I'm sure that many would think that my arrival in Ponyville was an experience that I will remember with fond memories forever, and that I enjoy thinking about it and reminiscing with Sparky and all our friends. They are not wrong. There have been many long nights where Sparky and our friends have stayed up recanting the tales of when I first arrived in the first place I could ever call home in Equus.

I, however, can never really enjoy the memories.

That particular memory always reminds me of the dream, and the sense of foreboding it brings. At the time I thought it was just a nightmare. My subconscious expressing the feelings of anxiety and helplessness I had. I awoke to the airship preparing to land in Ponyville and soon forgot about it. Now, however, rarely a week goes by where I am not reminded of it. Every time I have experienced it, I wake in a cold sweat, out of breath. It scared Sparky half to death the first time it happened after we got together. Previously I had been able to hide the... side effects... that it gives me, due to the fact that we had never slept in the same bed before. After that incident, though, she had demanded that I tell her what it was about and how often I was visited by the dream. It doesn't seem to follow any sort of pattern. Sometimes days will pass between episodes, sometimes years. The longest stretch I've gone between dreams was about two decades I think, and that was during my exile. Understandably, my mind was kept busy with other things. As to the nature of the dream... I'd rather not write it down where just anypony could read it. For all I know it could be nothing, but if it is important...

The only thing that I will say is that I get the feeling somepony or something is trying to warn me of something. Something terrible.

-Daus Skarr

*******

...smoke, fire, cries of anguish, the smell of death...

...had to keep going...

...so tired...

...bodies, bodies everywhere. Small ones, tall ones, furry ones, feathery ones. Some five times my size...

...all dead...

...all gone...

...

...

...had to keep going...

...had to reach the center...

...if they get there first all is lost...

...

...Daaaaaaaausssssssssss...

...

...Daaaaaaaaaaaaussssssssss...

...

...my name...

...the walls spoke it. My name. The walls and floor and ceiling, begging me to-

I woke with a gasp, covered in sweat. I scrambled out of bed. In my haste I got tangled in the sheets and fell to the floor were I lay, panting.

What was that!?

I'd had nightmares before, everyone has. This one though... it had felt so real.

As I lay on the cold wooden floor panting, I heard rummaging in the next room over and then a door open. I heard some one, presumably Twilight, scramble down the hall outside toward my door. After a short pause I heard a knock.

I lifted myself off the floor slightly and looked up at the door, "Who is it?"

"Um, Twilight," I heard a voice respond. After a short pause Twilight went on, "Are you alright?"

I shook my head groggily and started to untangle myself from the bed sheets. After a moment I said, "I'm fine, just fell out of bed."

I finished untangling myself from the bed and got up. After throwing on my shirt, I walked over to the door and opened it. Twilight stood before me with a nervous and slightly worried look on her face. After looking me over I could see the worry in her eyes grow. I must have look like a wreck.

She nodded towards the bed behind me and spoke in a worried tone, "I take it you didn't sleep well?"

I snorted and turned around. I massaged my chest as I walked back over to my bed and began to lace up my boots. Twilight walked in after me and stood near the door facing me with her arms folded. Her expression changed from worry to mischief as she said with a mock sympathetic voice, "Awww, is your chest hurting? Maybe its from the bruise that you got when you hit the railing on the ship."

I looked up and noticed her grinning. "You did that on purpose..." I grumbled in a low voice.

Twilight continued to mock me with a look of surprise. "Whaaaaaat? I was trying to save your life, not hurt you. I would never do such a thing to my date."

And there it was. The reason for my less than gentle introduction to the port side railing last night. I rolled my eyes and said in an exasperated voice, "I had to come up with something. Saying that you where taking me to Ponyville while heading deeper into the city would have looked suspicious." I paused and continued a low voice, "Plus the look on your face was priceless."

"You embarrassed me in front on an entire street full of ponies!"

I shrugged and stood. Having finished with my boots, I moved over to my coat, which was draped over the desk chair opposite the bed. I paused before pulling it on and grinned at Twilight.

"Worth it," I said as I pulled on the long coat.

Twilight huffed and turned to leave. She stopped at the door and said over her shoulder, "We'll be setting down in Ponyville soon. I sent a letter ahead, so my friends will probably be waiting at the docks for us."

I nodded, "Looking forward to it." I paused and looked over at the desk built into the wall. I had used it to put all my stuff on, which wasn't much. It was the stuff I had had on me when I had been transported here. Just my headphones, phone, wallet, and some change. Not to mention the sword Luna had given me. I frowned before glancing back at Twilight who was waiting for me at the door. "You go ahead," said, "I meet you up top. I just need to... gather my things."

Twilight gave me a sad smile, nodded, and walked down the hall to the stairs leading up to the deck.

I sighed and turned back to the desk. After looking over my things for a moment I reached forward and picked up my phone. I held the power button in a futile attempt to turn it on. After waiting about a minute I frowned and placed it in my pocket. I had tried to turn it on last night as well but had met the same results. It's not like I could do much with an iphone in Equestria anyway. Hell, they didn't even have cell phones yet. Although, I'm sure Twilight would love to get her hands on it to study it. I saw her eyeing it last night, and I can only imagine the lure that alien technology had for her.

I grinned and shook my head. Maybe I could use it as a bargaining chip at some point. I picked up my headphones and snorted. Without my phone they were useless. They were Bose over ear headphone so they wouldn't fit in my pocket. After thinking about it for a bit I used the cord to tie the headset to one of my belt loops, wrapping the excess up and putting it in my pocket.

I turned back to the table and picked up my wallet, but hesitated before opening it. I knew what I wanted wasn't in there but...

I opened my wallet and searched it thoroughly. As I had suspected they weren't there. I had hoped that I had put a few pictures of my family in it but apparently not. I threw the wallet back on the table and sighed. I had never really thought about keeping something like that on me. I hadn't even talked to any of my family in almost a year. They probably didn't even know I was gone yet...

I could feel the break down coming, but I pushed it back. I wasn't that kind of person. I couldn't even remember the last time I cried. My life had been pretty bland since... whenever. I also like to think I was made of tougher stuff.

Although, I doubt that anyone has ever had to deal with what I'm dealing with right now

I pulled myself back together and gathered up the stuff I had pulled out of my wallet. Just some IDs, drivers license, credit card, and some paper money, which was useless now. I pocketed it along with the change and then turned to "my" sword.

It was simple in design, but I wasn't complaining. In the end any sword was just a really big knife capable of doing some serious damage. I could probably lop some one's arm off in one clean swipe with this thing. I picked it up. The straps and sash were still attached so fortunately for me all I had to do was slip it on over my head and tighten it. Once done I stood there for a moment. It felt... odd. Like I had a backpack on but without the bulk. I shrugged and turned to leave. I could probably just leave it in Twi's library hidden in the basement. I definitely didn't plan on using it.

Lastly I picked up the mask that Celestia had given me and pressed it into my face. After a second of my body shifting and sliding around I looked down and saw that I was once again a "pony". I shifted my sword sash around a bit to get it into a more comfortable position then walked out of my room.

The ship or "airship" we had boarded was large but not so large that I would get lost. It was made mostly of wood, which was odd. I had only ever seen metal ships in real life. Although, as ridiculous as a flying wooden ship was, a flying metal ship would probably look even weirder.

I walked through the gloomy lower decks of the ship in a daze. Half of me was disappointed that I was still here, and the other half... well... the other half was still trying to rationalize this as a dream. Although, that argument was looking weaker and weaker the longer I was here.

I finally reached the door to the deck of the ship, and, after a second of preparing myself, I swung the door open and walked out onto the deck.

I looked around for Twilight and spotted her on an upper deck across the main deck from me. I started walking across the main deck towards some stairs, dodging crew members securing supplies and equipment in preparation for landing. After moving across the deck and up the stairs I slowed a bit. I really wasn't looking forward to the view. It's not like I'm afraid of heights, but looking over the edge of a floating wooden ship and seeing the ground below was not a pleasant thought.

Also there was the sun. I lifted a hand to shield my eyes from the glare. It was just coming up over the horizon, but it was far brighter than I had ever seen it. Maybe the sun was just brighter here.

Twilight turned when she heard my footsteps, and frowned before saying, "Are humans normally this sensitive to light?"

I shook my head and said, "No, not usually. I always had good eyesight but never this good."

Twilight nodded and turned back to the railing before saying, "Well, it's either something that happened during your, um, transportation here, or uh..."

I couldn't really tell due to the glare from the sun. but Twilight seem to be shifting around nervously. I sighed and said in an exasperated tone, "Or? What else could possibly be wrong?"

Twilight continued to shift around nervously for a few more moments before answering, "Well, when you first got here we didn't really know what was wrong with you, sooooooooooooo... we just kind of tried to fix... everything."

I raised an eyebrow.

Twilight caught my look and grinned nervously before saying, "We must have healed your eyes a little too much."

"Yeah," I said wincing as a sliver of light got through my hand, "I think you might have."

Twilight turned to face me again and said, "I think I may have an idea on how to help." She motioned with her hand toward my face and I nodded, lowering my hand warily and closing my eyes. She fired up her horn and concentrated, whispering a few words under her breath. After a moment I felt the same warm, comforting feeling I had felt in the tower start to seep into my eyes. Then, after a moment, it was gone, leaving me slightly disappointed... and unnerved.

I hesitated for a second, lifting a hand to shield my eyes. Then I slowly opened them to find that my eye sight had returned to normal-ish. At the very least the sun wasn't going to burn my eyes out of my skull anymore.

When I caught the view however, all other thoughts flew from my mind.

I was looking down on Ponyville, and the view was... breathtaking.

Ponyville looked so peaceful and surreal I was having trouble taking it all in. I mean, I had watched the show, all four seasons that had come out so far, and just the fact that I was here...

I gripped the railing, as if suddenly feeling the gravity of the situation. I was on a flying ship, talking to a fictional character from a kids TV show, and was about to land in Pony-

"Well? Did it work?"

Twilight interrupted my train of thought, and it was probably good that she did. Breaking down on a flying ship so close to the edge would most likely end badly. I lowered my hand and glanced at her for a moment before looking back at the rapidly approaching Ponyville below me. I took a deep breath before answering in a shaky voice, "Y-yeah, it worked. I can see fine now." I leaned over the railing and glimpsed a large network of wooden scaffolding and warehouses directly below us before squeazing my eyes shut. After a moment, I push off of the railing and took a few shaky steps toward the center of the ship.

I heard the sound of hooves behind me indicating that Twilight had followed me. I payed her no mind as I chose a spot in roughly the center of the deck and sat down. I leaned back on my hands and sprawled my legs out in front of me. Twilight remained standing for a moment before hesitantly sit down beside me. She reached out to touch my shoulder but I drew back, resisting her advance. For a moment her hand hung in the air before she withdrew it and shifted into a more comfortable position. I could feel the questions coming, but I did nothing to stop them. She already had the answers anyway.

"Are you going to be... ok?"

I shrugged before saying, "That depends."

After a pause Twilight asked, "On what?"

I shifted, looked directly at Twilight and said, "On how fast you and the other princesses can fix this."

Twilight drew back even further and said in a slightly hurt tone, "We didn't-I didn't do this on purpose. Had I known that I would be taking you away from your world-"

"You wouldn't have because you're a nice person and all that. Sure, I get it, and I'm extremely touched by your sympathy for me." I deadpanned before leaning back and staring up at the sky. I sighed before continuing, "However, that doesn't change the fact that I'm here and not back home finishing commissions, paying rent, buying food, doing the laundry." I looked down at the deck and frowned before grumbling, "This is extremely inconvenient. By the time I get back my landlord will probably have kicked me out anyway."

I turned back to Twilight to see that she had a confused expression on her face.

She shook her head before saying, "I'd have thought that you'd be freaking out over bigger things than your laundry. You did just cross over into a completely different world. A world that is filled with 'fictional species and magic', which, according to you, shouldn't be scientifically possible."

I gave her a dark look before saying, "Oh trust me, the freak out is coming. You'll probably find me drunk in the nearest bar not long after we land. And for the record, this whole jumping into another world thing is a lot weirder for me than for you. Plus you look much different on my computer than in person."

"What is that suppose to-"

Twilight was cut off as the deck beneath us lurched and came to an abrupt stop, almost sending me and Twilight sprawling. After regaining my bearings I stumbled to my feet, and moved to the edge of the ship.

We had landed in what looked like some kind of large cradle with support beams holding the ship just above the ground. Running along the side of the ship was a wooden walkway littered with tools and supplies presumably for whatever it takes to dock and unload a ship. Moving along these walkways were all sorts of ponies. Most of the ones on the walkway below where either unicorn or earth ponies. The pegasi seemed to prefer to fly above the throng rather than shift through them.

As I took in the crowd below me, a few sailors had opened up a section of railing to my right and begun to slide a gangplank down to a couple of ponies on the walkway. After securing it they began to unload some of the smaller things on the deck off the ship and in the direction of a large wooden and stone building that I presumed was a warehouse.

"Hey Daus!"

I glanced over at the gangplank and saw Twilight waving me over. I waved back and jogged to catch up with her as she descended to the walkway. After crossing the gangplank and catching up with Twilight we started toward the edge of the shipyard and the actual town of Ponyville. As we snaked our way through the sea of ships I was amazed by the shear variety of beings that I kept seeing. There were of course plenty of different kinds of ponies, this being Ponyville, but there were also plenty of creatures that I had seen already from the show. Zebras seemed to be the most abundant other than ponies and then after that griffons with some minotaurs mixed in.

After a while of walking I began to notice that the ships were becoming smaller and less abundant. I assumed because we were nearing the edge of the shipyard. This gave me a wider range of view, and allowed me to pick out a few buildings off in the distance that looked like they could be part of the actual town.

I leaned forward a bit to say to Twilight, "Hey Twilight."

"Hmmm?"

I paused for a moment to think about how to word my question. "Uh, about your friends... How much do they know about me?"

Twilight glanced back at me for a moment then responded, "Just what I sent in the letter. That your a friend of mine from Canterlot and that your coming to visit me in Ponyville for a while. Why?"

I fiddled with one of the straps on my sword sash, a habit I was falling into, and looked around nervously before saying, "Were you planning on telling them that I'm... um... not."

Twilight frowned and felling into step beside me before asking, "Not what?"

I gave her a blank stare and waved my hand up and down my body in a vague gesture.

Twilight shrugged and said, "I don't see why it would be a problem. Of all the ponies in Equestria, they are the one's I trust the most. Other than maybe the princesses." Twilight paused and stared at the ground thinking. "Is it a problem for you?"

I moved out of the way of a pegasus on her way into the ship yard and jogged a bit to catch up with Twilight before saying, "Not really no, but I just down want to parade around the fact that I'm here. Isn't that the complete opposite of what we're trying to do?"

Twilight snorted and said, "My friends aren't going to 'parade' around the fact that your here."

I grimaced and mumbled, "I can think of one who would..."

Twilight flicked her ear at me and grinned before saying, "If you mean Pinkie Pie, then you can rest assured that she won't be doing anything too crazy. I asked that she didn't in my letter, and if anything gets to out of hand I'll rein her in."

I raised an eyebrow and asked, "Really? And how exactly does one 'rein in' a Pinkie Pie? I've seen what she can do."

It was Twilight's turn to raise and eyebrow now. She stopped and turned to face me with an intrigued expression on her face.

"And just how-"

"SURPRISE!"

I jumped as I felt a furry arm wrap itself around me and squish me and Twilight together in a hug. Me and Twilight squirmed around for a second before being released by who ever had snuck up on us. I spun around, trying to catch sight of the pony, only to get spun around again by a pinkie and yellow blur. When I had regained my bearings I found that Pinkie Pie had my hands in her furry grip and was bouncing up and down in front of me.

"HI! Welcome to Ponyville! I'm Pinkie Pie Twilight's friend but I'm sure Twilight already told you that did she tell you that she said I couldn't use any fireworks?! I know right! It's horrible how can I welcome you to Ponyville without any fireworks?! Did she tell you how I welcomed her to Ponyville it was great and how can I feel good about welcoming you to Ponyville if I don't do the same thing but I can't because Twilight said she didn't want to attract attention but I feel so bad so I figured-"

"Pinkie, pu-lease you're going to scare the poor stallion off."

Just as I thought it would never end, Pinkie let go of my hand and stepped back.

It was just the two of them, Rarity and Pinkie Pie. Pinkie had on a yellow shirt with black spandex shorts. An odd combination, but I suppose it afforded her the rage of motion that she needed. Her being the way she is. True to the show, she had a mane and tail the color and consistency of dark pink cotton candy. For a moment I thought it strange that she wore no shoes but then remembered the hooves. In fact, the only one around sporting any kind of hoof wear was Rarity. She had on a pair of purple... horse shoes? It was hard to tell, and I didn't want to look weird by ogling her "feet". Other than the shoes, she had on a pure white dress with purple edging and two columns of four purple buttons on the abdomen. Her her mane and tail were curled and had a purple hue the same color as the trim on her dress. Intentional I'm sure. Finally, in keeping with her color scheme, she had a purple umbrella with so much frill it would probably be more of a hindrance than a help in the rain.

I looked around for a moment before frowning and saying, "Not to sound rude, but I was expecting more than just the two of you."

Pinkie Pie seemed to deflate a little at my words, but I recovered quickly, "Not that I don't appreciate the welcome. It's just that Twilight has told me all about how she has so many friends here in Ponyville, and I was looking forward to meeting them all."

Pinkie immediately gained back all her energy as she started to bounce up and down again in excitement, "Oh, don't worry about that! We're all going to have a welcome to Ponyville party tonight at Twilight's library. Just like I did for Twilight!"

Alarm bells started to go off in my head as Pinkie started to explain her plans for tonight. I didn't mind the gesture, but truth be told I didn't really like parties that much. I'd gone to a few back in college (who hadn't), but I'd never really enjoyed them that much. Too much noise for me.

I glanced over at Twilight, but she was laughing along with Rarity and Pinkie over something. I'd have to say something before things got out of hand.

"Um, Pinkie?" Pinkie and the rest stopped talking for a moment to look at me. I shuffled around for a moment, suddenly uncomfortable with all three of them look at me. I steeled myself before saying, "I appreciate you throwing this party for me and all, but... uh... could you... not."

Rather than being sad, as I had figured she would be, Pinkie just looked confused. For a moment she stood there with a perplexed look on her face before asking, "What do you mean, 'not'? Everyone loves a party, and I throw one for everyone that comes to Ponyville."

I rolled my eyes, "Come on, everyone?"

"Yep"

She stood there smiling. I turned to Rarity and Twilight, but they just shrugged.

"It's true," Rarity chimed in, "I'm not sure how, but she has managed to throw a party for everyone who comes to Ponyville ever since she moved here from her parents."

I shook my head and turned back to Pinkie, who was still giving me an innocent smile, and, seeing that I wouldn't be able to dissuade her, said with a sigh, "Alright, but keep it small. Only the mane s-, I mean, Twilight's closest friends." I silently cursed myself for my slip up. That would have been difficult to explain.

Pinkie didn't seem to have noticed, having gone back to her explanation of the party, but Twilight was giving me a look, a look I was trying my best to avoid. Which wasn't really that hard. Not with Pinkie bouncing around in front of me.

"Excuse me!"

We all turned to look at a tall (for ponies) stallion with a black coat and golden colored mane walking towards us and waving. He had on gear similar to the guards I had seen roaming around Canterlot the other night, and was also equip with a short sword just like the guards I had already seen. As far as stature goes he had muscle but didn't look all that tough.

I glanced over to Twilight. She looked a little worried but not to the point of running... yet.

The stallion kept walking towards us and yelled, "Could you move, please! You're blocking the walkway!"

We all glanced around, and, sure enough, we had caused the entrance to the shipyard to become a little congested. Not many ponies were complaining, we were with a princess, but a few of the other races that were moving in and out of the shipyard looked slightly annoyed at the obstruction we were causing.

We turned and started to walk further towards Ponyville, Twilight turning to apologize to the guard. After a bit of small talk, and Rarity formally introducing herself, I asked again about the rest of Twilight's closest friends.

"Oh," Rarity paused for a moment to think, "I believe that Rainbow Dash had weather duty today, and Applejack couldn't get away from her families farm long enough to come."

I frowned, "And Fluttershy?"

Rarity's smile faltered for a moment before she said, "I... believe she had some things to... take care of at her cottage."

I smiled knowingly, "Discord?"

Rainbow Dash snorted aggressively and Rarity said with a grimace, "Ah, so you know about our... guest."

I could almost here Twilight roll her eyes behind me as she spoke up, "What did he do this time?"

"He moved everything around in my shop!" Rarity stomped her hoof in frustration, "It took me a week to find all the things he had misplaced! And of course the moment I accused him of anything he just ran back to Fluttershy complaining about how 'difficult his life is'!"

I laughed and asked, "Is he coming to the party tonight as well?"

"Oh, I should think not!" Rarity said, "The last time I went to a party with him, I woke up the next day with my mane dyed green. GREEN!"

Pinkie skipped ahead a bit and turned to face us, "Awwwww, but his parties are always so fun!"

As the other three continued to go back and forth, I walked next to them in silence. The entire thing felt... strange. Of the four seasons that I had, grudgingly, seen, there was always a plot or... point to the episode. Rarely were there ever times when the characters ever just... talked, and as I continued to walk with the others the atmosphere continued to feel increasingly more casual. I'm not sure what I was expecting when I got to Ponyville, but I had definitely expected there to be a problem. One that only I could solve. That is normally how this works. In any show. New person shows up, said new person is introduced to support characters, said new person is introduced to problem, and then said new person solves said problem. Unless you count the Arbiter, and apparently he couldn't get to me in Ponyville, I had yet to find any problem. None that I could take care of anyway. Really the only thing that I could do was wait. Wait for the princesses to find me a way back home, and as I walked, listening and occasionally laughing along with the others, I started to think that wouldn't be such a bad thing.

Author's Note

Alright, I know its been a while, but here's another chapter. This story isn't dead, not even close. I've just been adjusting to college life and my new scheduled. I'll probably get a few more out between now and Hearth Warming Eve (oh look a pony reference), along with a special around that time.

Until then keep on keeping on.