When Ponies and Horses Meet
You. You’re riding through a forest on the back of a grey horse, heading for a big tree in a nearby clearing, your favorite spot to cool off when you’re mad.
Your name is Drake Kagami. You’re a nineteen-year-old human man with pale skin, unruly, black hair, and two golden eyes. You’re wearing a black leather jacket over a grey hooded sweatshirt over a plain black T-shirt. You also have a pair of blue jeans on and some sturdy boots.
You’re riding on an ashen grey-furred mare with a mane of the same color. Her name is Astra. You scratch her behind her ears and watch as she tosses her head with joy.
A black-furred, rider-less stallion was trotting along just to your right, not wearing a saddle. You smile at Jet and reach over and do the same to his ears. You chuckle when you elicit the same reaction from him.
Soon, though, your chuckling subsides and your sad expression takes over once again.
You reach your destination and swing your legs over the side of Astra, hopping off her back. As you stand straight again, you note that both Astra’s and Jet’s shoulders come up to your chin.
You smile a little before sitting down in front of the small tombstone leaned against the tree. Just one simple word is etched into the rock: Mother.
You sit there, staring down at the tombstone, mouth barely open, as you reminisce about your three year dead mother.
You always seemed to get along with her better than your dad.
A howling wolf broke the silence and all three of you looked up quickly. It had come from the same direction you had, so you listened tensely, incase they got close. You stood, pensively reaching for the katana in Astra’s saddlebag.
A gunshot was heard from the same direction, causing your heart to jump into your mouth. You didn’t think, you just leapt onto Astra, and without any prompting, both of your horses galloped away in the opposite direction.
You shot through the forest and the trees cleared into a path ahead. You didn’t slow down. Two trees stood on either side of the path, acting like a makeshift gateway. Your mind didn’t have time to process this as you shot through the trees and kept galloping.
It was ten minutes before your horses finally slowed down and your heart stopped hammering into your ribcage. The forest was now visibly darker, but a light shone through the trees, saying you were close to the exit.
It was the middle of the day, which you were thankful for, but you could’ve sworn that when you entered the forest, the sky was clouded over. Now, there isn’t a cloud in sight as you trot out of the forest, leading the two horses this time.
Almost immediately, you come across a cottage in a tree, and you see several ponies, some like your horses, some with wings, some with horns, some with both; all candy-colored.
You were stunned, and just stood there, although you had the decency to not let your mouth hang open. Astra was to your left and Jet was to your right. They both neighed a greeting to the strange ponies, something you wish they hadn’t done.
The six ponies seemed to be as equally surprised. They stared back at him, and at his horses. The purple one, with purple and pink bangs shook her head violently, probably realizing she was staring. She was the only one with both a pair of wings and a horn. She trotted away from her group and the others tentatively followed.
You sat on the ground, noticing that these ponies were quite a bit smaller than either Astra or Jet. You assumed that they were just coming up here to say hi, and that the noise will attract their rider. What you did not expect was for the little purple horse to start talking directly to you, or more specifically, your horses.
“Hi, my name is Twilight Sparkle. Are you two new to Ponyville?” she asked with a smile.
You had your hand jammed up against your jaw, keeping it from falling open in your incredulous disbelief. You suddenly make a bunch of realizations: This pony is talking; they’re intelligent; the whole country is probably full of them; and you just stumbled into a strange new world where you might just be the only one of your kind.
Astra nudges your upper arm, grabbing your attention.
“H-hello there, Twilight,” you say slowly, trying to not scare her, or worse, scare yourself. “My name is Drake, this is Astra, and this is Jet. We are new to this… place.”
“You’re a human,” Twilight stated more than asked. “How’d you get here?”
“No idea.” You reply. “I was riding these two in a forest on Earth and we ran really fast, and ended up here.” You suddenly remember something, jumping up and turning to Astra. You unbuckle her saddle and lift it off her back. You set the hard leather object on the ground. “There. That should make you feel better.” You lifted Jet’s saddlebags off his bag and set them next to the saddle. He pulled out a brush and began brushing out his mane. “Sheesh. There are a lot of leaves stuck in here from galloping that fast…”
He’s not a bad kid, Astra said in Horse Noise, which the ponies seemed to understand, but you couldn’t make head or tails of it. Don’t be too hard on him. He lost his mother three years ago, and he still visits her grave every day.
“Do you know why you three ended up here?” Twilight asked. The other five leaning in with excitement.
I probably caused that, Astra admitted. We were at the grave when we heard a gunshot –
“What’s a gunshot?” the orange-yellow pony, with the blonde mane and the cowboy hat asked.
It’s a very loud bang noise, she explains. It more often than not means that bad people are coming… to kill you. She paused. Once he was on my back, I galloped off into the forest, fleeing as fast as I could. I felt a magical disturbance in front of us, and ran towards that. It was probably a portal to this world that we ran through.
“Thanks for the explanation.” Twilight replied. Astra just tossed her head with a snicker.
If you think you’re going to find it and make us go back, it ain’t happening. I felt it close right behind us.
You finished with Jet’s mane, now leaf free and you turn towards Astra with the brush.
As he began, Astra continued talking. Do you think we could find a place to rest? We mostly need knowledge of this new world.
“Twilight has a whole castle, with a gigantic library,” The cyan Pegasus with a rainbow mane boasted.
I hate to impose, but… Astra started. Can we stay in that library?
Twilight sighed, glaring at the rainbow Pegasus for a few seconds before turning back to Astra. “Yes, it’s fine.”
Tell that to him, then. She practically orders Twilight, flipping her head towards you. And while you’re at it, you five should introduce yourselves before things get too confusing.
“Drake?” Twilight asked, watching you as you gently brush Astra’s mane.
“Hm?” he asks kindly.
“I’ll let you stay at my castle for a while, while you get acclimated to this world.”
“Thank you,” you reply. "That's very kind of you,"
You’re soon interrupted by a bouncy pink pony with an equally as gravity-defying mane of the same color. “Hi, I’m Pinkie Pie, the party thrower specialist. I need to throw you guys a welcome party!”
“Uhh…” is all you manage.
“Pinkie Pie, please!” A marshmallow white unicorn with a curly blue mane sighed in exasperation. “No doubt our new friends are tired from their… ordeal. Maybe tomorrow.” She turned to you and smiled. You couldn’t help but smile back. “I am Rarity, the owner of Carousel Boutique.” She held out her hoof and you took it, gently shaking it up and down once.
“Nice to meet you,” you reply once you find your voice.
The cowboy hat wearing pony trotted up and bumped Rarity out of the way. “The name’s Applejack,” she said, smirking at Rarity’s expense, earning a glare. “I run Sweet Apple Acres, the apple farm just down the road. Stop in some time for the best apples in Equestria.”
“I look forward to it,” you say.
“I’m… Fluttershy…” came a tiny voice from the back of the crowd. You knew by process of elimination, that she was the cream-yellow Pegasus with the pink mane, hiding behind her friends.
“And I’m Rainbow Dash!” boasted the cyan Pegasus flying just above the group. “Fastest flyer in all of Equestria!”
“I look forward to seeing your talents,” you compliment her while turning and lifting the saddlebags onto your shoulders. You also had the saddle in your hands. “Shall we go?”