Chapters "Are you ok?"
His head throbbing with massive pain, the young man staggered wearily to his feet.
"Excuse me, but what exactly are you?"
That voice, so recognizable. In an attempt to see who, or what, was questioning him the man squinted his eyes in anattempt to regain some of his vision. Through his blurry vision, he could only see a purple blob of color. He attempted to reply to this unknown thing, but all that came out were jumbled sounds. With the throbbing in his head to great, he collapsed and lost all consciousness.
"What do you think it is?" the man heard as he regained some of his consciousness. "I'm not sure but I bet Princess Celestia might know," another voice whispered. "Then after can we throw him a welcome party? Pleaaaaaasssseeee!!!" "I don't know Pinkie, we aren't even sure what this 'thing' is."
The man groaned as his senses returned, and the pain began to come back. "Uggh, where am I. Who are you people," he groaned. "Not people silly. Ponies!" replied an ecstatic voice. As he opened his eyes, he saw that he was in what seemed like a hospital with six ponies. "What the hell!? Where am I!? Where is this place!?" "You're in Ponyville, Equestria. You appeared just outside my library and seemed to be in bad shape, so I took you to the hospital as fast as I could," the purple mare replied. "I'm Twilight, and my friends are Pinky, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, and the one hiding behind them is Fluttershy." The man simply began to chuckle saying, "Ha, this has to be a dream. There's no way this is possible." "What's not possible?" the blue mare asked curiously. "You! All of you! You guys are from a TV show, there's no way you are actually real." "Oh, we are real alrite," Rainbow Dash said. "If I wasnt real, could I do this?" Immediately, the pegasus took a glass of water and threw it on the unexpecting man. "Rainbow Dash!" Twilight said. "That was really rude." The rainbow Pegasus simply turned to her in reply saying, "What? The man wanted proof!"
"Um, excuse me sir, but if you don't mind me asking, what exactly are you?" whimpered a small voice from the back. "He is a human," came a thunderous reply. In walked Princess Celestia. As if something out of a dream, she strolled into the room gallantly. "The real question is how did he get here," she stated. The man did the best he could to remember the circumstances that had occured. "It was a cloudy morning......."
The sky was filled with grey as he fought to get out of bed. His bed seemed to call to him as he walked a way, pleading him to return to sleep. As he let his coffee heat up, he decided to listen to his messages. "Hey this is Tom, leave a message after the beep." Nothing but silence followed. "What a surprise," he said to himself. "Another empty voicemail." His life was lonely ever since his parents had passed away. With no brothers or sisters, or any family of any kind, he had no where to go except forward into a life he never wished would happened. At 25, he had expected to have a better life than this, having fun with friends, perhaps finding that person to make his life whole. But life doestn always work out the way we want it to.
When his coffee finally finished, he raced to his office job downtown. Nothing new about today, still as boring as the day before and basically every other day. After a long day, he returned home with the same routine as always. Tom would come home and watch My Little Pony. No one knew about this secret he had, not because he was embarassed about it, but because no one cared to even find out about his life. Upwards the evening, it all just became to much for him to bear, and he had to leave his apartment. Tom had no idea where he was going or what he was going to do. All he knew was that he needed was to leave.
Not even noticing the storm brewing above him, he walked down to the park his parents use to take home to reminisce about the good times of life. Oh how he missed those days as a child, whiteout a care in the world. He would go back to that simpler time in a heartbeat if possible, which he knew was impossible. As the winds picked up to near hurricane weather, he finally noticed his surroundings. Heavy rain began to beat down harder than ever, and flashes of lightning filled the sky. Realizing that returning home was impossible in this kind of weather, he decided to seek shelter in the parks playstructure. "A rain like this can't last for too long" he thought to himself. However, the rain didn't let up, and the storm simply grew in size. "I can't stay here all night, or il free...." His sentence was cut short by a white flash of lightning, and followed with immediate darkness.
"The next thing I knew, twilight was standing over me." "Hmm," the princess thought aloud. "The universe works in the strangest ways. This is a circumstance that I have never hear of, let alone imagined even possible. However what's done is done. For now all our focus will be on finding you a way back home. Until then, these six will take care of you, won't you girls." "Of course Princess Celestia," they all replied in unison. "Come on! I'll give you a tour!" Pinkie Pie said with excitement.
Tom was led throughout Ponyville, and everything was just like the show. Not wanting the ponies to know he already knew all the names of the buildings and places, he pretended to be fully interested in the tour. "Here we are!" said twilight. "The end of our tour. Until we can find you a way home, you will be binning with me." As he laid down in his guest bed thinking of the events that had just transpired, everything started to kick in. "This may all be one crazy dream, but I'm in Equestria! Maybe this won't be too bad after all." With that thought he did all he could to try to fall asleep, unsuccessfully.
It had been a week since Tom found himself stranded in this strange land. Surprisingly enough, the other ponies around the village didnt seem to bothered by the appearance of this completely new animal. This was probably because they were so used to seeing strange animals, like griffons, dragons, and even an Ursa Minor, that this small human was the least of there problems. After the first day, no body really wondered what he was, and simply went about his life.
Tom found that his favorite place to spend his time was Sugar Cube Corner. He would spend hours at a time simply watch as time passed. Since Sugar Cube Corner was the main eatery of Ponyville, it was almost always busy and filled with others. To try to get a better feeling for the Equestria Life, he would 'pony' watch. One second the Cutie Mark Crusaders would run off on yet another quest to find there cutie marks, and at other times Rainbow Dash would fly over head, leaving the rainbow trail behind her. Even Vinyl Scratch randomly took out her equipment and simply started to play just outside the bakery.
However, today was different. There wasn't a busy bustle among the street. Instead, there was nothing but an occasional tumbleweed rolling through the desolate road. Not sure what was going on, Tom decided to venture out to try to find where everyone was. The first place he thought of was the Library. If anyone knew what was happening, it was Twilight. However when he reached the Library, it too was empty. Puzzled, he simply sat down to wait. After about Ten Minutes, he heard Pinkies voice over what sounded like a loud speaker saying, " Welcome to this years Running of the Leaves! If you wish to join, please be at the starting line in 10 Minutes." Tom smiled to himself as he ran over to where the voice had come from.
He arrived with nearly five minutes to spare before the race had started. He noticed as all the Ponies began to line up for the race to come. Twilight noticed him as he walked towards the line. "Hi! Would you like to participate in the Running of the Leaves?" she asked. Seeing that he was unsure whether to accept or decline, she said, " Come on! it will be fun!" Excited, Tom answered, "Ok if you insist." Although Tom had always loved running, he had never been a part of a competition of any sort.
"Runners Take your marks!" he heard Pinkie call out. "Ready...Set....GO!" In a colorful blur, all the ponies took off at once, leaving Tom in the dust. He knew ponies were fast, but he never expected this! The only one left was Twilight, strutting far behind the pack and simply enjoying the walk. "So how are you enjoying Ponyville so far?" she asked. "Its a really nice place! I love how everyone here seems to be happy," he answered. "IN THE FIRST STRETCH, APPLEJACK AND RAINBOW DASH ARE NECK AND NECK, FAR AHEAD OF THE REST OF THE PACK" said Pinkie over the loudspeaker, excited as always. "It seems that those two haven't completely learned there lesson from the first time they raced," Twilight laughed. "Those two are always so competitive!" Tom laughed in agreement, "Well i guess its in there nature."
As the Road stretched on, Tom continued to jog alongside Twilight. They both asked each other questions about each others land, such as what 'Television' is, or the orgin of Equestria. Time flew for the the both of them as they quickly approached the end of the Race. "Wow!" Twilight said. "I cant imagine a world where the clouds move by themselves, and weather isn't up to you! The only place we have that is the Everfree forest. Oh look it seems we are almost to the finish!" As they crossed the finish, they heard AppleJack and Rainbow Dash arguing over who was the true victor. "I Won!" "No I won!" Pinkie came down from her announcer position saying, "Rainbow Dash, you won by exactly 16/21 of a nose." With a smug look on her face, she turned to AppleJack saying, "Ha! told you." "No fair! You Cheated!" Applejack argued. "Nuhuh!" Twilight walked over to Tom saying, "Lets let these two work out there problems," Twilight insisted.
It was getting dark, so we started to head back to the library. "You know, me and my friends are having a picnic tomorrow if you want to come," Twilight said. "I'm sure they all would love to get to know you more." Tom smiled to himself. This was the first time he has been invited to something in a long time. "I'd love to go. Thank you." "Your'e welcome," Twilight said as she pulled out a dusty old book to read. "Besides i'm sure they have so many questions to ask you." Tom laughed saying, "I'm sure they do! Its not everyday a new creature just pops out of nowhere!" They both laughed together. As Tom hopped into his bed, he felt something he hadnt felt in years, complete happiness.
"Can you pass the jelly?" Pinkie asked Rarity. "This sandwitch is going to be Deeeeelicous!" "Of course Pinkie!" As Rarity reached for the Jelly, she shrieked," Gah! Ewwww, the Jar is all dirty and covered with jelly!" "Yeah Rarity, its a Jelly Jar, of course theres going to be some jelly on it," Rainbow Dash stated. "Well i simply WONT touch it," Rarity pouted, refusing to go anywhere near it. Noticing that a fight may be about to start, Tom offered to Pinkie, "Here you go, Pinkie." handing here the jelly. "Thanks! So whats it like on Earth? Anything like this?" Pinkie asked. "Well, no. On Earth, nothing is like this at all. There is no magic, no flying people, no cities in the clouds, no control over weather..." "WHAT!" Rainbow Dash yelled. "How can you live without control over weather! Your world sucks!" "Rainbow!" Twilight scolded. "No, no, shes right," Tom explained. "This place is so much nicer than earth, it truly is. Everything here is just happier."
As the picnic continued, multiple stories were given about the differences between Equestria and Earth, until about one. Suddenly, the Beautiul white princess dropped out of the sky. " Hello once again, i bring new about you, Tom. It seems that when the lighting struck the playstructure, the intense amount of energy that was created a small wormhole, transporting you here. As for getting you back to Earth, we are still working on it." At the thought of going home, he felt some saddness return. "What if, if i don't want to return? Everything here is just so much better." "Im sorry, but our two worlds combining like this was never meant to happen, and never should. We have to do everything in our power to return you to your world." At this, Tom realized that eventually he would have to return. "Well at least y'all can enjoy yer time in equestria for now!" Applejack said, realizing his sadness. "Thanks." Tom said giving a half hearted smile.
As the picnic ended, and the others started to return to there homes, Tom decided to stay and think. "I cant return. I have nothing at Earth, no family, no friends. Im not sure that i could even live there anymore." All these emotions were too much for him, and he dozed off. When he opened his eyes, he found himself surrounded by complete darkness. "It must be nearly midnight!" But there was no moon, no stars to guide him. Nothing but complete darkness. "Why hello there," a voice echoed through the void. "Allow me to introduce myself. The name is Discord, and I couldn't help over hearing your...predicament so to speak. However, I'm here to tell you that there is another way, one in which only I can help you with." tom knew that he couldn't be trusted, but the thought of being able to live the rest of his life in this beautiful land pushed him to wanting to learn more. "You see," Discord continued. "If I were in control of equestria, there would be no need to send you away, rather I would welcome your stay with open arms. With me, you can live the remainder of your life in happiness in the land you love so." the temptation continued to grow. Although he knew there had to be some catch to this proposal, he couldn't help but hope that this could be his ticket to paradise. "I'm listening." Tom answered wantingto learn more. "You see," Discord said, "it seems that I'm trapped here in stone until something is arranged, and you are just the person I need to do the job. Although you may not know it, humans have magical abilities far greater than unicorns on equestria, so great as to even defeat he Princess. I am very familiar with your capabities and can guide you through your magical transformation." Tom couldn't believe it. "Me controlling magic?" he thought to himself. Although unbelievable, it made sense. Why else would Princess Celestia be so quick to find a way to remove him from equestria. "So here's what I need you to do," Discord exclaimed. "Inside the library here is a book by the name of "Unusual Uses of Magic" where there is a spell for releasing me from my imprisonment. Bring the book to me, perform the spell, and all your wishes will come true. And as quickly as he had arrived the voice was gone. There he was, siting alone where hours ago the picnic once was.
Decisions
There he was, all alone In a field. Never had he felt so alone, not even on earth, or when his parents passed on. There was no one to turn to, no one to make this descision for him. Just him. Noticing it was getting late, he walked back to the library. As he walked in, twilight was there reading the same book as she was previously. "Hello there. You don't look so god is everything ok?" Tom turned to look in a mirror, not knowing how awful he looked. "I guess it was just a long day." he replied. He wanted so badly to tell Twilight about everything that had just happened, but something inside him prevented him from doing so. "Oh ok," Twilight said. "Perhaps you should get to bed early."
Tom tried to sleep, but no matter how much he tried, his mind continued to race. He wasn't sure what to do, and either way seemed to lead to his own destruction. "Perhaps a walk will take my mind off of this whole situation." As he walked out of bed, he notice that Twilight was asleep, with the open book resting on top of her and Spike at her side. Not wanting to wake her, he slowly crept out of the front door, giving extra care to make sure he made as little sound as possible. Outside, a beautiful array of stars filled the night sky. Luna had even graced her subjects with a full moon, making walking for Tom much easier to see where he was going. He walked throughout Ponyville, past Sugar Cube Corner, past Raritys Store, and even paid a visit to Applejacks Orchard. The more he walked, the more he realized that there was no way that he could leave this place and continue his life. He had to do everything possible to remain in equestria. And this meant siding with Discord.
He knew what he had to do, and his first step was to find this book. But how would he find it withoutg waking Twilight or Spike. "You have the power to use magic." Discords words rang throughout his head. Maybe there is some spell that gives him the ability to walk along without making sound, or perhaps put Twilight and Spike into a magical sleep. Quickly reality set in, as he realized that he didn't have any spell books of that sort, let alone even know how go use them. He only had one option, and that was to risk it all and do this the old fasioned way.
As he walked into the library, he made sure not to let the wooden door creak at all upon his entry. The room was just as dark as it was when he left. He became angry with himself as he realized it was impossible to search for anything in this sort of conditions. Right when he was about to give upon his objective, he noticed out of the corner of his eye the book lying on Twilights chest. The red cover stood out Among the extremely dark room, making it easy to find. Tom examined the book for a title, and upon finding out it was in fact he book he had been looking for gave out a muffled cheer of victory. However, instantly the problem arose as to how to Retrieve the book without waking the sleeping mare. He tiptoed towards the chair where she slept, once again making sure to remain silent. When he got there, he noticed a dark shadow in the shape of a small dragon rising up from it's bed. "Wha...huh. Who's there!" the baby dragon called out. Not sure what to do, Tom stood there in silence, hoping maybe he would forget and return to his sleep, but he had no such luck. The shadow of Spike continued to move toward him. Thoughts of capture raced through toms head. " What wil they do if I get caught? How can I explain why I had to do this? They will send me back for sure!" Panicked, Tom grabbed the book, an sprinted out of the library as fast as his legs could carry him. "Stop! Thief!" he heard Spike shout. It wasn't long before nearly everyone in Ponyville was awakened by the dragons crys. He had to get out as fas as he could. He carried himself faster than he had ever gone before. Adrenaline pumping through his body, he managed to escape to Applejacks Orchards to hide. Relieved at his escape, he sat down for a much needed rest. "Maybe I can do this," Tom thought. Almost instantly, Tom noticed that he had forgotten one crucial detail in his plan. How was he going to get to canterlot?
Tom couldnt believe it! How could he be so stupid as to not think this through. He threw himself down in despair, nearly giving up completely. Discords words echoed through his head once again. "Although you may not know it, humans have magic capabilities far greater than unicorns." Even though this idea sounded insane, his only choice was to teleport himself. "Maybe this book has something on teleportation," he thought hopefully. No luck. Not a single thing on teleportation. "Ok, I can do this. Maybe if I just imagine the place I want to go something would happen." Althouh he had never personally visited the place were Discords statue was being kept, he new from the television show what I had looked like. As he en isioned it, he felt a sort of tingling sensation through his body. When looking down at his hands, he saw that they were glowing in anlight blue color. Completely shocked by this discovery, he lost all his concentration, and as quickly as this magic had arrived it was gone. "well that was good first try!" Whenever thought that he had the capablities to perform magic. This self pride did not last long, as he heard a crowd of ponies approach. "I saw ashadow runnin into the Orchard," he heard Applebloom tell the citizens. He had no time. His only chance was to teleport his way out. With all his strength, all his concentration, he tried it again. The same tingling sensation came back, and it grew bigger and bigger. "There he is!" a voice from the pursuing crowd called out. In a flash, he was gone.
For all the Wrong Reasons
With a loud thud, Tom hit the ground. Not exactly sure what he had just done, he looked up. There he was, he statue of Discord. He couldn't believe that he had pulled it off. Now all he had to do was perform the spell Discord wanted him to do and his problems would be ov.... "I see you have discovered your powers," a voice said from behind him. There she was, Princess Celestia. "H-how Did y-you know?" Tom managed to stutter out. "I've been watching you Tom, ever since you had arrived. I thought some evil would try to take advantage o your powers, which is why I wanted to get you out of harms way as soon as possible." "I'm not leaving," Tom told the princess. "Tom, think about the reasons why you want to stay in equestria. It isn't because of the lush scenery, the beautiful gardens, or the great towns. It because for once you feel like you belong, that you have friends now that care. If you bring Discord back into this world, all of that will be lost." When she said it, he knew she was right. What he was doing he was doin for all the wrong reasons. Even if Discord did keep his promises, he would still be just as alone as he was on earth.
Realizing what he had almost just done, Tom broke down and fell to the floor. "I-I can't leave here, I just can't." he stuttered, fighting backtears. Princess Celestia nodded in agreement. " I guess there is one other option that you can have. If you allow me, i can strip you of your magical ability. The power you have is too dangerous for any single person to have, unless of course you know how to use it." Tom thought about all the possibilities that he could have with magic. Almost anything was possible, but what was the point if he had no one to share this power with. Realizing what he had to do, he gave his permission to her to remove his magic. As Princess Celestia absorbed the magic from within, the statue of Discord began to shake furiously in defeat. Tom realized that he was making the right descision.
When Tom returned to Ponyville, he was greeted with a warm welcome. Having heard of all the events that had just taken place, Pinkie even planned a congratulations party. All the ponies greeted him though the night, welcoming him to the Ponyville community permanently. Once again, Tom felt the same feelings he had when he first arrived. He was completely happy.