Chapters My name is Matt, a human from Earth. I live in England, in the UK. I'm 6 foot 2 and lean. My best friends are Harry from school, and a few other mates from university. My hobbies include bike rides in the country, playing goalkeeper for my local footie team, and athletics.
"Could you go out and get some milk, we're running short in here," shouted my roommate from the kitchen.
"Sure," I replied. "Haven't got out at all today anyway. Anything else?"
"The paper would be great, but apart from that, I don't think we need anything more."
"Alright. Milk and the news, see you in a bit then."
"Thanks, mate."
This is an average Monday of my holidays. Stay at home and relax. But obviously every now and then I need to get out of the house. And, while I'm at it, why not take a circuit through the woods? I need the exercise, I've barely moved for a week.
Warming up on the way out of the apartment, I get into a jog, heading towards town with the off-route of the small woods on the way. It's a popular running circuit, around a mile long and with a nice road cut into it for safety while still looking nice and natural. I break into a faster pace, taking long strides and enjoying the fresh air while running. I look up into the sky. Some grey clouds, fairly usual for England, though, right? Better make it quick though, just in case. I start running faster until I'm almost at a sprint. Nearly into town when it suddenly starts raining. Heavily. My hair starts getting wet as I run faster, raindrops splashing off of my chest and legs, drenching me through to the skin. All of a sudden, a massive flash of lightning lands close to me, although I don't see it. I'm fairly worried now and I get to full speed, the trees blurring in my vision along side me. My vision goes white, completely. Am I dead? Oh my god I hope I'm not dead.
Clouds start moving across the sky.
"I thought we cleared all the clouds earlier on..?", a voice perks up underneath a sleeping Rainbow Dash sitting in a tree.
Lightning flashes near to the centre of town, and it starts raining profusely, jolting Rainbow to a standing position, alike to that of an unhappy cat, when a rain drop lands on her head, and rolls down to her face, dropping off of her nose.
"HUH?! Why.. Ohmygosh, look! What.. What is that?"
A flailing object falls from the sky, out of the clouds. It looked to Rainbow like somepony dropping from the top of the world. She sets off from her branch on the tree, flying at speed toward the falling figure, and leaving a trail of rainbow behind her. Beginning to have doubts about getting to it before it hit the ground, she altered her angle downwards and sped up as much as she could. Her eyes, watering, she could barely see anything through the rain. Suddenly, she felt an impact on top of her forelegs and started to slow, seeing that it was the object. It looked like some type of weird monkey, with some type of wings?
Rainbow hit the ground, slowing herself down with her hind legs, and let the monkey fall from her onto the soaking ground as a crowd began to gather around.
"Somepony clear the clouds, pronto! Get Fluttershy, or Princess Twilight, Applejack, anyone!" shouted Dash.
A few pegasi flew off to deal with the horrible weather whereas a group of earth ponies ran off to get help.
I awoke with a jolt, being hit by something soft and furry on my forearm. Spluttering and opening my eyes, shielding them from the rain, I wondered what was hitting me. Turning my head towards the thing, I noticed by clothes were frayed and smoking at the ends, with several holes punched through. Looking up, I saw that what hit me was a light blue... Horse? What was that thing? And why were there a crowd of other colourful ones standing behind it? What the hell? I slowly rose to my feet.
"Hello..?" I said with some caution as I rose to my full height.
The colourful things took a step back with shocked expressions, looking up at me as I stood up. I noticed that they were quite short, about 4 feet at most. Some were only as big as my foreleg and a bit, I assumed they were children. No wonder they seemed intimidating to them.
The one directly in front of me, the blue one, then moved around me, looking at my figure with an inquisitive look. It poked my hip, then as it got around to back poked my leg and then jumped up to do what I assumed was hit my back, but I stepped forward so that it couldn't. It seemed fairly annoyed at me for this, so I let it walk round to my front again.
"Hi.", it said. Wait, did it just speak? English? "My name's Rainbow Dash. You fell out if the sky. I caught you. Hello..? Anyone in there, buddy?"
I didn't know quite how to respond. A blue horse with wings was talking to me. Yup, I'm dead. I have to be. There's no way this is real. But, deciding to humour my imagination, I went ahead and replied.
"Hello, uh, Rainbow Dash, was it? Um.. My name's M-Matt.. Where.. exactly.. am I?", I asked, still not having fully recovered.
"Welcome, Muhmatt, to Ponyville. You made quite the entrance, my friends here seem to be very shocked at your sudden appearance.", spoke up a new voice. I saw a purple one walking towards me from behind the crowd, which promptly split to let it through. This one had wings too, and.. A horn? This was getting weirder by the second.
"Uh, hi, I guess? My name's, ha, Matt, by the way, not Muhmatt." I replied, scratching the back of my head.
"Alright then, Matt. So, I'm sure we're all interested to know what you are and how you got here, so, go ahead.", it said.
"Well.. What I am? I'm, uh, a human.. From, um, Earth? I suddenly whited out and next thing I know I'm lying in a puddle next to some.."
"Ponies. We're ponies. You're in Equestria now, although I have no idea how you got here. Humans are just.. Well, they're just ancient mythology. Although, nothing ever said that humans had wings. Interesting. I'm Twilight Sparkle, or rather, Princess Twilight Sparkle, and these are the residents of Ponyville you're standing in front of." it said.
Wait, did it say wings? Wings?
I scrabbled round sideways over my shoulder to look, and sure enough there were some pristine white feathered wings resting under my shoulder blades. They were each almost a metre long, but they must have muscles, right? So I can move them, but how?
As I searched for the right movement to activate these new appendages on my back, the purple pony spoke up again. "You'd better come into my library, sir, until we can figure out what happened. Are you okay, there?". I turned back around to face.. Her? The voice was distinctly female, and she did say princess. So her it is. I realised I must have looked like an idiot trying to look at my new wings. I managed to speak my consent and I followed her and the blue pony with the rest of Ponyville, as it seemed, trailing behind me, watching me intently.
Soon enough, we reached a place that looked like a town. The rain had cleared up by now, and the clothes I wore were quietly sizzling as the moisture evaporated out of them. The princess reached a tree with a red door, and opened it with.. Nothing.. Never mind. I guess I can ask them later. Waiting inside were four more ponies, one standing up watching the door, one bouncing around the house, one leaning against the wall, and one cowering behind a sofa..?
"Sit down, if you'd please, we have some things to talk about, I should think, seeing as you say you are human, can speak Equestrian, and fell from the sky with a lightning bolt following you. Speaking of the lightning bolt, your clothes look a little.. Singed?" spoke the purple pony, shutting the door behind her.
I took a seat on the sofa, the pony that was cowering behind it running to the rest of them whispering a high pitched noise as she halfpenny ran half flew away.
"So, I guess we'll introduce ourselves first, and you can follow up. I'm Twilight Sparkle, a princess of Equestria and this is where I live. This is Rainbow Dash, who most likely saved your life a moment ago," she said pointing toward the blue pony. "She's a Pegasus, along with Fluttershy.", she carried on, hovering her han- hoof? Towards the yellow timid seeming pony. I chuckled at the accuracy of the name.
"This is Applejack, she's an Earth pony." She pointed to an orange one, "This is Rarity, a unicorn", as she pointed to a white pony who bobbed her head and fluttered her eyes, seemingly, "and this is Pinkie Pie, another Earth pony." she said finishing off with a pink pony who was bouncing around with a wide grin across her face.
"WhoareyouwhatareyoudoingheredoyoulikePARTIESIlovepartiestheyregreatdoyoumindifithrowyouoneforcomingheredoyouwannabeFRIENDS?!" The overexcited pony shouted at me loudly.
"Uh, I caught 'parties' and 'friends' in there."
"Yup, that's the jist of it buddy, I'm throwing you a party and you're our new friend, yippee!"
A smile broke out across my face, I couldn't help it. "Alright, I can deal with that. Well, I'm Matt. I live on Earth and I'm a human who apparently has wings for some reason. I was struck by lightning and it seems I'm now here.."
The white unicorn piped up, Rarity, I think, with "And may I say, darling, they are some fabulous wings, they look so nice. Also, I am simply going to need to fix up those clothes of yours, if you don't mind."
Rainbow Dash voiced her opinions next. "You didn't know how to use those wings, right?". I shook my head. "Then I guess it would be pretty cool to spend some time teaching you how to fly if you're down", to which I replied with a yes.
Applejack was keen to use my help too, something about repainting her barn, and that I could reach a lot higher than her and her family. Fluttershy also said, after a while of stuttering, that if I ever wanted a pet or to talk to some animals, I could come down to her cottage.
"Well then", said Twilight after everyone had said their part, "It seems you'll fit in just fine. You can stay with me awhile because I'll want to do some.. Studies, on you. And send my findings to Celestia."
Celestia? Ugh, another thing I'll have to ask them about. At least I'll have time to do it when I'm with them individually.
"Alright everypony, I have a MATT party to plan!"
Pinkie promptly bounced out of the door, and the rest of the ponies started to leave the house. "Alright, we'll see ya later, Matt.", "Yeah, see ya", "Bye".
"Seems like you've made some friends already. Seeing as it's unlikely you'll be able to leave.. It'll take some time for them to get properly used to you, but I'm sure it'll be fine. Meanwhile, I'd like to learn some more about you."
Unlikely I'll be able to leave? What?!
"Sorry, you said 'unlikely you'll be able to leave', can you clarify that? I'd like to get back to where I was from if that's okay with you."
"Well, it doesn't seem like it was any type of detectable magic, so it wasn't sourced from this land. Whatever it was, we don't have a counter to it. Or, at least, not a known one. We can look into it later, if you'd like, but I really doubt we can do anything about getting you back to your world. I'm sorry.., are you alright?"
No. No, I am not alright. I had to leave everything behind.. I had no choice about it. This is just so.. unfair. Why me? I loved my life back at home.
Sighing audibly, I pace before looking at the door. I walk out of the treehouse and find a place resembling a park. If I had troubles back on Earth.. back on Earth. Ha. Sitting down on a bench, I slump over, placing my elbows on my knees, my hands covering my eyes but not able to stop the tears from coming through the gaps and running down my face. I hear a clopping of hooves coming up behind me and unable to control myself I spin around violently, directing my anger at the purple pony.
"Go away! Stay away from me! You don't know how I feel, you can't comfort me! I've been taken away from my world, my life, you have no idea what I'm going through, what I've left behind to come to a world filled with animals and none of my own kind! Go AWAY!"
Twilight looked shocked, and stepped back a little before slowly walking back over toward me. I turn back around, my head in my hands, crying even more and flinch at a slight contact on my shoulder. She's trying to comfort me. Persistent. By now I've stopped crying quite as violently. There's a hope, right? There just might be a way to get back. Maybe.
"Look, I'm sorry you're here. There's nothing in our power we can do to get you back. Would you like to be alone for a while? I'll leave you for now. But please, come back inside before dark, you don't want to be sitting on a bench at night, it's almost winter. I'll get Spike to make you a warm drink or something. What do you drink? Would you like soup? I'll get you some soup, alright?"
I don't respond apart from a slight nod of the head.
"Okay, I'll get you something. Just come back inside when you're ready, I don't want you to catch a cold. Celestia'll want to meet you tomorrow."
There's that 'Celestia' again. Who is Celestia? Why do I care? Ugh.
Before I knew it, over an hour had passed and it was starting to get dark. I slowly got up from the bench. Dejectedly walking back to the tree, I opened the door and closed it softly. Twilight was sitting on the sofa, talking to a small lizard-like creature. I assume that's Spike. It points over to me and Twilight turns around.
"Matt, you're back! Spike cooked you up some soup, I hope you like it. Are you better now? I'll show you around when you're finished up."
"Thanks, Spike.. Yeah, I'm a little better now. I guess if there's a chance to get back I may as well make the most of my time here."
Once I'd finished the soup, which was incredible - I had no idea what was in it but it sure tasted good, Twilight showed me around the treehouse, which was a library, in fact. First her room, then the showerroom, then lastly to my room with a comfy looking bed and a telescope out of the window. I have to say, these ponies were way better builders than any human, this was incredible.
"So I realise you don't have anything to change into, or whatever, so I'll let you get some sleep - it looks like you need it - and then tomorrow we can go and see Rarity about those clothes of yours. You'll also want to go over to Rainbow about those wings, she knows a lot about flying. Aand then you can do whatever else you want for the rest of the day. I suggest looking around Ponyville to familiarise yourself with the town. I'll want to learn more about you every now and then, too. Celestia will be visiting in the morning. Goodnight!", explained Twilight.
"Sorry, Twilight, who is this Celestia you keep referring to? I mean, I'm new here and all. Is Celestia a leader, who you answer to? The Queen, maybe?", I said, wanting to know more about this Celestia.
"Oh, Celestia is another Princess, she raises the sun while her sister, Luna, raises the moon. She'll probably explain the ins and outs when she's here."
"Okay. Goodnight, I guess."
Twilight gave me a quick smile, and walked away. I wonder why these ponies were being so nice to me. I mean, I'm an outworldly being.. an alien, if you will, that has crash-landed into their world, and moreover into their town, and they're accepting me as one of their own already. If I were them, I'd run. Oh well. Time to get some sleep, I guess.
Man, that was the best sleep I'd had in.. years! That bed was so comfortable!
Looking down at my attire more carefully, it seems that my shoes are burnt through to the soles, and my shirt is ripped in several places, not to mention the legs of my trousers. Slipping off my shoes and blackened socks, I head downstairs where I hear Twilight speaking with another pony, who has a more resonating, deep voice. Still female though. I climb down the stairs slowly, peeking my head out to see. A white pony, or maybe this was a horse, stood in the center of the room, talking to Twilight. She was around 6 foot tall, almost my height, and had the same horn and wings as Twilight, if not longer. She chuckled, and spoke louder than she was before.
"Hello, human, I see you have awoken at last."
I stood on the staircase, frozen in place. Hm.
"Hello.. You're.. Celestia? I presume.." I say uncertainly.
"Yes, I indeed am. You've already learnt about some things here, that's good, it shows you're an intelligent being. But we still don't know.." she says, turning slowly towards me, "if you're one with.. good intent."
"Oh, ho ho, believe me, as long as there's a chance of getting back home, I assure you I'm not going to do any- YAAH!"
I'm flung off of the staircase by some weird force and find myself floating down in front of Celestia.
"Much better. Although.. We still can't -trust- you. And there is only one way to do so. Prepare yourself."
"Prepare? Prepare for what?"
Twilight seems to be starting to wince and is turning away slightly, like she doesn't want to see something happen. What is Celestia going to do? Should I run? Suddenly a tearing pain spreads from my head down to my toes and I find myself screaming out in sheer pain, but no words come out. I'm thrown into a state of shallow, uncomfortable unconsciousness. It feels like every part of me is being stretched until it's almost ripped apart from one another. A burning sensation fills the inside of my body and suddenly I'm curled up in a ball - or at least I think I am - convulsing on the floor. I enter complete unconsciousness.
My name is Matt, a human from Earth. I live in England, in the UK. I'm 6 feet 2 inches tall.
My name is Matt, a human from Earth. I live in England, in the UK. I'm 6 feet 2 inches tall.
My name is Matt, a human from Equestria. I live in England, in the UK. I'm 6 feet 2 inches tall.
My name is Matt, a human from Equestria. I live in Ponyville, in the UK. I'm 6 feet 2 inches tall.
My name is Matt, a human from Equestria. I live in Ponyville, in a tree. I'm 6 feet 2 inches tall.
My name is Matt, a human from Equestria. I live in Ponyville, in a tree. I'm 6 feet 2 inches tall with a wingspan of 6 feet.
My name is Matt.
I opened my eyes, and a bright light hit me. My head hurts like hell. I seem to be on the bed I was sleeping in last night. As my eyes get used to the light, remnants of the brightness change appearing in the form of multicolored spots in my vision, I see Twilight and Celestia are standing over me, both with moderately concerned expressions, talking to each other. I can't hear them. Suddenly, a ringing hits my ears, and a splitting pain runs through my head. My vision temporarily goes dark, and I wince from the pain. The two ponies, looking seemingly shocked from my sudden movement, turn their heads to face me. Celestia starts talking, but I can't make out anything she's saying. I hold up a hand, and raise the other to my forehead. Shaking my head violently, although inducing a large amount of pain, seems to get my hearing back to normal. I test this by clicking, which the ponies seem to be startled by.
Oh yeah, they don't have fingers.
"Okay, I can hear you now.", I say to the white princess.
"I'm so sorry to cause you such discomfort, my dear, I had no clue that the mind reading would work its ways as violently on humans as it did. We had to be sure, though. Once again, I am terribly sorry. It seems that we were wrong to judge you in the way we did, you don't seem to have any intention of harming anypony."
As I was trying to tell you. Oh well. I guess there was no way she could have known for sure. Still not fond of this Celestia character, though.
"Hmmph. I guess if you had to I'm okay with that, but, -please- try not to do that again?"
The white pony lets out a deep chuckle.
"Whatever you say. Just tell me if you want another round, though."
Heh. The princess has a sense of humour. Anyway, back to business. I take a corner of the bedsheet, and fold it back neatly, swiveling my body to get up. I don't have a shirt any more. I give the two ponies an inquisitive look after looking down at my body.
Twilight blushes, turning away and scraping a hoof against her foreleg, and Celestia, looking over at her, breaks out into laughter.
"We- uh- we h-had to check your heart rate." said the purple pony.
"I see. Fair enough. Should we go see, uh, what was her name again? Rarity? I'd like some clothes in any case.", I reply, acknowledging the thought.
She says yes, and slipping on my torn shirt, we leave out of the red door, her leading the way to Rarity's house. On the way there, from directly behind me I hear a "BOO!", and I leap forward letting out an involuntary shout of surprise.
"Ba-hahahahah~!", I hear, turning around to look at whoever scared me like that. It was Rainbow Dash, the pony who saved me when I arrived. I say arrived, that's a loose term for what actually happened. "So, Matt," she says, snorting with laughter, "You gonna- pfft- come and learn how to fly today at the- ha~ park?". My heart is still beating a lot faster than when we left the house, but I've calmed down from the scare.
"Rrrr. Darn it Rainbow, I don't like peop- ponies sneaking up on me like that. And yes, I'll come over once I've gone to Rarity's. Don't worry."
Dash sniggered, then flew up beside me and Twilight, and as we started walking, tagged along, flying with us. We let her join us without saying anything. Soon we were at Rarity's. We walked in through the door and I couldn't help marveling at the structural beauty of the building. A bell rang as we came through.
"Helloo~, welcome, welcome- oh, Twilight, Rainbow, Matt, darlings, please, come join. I'm assuming you wanted to see how your clothes were coming along?", welcomed Rarity. "Well, I've sketched up some designs. I'm assuming you're going for something alike to what you're wearing now. Casual, practical, while at the same time holding some flair? It will be great! All I have to do is some measurements!"
Rarity showed me a piece of paper with a drawing of a plain human structure, with wings - which I still hadn't gotten used to seeing - and some nice looking, thin, and ultimately casual but practical-looking (as she said) attire. She levitated over a tape measurer, which I realised had the same measurements as the imperial system back on Earth, and started wrapping the tape around several parts of the body. Once she had done, she spoke up again.
"Well, that's that! I will see you tomorrow to give you these new clothes. If you'd like to stay for something to drink, I can do that?", she said.
"Oh, no", I said, looking over to Dash, who was outside walking around finding her own sources of entertainment, "I'm doing some flying practice now with Rainbow over here.", I replied.
"Oh, darling, I simply -have- to come and watch. While we're at it, we can have a picnic with the rest of the group, watching Rainbow teach Matt here how to fly! This will be simply divine~!"
After some back and forth from Rainbow Dash, the whole of the group of friends were gathered in the local park, and a picnic blanket was laid down. I walked over to Rainbow to see what we'd do first.
"Well, first we gotta work out how to move those wings'o yours", she said, poking my wings as she was walking around me. "If you can visualise it, it's a lot like moving your haunches, so try out moving those around first."
Haunches? Oh, my shoulders. I start circling my shoulders. I notice the rest of the ponies were looking on whilst eating sandwiches Twilight had brought along. Rainbow Dash puts a hoof to my chin and moves it back round to her head.
"Focus, buddy. Right, next you gotta, if you can, start moving the muscles from there all the way down your back."
That sounded stupid, but I tried. And sure enough, I felt a weird movement coming from underneath my shoulder blades. I looked over, and there these wings were, rotating from side to side like they were doing a dance on my back. I suddenly heard a clopping noise, and I look back to see the others doing what looked like a crude imitation of clapping. With a smile, I turned back around to Rainbow, who's also wearing a grin on her face.
"Good job, but don't get ahead of yourself, bud.. Alright, next I'm gonna teach you about what's in a wing, kay? You got 11 muscles in there, a lot like.. Take those weird forelegs of yours, right? You got from here..", she says, pointing to my elbow with her hoof, "to all the way up here." She points to the tips of my fingers.
Turning around, she demonstrates how my elbow is like the joint that I've been moving, and that it's a muscle that's inside of the back moving that around. Then, pointing to my wrist, she shows how there's a long bone at the stalk of the wing which does most of the work during flying. Then, moving on to my fingers, she shows how there's 3 parts splitting off from this elbow-like bone, much akin to my fingers in that there are two more joints I can move around and separately clench. She shows me how to ball up the wings into a fist.
"Okay. So now it's time for you to start flying. Now before you go off into the air straight away, I want you to flap the wings slowly in a flying movement. So, wrist moves down first.." she says. I'd asked her to call each of these parts by the names of my arms' joints to make it easier for me. "Then the fingers half-wave, by moving the first bone, then the second, then the third. But don't clench them completely, or they'll be useless, and you'll fall straight to the ground. First, show me e movement. Slowly. With wings like yours you could go soaring if you use barely any force, they're massive."
I try the flapping movement, and she slowly corrects my movements until she's satisfied. I was ready to fly.
"Now, go slow when you're up there. Try not to go too high, and try as hard as you can to stay in one spot. I haven't taught you directional flying yet, so don't go practicing it. That's for later."
Carefully, I flap my wings slowly at first, and raise up speed until I'm flapping them enough to get elevation from the ground. The sensation is weird and unnatural, and I feel like throwing up almost instantly. Rainbow sees this, and assures me it will go away if I keep at it. I'm now just over three feet off of the ground.
"Keep going, pretty good for someone who's never flown before."
Rainbow throws me an encouraging smile. I suddenly realized these ponies are fucking cute. Like. Seeing Rainbow Dash smile made me feel good on the inside - I wonder.. Whoa! No, no, no, Matt. These are fucking ponies. No. That would not work, stop. I blush as I hear more clopping from below. It startles me and I look down to see the gang and some more ponies "clapping", before I feel my balance go off, jolting forward in the sky. This throws me completely off of balance, and as I try to keep myself straight, I start flying forward. I feel my height dropping. In the time I'd been looking at Rainbow, I'd climbed another one or two metres. I start flying completely horizontally, landing on my face on the hard dirt floor.
"Ow. Ow."
Blood is dripping from my nose, and there are many scratches and cuts on my face. As I stand up, Twilight, Rainbow and the others start running over to where I am.
"You okay, dude? That looked like it hurt.", said Rainbow.
"Mmfine, you got a tissue or something? I need to get rid of this nosebleed.", I reply.
Twilight's horn glows, and I feel the blood from my nose fly out and hit the floor. Making sure it's all gone, I look into Twilight's eyes. So cute, man. Rrr, Matt, fucking stop it. She's a pony.
"Matt, you okay? Come on, you wanna go another round?", I hear Rainbow say, taking me away from my thoughts.
"No, Rainbow. Maybe tomorrow, but, uh,", I say, pointing towards my face, "I think that's enough for today. It's gonna get dark soon anyway."
"Great, because MY PARTAY IS READY!" shouts Pinkie.
The party! I'd completely forgotten!
After patching up my face to an extent, we set off to Sugar Cube Corner or something, pretty funny name for ponies. Anyway, as soon as we were there, I saw a banner with the likeness of my face exactly on it. I'd only seen Pinkie for like half an hour, how come she could draw my face like that? I guess they're not human, they might have really good memory or something. There were tons of games and food stands and everything, it was great. Afterwards, I felt tuckered out as hell. Flying for a few hours then a party until midnight, although being one of my favourite days ever, was tiring business. As a group, me and the girls all went off to our separate houses, of course me going to Twilight's.
After we both went off to bed, I couldn't get any sleep thinking about what was going on, why I was here, and what would be to come. If I can't get back, then I have to make something of myself in Ponyville. Gazing at the stars, I find myself falling asleep at the window. Maybe this was all a dream. So far as from what I could tell, it was a freakin' good one.
Lying bent over on the windowsill of my guest room in Twilight Sparkle's house, I keep my eyes closed, just to think about my situation, and what to do about it. The sleep wasn't too bad, despite being awkwardly folded over on the chair to the desk type of sill by the window.
Well, it's not a dream. Ever since I got here, a sneaking suspicion that I could have been dreaming this whole time had been floating around in my mind, but it can't be. There's no way anymore. And if it's not a dream, then that means that I need to do -something- between now and when (or if) a spell is found to take me back. Loot at me, talking about spells and crap like I know what I'm doing here. Worryingly, this world doesn't seem too far-fetched for me. In fact, I could get used to it. No. No, I want to go back home. But still, even so.. There wouldn't be much harm in staying anyway, and if they can't find a spell, then I guess.. I don't want to leave everything behind, but I have WINGS now. Wings. Making sure they're still there, I flap them gracefully. I grin to myself.
From behind me, I hear a quiet, slow clopping. Twilight's probably just walking past to see how I'm doing. I decide to disregard it, and withdraw back into my mind, thinking over my situation. But suddenly, a lukewarm feeling in my palm brings me out from my temporary retreat. Something fairly hard, and about the size of my inner palm is lifting up my hand. I open my eyes and look up toward the source of my discomfort, only to find Twilight glaring down at my hand in a state of seeming amazement. As she starts to lift up one of my fingers with her other hoof almost to the point where it hurts, I throw her a questioning look and cough into my free hand.
Twilight's head jolts towards me in surprise, and her face glows a deep red as she takes a step back from where I'm sitting.
"Mmfgh-studies-mm", she manages to blurt out after a moment of awkward silence.
Still in a half asleep state, I stretch out my limbs, my hands raising into the sky and my legs under the desk whilst my wings spread out on either side of me.
"Look, Twilight", I say, addressing the sheepish-looking pony standing in front of me. "I'm fine with you studying, just wake me up before you do the physical ones, eh?"
"You're not mad at me for touching you while you're asleep?", she says.
That was unexpected. When you put it like that, it sounds a little creepy.
"I'm not mad at you for examining something you've never seen before, it's fine. I would do the same. Albeit, not whilst they slept, but you know. You're curious, I get it. Go ahead."
I hold out my hand to Twilight, who is still blushing but her eyes widening and with a cute smile on her face she reaches out for my hand with a hoof. For a moment, I feel a pang of longing. The way she's looking at this, the way she's brushing against my skin. I blush a deep scarlet as she swipes her hoof from my wrist down to the tip of my middle finger. She did that on purpose. She seems to notice, and giggles.
"Something bothering you, Matt?" she says with a smirk. I can't put my finger on whether she's being playful for humour, or.. other reasons.
"Uh. Well, studies are over now", I say, ripping my hand back to my chest. "Don't we, uh, have some clothes to, um, pick up?"
"Aw, you're no fun. Yes. We do. Don't you want some breakfast though?"
I couldn't tell if that was supposed to be an innuendo or not, but I ignore it, and with a purposeful stride, walk out of the door towards the Boutique that we went to yesterday. Twilight follows up behind me. She was probably just doing a study on, you know, what makes me tick, right? I mean, she's a colourful, talking, princess pony who can perform magic and fly, and I'm a bipedal ape-like animal with wings. Right?
Before I know it, we've arrived at the Carousel Boutique. I walk in, Twilight still following behind, I presume.
A bell rings and I hear a posh feminine voice shout out, "Hold on a second, dear, I just need to finish up something and I'll be right there!". After Rarity is finished doing whatever she was doing, she turns up in the lobby. "Oh, darlings, it's you again! Matt, are you alright? Your face is a bit red."
I look over at Twilight with a glare that could turn somebody's blood into icicles. "Of course, Rarity, I'm fine. How's the progress on the, uh, clothes?", I say, Rarity looking back at Twilight with a slightly questioning smirk.
"Yes, darling, your, ah, clothes are ready. Would you like to try them out? I'll just go fetch them.", Rarity says, trotting over to her room and coming back with a pile of clothes that are made of something resembling cotton-based clothes much like back on Earth. It strikes me how similar many things are in this Equestria to Earth, interesting, really. I take the clothes, and look around for a dressing room of sorts.
"Oh, you're not changing here?", Twilight perks up from behind me, pouting. I throw her another glare as if to say 'Stop it, or so help me I will stab you', but not actually saying it. She laughs, and Rarity leads me over to a little wardrobe-like room, but without stationery in it. She says to me, "Don't worry, Darling, it's probably just some study of hers. She'll give up at some point, I'm sure". I give her my thanks and walk into the 'changing room', examining the clothes. It looks like a normal shirt, short sleeved. I felt the material, and it seemed a lot like normal cotton t-shirt material, but maybe a little softer and nicer to feel. The size was, if I'm honest, complimenting, as it was a little tighter than the low-hanging shirt I had on before I got here. There were sort of sleeve parts in the back of the shirt, for my wings, which was awesome. The trousers I had been given were shorts, down to around my knees and made of a weird, not soft, but thicker and slightly sturdier than the shirt.
I put them on, and they seemed very nice. Obviously I didn't have much of a sense of fashion, but I thought they looked nice on me. Not my usual clothes, but definitely a change I would make if given a choice between my normal attire and this. My wings felt free and not constricted by my shirt, laying on my back. Rarity had even made sure that the colours of my wings didn't make the clothes look bad. The light grey tone of my shirt matched well with the pure white of my wings, which were comfortably hanging on my back. The clothes were just the right size, the shirt hanging down just below my shorts.
I came out of the wardrobe to find Rarity and Twilight talking to each other. I couldn't make out what they were saying before they stopped the conversation abruptly and Rarity looked over to me. Her eyes widened and dilated as a grin grew on her face.
"Darling! You look absolutely fabulous~!"
I blushed at the compliment, as I returned, "That I may, but it was your clothes, Rarity, that would have made me look that way, eh?"
"Oh, my dear, thank you~!"
"No, that's okay. It was your doing, and I am eternally grateful for you making these for me. I don't know what I'd have done without any clothes this whole time, ha ha."
Suddenly, Twilight perked up and said, way too innocently, "I do".
Rolling my eyes, I look over to Twilight, and tell her that we are going to have a talk later. Setting her right up, she replies that she is looking forward to it. This behaviour was actually getting on my nerves now, to be honest.
"Anyway, Rarity, if you want me to do -anything-, seriously, anything, just tell me. I need to pay you back in some way for this. Thanks!", I say, giving her a quick hug-like pat.
Rarity throws me a smile and me and Twilight walk out of the Boutique back to 'home', but not before Rainbow Dash flies up from our left, as we pass the park, and lands in front of us.
"Hey, Matt! Wanna do some more flying practice tonight? Also, nice outfit, buddy", she says, flying up and giving me a quick punt on the shoulder with her forehoof.
"Unless Twilight wants to do more 'physical' studies on me", I say, flashing a frown at Twilight, who grins innocently, "I would love to, Rainbow Dash. What time were you thinking? I could do with some exercise."
"Well, let's see. Would six do well with you?", she says, to which I reply a yes. "Awesome! See you then, Matt!". With that, she's off, clearing the clouds to the east side of Ponyville.
Me and Twilight walk back to the house, where she exclaims that she would like something to eat for lunch. I have nothing else to do so I tag along going to her favourite 'restaurants' of sorts that's near to the center of the town. We find a fungi table and sit down. She orders a flower sandwich or something and I just get some water because I don't feel like eating flowers, usually.
"So Twilight, what's with the teasing all the time?", I ask her after a little period of silence.
"Well, if you really want to know, I saw your face after I touched your hand and thought it would be funny to see what reaction you'd have to it. I conclude that you're boring but you don't have a short temper."
"Incredible deduction skills. Anyway, what type of studies on me are there you still want to do?"
"Well, I'd like to check out physical ability, which Rainbow Dash will help us with, mental capacity which will just be with me, and then that'll be mostly that. You can try and get your own house after that, although that might take a while. I could expect a human might be very helpful in Ponyville".
Get my own house. Now that's an idea. Anyway, after Twilight's food came and she ate, we went back to the house and Twilight got a book and invited me to find one to read. There were so many choices, it was unbelievable. I chose out a fictional action novel, and surprisingly, plot lines were incredibly similar to those of action novels on Earth. Before I knew it, it was 5 past 6, and Twilight was taking the book away from my face shouting about meeting Rainbow Dash, quick. Glancing up at the clock, I exclaimed a quick "Shit!", and ran out of the door at top speed. Sprinting towards the park, I saw Rainbow Dash sitting in a bench, with her hooves on her head, looking seemingly bored. But when I got closer, I heard a little whimper.
"Rainbow! Sorry I'm late! Rainbow, are you okay?", I asked.
Rainbow Dash turned around with red eyes, and when she saw me broke out into a big smile and flew up, hugging me.
"What happened, Rainbow? Why were you crying?"
"Oh, nothing", she said, rubbing her eyes. "I just thought you stood me up."
"What was that?"
Did she say 'stood me up'? As in, like, not to turn up to a.. date?
"I thought you stood me up, alright? Let's get on with the flying."
"Rainbow, wait, it's okay. I wouldn't stand you up. But.. You're implying like it was a date?"
"Well, um, yeah. I shouldn't have said that."
"No, Rainbow, that's fine. If you want to treat it like a date, that's okay. I accepted, didn't I?"
I didn't really want to act like it was a date, I mean, she was a pony, but it was so sad to see her upset, may as well humour her. Anyway, she's cute. I'd go on a date with her. I mean, I've only known her for a few days, and it seems like she's coming on to me already. Ugh, I don't know what to do with this. I guess if I'm not getting back to Earth..
"Look, this is awkward now, let's just start flying. I want to see if you can get up to that cloud."
I did as Rainbow said and took off quickly, already a few metres in the sky. I found balancing myself a lot easier, however I was wobbling a little. Climbing higher, I was almost at the cloud within the next minute. As I got beside it, trying to jump onto it was a struggle, and I started to fall. But before I went downward at all, Rainbow caught me between the arms and lifted me up onto the cloud, which I was kind of skeptical about at first, but it turns out I can walk on them. They're pretty bouncy. I sat with my legs hanging down from the edge of the cloud, and Rainbow Dash sat down next to me. The sun was going down at this point, and Rainbow turned to me.
"So, whaddya think? Pretty cool, huh?"
"Yeah, this is great. It's a better view of everything that anything I could get on Earth. No obstructions, and-"
"Hey, uh, Matt? Do you mind if I, uh.. if I.."
"If you what, Rainbow?"
"DoyoumindifIputmyheadonyourlap?"
"Sorry? Put your head on my lap?"
"Uh, yeah, sorry, that was a stupid question. Why do I keep doing that?"
Huh. I guess if that makes her happy.. I mean, I don't want to see her crying like she was last time.
"Go ahead, Rainbow, if that's what you want. I mean, you taught me how to fly, so I don't care too much."
Throwing me a grin, she lays her head on my lap, looking out at the sunset. Her warmth spreads onto my legs.
"Can you, uh, stroke my mane, Matt?"
I'm actually starting to like this, worryingly. I put my hand on her mane, which is soft as silk, and run my hand down it slowly, reaching the tip of the mane and starting again from on top. This is incredibly peaceful. Rainbow resembles a cat on my lap, just a lot larger. We maintain this for around an hour, neither of us speaking much, until I speak up.
"Okay, Rainbow, we should both probably get home before it's pitch black. It'll get cold."
"Okay, I guess. Can we, um, do this again tomorrow though, maybe? I mean, I'm gonna be helping Twilight with studies on you all day anyway, so we can do some flying then come up here again. Please?"
I give in.
"I think I'd like to, Rainbow."
She grins and flies off towards her house, and I swear I can hear her shout "Yes!" as she makes her way.
I walk back to the treehouse, feeling content and happy. I don't know why, but I loved that more than I think I should've.
As I walk through the door, Twilight is reading a book, but turns her head to face me.
"So, Matt", she says with a shit-eating grin, "Have some.. fun? With Rainbow Dash?". She winks at me. I look over to the telescope and frown at her.
"Twilight, were you watching us?!"
"Maybe. Just wanted to see what was taking you so long.. So, when's the wedding?"
"Fuck off."
I walk up the stairs to my room and get into bed. My sleep is incredibly good.
I slept, that night, incredibly well. Remembering the evening with Rainbow Dash warmed my heart, and with a smile, I got out of my bed in a treehouse in the town of Ponyville. I'd only been here for 3 days and I was already getting used to it. Peering out of the window, I already see happy ponies walking throughout the town, pegasi flying around, kids.. well, foals, playing in the town centre. The town was incredibly peaceful and happy, unlike any place on Earth I could recall. Everyone knew eachother, were nice to eachother, and it was a place I would love to stay in, and was happy to say that I did. Unfortunately, I never got a chance to say goodbye to anyone or anything before I was brought here, but the consolation for this was that I was in an incredible magical world.
Happily, I half-walked, half-flied down the stairs, taking large bounds over many steps at a time.
"Good morning, Matt! I see that Rainbow Dash has really improved on your flying. Very graceful.", shouted out a familiar voice from downstairs.
"Good morning, Twilight. And how are you?", I replied.
"I'm good. Sleep well? I got Spike to make us some pancakes seeing as Rainbow's going to be coming over soon."
"Yum. And yes, I did sleep well, thank you very much."
After a few minutes of us idly chatting, there was a knock on the door. Twilight walked over to it, and opening it, Rainbow was standing in the entrance. When she saw me, her face turned slightly red but she smiled and waved, nevertheless.
"Hello, Rainbow! How're you doing?", asked Twilight.
"I'm doing awesome, thanks, Twilight! Ready for some exercise, Matt?", she replied.
I chuckled. "As always."
"Alright, you two. Spike should be ready with some pancakes soon."
As if on command, Spike, the little dragon that was Twilight's assistant, as it were, walked out of the kitchen with two plates, stacked with pancakes, and went back in, coming out again with another two, one smaller than the other, I assumed for himself.
Twilight motioned towards a little table, and we all sat down with a plate of pancakes in front of us.
"Hey, Matt", said Spike. He still hadn't got completely used to my company but at least he was welcoming enough.
"Hey Spike, buddy. Thanks for the pancakes", I replied, not to be rude.
We all tucked in. As usual, the food was absolutely great. As was usual from where I was on Earth, I rolled up the first pancake with my fingers and got a knife and fork (which for some reason ponies had, I'd assume for Spike's claws, but what do I know) and ate smaller parts. The ponies were confused by this, but I was equally as curious about how they ate. Twilight rolled up and levitated the the pancakes with her magic. Rainbow Dash used her hooves to pick up the pancake, and used her other to fold over the pancake into a half, then bit into it. Interesting.
Anyway, after we were done eating, we left for the park.
"Okay, Matt, I need to see your physical abilities. First off, speed, both because after the stamina test it'll be hard to do this, and because Rainbow Dash wanted to do it", said Twilight, when we'd arrived. "What distance do you sprint in your world?"
"We run a hundred metres for sprints."
"Okay, good. I've closed off a rarely used street, just in case anypony walks on to it while you're running."
At the start of a street near the park, there was a glowing purple line. I could, with my adequate eyesight, see another a ways away, which I assumed was a hundred metres away. Twilight was levitating a stopwatch-type contraption near her face and Rainbow Dash was beside me on the starting line, for "comparison". I remembered doing the sprints in school, athletics was one of the only sports I was good at. From how Rainbow flew, I knew she'd be fast, but I'd never seen her running. Guess it would be found out soon.
"Three", said Twilight, counting down. "Two.. One.. GO!"
My late reactions not helping me out, Rainbow Dash was ahead within the first second, her 4 strong legs helping her acceleration greatly off of the starting line. Putting all my power into my own two legs, I chased after her. After around 5 seconds of running, I had built up enough speed to get into a full on sprint, catching up within the last stretch of the race. My legs were longer, and the strides I took outdid her constant run. Within the last ten or so meters, I was neck and neck with her. I sped up to my full potential, my legs burning in response, giving out a burst of speed that propelled me over the finish line just ahead of the rainbow pony.
Flopping over at the end of the street, I panted to myself as my legs regained full control and strength, them shaking slightly from the exertion. Rainbow, looking at me in a similar state, with a look that told me that she was impressed and found it funny at the same time. Twilight trotted over to the two of us, looking surprised.
"Well, Matt, I certainly didn't expect that humans could move so fast, with those two spindly legs of yours. You did 100 metres in just short of 11 seconds. Very impressive."
I flopped over onto my back, laughing. I'd never run that fast before.
"Wow, Matt, you got some powerful legs there. Let's hope being that fast doesn't carry over..", panted Rainbow.
At the sudden unexpected remark from Rainbow Dash, doubling over laughing.
"Not quite there yet, Rainbow", I chuckled, winking at her. Sweat dropped down my forehead from the exertion of the run, and as I watched it drip, I found that instead of it hitting the floor in a straight line, it curved toward my right hand. Moving the hand towards the slow drips, one slowed down nearer my hand and shot toward my palm. It tickled.
"Twilight, are you doing this?", I asked the purple pony.
"No, doing what? Celestia, what's happening?"
The liquid started turning a shade of azure blue and swirling around my hand like a tornado. Speeding up, I could feel a slight tingling all around my hand. I shook it, but nothing happened. Next thing I knew, my palm was completely numb. But not numb enough to stop the sheer pain of a thousand shards of lightning ripping through the exact center of my hand. The pain was indescribable, like nothing I'd ever felt before. I fell to my knees, wincing loudly. A deep scream tore through the air, and I turned my head to find the source, only to find it was my own voice. Red liquid of which I could only guess was blood dripped from my hand. I slowly slipped from consciousness. The last thing I saw was Rainbow Dash leaning over me with a worried expression, shaking me by the shoulders, and shouting. I couldn't hear anything. And then, everything was dark.
All I could hear were my thoughts swirling around in my head. Not like usual. Deprivation from my senses must have made my thinking capacity incredible, as I heard every single thing on my mind. It was loud. Trying to block out the sound, emerging through my thoughts like a knife through butter was a monotonous, drilling beeping.
Beep... Beep...
A muffled voice broke through.
"Twilight.. alive.. listen...". I got the feeling I wasn't hearing all there was to hear.
Beep.. Beep.. Beep..
"Listen.. Matt?". I tried to open my mouth to answer, but nothing happened.
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.
"Matt?". I wanted to scream, tell them I was okay.
Beep-beep. Beep-beep. Beep-beep.
I was worried now.
The voices had cleared up, though.
"Matt? Can you hear me?", it was Twilight. "His pulse.. too fast. We've got to wake him up."
Beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep.
I started trying to move any part of my body that I could, shaking uncontrollably and trying to scream. Nothing.
Beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep!
"MATT! WAKE UP! PLEASE!". Rainbow. Thoughts flooded back. Feeling. A fuzzy warmth on my right arm. Smell. Like a hospital. Taste. Antibacterial. Ugh.
"MATT!"
Sight. Sight! My eyes flicked open violently, and I jerked up into an upright position, causing the seven ponies in the room to flinch back. I looked to my right, almost in a robotic fashion. Rainbow, Twilight, Pinkie, Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy were all standing by my hospital bed, from what I could see, along with another pony, white and dressed in red robes.
"What happened?!" I said, almost instinctively.
"Uh, Matt." Twilight spoke up. "Look at your hand."
I rose my right hand up to my face, and as my focus gained balance on it, I noticed something was off.
A blue.. symbol? Engraved on my palm.
想
Matt?
Matt?
Wait, Matt?
Who is this?
How are you..
What was that? Did I just hear voices in my head? What's going on?
Yes, I'm talking with you telepathically right now. Calm down. It's Celestia. You're sending all of your thoughts to me and the other alicorns. You need to control yourself.
Sending.. telepathically? How..
Celestia, how is he doing this?
I don't know, Twilight. He needs to control himself.
"Matt, are you okay? Listen to me, are you okay?" a voice broke through my thoughts. It was Rainbow.
"Twilight, what's happening? Why are there voices in my head? What are you doing? Tell me. Tell me, Twilight."
"Matt, what are you talking about? Twilight, what's going on? Someone tell me something!" Rainbow Dash shouted. I ignored her, and turned my attention to the purple pony standing next to me.
"Twilight." I said, sternly. "What. Is. G-"
"Matt, shut up. I'm trying to concentrate."
Did she just..
Matt. Be quiet. Stop talking, stop thinking. You're using telepathics. Only alicorns can use that level of magic. You're not even a unicorn, and you're not getting tired or anything from it. What are you?
What am I?
"Twilight. Stop. What do you mean, what am I?", I asked her, aggravated.
"What.. are you?", Twilight said, stepping towards me. "Humans can't use magic."
"I don't know what you're talking about!", I shouted as I stepped heavily out of the hospital bed, standing over Twilight. There was a light pulling on my arms, and I found I was attached to some sort of monitoring system. I pulled out the cords, and stood at my full height, causing the ponies to step back in surprise and fear. "This isn't my world! How am I supposed to know what's happening?!"
Matt, calm down. Control yourself.
Celestia again.
"SHUT UP! SHUT THE FUCK UP!"
I screamed in frustration, and ran, taking heavy strides out of the door out into the corridor of the hallway.
"Stop!", Twilight shouted. I could hear replying shouting from behind me as the other girls argued over each other. "Somepony STOP HIM!"
The pony gave chase. I looked around the corridor for a way out. Guard ponies were stationed outside of the room, and as the heard Twilight, started running towards me also. I took a sharp left, and ran at top speed down the corridor, glancing over my shoulder at ten ponies running after me. Rainbow shot into the air at speed, and as I realised there was no escape, I decided to get out a quicker way. Just before Dash was able to grab me, I strafed right out of a window, glass smashing to every side. I felt a sharp pain in my arms as shards embedded themselves in my flesh. It was at that point I noticed we were on the third floor. I turned in the air to look up at the window I had smashed, to see Twilight looking out at me, both with frustration and dawning on her face. She'd meant to stop me, but not have me injured.
My spine smashed against a branch of what I assumed was a tall tree. A crack. I had no idea whether it was the branch, or my back. A quick shout emerged from me as the pain hit. Leaves fell past me as I continued my descent to the ground.
Think.
A blow from underneath me knocked out my breath, and I came to a stop. Muffled shouts from the six ponies entered my mind. I couldn't sit there for long. I got to my feet, checking myself. I ran. Anywhere I could.
Think.
Get out of my head. Go away.
This time, I directed my thoughts to the alicorns directly.
Adrenaline rushing through me, I dashed off into a nearby forest.
"Matt! Stop RIGHT NOW, OR I WILL BE FORCED TO USE MY MAGIC ON YOU!" Twilight's voice projected itself throughout the clearing. I looked down, and smirked. A large branch lay on the ground around 50 meters in front of me. A guard was approaching quickly from behind. An idea formed in my head. Nobody could stop me now. I ran. Time seemed to slow down as I closed the gap between me and the branch. The guard was still around 10 meters behind me. I leaned down, still running. Grabbed the branch, still running. I stopped. I swung. Contact. The guard flew to the left as the branch cracked on his strong jaw bone, leaving a thin trail of blood on the ground and me with a sharpened branch. I ran toward the next guard, raising the branch. He kept running at me. I jumped. He could barely follow my movements as in one quick motion, I turned in mid-air and hit the guard square on the back of his head with the end of my weapon, knocking him out cold. The next guard was close.
Matt. Stop. Think.
A sinister smile appeared on my face as I replied. Oh, my dear, I did.
I kicked out with my leg, the guard running into it and being sent backwards, leaving a mark on his chest.
Think...
The last guard. I lashed out incredibly violently with my sharpened stick, sending it through the armour than coated his lower body, and pulled out. A large gash had formed in his side, blood oozing out.
"I wouldn't come any closer if I were you, you six.", I said, chuckling. I felt better than ever before. Nobody could stand up to me.
"M-m-maybe we should l-list-", squeaked Fluttershy. So weak. Puny.
"Matt.", Rainbow spoke. "Please.. why are you doing this..?" Tears formed in her eyes. The confidence slipped from me. What had I done? I looked behind me. Four bodies lay on the ground, two possibly corpses. I'd never killed anything before, let along an intelligent, sentient being. Tears flooded my own eyes. I gulped.
"Oh my god.. I... I'm so.."
As I turned around, roped lashed out around my waist, cutting off my air supply. Applejack had thrown a lasso over me. I struggled to get them off, but as I squirmed, they tightened all the more.
"Gotcha now, you son of a-"
"Applejack, please. Matt. I'll ask you one more time. What are you?", Twilight asked. Politely. Almost too politely.
I struggled to form words, my larynx constricted by the rope. "I.. don't.. know.."
A purple glaze overcame my eyes, and soon I was out of conscience. Again. For the third time in this world.
What had I done? I'd never been violent before in my life. Memories. "Think.
"I brought him. He knocked out not one, but four royal guards. Thankfully they're not dead."
Oh, my. Thank god.
"They're being treated as we speak. He's more powerful than we thought. We may have to reevaluate our stance on.. him. It."
Twilight had addressed me as 'it'. I'd lost any status of being a person. I understood. I could've killed more. I wasn't reliable. Reckless, more like.
"I understand, Twilight.", said Celestia. "He will be punished for his crimes, if not.. banished."
"He's awake."
My eyes opened, and I stood. The alicorns seated in front of me took a defensive stance.
"Look. I didn't mean t-". I tried to prove my innocence, knowing all too well it wouldn't do any good.
"Quiet.", a deep blue alicorn replied. Oh well, it was worth a shot.
"I'm not sure if you will be happy or not to hear the news, but the guards you assaulted are still alive. But, Matt, you betrayed our trust. It is time for me to examine every ounce of your being. It will be painful. Very. If what I see, I do not like, you will be banished. If you have lied, you will be banished. If not, you will be punished suitably for endangering the lives of four innocent ponies.", Celestia announced.
Banished.
Celestia readied herself, as did I. A yellow glow emanated from her horn. A prickle. Suddenly, the large red doors slammed open.
"STOP! DON'T KILL HIM! PLEASE!". I looked around. Rainbow Dash, tired, was standing in the doorway.
It was too late. The last thing I heard before I slipped into darkness was the laboured voice of Rainbow Dash screaming.
Pain. More intense than ever before. Indescribable. Impossible. Every inch of my body was on fire. A humbling feeling entered me, like the most powerful being to have existed had entered my subconcious, which I did not doubt. After what seemed like days of pure pain, memories from ever part of my life started entering my brain. From happy, to sad, every thought and feeling I had ever experience chased me through the dark emptiness that was my mind. I felt tears rolling down my cheek. I felt my sides burning from laughter. I felt everything. It was the most excruciatingly confusing feeling I had ever experienced. Everything happened all at once. Thoughts left and reentered my mind. I reevaluated everything in this moment. I would never defy these godly beings. I would never harm any person, or pony, for that matter, ever again. Nothing made sense, but everything was definite.
I awoke the the sound of sobbing. I recognised it immediately. It was Rainbow Dash. My eyes opened, tired. I looked up at the large white pony standing over at me, then to my left at the sky-blue pony with her forehooves on my chest, convulsing in her crying state, sniffing. I put my hand on her hoof, and she pulled away suddenly. She didn't trust me. I doubted she ever would again. My muscles, all of them, ached. I groaned as I stood to my feet. Nobody in the room had any sign of sympathy for me. The alicorns glared down at me, Celestia sternly, and the others with grimaces. The pink alicorn was wiping tears from her eyes. She had felt everything I had. My almost traumatic life on Earth. My father, lost in war. My mother, in a car accident. The things I did to cover up my depression and my grief. They'd seen it all. I felt violated. But at the same time, it was justified. I couldn't lash out. I couldn't do anything other than think over what I'd done, again and again.
"Matt.", said Celestia, suddenly.
"Please, don't..", I heard Rainbow whisper to my side.
"Your life has been hard. I'm surprised you hadn't lashed out before this. You should've told us. But, for the nature of your crimes, you must be punished. We have a few possible options. You must choose."
"Making me choose my own punishment. How curteous of you." I replied, in a dry tone.
"Option number one. You are sent into exile for a month. You will not see any ponies of your own accord, and you will be forced away from any town, leaving you to fend for yourself. Option two. You are put into jail here in Canterlot for 6 months. Option three. You are allowed no contact with these six ponies for any time in your life here in Equestria. And option four. You are sent back to your own world. I trust the decision will be easy to make."
It was not. As much as I loved my life back in Earth, I don't think I'd, at this point, give up my friendship with these ponies. Option three was out of the question. I hated to say it, but I think I loved Rainbow Dash. Jail was tempting, but for 6 months? I don't think I could last that long. Exile. A month.
"Princess, I choose option one. I don't care if everything wants to kill me, I'll do anything to stay with my friends, if they will take me back. Twilight, Rainbow, you others. I never expect you to forgive me, and I understand if you never trust me again, but I couldn't suffer a worse fate than never seeing any of you again, I don't think. It's what my heart tells me. You told me to think. I thought. I was wrong. I couldn't go back home. My life there, even if you were to shun me forever, is too heartbreaking to go back to. As much as I'd like to say I'm a strong hearted person, I feel that I would break down if I spent another moment hiding my feelings. So, Princess, exile it is.", I said, hoping it was the right choice to make.
Everypony looked shocked. Mutterings started.
"Oh, Matt! Thank you for not giving up!" shouted Rainbow as she threw her hooves around my neck, standing on her hind legs, and wrapping me into a tight hug. My cheeks flushed.
"Matt." I turned around to see Twilight with a hint of a smile, but not letting on too much. "I think.. In time, we might come to forgive you. You've showed a sense of friendship and compassion that makes you seem trustworthy enough."
"That's all I ask for, Twilight. Thank you."
"So, Exile it is. I was expecting you to want to return to your world straight away, to be blunt, but it seems you are a little deeper than that."
Good luck.
And with a puff of smoke, or maybe steam, I was standing a mile or two out of Ponyville. A torch lay on the ground next to me, as well as a spear. Heat beat down on my shoulders and my back. The forest lay in front of me, the ominous darkness engulfing the ground below the trees. I had a weapon. A month. I can do this.
I strode out, looking up at the sun. It was midday. A month.
Bring it on.
A month.
Good luck out there, Matt. If you need any advice, I'm still allowed to talk to you telepathically. I know that you don't know much about this world. If you want to ask me anything, I can guarantee I'll have an answer somewhere in my library.
Thank you, Twilight. I appreciate the help. See you in a month, I guess.
I didn't want any more distractions. I blocked off all incoming telepathy signals, and strode off into the forest. The blazing hot sun beat down across my back and I soon began to sweat. I placed the torch in my pocket and carried my spear. I'd make something to hold it in later. It was around six feet long, made with a sturdy wooden shaft and a sharp stone-like blade. It wouldn't break any time soon, as far as I was aware. As I entered the trees, the canopy blocked the sunlight bar a few spots, and I was plunged into semi-darkness. The grass brushing against my feet and the soft whistles of birds were the only sounds I heard. I decided too get off of the beaten track - find somewhere more suitable for settling down, making a small shelter of sorts. Maybe it would do me more good to make a small platform on a tree, stop the animals on the ground getting to me. As far as I knew, the creatures in this land were deadly. It didn't look like many ponies went in the forest, so I assumed it was in some way dangerous.
Turning left into the longer grass, I soon found a small opening with a large patch of short grass, like it had been cut. Trees surrounded it. A sharp crackling startled me and I jumped into the air a short ways. Looking down, it was just a log that had been embedded into the ground by something. I looked around the clearing. A small stream ran down one side, a soft swishing noise emanating from it. Okay, a source of water. A fairly large tree with thick, long branches protruded from the rest of the forest. I could use the one branch that leaned further into the clearing toward me to settle down. A nice clear part of the clearing with no trees hanging over it seemed perfect for a fire. I'd want to look around more, maybe make a little quiver and a water pouch from something, but this looked like a great place to stay at night. I found some longer sticks laying around and cut sharp tips into them to mark out where I'd be staying, and to use in an emergency, and placed them into the ground around the clearing. By the time I'd finished, the sun was around an hour from setting, from what I could tell, so I ventured back out into the thickly vegetated jungle to find a source of food and some materials to make things out of.
Soon into walking, I found a large bovine-like creature sitting in the long grass. I'd assume its meat was eatable, and I'd rather not have taken my chances with the plants. Sneaking up to the animal, I raised my spear, ready for an attack or to attack. As I got close, I realised that it hadn't seen me - it was facing away. I stayed down, ready. Then I pounced. A scream filled the air before I put it out of its misery with a slice to its neck. I felt bad about it, but if I was going to survive a month in a deadly forest, I was going to need it. Grass swished around me. Something had heard this cow-like creature crying out. I disregarded it. Getting as much leather-like skin as I could, as well as meat, I ran back to the clearing. Something had followed me, I was sure of it - but it was smart enough to not rush in after me.
Working through the night, I made a pouch for my spear to fling over my back and a small water bottle for myself, as well as, with the spare pieces, a vest to put over my shoulders - in case anything attacked me. It could stop a claw or a short knife, but weighed a lot. By the time I had done making these, it was fairly late into the night. I took the rest of the leather and laid it over the long branch, settling down for what I assumed would be a short night. It wasn't.
Matt.
I tossed and turned in my sleep, the interruptance annoying me whilst I laid there.
Matt, you have to wake up. I think something is going to attack you - maybe more than one.
Ugh.. go away.. just.. want sleep...
Matt, listen. Wake up, now. You have to run.
Listening to Twilight's voice, I turned over and got my torch out of my pocket, scanning the ground with my light. Shit.
Matt, run.
Yep!
I leaped out of the tree, a screeching behind me.
Swish-swish-swish. Thunk-thunk-thunk.
It had fired something at me. The projectiles had hit a tree next to me.
Twilight, it's firing something at me! What is it?!
They're called Crocoaci. Keep running. It fires needles out of its skin, three at a time. One hits you, you go crazy. Don't let it touch you in any way.
Lovely.
I kept running. And running. I could still hear it behind me. Every ten seconds or so, it would fire another three needles that would hit somewhere close to me. I had to come up with a way to kill it before I ran out of energy. As I ran, I formed an idea.
Swish-swish-swish!
I turned.
Thunk-thunk-thunk!
I ran. I raised my spear, preparing. The small creature backed away, but it couldn't run backwards as fast as I could forwards. Just before I was within hitting range, I realised something. It stopped.
Swish-swish-swish!
I slid. I saw two wide sharp spikes fly over my face. Only two?
Thunk.
I jumped up and over the creature and brought the end of the spear down on top of it. Turquoise goop sprayed to every side from the wound.
Ugh.
Is it dead? Are you sure nothing hit you?
I looked down, checking myself. A spike protruded from my impromptu jacket. I pulled it out, not knowing if it had hit me or not. I'd not felt any pain.. A hole lay through it. Checking the shirt underneath, there was a small prick in that, too.
Matt?
Twilight.
A long pause.
How deep does it have to go?
Oh, my. Matt, you need to get something over the wound. Quickly. Get a leaf or something. It has to go a fair way to have mental effects, but it'll hurt a lot. Put water and a cover over it. Make sure it doesn't get infected.
Fuck, fuck fuck. Do they.. do they travel in packs? Do they travel in packs? If there's more..
Wait, wait, wait. I need to look through the book.
I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR YOU TO LOOK THROUGH A GOD DAMNED BOOK! THIS IS A MATTER OF BLOODY LIFE OR DEATH!
Matt, stop worrying. They don't. Calm down, it'll only get worse. You need to get to sleep before the pain hits, or it'll be almost impossible for you to sleep.
I walked, stumbling, to my tree. The pain was starting. A dull pang in my chest, strengthening with every heartbeat. I winced. Lay down.
Twilight?
Yes?
A single tear fell down my cheek. My chest burned. It hurts.
A lump formed in my throat. Being in this forest, laying down in pain, twisting and turning, trying to get rid of the pain, reminded me of how good sitting with Rainbow on the cloud was.
Matt...
I blinked twice. Tears streaked down my cheeks, dripping to the leather below me and running off into the darkness.
Twilight, listen to me. Is there any way I can talk to Rainbow? Please.
I can grant her the ability to talk, but not for long. I understand.
Please..
Matt?
The voice washed through my head like a painkiller, sending warmth through my body from my head to my toes. The pain was dulled.
I miss you already. I don't know if I can spend a month in this hellhole.
Matt, come on, you have to. I'll be waiting right at the edge of Ponyville for you when it's over.
I am never letting you out of my sights when I'm back. Never.
I can put up with that. Are you in pain?
Not any more. Just.. talk to me. What's happened since I've been gone?
It's only been a few hours, haha. We got back to Ponyville. On the train, everypony was feeling down, I'm telling you. We all know more about the forest than anypony else, there are a ton of things that are out to get you. At first we weren't sure if you were gonna survive. But you're strong, you can do it.
I closed my eyes, and smiled for the first time in days.
We all went back home. I've been sitting with Twilight, somehow she's been able to monitor you. That's how she woke you up before.. whatever it was attacked you. Are you sure you're okay?
I'll live.
Okay, Matt, I can't hold it up much longer, you two are gonna have to say goodbye.
I love you.
I love you too, Dashie. Whatever happens, don't panic. Please, if something goes wrong, just carry on and pretend you never knew me. I'm not worth fretting over.
Don't say that, you're everything. I love you. Goodnight.
I drifted to sleep. And so was Day 1 in the Forest. 29 to go.
Meanwhile, in Ponyville
I love you. Goodnight.
"It's gone." Twilight said, fatigued.
"Twilight, you make sure he doesn't die. If he does.." a single tear ran down the rainbow pony's cheek. "I don't think I could carry on. I don't know what it is, but I love him. Don't let him die."
"Rainbow... no matter what he did... no matter how unforgivable... I could never break a friendship off, and I can never leave somepony.. or somebody to die. Go home. Forget about him, he'll be absolutely fine. I'll watch over him, you'll see. It's late." Twilight stared at Rainbow Dash. "Go."
And so she did.
"I'll watch over him.." Twilight said, her eyes drooping already. It was late in the night, or early in the morning, she had no idea. She'd exerted herself that day, through chasing the human, travelling all the way to Canterlot, and upholding a complex spell allowing her friend to talk to Matt for just a few minutes. As much as she cared for the friendship between her and the human, and the love between Rainbow Dash and him, she simply could not stay awake for much longer. It had been one of the most tiring days she'd ever experienced. Somewhere in the night, a clopping was emanating from her window. She trotted over, closed it, and turned off the lights, creating another vision of Matt's location, sapping on her energy more, drop by drop. "Watch.. over.."
The vision faded, and vanished completely from sight. Twilight had fallen asleep. There was nopony to watch over Matt that night.