Rebirth

As it turns out, I did enjoy the party Pinkie threw for me. The party was like being in an Andrew W.K. album for a few hours. It lasted around seven hours long. I’ve been to longer parties, but I never remember most of the time I’ve spent. I blame alcohol.

I talked a bit with Rainbow, Pinkie, and Twilight. Pinkie talks fast enough that her mouth could be a member of Dragon Force. Actually, she’s probably a bit faster than them.

During the party, I meet a dark orange pony with no special features, except for the hat. I think they’re called Stetson hats. I’m not an expert on hats, so don’t expect me to know the actual name.

“I take it Pinkie threw this party fer ya?” The mare asks. She has a very noticeable Southern accent.

“Yeah.” I say. “Are you asking because I’m new here or just really sexy?”

She looks at me with an odd expression. “...Because you’re new. I’d have tah guess new tah Equestria.” I nod. “Also, Ah can’t exactly tell if yah’re… attractive or not.”

I give her a smile. “Thanks for being honest.” To be even more honest, I was expecting this pony to blush, at least a little bit.

“Well, Ah am the Element of Honesty.”

“Jesus, how many Elements of Harmony are there?”

“Six.” She says bluntly.

And I’ve met five of them within 24 hours. “Are they all in the same town?”

“Yep.”

That’s probably not the best idea, if you ask me. It’s kind of like having a squad of soldiers close to each other. A single grenade could easily kill them all. What if there’s an attack on Ponyville?

The pony notices. “What’s on yer mind?” I tell her what I was thinking just a second ago. “The Elements of Harmony don’t work when they’re not connected. Twi would know more. Yah’ve met ‘er, right?”

“Yeah. She interviewed me.”

“Ah’m not surprised.” She rolls her eyes.

“Oh, I never introduced myself to you.” I realize out loud.

“Ah already know who yah’re. Mark Cleveland or something, right?”

I nod. “Yeah. How do you know?”

“A mythical creature suddenly appears in town? How could Ah not? All of Ponyville knows and Ah’d bet half of Equestria does, too.” Damn. And I haven’t even been in this world for 24 hours yet. I guess it makes sense. It would be like a dragon coming to Earth. “Ah’m Applejack, by the way.” The mare breaks me from my thoughts. She holds out her hoof.

Learning from my previous experience earlier today, I tap my fist to Applejack’s hoof. She gives me a slight smile. So that’s what I’m supposed to do. I can get used to that pretty fast. I had a few friends back on Earth that seemed to only communicate with fist bumps.

The party ends a few hours later and my stomach feels like it’s about to explode. I quickly get to Fluttershy’s before anything bad happens to my stomach. Fluttershy’s there. We exchange a quick greeting before I go to my bed. I guess I passed out instead of fell asleep, because I don’t see Epona that night. Either that or she won’t always be in my dreams. I’m going to go with the latter.

The next morning feels like a mix of a hangover and terrible drunkenness, but in my stomach instead of my head. The thing is, I didn’t have anything alcoholic. Just a whole bunch of cake, ice cream, and cupcakes. A few apples too. That ‘apple a day keeps the doctor away’ saying is a complete lie, by the way.

Moving around too much will probably make me throw up. Since I’ve already vacated my stomach once in the past 24 hours, I don’t want it to happen again for a while. In fact, I would be perfectly fine if I never threw up again.

To keep the food where I want it to be, I leave the house a bit after noon and sit at the base of a tree near Fluttershy’s house. Like I expected, my stomach settles a bit.

I breathe in the cold morning air. It’s normally colder in Seattle. I actually planned on moving to a warmer area with less rain, like Los Angeles. I guess Epona already handled that for me. I’m not sure how often it rains in Equestria, though. Time will tell.

“Hey, Mark.” A familiar voice says, waking me from my trance. I look to see the source. It was the blue pegasus. What was her name? Monochrome Stop? No, Rainbow Dash. “What’re you doing?”

I pause the music and stretch. “Just soaking up the beauty of this place." By then, my stomach’s already calmed down.

Rainbow Dash smiles and lands. "Yeah, Ponyville's a pretty cool town. Not as cool as Cloudsdale, though. What you you think of Ponyville so far?"

I shrug. "Everything is just so… Different. It’ll take time to get used to all of this.” I sigh. “I mean, it’s all nice. I like it all. Everybody is just so nice. I’m not used to it.”

Rainbow Dash nods with a sigh. “I think I understand. Were there a lot of bullies where you were from?”

I rub my chin and feel some fresh stubble. I need to shave. Do they even have razors in Equestria? I force myself to take my mind back to Rainbow Dash’s question. “Not exactly. I guess I worded that wrong. There were some bullies, but most people in my area were nice.” I start to feel a little drowsy and stretch my arms out.

The pegasus nods. “Yeah, I get you.” She inspects my face for an uncomfortably long time. “What do you have in your ears?”

I take my headphones out. “Oh, sorry. I forgot these were in. These are called headphones. They let music be played directly into the ears rather than for everybody to hear.”

She turns her head slightly, like a confused dog. “Wouldn’t that hurt, though?”

I shake my head with a bit of a smile. “Not always. I guess it depends on how loud the music is. I like to play my music kind of loud compared to other humans. Mostly because my hearing is sort of weak and because of the genres I like.”

Rainbow Dash sits next to me. She rests her leg on my knee. If she were a human, I would push her away. Since she’s not, and isn’t too uncomfortable, I let her stay. “What do you like?"

“A lot. Why don’t I let you hear for yourself?” I offer her the headphones and she takes them. She puts them in her ears, which sort of amazes me. Even though I just witnessed it, I still have no idea how she did it. How do ponies do so much without fingers? The thought leaves as quick as it entered. I show her how to use my iPod.

After each song we listen to, she asks me what they’re called. She visibly enjoys most, especially the ones with faster tempos. When I play Rainbow in the Dark by Dio, she smiles, likely due to the title.

“Thanks, Mark. I’ll have to listen to some of that again.” Rainbow Dash says with a smile. “I need to go now.” She gets off my leg and stands up.

I stand up and briefly lose my balance due to my leg being asleep. I stay standing up, though. “If you want to, you can borrow it for a while.”

Rainbow Dash’s smile grows. I can tell she’s trying to hide it. Once she realizes that I notice, a faint blush shows up on her face. “Really?” I nod. The pegasus hugs me and takes the iPod. “Thanks! I owe you one.”

“No need. Anything for a friend.” I say. She hugs me again. This time I manage to hug her as well, but only get to wrap my arms partially around her head. Rainbow Dash flies off. “Oh, the song names are on the screen!” I shout in hopes of her to hear. The pegasus doesn’t seem to hear. I sigh and sit back against the tree.

My eyes begin to close as I relax my body. I listen to the ambient sounds of Ponyville replacing (hopefully only temporarily) my iPod. The same sounds I heard when I first arrived. Unlike before, it was relaxing this time. If the silence was always like this, I could get used to it.

I stay there for a few more hours until I get unbearably bored. It must have been a few hours, because it’s already dark. I probably fell asleep.

I walk towards Fluttershy's house. I know she won't be awake at this time, but it’s really the only place I could sleep without feeling creepy.

I slowly open the door. Fluttershy is in the living room. It’s as if she’s a parent and I’m a teenager that snuck out at night. Well, it would be, except the pegasus is asleep. She has a book on the table. Since it’s open, I can't see the title.

I smile at the sight and pull a blanket over the mare. She shifts her body but remains asleep. I notice her mouth is moving a little bit. I know a bit about reading lips, but I have no idea what she’s saying. Besides, I don’t have any idea if mouths move the same way on ponies as they do on humans.

The thought of it bothers me enough to keep me up for half an hour until I fall asleep. I never bothered to notice the mouth movements of the other ponies. I remind myself to keep my eyes open for that sort of stuff.

Eventually, I fall asleep.

That night, I dream of my old home in Seattle. Everything from the city comes to mind. My weekly visits to Pike’s Place. Dana and her girlfriend. My fatal car crash.

I hate that memory already, and it hasn’t even been with me for half a week. I wish it never happened. I’m just glad my death wasn’t too painful.

The image of Epona enters my dream. “Apologies, Mark Cleveland. I am unable to control dreams.” She says. Her voice is soothing, almost motherly, this time. “There is, however, a pony that is able to. She may have seen your dream.”

“Well, if she can, then she shouldn’t have me dreaming of death.” Now that I think about it, that pony’s ability is like a hardcore version of 1984. And I’m not talking about the Van Halen album.

“Eh, it’s okay. I lived in the United States. I’m used to people watching over me.” Take that, politicians.

Epona looks confused, but doesn’t bother to ask about what I meant. After a brief time, she just nods. “As I mentioned, I cannot control dreams. I do, however, have the ability to determine when they end. It is an ability I inherited from a god who has since passed on.” She stops talking and looks down for a few seconds. I wish I could hug her.

Since I don’t want to see Epona like this, I change the subject. “You mentioned a pony that can control dreams, right?”

She looks up at me. I can’t tell whether or not I distracted her from mourning. “I did indeed, but I meant to say ‘enter’, not ‘control.’ This pony is an alicorn, like me.”

“And Twilight Sparkle.” I say without thinking.

Epona looks at me for a second. She nods after a brief time. “Twilight Sparkle… You’ve met her, I presume? I have not had the honor to yet. I have heard tales of this young mare.” She smiles. If I could, I would too. I’d rather see people smile rather than frown. “Be sure to keep Twilight Sparkle as a friend, Mark Cleveland. After your time on Earth, you deserve her as a friend.”

“Thank you, Epona. It’s an honor to have you as a friend.” I say. I consider her a friend, even though I’ve never physically met her.

Epona smiles at me. “Friendship is one of the most important things in life, Mark Cleveland. Nothing else matters. Remember this.”

Nothing else matters? Besides the basic needs of survival, I’m assuming. She probably means friendship is the most important thing in life besides air, water, and food. “I will, Epona.”

Her horn lights up and my vision fades to white. I wish our conversations could last a bit longer.