A rare feeling
Boom!
I am covered in a flash of rainbow-laced light and lightning in a moment of confusion and vertigo.
Spinning, rolling, tumbling.
Splash!
I had tumbled headlong into a lake in the middle of the day. I had no idea where I was, or how I had gotten here, but my first priority was to get some air before I drowned. I could see the blue sky cradling the sun in wavy warps from below the water just before erupting through the surface of the lake and shaking my hair out of my face. It had grown longer, somehow, magically, in an instant as I was grabbed and thrown from my world into this crazy alternate dimension.
Was it another dimension? It sure felt like that from the texture and the feeling of the membranous cavern I had just spent a couple seconds in on my way here. I was, for a split second, staring straight into the sun.
I turned my head quickly away, and started a short swim towards land. No one was here. I was alone in on the small beach as I walked on my hands and knees towards the grass, just getting enough of my bearings to stand on 2 feet and look around. This was a very flat and grassy place, besides the lake, but there appeared to be a dirt path to somewhere in the distance.
Thankfully, I was still wearing my t-shirt and jeans, but I had kicked off my socks and shoes in the lake, or perhaps lost them on the way here. I didn’t mind though. The path was dry dirt, and there weren’t any sharp rocks or pebbles for me to step on. In fact, the path looked very well worn. There were tracks here and there, but not human ones. Obviously, people on horseback used this path. They must have dismounted on the beach.
This meant I wasn’t in the middle of nowhere. Perhaps a city or a town? The only towns I knew of that still had horses were full of wealthy inhabitants. I was quickly reminded of my own horse. Not a horse, per say. It was an old, beat up truck with scratched paint and a little rust. I had bought it off my parents for a few hundred dollars, and it had suited my purposes just fine. I had left it, and my world behind.
But wherever this place was, the presence of expensive rides like actual horses meant that the town where I was headed would cater to the finer demands of anyone with a good amount of money. Food. Beds. Maybe a show and a good bottle of booze to make my time here richer. I pulled my wallet out of my drenched pants and opened it up. Yes. I still had about a hundred in twenties left relatively dry with some random coins rolling around in there.
I put my wallet back in my wet pocket and continued walking. I walked for about 20 minutes before a town opened up in front of me. This place wasn’t as flat as I had thought, because there was a slope that had hidden this town from me at the lake. As I approached, I noticed that there were no people walking around. Nobody anywhere.
But, something was walking towards me, appearing from behind one of the buildings. It was…a pony? A white pony with big anime-ish eyes and a styled purple mane. Now I knew I was in another dimension. She stopped and stared at me, her jaw slacked open, just for a moment before trotting gingerly towards me. I was unprepared for this. This didn’t look like any kind of horse or pony I’d ever seen. Then she spoke.
“Welcome to Ponyville, dear,..um, sir!”
Now it was my turn to be open mouthed. This..animal..was speaking to me? In English no less? Not just that, but with a refined accent?
I closed my jaw with my right hand and cleared my throat.
“Ughm! Yes, my name is Matthew.”
“What a strange name. Hmm. My name is Rarity. You seem to be new around here. Oh! I should take you immediately to the Princess! She always knows what to do when new..um..races..come calling. Come along!”
As I followed her further into town, I noticed her spiraling tail was waving slightly back and forth. It was strangely hypnotizing, but I was just getting used to watching her walk. She acted just like a human, really, but there was something cartoony and artsy about her. I began to question if I was really looking at an animal or not. She was not unaffected by my eyes on her.
“I take it you’ve seen ponies before?”
“Uh, no. Not like this. Not like you.”
“Well! I never!”
“No, no, I don’t mean that in a bad way. It’s just that ponies, where I’m from, don’t…”
“Well? Don’t what? Spit it out!”
“Don’t…talk.”
She was silent for a moment, and has stopped walking. I barely noticed before I almost ran into her. What an odd sensation. I had walked right into her swaying tail. For a moment, I started to get a little aroused by the feeling. Weird. I quickly jumped back and shook off the feeling.
“S-sorry!” I stammered out.
She looked back at me with a look that was a mixture of confusion and worry. I thought I almost caught her blushing for a moment, but I missed my chance to verify it as she turned her head back to the path, which had gotten a bit more…paved with pebbles as we had entered town.
“I think you’ll find the lot of us ponies very talkative, Matthew.”
“Um..yeah.”
We continued to walk through town, and I began to see more and more ponies peek out from doorways and windows. Where were all the people?
“I don’t suppose,” I managed to utter “There are any humans, here, like me?”
“Oh, is that what you are, darling. I was getting worried not being able to place you in my Beastiary of Equestrian Creatures.”
Beastiary? I was…a beast? A creature? Somehow I didn’t like how she had turned the tables on this little encounter. Suddenly, I felt very much alone, and very immoral for not thinking of Rarity as a person.
“We’re here.”
I had somehow failed to notice a crystalline palace in the center of town, looking as if it had somehow grown instead of being built.
“I’m sure Princess Twilight will be happy to meet you. You are the first…human we’ve yet to encounter.”
A lump appeared in my throat. I began to think that this place would change me forever.
Author's Note
Edits: divided wall of text into paragraphs
The gates opened wide to the castle, and me and Rarity walked into the great hall. There were great big picture windows along the walls, maybe 15 or 20 feet in height, and about 3 feet across for each one. I noticed that not one of them depicted any humans, and quickly reminded myself where I was.
"Rarity...you mentioned Equestrian Creatures. Is that where I am? Equestria?"
She stopped once again, and once again I had run into her spirally tail. Once again, I felt its soft, springy nature tease my aching groin. I was becoming increasingly irritated and embarrassed by this, and my face was becoming red.
She immediately came to the same realization from the feeling in her tail, and jumped forward. She whirled around, almost unable to breathe.
"Well-yyyaaahh!! GOOD SIR! I mean...Matthew. I'll thank you to keep your..lower appendages..under control! I mean..ahem..I'm flattered and all, good gracious me, but uhm, I think you should save your, ughm, excitement for members of your own race."
She turned quickly back around and we both continued walking down the hallway.
"Could..could you not mention this to this Princess? Or anyone else? I'm more than a little embarrassed by this little problem." I stammered.
Rarity chuckled to herself.
"It's no problem, Darling. I am quite the catch after all. I'm not surprised you find me attractive."
My cheeks burned, and I was even more irritated. She was so full of herself! And what in the world was wrong with me? I was a human, and she was some kind of big-eyed cartoony pony-type creature I couldn't place in my own "beastiary". What I into..beastiality? No. No, that didn't make sense in the context of Equestria. Here, I was the beast, and Ponies were people. The role reversal made me dizzy and ashamed at the same time.
We opened the 2nd doorway to the throne room, where a purple unicorn with wings was reading a book, despite her lack of a set of hands to hold it or even turn the pages. It was somehow floating in front of her, surrounded in a purplish light that seemed to sparkle and sizzle with small bits and bubbles ever so slightly.
"I knew it!" shouted the purple pony as her eyes went wide at the sight of me.
She rushed over to me and bowed her head politely.
"I am Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria. This is the town of Ponyville. Welcome to my castle, Matthew!"
Both Rarity and myself were slack-jawed for a moment. How did she know my name? What was it that she knew?
"H-hello, Princess. How, did you know my name?"
"Haha! Oh, excuse me. I was doing a little experiment with Interdimensional Magic. It usually pulls things like plants and pieces of buildings from other worlds. They usually land in Ponyville Lake. And, you..you seem to be all wet. Here, let me get you some towels."
A stack of large fluffy towels suddenly levitated off a far shelf and headed quickly in my direction. I dodged the first one, but soon I was covered in them. Rarity and Twilight laughed, and soon, I was beginning to laugh as well.
It wasn't too long before the 3 of us were comfortably sitting on plump cushions and drinking tea. There were sugary cakes as well.
"Well," said Twilight, "As you are new in town, and even to Equestria, I suppose you'll want a few things explained to you."
I nodded. I decided to let the fact that she knew my name slide, at least for now.
Twilight's horn sent a purple sparkling cloud over our heads, framing a picture that somehow reminded me of an 80 inch flatscreen, if it wasn't for the fact that it was hovering in the air and surrounded by swirling gases in varying shades of purple.
The image displayed was of my home, where I had just been walking back home after a good meal at a local pub. Suddenly, a vortex opened in the air above me, an a number of electric snake-like tendrils wound their way around me from inside the vortex and pulled in, sharply. The vortex slammed shut in a spiral pattern, leaving nothing but a quickly dissapating cloud of smoke. Even the remaining smoke seemed to drain away up into the air. The next image was me, being pulled through a tunnel of clouds and fleshy innard-like slimy things that surrounded me. The next image after that was of my body falling into Ponyville lake. After this was shown, the entirety of the display was sucked back into the Princess's horn, and her eyes had stopped glowing. I wasn't quick to notice that they had started to glow an opaque white in the first place.
Both me and Rarity looked back, quite expectantly at Twilight.
"This is the second time I've accidentally brought a human here to Equestria. I have to say, the previous one was much more ill-mannered than you, Matthew."
"Another human? You mean you've done this before?" I asked.
"Sadly, yes. I had to banish him though. Quite quickly, I might add. He was very...affectionate. Unnervingly so. Do..do all humans react this way to Ponies?"
I blushed again, and Rarity winked at me with a devious smile on her face. What was she thinking? I really was getting uncomfortable now, and all of this was starting to catch up with me. I felt woozy, and began to see stars.
"Are you ok, Matthew?"
In another flash of light, only known to me, I was unconcious.
