Waking Up in Equestria: Redux

My hooves pounded against the dirt path that ran along the outer edge of Ponyville as I chased Angel. The bunny had my glasses in his mouth, using all his might to escape his pursuer. The bunny ducked under hedges and through fences as I ran along side him. Looking ahead the best I could, I spotted an open intersection. One way led into town, while the other crossed a bridge and away from Ponyville.

"Perfect." I thought mentally. Pouring on the speed, I spotted Angel as he began to approach the intersection. At the last second, my wings flared and I lunged, tackling the bunny, sending the both of us tumbling into a small flower cart. The flower mare screamed in terror as Angel and I scuffled amongst the wooden shards and destroyed roses. I managed to get a grip on my glasses and rip them from his mouth before grabbing Angel with a free hand and hoisting him up.

"Heel rabbit!" I ordered angrily. Angel seemed to take offense to being called a 'rabbit'. In response, his little mouth opened up, then slammed shut down on the knuckle of my thumb. I could feel his teeth digging in deeper and deeper. With a roar of pain, I began to shake Angel around as if he were some small purse dog that had gone rabid. To those watching this scuffle occur, this would've looked very comical; a large stallion shaking around a little rabbit that was biting him. Eventually, Angels' jaw began to weaken and he let go, but as a result, he was flung clear over the roofs of some nearby buildings. His little shriek of terror could be heard as he soared into the skies.

I think there was a little twinkle in the morning sky immediately after he vanished.

"Damn rodent..." I said, putting on my glasses. Pain shot through my thumb and I looked to it, seeing that the appendage was a bloody mess with a large gash going from side to side. With a groan and a roll of my eyes, I looked to the flower mare who watched the whole event unfold before her. The mare turned out to be Rose Luck. She glared at me through watering eyes as she collected the shattered remains of her prized flower cart.

I gave a meager shrug and an unease chuckle. "Mind uh...helping me out...?" I asked, gesturing with my bloodied hand.

Rose Lucks' glare intensified. "I don't know. Are you going to pay for a new cart and a whole months' worth of stock!?" she asked, her voice rising to an angered shriek. I could hear the sounds of flapping wings approaching us and I looked to my right to spot Twilight and Fluttershy flying up to us. Twilight stopped in her tracks and landed when she spotted me, her jaw dropping in shock.

Fluttershy, however, landed continued her gallop to me. Her eyes widened with worry as she spotted the blood covering my hand.

"Oh dear! Are you alright? What in the world happened?" she asked as her hooves took my hand, her eyes rapidly scrutinizing and examining my injury.

"I'm fine Fluttershy. Angel was being a little punk. He stole my glasses and went running off with them. He bit me and I flung him into the sky." I said simply. Fluttershy gasped in horror at the last part. Behind her, Twilight approached me, her eyes looking me over with an observational glint in them.

"This is your new friend?" she asked Fluttershy. The pegasus nodded and returned to worrying over my bite, signalling for Rose Luck to assist. I lost sight of Twilight as she paced around me. I could hear her stop behind me, rearing up to get a closer look at the wings that adorned my back. "Impressive mechanics..." she breathed stepping back as she came to the front of me. "Mind kneeling down, please?" she asked. I shrugged and knelt down, letting her get a better look at me. She raised her hooves to my face, gripping it and then turning my head from side to side.

And all the while, I could feel my mind go numb as I looked at her scrunched up face. The way she squared her jaw as she looked me over, the calculating nature of her gorgeous lavender eyes, and the minor scrunching of her muzzle.

Good God above I think I'm in love.

Twilight released my face and backed away, giving a final look over as she sat down on her rump. She tapped her forehooves tentatively before speaking. "Would you mind coming back to my place so that I may ask you some questions?" she asked, smiling and rolling her eyes away.

"Depends on the nature of your questions." I said simply. I looked over to Fluttershy who was wrapping my hand in a strip of medical gauze from a small first aid kit that Rose Luck had salvaged from the wrecked cart. Once tapped down, Fluttershy gently patted the wrappings and looked to Twilight.

"Uhm...may I come along? I would love to hear about him." she said, patting the side of my thigh as I knelt there.

"Of course you can! And don't worry, the questions are very basic. Nothing extreme." Twilight assured as she got up and began to trot happily to her home. "Come along you two." she called. I got up and looked to Rose Luck.

"I'll...uh...try and do what I can when I come into some money." I said. Rose Luck blinked at me, then gave a sigh and waved a hoof.

"Oh, you're fine. I hated that cart anyway. The wheel kept wobbling and felt like it was gonna come off at any moment. And I can always grow some new roses while I sell off my stock of violets." she said simply. After asking if she were sure and getting a confirmed answer, I took my leave from Rose Luck and joined Twilight and Fluttershy as we walked further into town.

*     *     *

As we walked, I looked around at the bustling townsponies as they did their shopping or chatted with friends. Some, mostly the younger ones, stopped and stared at me, even giving me a wave from time to time. I smiled and looked down at the two mares walking before me, then up the path to where we were heading.

Now that was a big crystal.

"Whoa...nice place..." I muttered. Twilight looked over her shoulder and smiled.

"Yeah, kinda too big for my liking, but it's a definite improvement from the original. But it still lacks the hominess of being inside a tree." she said with a tone of fondness.

"If only that bully Tirek hadn't been so mean." Fluttershy said with a small pout. I remembered back to watching that finale on TV for the first time, and being blown away by the unexpected amount of action that they added into it. Upon approaching the door, it opened up by itself to show Spike on the opposite side.

"Hi Twilight! Hi Fluttershy!" he said happily to his friends. Then his eyes panned up to me and his eyebrows shot up. "Whoa. Who's the big guy?" he asked, pointing to me. The three of us passed through the door way and Spike closed the door behind us.

"Spike, this is-" Twilight blinked looking to me. "I'm sorry, I didn't get your name!" she said.

"Oh, it's..."I trailed off. "Oh jeez...do I use my normal name, or the name of my OC...?" "Well...see, I have two different names..." I said in an uncertain tone.

"Oh, well just tell us the one you're more comfortable with!" Twilight said with a smile.

"Ugh."

"It's Harrison. But, I'd like to be called Timeless." I said simply, rolling my good hand as I explained.

"No problem, Timeless!" Twilight chirped, giving a small giggle as she looked at me.

"What?" I asked simply.

"You started blushing after I said your name." she said stopping her giggles. "Anyway, Spike, Timeless is here so that I may ask him some questions. He's new here." she explained to baby dragon. Spike gasped and looked at me in panic.

"Dude, run! Run while you can! When she starts, she never stops!" Spike said, running to me and trying his best to push me out the door so that I may escape Twilight's supposed madness.

But, he was just a baby dragon, and I was a six foot tall anthromorphic pony, so I wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.

"Spike, that's not nice to say. I'm only going to ask him a couple questions." Twilight said with a deadpanned expression. Spike stopped trying to push me and looked up to me, his eyes tearing up as he gave me a crisp salute.

"Even though I just met you, I'm going to miss you. Good luck soldier." he said, trying to hold back tears.

I stiffened and returned the salute. "Thank you sir." I said professionally. I looked to Twilight as she rolled her eyes, her horn flaring up and enveloping the door in a lavender glow.

"Spike, go see if Rarity needs help with anything." Twilight said in a motherly tone. Spikes' mood instantly improved and he gave an eager nod.

"Yeah! She did say she needed help with some new dresses the other day." he said, running out the door in an eager manner. The door closed behind him, leaving just me and the two mares. Silence fell between the three of us as we gave awkward glances and shuffled our stances.

"Should we sit?" Fluttershy asked quietly, gesturing to a nearby table. Twilight nodded and we all went to the table and took our seats.

"Soooo...where do we begin?" I asked, scratching the back of my ear.

"Well, tell us about yourself. Where are you from?" Twilight asked, leaning forward in anticipation.

"Oh, he said he's from a different world." Fluttershy said. Twilight's eyebrows raised in surprise.

"A different world? What is that like?" she asked.

"Honestly, it's not much different from your world. Except instead of talking ponies, my home is populated by a race called Humans. Humans are a descendant of apes. But people insist that a greater power created us and it's all just a big, messy argument on that topic." I said in a nonchalant tone. Suddenly, the sounds of an alarm began to wail within the room. Twilight and Fluttershy cried out in surprise and began to look around to spot the source.

Why is the M-COM armed, and why is no one stopping it? I thought we had a squad defending it!

Oh, right...

"Hang on you two." I said, patting my pajama pants, feeling the item within one of the pockets. Reaching in, I withdrew my iPod and slid option to turn off the alarm. "Heh, had an alarm set." I said, putting the device away.

"What was that?" Twilight asked.

"It's the M-COM alarm from Battlefield. I react to that sound better than any other and it gets me awake quicker." I explained. Twilight and Fluttershy looked at me with looks of pure confusion.

"I was talking about the thing you pulled out..." Twilight said.

"Oh! Well, it's called an iPod. A company called Apple made it. It's basically an entertainment and communication device. It can hold your music, photos, games, and contacts." I explained.

"May I see it?" Twilight asked. I shrugged and passed the iPod to her. Twilight's horn flared up and levitated the item, rolling it over and over as she examined it. "So simple looking..." she said. "Can it really do all you said?" she asked.

"Yeah, but mine is a generation behind so it's starting to crap out on me." I said with a disgusted voice. "But it's held up well for the five years I've had it." I added with a shrug.

"Tell me, how advanced is your race?" Twilight asked, passing the iPod back to me.

"Well, we have machines that can can take us through the skies, across oceans, and across the land when we want to go somewhere. Our cities span for miles and light up the night skies. We've landed on the moon that orbits our planet, and we're well on our way to exploring the possibility of colonizing one of the planets in our solar system." I explained. "It's not all that different than here." I said.

"How fascinating! You're surely a very long way from home, aren't you?" Twilight asked.

"Yeah, but at the same time I feel like I am home..." I said, trailing off. Twilight and Fluttershy exchanged glances and looked back to me.

"Don't worry. We'll find a way to get you back to your home." Fluttershy said, reaching over and patting my forearm. I gave a smile and patted her hoof in return.

From that point on, Twilight asked me a few more questions about my homes' government and other various topics such as wars and the cultures that inhabit the world. After Twilight was happy was happy with her answers, it was beginning to draw close to dinner time. After saying goodbye to Twilight, Fluttershy and I took our leave and returned to her cottage. Once we had eaten, Fluttershy led me up to her guest room and bid me good night, leaving me all to my lonesome.

"Kinda tiny..." I mumbled to myself as I looked around the room. It was simply decorated with some random art pieces. The furniture was spartan; just a bed and a desk with a chair. The window over looked the walkway that led up to the cottage. Off to the east of the path was the Everfree Forest, while the outline of Ponyville could be seen against the setting sun to the west. Looming to the north was the familiar mountain that Canterlot rested against.

No doubt that right now, Celestia was retiring to her quarters while Luna took over the night shift. Spotlights began to flicker on around the city, illuminating its' magnificent spires and rooftops. Right now, Canterlot's night life was beginning to stir, with Vinyl Scratch at the helm while Octavia entertained a more civilized crowd in some musical hall tucked away in one of Canterlot's parks. Meanwhile, down here in the valley, Ponyville was beginning to turn in for the night. Young colts and fillies were getting ready to sleep before school in the morning, while their parents sat beside a fire and cuddled while reading a good book. I watched as the lights in the town began to wink out, drawing darkness into the town.

Across the hall, the sounds of Fluttershy going to bed could be heard as she walked up the stairs and enter her own room, quietly closing the door as to not disturb me. With a light sigh, I turned away from the window and looked to the bed. The pillow and blankets seemed to be inviting me to join them in a nocturnal journey of warmth and dreams. Tossing the covers up, I laid myself down and pulled them over me as I rested my head on the soft pillow. Much to my displeasure however, the bed was very tiny, making me have to curl my legs up to even fit on the bed.

As I laid there, a feeling began to creep up on me.

It wasn't the feeling of being lost or trespassing though.

I felt...

At home.

Soon though, sleep began to nip at the edges of my mind, and I eventually gave in to sleeps' loving embrace.