Author's Note
Wrote this one in the middle of the night, sitting on my patio, while listening to some Skyrim soundtracks. SO MUCH INSPIRATION!
Chapter 1
It was a cold night like any other; the breeze carrying a slight chill with it, while the sky above me was hazy and mostly starless as usual. I was walking along the side of the lake, letting my thoughts wander off into the unknown, as I aimed my head skyward, and let in the cool air fill my lungs.
The only thing observable in the sky, was a cloud-covered full moon, with three stars surrounding it in a triangular pattern. I raised my eyebrow slightly at the sight of it. Something about that pattern in particular drew my curiosity, and felt familiar somehow. I could feel it on the tip of my tongue, but led to no avail, after a few minutes of mentally pondering it. Shrugging my shoulders, I finally let go of the thought, and let my mind wander about again, that is, until something else caught my eye.
I fixated my attention onto the water to my right. Considering the sky was covered in dark clouds, the water had an abnormally bright glow to it, and it didn’t move whatsoever. It was reminiscent of a smooth mirror. I paused in my tracks at this point, and darted my eyes towards the water, now approaching the shoreline with curiosity. As I got closer, my feet sinking deeper into the sand with every step, I paused in my tracks, mere inches away from the edge of the water. I kept on wondering how the water was glowing so bright, considering the dark and dreary environment around me.
I knelt on one knee, propping myself up with my elbow, as I outstretched my hand towards the stationary, luminescent surface. The moment the tips of my fingers were submerged, I jumped back in retaliation, pulling my hand out as quickly as possible.
“That wasn’t water,” I said out loud, my heart skipping a beat.
That didn’t feel anything like water, as a matter of fact, my hand wasn’t even wet, it was as dry as it was previous to touching it. I fell back into the wet sand, disregarding it for the time being. My mind was racing at this point, trying to logically think through what had just happened. After a really long minute, I just gave up and slumped my shoulders, my sense of logic still spinning in circles.
During that minute, I eventually thought to myself, “You know what? Fuck it,” Reaching my entire arm into the gooey substance replacing the water, mentally and physically bracing myself for whatever was about to happen.
You have no idea how much regret I felt during that moment, as I shot my arm into it, because my arm wouldn’t come back out! As I tried pulling my arm with all of my bodily strength, out of the glue-like liquid, I felt an intensely strong pulling sensation. Before even getting a chance to yell out from fear, I felt my body get pulled in with the force of a damn speeding truck, and before I knew it, my whole body was off the ground, flying into the liquid, which was now growing immediately brighter. I forced my eyes shut, and held my breath, not knowing what to expect from here on out.
I couldn’t manage to keep my breath held any longer, as it was practically being forced out of my lungs, while I felt a nauseating falling sensation. I opened my eyes, at first slowly, my mind trying to catch up with me still. There were bright, vivid colors, swirling impossibly fast, around a blinding white light emanating from the center of the rainbow-like funnel. Aside from my initial reaction of, “What the actual fuck is going on?” I felt my body becoming warped and twisted, in ways I’m glad I’m not able to describe, the numbness quickly blocking out the intense pain. I was having a near panic attack, as the colors flew by, with all of my sensory stimuli fading away quickly.
“Is this it for me, am I going to die?” I thought, letting it echo throughout my mind, everything around me now faded to blackness.
What seemed like minutes later, I awoke on the shoreline, with my consciousness now returning to me. At that moment, the only thing that I felt, was the pure elation I felt from being alive still.
“Ugghhh…” I thought to myself, “Was that like an LSD trip or something?” I thought again, trying to lean up from the ground, placing my hand on my head.
*CLUNK*
“OUCH! What the fu…” I immediately cut myself off. Instead of my hand touching my head, all I felt, was a thick object, bumping the side of it. I looked down at where my hand was supposed to be, but it was gone. All I saw was a beige colored hoof, directly in front of my face. My eyes widened immensely, my heart-rate going through the roof now. I glanced at the rest of my body, and let in a huge gasp of air. My body wasn’t the same either. Where my legs were supposed to be, there were hoofs also. The same went for my head, as I stroke my arm across the top of my head, and felt two long, furry ears along the top-sides of it.
I was in utter shock at this point, turning my head everywhere along my body, including behind me, still in utter disbelief. It was then, when I saw a big pile of smooth brown hair, coming from behind me, and resting just to my left. It was a tail! I blinked, my breathing now turning heavier than ever, as I nudged myself to the edge of the motionless water beside me, and looked into it for a reflection of myself. I peered my head just inches over the surface, only to jump back in fright.
“I’m… a pony?!” I said out loud, turning my head in every direction to observe my looks, maintaining direct eye contact with my reflection in the water.
My mind pretty much snapped at this point, the logic of all of it, now gone entirely. My head was mentally over inflating itself with thoughts of, ‘who, what, when, where, and most importantly, why?’ before I felt myself beginning to black out once more. As my body dropped roughly back into the sand, I heard footsteps in my vicinity, followed by an audible gasp. I didn't have the time to mentally process everything that has happened over the last couple minutes, so by then, I’d passed out once more.
I lied there in the now sweat-covered bed for a few minutes, pondering everything about the dream i'd just had. I really hope I hadn't fucked up on that part, because I knew my actions were most likely going to bite me in the ass sooner or later. While staring up at the ceiling, my eyes wide open, and my mind filled with worry, I noticed the door open from across the room once more. The same doctor from last night, had trotted in, noticing immediately that I was awake.
“Oh, you’re awake now; do you think that you’re ready to head out now?” He said to me, whilst readjusting his glasses momentarily. I sat there for a moment, and turned my head to look out the window, to see an orange glow in the sky, some stars still visible.
“Uh, yeah, doc, I think I’m ready to head out now,” I replied, now leaning to get off the bed, partially wobbling my legs upon contact with the floor.
“Do you need assistance, sir?” He asked, noticing my momentary struggle with standing, as I began correcting myself, now standing normally again.
“Oh, no thank you, I’m good,” I said, as I walked through the open doorway, just passed him, ready to head out as soon as possible. I paused in my tracks and turned around to face him for a moment, raising my hoof as I was about to ask him directions to the main entrance.
“Down the stairs, to your left, and follow it straight forward until you see the main entrance,” He said abruptly, before I had a chance to even open my mouth. I laughed a little bit after that, waving my hoof before turning around to head out.
“Thanks,” I said, now taking said directions.
I have to admit, climbing down the stairs on all fours, was so strange, not to mention I almost fell a few times, adjusting myself as frequently as possible. Thank god no one was around to see that. After reaching the bottom of the stairway, I notice the entrance at the end of the long hallway, so I started lightly trotting towards it, turning my head towards some of the doors as I passed them by, expecting to hear something. By the time I reached the entrance, to my right, there was a pony walking by. She had a white coat, with a pink mane, and her hair tied up in a bun behind her head.
“Thank you, take care, come again,” She half-mindedly said to me, still walking in the opposite direction, as I pushed the doors open with my head. I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the, ‘come again’ part. I rolled my eyes, and passed through the small anteroom, now standing outside the building entrance.
As I let the cool breeze wash over me, cooling me off significantly, after being inside for so long. I looked around, expecting to see other ponies around me, but there was no one. It was empty for the most part, the only sound, being the occasional chirping of the bird flying by, which made me think about my wings for a moment.
Now being at least a quarter-mile away from the hospital, walking along the light-colored dirt path, I decided to experiment with my wings a little bit, my goal, being to at least hover off the ground.
After what seemed like an hour, of awkwardly flapping my wings, trying to get a good feel for them, I eventually managed to flap them properly, my body now hovering mere inches off the ground, but still wobbling a little bit. I knew it wasn't that much, but holy shit, I felt like a total bossatronio right then and there! (Points to those who get that reference)
Aside from the flying (or hovering in my case), my wings eventually got really tired from trying so much, so I decided to give up on that for a little while, and keep on walking towards Ponyville, which I could see vaguely in the distance.
I immediately began thinking about what I had thought when I had first showed up, why I was here to begin with. Was it by sheer luck, or was it my destiny? All I knew for the time being was that I didn't trust any of the princesses with my situation, considering Luna was pretty damn straight forward with wanting to know, and quite frankly, I didn't want to get banished to the moon or some shit like that. At least I didn't have to worry about her invading my dreams again, due to my extensive knowledge of lucid dreaming, including how to wake up from one at will, which thankfully still applied to me, even in this world.
Not too long afterward, the sky began turning significantly brighter by the minute, its rays beaming through the clouds overhead.
After a while of walking, my legs almost cramped up on me from being so sore, I had to pause in my tracks and sit down for a little while, getting a slight shiver from the slight chilliness of the wind, and the dark shadows of the tall trees. I then noticed a large, flat-topped rock, off to my right, peaking just above the tops of the trees themselves. It gave me a little idea. With my still clumsy wings, I managed to fly up there briefly, somehow making a smooth landing on my hoofs on top of it. After feeling proud of myself for managing that, I lay flat on my back, soaking in the now, well balanced mix of cool temperature, and sunlight. I didn't close my eyes or anything; considering I was already wide enough awake as is, so i just relaxed.
Not a minute later, I lift up my head from my arms folded behind my head, as I heard fast paced, light galloping in the distance, followed by high-pitched giggling sounds. I leaned my head over the edge, to see Scootaloo, Applebloom, and Sweetie Belle running past, them not seeming to have noticed me up above. I let out a small, slightly inaudible laugh by the time they were well out of sight, before a thought had struck me.
'Where am I in the show right now?'
Of course, I was referring to whether I was in the chronological setting of season 1, 2, 3, or 4. I couldn't think of any way to figure that out for now, so I left that thought alone, but still kept it lingering in the back of my mind. If I was however, around the beginning of it all, then I already knew everything that was going to happen in the future, even more so than Pinkie Pie’s legendary ‘Pinkie Sense’.
That simultaneously made me worried though, because I didn't want to be in any bad positions, like discord roaming free, or something of the sort. Even though Discord is actually one of my more favorite characters, mostly due to the fact (evil or not) that he was an absolute master of dicking with everyone.
After a good half hour, I’d gotten bored of lying down, so I hopped down off the edge of the rock, using my wings to lighten the fall, which was still pretty damn cool to me. I then set course for Ponyville, which was a short walk from the looks of it. It occurred to me that I wouldn't know what to do, even when I reached Ponyville. I disregarded it though, letting whatever what was about to happen, happen.
I’d finally reached the buildings, the town near abandoned, only a few ponies wandering the dirt streets. It was still early in the morning, so I figured not many ponies would be awake now.
As I wandered past the food stands, observing the buildings surrounding me, I began thinking deeply.
'Should I talk to Twilight about everything that has happened?' I thought to myself out of curiosity. I knew that off-hand; it was probably a really bad idea. I couldn't help it though. I just got sucked into this world for God-knows why, and I can’t say a word to anyone about it.
Right then and there, in mid-walk, I had frozen in my tracks, as if my entire body had just been paralyzed. The world around me began to ripple like the surface of disturbed water for a moment, until the tall blue princess stood before me, her expression, the same as before, but this time, much more serious, as if she was going to snap my neck at any second. I stood there, struggling to move, as she approached calmly, her eyes locked onto mine.
“So, I see that you too, have mastered the art of dream control, not many can do such a thing,” She said, her voice more intimidating than ever before.
I felt a mix of slight flattery, and utter fear (mostly fear), as I tried the same methods as before attempting to wake myself up, with all of my will power. Soon, after even mentally struggling, my surroundings began slowly fading away, that is, until Luna’s horn immediately glowed a luminescent shade of blue, and my surroundings had returned back to normal, my body still invisibly bonded to the ground.
“Shit!” I mentally shouted, 'Guess I knew this would be coming at one point or another.'
“I’m afraid that that won’t help you this time,” She said, now approaching me closer, until she was a solid 3 feet away from me.
“Now then, as I had asked you once before,” Her voice filled with dead-set determination, “Who are you, and how did you get here?”
Author's Note
There is a chance that discord will show up in the next chapter or two.