Act 1 Part 1: Waking Up and Getting Somewhere.

My eyes came open, all too quickly, the burning light of the midday sun assaulting me relentlessly. I covered my eyes, blinking, as I looked around. Smoldering wreckage surrounded me, and I felt several cuts and burns covering my body. The pain was negligible, compared to some of the things I had endured before. As I though of such things, my hand went to my face, scratching it slightly. However, the feeling of the bandages rubbing against my skin made it itch and hurt even more.

I took several deep breaths to calm myself, opening up my lungs a bit, making myself feel a bit dizzier than I was already. Confusion wracked my mind, as I tried to calculate where my things would be in the clouds of smog and soot that covered the area, rising into the air and polluting the relatively clean-looking sky. If the roof piece is there, my items should be somewhere in that area, I thought.

I walked over to the detritus, carefully keeping my eyes wary. Picking over a few crates, I gasped as I found my possessions unharmed. Quickly I rushed over to them, gathering them up and putting them in their places. A makeshift knife went on my belt, as did a canteen. My rifle went over my shoulder, resting on my back. Several rations and other foods went into my duffel bag, along with many cartridges and glowing powder bags for my rifle.

Looking around, I found the pieces of armor I had been slowly bending to fit my arms, strapping them on. I also strapped on two kneepads I had constructed out of some strong cloth I found in a tailor shop. I left the chest-plate, saving space for a bag of tools, some expensive looking trinkets, a pack of what appeared to be cigarettes, and a lighter.

I pulled out one of the cylinders, lighting it. I parted the bandages on my face, sticking it in between my lips. Instantly, I felt calm. Taking a drag, I pulled the ciggie out of my mouth, flicking off bits of ash. I stayed there like that for a couple of minutes, just getting my bearings and calming myself.

Eventually, I finished smoking my cigarette. I dropped the butt on the ground, stamping it into the dirt. I grimaced as I remembered what happened merely two months ago, but I chided myself about stalling. So, that done, I decided to get a feel for where I was. From what I could tell, I was in some very light woods, trees scattered here and there rather than choking each other out with entangled roots. Thankfully, the forest had not caught fire, so I started spreading some rocks around the still burning wreckage, hoping to at least keep the flames at bay until someone arrived.

However, it was then I remembered where I was, so I grabbed my canteen and sipped at the water, returning it to my belt for later. Then, I began to trek into the forest, hoping to find some kind of exit.

I bolted awake.

It was... Just a dream. She isn't here. You aren't there. Calm down.

I pulled out the second to last cigarette, quickly fumbling with my lighter as I tried to light it. Eventually, I succeeded, raising it to my mouth.

My addiction had started not too long after the... accident. It helped with the nightmares, and helped me cope as well. Cancer was a small risk to take for the horrifying nights of waking up, sweaty, as I screeched in fear. For the second time that day, I grimaced. Not only was I low on cigarettes, I was low on water as well. I had come across a stream earlier, but it was going downstream and looked rather dirty.

Not wanting to risk malaria or worse, I decided I'd wait to find some cleaner water. Unfortunately, by the time I left the stream, it began to become dark. I chose to make camp about a half a mile away from the stream, as to avoid animals who used it as a water source. For the camp, I made a small lean-to out of a spare blanket and some hardy willow branches, setting up a small fire nearby.

For dinner, I had a meal of cooked rabbit and tea, which I made out of some non-descript tea-leaves I scavenged an hour or so ago. I added a bit of lemon juice and used a squeeze of berry juice to offset the sour and bitter taste. For the lemon juice, I had raided a few kitchens back in the town. A nearby berry bush gave me a bounty of delicious berries, which I wrapped up in two layered neckerchiefs to keep them from spoiling.

Finally, I finished my third smoke break this day, snuffing the cigarette butt out and tossing it on the fire. I turned over on my spread-out blanket, laying my head back on the straw pillow I used for sleeping. I almost instantly fell back to sleep, peacefully drifting off.

The next morning, I grabbed my sack and dismantled my lean-to. I ate a few berries and dipped into my reserve canteen, only taking a few sips as to save it for emergencies. If that failed or was emptied, I could use the flask I kept in my make-shift medical kit to stave off thirst, but I wouldn't be very happy to be intoxicated if I came across anyone or anything dangerous.

It took me only a few moments to clear out my camp, stamping out the fire and covering it with dirt and leaves. That done, I began back on a trail just about forty meters south from my position. The trail that I set out on was rather wide, about five feet wide. About every two miles there was a bench, in varying condition. It seemed the further I went, the better the condition the benches were in.

Good, that means that I'm finally reaching somewhere civilized... I thought as I meandered along, watching the birds and the sky, as well as the quite beautiful forest. I stopped to take a rest, pulling out my reserve canteen and taking a swig. I screwed the cap back on, storing it on my belt behind my primary canteen, which was empty.

I took out the bundle that had the berries in it and ate a few, supplementing my protein with an egg I'd taken from a bird's nest. I cooked the egg over a quick fire, using a pan I'd 'borrowed' from the village. I ate it quickly, downing my lunch in a few seconds. I washed the pan in a significantly cleaner stream nearby, and refilled my canteens. Of course, I boiled the water before drinking any of it.

Once I was ready to head out, I covered the fire up and gathered my things.

Then, I set out on the trail for the second time today.

Twilight Sparkle was not having a good day.

First, a meteorite crashes into the Whitetail Woods.

Then, a forest fire rages out of control.

Finally, Discord was making himself unusually not a menace to society.

All of this and that she was currently looking at Nightmare Wars-era artifacts, recovered from the wreckage of what could only be a Nightmare Wars era cottage. Furthermore, she had discovered a strange piece of crumpled paper that could only be described as a cigarette, but no one in Ponyville smoked.

Currently she was conversing with an investigator from the Royal Guard.

"Ma'am, there's no way we could confirm these are Nightmare Wars-era artifacts. We have our best archaeologists and scientists working on it, but there's nothing more we can do." The investigator explained.

"We already know these artifacts are from the Nightmare Wars! I've scanned the magical signature several times, won't you just listen to me?!" Twilight huffed, stomping away. Even though she was a princess, they seemed to not take her seriously.

She decided to conduct her own investigation, following strange facsimiles of hoofprints away from the scene. Eventually, she found her way to the first campsite, discovering the fire. It was evident that whatever made this was about a day ahead of her, and clearly wasn't a pony.

She then decided to find Fluttershy, and ask her to help with finding the creature.

I walked along the trail, one hand holding onto one of the straps of my sack, the holding a cigarette with two fingers. I returned it to my mouth, continuing on. The woods had started to disperse, becoming only a few lone trees here and there as I finally could see civilization.

I pulled my spyglass from my belt, taking a peek through it. Such a thing resulted in me seeing, not very surprisingly, more multi-colored ponies. However, these were mainly like the ones in that solar army I saw before. I could only see about two different ponies, and I could see a few griffons, as well as a minotaur.

As disturbing as it was to know minotaurs were a sapient species, I had pretty much just decided to open up my mind to everything and take all the bullshit at face-value when I first saw the ponies. I knew I wasn't in my world anymore, but I didn't particularly care. My job had been shit. My co-workers were assholes, always making retching sounds when I adjusted the bandages on my face. My boss hated me. Worst of all, I barely got by each month.

Hell, being a drifter and walking town to town was a better life than what I had back on Earth.

My bandages itched incessantly, making me groan in pain. It burned terribly, a constant reminder of a mistake that could've been avoided. My breath hitched in my throat. I shook my head to remind myself to focus. I stowed my spyglass on my belt, steeling myself. I had to be confident, hopefully they wouldn't mind me. Too much.

I blew out a breath I had been holding, before taking a step towards civilization.

About an hour of walking later, I had reached the outskirts of the town. The sign out front said, "Welcome to Ponyville, Population: 6,871."

Not very creative, eh?

Besides the name, not much was off about the town; compared to the other I'd seen, at least. It was homey and nice, the ponies seemed to whisper about the bandages on my face, things like: "What happened to his face? Poor dear." and "Is his face ugly?" or "He must have wicked scars under those bandages." Things of that sort.

The whispers were fine, they didn't bother me and I could just tune them out. A few ponies hesitantly waved at me as I walked around town, searching for an inn, a general store, or an outdoorsman(pony?) emporium. As I walked around, I felt a smile twitching at my lips.

That was, until, I found myself staring at two small ponies bullying another. I felt my muscles clench. I felt angry, but I stayed my hand.

I heard the hurtful words they were saying, something about a 'blank flank'. I reasonably assumed the tattoos on their asses were somewhat important in their society.

I decided to let this go, as violently attacking a small pony wouldn't do very well for my reputation.

As I walked away, I noticed a pair of blue eyes in my face.

A jumble of words blasted from the mouth of the pony, as I stood stock still, consciously making an effort not to hit it.

I slowly backed away.

Then started running.

A few minutes later, I duck into an alleyway, panting.

Thankfully, I had lost the pink menace. Not sure where it went, but thankfully it stopped chasing me after a while. So, I peeked out of the alley, seeing an inn nearby.

The Prancing Pony? I don't suppose I'm supposed to meet a wizard here, aren't I?

Anyway, it appeared that board here was free the first time, then you had to pay.

I asked the bartender about the room, who merely levitated a key off a rack behind her, dropping it into my hand. I looked at the key's chain, which had a small plastic tab with 'R4' on it, which I took to mean room four.

I went up the stairs, gathering a few stares as I ascended. At the top of the stairwell, I strode over to the room and opened it, walking in and locking the door behind me.

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding, slumping onto the sizeable bed. I assumed it was meant to accommodate minotaurs and all other creatures on this strange and colorful world.

I plopped down on the bed and instantly fell asleep.

Author's Note

Chapter two is complete.