The ground was cold and wet, but it was on the ground I stayed. I had barely the strength to move, let alone breath.
My body was broken all over, my chest had caved in from the hit and was releasing a steady stream of blood. It was probably all over me by now and mixing with the thick mud from the ground. It was agony incarnate, crippling me beyond action, and so I just laid there on my side, only being able to think of the pain, wishing for it to end.

But then I could hear the incoming footsteps, sinking into the mud of the grass I had laid on by the side of the road. It was a person coming, I knew it, and my thoughts changed to hope.

They could come, they could take me away to where I could be saved, they could stop my pain.
Anything, just please stop this pain.

"Oh my-shit! Are you alright?!" I heard her exclaim, her beautiful voice reaching me through the pain . She almost sounded gorgeous to me, a sweet contrast to my pain.

I felt her try to roll me over onto my back, and after several attempts she succeeded. Grunting in the pain of being moved, I thought then to speak up to her, I knew where there was a hospital nearby, it wasn't a far drive. She could take me there, save me, end this pain. Yet, through my blurring vision I say her face, her eyes distraught and searching for signs that I could survive.
She was an angel, a pure vision of elegance, and I knew it was my lack of blood just telling me this, her face gave off a radiant glow, her hair looked divine, every part of her was perfection. If this was some other circumstance there would of been no way I could of brought up the courage to speak to her.

But I had to tell her, she could take me there, she could end my pain.

Yet, as I tried to speak, my dry mouth only made what could have been interpreted as a moan of pain.

She started to speak again, probably trying to ask ways to help, what my name was, but I just understood her less and less. Her voice stayed beautiful but sounded more like a foreign language to me. Everything was blurring. The sounds of it all just faded to mere whispers, yet my own heartbeat became a bassdrum, beginning to slow its beat down.
The pain was somehow fading, maybe she was an angel, making it all go away. It was like a comfort of sleep overtaking me, like the end of a bad day and I could finally return to my dreams, where everything was okay.

Maybe she could save me, maybe I would live.

Maybe…

______________________________________________________________________________

I awoke on my stomach, probably in the most uncomfortable position possible. I tried opening my eyes to look at what I was on, but I was forced to close them nearly instantly due to the sheer brightness that bathed everything around me in a piercing light.

'Uh, why’d they leave the curtains open' I thought to myself, trying just to keep my eyes shut and keep out the painful light, but it was to no avail. I was wide awake almost and this uncomfortable position made sure I was.

Forcing myself to exert the effort to roll onto my back, every muscle began screaming in protest, as if yesterday I decided to run the marathon while simultaneously fighting off every other runner. Yet, I Finally got onto my back, and I began opening my eyes slowly, using my hand to try and shield the sun, slowly adjusting to the brightness, and gradually everything came into focus.

'What the hell, what the actual hell?!'

This was wrong, It was all wrong. I sat up looking every which way, and everything was alien to me. Crumbling stone walls all around, vines ingrown throughout the area, and a destroyed roof revealing vibrant blue skies and that damned blinding sun.

Not my home, not anywhere I knew, and in the middle of a ruin in a forest. I stood up, getting paranoid and frankly scared as hell at the position I was in. Anything and everything around me was not safe.

Something had to of brought me here, there was no way I just up and appeared sleeping on…

It was then that I finally looked at what I had fallen asleep on, and why it was so uncomfortable...

It was an altar. Something brought me here to an altar, in ruins, in the middle of the forest.

And with that, the paranoia came back stronger.

'What if they return, and why the hell did they drag me here?'

I tried to remember what could of lead to me being here, attempting to think through the blur of my sudden awakening and slowly building headache, when it hit me:

'A car accident.... I was in a car accident... And now I'm... Here...'

I looked all over my body, pulling back my clothing and looking for signs of damage, even scars, something to prove my memories were correct, that I had just been in an accident. But my body told a different story. It looked completely pristine almost, unblemished and unharmed in any way. Even to the point of scars that I knew used to be on my body were gone.

'This is wrong, on every level wrong, there is no way I can remember being in a car crash yesterday, and not have a single scratch on me today...'

A thought suddenly flashed through my mind, that maybe I had died, yet I dismissed it as quickly as it came. What sane person could accept they were dead when the proof otherwise was their own existence.

I was alive, I had survived an accident and now I was here.

Here, where whatever put me here could return.

It was then that I should put getting answers to the back of my mind and instead try to get out of here, and so I stood up, and looked around at the ruin I was now in. The ruin was bare, all walls, no door and no roof. Wreckage from the presumed past roof lay strewn on the floor, and led me to deciding on my method of getting out of here.'

With that thought, I found the lowest section of wall, approached it, and used my arms to lift myself up and over,clearing the wall and landing on the pine-needled covered floor of the forest. Looking every which way I could, I ended up seeing the same thing in every direction: pines trees continuing endlessly.

When I looked up, I could see the still rising sun through the canopy, and thus was able to find east, the way I decided then to begin my trek, hiking off to anywhere but here.

______________________________________________________________________________

The forest remain largely the same as I walked through it, passing pine tree after pine tree, my footsteps compressing the pine needles and twigs beneath my boots. I could hear birds in the distance, singing joyfully, as the light wind caused the distant tops of the trees to sway ever slightly. And yet, my mind began to wonder as the journey continued, thinking of all kinds of good situations I could end up in, like if the ones that put me on the altar finding me now leaving, as if they intended to return to me.

‘Oh hey there, my name is Keith and I'd really appreciate it if you decided not to abduct/sacrifice/ kill me today, thanks, I’ll just be on my way.'

Oh the joys of my mind.

With the sun getting higher, and the humidity becoming unbearable, I finally decided to address the issue of my not really appropriate clothing. The hiking/snow boots were great, probably the best decision I ever made, but everything else was still gear that would've been better served in winter. It consisted of jeans, a dark grey winter hat, a plain blue long sleeve shirt under a tight fitting black hoodless running jacket that I wore. I took the jacket off, wrapping the sleeves around my waist, then stuffed my hat in one of its pockets before rolling the sleeves on my shirt up.

I probably looked somewhat ridiculous, but at least I wasn't sweating... As much...

It was then that some of trees began clearing up on what looked to be a dirt path. Naturally, I decided to follow the trail, going almost in the same direction I had before

Happy with the somewhat improving status of things, I began to hum a little tune to myself. I was basically in the clear, I just follow this trail, and the trail would lead to a road, and a road then to civilization. Then I can get everything cleared up, and I’d never have to deal with anything else as creepy as waking up somewhere you've never been before.

Time went by fast on the trail, step after step, until I saw the ending of the forest. Almost looking like an invisible wall that made sure not a single tree grew past that point.

I began to jog, then run, then sprint to the end of the forest, I wanted out, to never return there would be fine in my books. This forest held the ruins, that altar, and I wanted to be as far from it as possible. And so the vision of what lay beyond the forest slowly opened up to me.

It was astounding.

Everything was so picturesque, plains spreading throughout a shallow valley, more forest far in the distance, with barely discernable smoke rising in the distance from what must of been a town hidden by the rolling hills. And then a mountain, rising from the ground defiantly with a white, glistening series of towers built onto it.

I will admit, it did look almost beautiful.

The only thing missing was me knowing where the hell I was.

________________________________________

Deciding that the smoke I saw was probably my best bet, I begun trekking in that direction. Continuing as the sun reached its apex and started the journey down.

Slowly, after walking for a fair bit of time, buildings slowly came into view, and with a new found sense of urgency, I sped up slightly, causing the buildings to come more in focus.

Then I noticed something was wrong

I could see thatched roofs, walls of bright colors, and then brightly colored things flying all around. It looked more like a slight mashup of medieval and little girl's dream the closer I got, probably the worst combination ever.

As I got closer and closer, I began to discern, of all things, horses in the streets of the town. Everywhere there was horses.

No people, just horses.

I got closer and closer, nearly running now, I approached the town, getting within a solid fifty yards of it when the scream rang out.
“'Monster!” was screamed, high pitched and definitely feminine.

It was then that I saw the horses that were seconds ago frolicking and talking without a care nearly instantaneously bolt into their homes.

I was confused, I reached the edge of the town and began walking through it, being sure to look all around at the weird buildings. Every one of them was closed, every street was deserted, and it was creepy as hell, because I knew they were looking at me through the cracks of their doors and windows. I could see them, unable to sate their curiosity, quickly peeking out at the streets before quickly hiding again.

Just the simple absurdity of the situation I was in made me almost walk through the town in a almost trance-like state.

This was just like a fantasy world. Horses don't do this, horses don’t make homes or yell “monster”.

There was no way I was on the world I belonged to.

I continued my walk, now making it to what looked to be a market square. Stalls were strewn about nearly senselessly, as if they all got knocked about in a mass panic to go to the indoors.

It was then that my trance was broken through by the rumbling of my stomach, I was starving. With produce strewn about, I decided to have a little snack, picking up an apple from a nearby stand and ate it, it was pretty normal as far as apples went.

'May as well eat up, and then find some decent gear to use, and leave here, there’s no way I'm gonna convince these horses that I'm not a monster' I thought as I continued my walk on, looking around for a stall that could of sold maps or something else useful.

Grabbing what looked to be saddle-bags from a near by vendor, I began filling them with various items, mainly produce, before putting it over my shoulder and tying it in place like a modified back-pack. Then I found a pretty large pan I found that I decided would be handy, seeing as I would probably end up going to another forest. Yet I could not find anyplace that would sell a map or the like.

That is, until I exited the marketplace and saw the tree, with a book sign in front of it.

'Yes, A Tree! Because why would you put books anywhere else but in a freaking tree, silly me'

Approaching the door to the tree, which was by the way about three quarters of my size, I did the one thing I thought I probably should, I knocked.

After waiting a moment and hearing nothing in response, I simply opened the door and entered.
It was pretty small as far as a bookstore would go, but it redeemed itself in that, thankfully, everything was in english, somehow. Walking over to the walls, I looked over the titles for hopefully an atlas, or maybe a section of maps, yet for some reason I was drawn to the center table, where saw a note:

Spike,
Sorry to just leave while you're out getting more quills, but Rarity had an emergency with an 'orange-frog' getting in her boutique and claiming it as their territory.
I should be home for dinner.
-Twilight

'The hell is an orange frog?' was all I could think of before instead turning back to looking through the books, now aware that someone probably lived here and would return soon.

It was reading through these titles that I noticed something odd, nearly all the non-fiction titles were on 'magic'.

Magic.

Freaking magic was in non-fiction.

I was obviously skeptical, yet intrigued at the same time. If somehow magic actually was now real, then why the hell would I pass it up. Hell, if magic was really, it probably was here, in the land of English speaking horses.

Opening one of the saddle bags I had, I stuffed it full of books of introductions to magic, and a book that seemed to be on magical artifacts. Moving on, I pocketed a book on called "The History of Equestria", which I guessed was the name of the land where I was, before I found my actual target, the pamphlet titled "Maps of Equestria and Surrounding areas". A dull name, but informative, plus confirming of the name of this place as 'equestria'.

It was then that I heard the footsteps, and door knob turning that signaled an opening door.

I froze before quickly moving so that the table and pedestal in the center of the room was between me and the door, then followed by ducking down so whatever had just entered the room couldn't see me.

I stayed absolutely still, my heart pounding in my chest, and the sounds of two feet waddling towards the center of the room, a bag being thrown on the table.

"TWILIGHT, I'M BACK!" Yelled the... What I assumed was this 'spike', before he moved forward again upon probably noticing the note.

"Oh, a note................. What the heck is an Orange Frog?"

'Exactly what I want to know, spike' I thought, somewhat relieved I wasn't the only one that had no clue as to what this ‘Twilight’ was talking about.

'Then again, I wasn't supposed to read that note.'

Then I realised, why am I hiding? I have everything I need, I could just leave town now, maybe try and head for somewhere else, where the first reaction I get isn't everyone hides away.

And if it is the same reaction, I just continue on somewhere else, I’ve got a map of the country, I could do it.
I just had to get past this... Spike... whose voice sounded a bit like that of a kid. And I had the element of surprise, it would be easy.

And to get past him, I suddenly had an idea, the perfect one.

Channeling my inner ghost, I braced myself before jumping out and shouting at Spike something that was akin to "ABUGAWUGAUGA!" In an attempt to scare him away, and it worked flawlessly. Upon seeing me suddenly appear, he gave off a scream of "AHH- A MONSTER!" Before bolting away into what I assumed was a kitchen, due to the subsequent loud racket of pots and pans falling.

Surprised at the sheer amount of success I had at scaring what looked to be a giant lizard, I just up and proudly waltzed out of that library and into the barren streets, ready to leave this town behind me.

And the streets were barren, save a purple winged unicorn and a white normal unicorn. Each with their jaws wide open.

I just stood there like a deer in headlights, barely five feet from the library, my bags full of stolen books.

‘Shit, why aren’t they hiding in their houses like everyone else?’

It was then that Spike decided to burst out onto the streets, his head topped with what looked like a pot, and his hand wielding a large butter knife, giving a war cry of "STOP YOU FOUL BEAST!"

I looked at him, and simply said "Nope" before sprinting off down the road through the town, trying to simply get away.
As I continued running through the town, passing countless buildings, I heard the hoof-falls of what was probably those two horses following after me, both of them giving calls of "WAIT!" and "STOP!"

Silly horses, why would I stop for you to charge me with theft and “attacking” that lizard, that would just lead to a mass mob of frightened horses chasing me out, which I would basically accomplish on my own seeing as the way out was right in front of me, open and clear, and HOLY SHIT THE PURPLE ONE JUST TELEPORTED IN FRONT OF ME!

Trying to stop myself from running into her, I slowed down, before I began to panic, which lead to me not thinking as I swung the frying pan I had stole, and hit the winged unicorn dead on across the face, letting out a resounding bang, before I continued my running away from the town.

As I continued, I spared a look behind and I was able to see the white one and lizard making sure the purple one was okay instead of chasing me. Somehow in my panicked state I managed to actually score a good hit against her.

By this time the houses had begun to thin out and up ahead I saw a forest, which became the target of my escape. Speeding up, I almost made it into the forest, when, barely ten feet away from the entrance, a cyan blur blindsided me.

With a grunt, I was forced onto my back, my wind knocked out and everything hurting for a moment, before I looked around and saw what had hit me. It had been a cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane, great.

With my frying pan in hand, I began to get up, which led to the pegasus deciding to finish her work, and jumping on top me, hard, forcing me back on my back, and each of her hooves finding a point on my body in an attempt to hold me down.
"Nope, you're not going anywhere until you pay for what you did to Twilight, you.... Thing!"

"Great insult" I managed to say while underneath her, before taking advantage of her mistake of putting her hooves on my shoulders instead of my arms.

Grabbing her hooves, I forced them off my shoulders, lifting her up off me, before she pulled her hooves back, as if getting ready to push me back down. It was then that I was able to quickly sit up grab her mid-section in a bear hug almost, pushing forward and forcing her to fall onto her, now with me on top holding her down, and by god did she start thrashing.
Using the rest of my body to hold her down, I quickly raised my frying pan in the air before slamming it down on her face, creating an almost crunching sound as it connected. Her thrashing stopped almost immediately, as she entered unconsciousness. Getting up from my position atop her, I noticed that her snout looked broken and was bleeding profusely.

‘Well, great, now there’s no going back, as if there was as soon as I began stealing’

It was then that I noticed the white unicorn and the dragon, running to me, both of them still a long ways away, the purple one behind now sitting up, yet still with a dazed looked on her face. Deciding that was my signal to go, I began running into the dark forest, going in as deep as I thought would enable me to lose any trackers.

_______________________________________

I sat in the forest, my back to a tree, in front of me lay the progress of the past three days living here. Off to my left was the crude lean-to and bedding, in front of me was the campfire, the result of basically half of yesterday, and to my right lay a small stream.
It wasn’t anything to be proud of, but it was better than facing hypothetical pony capital punishment.

Oh, and trust me, I knew they were looking for me. Through the books I stole, I figured out the pony I hit upside the head with a frying pan was a freaking princess, not to mention that I’ve seen armored pegasi flying overhead multiple times, ruining my idea of going to another pony city.

And the thing with those pony cities, they have names made of puns. Seriously, what is this, a world made for eight year old girls? First its brightly colored ponies, and they are ponies according to their books, then its magic, and then on top of that everyplace is a pun.
And speaking of those books I took, I’ve read most of them during my free time, in fact, the magic ones I’ve even started rereading.
If nothing else, the fact that magic exists here is truly phenomenal, and a dream come true. I mean seriously, what kid hasn’t dreamed of turning into a freaking sorcerer.

Though I have unfortunately concluded one thing with the “Your First Magic Lesson” book I grabbed: I have no magic whatsoever.
I tried all of the absolute beginner lesson things and they all resulted in just nothing. Maybe it’s because I have no horn, but then again the book saws pegasi and earth ponies can use magic in their own ways too, so I’ve just concluded I have none of my own.
I mean seriously, if humans had magic, we would have discovered it by now.

But then there was that magical artifact book, I wanted every single thing in there. Amulets that granted untold powers, staffs of blinding bright light, necklaces, stones, the constant problem with all of the ones I’ve seen is they’re all hidden away in far away collections, except for a few on display in certain museums.

It was then that my stomach rumbled, and I realized how long I had been reading, it had been at least half of the day already. I then reached into my bag of food, it didn’t have much left, and between the couple apples, carrots, and potatoes I already ate plus the one fish stupid enough to get caught by me, I was definitely not in a good position food wise.

Taking a carrot out of the bag, I chewed it while continuing to read my book.

All the while a plan formed in my head, a way to ensure my continued freedom, all the while allowing me to explore this whole new possibility of magic.

Maybe if I stole one of these artifacts….

_______________________________

Two more days had passed, I had since moved my campsite multiple times as the pegasi overhead got too close for comfort, probably due to my own fault in creating smoke with my fire.

I was nearly out of food, but it was fine, I could pick some up while I went on my quest for the one artifact I concluded could give me the powers of magic. Well, the single one that wasn’t lost or locked away in some unreasonably far away place.

It was called the sapphire stone, an artifact that could grant anyone the powers great enough to endanger the entire world, it had been recovered and donated to Canterlot museum, where it was said to be now. Yes, in Canterlot, which happened to be the nearby city shooting straight out of a mountain.

The plan was I made was simple, I sneak in, I get into the museum, and I steal the artifact. Then, after that my freedom is secured, I can practice magic, and maybe even in the end create some spell to get me home.

My trek began with me securing all the gear I could need, maps, the small bits of produce I had left to eat, tying my jacket across my waist once again, and of course picking up my frying pan.

Heck, it served as a pretty good weapon last time, and it sorta was the closest thing to a weapon I had readily available.
So, with everything ready, my fire put out and the remainder of my books stored in a hollowed out tree stump, I started walking through the forest.

The journey continued through the forest, as the sun got higher and higher in the sky, beaming down through the holes in the canopy and making the air hot and humid. It was hard work, trying to remain on a straight path, yet it payed off with me eventually arriving at the edge of the forest, to the edge of the town that I learned was ponyville. And so, following the edge of the forest in order to attempt to remain somewhat hidden, I walked to Canterlot.

For a long time…

A long time…

As the sun slowly went down towards the horizon, I continued my trek, continuing until the forest ended and all that was between me and the mountain city was open grassland.

And so I sat at the edge of the forest, for fear of being spotted out in the open, as I had seen a couple pegasi in the sky on my trip here. I began lightly napping a little bit and eating the remainder of my food, as I waited for the day to finish.

As the sun set and the moon took over, the night darkness encompassing all, I began walking through the open grassland, taking up a light jog as a way to try and make it to the city in order to steal the artifact in time before sunrise.

It was surreal almost, running through the open fields in near darkness, the grass waving lightly in the breeze, the only sound I could hear was the rustling I made and the occasional flapping of what must've been birds. The moon sat high above me, larger and brighter than I have ever seen it, almost like a light guiding me to my destination.

This run continued for what seemed an eternity to me, the mountain getting closer and closer until it finally came that I reached the bottom of it.

Then the search carried me around the mountain, searching for a way up that didn’t involve straight up climbing, until I found the railways. Using them as my path, I was able to get from the bottom of the mountain to the entrance of the city it what seemed like a blur to me. My adrenaline was pumping, I felt every heartbeat, every slight change of wind, I felt alive.

Slowing down as to make less noise, I made it to the gates of the city, and passed through, not a guard in sight nearly. Then I sneaked along the walls of the city until I reached what looked to be the start of the government owned buildings, the place where the museum would be located.

It was then that I saw the first guard of the night, simply strolling down the road, his horn lighting the area in front of him.
I had to resist the urge to straight up attack him with my pan in fear that inaction would lead to my discovery and the subsequent calling of his reinforcements.

Yet, he continued on his merry way, oblivious to me, and with the release of a breath I hadn’t realized I had kept in, I began walking through the streets again.

Continuing on my way, I passed several more guards, all of them acting like the first, seeming oblivious. It was amazing for me, I was able to continue on through the city unimpeaded until I reached a large and prestigious looking building, the site of the Canterlot Field Museum.

I was so close, my hands were shaking, every muscle of my body ached with excitement.
I looked around the building, searching for ways in, when I saw the greatest godsend ever, they left a window open. THEY LEFT A FREAKING WINDOW OPEN!

I quickly hoisted myself over into the building, giddy with excitement at my fortune. At this rate, I’d be casting spells and escaping this little girl’s paradise in no time.

Getting into the building, I surveyed the surrounding area, searching for any clues as to where I could find the Sapphire Stone, and clues did come to me, in the form of a map of the museum.

Pulling out my artifact book for reference, I decided the artifact would be displayed in none other than the Ancient Civilization sections.

Putting the book back away, I began lightly jogging through the museum, excited at the prospect of being so close. I quickly made my way through the corridors of the museum, exhibition after exhibition. The only sounds being my breath and footsteps, while the only light came from various windows on the ceiling, revealing the proud moon, ever watchful of my actions.

My feet carried me down until, at last, I reached the section the artifact was bound to be in, the section on ancient civilizations.The entrance to the room was decorated with tribal art, creepy masks, primitive spears, and pictures of step pyramids. Further in, all sorts of pottery and statues lay in various cases.
Thats when I saw it.

Exactly as the picture in the book, the Sapphire Stone. Two blue carved figures of dogs making a casing around the enchanted jewel. An artifact that once while in the wrong hands almost meant the end of the world.

And it was right in front of me, only separated by a thin casing of glass.

Its power would be mine, purely on adrenaline, I grabbed my frying pan, and made to swing at the casing.

I made to swing at the casing, but a force stopped me from damaging it, like the pan and the case were magnets resisting coming together. So I swung again, then again with both hands on holding the pan, then I tried breaking it by punching it, but that was stopped too.

But it was then that I noticed what was stopping me.

I again made to punch the casing, when again I was stopped, this time though, I watched my fist the entire way through, and saw the dark blue aura surrounding it and forcing it back.

The same aura that was emitted by unicorn magic.

Someone was watching me, toying with me, seeing what I would do.

I took a step back from the case, put my hands to my side, and then spoke out loudly and clearly:

“I know you’re out there and are stopping me, show yourself.”

Then a voice answered me, as if from every direction at once. “Thou art smarter than you look theft, then again, maybe you aren’t for thou walked right into my trap.”

It was then that a body materialized from the shadows of the room, coalescing into the shape of a large regal pony, with wings and a horn. Walking towards me, I saw her glaring her contempt at me, all the while her hair swirled with thousands of stars in an ethereal breeze, giving little specks of light that were reflected across her shining deep blue coat
.
I knew who she was, one of the leaders of this realm, and the subject of a majority of the history book I had stolen.

It was Princess Luna

I stared at the Princess, dumbfounded.

Finally, I spoke one word:
“How?”

“How?” She replied, almost sounding like she’s laughing at my question.

“Caught red-handed trying to steal an artifact capable of bringing mass destruction and he asks how?”

“Quite simple, theft, we knew you were coming. Do you not think we would notice what books you stole, nor follow the smoke of your fires to find you, nor follow you as you made your journey? Did you not stop to wonder why it was so easy to infiltrate our city, nor why a window would be left blatantly open?”She continued, seemingly gloating like she had just won some game.

She continued to step forwards towards me and I frantically tried to think of ways to stall her, keep her gloating and maybe create a way to get out of her.

But I was so close.
Separated by such thin glass.

Still freaking out, I somehow managed to reply in a shaking voice
“What happens now?”

“Now? Now we take you back to face trial for your crimes.”

She was getting even closer… close enough to be in range of a swing of mine.

“What crimes? I’m just here to appreciate the museum” I replied

“Hah, well, besides attempting to steal an artifact of mass destruction, there is also the theft of produce, books, a frying pan, plus the assault of Princess Twilight Sparkle and of Rainbow Dash” She replied, now almost an arm’s length away from me.

“Well about that..” I started to say, before I took the frying pan in my hand and swung it at her.

With a smug look on her face, she simply conjured a shield to block the pan, but she wasn’t my true aim, no.

And I hit dead on the glass, shattering it into thousands of pieces, before I then quickly picked it up with my hand.

“It seems that now its you that should be worried, Luna” I reply, confident in my new found power, I could win with this, I could have the power to kill a god! I could feel the power surging through me, It felt

Like I normally felt. In fact I felt the same holding it.

Dropping my pan and attempting to do something magical with the hand, anything, I just ended up doing the same as if I didn’t even have the Stone.

It did nothing.

Furious, I looked to Luna, who now had the widest grin on her face, before yelling at her

“What the hell did you do to it!”

“Us?” She replied acting innocent

“We did absolutely nothing to the real stone, because why would we ever display the real artifact in the first place?” She replied, once again in a smug voice.

“You just stole a fake, theft, and now your time of freedom is done.”

______________________________________________________________________________

With that, I had lost. I gave up, allowed myself to be carried through the streets and to the dungeons by her magic, then thrown into a cell to rot. Charged with attempted regicide, high theft, disrupting the peace, and every other offense under the sun probably.

And so, in the cell I remained, sleeping away the grief of being caught.

I knew what happened next, I got brought out and hung. Never mind that these were ponies imprisoning me, and therefore they probably didn’t use the hanging method of execution.

I just knew that somehow I screwed up and ended up hitting a princess in the face with a frying pan.

‘Now that I think about it, that frying pan was really high quality, I mean seriously it disabled two ponies, one of them a magical princess.’

‘I am going to get out of here, and then I’m getting back my goddamn frying pan too.’

‘Well not really, it isn’t much of a reason to be angry, it’d just be a bonus to get it back. A nice keepsake and weapon. I’d give it a nice name, like the ‘pony vanquisher’ or ‘Goddess Slayer’’

It was then that my wandering mind was interrupted through the incoming sounds of trotting, which soon revealed to be belonging to a regal white coated princess with….

She looked familiar

I’ve seen her before somehow, her features, the radiating hair, eyes full of what was an attempt at trying to understand me.

Seeing my stunned silence as an invitation to initiate, she began slowly, as if unsure that I could understand “Hello, My name is Princess Celestia, may I ask what your name is?”

I hesitantly answered her “Keith”

Taking a moment to register it, Celestia then replied “Well, Keith, you have been charged with attempted regicide, and mass theft, is there anything you would like to say to me before I schedule you for your interrogation?”

Interrogation, yea, so you can have me admit to the crimes before you execute me. She had enough evidence to give me whatever form of death penalty existed here, and I knew it. Why would I need to be interrogated, and why did she sounded so familiar, I knew I had to of met her somehow before. She just gave me deja vu. So, after a moment's pause, I asked her “Have we met before?”

To that she just gave me a sad smile, and I felt as if she were putting on a show of sympathy. I attacked her fellow princess, there was no way she had anything other than contempt for me. And I knew this as she turned away from me, saying simply “No, I believe not.”

With that she started to walk away, but not before giving one last remark: “I don’t know why you wanted the Sapphire Stone, nor why you attacked Twilight Sparkle, but I’ll give you this time now to think over what you’ve done and why.”

“Just be thankful we prevented you from actually stealing it”

And with that, she left.

With her gone, I once again resumed my self-pity party, sitting in a corner, thinking of all I could of done differently.

You know, I never did have to try to steal it, I could of easily just tried to live out in the forest somehow. But there was the whole ‘I hit the princess’ thing. It’s not like I set out to do, she teleported in front of me, I just reacted in defense.
And then that Rainbow Dash, she freaking tackled me.

In my own mind I was justified…

Then again, they saw me as someone that came to their town, scared everyone away, stole their food and books, then attacked the princess when confronted.

“psssst”

And how did I not see that trap coming. I should of known something was up by the way-

“psssst”

“PSSSST”

My train of thought was interrupted by the sound, looking around, I saw the source of the noise.

It was a brick of the dungeon, and it had grown a face that was looking right at me.

“Huh?” was all I could manage, shocked at the absurdity of the situation.

“Really, that’s all ‘huh?’ c’mon kid, look alive, its not as if you're on death row, wait you are” the stone replied, in a masculine voice that was riddled with feeling that I should distrust it.

But I decided, I was probably going to die anyway, why not entertain a freaking rock before I go?
“Thanks for the reminder, I almost forgot”

“Oh chin up old boy, it’s not everyday someone has their fate obliterated by the interference of their friendly local god of chaos.” He replied, his face projecting itself out of the stone in order to form the body of a creature made of several parts of different animals.

It was disgusting to look at, but I managed “I’m assuming that means you’ll break me out?”

“Ah yes, but you must swear, that if you get caught again, I had nothing to do with this escape of yours” he replied, as generic stripped burglar clothing appeared on him and he looked around as if someone might of been watching.

“Deal, a thousand time yes, let’s do this” I replied, standing up with a new found excitement, a new found hope of not being killed by ponies of all things.

“Ah, but its not me doing everything, it will mostly be you. I like you, you have the potential to mess up everything in this world, so I’ve decided to get you a gift” With a subsequent snap of his fingers, a giant present appeared and landed in front of me.

Tearing the thing open, I found and picked up my “present.” Or otherwise known as my frying pan.

“Seriously?” was the only thing I could manage “Why not, I don’t know, the sapphire stone?”

“Because that would be too easy for you and too traceable to me, no, I’ve instead decided to return that pan you’re so fond of to you, while also telling you where to find that cute little trinket. Look in the vault in the treasury, it will be the building with a giant hole in the side and it will be the vault that is somehow opened, now then, you may want to start running, I’m certain someone heard that explosion just now” and with a snap of his fingers, he disappeared.

“Wait, what?” was all I could manage before the wall of the prison I was in exploded in a furious display of fire, sending me flying back into the bars of the prison.

Coughing and getting up, I heard another explosion not as far away, and figured that that would be the hole in the treasury.

Jumping out of the hole in the prison and onto the courtyard, I surveyed the gardens, searching for the other building with a hole in it, and when I saw it across the courtyards, I made a mad sprint for it.

Quickly passing over different arrangements of plants, I nearly made it into the building when alarm bells began ringing throughout the castle and I could hear the distinctive yelling of guard ponies. I was screwed if I didn’t find that vault and soon.

Looking all across the rooms, I saw in the back of the room a series of several vaults, one of them with the door barely open, just as he had said. Yet, as I made my run for it, the distinctive yell of a guard saying “HE’S HERE, I FOUND HIM!” rang through the building.

‘Shit’

I ran as fast as my legs could carry me, trying to somehow avoid the guard altogether and nearly making it into the vault before the guard caught up to me on his wings and tackled me to the ground. He then jumped back off of me and unsheathed his sword into his mouth, and as I struggled to get up as fast as I could and raised my pan as if to challenge him to a duel.

He laughed at me through his sword..

I threw the frying pan at him.

With him forced to jump to block the pan, I had enough time to jump into the nearby open vault and close it, securing my safety for the moment.

Turning to the loot inside, I was astounded. There was gold everywhere. Coins, bars, jewelry, all of it together forming a small hill, and at the top of the hill lay my prize.

The Sapphire Stone.

It was beautiful, and it was my escape, my freedom, my future.

It was mine.

I walked up to it, and grabbed it coventantly. It was the real thing. The instant my flesh made contact I could feel my whole body stinging, like millions of pins were stuck in all at once. I nearly dropped it then, I wanted to drop it, yet my hand disobeyed me and stayed firmly grasping the idol. I could feel the thing forcing me to hold it, to use its power, and as time went on, the pain faded away and instead was replaced with a feeling of… power.

I felt as if energy was flowing into my body from the idol, and it felt good.

I needed to use this energy, I needed to cause pain to something, I needed to…. I needed to get vengeance on those damned ponies.

They locked me up, they planned to kill me, now they would see the error of their ways.

I heard them, so many of them outside the vault, they had someone breaking through the wall evidenced by the beginnings of the metal of one of the vault’s wall melting. They would open it soon, and it would open up to their death.

I wanted their blood.

My body was shaking in excitement, I didn’t know why, I never thought this way before.

I never sought out causing others pain, but now, it was the only thing I wanted.

As the melting continued to the point where a small hole had formed, the metal dripping down the wall, I thought of the spells I had read about in the book I had stolen.

Aiming at the pile of gold, I concentrated on using this power to force everything in front of me away, extending my right arm as if to push as my left clenched the idol hard, the veins of the hand popping out clearly.

The magic felt so natural, and using very little power I created a wave of raw force that sent hundreds of the gold coins flying, resulting in many of them impaling themselves on the back wall of the vault.

Smiling, I turned back to face the wall the guards were melting. With a majority of the wall now red hot and a good chunk of it melted away in the formings of what could've been turned into a door, it didn’t stand a chance against my power. Pushing with as much energy as I dared use in one shot, the wave of energy hit the wall, shooting molten metal at the unsuspecting guards behind it while also forcing the rest of it to peel open. The screams of guards hit by the metal rang in my ear, like a serenade.

The hole had now been forced open so much so that I could walk through. And as I did, I surveyed my work. Guards were panicking, rolling around, scratching themselves with their hooves to get the metal off, a couple of the closer ones already died, their faces and bodies now spotted with thin cooling splotches of metal.

Nearly twenty other guards stood backed up, distraught at the sudden loss of some of their comrades, while others tried to help save the others.

Too bad for them, it was time for my fun.

My body began acting almost of its own accord, using my hand to send shockwaves through the ranks of the guards, sending multiple of them slamming into walls, crushing their bodies. Unfortunately some survived, having softened their own falls with wings and by landing on the bodies of their comrades.

The remaining guards finally got the idea to attack me, what a mistake for them. As they charged, I sent a shockwave through my hand at each and every one of them. Sending them all flying back with speed that broke their bodies through sheer force, leaving the remains of most of them as little more than mush.

Some feeling in the back of my head wanted me to throw up, to feel disgust, yet that voice was killed quickly as well.

I was free, and I was enjoying myself. Their pain was my joy.

With this thought I stepped out of the building, and began walking toward the wall of the city.

I wanted to try more spells, so as some straggler hero guards decided to charge me, weapons out, I instead imagined the force of the push spell I had been using as having an edge, and swinging in a flat line like a sword.

Then, with a cutting motion of my arm, a ripping blade of wind extended out, reaching out to the guards and cutting clean through them. Their bodies split in half where they stood, their parts falling to the ground, and making my smile became even bigger.

This is what heaven must feel like.

Continuing my walk out, I finally reached the wall, and continued along the edge until I reached the gate once again, and began my trek back down the mountain. I had finished all I needed to do there.

Maybe I could fight Celestia and Luna later, when I was better, but right now I needed to find a place to hideout and train my magic.

______________________________________________________________________________

Celestia watched him walk away from the balcony of her bed chambers.

Somehow he had escaped his prison.

Somehow he got in the vault.

And then there was nothing she could do but tell her guards to stop confronting him, let him escape.

Maybe if she had been faster she could of saved the thirty-five that had perished at his hands.

She had already seen thousands of death, yet each one always stung the same.

She hated death, she hated war, they were the only things she could justify hating.

She knew she could easily overpower the one named Keith, she could incinerate him instantly, he was unskilled at magic, he was a novice but with newly granted extraordinary powers.

It was like a novice jewelry maker going straight to crafting with the most expensive materials. The jewelry would be rough, easily breakable, and easily overshadowed by a master even with the most inferior materials.

But the product would still be expensive.

And that price to pay would be innocent ponies if she fought here. A battle in any city would be the absolute worst case scenario.

And so she had to force herself to just watch him leave.

Wait until he goes far enough away from civilization on his own.

Celestia would try to bring back normalcy to her ponies for now, grieve the losses, and repair all that had been broken.

But, her anger had been fed. A once dying ember now growing into an inferno.

She hated him the death Keith brought, the pain and suffering he would create.

He had to be stopped, restrained, encased in stone, banished to the depths of the world.

Celestia swore it, she would see him stopped before he caused more damage..

Author's Note

Well here's my first "official" fic

Love to hear any feedback people have, or see any grammar mistakes I missed.

New chapters coming soon I guess.

Expect much Villainy.

-ConRad