Blueblood. Surprisingly, he was not that fast, despite being a pony, and more in shape than I will ever be. With a slide, I fell over a banister, rolling down a spiral staircase, and slid on my stomach until I came to a stop in front of Princess Celestia, who was not entirely pleased. The nobles in front of her were slightly in shock. I can take a hit. Quite a few, too. I guess all those footballs, basketballs, volleyballs, medicine balls, and soccer balls in school toughened me up a bit.

“I would believe my sister is looking for you. Is there any chance you were attempting to 'kick Blueblood's flank,' as you said earlier?” The nobles in front of her snickered. I was about to stand up when something slammed into my back. The heavy weight meant it was a pony, and from the ragged breathing, I could only come to one conclusion.

“He's on my back, isn't he?” the nobles nodded. I rolled around, removing him from my back, and glaring. Blueblood stared at me, smiling.

“Ah, not so tough without a red case to- not the face!” With a single hand, I slapped Blueblood as hard as I could. I felt the bones in my hand pop, a red mark the shape of my hand clear on his face. With that, I left.

“Just be glad I didn't kill you like I wanted to, jackass.” I could hear them all beginning to laugh, Blueblood growling in irritation behind me. Luna came to the top of the stairs as I hoisted myself up.

“Human, are you all right?” Heading up the stairs, all I could do was smile. There were times in my life where I was in excruciating pain. I fought through it with a smile and pretended like everything was all right. My back was protesting every movement I made, while my knees felt like they were going to explode.

“You should see the other guy.” Blueblood was trotting away, his head still high in the air, the handprint brutally visible on the side of his face. “If you have an ice pack, that would really help. It feels like I broke my hand.” Without a word, a large blue bag of ice was lifted onto my hand. I still had to ask about what their weird ability was called. Teleportation, levitation? Seemed a little bit strange to me to not have some sort of advanced technology or something. My hat was given back to me, without even a word. Placing it once more on my head, I looked back at Luna.

“What exactly was that about, human?” I sighed, holding my right hand. It occurred to me that if I had broken my hand, I would be screaming in utter agony. According to people I had talked to, breaking a bone, when you actually feel it, is one of the worst feelings in the entirety of time immaterial.

“That Blueblood made fun of me during that whole... whatever it was I landed in. He made fun of the red case. No one makes fun of the red case.” Chrysalis, who had been listening in, apparently, appeared from behind a banister. She was holding a small knife.

“Give the word, and I'll gut him.” I held up my hand, shaking my head. She stuck the knife back into a sheath attached to her leg.

“Chrysalis, there is a time and a place for plotting murder. This is not the Roman Empire, nor is it the court of Emperor Nero.” When I mentioned Nero, every single pony around me backed away, frightened.

“H-How do you know of Emperor Neigh-ro?” I stopped. That was the first time that human history coincided with what little I understood of Equestrian history. A strange parallel, to be absolutely honest, but then again, if this was an alternate world, I would expect something like that to have occurred.

“Earth, he was called Nero. Nothing compared to Emperor Little Boots. Caligula. Now, there was a madman.” I chuckled. History was a favourite of mine, laughing at the antics of the ancient civilizations. Caligula was a favourite. He was clinically insane. He had slept with his mother, and both of his sisters, then, to top it off, he ate his firstborn. If he had been born in the modern era, he would have been rolled up in rubber wallpaper, not just given a padded room.

“Well, it seems our planet has a parallel to yours. Speaking of which, if you know about old history, does that mean it interests you?” I turned to the voice that had begun to speak. Twilight Sparkle was walking up, smiling as if she had just found her new curiosity. Beside her floated three encyclopedias, old in appearance, very old. She floated one to me, opening it up to a strange black-and-white photo of old ruins. Strangely enough, there appeared to be some sort of pavement, like asphalt, heading into them, albeit cracked up and partially scorched, with what appeared to be shells of tall structures behind-

“Twilight, where is this?” My face had become very hard, my expression serious. Something was very, very wrong about this photo. Something that was not supposed to be there. With a quizzical look, Twilight stared down at the photo, shrugging.

“The Badlands. We could send you by train, if you really want to see the ruins.” I nodded, silent in my method of operation. Chrysalis stepped forward, her eyes twinkling.

“I could be his guide. I do happen to know the area well.” Luna nodded to all three of us. Trixie, who had been silent the whole discussion, piped in.

“I wish to see these as well. Even though they are ancient ruins, they might be of some sort of use.” I smiled. Four was always a good number. The smile dropped when I remembered what exactly 'Badlands' were.

“I hope we're being given plenty of water, if these badlands are anything like the ones that existed on Earth.” With that, our little group of four was ushered out of the main hallways of the Canterlot palace, towards a train, and packed out to the area known as the Badlands.

“Four days, Twilight. Four days we've been on this train ride. I'm starting to get a little cramped.” The seats, while normal size for a pony, were half the size they should be for me. The armrests did not fold up either, which was quite a shock for my system. The comparison, in my mind, would have been me in a crowd of small children, a veritable sea of midgets.

“Just be quiet. We have enough trouble from Trixie! She kept begging for first-class accommodations, when all we could get on short notice was the train that had just come out from repairs!” A car over, I could hear Trixie mumbling, her grumbling beginning to get on my nerves.

“Twilight, I understand that. Tensions are high-” I stood up, the chair coming with me. Twilight's eye's went wide as I found myself with a permanent seat attached to myself. “Uh, okay. Never had that happen before.” Twilight had fallen over laughing as I attempted to extricate myself from the offending item that was attached to my pants. I sat down, giving up after a few minutes. A strange noise from the front of the train startled me. Twilight, noticing I was not paying attention, pulled the chair off quickly. “What was that noise?” With that, the train began to slow down, the landscape outside slowly turning to a burned-out wasteland. I opened the window, sticking my head out. The ruins stood out quite clearly in the darkness of the badlands. A speaker above the door crackled to life.

“Now arriving at Equestrian Research Camp. Please watch your step as you leave the train.” I looked up. The speaker was something I would have expected of a human train, not of an Equestrian one. Something gnawed at the back of my head, telling me to turn back. I had to know, I had to find out exactly what the ruins were. With a step, I was out of the train, leaving behind the tiny seats and uncomfortable beds. The others followed behind, Chrysalis in the lead. The ruins seemed eerily familiar, and very, very unnerving. As we approached the research camp, the feeling only grew in magnitude. Tents appeared over the hill we were climbing as we walked. Twilight, clearing her throat, decided to break the silence.

“So, what do you expect to find at these ruins? No pony has ever been able to decipher the inscriptions of the various articles of metal found around.” We entered the first tent, the metal plates coming into view.

“Answers, Twilight. What everyone wants. Information is power. Remember that.” One was an octagon, which read 'Stop'. While it was not a shock, the others were. 'Schubert', a green rectangle with chipping. 'Junipe'... it was missing the end half of the sign.

“Miss Twilight! We found a rather large sign buried! You might wish to see this!” Without even stopping to answer my emergent question, she galloped out, leaving me, Chrysalis, and Trixie in the dust. I followed, sprinting fast. My questions were growing in number, but what the large sign said, I had not even expected.

“Chrysalis, stay back.”

“Why?”

“Because whatever it is, it is completely impossible.” A large pit opened before me, rope leading down to a hole in the bottom. I could just barely see a corner of a large wooden sign. Forgoing the rope, I slid down, standing behind the researchers. As I approached the sign, more came into view. My heart sank, deeper than it ever had before. The sign... I recognized it. I should never had been able to, but I recognized it immediately. I sank to my knees, tears beginning to stream from my eyes. Chrysalis rolled down beside me, sitting up. Her eyes widened as she saw me in the sorry state I was in.

“Acheron, what's wrong? Acheron?” I barely heard her as my heart pounded in my ears. Louder,  louder. The ruins, I knew them. I knew them very well. Every street, every road, every building. I turned away, staring at the ground.

The ruins...

It was my home town.