It's been four days. A very disturbing four days, but four days nonetheless, of being stuck here. I've learnt more about this world, and I have to say, it's pretty fucking insane. So basically there aren't just talking ponies here, no that would be too easy. Some have wings, and others have horns alongside those with neither. And guess what? They refer to themselves as pegasi and unicorns as well. That’s just one hell of a freaky coincidence. ~~Right?~~

The first time I ran into them was beyond surreal...

Steel grey eyes, black mane. This is the first time I've seen my reflection (or really taken notice of it), and I've got to say, it's left me quite disappointed. The first problem was quite the obvious one: I'm still a horse! The second annoyance was how... boring it was. Everyone else has some bright and wonky colour schemes, and here I am with red, black and goddamn grey. I was at least hoping for some gold or something. My hair was shaggy and unkempt, but short. Apparently it was cut shortly before I... arrived, so I never saw it in my peripheral vision, as was my tail but I would rather avoid thinking about the mind fuck that is having one.

After ‘dinner’ yesterday, I was taken back to what I can only assume is my room for the night for one of the worst sleeps I’ve ever had. Well, not before doing some... business, but that isn’t important and definitely didn’t make me want to shoot myself out of awkwardness. Back to the food and not the worst experience with a toilet in my life, it sucked. Ten out of ten description, I know, but that cold, slimy muck had the aftertaste of licking metal and the taste of biting a chunk of cardboard. Not that I’ve done either of those things.

“Man that shit sucked.”

“What sucked?” Oh yeah, my current situation. I’m finally getting a good look in a mirror in a medical room of... some sort. Hey, I never claimed to be an expert. So now I’m here with the nurse, sitting on a chair waiting for the doctor pony to arrive so he can do an examination on me then tell me I’m crazy as well. Or just ‘confused’.

“Nothing, I’m just thinking out loud. Hey, how much longer do we have to wait? Believe it or not I’m starting to get bored of staring at my own reflection.”

“Wouldn’t that be a-“ she quickly cut herself off with a cough as she appeared to blush slightly. Fixing whatever problems she had with her throat she finally turned back to me. “Mr Smooth is just running a little late, I’m sure he’ll arrive in no time.”

“Wait, Smooth? What kind of name is that? It’s even stupider than mine!”

“Please don’t be so rude Trap. Smooth Procedure is a very highly regarded professional. There is no need to make fun of his name.”

“Oh please, like you’re disagreeing with me? Actually now that I think about it, I don’t think we’ve actually ever exchanged names. I’m Dominic, but I’m pretty sure I’ve already told you that.” Despite all the time we spent together the last 24 hours, it’s true that I’ve never caught her name. It’s weird, I really thought she’d introduce herself by now.

My nurse only stared at me, her jaw slack as she was no doubt embarrassed by her lack of courtesy. Some people nowadays just have no manners, but that’s okay, because I forgive her. I was opening my mouth to comfort her, when her eyes narrowed in realisation.

“Excuse me, what do you mean ‘never exchanged names’!?” Oh wait, that’s incredulous rage. “I told you my name when we first met, remember!? Or are ‘humans’ just too rude to listen?”

She told me yesterday? I was too busy being completely bombarded with bullshit to notice. “Oh shit.” The scowl deepened. “I mean, of course I remember, I was just messing with you!” I threw in the most award winning smile I could to soothe the beast.

“Really? Then what’s my name?” Uh-oh.

“You’re name is nurse...” quick! Just say the first thing that comes to mind! “...scary face.” Fuck you brain.

I swear she actually started growling at me when the door began to open and my glorious saviour showed himself.

“I’m terribly sorry for being late, but I was held up with urgent matters. Thank you for your patience nurse Misty Shores.” Misty Shores? I would’ve thought I’d remember something like that. Still though, it’s not a bad name. Comparatively.

The doctor was an orange stallion with a black mane, his body dressed in a white coat while a picture of a heart beat and scalpel sat on his flank. And above that was a pair of... no way.

“Holy shit.”

The doctor turned towards me with a look I can only call flabbergasted. I also just like calling things that. “I beg your pardon?”

“Please forgive him doctor, his current condition has made his vocabulary more than unpleasant.”

The doctor raised an eyebrow at me, his eyes alight with a bit of confusion. Putting a hoof to his chin, he started mumbling under his breath, and I had to strain my ears as hard as possible to even begin to make out what he said. “-never heard of that being a side effect.” A quick cough (who’s he fooling?) to clear his throat and he returned his attention to me. “It’s no problem, I’ve worked with all types in this institute. It just took me off guard is all.”

I personally couldn’t care less at this point, only one thing caught my limited attention. Motherfucker got wings. “Dude, are you like, a Pegasus or something?” If I thought he was flabbergasted before, it was only a fraction of how he was now.

Misty was quick to his side, whispering something into his ear which made the doctors eyes spark in realisation. “Ah yes, you’re not from this world are you? Is this your first time seeing a Pegasus pony?”

So they are actually called pegasi here too? Convenient. “Listen doc, I know you’re just playing along for me, but you’re right. Can you fly? Are your bones hollow? Do you have to preen?” He was a professional, I’ll give him that. He didn’t even blink at my barrage of questions and started his examination of me.

“Yes, we can fly. No, they’re not hollow. Yes, we do preen.” As he answered he grabbed and squeezed different muscles, doing various checks on them.

As the examination continued I bombarded him with more questions to find more bullshit about this world. Apparently pegasi can walk on clouds here, and their city was a large floating city made of them. The clouds here must be made differently to the ones back home. They also control the weather for some reason, deciding when it rains and when it’s clear. Talk about playing god.

“Oh, how about this one, if you have a pony body and your wings are that size, how do you generate enough lift get off the ground?”

“Magic. Ah, I have the results.” Did he just brush off my question? “While your muscles are slightly atrophied, you should be able to fully recover in a few weeks of physical therapy.”

If I had a glass of water I’d do a spit take. “Bullshit, how long was I unresponsive?”

A quick look at his notes before he came back to me, looking somewhat confused. “Seventeen years. Why, are you feeling something you haven’t told me?”

And here I thought this guy was a professional. “There’s no possible way I can fully recover from muscle atrophy from seventeen years of doing nothing in only a couple of weeks. Recovering my muscles should take months, hell maybe even more than a year to fully recover.”

The doctor looked a bit taken aback, maybe from my knowledge or his apparent lack thereof. Just when I thought he was a professional too. “Well, that may be the case normally, but with the treatment we’ve given you, the effects were dramatically reduced.”

That’s right, I’m in a medical institute aren’t I? I’m bound to get some type of treatment. Still though, I’ve never heard of a treatment that reduces muscle atrophy to that degree.
“What kind of treatment can reduce the damage to that degree?”

A smile returned to the doctors face as he handed some notes to Misty. “Magic.”

Magic. I heard it get thrown around a lot, but I thought it was some bullshit way of explaining things they don’t understand. ‘How does gravity work? Magic.’ That type of stuff. But when I met a unicorn, I began to understand what they meant.

I blinked. He blinked back, his amber eyes piercing into mine. He had dark green fur with a dark brown mane and a cutie mark I haven’t looked at yet. But that didn’t matter, nor did his mane, but what lay underneath it. Smack bang in the middle of his forehead was a horn. “Are you a unicorn?”

I’d seen the horned ponies around after my appointment yesterday, or maybe I’d just started paying more attention to their actual features now I was calmer. And that I met a mystical beast.

His eyebrow raised in confusion at my probably stupid question, but I need to know if they also share the name with my world, and Misty might think I’m an idiot if I ask her. Not that I care what she thinks or anything, it’d just be easier to talk to someone intellectually is all.

“Yes I am. Are you an earth pony?” I can’t tell if he’s trying to make fun of me or not. Damn shrinks.

“No, I’m a human.” My answer got a deep ‘hmm’ in response followed by writing down notes.

Not long ago I was dropped off by Misty to this doctor’s office. It was really a normal looking shrink's room: a comfy lounge chair, big bookshelf full of books, chair for him, a desk and a bunch of other oddities.

“Interesting, and where did you say you were from?” And let’s not forget the psychoanalyser himself.

“I didn’t and I'm from planet Earth. What’s the point of your horn if it’s that blunt?” His scribbling stopped as he looked back up to me.

“What do you mean by that? Should my horn be sharp?” Stupid shrinks and making me spell things out.

“I mean, you can’t really use a blunt horn as a weapon and I don’t see the evolutionary necessity for a blunt horn in a civilised society.” Another ‘hmm’ and another scribble.

“I see that you had a similar reaction when meeting a pegasus. Unicorns don’t use their horns as physical weapons, they’re far too sensitive for that. A unicorns horn is used to channel magic.” Oh. I can’t help but feel disappointed.

“So it’s like that mystical voodoo mumbo jumbo. It like a cultural thing?” When no response came I turned back to the noise of writing. Except he’s no longer holding the pen. It was floating by itself, covered in an amber hue of sparkles. Needless to say, I took this in stride.

“HOLY SHIT!” I screamed as I gracefully floundered off the couch. Reminder that I still can’t walk properly, so I promptly fell onto my face. Again.

After much fussing and comforting, as well as unnecessary swearing, the doc managed to calm me down enough to listen to his explanation.

“This,” he floated the pen and clipboard into view, both coated with the same coloured sparkles I now realise his horn is covered in, “is magic.”

I will admit, took me by surprise. But I got used to it quickly enough. “So the horn is an evolutionary trait that allows the use of telekinesis?” It’s pretty fucking stupid and probably outlandish, but at this point I’m in a world of magical ponies with unicorns and pegasi. Whatever goes, goes I guess.

“Hmm, I could see how you’d feel thy way, but it’s much more than just levitation. The use of magic allows for teleportation, augmentation and even automation. The possibilities are almost limitless, provided you have the power for it. Oh, look at this neat spell a friend from college taught me.” With that he began levitating a notebook alongside the pen and clipboard. With a sudden surge of brightness in they’re aura, he let them out of his grip, only for them to start moving and writing without the sparkles guiding them. “This spell allows for the automated copying of notes.”

He was looking proud of himself for it, but that was far from my mind. Everything is crashing down on me, the weight of the magic now bought new meaning to all the other conversations of past. But I already knew about it didn’t I? I had no way of explaining cutie marks after all. Yes, I knew there was some type of magic in this world, I just simply ignored it. But now that there’s a subspecies who can actively use magic there’s no ignoring it any longer. The truth was, this world worked nothing like my own, and that makes me feel...

“I’m scared.” Before he could even ask what I meant, I had my own question. “Where are we?” I can’t avoid this any longer either.

“Well, first what did you-“

“Where are we?” I repeated my question with more force this time. He simply sighed and went with it.

“We are the Stable Mind Institute, located in the city of Canterlot, the capital of Equestria.”

“...god help this world.”

“Excuse me?”

After that session I was taken back to different places for different activities, but I wasn’t really there. I had a restless sleep that night too.

Looking at the light streaming through my window my thoughts still wandered. Misty entered, I told her where I wanted to go, and she pushed me. But everything felt so distant.

Magic had to be the reason I’m here. There’s no other explanation to it. But if there’s species here who can wield it, then there’s also a likely culprit. Someone brought me here, and I don’t know why or how. For the first time in a long time I was fighting something I didn’t know anything about. In a world with a new element. My emotions are in a flux, unable to decide what to go with. But I have a lead. Even I’m not stupid enough to ignore the extremely suspicious remark of Smooth Procedure. Even if it’s nothing, it’s still worth looking into.

My trip came to a halt. We came where I wanted to be, the fence. Not a wall like most of the areas had, this was a simple fence. I turned my eyes to it, then for the first time, past it. A city looms behind, the sleek buildings and architecture a stylish yet childish and otherworldly design. And there was a castle looming over the edge of the city, big and stupid looking, but also dazzling at the same time. A quick turn of the head revealed a mountain, but something about the environment seemed off.

“Misty, are we at the base of a mountain?”

She jolted a bit, not expecting me to talk apparently, but responded fast anyway. “No, this is Canterlot city. The capital built on the side of a mountain.” I see, so that’s why things seemed off.

As much as I tried to ignore it, it’s not just this institute I have to escape, but also this city. This world. The reality is crashing onto me now, each day cements how real this is. And I only know one way to deal with it. I open my mouth.

“YOU BETTER BE READY EQUESTRIA! I WILL OVERCOME YOU AND GET BACK HOME! MARK MY WORDS!” A few snobby ponies outside looked scared, Misty looked panicked, but I couldn’t keep this stupid uneven grin off my face.

I will find a way out. I still need to hug my sister and thank her for everything she’s done for me, then confront my brother and apologise for all I’ve done to him. Even if he’ll probably punch me in the face the moment he sees me, I’d rather that pain any day over this one.

Author's Note

This took a bit longer than I would've liked for various reasons. I've got to say though, the response to the first to chapters was unreal, I never expected it to really gain much attraction. It makes me a bit nervous for sure, but also really happy people like it so far. I should've ironed out most of the small grammatical errors, but I'm more focused on dialogue. I want it to be natural sounding but it's always felt odd writing it down for me. Hopefully this story helps me improve on that, as I don't think dialogue is easy to ignore in this scenario. Thanks again and I hope you guys leave what you think in the comments. Have a great day