chapter one: My first encounter with an Equestrian pony
No Name:
I woke to find myself face down in a pile of dirt, feeling as if a sledgehammer were beating a tattoo into the back of my head. I couldn't seem to move for what seemed like agonizing hours, but gradually I was able to lift my body into a sitting position. As I opened my eyes, squinting because of the absurdly bright sunlight, I found myself sitting in the middle of what seemed like a road.
A dirt road.
Wha? Where the buck was I?
There were lush green trees that surrounded both sides of the road, and wonderfully bright grass that seemed to go on forever. Beautifully intricate flowers grew everywhere, even little clusters grew on the harsh, unforgiving road that I sat in. I recognized none, but there were hues of reds and blues, violets and yellows. I even saw a strange rainbow-colored flower that seemed to stand alone in a patch of grass. It was brighter than all the other flowers, as if it were on a spotlight. When I tilted my head upwards, I saw a sky of pure blue, without pollution to clog the air. There were no clouds, and the sun was unbearable, so I crawled towards the shade of the tall trees, that seemed friendly, staring kindly at me as if they were welcoming me to their domain.
Leaning against the broad expanse of a particularly knarled tree, I sighed with relief as the shade did wonders to cheer me up enough to reasses my situation. After a period that lasted for about five minutes, I stubled back through my memories to try to figure out how in the world I got myself here.
Unfortunately, I came up with a blank. Hmph... that was strange... I couldn't seem to remember how I got here... or my name for that matter, and the harder I tried to remember, the faster the snippets of memories left. It was as if I was trying to cup water in my hands that kept gushing through my fingers. It was hopeless, and very strange, for I wasn't some newborn child that has come upon the world. I mean, I could think in my head, and I was pretty sure I was thinking in English, my native lanuage. It was just... I couldn't remember anything concrete. I could move my limbs and knew that my hands were hands and my feet were feet. I knew that I wore blue converse that fit snug against my feet, but I didn't know where I got my shoes, or where I was from. I didn't know if I had parents, and I could not understand why my head hurt so much.
And why would I remember some things, and not other stuff? That didn't make any sense at all... but I knew I couldn't stay here all day asking all these questions to myself. I'd go crazy... if I wasn't already...
I stumbled slowly down the road, hoping that somewhere I could find someone who would tell me where I was, and maybe who I was. As my stomach growled, I realized that all I really cared about was getting something to eat...
Something ahead of me caught my eye, and I came to a halt as I squinted to see what it was. Something white darted through the underbrush of some bushes, before halting not ten feet away from me. It was a bunny, a very cute one too, but it seemed to have a mischivous look in its eye as it peered at me. We stared at one another for a few seconds, my mismatched eyes into his black ones, and then it darted back towards the bushes. I stood thoughtfully for a few moments, and was about to resume my walking when I heard a voice.
It was a girl voice, soft and enticing, and I smiled at the sound of it. Of course, I understood not a word, but what did I expect? I couldn't remember a lot of things, so this was not at all a surprise. I came closer towards the now laughter that came from that voice, and as I was stepping over the roots of a large red oak tree, I accidentally stepped on a twig that snapped loudly underneath my feet.
I froze. And so did the voice. I held my breath as I heard footsteps coming towards me, and fell backwards as the creature came out from behind a tree in front of me. I gaped at what I saw.
The creature was a pony... at least I think that's what it was. I wasn't sure because of my faulty memory, but it had four hooves and a long mane of a pastel pink color. It had a yellow complexion, and there was what seemed like a tattoo of pink butterflies that covered a small part of her flank. But what captured me was its eyes, which were a turquoise blue, an exquisite color. I assumed this was the thing that had that beautiful voice, and if I wasn't mistaken, it was a GIRL pony...
The pony muttered soft words that I could not catch, much less comprehend. Her eyes made me stay rooted to the spot however. They were kind, and although I could not understand, on some level her tone told me that she meant no harm, and her voice! Oh! It was lovely! Even when she took a few steps forward I did not flinch, for how would such a creature want to harm another. She radiated kindness through her very being, so when she began to pet me softly, I only leaned into her, feeling warm and fuzzy inside. It was as if I was an animal, the way I let her take out a carrot and feed me.
After quite a lot of carrots, the pony began to nudge me down another dirt path that led to a beautiful cottage, one that seemed to be on the outskirts of a forest. I wasn't particularly afraid, becasue this wonderful creature was kind, and wonderful, and I had a deep, instinct-like feeling that she would never put me in harm's way.
She opend the door, and whispered softly to me, enticing me into her cottage. Now, if I had some sense, I'd probably have run far away right now, because even I, who can't really remember anything at all, knew not to go into stranger's houses. Thank sweet Celestia that this was the pony I met first.
I don't remember much after that, because I was still aching in the head, and my limbs were sagging. Not to mention, I could barely keep my eyes open. The next thing I knew, I was fading from this strange world and floating off into some richly colorful dreams that spun too quickly for me to grasp what was going on.
chapter two: Getting Acquianted
No Name:
I woke up to find myself wrapped in such soft blankets. I had no idea of my surroundings, but I felt safe and warm.
My mismatched eyes darted open to find myself staring into the faces of two ponies. I shrieked, fell off the bed, and scrambled to get to my feet. The ponies looked concerned, and the pony I had met earlier cooed soothing words to me, calming me down immensely. The two ponies were speaking to one another in that same strange unknown language that I had heard the pink-maned pony use before. She was speaking in such a soft tone that I wondered how the other pony could even understand her. The other pony was quite different from the yellow one.
It was of a purple hue, and a little bit slimmer than the other. It had a shorter mane than the other pony, with cute bangs in the front, half concealing... the horn it had on its forehead! Sooo... a unicorn? I turned to the other pony, who had... wings? Wha? I must have hit my head pretty hard or something. Maybe I was in some freak dream, and had fallen into a coma. That would explain my amnesia anyway. And with that, my memories stayed even more firmly locked into place.
I was whisked out of my musings as the purple... thing looked towards me more intently, meeting my eyes.
I began to sweat with nervousness as it spoke," gvfbd shdbd hwgdwd whjdbwjhd wdhhsh jhbhbjdc dhcdhcbhd jc sdc ds c sdc hbehegvdbc sdhcdgjvwjbweh?" It held out a hoof, and from its voice, I guessed that it was also female.
"Uhhhh.... I don't understand." I answered, a confused, and fearful look on my face. Unfased, the pony creature closed her eyes and a glowing magenta aurora seemed to glow from her horn, and when she opened them, an ethereal light seemed to glow from them as she concerntrated the... stuff into a ball and shot it at me.
Before I could scream, the stuff, for which I was later to find out was magic, engulfed me and drowned out all my senses for what seemed like eternity, but realistically was probably merely a few seconds. As the spell faded, all my senses came slowly back and I sluggishly sat up, for I had somehow fallen to the floor again.
Rubbing my sore head, I re-took in my surroundings and looked about me. The purple unicorn thingie looked back at me with worried purple eyes, along with the other pony, who seemed even more frantic than the other.
"Are you ok?" asked the purple one.
I was about to say indignantly that of COURSE I was not ok, but I stopped as I realized that I could understand the pony's dialect.
"H-hey! I can understand you!" was all I could say.
"Well," the purple pony said with a satisfied smirk," I put a spell on you so that you could understand our language. It doesn't last forever, but we can work that out later. I'm Twilight Sparkle, by the way." she re-held out her hoof in a friendly manner.
"I-I..." I couldn't speak very coherently at the moment, trying to process this new bit of information, but I managed to raise my hand and shake the pony's hoof. How she could stand on three limbs without falling was a mystery to me, but then again, wasn't everything?And did she just say magic?
"And this here is one of my most closest friends, Fluttershy." Fluttershy cast a motherly glance towards me before hiding behind her mane of long pink hair. She wasn't shy not so long ago. "She's the kindest pony around, and loves to take care of animals. And you are?"
I bit my lip for a moment, wondering how I was going to break it to them.
"Weuuullll... I-I... don't actually know who I am..." I looked down nervously at my shoes," but umm, if it helps, I do know that I'm a human." at least I could remember my race.
"Human?" Twilight asked."That sounds like a myth, actually.Hmmmm.... and you can't remember who you are, you say?" I hung my head, a bright tinge in my cheeks. "Don't worry, I'm sure there's an explanation for this. I'll just take you home and we'll pour over my books to see if we can find an answer, alright?" Twilight Sparkle gave me a kind look, and it made me feel an eensy weensy bit better. I don't know how I missed the rising exitement in the purple pony's eyes.
"O-ok."
"W-wait." the sound was so soft that I wouldn't have caught the words if Twilight hadn't suddenly grown quiet, turning her full attention to Fluttershy."I-I want to... spent time with..." Twilight nodded in understanding, and then turned her attention back towards me.
"Or do you want to spend time with Fluttershy?" I was mildly surprised that she wanted my opinion on this matter.
Glancing at Fluttershy I said, "Well, I'd like to get things straightened out first..." Fluttershy looked downcast, but then put on a brave face, which made me inwardly breath out a sigh of relief.
"That's ok, but I'll come visit? I-I mean, i-if that's ok with you?'' She peered at me behind her locks of beautiful pastel pink hair.
"It's a deal."
"Pinkie Promise?" she held out a hoof to shake.
"Pinkie Promise...?'' I asked... what was that, some kind of weird ritual?
Fluttershy let out a soft, tinkling laugh at my confusion.
"Cross me heart, and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."
After still seeing the continued baffled look on my face, Twilight elaborated, holding back a laugh," It's a kind of promise that you can never, ever break, unless you want Pinkie Pie to attack. You're supposed to repeat after Fluttershy." I looked back and forth between them, wondering if this was a joke. It didn't help that Twilight was now giggling.
Sighing, hoping that I wouldn't ever regret this, I repeated,"Cross my... heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." I then smiled, as a memory popped into my head."Hey! I just remembered! Where I come from, we have something similar... except it went like..." and then the memory left as fast as it came."Well, I thought I remembered."
Noticing the look of oncoming depression, Fluttershy nudged me and Twilight out her cottage door, so that we could get onto our research faster. I thanked her kindly, and ran to catch up with Twilight, who was trotting at a brisk pace, the prospect of a new research project giving her wings.
..........................................................................................................................................................................
When we entered what Twilight told me was called Ponyville, we came across all these technicolor ponies, and I couldn't help but stare. I wasn't alone however, because all the ponies couldn't help looking at me either. Actually, I was doing a better job because there was a lot of whispering about me and not to mention pointing, which was getting really uncomfortable.
A pink pony with bright, pouffy, curly hair came bouncing up to us, an impossibly huge smile on her face(I assumed it was a girl anyway).
"Hiya Twilight! How ya doing?" she beamed, all bright and cute.
And then she got a glimpse of me. I was slouching as much as possible, and hiding a little behind Twilight, so she hadn't spotted me at first sight, but when she did, her reaction was unexpected. She gasped comically, her body going all stiff, and then after a few seconds she bounded away so quickly that I stood there, surprised. She was a really fast pony...
And Twilight laughed."She had the same reaction when I first came to Ponyville."
"Who is she?" I asked, still baffled by the strange pony's reaction.
"That, my friend, is none other than the amazing Pinkie Pie, one eccentric pony who loves to throw parties. Did you notice the cutie mark on her flank?"
"A what?" I asked, even more confused. My head was really beginning to throb again.
"Oh, sorry! I forgot that there's so much you don't know." Twilight looked at me with a sheepish espression.
"Thanks." sarcasm dripped from my voice. It's nice to be reminded of my cluelessness.
"Sorry." Twilight looked like she meant it, and so I mentally forgave her as she went on,"A cutie mark is what everypony get's once they find their secret talent. It can be anything, but it has to be what makes you unique from everypony else. Some cutie marks run in the family though, and get passed down, generation to generation. Pinkie Pie's cutie mark is that of three balloons, which shows her love of partying, and it's also a symbol of her talent at throwing them."
Cutie marks? Special talent? But what if-?
"But what if yo had more than one talent?" I asked. "Isn't having a cutie mark just limiting everyone? Who made this system, anywho?"
"Princess Celestia." Twilight pronounced proudly. They had a monarchy here? How strange... I can almost recall what system of government where I came from had. A-a... well, it starts with a d anyway. "And having a cutie mark doesn't mean that you're limited. You may be classified with a certain talent, but you still can have others as well, it's just that your cutie mark talent becomes a huge part of who you are, and makes sure you have a place where you belong. Pinkie Pie's cutie mark is what gave her a job at the bakery shop in town, Sugarcube Corner. It's an organized system that makes it so that nopony gets left behind in Equestria." This caused me to raise my eyebrows a little bit... still sounds like limiting to me.
"Sooo, what's your cutie mark then?" I was curious to see what kind of special talent a smart, uh, pony like her would have.
She stopped abruptly, and gave me a full view of her purple flank. There was a large pink star, with a smaller one behind it, and five different smaller white stars surrounding it.
"So your talent has to do with stars? That's cool, I guess." I shrugged, a little dissapointed.
Twilight looked slightly offended and put out as she answered indignantly,"It's magic!" she stamped her front hoof for emphasis.
How did stars indicate magic? Oh nevermind! Nothing made sense so far anyway-Oh! Magic!
"You can do magic!" it was a statement, however incredulous."That's so awesome!" with all the new things I discovered, I completely forgot about that one.
"Well, yeah, I am a unicorn you know." She gave me a smirk when she saw the joyful look upon my face.
"Unicorns DO exist! And then... so that means Fluttershy is a-"
" Pegasus." Twilight helpfully provided, gazing at me with curiosity, gouging my reaction.
She began to look at me like a bug under a magnifying glass, and I became a little more uncomfortable. What I didn't realize was that Twilight loved to discover new things and ideas, and that she was trying her absolute best to hold back on her exitement to turn me into a test subject... not just yet, anyway. It was a good thing that I didn't know then and there, because I wouldn've probably ran off to find some other pony to help me, and unfortuantely, Twilight is the only pony who can help me, being one of the smartest ponies in all of Equestria.
I gazed back at where Pinkie Pie had stood only minutes ago, and then something resurfaced.
"Wait... Pinkie Pie? Pinkie Pie... Oh, so SHE made up the Pinkie Promise?!" that strange pony WOULD make up something like that.
"Took you long enough to figure that out." Twilight teased, as we started moving again."But yes, she was the one who made it up. Be careful with those kind of promises, though, because like I mentioned earlier, you don't want to break one, lest you suffer the wrath of its creator.'' she gave such a foreboding look that I actually had chills run up and down my spine." Oh look! We're here." we stood in front of a large, overgrown tree.
I didn't see how this was her house, and was about to say as much when I noticed the door, and the windows, not to mention the balcony high above our heads. Who lives in a tree under the sky? T-W-I-L-I-G-H-T S-P-A-R-K-L-E! Now where in the world did that come from? I mentally shook myself as I followed my new friend inside.
