The Curse of a Better World

At the smell of nature I closed my eyes, inhaling the sweet scent of flowers and grass. I had pictured this situation many times, always perfectly aware that it would never come true, but not once had the smell been the first thing I noticed. In our world, even in places where nature was still untouched, you would never get this kind of scent. Whether it was a side effect of industrialization or simply a quality of this world I did not know, but the sensation was immeasurably precious to me.

Although my mind was yet too debilitated to fully grasp what was happening, my heart made a short leap as I first became aware of my new body. When I started examining my surroundings, I discovered the ground I was standing on to be a small hill right on the edge of Ponyville. As far as I could tell, it was on the northern side, but I wasn't sure.

I blinked. I thought I had come alone, but now I saw that this wasn't true. A mixture of starkly contrasting emotions swept over me when I recognized who was there with me. Pinkie, whom I had always called by that name, was standing only a few steps beside me. I didn't for how long she had been there, but it didn't matter. She had the body she designed for herself; a picture I had only seen a few times before, but remembered instantly. Her eyes were closed, and her mane was flattering ever so slightly in the soft wind.

I approached her without hesitating, even though I had no idea what to say. It didn't matter; she seemed to have heard me and turned her head. When she saw who I was, her eyes widened, and her expression sent a chill running down my spine.

“You!” she said in German. Disbelievingly, her eyes wandered up and down my body. “How?”

“I have no idea how,” I said, and the sound of my voice almost made me break out in hysteric but joyful laughter. I forced myself to stay calm. “I don't think I know any more than you.”

“What were you doing when it happened?”

“I was in bed, about to fall asleep.”

“How late was it?”

“About half past ten. I went to sleep early. What did you do?”

She looked at me with cold eyes. “Talking to someone.”

I understood and lowered my gaze. “Well...”

“I wish he could have come instead of you,” she mumbled, and even though I had seen them coming, the words still send a wave of pain through my heart. “Why couldn't he come?”

“Because he's an idiot,” I stated numbly.

Pinkie gave me an angry glance. “He's not an idiot.”

“You know that's not true.”

“Are you really that immature?”

“Look,” I said, and for the first time I felt impatience. “You can like him all you want, but you're too smart enough not to realize this after spending so much time with him. Do you know what the first thing he did when you removed me was? He went to mock me and celebrate his victory, and that was before I had even noticed.”

I watched her closely during this last sentence, and although her expression barely changed, I could tell that she hadn't known before.

“Also,” I continued, “and I know this goes against both of our worldviews, but the fact that we're here means that... something supernatural sent us here. There is no other explanation. And...” I gulped. “Whatever it is, it certainly didn't choose us by chance, which means that he has no business being here. He wasn't even a fan of the show anymore... and even if he had been, he never had any right or reason to be in a world as good as this.”

“Okay, fine.” Pinkie suddenly turned around, and stamped one of her front limbs onto the ground; a gesture which would probably have appeared laughable with a human foot, but which was strangely intimidating with a pony hoof. “You're right, okay? He doesn't belong here, and yes, he's an idiot. Sorry for calling you immature.” She gave me a look that almost resembled hate. “And I'd still prefer it if he was here.”

“Sorry for that. I wouldn't trade with him if I could, but I am sorry that you miss him.”

“Yeah, right.” Pinkie snorted. “Easy for you to say that, now that you've got everything you want.”

I didn't know how to respond to that. She was right.

“Come on,” I said. “The fact that I'm here instead of him can't be enough to ruin it for you. We're in Equestria. We're literally in paradise. Do you not want to be here? I know for a fact that you do; you have told me that you'd like to come here, even if no-one could follow.”

“Mh... I know that.” She sighed. “But we don't know how many others are here, too. If every brony who wants to live in Equestria now does, then how much better than home will it really be?”

“I don't think that's the case. Most of them would likely want to be in Ponyville and if a lot of them were here, we'd see them. Actually, I don't... I don't really think anyone else is here, to be honest.”

“Why not? Because you think no-one likes the show as much as you?”

“No.” I gave her a flat look. “I know you know I'm not that naive, so please don't pretend I am. But... dunno, I can't really explain it. But I think we're the only ones.”

“Well...” Pinkie once more looked towards Ponyville, and now she smiled. “Let's find out.”

“Yeah.”

Slowly, anxious of our new bodies, we made our way downhill towards the town. On the way, I began to pay more attention to the landscape.

It was ridiculously beautiful. I recognized more assets from the show than I expected, but contrary to the simplistic cartoon style of the series, everything here was lavishly detailed. It was undoubtedly real.

“By the way... thanks a lot for, you know, my body. I like a lot how I look.”

She gave me a smile. “No problem.”

“When you gave me the design...” I suddenly felt the need to justify myself. “I... I did like it, but it was just one angle. And it was more or less a vector... it didn't feel right to use it on sites and stuff. And I didn't feel comfortable asking you to draw more.”

“Yeah. Mh...” she sighed again. “Don't... don't apologize. If you hadn't been so concerned all the time, doing this for you would've been a lot easier. Everything would've been easier.”

“I know.” I lowered my gaze. “It's... chemistry is difficult. I can't control it.”

“By the way,” she mumbled as we came close to the first buildings, “it's so weird that you're female now.”

I giggled. “Yeah, well, you know I never really identified with being a man that much. And as a pony... I really wouldn't picture myself as a stallion. I love what I am now.”

“So...” Pinkie stopped, her eyes wandering above the town-scape in front of us. “What do we do?”

“Well, everything looks normal.” I was nervous, and for some reason this also made me realize how weird it was not to have my old body for the first time. I knew that usually, I'd play around with my fingers in a situation like this. “I think we should try not to attract attention – we look like normal ponies – and go to the library as quickly as possible.”

“The library has been blown up,” Pinkie said, without moving her gaze away from the town. “But yeah, let's visit Twilight.”

“I don't know the way though. I've seen maps of Ponyville before, but I have zero sense for directions.”

“I think I'll find it.” Pinkie carefully approached the first buildings, and I made sure to follow her closely.

“There is no way that the crystal tree is part of this world,” I said. “If it's real, it has to make sense. The crystal tree doesn't. And the show has contradicting information, not everything in it can be true.”

She gave me a deprecative look over her shoulder. “I'm pretty sure the crystal tree will be there. I'm guessing you also don't expect Twilight to have wings?”

I hesitated. “Maybe. It's more likely than the tree. But I still doubt it.”

Pinkie shook her head, but she didn't respond; a mare I had never seen before was standing close to us as we moved around a corner. I gulped. This was our first encounter with a citizen of this world.

“Good Morning,” Pinkie said to her, and without even slowing in her walk, she made her way further down the street.

“Uh... Good afternoon to you too, miss,” the mare said, slightly dumbfounded but without hindering us. When she looked at me, I instantly felt uncomfortable; I dodged her gaze and hurried to keep up with Pinkie.

What followed were two encounters of similar nature, before we reached our destination. I remembered that Twilight's home lay on the northwest side of Ponyville, so we'd only had to cross a small part of it.

It was the Golden Oak Library. My heart made another jump when I saw it. I loved this building.

God, I loved it so much.

“Well, one point for you,” Pinkie mumbled, and went to knock on the door. I could see how awkward doing so was for her, as she had to lift a front limb in a fairly odd looking angle.

“I hope she is home,” I said. “I have no idea what to do if she's not.”

I waited with bated breath. After about twenty seconds, I could hear steps from behind the door.

Twilight opened.

She didn't have wings.

Everything was perfect.