I sat up with a groan, looking around my surroundings. I appeared to be back in my room, and I don't mean that basement, I mean my actual room. I was sitting on the hardwood floor, everything around me looking the same as it did earlier. Was...was it all a dream? I pushed myself up to my feet, making my way out of the bedroom and into the bathroom. I turned on the tap, splashing some water into my face. I mean, it couldn't have been, it all felt so real. I turned off the tap and finally looked into the mirror to get a look at myself...only, that didn't go as planned. There was no reflection in the mirror at all. I held up my toothbrush that sat on the side of the sink, noticing that it had its own reflection, seemingly floating through the air.

I took a step away from the mirror, looking around the room. That's when it happened. The walls around me began to crumble, turning to dust and being replaced by nothing but darkness. I tried my best to look around, but I was barely able to see three feet in front of me. A beam of light suddenly shot down out of the sky, landing on a particular place in the distance. With no other options, I began to trek towards the light. It was then that I started to hear a faint whisper of a voice. The closer I got to the light, the louder the voice became. It wasn't until I was standing directly in the light that I could tell what the voice was saying.

Ah, Tiberius. I'm so glad we can finally meet like this.

I looked around, trying to find the source of the voice. When I saw nothing I looked up towards the light, "Who are you, and where am I?" There was a small chuckle that echoed from all around me.

Who I am isn't important just yet, we'll get to that in due time. To answer your other question, you're in a dream, or at least, something similar.

"If this is a dream then none of this is real, right? I can just pinch myself and wake up."

Not quite, you see, I've melded our minds together for the time being. You're stuck here until I allow you to wake.

"Okay, then why are you doing this? I clearly don't know you, so you must have some sort of intentions."

All in due time, my friend. For now you must simply be aware that I'm watching over you, watching over your dreams.

"How exactly are you doing that? Are you in my head, or?" Another chuckle erupted from around me.

No, I'm nowhere even close to you or Equestria. I'm merely using magic, a magic nearly forgotten. Only one other pony in Equestria knows said magic, and that's because it's their specialty. Even now, I can feel her trying to force her way into your dream, into your mind, to try and check on you.

"Check on me, what do you mean?"

It is Princess Luna's job to watch over the dreams of her subjects, and you, now living among her kind, are considered to be one of her subjects.

It was my turn to let out a soft chuckle, "Man, fuck that. I don't bow to nobody, especially royalty." There was a moment of silence before the voice spoke once again.

It makes sense, the way you've lived your life. You would never bow to royalty. Now then, I must bid you farewell. If the Lunar Princess asks, the whole barrier keeping her out was just part of being human.

I thought for a moment, did I really want to keep this hidden? What if this guy was dangerous? I took a few more seconds to think it over before speaking, "Very well. I have one last question. What shall I call you?" There was a small moment of silence before the voice spoke again.

For now you can simply refer to me as your brother in arms. Farewell, Tiberius.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I awoke with a start, sitting up from my spot on the floor. It seemed at some point during that dream, if you can even call it that, I fell out of the bed. I pushed myself up to my feet. I sighed as I looked down at the suit I was still wearing. Guess I'll need to commission some new clothing. Add that to the shit I don't want to deal with list. I made my way to the basement door, pressing my ear against it. Hearing no voices I made my way out, beginning to explore the house a bit.

It didn't take me long to find what I was looking for as I closed the bathroom door behind me. I slipped out of my suit and folded it up, resting it on a small counter. My shower that morning took a little bit longer than usual, partially because I really didn't want to start my day in Ponyland, but also because I was lost in thought. It just didn't make sense to me. How did I end up here? I know Celestia said that it was a type of magic, but how did that manage to get into my world, where there's no magic anywhere?

Ugh, my head was starting to hurt just thinking about it, so I decided to step out of the shower, quickly drying myself off with a towel that I really wished would have been a bit bigger. I slipped back into my clothing and stepped out of the room, feeling mixed emotions when I saw Twilight sitting down with a book. She looked over at me with a smile.

"Good morning, Tiberius. Did you sleep well?" She asked as she set her book down, making sure to bookmark the spot she was on before doing so.

I shrugged, "As well as I could, I guess." I thought about telling her about the strange dream I had, but decided against it, still unsure of what my so called 'brother in arms' was talking about.

It looked like Twilight was about to speak again before she was cut off by the sound of my stomach rumbling. She chuckled softly, "Sounds like somepony's hungry."

I shook my head in response, "No, I'm not a pony. I am hungry though. What do you have to eat in this place?" She rattled off a list of things, most of which didn't sound very edible. I didn't feel like eating hay or flowers after all. I cut her off as she started talking about the different types of meals you could make with dandelions, "I can't really eat that stuff, do you have any fruits or vegetables?" I almost asked if she had meat, but thought it would be better to not tell the prey animal that could probably vaporize me with magic in seconds that I was a meat eater.

She gave me a smile, "Of course, there's some apple's in the fridge, or some carrots if you prefer those." I responded with a shrug and went into the kitchen, grabbing an apple before coming back into the room and sitting down next to her.

I got through the apple quickly enough, throwing the core into a nearby trash bin before turning back to Twilight, "So, when am I going to have free range to move around town? I need to do some things, commission somebody for some clothes, maybe get to know the area a bit since I'm going to be stuck here."

"Well, Princess Celestia never said anything about you not being seen, so I suppose it would be fine to go out. Just don't go getting into trouble." She said, a small smirk on her face.

I responded by rolling my eyes and making my way to the door, "I'll do my best." Before she could get another word in I opened up the door and walked outside. I couldn't help but wince a bit at all of the bright colours. I thought the castle I was in was bright, but this was crazy. The sky was much brighter than the likes of my world, nearly enough to hurt my eyes from the different contrast. Hell, even the grass was colourful, rather than the dull, dead grass that sat in the backyard to my house.

I eventually got over the bright colours enough to begin my walk through the small town. It wasn't long before the towns citizens began to notice the strange bipedal creature walking through their town. The stares that I got were unreal. The last time I was stared at like this was back in high school when I lost a dare and was forced to wear nothing but a pair of short shorts and an overly tight muscle shirt for the whole school day. The stares now though, they were looks of confusion and looks of fear. It made sense I suppose, if a strange creature that I had never seen before had shown up back on Earth, you bet your ass I would stare. I would have been fine with the stares if it wasn't for one simple thing.

I was lost. I hadn't thought to get directions and I had next to no idea where I was going. Sure, this place was smaller than where I lived, but it was also entirely new, and I had no idea what to look for. I stopped in my tracks to look around, still noting that I was the center of attention. I locked eyes with one of the ponies and let out a sigh, realizing what I had to do. I began to make my way towards the mare, only to let out a sigh when she booked it, instantly running off when she saw I was heading towards her.

I was about to give up and just head back to the library when I heard someone yelling. I turned my head to see two stallions yelling at some grey mare. I watched for a moment and was just about to leave when the mare cried out for them to go away. I then saw one of the stallions push the mare over, the other choosing to simply laugh at the knocked down mare. Now, normally I'd stay out of things that weren't my business, but two guys picking on a girl was never cool, even if they were magical horses. Besides, I've been in a situation similar before. That being said, I made my way over to them, the small group that had been watching the two now looking towards me.

I cleared my throat when I was behind the two, "Excuse me, but I think she asked you to leave her alone." My voice seemed to capture their attention as the two turned towards me, their eyes widening once they saw me. The first stallion, a dark brown Pegasus with a light grey mane, managed to put on a brave face pretty quickly. He began to circle me, which caused the other stallion, a light grey Pegasus with a dark grey mane, to do the same, circling me from the other side.

The brown stallion spoke, "Oh, and are you going to do something about it, freak?" The other Pegasus let out a laugh, "Yeah, you're a freak, just like Derpy over here." The mare whimpered a bit from her spot on the ground. I didn't look towards her, choosing to focus fully on the two stallions.

I cracked my knuckles, an action that made the two Pegasi flinch and take a step back much to my amusement. I stood my ground, not letting either of the two get behind me, "Maybe I will. I've been meaning to let out my aggression ever since I got here, and it seems I found two volunteers." The two backed up away from me further, giving each other nervous glances. I grinned, "What's wrong? I thought you two were tough? I mean, clearly you were tough enough to put your hands on a poor, defenseless girl. Perhaps I should show you how it feels."

I took a step towards the brown stallion, causing him to trip over his own hooves and fall onto the ground. I heard galloping behind me as the other Pegasus ran off, the first one calling out to him for help. I smirked down at him, "Your friend is gone, dude. Now, tell me why I shouldn't pound your face in for what you did to this kind mare?" It still feels weird to say that. He didn't respond merely staring up at me in horror, "I'm waiting. I don't have all day you know." He pushed himself and tried to run off but I grabbed his tail before he could, "Hey, I didn't say you could go anywhere."

In an unexpected turn of events, he suddenly bucked his back legs towards me. I just barely managed to back away far enough to avoid the hit, letting go of the tail in the process. I brought my fists up, fully prepared for a fight, ready to let out my aggression on this asshole. He ran, which I'll admit made me frown a bit. I had expected the attempted hit to spark a brawl, not send him running off. I let out a soft sigh as I turned to walk away, ready to look for Rarity's place once again.

"Wait!" I stopped in my tracks, turning around to see the mare pushing herself off the ground. The mare was grey, as mentioned before, and was a pegasus much like the two bullies. Her hair was blond in colour, though the thing that stood out most were her eyes. They were close to golden in colour, but that's not what was strange about them. The eyes looked in two completely different directions, one looking upwards while the other looked towards me. It was kind of cute in a way. The mare smiled towards me, "You saved me."

I shrugged in response, "Sure, I wasn't going to let those two act like complete assholes." I let out a soft chuckle, "I'm sure if I hadn't stepped in someone else would have." To my surprise she shook her head, a small frown appearing on her face.

"Everypony was just watching. None of them were going to help" She looked around at the small group that was still looking towards us. The mares and stallions that made up the group gave sheepish grins before sauntering off. She looked back to me, a smile appearing on her face again, "You didn't have to help, you could have easily just watched or walked away. I may not know what you are, but thank you." She held her hoof up towards me, "My name is Ditsy, but most ponies call me Derpy."

I looked at her hoof for a minute before reaching up and meeting it with my fist, "I'm Tiberius, my friends call me Ty for short." I felt a small smile appear on my face as I realized that the mares and stallions that were previously staring at me were finally going about their business, seemingly not as worried about me. I suddenly had a thought, "Hey, you wouldn't happen to know where Rarity lives, would you? I was actually trying to head there before I noticed your situation."

Derpy gave a me a quick nod, "Of course, the Carousal Boutique isn't too far from here actually. I can lead you there if you'd like. It would give me time to learn about my hero."

I couldn't stop myself from letting out a soft chuckle, "Sure thing Derpy, lead the way." Her smile grew and she gave me another nod before starting towards Rarity's. I made sure to fall into step beside her, beginning to tell her a bit about my world and about how I had wound up in Equestria.

Author's Note

It has been FAR too long since I've written anything. While it feels good to be back, I feel I should mention that this isn't my only story in the works as of right now. I have a second story planned, one that's more of a more naughty story. This will most likely be my primary focus, but expect some chapters of another story soon. Also, I know I said this chapter would be longer, but I decided to split it up into two separate chapters. As always, if you see any mistakes or have any idea's for how I should improve my writing, by all means let me know. c: