Refracted Reality

**"Have you ever had a dream that you were so sure was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream? How would you know the difference between the dream world and the real world?"* - "Morpheus"*

Earth. The only world known to the public to ever contain life. For as long as mankind has existed, we have longed to reach out into the cosmos to discover the possibility of extra-terrestrial life. The fact of the matter is, Earth is just one of millions of discovered class-M planets that sit in the universe. Odds are, there is life out there besides our own, and there is. Humans just look in the wrong places...

Aubrey Martin was a simple person by past. Born to humble parents, he learned to stick to a code of moral values growing up. Never skipped out on school, resisted corruption at every turn, and kept a level head. He was not without fault, however, as everyone, no matter how well-behaved and pure-hearted they may appear, makes mistakes. The biggest mistake in his life had yet to come, but this mistake would be unlike any other. This one would lead him to one of the most difficult decisions in his life, and while being a mistake, it was one worth making.

The day was Saturday, a day normally for resting and relaxing, but not this time. Aubrey's mother had heard that her brother was re-marrying today. Instead of waking up at his usual time of eight or so, he had been up since six o'clock preparing to go. Why is it we have to go to a wedding? I realize this is my uncle, but we can barely afford to go anyhow. His thoughts on the matter were right. His family's budget had been stretched thin already, then there was the fact that he still needed supplies for college within two days. The only thing he could do was the thing he did in any situation like this. He kept his head down about it and placed a fake smile over his face in the hopes of masking his feelings.

Of course, this was two hours ago. The family was nearing their destination, and soon the real torment for Aubrey would begin. He never liked being in a situation he didn't have some form of influence over, and being dragged to a wedding with hardly anything to do was the perfect example. If he had it his way, he would have spent the day writing his fan-fiction and catching up on the latest My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic episodes.

Although Aubrey was simple by his past, his present was anything but. Nearly two years ago, he had begun to notice a trend on the internet. All of these people having discussions about... ponies? Naturally, Aubrey began to grow curious. He began sweeping forum boards and his friends lists on everything he could, trying to find out anything he could about why there were teenagers -- even grown men and women -- were watching this show. Every time he asked what was so great about it, he got the same response: "Watch it! You'll love it!"

One year of hearing the same answers finally pushed him over the edge. He watched the two-part pilot episode, and ever since then, he had considered himself a brony. He still looked back on those days with fond memories, especially his memories of Rarity.

Out of all the different ponies, Aubrey felt at times, he could relate to every one of them. He knew he had Applejack's willpower and stubborn pride, Fluttershy's capacity for empathy, and Twilight's knowledge of facts, but he always felt a deeper connection to Rarity than any of the others. He adored her unique talent for making the most amazing garments out of simple cloth, her mannerisms, and her flair for articulating her voice so well. One could say he grew fond of the fashionista. Her sapphire blue eyes, her enchanting voice, her magnificent mane and tail...

Suddenly, a brilliant streak of light flew across the gray clouds. It was still daylight, though... What was it? Too dim and too slow to be a lightning bolt, he thought. Thinking it was a shooting star, he closed his eyes and began to daydream. If I could have just one wish come true... He thought about what Rarity would do if stuck in his position as he rekindled a small part of his inner child. He knew this wish would never come true, but he wanted to at least imagine it would, if only to ease his mind for five minutes. He took a deep breath and silently said, "I wish I could meet her, even for just one day." As luck -- or fate -- would have it, he would soon get his wish.

A sudden bump in the road snapped him out of his vision of Rarity. Apparently, they were still on the interstate, and Aubrey's brothers were growing impatient. "Are we there yet?" one of them asked in a drawl. The other one looked back to him and punched him as hard as he could in the shoulder, eliciting a wince from the younger one. "Shut up," the older one commanded.

"You shut up!" the youngest yelled.

"Enough!" Aubrey yelled, but at that point, he noticed he wasn't the only one to yell. Less than two hundred feet away, a semi-truck had lost control and barreled its way through the overpass's concrete barricade. It landed on its side with a deafening thud as it flatted nearly two feet from its weight alone. Aubrey's father smashed the brakes and tried to stop, but two hundred feet at seventy-six miles per hour is a long way to stop. "Hang on!" he yelled, and a split second later, there was another loud noise, this time a crunch, as the truck slammed into the semi's chassis.

Everything was so blurred. A faint ringing was the only thing he could hear. Not dead, but very close. The smell of transmission fluid and burning gasoline overwhelmed Aubrey's nostrils, but that was nothing compared to the sharp pain. It felt like there were tiny knives that had gashed his entire body, and when he looked down, sure enough, there were cuts, scrapes, and so much blood it's no wonder he was not dead yet. If the mild concussion wasn't to blame for the blurred vision, the pain and blood loss was. As he began to recover from his deprived senses, he realized that the truck had flipped over on its side and that the front had been smashed in so badly that the engine block had dislodged itself from the frame and rolled nearly fifty feet away. Got to... get out of here... He didn't need to tell himself twice as he clicked his seat belt off and began to crawl out of the shattered window.

Aubrey reached a shaky left hand out of the window, then the other. He held onto the window frame as best he could, but his wracked limbs had barely enough strength to haul himself out of the twisted remains of the truck. His torso was safely outside in the now pouring rain, now for the legs. He lifted his right leg without issue, now for th- "AH!" As he lifted his left leg out, a piece of the door's sheet metal caught him, leaving a long, deep gash. He cried out in intense pain and fell nearly four feet out of the window as his strength and balance failed him. He grit his teeth against the stinging in his lower limb. His wound must have been at least seven inches long, and he could feel his weakness beginning to settle in. Aubrey collapsed against the cold, wet pavement. His strength began to leave him as the adrenaline in his system began to fail him. He could hear his heartbeat slowly fading in strength and tempo as his grip on reality loosened. It seemed as though death was going to have its way. It seemed as though he would perish in that horrible car accident.

As his eyelids began to shut, he noticed a bright light shimmering in the clouds that seemed to head straight towards him. It was so beautiful... He wanted to hold out his hand to meet it, but his paralyzing fatigue would not let him. It drew closer and closer, and he drew farther and farther from conscious thought, until, just before he closed his eyes, he thought he saw two pink eyes peer back at him from the light. The last thing he could hear was a faint, angelic voice. It sounded as if it was the light talking to him, and for all he knew, it could have been. "Aubrey, please come with me," it said.

Aubrey felt as if he was weightless. He felt as if he was being carried to the heavens without being carried. He did not have a choice and he did not want to think about what would happen, but he did not care. Aubrey had lived a happy life, and he was ready to go to the grave with the knowledge that he lived his life the way he wanted. Fortunately, that would wait for quite some time.

Aubrey was in some sort of dream. A dream that seemed like a prison. No matter what he did to try and wake up, he couldn't. It was like being in a nightmare of sorts. The entire world was nothing but blackness all around him, and he was stuck in the middle of it. He knew he had to get up. There's no way this is heaven, he thought. Fight... Fight he did. He tried every single thing he could think off to bring himself back. One by one, his methods failed. The last thing he could try was... count backwards from one hundred by prime numbers. Ninety-seven... Eighty-nine... Eighty-three... By the time he had reached sixty-one, the dreamscape began to brighten in color. It was working! Fifty-nine... Fifty-three... Forty-seven... By now, the world around him had turned a grey-ish color, and his zero-gravity feeling was beginning to fade. Thirty-one... Twenty-nine... Twenty-three... Aubrey was beginning to regain his energy. The fire in his heart to persevere was returning, as was his awareness of the outside world. He could faintly hear a voice that seemed to echo around him as he continued chanting. Seventeen... Thirteen... Eleven...

He began to smile at his triumph It was such a simple thing, yet it was the most important feat he could ever accomplish.

Seven...

He had cheated death.

Five...

He had made it against all odds.

Three... Two.

Just as he said two, everything around him turned to a blinding white, and his suspension in the "room" suddenly failed. He fell, but he did not stop. Apparently, the floor was quite some ways away, and he began to pick up speed as he also picked up voices that seemed to approach him. Then he saw it. The floor. He closed his eyes in the illusion and felt free.

Aubrey awoke to the soft thud of something hitting his head. The downpour of rain freely washed his open wounds. He could feel the wind caressing his right side, the brush of the grass agai- Wait a minute... *Grass?** I thought I'd passed out on the freeway...* Indeed he had, but instead of rock-hard pavement, he could feel grass underneath him. He slowly opened his heavy eyes to see the same gray sky overhead, along with an... "Apple tree?" With his vision sharpening, he propped himself up with what little muscle he had left in his arms and looked around. He was sitting in the middle of an apple orchard. An apple orchard, and there was no wreckage from the cars, no road, no... anything. "Come on, Aubrey... Get moving..." he panted. He shifted his weight around and lay on his stomach before pushing against the ground with his arms and his good leg. He heaved his right leg forward into a kneeling position, letting it take his weight as he grabbed the apple tree next to him for stability. With one last pull upwards, he managed to stand on his own, but something else wasn't right.

Most of his pain was gone. The minor cuts and scratches felt as if they had never existed, and even though he could feel the seven-inch incision in his left thigh, even that felt numb. He still did not dare put any weight on it, but he had little time to think about that right now. He could here a voice coming from behind him. It sounded a little ways away, but Aubrey couldn't bother to wait and find out who its owner was. "Come on... Get. Moving..." He put one shaky, incapacitated leg in front of the other and began to hobble away from the direction of the noise. "I should be dead... Why am I here? Where is here?" He looked back to see if whoever was approaching him had seen him, but he noticed a complication in his escape. There were splotches of blood leaking from his leg, leaving a clear trail to him. Pick up the pace, he thought, and he broke out into as much as run as he could.

"Come on, Applebloom!" rang out behind him. Aubrey froze the minute he heard it. "'Applebloom?' What the..."

"Ah'm comin', sis!" Aubrey couldn't believe his ears. It sounded so much like them it was haunting.

"Hay, Macintosh! Ya see anythin'?"

"Yep!" Aubrey turned around to see a large red earth pony standing on top of the hill where he had been just a few minutes ago. Big Mac was pointing with a hoof straight down at Aubrey with a vexed expression. Aubrey began to hobble away into the sanctuary of the trees just as the other two climbed the hill. Applejack was holding Applebloom close to her side, and she bore a determined look on her face. The same look she had when she was hunting a pest that was rummaging through her crops. She looked down at the blood trail that Aubrey had inadvertently left behind. She half-shouted, "Whatever it is, it's hurt! Come on, 'fore it gits away!" She, Applebloom, and Big Mac all charged down from the hilltop full-speed towards their quarry.