I do not know how it happened. I do not know how I ended up in the land of Equestria. I was a normal young adult, living a normal life in a small backwater town on the edge of a lake. All I remember was going to bed one night, and the next morning, I was waking up in the middle of an apple orchard with a horse speaking to me.

I stared at the impossible sight before me. The lips that formed the words acted like human lips, easily forming the shapes of the words that came from them. The head wasn’t even remotely horse-shaped, instead, it was a lot rounder, or maybe they really were horse-shaped and the nose wasn’t as long. I didn’t know, I never studied equines. The eyes both faced forwards, that much, I knew was wrong; horses back home had eyes that were wide apart. She spoke to me again.

“What are you? How did you get here?” She seemed awfully curious for a girl her apparent age. Most young girls I knew would probably have fled in terror if something that looked nothing like them appeared in front of them. Then again, wherever I was, apparently the laws of the universe had given up. Before I could answer, a voice called out from somewhere else in the orchard.

“Apple Bloom? Where’d you run off to? Your chores ain’t done, missy!” Within a few seconds of the voice sounding, yet another impossibility walked into view. Or was it ‘cantered’? This horse, (I really didn’t like calling them that, they were a lot smaller than any horse I had encountered, they were more like…little ponies, or something), was bright orange in color, while the even younger pony who had found me appeared to be some sort of light olive yellow.

“Apple Blo-“ The new pony started to say, then she caught sight of me and froze. Those large eyes got even larger, or maybe it was her pupils shrinking to dots. While she stared at me, the younger pony spoke up. While she explained what she had been doing before she had found me, I took a moment to study them closely. The olive-yellow pony, (Filly? My mind supplied), had a bright red mane with an even larger red bow tied in it while the slightly older pony had straw-colored hair that matched nicely with her orange coat. She wore what appeared to be an old Stetson ten-gallon hat on her head and she had three apples on her flank. I found myself staring at those apples. Why on earth, or wherever we were, did she have a tattoo on her flank?

“Hey! Don’t you know it’s rude to stare?” The pony’s irate voice broke me out of my study and I ducked my head sheepishly.

“My apologies, miss…uh…” I stammered. Both ponies’ jaws dropped.

“Sweet Celestia, it talks.” The orange mare said softly. Apple Bloom danced around me, which earned her a stern look from the older mare which she ignored.

“Can we keep it, Applejack?” She asked, looking at me closely in a way I found rather unnerving. “Maybe if we care for it, I’ll finally earn my cutie mark!” As she said this, she glanced her own flank, which I noticed was bare, unlike the older pony.

“Apple Bloom!” Applejack snapped, causing the young filly to stop her prancing around me. “Go find Twilight, she should know what this thing is, and if she doesn’t, maybe the Princess will.” I perked up at the name ‘Twilight’ and then frowned.

“Um…can I say something, Miss Applejack?” I said softly. She turned to look at me while Apple Bloom turned and galloped away.

“I don’t see why not.” She said warily, sitting a safe distance from me, but still within earshot. “What’s on your mind?” She seemed more nervous than I was, and here, I was the stranger in a strange land.

Before I could respond, I heard multiple hoof beats and I turned to see yet more ponies coming towards us.

“Well, come on, might as well meet them halfway.” Applejack said, getting to her hooves and trotting off towards the group. I followed along behind her a little more warily.

There were six of the ponies in the group, counting Applejack. Two of them had feathered wings tucked against their sides and two of them had horns in the middle of their heads. The only other remotely normal-looking pony was anything but. She appeared to be trampling over the laws of nature with appalling ease, hopping around on all four of her hooves while the other five conversed in low tones.

Seeing me looking at her, the hopping pony trotted over to me. She craned her head back to look up at me. “Hey there! My name’s Pinkie Pie, what’s yours?” Her bright blue eyes stood out in sharp contrast to her pink coat and hot pink mane and tail which oddly reminded me of cotton candy. She had three balloons gracing her flank and she seemed to have an inexhaustible supply of energy.

“Uh, my name is Midnight-“ I began but Pinkie Pie gave out a gasp and zoomed back to whisper something in the ear of the purple unicorn who had a violet straight-haired mane and tail. She seemed surprised at what Pinkie Pie had to say to her and she looked at me for a moment before resuming her conversation. Pinkie Pie seemed hurt at the way the unicorn seemingly ignored her and she trotted back to me with a silly grin on her face.

I had taken to sitting down on the ground against a tree, resting my back against the trunk while the other ponies were chatting amongst themselves. Without a word, Pinkie Pie climbed into my lap, turned a few lazy circles before flopping down and looked up at me. We locked eyes for a few moments then Pinkie Pie slowly crossed hers and I chuckled. I reached my hand out towards her head and she examined my fingers curiously, holding up her own hoof for comparison.

I lightly scratched behind her ear and she closed her eyes in bliss, letting out a small happy noise. She acted like some sort of creature being petted, like a cat or a dog, leaning into the scratching. I touched her mane, slightly unsure about what it would feel like, yet it just felt like regular soft curly hair. I stroked over her mane, scratching behind both her ears as she let out a contented sigh.

I looked over at the other five ponies who seemed to be wrapping up their conversation. The purple unicorn trotted over to where I was sitting. Even with me sitting, she was still barely eye level with me and I could tell she was nervous. One of the two pegasi, a bright cyan mare, with a shocking rainbow-hued mane hovered in the air above, keeping an eye on me. I had a feeling she could easily trounce me in a fight and I had no desire to even try. The purple unicorn paused as she looked at the pink mare in my lap, who seemed half-asleep under my fingers and cleared her throat.

“Hello, my name is Twilight Sparkle, personal protégé of Princess Celestia.” She looked at me expectantly and I raised an eyebrow.

“You do realize I am a complete stranger here, who has no idea how he arrived here, doesn’t know any of the natives, much less the…ah…ponies in charge, right?” I asked. Twilight flushed and ducked her head.

“R-right, sorry. Well, I sent a letter to the princess, so she should be here any moment to meet you personally. Hopefully, she should be able to explain things better than I could.” Behind her, I could see the other unicorn, a white-coated mare, (was it just me, or had every pony I had met so far was female?), who was prancing, looking at me with some sort of gleam in her eyes. Finally, she trotted over and stood beside Twilight Sparkle, her own purple mane a deeper shade than the other unicorns. Her blue eyes were a little paler than Pinkie Pies but no less inquisitive.

“What on earth have you done to your mane?” She asked. I looked at her and ran a hand self-consciously through my shoulder length brown hair. Doing so, I revealed my ears and she took a step back. “And your ears…!” She flicked her own and I shrugged.

“As you can see, I’m nothing like you, so I highly doubt I would share anything in common with you.” I replied and the white unicorn gazed at me thoughtfully.

“Well, regardless, I’m sure I could whip some outfits together for you. What you have now…when was the last time you changed them? Why wear them at all?” I stared at her, then cast an eye over the other mares in the group. They were all naked, yet their natural physiology seemed adequate enough to provide them with some kind of modesty.

“Well…ah…where I’m from, we wear clothes all day, every day.” I said slowly. Before the unicorn could respond, there was a rumble followed by a bright flash and a loud crack. I shielded my eyes with my arms as the flare dimmed. When I lowered my arms and opened my eyes I stared with shock at the sight before me.

Unlike the other ponies around me, this one was nearly as tall as I was. Its coat was a bright white that looked as if it was glowing under its own power. A golden chest piece adorned its breast and its hooves were shod in what appeared to be solid gold. A blazing sun adorned its flank and a golden crown was perched on its head with a massive horn that added nearly a foot to the ponies already impressive height. The mane and tail were constantly in motion, flowing through various shades of pale blues, greens and purples. It was rather gaudy, but it seemed to suit the majestic pony quite well.

“P-Princess Celestia!” Twilight Sparkle stammered. Ah, so this was the Princess in charge of the land. She flicked her light pink eyes at the unicorn mare and Twilight fell silent. Princess Celestia strode up to me and gazed at me. We were about the same height, yet I could see the power in her lithe frame. If the rainbow-maned pony could trounce me in a fight, Princess Celestia could destroy me with three hooves tied behind her back.

“So you’re the stranger my little ponies have discovered.” She said in an emotionless voice. I had a feeling she was analyzing me, trying to figure out if I was a threat to her or her subjects. I nodded slowly, not taking my eyes off of her. She matched my gaze with hers and I saw a flicker of something in her eyes.

“Well then, I can see you’re not a pony.” She said at length. Celestia paused for a moment, then nodded to herself. “Well, we’ll just have to fix that.” She said. I blinked as she took a step towards me.

“Wait…” I started, but then I was enveloped in a golden aura and I felt everything melt away from me. I couldn’t feel my body, I couldn’t see, hear or feel anything. Yet, as sudden as the feeling was, I didn’t panic. Whatever was happening to me wasn’t dangerous.

Then, with a roar, everything returned. Sight, sound, smell, touch, taste…everything was so sharp and fresh. I blinked and looked around. Everything seemed the same, yet at the same time, I felt something had changed, drastically. I looked around at the group of ponies surrounding me, each had a look of concern on their faces.

“What…was that? What happened?” I asked. I started to get a feel for my body-my body! I looked down at myself and felt my eyes go wide. Instead of arms and hands, I was staring down at…hooves? I twisted my head around and looked at the rest of me. “What is this?!” I cried.

I was a pony.

I stared at my suddenly equine body. I flicked my tail, watching it respond to my thoughts. I felt something midway down my body and I saw the wings tucked against my sides.

“Wh….what is this?” I said weakly as I flexed newly developed muscles to flap the wings slowly.
I turned my gaze on Celestia and paused. The Princess looked drained, tired. Her flowing mane was gone, it was now a solid light violet.

“That was not what I had expected.” She said, her voice subdued. I looked at her, trying to sort through my feelings. She looked at me and shook her head. Her mane flickered back to its normal dizzying flow as she regained her strength. “I simply drew out your inner pony.” She said simply, getting to her hooves.

It felt odd to have to look up at her. She looked down at me, her expression apologetic as she tried to smooth over the change.
“As you were, Equestria would never have really been home to you.” She said softly. “As a human, you would have been shunned, hated, and possibly persecuted. I simply changed what you looked like to help you adapt easier.” I looked at her then sighed heavily.

“Fine, so now I’m a pony. What do I do now? Eat hay and apples for the rest of my life?” I said with a trace of bitterness in my voice.

A snort caught my attention and I turned to see Applejack shaking her head.

“We’re not savages.” She said with an amused chuckle. “We’re civilized ponies, and the six of us will try our hardest to help you fit in.” She suddenly looked nervous. “That is, if you want…”

I looked around the six ponies and princess and wondered where my anger had gone. I should have been angry I had what made me unique taken from me.

Yet here I was, a black-coated, silver-eyed Pegasus stallion, the same as any other pony around me, yet still completely new to this land. I took a breath and smiled at them.

“Well, I think I’m going to be here a while, might as well get to know what’s what and who’s who.”

Twilight stepped forward and looked me over with a critical eye. I shifted a little uncomfortably under her intense stare and then she nodded firmly. “Well, why not start with your name and go from there?” She asked.

I grimaced and looked at her a little sheepishly. “My name is Midnight Runner.” The unicorn mare’s mouth dropped open in a small ‘o’ and she looked at her friends and the princess. Celestia cleared her throat and we all turned to face her.

“So be it, welcome, Midnight Runner, to the land of Equestria. I’ll let these six sort out all the other details. Stop by Canterlot sometime, I’d love for you to meet my sister.”

And then she was gone, this time without any of the previous noise and light. I turned to regard the six mares who all looked at me expectantly. I ruffled my wings (It seemed like a natural thing to do to show discomfort; I had a feeling I'd be spending a lot of time with the pegasi to better learn about my wings) and looked at them nervously.

"Well, where do we begin?"

Author's Note

I can honestly say I am surprised this ended up as long as it did...