A New Horizon of Possiblities

I awoke to strange noises echoing around me. I couldn’t feel my bed, pillows, blanket or anything. As I slowly tried to wake up, I could finally discern the noise around me as a constant neighing and other horse noises. Wondering just what in the hell was going on, I tried looking around for my glasses until I realized two things. One, if I wasn’t on my bed, then it’s a pretty safe bet that my glasses wouldn’t be within reach of me. Two, I realized that my glasses were actually already on, which was even weirder since I never sleep with my glasses on and it took me so long to notice. When I had fully awoken, I had to push my glasses upward to rub my eyes and contemplate the sight before me. I was in the middle of some heavily populated town square, in a pretty clean and prosperous looking city with a bunch of ponies standing around me, with looks mixed with shock, disgust, terror, and curiosity among the crowd. They seemed even more panicked now that I was looking around at all of them, but I wanted to clarify that these were not regular ponies. Oh no, these ponies looked all cartoon like with big heads, small bodies, ridiculously huge eyes that were way too expressive and came in so many different shades of colors that it was a veritable rainbow of weird dumped on my eyes.

They also wore some fancy clothing, which just added to the WTF breakdown I was having as I tried to make sense of the situation.

‘Ok…’ I thought to myself while they were still neighing and whinnying at me and themselves. ‘I’m apparently in magical ponyland…’ I laughed a little too crazily inside my head. ‘I have absolutely no idea how this happened since I’m pretty sure everything was normal before I went to bed, but now I’m…’

As I was lost in my thoughts, a green, reflective screen popped into existence right in front of me, causing me to flinch back in fright, which was mirrored by all the little ponies surrounding me, some even screaming at my sudden movement. ‘It’s like they’re intelligent or something…’ I thought as I gazed at the screen and got another shock added to my list. From the screen’s reflection acting like a mirror, I saw what I looked like and apparently, I wasn’t the fat, lazy nerd I was before, but a lean, tall Japanese guy with glasses, black hair, a cloak, and clothes that I definitely don’t own. Staring at myself, I didn’t notice the clip clop of hooves heading towards me as a trio of ponies in fancy armor came galloping towards the crowd and disturbance. I ignored it all as realization hit me as to who I was.

‘Holy shit! I look like Shiro from Log Horizon!’ I thought with glee. Looking at the screen still before me, I noticed that it showed a portrait of my new appearance along with all of the basics displayed before me as I realized I was staring at a menu screen, MY OWN MENU SCREEN!!! I eagerly began to raise my hand and began touching the screen eagerly, scrolling through and looking at all of the items, spells, and everything else I apparently possessed. Unfortunately, my behavior didn’t go unnoticed as the ponies around me were even more terrified now, babbling to themselves and wondering what I was doing until the royal guards appeared on the scene.

They were shouting at me, but I couldn’t understand what they were saying. The one in the middle was doing all the shouting, while the other two beside him were glancing nervously between me and their apparent leader. Said leader, from his voice, posture, and tone were annoying the fuck out of me. He was sneering and constantly gesturing and posing himself to make himself look in charge. I wanted to test out some of the new spells I scrolled through on my menu screen on the bastard, but I needed to try and understand them somehow. Looking at the upper right hand corner of my screen, I noticed something that was sure to help me. Near my name and portrait, the word language was displayed. I quickly pressed it, which got all the ponies startled, especially the jack ass who was shouting at me. I noticed that the language I was using and listening for was in English, but the language the ponies were speaking was something called Equestrian. I was about to press the icon and change the settings until a bright red beam hit me right in the chest. I flinched, as I clutched my stomach in pain while I slowly began to lose consciousness. I could still see my menu screen, which helpfully told me I was stunned and while my health and energy seemed fine, I was still losing consciousness. I looked toward the trio of guards and noticed the asshole leader was the one who shot me. He had a frightened look on his face as I noticed his horn glow red, but it quickly changed to relief and a sneer at my condition. It was official, I was gonna make this asshole’s life a living hell when I woke up.

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In the depths of Canterlot Castle’s dungeons, Shiro began to stir. He groaned to himself as he slowly regained consciousness. He noticed that he was in a small jail cell, the bag in he carried and staff were missing, but at least they left him with his clothes and cloak. Scanning the room, he noticed two guards standing at attention in front of the entrance to his cell, who were now gazing at him with a mixture of weariness and curiosity. Shiro was unsure if they were the same guards he met at town square, but he no longer paid them any attention. Leaning against the wall, Shiro began to open up the menu screen he saw earlier, the process easy because he was able to see a cluster of icons within the periphery of his vision. His movements must have startled the guards as he noticed one rushing off somewhere while the other stared at him apprehensively. Ignoring the lone guard, Shiro opened the option under language and took a closer look at it. He confirmed that he was still speaking and hearing English and scrolled through the languages available until he found the so called Equestrian language he noticed all the little ponies were speaking when they were staring at him before in the town square. Clicking on the language, Shiro selected Equestrian so now he was able to speak and understand the language. Smiling to himself, he looked toward the guard, smiling at him, which made the guard stare back at him, discomfort on his face obvious.

“What in Tartarus are you…?” the guard asked him.

Satisfied that he could understand him, he was about to reply until the other guard came back, apparently dragging the first jack ass I met since appearing here.

“There it is lieutenant! See! It’s awake!” the returning guard exclaimed with fear tinging his voice. ‘Geez, I’m not that scary am I’ Shiroe asked himself as jackass spoke to the guard.

“I don’t buckin’ care if it’s awake! The princess wants to take a look at the freak and we gotta make sure to feed it and all that garbage before she gets here!”

God, I wanted to kill this bastard for every second he existed. He just screamed to be the corrupt law official type to me, and while I wanted to scroll through the spells I noticed on my screen in the skills list, I held off, thinking about what he said. The princess was apparently coming to see him and he decided that she would be the first pony he would talk to and convince that he wasn’t a threat. As for the guards he had the pleasure of meeting already, he decided to punish the lieutenant in front of said princess by showing her everything he witnessed when he was conscious since coming here. It would give plenty of evidence to kick the guy off the military, getting him court marshaled or something. He recalled seeing a certain spell that he knew would help him do just that and while he wanted to learn more about himself, literally, he needed to get in good terms with whoever was in charge here, and this princess was the best first step.
Unfortunately, while he was contemplating this he was hit in the face with something. Spluttering to himself while he heard lieutenant asshole laughing at him, he saw that a small pile of hay hit him in the face. Not a second afterward he noticed a bucket of water come sailing towards his face next, causing him to quickly catch it before it struck him.

“Hahaha! Good catch freak! You better be grateful you get even that much to eat before meeting the princess! Then you can spend the rest of your dumb life here in the dungeons!” he laughed some more.

Smirking inwardly, I knew I would get my revenge on the bastard once this princess showed up, since I was happily recording everything that was happening right now, or well everything I was experiencing since the spell I was gonna use was a sort of memory spell. It allowed others to view the point of view of the caster or the person the spell was casted on. It makes pretty good evidence when you see it in real time like a security camera. Anyway, while I was musing over my abilities and the situation, one of the guards spoke up.

“Hey, don’t you think you’re being too hard on it. It tried to say something to us earlier. Maybe it’s sapient, but can’t speak our language. We should…”

Before he could say more, the lieutenant turned toward him and struck him in the face with a hoof. The guard reared back, clutching at the bruise with both hooves while the lieutenant yelled at him.

“I don’t buckin’ care if this thing is intelligent or not. Catching this thing is my ticket for a promotion so I can get more out of this miserable job and get my bits!”

I continued to smile to myself. This jackass was just adding more fuel to the fire. While I could easily prove my intelligence and get a good laugh out of their expressions, I needed to wait for this princess to show up. Fortunately, I didn’t have to wait any longer. I could hear the sound of doors opening and the guards around me quickly shutting up and standing at attention. Slowly, a large, white pony entered my field of vision. She had wings and a horn with some fancy shoes, crown and assorted jewelry on her person. Her fancy mane was multi-colored with a weird flowing effect going on like it was caught in some breeze. She seemed like the caring, motherly type to me, but also radiated power and authority that proved she wasn’t someone to mess with.

She gazed down upon me, a serene smile adorning her features, but I could tell it was nothing more than a mask she wore. I was always able to read people pretty well and it just got a hundred times easier with ponies involved.

“Hello there creature. I am princess Celestia of Equestria.” She had a gentle, lovely voice, but before I could introduce myself, lieutenant jackass interrupted.

“Don’t bother with this animal, your highness. I caught it terrorizing the ponies at Canterlot Square.” The lieutenant smirked proudly until I decided to ruin his life with my story.

“I am very sorry Princess, but please do not believe this unicorn’s lies.” I spoke in a clear, formal voice, earning the shock of all the ponies present with the worse reaction going to the jackass while the most controlled obviously went to the princess. I smiled and continued.

“My name is Shiro. I am an enchanter and it is an honor to meet you Celestia.” I bowed formally to her and she actually giggled at my little show. However, Lieutenant jackass decided to step in again.

“Watch your mouth prisoner! You are addressing the princess!” he shouted at me.

I smiled at him as I turned to the princess. “Celestia. If you are willing, I would like to show you exactly what happened in my version of this little story as well as present some evidence revealing the criminal behavior of this pony here…” I pointed to the soon to be doomed guard, the smile never leaving my face. “with a little memory spell that will show everything that had happened.”

Celestia stared at Shiro for a moment, but it seemed like an eternity for everypony else, minus one human, until she gave him a smile and a nod.

“Please Shiro. If you are able to, please show us your side of the story.”

I smiled and even the pair of guards gave a quick smirk before turning stony faced again. To my delight, the jackass was practically a river of sweat as I held out my hand, a soft white glow emanating forth. The light spread outward, spreading wide enough for all to see as the picture slowly came into focus, a recollection of my memories when I was surrounded by all the fancy ponies at the aforementioned Canterlot Square. For the next few minutes, everyone could see exactly what happened to me and most notably, the corrupt guard’s actions and words throughout the whole exchange. Celestia was actually frowning in displeasure as she watched, the jackass practically creating a river made of sweat as everyone watched. When the scenes finally stopped and the picture faded along with the light, I addressed the princess once again.

“As you can see, this memory spell I cast on myself proves my side of the story in this matter and that guard there,” I pointed at lieutenant jackass. “is guilty of corruption and unfair treatment of another sapient species.” I turned toward the princess with a smile. “If you wish for more evidence to point to other crimes he may have committed, I would be happy to perform the spell on him.”

Celestia had a neutral look on her face as she contemplated my offer, but I could somehow tell from her eyes that she was enjoying this whole situation. However, the corrupt guard decided to do something truly stupid.

“Buck this! If I’m going down, I’m going to take you with me freak!”

The guard lowered his horn at me in preparation of using some type of spell. The guards and Celestia were shocked at the unprovoked act of violence, but before they could do anything, I snapped my fingers as a purple transparent bubble encased itself around the corrupt guard’s head. The glow from the horn faded and while the guard was shaking his head in bafflement trying to activate his magic, I flicked my fingers at him, an arc of light flowing along the finger tips as the unicorn was completely immobilized by the light threads I had created.

“Astral bind.” I spoke the spell’s name loudly to fully activate its effects.

It was at that moment, Celestia decided to fire the same red colored spell that knocked me out at the violent guard which knocked the guard unconscious. After that, I released the hold my spell had over the jackass.

“Guards! Take this criminal and throw him into a cell. I will make sure he is court martialed and imprisoned for his crimes.” The guards nodded in unison and dragged the bastard away.

I had a smile on my face. Mission accomplished. Turning to the princess I asked her if I could be let out of my little cell since I was imprisoned for no reason or given any knowledge of whatever possible law I had broken. The princess nodded and her horn began to glow a golden yellow color before my cell door swung open. I stepped out and addressed her.

“Thank you so much for releasing me Celestia.” I smiled at her.

She smiled back. “You’re quite welcome Shiro. I am sorry that we receive a guest from another plane of existence entirely only to have said guest suffer under the corruption of one of my former royal guards.” Celestia lowered her head in shame, her ears splayed back. I smiled at her and lifted her head to look at me, much to her surprise and amusement.

“Think nothing of it princess. I was planning for that so called guard to be punished anyway and while I could’ve used violence, I thought that letting the ruling authority see for herself that evil and corruption can come from anywhere.”

Celestia nodded. “Truly wise words you speak Sir Shiro. Once again though I apologize and I hope to make your stay here enjoyable from now on.” She smiled once again at me and I smiled back.

“Come now. I will escort you to the dining hall to partake in a better dinner than the one here.”

The princess and I exited the dungeon, walking past a number of hall ways and corridors that were all eerily similar in appearance.

“Feels like you can get lost here quite easily.” I casually remarked to the princess.

Celestia giggled. “Yes. It does take some time to remember the layout of the castle, but don’t worry, I’ve been around long enough to know my home like the back of my hoof.”

I chuckled. I was in a new world with ponies that I can thankfully communicate with, knew magic, had a better appearance compared to my original self, exposed a corrupt guard, and was now going to enjoy dinner with royalty. After dinner, I hope to learn more about what exactly I can do, while secretly squeeing at how my life was like the anime Log Horizon, a new world that seems like a game one would play, if it involved magical talking ponies, but is truly so much more. I hope this is reality because if this is all some elaborate dream my subconscious weirdly cooked up, I was gonna be hella pissed off.