A New Perspectiveby kharne34231ChaptersAwakeninggetting to know myselflooking for a friendunexpected developmentscoping with realitystarting a new lifebad omensstrange hapeningsRevelationsa choicesomeone newAwakeningChapter 1 awakening the sound of metal and glass shattering pierced my ears and before i knew it i was out cold. the screaming that had filled the air along with the horn vanished out of the air. I was cold and wet, those were my first feelings. From my fingers to my toes it was almost all completely numb. Rain poured down from the sky which was covered in dark clouds. No stars were lit in the sky or even the moon to show my way. i was alone in a dark world with no idea of how i got here. In a spasm of pain I let out a short cough only to find that I was immensely thirsty. I opened my mouth to catch the rain but my muscles didn’t respond. My vision was hazy but I was able to make out the blurry images of trees towering over me along with their shapes. They were tall and seemed to reach all the way to the sky. Am…am I dreaming? I asked myself. I tried to look but I could not turn my head or even my eyes for that matter. Just then a distant sensation gripped me. It seemed to be coming from my arm. Left… or right. I couldn’t tell the difference I was so dreary. Then something strange happened, a voice clear as day and calm pierced my ears. Only I didn’t hear the voice it came from, well I don’t know. Are you ok? The voice asked. I tried to look and see what I was hearing but a force prevented it. Please, try not to move, you’re not well. The voice was very sincere, I happily obliged for I couldn’t move in the first place nor for that matter did I believe to have the ability to do so. What is your name? The voice asked. My name, wait what was my name? Furthermore who was this person talking to me? And why was I in a rainy forest. My thoughts began to race as to what was going on. Please calm yourself, getting hysterical will not help you. The voice said in a more frantic tone. It seemed rather afraid for me for some reason. Please you must speak to me if I am to help you. I didn’t know what to do. None of my muscles would respond to my call even my voice wouldn’t respond. All was silent, yet I could hear this voice. Why could I hear it and not the rain around me? I soon became aware of a presence by my arm but I couldn’t identify it nor could I tell which arm it was for that matter. The presence was sincere and calming, even from the seemingly infinite space I could feel the kindness. Where am I? I thought to myself. Then almost instantaneously the voice replied. You’re in the Everfree forest. The voice responded. Wait did it respond to my thoughts? And did it just say “Everfree forest?” if it did then does that mean I’m in… no! This must be some kind of prank, how else would this work. I mean ponies aren’t REAL, are they. What is your name? I asked intently with my mind open. My name is twilight sparkle. I didn’t think my condition could get worse, but it did. The mention of that name drove my mind in panic as to the possibilities. The better question is who are you, and what were you doing out here in the middle of a rain storm? Twilight asked. I didn’t know how to respond. I was already bewildered at the mention of her name. What was I supposed to say when I didn’t even know how I got here in the first place? My senses were beginning to return to me. Up until now I had been relying on this disembodied voice, now I was regaining my hearing. As if a mile away I was able to hear talking between two beings. One was frantic the other was trying to… focus? Focus on what? What are you talking about over there? I asked. My friend is trying to stabilize you. She is really worried for your health, and frankly so am I. I’m talking to you so you can stay conscious. Twilight replied. How bad is my condition? You’re losing a lot of blood, were trying to get you to the hospital in Ponyville. I’m losing blood, great. What happened to me that was so bad I was in a dangerous condition. Wait... what did happen? I couldn’t remember what happened. The entire day was a blur; I had no recollection of what happened at all. Did I hit my head or something? I could begin to hear and feel much better now but my vision was still very blurry. What scared me though is what I didn’t feel. It was as if my feet and hands were gone and all that remained were stumps. Oh god what did I do to myself, was I really in that bad of a condition. Where are my hands and feet! I asked desperately. At this point I didn’t care who I was talking to or where I was I just wanted help. In the distance I could hear voices; they had a confused tone to them as if they didn’t know how to reply. For a moment there was no response then twilight asked me a question. What are you talking about? Ponies don’t have hands, or feet really. My heart dropped like a stone as my senses began to return to me, And at the worst possible moment. I could now tell that not only were my hands and feet gone but I had gained some parts. I could feel my ears were different and, oh god did I have a tail! Am I a pony! I asked frantically. No response came, just a silence that told me I had asked a stupid question. In shock I blacked out and began to dream. In the dream I stood upright in my room, wait no it was an apartment. The crude unit consisted of a small kitchen complete with a run-down stove, a mini fringe and poor storage areas on the celling and floor, at least one was broken. Next to it was a table, oak or some kind of hardwood and a chair crafted fairly well. On top of the chair was what looked to be a gown of sorts? The gown was plain and black. I reached for it and walked over to a mirror. Although I couldn’t see my face I could tell I was ecstatic and happy. The gown looked vaguely familiar but I couldn’t put my finger on it. Then I began to dress myself in it. Soon it was on but I still didn’t have my answer. It came when I put on the cap, the graduation cap. I was graduating from college that day. Then through the door came a man and a women in an instant I could tell they were my parents. I still could not see any faces. My mom ran over and gave me a hug and said something. My father came over and gave me a pat on the back. “I am so proud of you.” He said. Then something weird happened. A flash of light cut me from the tender moment and I was filled with adrenaline. My body was rocking around like mad and I was screaming along with two other people. A blaring loud noise pierced my ears and I was thrown into a spiral. Thrown around like a ragdoll I hit myself on every perceivable surface. Then silence fell and the dream faded. I awoke to a bright white light above my head. I could see now but the feeling in my body was numbed out and I couldn’t move. I blinked and the haze that surrounded me began to filter away. I could turn my eyes enough to see what I was lying on and to make a general inference of where I was. It was some kind of hospital, and I was lying alone in a white bed, warm and as far as I could tell safe. I could hear voices outside my door; they seemed to be approaching steadily. I closed my eyes but kept listening. Soon the door opened and I could make out someone saying “shh, he’s still asleep.” A voice said softly as to not disturb me. Strangely I recognized the voice, it was familiar to me. “I can’t believe he’s still asleep. I mean really he’s been out cold for who knows how long.” Another voice commented. “It don’t surprise me much. He sure did lose a lot of blood from what I hear.” Another responded. “Well at least he made it out alive. Still I can’t imagine what he could have been doing in the Everfree forest.” The original voice said. I was very tempted to look to see who these people were now. Perhaps if I listen more I could determine what was going on. Then something I couldn’t ignore happened. MY TAIL TWITCHED. This in and of itself was enough to send a shiver down my spine. Adrenaline shot through my body in fear of what had just happened. All my senses immediately turned on and I began to perceive exactly what was going on. I could feel my tail under the covers. I could feel my ears, were too long for my comfort. But the thing that scared the daylights out of me and forced me to unintentionally open my eyes was that I had no hands or feet. “AHH!” I screamed. I don’t know who was shocked more me or them. It must have seemed to them I was awaking from a night mare or something. For me on the other hand it was like entering one. Around my bed stood PONIES! Six of them, looking AT ME in shock. If anyone was in shock I was. Apparently I had scared one; it had run off to the other side of the room. No wait it flew there? Then it hit me. Around me weren’t just ponies they were the ones from the cartoon I had watched. Directly to my left was a purple unicorn, twilight. Next to her was a light brown… earth pony, applejack. Then it was rainbow dash, rarity, pinky and that meant the one I scared off was… Fluttershy. “Hey you’re awake!” pinky exclaimed with the utmost excitement. “Oh geez it’s good to meet you john.” She shot out her hoof. All I did was give her a look of confusion. John? that wasnt my name. Guessing I moved out my hoof to…my…hoof. I froze looking at it in disbelief. “Um are you ok dude.” Rainbowdash asked. I was still stuck looking at MY HOOF. “wh…where am I?” I asked in a stammered tongue. “You’re in the hospital. You would have died If we hadn’t brought you here.” Raibowdash replied. “No I mean what country…what city?” “Why darling you’re in Ponyville of course.” Rarity stated. I took a big gulp and began to realize what was going on. something had happened to me and now for whatever reason. I was a pony, and i was in Ponyville. getting to know myselfChapter 2 getting to know myself “perhaps you could answer some questions for us then?” twilight asked. “I… uh don’t know if ill be able to.” I stated. “Go ahead though might as well.” I faked a smile trying, unsuccessfully, to lighten my mood. “well first off can we have a name. as your probably well aware pinky over there called you john, as in john dough. We really have no idea who you are, care to tell us.” Twilight asked. That was a hard question in one way but easy in another. For one my name was Cameron but let’s be honest no pony is named ‘john’ or ‘Cameron’ I had to think of something fast. “Could you please give me some time to myself? I had… a long journey and I need to get things together first.” Maybe this will give me some time I thought. “Of course you can have a moment.” Twilight gestured to the door and they all left, Fluttershy first. One by one they left until the room was empty. Then the door closed and I hurried to find it. Each pony was named after their special talent, to an extent. That was my best bet for a name. I hurriedly scrambled to take a look at…my flank. On it was a depiction of a carpenter square. So my special talent was wood working. That helped to lighten my load a bit. At least I had a special talent. Now I just needed to come up with a name. I pondered for a moment and came up with something: hardwood. That ought to do it, now I just need a reason for why I was in the Everfree forest in the midst of a rain storm. Now that is a hard answer. Oh that’s it! I was out looking for rare trees when I got lost and…fell off a cliff! No that wouldn’t work I was in a clearing of sorts. That’s it! I was on a tree when a branch snapped and I fell to the ground. That should do it I thought. Soon enough they all returned to the room and graciously awaited my response. “So my name is Hardwood. I was out in the forest looking for a rare tree to fulfill a special order. I found the tree but the only way to tell if it was good was to climb it and test it from the top. Anyway that’s when the rain started, I slipped and the branch broke and I fell to the ground.” They all seemed to believe it. “Hardwood…hmm, for a Pegasus that’s an odd name.” Rainbowdash replied. Stunned I looked to my side, sure enough I had wings. Granted they were broken but I was still caught off guard by this. “Hey I didn’t choose my name that’s just what I got.” I replied. That seemed to work on Rainbowdash but the look on pinky pie was an inquisitive one. “Wait just a minute here.” Pinky jumped in. “where exactly do you live anyways. I mean it can’t be Ponyville because if it were I would have seen you or more likely had known you.” “Um…well actually I just moved into Ponyville just yesterday actually. Just my luck that I ended up unconscious in the Everfree forest.” I explained. Truth is that statement was about right because it was pretty obvious I would be here a while. “Wait so you’re new here then! Oh great now I need to make set up a party for you. Oo oo oo! Where do you live ill get it set up and everything! All you need to do is get better it will be great! There will be streamers and music and cake! Oh what kind of cake do you like anyway.” Pinky ranted. “Um…strawberry would be nice, but you really don’t need to do this for me.” I responded. “Are you kidding me I have to do this? After all you’re new here so you just gotta have a warm welcome right. So where do you live then.” She asked. Now that, I didn’t have an answer for. Of all my knowledge, likely simple as it is, I had no idea of where I could live. “As it turns out I just showed up last night I really don’t have a place to stay yet.” I figured this would bring on a storm of questions but to my surprise it didn’t. “Aww well that’s too bad I’m sure you’ll find a place though and when you do ill throw you the most super awesome party ever.” Pinky responded “oh by the way I’m pinky pie, thought you might want to know.” Now that was irony considering I already knew that. “Nice to meet you pinky.” I smiled and nodded. “So wait how bad were my injuries then.” Twilight stepped forward to answer that. “Well the injuries were pretty bad but the doctor was able to fix you up quite well. That is except for your wing.” Twilight gestured to it. I was reluctant to acknowledge I had one or two for that matter. “When you passed out I was afraid we were going to lose you, thanks to Rainbowdash though we got you here in time.” I looked over to Rainbowdash. “Yep that’s right hardwood I saved your flank there.” I didn’t know how to respond. “Well thank you rainbow dash I owe you my life I suppose then.” I added. Then it struck me, in my dream I was with other people. Could they be here too? “I don’t suppose anyone else was with me when you found me right.” they looked slightly confused at what I said; I asked a stupid question again didn’t me. “Well no, no one was with you. Did anyone accompany you to the forest?” twilight asked. “Apparently not.” I responded in a depressed tone. For a while the room was fairly quiet and I was left thinking about what was going on. They saw this and began to leave one by one out the door. Eventually it was just me in my room left to think. So I was a Pegasus now, with a tail, wings the whole shebang. I still couldn’t believe what was going on then I realized something that disturbed me deeply. They were all naked and so was I. almost instantly I began to feel really dizzy at the thought. That’s going to take some getting used to. I thought. Getting my mind off it though I began to contemplate what I should do next. If I told anyone, or anypony as it goes now, the truth they’d think I was crazy. I have to keep it a secret, for now at least, until I learn more. My best bet would be to find one of the people who were in the accident with me. Maybe they knew something. With I sigh I laid back into the bed and tried to calm down. I still couldn’t get over the tail thing. Also I apparently had wings, which I had to learn to use. I don’t know how I’m going to learn to fly. Wait… I can learn to fly! If anything were to cheer me up it was that thought. Now I at least had something to look forward to. It wasn’t enough though to quell the sadness in my heart. I was a pony; I didn’t really know anypony out there. In retrospect I was alone. That was a depressing thought, and because of it all I wanted to do was go to sleep. So I closed my eyes and waited for the darkness to take me. The dream was in a word slow. I was sitting in a sea of people all dressed in the same kind of robes as me. To my left and right everyone bore a large smile on their face. I was at my graduation. We were listening to someone give a speech. My instincts told me it was my friend Kyle. As I remembered that name a large chunk of my memory returned to me. He majored in physics and was regarded by his teacher to be the most mathematically inclined individual he had ever seen. He was a good friend of mine, which was obvious. My diploma was in my lap, it read ‘professorship in engineering.’ So that was where my talent came from I was an engineer. For a long time people came up and gave speeches. I was bored out of my mind, but I was in my mind? Anyway eventually they were all finished up and all the graduates stood up and threw their caps into the air. As I watched mine go up the feeling of happiness that I was gripped in began to change. It changed to dread and terror. The cap suddenly grew two headlights and the sky above me was replaced by that of a giant metal body. It was coming straight for me and directly before it hit me it let out the loudest scariest honk I had ever heard. My body was thrown back against the seat with tremendous force only to roll around like mad. I was in a car with two others one was Kyle the other was unidentifiable. We screamed as the car flipped over and began to spin uncontrollably. The glass shattered and cut me like a million razors then everything began to fall. In a cold sweat I threw myself from the bed panting at what I just saw. I was in a car crash. That explains the damage to my body but why on earth was I in equestrian. The question rolled around in my head for a while but I still couldn’t come up with a solution. Diverting my attention I looked outside my window to find it was night time. By now everypony would be asleep. I looked to my other side to find a small side table with a get well soon card laying on it. I reached over for it but soon realized I HAD NO HANDS. I looked back and forth between the card and my hoof trying to understand how to pick it up. Eventually I just started trying to grab it. It took me a lot of trial and error but I eventually got ahold of the not. Holding something with hooves was a lot different that with hands. By the way I was thinking about it I shouldn’t have been able to in the first place. I chose not to think about it much and instead opened it and began reading. Each of the ponies from earlier had signed it. Twilight, Rainbowdash, rarity, pinky, applejack and Fluttershy. I didn’t expect to see her name after I scared her so badly. I closed the card and sat up in the bed. Slowly I rose up my hoof to examine it. For what felt like an hour I simply stared at it still unable to accept what had happened to me. The bandages around my side were covering up my wings fairly well so I couldn’t get an idea as to what they looked like. I threw back the covers to take a look at myself. Before I could see though I smelt. How long was I out for anyway? I smelt as if I hadn’t taken a bath in weeks, and considering my injuries that may well have been the case. I began to wonder what if would be like to stand up and walk in this way. I turned my body away from the bed to find I could feel my wings, in a bad way. Rolling over onto the broken wing hurt bad but it didn’t stop me. Working through the pain I was able to step down from the bed and get my footing. My legs felt like Jell-O as I attempted to move forward. If that wasn’t hard enough it became obviously clear, rather fast that, that it was nothing like how I knew how to walk. So I thought about it for a minute and began to take a few steps forward. To my discontent it was a lot harder than I made it out to be. This time I didn’t think about it. I simply started walking forward and didn’t think about it, and surprisingly it worked. That made me feel better, at least now I could move around like a semi average pony. Again though from behind me my tail twitched, I turned and looked at it. That was going to take some getting used to. From that view I was able to spot a mirror directly behind me on the opposite side of the room. Reluctantly I walked towards it not sure of what to expect. As I approached it my reflection was of a light brown Pegasus with a kind of reddish hint. My…mane which disturbed me deeply to see was a darker shade of brown that fell over my head in a dirty fashion. Most of my features were gone but something about the reflection reminded me of myself. I sat down in front of it and looked deeply at the mirror. With a sigh I began to repeat to myself. This is who I am now. Over and over again I repeated those six words trying to find meaning in them. For the longest time I sat there and thought about what happened. Right now though all I wanted to know for sure was if any of the people…err I suppose by now ponies that were with me were here. I hoped for my sake they were but I hoped for theirs they weren’t. looking for a friendChapter 3 looking a friend For about two weeks I was stuck in the Ponyville hospital with very limited connection to the outside world, save the newspaper which twilight brought me every few days. Also I was constantly visited by the others. They were very nice, but they were very inquisitive about my past. The only pony who didn’t was Fluttershy, who didn’t really talk much anyway. I did find Fluttershy the best in my time there as I didn’t want to talk much either. In my time there I discovered about what was going on outside, thanks to twilight who in fact found current events in the news somewhat interesting. Apparently the Queen Chrysalis incident was not to long ago. As it turns out some of the recent news was still of Shining Armor and princess Cadence. At least I had an idea of the timeframe I was in. During my last few days in the hospital I began to realize that I had no where to go and I started thinking about where I could find a home. Luckily for me Rainbowdash was the one who decided to chat with me that day. Apparently she was in quite the mood over Thunderlane who apparently didn’t show up for some kind of flight training and Rainbow had to cover for him. “So, what kind of flight team is this anyway?” I asked. “Well it doesn’t have a name yet but basically its Ponyvilles own competition team.” She began to explain. “Anyway that lazy brain decided not to show AGAIN and I had to cover for him.” “So why didn’t he show up then. He must had a reason,” “Pff if you call sleeping in a reason then I guess so.” She seemed rather upset about it and frankly I agreed why. “Hmm…I just had an idea!” “What kind of idea.” I asked “How good of a flier are you.” She asked intently. “Honestly I have no idea.” I mumbled but she seemed to have heard it. “Because I’ve been in here so long. I’m mean really; I’ve been in here for two weeks with a broken wing can’t say I got any better.” As to what Rainbow said next I regretted that choice of words. “Well you couldn’t have gotten any worse right. Hay I was in here for a while with a broken wing myself and I was flying again before I knew it.” Well played, I thought to myself. “So you want me to try out for your team if I’m not mistaken.” “Ya, why not, we have room for another flier anyway and with Thunderlane out so often we could use another pony.” She seemed rather intent on me flying with her team; I didn’t have the heart to say no. “I’ll try my best then.” I reassured her. “Great! Can’t wait to see you out there flying with us. Now uh the doc said you’ll be out ah here in a few days. He said not to work the wing to hard but you look like a tough colt you should be good to go in a while right?” she asked intently. “Oh I should be fine.” That statement didn’t help my position much. Rainbowdash found that wonderful news and left in a hurry, possibly to talk to her team. I was left inside trying to think of what I had just committed myself to. In about a week I would have to show Rainbow and her team what I could put on the table. Hay, I didn’t know what I could contribute. For a while it was just me alone in my room, I was even about to get some sleep but suddenly twilight ran in. she was carrying the latest newspaper, The Equestrian Times. This was about the time she showed up every few days so it didn’t come as a total surprise. Twilight seemed rather interested in one of the article and had ran over to show me as I apparently, according to her at least, had an interest in the news. “Hey hardwood check out the front page of the newspaper.” The article title read ‘Unknown Earth Pony To Begin Work At Canterlot University.’ I started reading the article and began to get rather intrigued about what was going on. “So what’s the big deal then, so a pony got a job there?” The look on twilights face was that of confusion. “Ever since the universities inception only unicorns have ever taught there. To have an earth pony teach, well that’s unheard of.” Interested I kept reading. Apparently this pony seemed to have come out of nowhere. He had no background information what so ever he was a nobody. Then I found a detail that came as both a shock and a pleasant surprise. The pony’s name was Kyle. I was shocked to see that name in a paper. Could that be one of the people who were in the accident with me? “That pony sure has a weird name doesn’t he?” Twilight started. “Ya, hey how far away is Canterlot?” I asked. “Not too far it’s only a few hours away by train. Are you thinking about talking to this pony?” “Ya his picture is that of an old friend of mine. We… got into an accident a while back and I never saw him again, until now that is.” “Hmm well the doctors did say you’re almost out of here. How about this when you get out you can accompany me and rarity to Canterlot. There is some work we need to get done there anyway.” This was it in a few days I would be out of here and possibly even able to see Kyle, and maybe get some answers. Two days passed before I was let out of the hospital in which time I was able to explain to Rainbowdash what I was doing. Although she wasn’t too into the idea of me leaving and not getting back into the hang of flying I was able to talk her into it on the condition that I put in some over time when I get flying. When it was time to get out of the hospital they warned me about strenuous flying and how if I fly too early I’ll be right back in the hospital. That didn’t bother me much as I didn’t even really know how to fly in the first place, of course Rainbow didn’t know that. Anyway what I wanted to do didn’t involve flying, as far as I was concerned. When I was finally let out though I was met by Rarity and Twilight who decided it would be a good change from hospital food if we went out for lunch. I happily obliged, as you probably know all too well hospital food is the worst. We crossed through the center of Ponyville on our way to the restraint they had decided to go to. I was stupefied at what I was seeing. Up until this point I had only seen glimpses of Ponyville through my window, it was far off in the distance and I was unable to get a good feel for what it was like. Now I was in it and it was far different from anything I had experienced prior. It took us a few minutes to get to the restaurant they had picked out. Strangely it was the epidemy of a ghost town. Confused I looked around for any customers at all. No one was in sight. “Hey Rarity you said this place is full of ponies. Its lunch and no one is here.” I found myself fairly confused. “Don’t worry about it darling, this restaurant is the friendliest place in Ponyville.” She reassured. “Ok then it’s just a little desolate looking is all.” We walked into the restaurant to find the lights were all off and the room was frozen in complete silence. Curiously I searched for the light switch so I could find my way. Reaching around I finally found what I only assumed was a switch and flipped it up. The next thing I knew the room was flooded by light, nearly blinding me and the combined yell of about 30 or so ponies screaming “surprise!’ “Oo oo oo did we surprise you!” pinky blurted from right in front of me. “It took me forever to book this place and then I had to get all these ponies here so are ya are ya are ya?” “I can’t say I’m not surprised that’s for sure.” I was fully expecting a nice meal but now I’m at a party, fair trade in my mind. “Thanks Pinky you defiantly got me good.” I said with the first real smile I’ve had my whole time here. “Oh great now if you don’t mind LETS PARTY!” she threw a mix tape of sorts at a player and somehow it landed and started playing. Anyway the party lasted for quite a while. As I asked Pinky had brought a strawberry cake from sugar cube corner. Hands down the best one I have ever had. The party started about 11 or so and ended at three PM or so. I was never a party person… or is it pony now? Anyway that was the most fun I had ever had in a while. I left filled to the brim with cake and plums, which I decided sounded a little more appetizing than the sound of hay fries. Apparently pinky had gotten my release date from the doctors about a week ago and had been planning it for just that long. I can’t say I was let down by it. Soon thereafter Twilight, Rarity and I departed to the train station. On our way though I realized I had no money. Apparently they had accounted for this and bought me a ticket. Which, I didn’t feel too good about. The train ride was fairly uneventful for me but Rarity and Twilight always seemed to have something to talk about. One subject they had decided to touch on was what kind of clothes I was into. Sadly for me fashion was never in my blood. Rarity on the other hand was constantly reassuring about how handsome I was, which gave me some hope for what I looked like now at least I’m not considered ugly I thought to myself. The ride took longer than I expected an even though I didn’t know the exact time we arrived the sun was clearly going down in the sky. That’s when I realized it wasn’t actually going down it was being moved down. Rarity had decided to take the initiative and started a conversation. “Quite the site isn’t it.” She started “I always liked the sunsets here they have a kind of splendor to them don’t they.” “Ya this is kind of the first sunset I’ve seen.” Rarity looked at me puzzled at that statement. “Here… in Canterlot I mean.” “So who is this friend of yours that is here?” she asked. “Well his name is Kyle.” His name was enough to puzzle Rarity a bit. “I know his name is unconventional but that’s why he changed it. He found his old name too unoriginal.” “Alright then I can understand that after all we all want to stand out a little don’t we.” She added. I nodded and continued. “Anyway a while ago we got into an accident and I haven’t seen him since.” Rarity seemed to understand and was intrigued with the story. “So anyway now were here and I finally get to meet him.” “Not exactly.” Twilight commented. Confused I looked over to her trying to understand exactly what she meant. “As it turns out we arrived a little late and the University is closed right now so well have to go there in the morning.” “Alright then where will we be staying?” I asked. “Well you’ll be staying in the hotel across from the university me and Rarity will be in the room just opposite yours.” “So how are you affording that then?” “I’m the princess student.” She said with a smile. “It helps to know people.” “I couldn’t agree more.” I commented. Our rooms in the hotel were on the top floor, which I was fully expecting to be great, until I learned they didn’t have elevators. About eight flights of stairs later, that I struggled not to trip on, we arrived at the top floor. The hall was fairly ornate and well styled; if I didn’t know better I would have said Rarity designed it. As it was we were all fairly tired from the trip here so we quickly departed to our rooms. Mine was molded after what I can only assume to be a Cloudsdale. Pillars of marble molded after cloud ones rose up around me and a fluffy bed made of feathers lay at the end. What I found interesting was the missing back wall, this room hadn’t been designed to mimic pegasi architecture it was. Curious I decided to look down, and as I did I remembered a distinct personality trait. I had irrational fear of heights. Great, I’m a Pegasus who is afraid of heights, now that’s a contradiction. Not giving up though I decided against flying out the building and just trying to hover slightly. It took quite a while but I was eventually able to get the idea of flying. My wing ached a bit but it wasn’t anything I couldn’t bear. It took me quite a while but I was eventually able to lift my entire body off the floor. The elation of feeling like weighing nothing almost completely covered for the sharp pain in my wing. I decided it would be against my better judgment to continue and break my wing again so I landed and went off to my bed. It didn’t take long for me to fall asleep. I had been partying, eating, train riding and stair climbing. I was beat. So I closed my eyes and started thinking about what tomaroe would be like and whether or not Kyle would recognize me. I and Kyle were out partying in some kind of club. The music, although distant was still pounding and strong. I was watching Kyle dance in the center of a crowd of people. I was sitting on at a booth drinking some kind of drink. It was a graduation party and all my friends and family were there. Although I couldn’t recognize any of them by name I was able to spot different people. My parents were there along with my aunt and uncle; they were all sitting in the background chatting about life. Most of my friends were out dancing, I was just sitting. I never was one for parties that is until I met Pinky. I was also looking through some of the presents I had received for graduation. Most of them were gift cards but some I held more interest in. for one I had received what appeared to be some kind of gift card for a free table saw, which was my favorite. Also was a kind of charm necklace given to me by an anonymous person? The notes inside said it was a good luck charm and would make my deepest desires come true. I studied the necklace, in the center was a small sapphire held on by a gold base and etched with figures I didn’t quite understand. The base was strapped to a silver chain that was large enough to be held carried around my neck. I began to look at the sapphire intrigued. Then the dark blue gem began to grow before my eyes and I was on a dark road in a car with two others. The head lights were out and we couldn’t see then before we knew it over the ill just ahead of us a truck appeared out of nowhere. We were in the wrong lane. Its headlights blinded us and the horn deafened our ears. Before we knew it the car was hit head on and began to spin uncontrollably throwing us around like rag dolls. The glass shattered and flew back at an alarming rate cutting us to ribbons. Then after what seemed like the third flip everything stopped and the car began to tilt backwards. Dazed I reached for the door in an attempt to escape. The others were uncononcious and didn’t respond to my call to run. Then as I was exiting the car the world began to rise around me and I was no longer standing I was falling. I screamed and then I the water at the same time the car crunched against the rocks. I awoke to a cold sweat and threw myself forwards. I could see outside, the sun was high in the sky already and the air warm. How long did I sleep in? Slowly I stood up and walked over to the door and pushed it open. Hung to the outside of the door was a note from Rarity and Twilight. The had apparently tried to wake me up but I was out cold. Rarity had some things she needed to do and so did Twilight so they were off. The note also held some instructions for finding Kyle along with a ‘good luck’ written on the bottom. Alright, then now I have some stairs to climb, again. I thought as I headed out. Chapter 3 looking a friend For about two weeks I was stuck in the Ponyville hospital with very limited connection to the outside world, save the newspaper which twilight brought me every few days. Also I was constantly visited by the others. They were very nice, but they were very inquisitive about my past. The only pony who didn’t was Fluttershy, who didn’t really talk much anyway. I did find Fluttershy the best in my time there as I didn’t want to talk much either. In my time there I discovered about what was going on outside, thanks to twilight who in fact found current events in the news somewhat interesting. Apparently the Queen Chrysalis incident was not to long ago. As it turns out some of the recent news was still of Shining Armor and princess Cadence. At least I had an idea of the timeframe I was in. During my last few days in the hospital I began to realize that I had no where to go and I started thinking about where I could find a home. Luckily for me Rainbowdash was the one who decided to chat with me that day. Apparently she was in quite the mood over Thunderlane who apparently didn’t show up for some kind of flight training and Rainbow had to cover for him. “So, what kind of flight team is this anyway?” I asked. “Well it doesn’t have a name yet but basically its Ponyvilles own competition team.” She began to explain. “Anyway that lazy brain decided not to show AGAIN and I had to cover for him.” “So why didn’t he show up then. He must had a reason,” “Pff if you call sleeping in a reason then I guess so.” She seemed rather upset about it and frankly I agreed why. “Hmm…I just had an idea!” “What kind of idea.” I asked “How good of a flier are you.” She asked intently. “Honestly I have no idea.” I mumbled but she seemed to have heard it. “Because I’ve been in here so long. I’m mean really; I’ve been in here for two weeks with a broken wing can’t say I got any better.” As to what Rainbow said next I regretted that choice of words. “Well you couldn’t have gotten any worse right. Hay I was in here for a while with a broken wing myself and I was flying again before I knew it.” Well played, I thought to myself. “So you want me to try out for your team if I’m not mistaken.” “Ya, why not, we have room for another flier anyway and with Thunderlane out so often we could use another pony.” She seemed rather intent on me flying with her team; I didn’t have the heart to say no. “I’ll try my best then.” I reassured her. “Great! Can’t wait to see you out there flying with us. Now uh the doc said you’ll be out ah here in a few days. He said not to work the wing to hard but you look like a tough colt you should be good to go in a while right?” she asked intently. “Oh I should be fine.” That statement didn’t help my position much. Rainbowdash found that wonderful news and left in a hurry, possibly to talk to her team. I was left inside trying to think of what I had just committed myself to. In about a week I would have to show Rainbow and her team what I could put on the table. Hay, I didn’t know what I could contribute. For a while it was just me alone in my room, I was even about to get some sleep but suddenly twilight ran in. she was carrying the latest newspaper, The Equestrian Times. This was about the time she showed up every few days so it didn’t come as a total surprise. Twilight seemed rather interested in one of the article and had ran over to show me as I apparently, according to her at least, had an interest in the news. “Hey hardwood check out the front page of the newspaper.” The article title read ‘Unknown Earth Pony To Begin Work At Canterlot University.’ I started reading the article and began to get rather intrigued about what was going on. “So what’s the big deal then, so a pony got a job there?” The look on twilights face was that of confusion. “Ever since the universities inception only unicorns have ever taught there. To have an earth pony teach, well that’s unheard of.” Interested I kept reading. Apparently this pony seemed to have come out of nowhere. He had no background information what so ever he was a nobody. Then I found a detail that came as both a shock and a pleasant surprise. The pony’s name was Kyle. I was shocked to see that name in a paper. Could that be one of the people who were in the accident with me? “That pony sure has a weird name doesn’t he?” Twilight started. “Ya, hey how far away is Canterlot?” I asked. “Not too far it’s only a few hours away by train. Are you thinking about talking to this pony?” “Ya his picture is that of an old friend of mine. We… got into an accident a while back and I never saw him again, until now that is.” “Hmm well the doctors did say you’re almost out of here. How about this when you get out you can accompany me and rarity to Canterlot. There is some work we need to get done there anyway.” This was it in a few days I would be out of here and possibly even able to see Kyle, and maybe get some answers. Two days passed before I was let out of the hospital in which time I was able to explain to Rainbowdash what I was doing. Although she wasn’t too into the idea of me leaving and not getting back into the hang of flying I was able to talk her into it on the condition that I put in some over time when I get flying. When it was time to get out of the hospital they warned me about strenuous flying and how if I fly too early I’ll be right back in the hospital. That didn’t bother me much as I didn’t even really know how to fly in the first place, of course Rainbow didn’t know that. Anyway what I wanted to do didn’t involve flying, as far as I was concerned. When I was finally let out though I was met by Rarity and Twilight who decided it would be a good change from hospital food if we went out for lunch. I happily obliged, as you probably know all too well hospital food is the worst. We crossed through the center of Ponyville on our way to the restraint they had decided to go to. I was stupefied at what I was seeing. Up until this point I had only seen glimpses of Ponyville through my window, it was far off in the distance and I was unable to get a good feel for what it was like. Now I was in it and it was far different from anything I had experienced prior. It took us a few minutes to get to the restaurant they had picked out. Strangely it was the epidemy of a ghost town. Confused I looked around for any customers at all. No one was in sight. “Hey Rarity you said this place is full of ponies. Its lunch and no one is here.” I found myself fairly confused. “Don’t worry about it darling, this restaurant is the friendliest place in Ponyville.” She reassured. “Ok then it’s just a little desolate looking is all.” We walked into the restaurant to find the lights were all off and the room was frozen in complete silence. Curiously I searched for the light switch so I could find my way. Reaching around I finally found what I only assumed was a switch and flipped it up. The next thing I knew the room was flooded by light, nearly blinding me and the combined yell of about 30 or so ponies screaming “surprise!’ “Oo oo oo did we surprise you!” pinky blurted from right in front of me. “It took me forever to book this place and then I had to get all these ponies here so are ya are ya are ya?” “I can’t say I’m not surprised that’s for sure.” I was fully expecting a nice meal but now I’m at a party, fair trade in my mind. “Thanks Pinky you defiantly got me good.” I said with the first real smile I’ve had my whole time here. “Oh great now if you don’t mind LETS PARTY!” she threw a mix tape of sorts at a player and somehow it landed and started playing. Anyway the party lasted for quite a while. As I asked Pinky had brought a strawberry cake from sugar cube corner. Hands down the best one I have ever had. The party started about 11 or so and ended at three PM or so. I was never a party person… or is it pony now? Anyway that was the most fun I had ever had in a while. I left filled to the brim with cake and plums, which I decided sounded a little more appetizing than the sound of hay fries. Apparently pinky had gotten my release date from the doctors about a week ago and had been planning it for just that long. I can’t say I was let down by it. Soon thereafter Twilight, Rarity and I departed to the train station. On our way though I realized I had no money. Apparently they had accounted for this and bought me a ticket. Which, I didn’t feel too good about. The train ride was fairly uneventful for me but Rarity and Twilight always seemed to have something to talk about. One subject they had decided to touch on was what kind of clothes I was into. Sadly for me fashion was never in my blood. Rarity on the other hand was constantly reassuring about how handsome I was, which gave me some hope for what I looked like now at least I’m not considered ugly I thought to myself. The ride took longer than I expected an even though I didn’t know the exact time we arrived the sun was clearly going down in the sky. That’s when I realized it wasn’t actually going down it was being moved down. Rarity had decided to take the initiative and started a conversation. “Quite the site isn’t it.” She started “I always liked the sunsets here they have a kind of splendor to them don’t they.” “Ya this is kind of the first sunset I’ve seen.” Rarity looked at me puzzled at that statement. “Here… in Canterlot I mean.” “So who is this friend of yours that is here?” she asked. “Well his name is Kyle.” His name was enough to puzzle Rarity a bit. “I know his name is unconventional but that’s why he changed it. He found his old name too unoriginal.” “Alright then I can understand that after all we all want to stand out a little don’t we.” She added. I nodded and continued. “Anyway a while ago we got into an accident and I haven’t seen him since.” Rarity seemed to understand and was intrigued with the story. “So anyway now were here and I finally get to meet him.” “Not exactly.” Twilight commented. Confused I looked over to her trying to understand exactly what she meant. “As it turns out we arrived a little late and the University is closed right now so well have to go there in the morning.” “Alright then where will we be staying?” I asked. “Well you’ll be staying in the hotel across from the university me and Rarity will be in the room just opposite yours.” “So how are you affording that then?” “I’m the princess student.” She said with a smile. “It helps to know people.” “I couldn’t agree more.” I commented. Our rooms in the hotel were on the top floor, which I was fully expecting to be great, until I learned they didn’t have elevators. About eight flights of stairs later, that I struggled not to trip on, we arrived at the top floor. The hall was fairly ornate and well styled; if I didn’t know better I would have said Rarity designed it. As it was we were all fairly tired from the trip here so we quickly departed to our rooms. Mine was molded after what I can only assume to be a Cloudsdale. Pillars of marble molded after cloud ones rose up around me and a fluffy bed made of feathers lay at the end. What I found interesting was the missing back wall, this room hadn’t been designed to mimic pegasi architecture it was. Curious I decided to look down, and as I did I remembered a distinct personality trait. I had irrational fear of heights. Great, I’m a Pegasus who is afraid of heights, now that’s a contradiction. Not giving up though I decided against flying out the building and just trying to hover slightly. It took quite a while but I was eventually able to get the idea of flying. My wing ached a bit but it wasn’t anything I couldn’t bear. It took me quite a while but I was eventually able to lift my entire body off the floor. The elation of feeling like weighing nothing almost completely covered for the sharp pain in my wing. I decided it would be against my better judgment to continue and break my wing again so I landed and went off to my bed. It didn’t take long for me to fall asleep. I had been partying, eating, train riding and stair climbing. I was beat. So I closed my eyes and started thinking about what tomaroe would be like and whether or not Kyle would recognize me. I and Kyle were out partying in some kind of club. The music, although distant was still pounding and strong. I was watching Kyle dance in the center of a crowd of people. I was sitting on at a booth drinking some kind of drink. It was a graduation party and all my friends and family were there. Although I couldn’t recognize any of them by name I was able to spot different people. My parents were there along with my aunt and uncle; they were all sitting in the background chatting about life. Most of my friends were out dancing, I was just sitting. I never was one for parties that is until I met Pinky. I was also looking through some of the presents I had received for graduation. Most of them were gift cards but some I held more interest in. for one I had received what appeared to be some kind of gift card for a free table saw, which was my favorite. Also was a kind of charm necklace given to me by an anonymous person? The notes inside said it was a good luck charm and would make my deepest desires come true. I studied the necklace, in the center was a small sapphire held on by a gold base and etched with figures I didn’t quite understand. The base was strapped to a silver chain that was large enough to be held carried around my neck. I began to look at the sapphire intrigued. Then the dark blue gem began to grow before my eyes and I was on a dark road in a car with two others. The head lights were out and we couldn’t see then before we knew it over the ill just ahead of us a truck appeared out of nowhere. We were in the wrong lane. Its headlights blinded us and the horn deafened our ears. Before we knew it the car was hit head on and began to spin uncontrollably throwing us around like rag dolls. The glass shattered and flew back at an alarming rate cutting us to ribbons. Then after what seemed like the third flip everything stopped and the car began to tilt backwards. Dazed I reached for the door in an attempt to escape. The others were uncononcious and didn’t respond to my call to run. Then as I was exiting the car the world began to rise around me and I was no longer standing I was falling. I screamed and then I the water at the same time the car crunched against the rocks. I awoke to a cold sweat and threw myself forwards. I could see outside, the sun was high in the sky already and the air warm. How long did I sleep in? Slowly I stood up and walked over to the door and pushed it open. Hung to the outside of the door was a note from Rarity and Twilight. The had apparently tried to wake me up but I was out cold. Rarity had some things she needed to do and so did Twilight so they were off. The note also held some instructions for finding Kyle along with a ‘good luck’ written on the bottom. Alright, then now I have some stairs to climb, again. I thought as I headed out. unexpected developmentsChapter 4 unexpected developments “Of all the things I had to break my wings! Why cant ponies have elevators, it would make life so much easier!” I mumbled as I walked down the stairs to the ground floor. I found as I went down the stairs the apparent ‘sleep’ I had last night wasn’t very good and I was becoming drowsy, and a little irritable to boot. At one point I had passed a few ponies talking while I was having my rant. They were looking at me like I was crazy or something. If I were them I would think I was crazy too. As I continued my fast paced walk, I suppose you could classify it as a canter. As I began to approach the bottom I began to hear talking coming from bellow. It wasn’t normal talking though it had a certain, negative ring to it. I was afraid someone had gotten in trouble with the law but then I faintly heard my name. “We're looking for a Pegasus named Hardwood maam. We have reason to believe he is with two unicorns do you have any information?” the pony asking the question was a white stallion clad in amour. He was one of the princess’s royal guards, and he wasn’t alone. From my vantage point on top of the stairs I could see at least two more with him possibly more. “As a matter of fact a group matching your description did rent rooms here for the night. The unicorns are gone but I didn’t see this Hardwood leave.” The counter maid responded. “Which room is he in?” he asked “On the top floor room 104. May I ask, what did he do?” the maid inquired politely. “The princess wants to talk to him personally on an important matter. I myself do not know what the exact circumstances of her reasons are.” He said Ya right, why do you need three armed guards to escort a guest. Obviously something was up and I wasn’t about to get myself involved intentionally. The guards turned to go up the stairs. I swear their leader saw me. Quickly I ducked into one of the rooms adjacent to me so as to avoid detection. It was a broom closet of sorts. The guards passed me by without a second thought. It was a good choice for me to hide as I had only seen three of them at least six must have passed me by. Why does Celestia want me that badly? Cautiously I left the safety of the closet and went down the stairs. The counter maid turned to look at me, her smile slowly turned to a frown. I continued walking trying not to notice her. To my discontent though she began to move slowly towards the stairs I had left behind. I was about halfway through the room when I heard her calm walk turn into a fast paced gallop. Immediately I too broke out into a sprint. “Guards! Turn around he’s back here!” I could hear her yell. The sound of galloping increased considerably as I noticed the guards were only a floor above me and had turned around and began to gallop towards my position. By now I was clear out the door, instead of being safe the streets were flooded with guards. I was scared out of my mind, were they all looking for me? I dint care; I broke out into a gallop trying to make a break for the market where I hoped to loose them. Before I knew it the sounds of running filled my ears. I turned around for a split second to see the guards who were in the hotel burst out. They yelled something at the others and then suddenly it was me against Canterlot. I had made it about 40 yards before I noticed the guards were not tiring like me and they were faster. In panic I immediately turned a right and jumped into the crowd in an attempt to loose their trail. Unfortunately the crowd was onto me and moved to make a whole for the guards. They were almost at me now. Then I noticed that they didn’t have wings! If I could just get in the air then maybe I could escape. They were mere feet from me now I had to do it. U gave an enormous flap of my wings and I shot into the air. At the same time it felt as if I was hit by a sledgehammer on my side. I couldn’t keep it up so instead of trying to keep going I landed on a roof and fell over in pain. From below I could hear them yelling my name trying to get me to come down. Yes, I’m going to come down and get caught. As long as I was up here I was safe. Then something I didn’t at all se coming happened. A burst of energy not three feet from me blinded and deafened my ears. It only took whoever it was to quickly get a hold of me and pin me to the roof. Then I was swallowed by the same light, next thing I knew I was on the ground again surrounded by the guards. “Nice try, whatever you did the princess knows. You have a special meeting to attend with Celestia herself.” He said in a halfway threatening manner. “Hmm, alright then lead on.” I gestured and the group of guards walked off with me in the center. I was captured and now I was going to see the princess for who know what reason. I could only guess it wasn’t a good one. Under other circumstances I would have enjoyed a visit to the Canterlot castle but his was not a good time. Me and the group of guards stopped at the entrance. They moved out of the way and their leader pointed to the door. “She is expecting you.” He stepped out of the way and opened the doors. Slowly I stepped into the large room. As soon as I was in they slammed the door behind me, I was stuck. At the other end was what I could only assume to be the princesses throne. Large marble pillars rose up around me as I progressed down the velvet carpet towards it. As far as I could tell though the princess wasn’t in the room. I was alone at the moment, me and the pillars. I walked around for a moment gathering in what I could for this, possibly last, moment. Then from behind me I could hear a door open and the sound of hoof steps coming from it. I turned to see princess Celestia herself approaching me. She seemed radiated a veil of happiness around her and as she approached I began to feel more relaxed. More being relative though, as I was still scared out of my mind as to what was going on. Then she stopped in my general area and waited. Smiling she said “I bet your wondering what the guards were for.” I didn’t know how to react, I had been arrested right then. Was this some kind of interrogation? She shook her head. “There is no need to worry, the guards were meant as a precaution. I don’t intend to hurt you or arrest you. After all Cameron you didn’t do anything.” My jaw dropped. “How do you know my name?” I asked flabbergasted. “There are a lot of things I know, but a lot that I don’t. After all I find it very interesting how a human got to equestrian.” I didn’t know how to respond. “You know about humans, wait first off how do you know my name?” “Don’t think that your appearance in equestrian was quiet. There were a lot of signs before you came here.” She stated with interest. “What kind of signs are you talking about?” I asked. “Nothing a regular pony would have seen, in fact I doubt you were able to recognize them when you were a human.” She stopped expecting a response but I didn’t reply so she just continued. “The clouds over the Everfree forest had been acting strangely for quite a while before your arrival. They had been swirling around in the same place for nearly a week, granted it was discreet but some noticed it. Also were the stars, they themselves had moved out of their normal pattern centering on the forest.” Clouds and stars? What did that have to do with me coming here? And more importantly how did Celestia know who I was, or what humans were for that matter. I didn’t know and frankly I didn’t know if I wanted to. “So how do you know who I am, and how do you know about humans?” “Well, humans know about us don’t they.” She said with a smile. I couldn’t argue that. “Anyway as it turns out while these events were going on I began to have dreams. Very real dreams. I saw your world and what has happed in it and truthfully I thought many times I was loosing my mind. Never has any pony ever even thought of such acts.” “So you saw, everything.” She nodded. I could only imagine what that had done to her. If she saw what I think she was implying then she not only viewed our present, but also our past. That includes the bad parts. “I’m… sorry you saw that. Not all humans are like that though. Most of us are…” Celestia interrupted me. “Decent, yes I know it is the acts of the few in your world that change it for the worst.” The room grew quiet for a moment until I broke it. “Then how do you know my name? Was that in your dream too?” I asked reluctantly. “You were in the dream too. I followed you a lot; you were a beacon of hope in that world. A true friend, perhaps that is what, drew my mind to you.” She explained. “Fair enough but I still have one more question for you, how did I get here?” this subject was apparently very tender. I could tell because of how Celestia had to gather her thoughts before it. “That is a good question.” She turned and looked away for a moment and took in a breath. “I brought you here.” “wh…why! Why would you take me here! You abducted me!” I was in a rage. Celestia didn’t try to calm me. She only said three words, for they were all that needed to be said. “Cameron, you died.” coping with realityChapter 5 coping with reality My life was shattered. I was dead, I died. I couldn’t think anything else. Was Celestia lying? But if she was what could she have gained? I hadn’t noticed it but I had begun to cry just at the thought of it. “What… about the…*sniff* others who were in the car.” I said between the tears I was trying to hold back. “They were very good people. I tried my best to save them but they didn’t make it. One had made it to equestria, he died on the way to the Canterlot hospital. The other was so badly mangled we couldn’t help him.” The look on Celestia’s face was grim. I kept looking for something in her expression to suggest she was lying, a joke something anything! “But Kyle made it! He’s teaching at the Canterlot University.” Celestia didn’t respond. “It was in the newspaper!” I pleaded. “I’m so sorry but that article was false. I made it to get you to come here so I could talk to you myself. I’m so sorry.” She said with the care and sadness only a friend could possess. I could hold back the flood gates anymore. I had lost everything; I dropped to the floor and sobbed like never before. It was too much for me accepted. I had died and now I was alone in equestrian. Everyone I had ever known, gone to me I would never see them again. I curled up in a corner and tried to make sense of what I had just been told. I tried to spot a lie, a fib anything from anywhere in her speech. I couldn’t find anything, no matter how hard I strived to deny it. I knew the truth, I had died and now I was alone. Gently Celestia laid her hoof on my shoulder. I could feel her sincerity. It soothed me but it wasn’t enough to end the infinite sadness that consumed me from inside. I could feel her sadness without even looking at her. “You need not hide yourself from anypony here in equestrian. Your safe here now.” Her words were empty to me. I was to far gone, no matter how I put it in my mind I was dead and if that weren’t enough I had been removed from my life. Did I even have a purpose anymore. “I’m so sorry for your loss. I couldn’t watch you die, you didn’t deserve it. Ill arrange a place for you to live. Anywhere in equestrian, anything you want to do its yours.” I couldn’t say anything even if I had wanted to. My life was destroyed, no killed by the cruel tendrils of fate. I was stripped of my home and family and thrown here. Then came bliss. A faint tap on my head from what I could only determine was Celestia’s horn made the tears stop. My eyes closed and my mind drifted to a vast dream scape that filled me with an artificial happiness. As I drifted more I could hear a faint voice call to me from what seemed miles away. Please sleep, your friends will be with you soon. I dreamt again. I was leaving the club with Kyle, I believe I was drunk. Kyle was out of his mind tired but was going to drive us home. Then we saw him. On the side of the street was a man he had a cut in his side and was bleeding. In what I can only describe as a burst of sanity I turned to Kyle and dragged him over to help me with the man. We put the man in the car and Kyle drove us away at easily double the freeway limit. The hospital was next to the ocean and we had to take a snaking road to get there. It took us very little time to get into view of it. All that stood between us and it was a small hill. Then in what can only be described as the worst burst of bad luck our head lights went out. Then came the truck, a monolith of death that rose from the hill as a zombie would a grave. Its lights burned my eyes and its horn pierced my ears. Kyle had drifted to the wrong lane because of his drowsiness. Before I knew it the car was filled with the screams of people as the truck crashed into us and sent us spiraling. The car flipped once, twice, three times. During which the broken glass were thrown like knives against our flesh. Then the car stopped, we were over a cliff and the car was tilting back slowly. My fiend was unconscious and so was the other. I reached for the door and threw myself out, but not before the car began to fall. Bellow me was a fifty foot fall to the dark ocean and its spiky rocks. Then I began to feel lighter, the world slowed down and in the worst possible way I saw the car, with the man in the back seat, crash into the rocks. The sound of shredding metal and shattering glass filled my ears. Then white, a thud, and finally a rainy night sky in a forest. I awoke in a soft bed. It wasn’t in the hotel at Canterlot. A window was in the wall to my right. Remorsefully I looked out. I was in Ponyville. The events that occurred with Celestia were still as clear as day, as if they had only happened a moment ago. Intense grief filled my soul as I lay back and tried to process what happened. I rolled over and saw the room I was in. it was nothing from what I had ever seen before. I wasn’t in any building I had ever seen before. The view itself was from an angle never pictured. The room was fairly and made of solid oak with mahogany trim. The furniture was masterfully crafted, there was a chair that was on the opposite side next to a book shelf that was empty. A small table was to my left, on it was a large assortment of gifts and cards along with fresh flowers in water. Slowly, and with little energy or enthusiasm I reached for it and picked up one of the cards. This one was from Twilight, apparently Celestia had told her everything. By the words on the paper I could tell she was very sad for me. There were letters from all kinds of ponies here. Rainbow, Pinky, all of them had sent me something. Rarity had sent me a large gift bag filled with some really exotic foods and some teas. I found that one fairly comforting, a cup of tea would be really nice right now. I mumbled under my breath. I got out of the bed and onto the floor. My emotional state was very feeble, it would be comparable to a thin sheet of ice that I was standing on that over looked a pool of sadness that I could not even begin to fathom. The floor, which was made of solid wood felt good to walk on and somehow was able to lift my spirits slightly. I always did like oak. Slowly I walked to the door. I pushed it open and looked on the other side. It was a combined kitchen and living room that was lit well by windows from the ceiling and walls. The kitchen had a stove large enough to cook with four burners. One of them had a tea pot on it which I filled with water and set to boil. The counter was a fine stone that was smoothed and sealed. It was pristine and didn’t have a single smudge on it. I looked up and saw another card lying on the table. It wasn’t large or special in any way. On top of it was an empty frame, the card was from Celestia. As I opened it a small picture fell out onto the table. It fell face down so I could see it. I chose to read the card before examining the picture. Dear Cameron I cannot express in words how sorry I am for you nor can I begin to understand your pain. I would ask of you though that you try to make friends here. You were a shining beacon of what good was in your world and I am so sorry you are now lost to it. The ponies here though will make good friends I can promise you that. As you have likely noticed this card contains a picture. It took me a considerable amount of time to retrieve only this from your world but I felt you needed something. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me for what I did to you, but it was the only way. My sincerest apologies Celestia I placed the card on the table and picked up the picture. I turned it around to find it was a picture of me and my family from when I was human, when I was on earth, when I was alive. This was my only connection to myself now, I had nothing else. A bell rang, a pony was standing outside. I walked over to a window and looked outside. Fluttershy was standing outside, waiting patiently. Slowly I walked to the door and pushed it open. “hello.” I said drearily. “Oh you’re awake.” Fluttershy said, there was a pause. “Please come in.” I opened the door. She entered slowly, I could tell she was trying not to disturb me. She knew how bad I was. “You don’t know how glad I am to see you of all ponies.” I said. “I heard about what happened to you. I can’t imagine what you’re going through.” She said weakly. “It’s uh nothing I can’t handle.” I said trying to be brave. “You don’t need to be brave now. You’re hurt and I can tell, is there anything I can get you?” she asked “If I could just talk that would be nice.” Fluttershy nodded and walked towards the kitchen table. The next hour or so remains a blur to me. All I assume though was that it was filled with grief. I was so lucky to have Fluttershy with me though. If she hadn’t been the one at my door I don’t know what I would have done. I have her to thank for helping me get out of this pit of sadness, I owe her my life. starting a new lifeChapter 6 starting a new life You know how it feels when someone dies. Bad huh, sadly it doesn’t go away fast and in my case it felt like everyone had just died. Needless to say I was out of it for quite a while. It took me at least a week to work through it all, thanks to Fluttershy’s kindness that is. I also had a lot to thank the princess for. If it wasn’t for her I would have been dead, for real. I didn’t know it at the time but she was also responsible for building me a home in Ponyville. It had a nice rustic feel to it. I was soon able to make it the center of my work, which I decided after a lot of thought to be contracting. I was soon making designs for buildings, homes, bridges and many other things. It would often help take my mind off what happened. There was one other thing that I found rather liberating though. As of about 4 or so days ago I was able to fly around to an extent. Granted it wasn’t anything special but when Rainbow caught wind of it she showed up rather fast. *knock* *knock* *knock* “hey Cameron I know your in there! Open up.” The ponies had graciously decided to use my human name a while ago. I felt more at ease with it and I believe they understood. “Oh, hey Rainbow give me a second I’ll let you in.” I trotted over to the door and opened it up for her. “So, I heard you were finally flying… I guess for the first time huh.” “I suppose it is the first time isn’t it.” I said with a half smile on my face. “You know what that means right?” I looked at her puzzled. “It means you’re going to try out for the team.” I had completely forgotten about that. “Geez time flies, huh. Well I try to be a man err pony of my word. So when are you holding tryouts?” I asked. “For you, right now.” She said with a grin. She took me out to the Ponyville track where two others were. One of which was Thunderlane, I didn’t recognize the other though. As far as I could tell Thunderlane wasn’t impressed with my presence, in fact he seemed a little nonchalant about the whole thing. “Alright Cameron I would like you to meet the team thus far. That there is Thunderlane.” He nodded, I waved. “And this is speedy.” She stepped forward. “Nice to meet you.” she was a dark blue Pegasus with a gold hinted mane. She was slightly more bulky than Rainbow but her wing span was also larger. Her cutie mark was that of a bird and some notes. She put out her hoof. “Nice to meet you too.” Politely I shook it. “Anyway everyone this is Cameron he is going to be trying out for the team!” at least Speedy was somewhat enthusiastic, Thunderlane didn’t really seem to care much. “So how exactly do I try out for the team?” “There are three parts to it.” Rainbow began. “First off is a test of endurance. Then we need to see how fast you, which in your case I’m willing to put off for now on account of your wing still not being fully healed. Then finally is an altitude test where we are going to see how high your limit is. Simple enough huh.” Up until she said Altitude it was simple, now I might fail from fear of heights. “Well I guess we should get started then huh.” The endurance test was simple enough; all I had to do was keep in the air at an altitude of 50 meters for as long as possible. I found that getting to the altitude was easy, staying there was harder. In equestrian the clouds are lower than on earth and there is a reason for that. In equestrian air density follows different principles, in other words the air gets thinner faster. I had never been this high up before but it wasn’t too bad. Flying gave me a liberating feeling that helped with my fears, not only that but the view was amazing. Simply put you haven’t seen Ponyville until you have flown. When I reached the altitude I needed to reach the air was fairly thin and I had to beat my wings extra hard to keep up, which reinvigorated some of the pain in them. I was able to work through it though and I kept flying, that was the easy part though. I began to have some difficulty breathing at that high and I got exasperated fairly quickly. What was only a few minutes felt like hours of hard work? After what I assumed was at least four minutes I couldn’t hold myself up anymore and I descended to the land. I could breathe again which helped and the better air density made it easy for me to fly so the pain settled away. The other pegasi seemed impressed with what I had done. “Cameron, you made it longer than I expected.” Rainbow began. “I expected you to last about two or three minutes with that wing, couldn’t have felt that good.” “Ah nothing I can’t handle.” I looked over to the others. “So how long did they stay up then?” “Well they each made it about six minutes, which I’m sure you could do if you were in better condition.” Fair enough, I suppose I could have stayed up longer if I was feeling better. “So then next is altitude, I’ll save speed for later.” This was a very straight forward test; all I had to do was get up as high as I could. I began flapping my wings and slowly I ascended. It took me very little time to pass up the 50 meter mark. The air only got thinner from there. As I approached about 80 meters it had took me about the same time to get from 0 to 50. Not only that but it got considerably harder for me to breath. I had seen on the TV on earth how people climbing Mount Everest were very short of breath when getting near the top. I knew how they felt now. My breaths became heavy panting and I wasn’t gaining any altitude. I was at what I assumed to be close to 100 meters, I had to at least get that far. With a burst of energy I threw myself up to the top of my limit at which for a split moment I was able to see all of equestrian. It was truly a sight to behold. Then I looked down, only I wasn’t afraid. I was flying high above equestrian and I was free. I felt liberated, I was so happy I was able to completely ignore my wings pain. I went down to the ground to meet Rainbow and the others. Apparently I had done something to impress them as they were all shocked when I got down. “What’s wrong? Did I do something wrong?” I asked. “no.” speedy started excitedly. “It’s just we never expected you to get past 80 meters. You made it to 100 that’s impressive.” She said with a lot of energy. “So did I pass?” I asked Rainbow. “Heck ya you did. You went far beyond what I was expecting you to pull off.” She gave me a pat on the back. “In fact what do you think about trying the speed test?” I had impressed them that was for sure, and something inside me told me to keep going. I don’t know if it was the adrenaline but I was really happy for the first time in a while. Flying was great and I wanted to do more. “What’s the test?” The speed test was a two part test, for one they had to test my wing power. I had to exceed at least 8.0 to pass that. Then I had to race one of the pegasi, obviously Rainbow was out of the question for that one. I lined up on the tracks straight away and got ready to fly as fast as possible. At the other end was an odometer, which I assume was the same one that Twilight had used earlier for when they were testing wing power. They were all waiting at the other side for me to start. I threw myself forward with a large flap of my wings. Again both adrenaline and pain filled me. I was able to work through it in order to make at least ten heavy flaps. I flew past them incredibly fast and the odometer began to spin. Rainbow looked over with a big grin on her face. “You are really amazing you know that right.” I looked over at the gauge it read 8.9. Even Thunderlane was amazed at what he saw. “I think you’re going to be a great flyer for this team. So who do you want to race?” I looked around at the other two. Speedy had really big wings so racing her would be a bad choice and I already knew I couldn’t beat Rainbow dash even if I wanted to. That left Thunderlane, who was shocked by my flight speed. Perhaps I could beat him. We lined up at the starting line and got ready. Thunderlane was stretching his wings and setting himself up in a racing stance. I was just getting ready the only way I knew, clearing my mind and relaxing my muscles. Then from down the track I heard the loud ring of a whistle. My nerves jumped and I threw myself forward. Thunderlane was already in front of me! I had to pick up the pace. I pumped my wings as hard as I could; it was enough for me to pass him up. Then we got to the turn. Thunderlane slowed down but I decided I could get it if I made a hard enough angle on it. I turned my body 90 degrees so I was adjacent to the ground and arched my back. The G’s were something I had never felt before. My body was being forced through my chest and my stomach fell into my gut. It was the most amazing feeling I had ever felt. By now I was already on the straight away Thunderlane had just made it about three quarters around the turn. I threw my wings down and received another burst of speed that propelled me faster than ever before. I didn’t slow down at the next turn. The G’s at this turn were far greater than the previous one and I thought I could hold it. If it weren’t for my wing I would have too. When I was half way through the turn my wing popped and my adrenaline rush disappeared. I dropped to the ground and rolled violently into a bush not far from the edge. I was covered in scraped and some minor cuts but that didn’t hurt. My wing was paralyzing me in pain, the muscle had cramped up and I was experiencing a Charlie horse, ironic I know. I could fly anymore, not today at least. Thunderlane had stopped and ran over to help me out. Soon enough Rainbow and speedy were there too. “Nice crash kid.” Thunderlane said half-jokingly. I couldn’t force out a smile. “Alright what happened Cameron?” Rainbow asked. “I had a muscle spasm, my wing is out of operation right now.” I tried to move it only to have a sharp pain run through it. “Well I gotta say that was gutsy.” She smiled “welcome to the team.” “But I didn’t win.” “We didn’t expect you to win we just wanted to see how you compared with us. The fact that you were BEATING him is enough for me to say I want you in the team.” Speedy nodded in agreement and by the look on Thunderlane’s face I could tell he agreed too. Under other circumstances I assume I would be happy but right now I was hurting a little much for that. Seeing this Rainbow let me leave after telling me that practice is every Monday when the sun rises. That gave me a good three days to get rested. I set out to my home and gradually developed a smile on my face. I was getting a life back. I was on a sports team now; I had a job and a house. Best of all though I had friends again. I felt free and happy, Equestria was my home now and I was going to make the best I could of it. bad omensChapter 7 bad omens My decision to join Rainbows flight team was, in my mind, a good one. It gave me a level of relief from my job designing and over viewing construction in Ponyville, which by now had taken off. By now Ponies from all over Equestria were sending letters to me to design all kinds of things from houses, to barns and everything in between. Needless to say it took up a lot of my time. It involved some travel, which wasn’t all bad, and A LOT of desk work. Rainbow’s team helped with that. Every Monday I got to wake up early and go out and fly around. Although it was hard work, and it often left me exhausted, something inside of me compelled me to pursue it. Hay I made a lot of friends too. Both Thunderlane and Speedy were pretty cool and were very supportive, even if a little talkative. Practice was from sunrise to about three with a break in the middle. Up until now we were learning simple formations and a few stunts every now and then. One day that was changed up when Rainbow showed up looking pretty antsy about something. We were all hanging out under a peach tree near the southern end of Ponyville where we had decided to make our training grounds. If you got up early enough you could see the sun rise through the valley directly ahead of you. Yes that’s right the sun rises in the south in Equestria, I never questioned it. Anyway we were hanging out doing our usual routine when Rainbow showed up surprisingly late. She carried two pieces of parchment, one of which had already been opened. “Alright everypony we’ve got some work to get done.” She folded opened up the parchment and showed it to us. “Our team has been asked to participate in a competition in Cloudsdale.” Thunderlane and Speedy seemed really into this. “So then were finally being recognized, so when is it then?” Speedy asked. “Well if you take a look.” Rainbow pointed to the bottom part of the parchment. It read ‘August 17th’ which was only a month away. “You really think were ready for this? I mean we have been putting in a lot of work but lets be honest this is a big event how many teams are going?” I asked. “Well it doesn’t really matter how many it matters which teams.” “I don’t follow.” Thunderlane said. Smiling and with a lot of enthusiasm she went and said it “we will be competing, among others, against the Wonderbolts!” she started laughing with enthusiasm. The others developed a smile across their faces. I didn’t know what to think after all the Wonderbolts were professionals. “Rainbow do you actually think we can beet them?” I started. “Well maybe not, but if we do good we’ll be getting some rep this is a big competition so a lot of ponies will be there.” I had to say that’s a good point, but I could see what was to come next. “Even if we are be there though we need to qualify first.” “What do you mean we have to qualify?” Thunderlane asked. “They only actually let ten teams compete in the competition. We have to qualify in the top ten to get in, and that means we have to pick up the pace to get in.” here it comes I thought. “Which means we need to work hard on practice, we only have a good month to get some really good moves down. If your all for it then I’m sure we could pull this off.” “Count me in, this sounds fun.” Speedy said. “Ill go, it’ll be a lot of work but I’m game.” Thunderlane stated. Then they turned to me for an answer. “I haven’t given up yet, and I don’t plan to either. I guess that means well need to get working wont we.” That got Rainbow happy. The road ahead of us was to be a hard one but I assume it would be pretty awesome to be one of the top ten teams in Equestria. “Oh and before we get to work Twilight wanted me to give this to you Cameron.” She handed me a piece of parchment. “She said it came from Celestia, when you finish up join up with us k.” I nodded her off and the flew out to the field. Celestia hadn’t tried to contact me in nearly a month now. The sudden appearance of this letter was quite the surprise to me. I opened it up and began to read the letter. Dear Cameron Its nice writing to you for the first time in a while. I regret to inform you though that this isn’t a social call. I have recently received information of strange happening within the Everfree forest. Under normal circumstances I would disregard these happenings but these are different. I do not feel comfortable talking to you about the information I have received immediately. To do so would be of bad judgment on my part as such I would like to invite you to meet me at Canterlot. I would ask you come as soon as possible to discuss what is happening. Sincerely Celestia. Whatever Celestia wanted to talk about was urgent. If she needed me I could only assume it had something to do with humans. That thought was slightly confusing to me, why would humans want with Equestria. Sure I could imagine some would want to come here with good intentions but something told me that whatever was going on wasn’t a good thing. Taking it into consideration I decided to leave to Canterlot tomorrow as both a break from my work and a trip for Rarity and Twilights sake. After all I did owe them a lot for giving me a ride there in the first place, even if the trip was less than intended. I flew over to the others and we began training. I didn’t really know what to expect from this more intense training Rainbow was talking about, that was until we started it. From here on out we were meeting on Fridays and Mondays and the days were going to be longer, and if the training we got that day was anything to represent the future it was going to be a lot more strenuous. We were flying faster, longer, and higher than ever before. We threw half of our day into formations and another into some more complex tricks. By the end of it I was fully expecting to back in the hospital again. This was going to be a long three weeks. I arrived home much latter than I was expecting. We had lost track of time and had kept flying for a lot longer than we had planned. I could barely hold myself up and I immediately fell onto the couch not even caring to close the door of my house. That night my dreams returned. I was in a car, or was it a truck? I couldn’t tell because it was completely enclosed. Inside of it were about five others, the enclosed space was lit by a dim orange light. Each of the people carried a rifle. I put two and two together and began to understand this was a military vehicle. Suddenly a voice rang out from a speaker positioned near the rear of the vehicle. The soldiers were now getting ready for something and were loading their rifles and side arms. Then the back opened up. The light of the sun dissipated the orange light of the truck and the soldiers ran out. They were on a chunk of highway next to the ocean. It was the same place the truck had hit us and sent me and my friend away. Specifically it was the cliff where it all happened. The highway was closed off on both sides and military figures were redirecting traffic away. From a distance I could see the place where the car had fallen over the ledge. People in has mat suites were walking around with machines that I could only assume were for measuring radiation. I approached the ledge where they were working and looked down. I was surprised to see no machine parts or even a sign of an accident. People were down there though and had somehow gated off the ocean and were scanning around for something. Then as if out of nowhere a hand landed on my shoulder and I turned to see a Mexican American man looking directly at me. “Don’t worry Michael, where ever he went well find them.” He said as he walked off to help with traffic. Strangely that named was familiar to me, I couldn’t put my finger on it but I felt like whomever that was I knew him. Then came the most disturbing image I have ever seen. For only a split second I saw Canterlot, from the distance. It was in ruins and burning. An explosion annihilated one of the towers and it collapsed to the ground. I was crying, I was a pony and I was restrained. I awoke latter than normal but I wasn’t at all drowsy. That dream was very real to me and if it was I needed to tell the princess. I quickly gathered my things and ran out the door only to be blocked by Twilight. “Oh gees Twilight this is a bad time I’m in a hurry can it wait?” I asked. “Oh uh sure mite I ask where your going in such a hurry?” she inquired. “I kinda need to get to Canterlot as fast as possible. Celestia wants to see me and I think I have some information she would need.” “Really well I was just going to give you something anyway.” She took out a letter of sorts from her saddle pack and handed it to me. “Zecora found it in the forest where we found you. It was in the middle of a clearing after some kind of freak lightening strike.” I took the letter and opened it up. It was a very simple note addressed to me. The paper was burnt slightly and was beaten up heavily from some kind of unknown force. I began to read it, the hand writing was not hand written. The letter was typed as if by a computer. It simply read: I’m coming fro you Cameron. strange hapeningsChapter 8 strange happenings Wherever that letter had come from didn’t bode well for what I had seen. If I had learnt anything from my time in Equestria it was that my dreams were pretty accurate. Not just that but Celestia had something to talk with me about that wasn’t safe to be spoken about to any other pony. It didn’t bode well. I didn’t spare any time getting to the train station. I flew there at my maximum speed in an effort to catch the train as fast as I could. I quickly bought a ticket and climbed aboard. As I took my seat I turned my head to and to my surprise outside was Speedy. She too was getting on the train. As she came down the car I stuck my head out and called her over. She looked surprised enough to see me here and she trotted over to me. “Hey what are you doing on the train to Canterlot?” She asked. “Oh nothing much, i’m going out for business.” It was the truth after all. Plus I didn’t want to tell anypony about what was going on in fear of what they mite think. “Oh cool, what are ya working on over there?” She asked as she took her seat across from me. “It’s a special order from the princess. She wants me there first hand.” She looked impressed by that. “Geez I knew you were a popular architect but the princess. You are defiantly good at what you do.” “Speaking of which I was meaning to ask you what is your job. I figure it has something to do with singing.” I gestured to her cutie mark. “Good guess, I’m a singer in the Ponyville choir. That’s actually why im going to Canterlot, we have a show over there in a few days.” “Really, ill have to go see that.” We continued our conversation all the way to Canterlot. The trip usually takes a good two hours but it felt more like only one. Apparently Speedy was just her nick name that she stuck with at practice. Her real name was Songjay, which I thought was a pretty name but she disagreed and said she didn’t like it much. I also asked about her opinion on the contest in Cloudsdale that Rainbowdash was so worked up about. She was really into it; apparently she considered herself quite the adrenaline junky and was really into competitions. As we continued the conversation it started to get a little more personal. Eventually we were touching on subjects I hadn’t ever even considered talking to anypony about. We soon arrived at the Canterlot train station. We exited off and I waved her off as she left into the crowd and I headed off towards the castle. I was halfway there when I became severely disturbed at what happened. I didn’t think much of it earlier on the train but now when I was thinking I noticed it. I felt like I well liked her, and I didn’t know what to think of that. She was a pony after all and I was… a pony? So was that alright, or was it somehow wronge. She was a nice pony and all and was very social. I had no idea about how to process that. I decided to sit down for a minute to get my thoughts straight. It was a restaurant that Twilight had recommended before I left. It was written in French, had never thought of it before but ponies did share a lot of human culture. Hay if you put one in a human body one could pass for a person. I suppose it works the other way too. So did that make it alright, for me to like a pony? No matter how I looked at it there were reasons it was ok and reasons it was bad but my gut told me it was wronge? I decided not to think about it any more and was going to strive for a nice lunch. I had ordered a quiche and a side of hay. I was about used to pony food now and found that it was actually pretty good, just as long as you like the idea of eating hay. As Twilight had said the restaurant was very good and the waiters were very courteous. Before I could leave to the palace something disturbing happened. It was slight but I could feel it. As if reality itself convulsed for less than a second. I looked over to the waiter. “Did you feel that?” “Feel what sir?” he apparently didn’t notice whatever it was. “Nothing just thought I felt something. Thank you for the food.” I tossed ten bits on the table and an extra two as a tip and went out. As far as I could tell no one else had felt it and if they did they didn’t show it. The trip to the palace didn’t take too long from where I was. A few guards stood around the entrance but moved out of my way. The princess had informed them I was coming. I was inside the main thrown room again. Some level of redecorating had gone on but nothing too much. There were a few new paintings on the walls also some vines were now growing on the pillars. “I have been waiting for you Cameron.” Celestia called out from up ahead. “Honestly I don’t know what to think of this meeting. The last time I was here you kinda dropped a bomb on me.” I said. she seemed to understand. “So what kind of strange occurrences are you seeing?” I inquired. “They aren’t what im seeing, they are what im feeling.” I think I know what she meant. “It’s as if reality is convulsing, it’s the same feeling I was having when you came here but there is a difference to it.” “What kind of difference?” “It’s not magical or pure like yours felt like. This one has an artificial feel to it.” She began. “Tell me do humans have the ability to travel between realities?” “no.” I said bluntly “that is science fiction at most theoretical. There is no way we have that capability.” “Well what if they did? If humans had that ability what would they do with it.” She asked. Something in her voice made me understand this was serious. “I don’t know what we would do. I would hope we would use it for peaceful exploration…” Celestia interrupted me. “But what would they do?” she was serious. “If history does truly repeat itself.” I began slowly. “All I can tell you is that it won’t be good.” What I told her seemed to solidify what ever she already believed. I was still withholding information though. I decided to tell her about my dream. “There is something I would like to tell you though.” Celestia turned to me. “I had a dream last night, not a normal one in fact it was more of a vision.” “What happened in this vision?” she asked with a certain flare of anger in her voice. “It was of Canterlot, it was in ruins.” Celestia was quiet. “Then when I got out of my house to come here Twilight gave me this.” I handed it to Celestia. “I assume that this isn’t by any ponies hoof is it.” “No it was written on a computer and printed up. Celestia if the humans that were in my dream come here…bad things are going to happen to Equestria.” Celestia turned around and started pacing around the room to gather her thoughts. “I want you to stay here in Canterlot for a few days. I will arrange for you to stay in the palace as a guest. If you get anymore of these dreams you will tell me immediately.” I nodded in compliance. Celestia showed me up to my room in the palace. It was a lot larger than any room in my house and a lot more ornate. A letter was to be sent to Ponyville for somepony to watch over my home. By now it was late and Celestia was required to meet her sister. She left in a hurry after wishing me a good night’s sleep. I was left to ponder what I had just learned with Celestia. If it were true that humans were trying to come to Equestria I didn’t know what I was going to do. Is that why Celestia was keeping me here, was I a possible enemy for when or if the humans ever arrived. Truth be told I didn’t know where my loyalties would lie if something like that happens. Then there was the matter of that Michael character from my dream that I somehow knew. And what was worse my thoughts of Songjay returned which only deepened my confusion. Were my feeling for her fine and acceptable and if they were and I did have feelings for her would I turn on my own kind? I decided to abandon the subject and strive for sleep instead. I lay on the bed and closed my eyes. The bed was much more comfortable than any I had slept on before and I began to drift into sleep. Unluckily for me I had a dream, and it was as bad as I suspected. RevelationsChapter 9 revelations I stood silently in a crowd clad in a black suite. The sun was high in the sky and the day was nice, except for the unbearable sadness that seemed to fill everyone. To my left were my parents who were crying. So many people were gathered in this area, all of which I recognized and I could only assume they were family. Each person carried flowers and a grim face. Even the children that stood in the crowd held a deep sadness in their faces and those who didn’t were completely silent. I was at a funeral, and if past experience had anything to say I was at my funeral. Just then down the center of the crowd came a coffin. As it passed the person I was viewing this from dropped his head as if in shame. As the coffin passed down the crowd the solemn feeling began to turn to sadness and crying became apparent soon later. It wasn’t long before I began to hear the Canticle Benediction begin. Slowly the coffin was lowered into the ground and the priest began the Lord’s Prayer. Time began to fly as I myself became increasingly sad at what I was seeing. Eventually it was over and the coffin was fully buried beneath the earth. People walked forward and began placing flowers on the grave and left in silence. Whoever I was watching this from didn’t leave though. He remained at the grave in silence and simply watched it. Then from behind him came another entity, he placed his hand on the one watching the grave and he turned slowly to face him. “I assume you are Michael then.” The man began in a solemn tone. He was wearing a fine suite and bore a medallion that showed he was part of the C.I.A. Michael nodded and turned away. “What do you want?” Michael asked. “I am here to express my greatest condolences for your brother.” What! The thought shocked me so much I nearly awoke from my sleep. “Aron I mean no offence but this is hardly the time for you to be here.” Michael started. “The last time you saw Cameron you two weren’t on very good terms, and now no amount of apologies will fix this.” What did Michael mean by that, I didn’t even recognize Aron? “I know you feel it’s my fault that this happened to him.” Michael kept staring away. “That’s why I came here, we have reason to believe Cameron isn’t actually dead.” If I wasn’t caught off guard before I had been now. Did they actually think I was alive? “What do you mean?” Michael asked as he turned around. “You saw where the accident happened didn’t you?” Michael didn’t respond, his silence signaled a yes to Aron though. “As you know a body was never found for Cameron or Kyle. For a long time we believed they were simply lost to sea but then we found a witness. He was driving just a short range away from them when he saw what he described as ‘a brilliant light that pulled them away.’” “You’re crazy, do you honestly believe this claim.” “I must say that at first this claim was ridiculous to us too but then we investigated. It took us a while but we eventually found something interesting. A kind of radiation that doesn’t abide by the laws of physics.” Michael turned, that had peaked his interest. “So what does this have to do with Cameron?” “Basically what we have determined is that it is possible, in sufficient quantities, for this radiation to tear wholes in reality.” “You’re saying Cameron is in another dimension. He may be alive!” Aron nodded in response. “So why are you telling me this then?” “We want you on the team.” Michael was shocked. “Which means what exactly?” “It means you’ll get a team again, well wipe your record clean. You can return to your old life again.” Aron put out his hand. “All you have to do is shake my hand.” Reluctantly Michael did. Right then a brilliant light enveloped my vision. Now, instead of standing at a funeral and feeling sad, I was at my home in Ponyville and I was happy. There was light and the air was warm and happy. What was surprising though was the clarity of it all. It felt as if I were actually in the room working as if it were any other day. There was one difference though; I was a pony yes but not just physically. In the dream I was a pony. It was as though I had accepted that fact when I knew that out of my dream I was not. Then without any warning the door to my room opened up. There at the entrance stood Songjay. When I saw her in the dream though, it was in a completely new light. I knew her far more deeply somehow than ever before. I smiled toward her and turned back to my desk to continue working. From behind me though I could hear hoof steps approaching the desk. She hadn’t said anything since she entered; in fact she didn’t have to. One moment later something I couldn’t have expected at all happened. She leaned over and kissed me on the cheek. I did not tell Celestia about the dream I had that night. I could find no meaning in it and I certainly didn’t want her to know I had a human brother. And then there was that other dream which disturbed me deeply. I did notice earlier that I had some kind of feelings for Songjay but it didn’t feel right at all. I wasn’t a pony; I was a human in pony form. I even had a brother on earth. That was another thing I couldn’t understand, what had happened to my brother and then why couldn’t I remember him. It was all very confusing. For me it was too much to think about on an empty stomach so I set out to find a restaurant. More than anything though, I was walking around aimlessly trying to clear my mind. I had lived in Equestria for more than two months now and I was dead on earth for that long as well. I had no family here but even if I returned to earth I would be leaving behind all these friends. The worst part though was the rollercoaster of thoughts that threw me between questions of my morality about liking a pony. Then there was who I should be loyal to, my family and my brother or Celestia the one who saved my life. It only got worse when I say Songjay in the crowd ahead of me; she had seen me too and was waving to get my attention. I waved back and walked forward. “Good mourning Cameron, nice day don’t ya think?” she asked in a very happy bright tone. “Ya, it’s nice.” I responded in a fairly saddened tone. “What’s wrong with you? Are you feeling ok?” “I feel fine. I just…didn’t sleep well last night. Im looking for a place to get some food.” “Well I know just the place then follow me.” She trotted off happily and I followed right behind her. We soon arrived at a small eatery near the market. It had a few tables on the outside with umbrellas at each table. Songjay sat down and gestured for me to sit across from her. “So, what’s on your mind then?” I tried to look confused. “Don’t mess with me I can tell something is going on.” “I had a really disturbing dream last night.” She nodded as the waiter came by and placed the menu on the table. “I saw myself at my own funeral. My family was there and so was my brother.” “So you have a brother then.” “Ya it would seem so.” “Well im sorry your dream was so grim then.” I didn’t respond. “Tell you what this meal is on me. Order whatever you want so you can get your mind off this ok.” Breakfast was eaten in almost absolute silence I didn’t talk much but to respond to Songjay. The meal did help though, by the end of it I felt much better. I hadn’t told her about the part of the dream with her though; it probably wouldn’t help me much if I did. We were finishing up when Songjay pulled something out of her saddle bag and handed it to me. “What is this?” “Earlier on the train you said you wanted to come see the choir performs. Well I pulled some strings and got you a ticket.” I smiled “thank you very much. Ill see you tomaroe then?” “Defiantly, oh and try to get some sleep tonight I would like you to have a semi decent time there.” She nodded and began to walk off. I had to admit the meal made me feel better. It felt a lot more comfortable than being held in the palace. I wasn’t asked too many questions or anything and I was able to get part of the dream off of my chest. I was still highly reluctant to tell Celestia about it though as I couldn’t gauge what her reaction would be. I kept having this feeling that she was afraid of me or humans or something and that was why she was keeping me here. The idea made me assume Celestia thought of me as an enemy but I knew ponies weren’t like that. Something was going on and that was for sure. I sat around for a minute or two and was about ready to leave when a strange feeling over took me. It felt very familiar to me. It wasn’t normal though it was a strange feeling of elation and a tingliness I couldn’t put my hoof on. Almost as mysteriously as it started though it went away. I didn’t pay any mind to it and decided to go and take part in my own personal tour of Canterlot. Some of the places I visited were quite amazing. I visited some of the art exhibits to find that equestrian art was a lot like what humans would call ‘modern art’ which basically meant I don’t get it. As it turns out a lot of equestrian culture almost mirrored human. My personal tour was cut short at the entrance to the wall though. A large crowd had gathered outside of it and seemed rather bent out of shape about something. I worked myself up to the front only to be stopped by a guard. “I am sorry sir but no pony is allowed past this point for a while.” “What’s going on? Did something happen to somepony?” “No nothing like that, the princess has asked that no pony disturb her while she performs important work.” “Really… well have a good day then.” I made my way out of the crowd and began sprinting to an opening so I could take off and get a look for myself. That section of wall looks directly at Ponyville, and more importantly the Everfree forest. I had a hunch that something was going on. Directly ahead of me was a medium sized park which would suit my needs fairly well. Some pegasi were flying around as it was so I wouldn’t draw any suspicion. When I reached the park I took off and turned towards Ponyville and the Everfree forest. Directly over the Everfree forest was a large grey cloud spiraling in a very odd manner. Then I remembered what Celestia had told me when she first met me how the clouds were acting very strangely even for the forest. Then there was that feeling I felt after breakfast, could someone have come to Equestria? a choiceChapter 10 a choice I patiently paced around in circles in the palace, waiting for Celestia to return. What I had seen over the Everfree forest not ten minutes ago matched her description of what had happened when I first arrived. Not only that but she was there watching it for herself. I had to know what was happening. It took nearly an hour for Celestia to arrive. She carried a grim frown on her face and the site of me did not help it either. She slowly paced over to me and waited for me to begin. “I assume this isn’t the first time clouds like that have been over the forest.” “So you did see them.” I nodded. “No this isn’t the first time. As I am sure you have already assumed those are the same kind as when you first arrived.” “So another human is here?” I asked halfway excitedly. “No, not yet. When you arrived it took an entire day before you arrived. He or she will be arriving tomorrow late at night.” “So what are you going to do with this person when they come?” “I honestly have no idea. I was hoping you could help me with that subject.” I hesitated a bit. “I am almost entirely sure that you are hiding something from me. You had a dream last night didn’t you?” I was trying to avoid this discussion all day. Apparently by coming here in order to get answers I would be the one giving them though. When I tell Celestia though, it could possibly bring some negative results upon myself. “I did have a dream last night.” Celestia raised an eyebrow. “In it I was at my funeral. I watched the entire thing from the perspective of…my brother.” “Why didn’t you tell this to me earlier?” she asked in a semi sharp tone. “I was afraid of how you would react. I am a human and if you knew I had a brother I couldn’t even begin to understand how that would make you feel.” “Well you have no reason to fear. I brought you here and you are a citizen of Equestria, you are an amazing pony.” She noticed how that stung a bit. “You are obviously a very good human as well. Come now finish telling me about your dream.” “Ya, well as it turns out…they know I am here.” “How could they know that?” Celestia said franticly. “I don’t know how they know but they do. What is more important is why they are coming here though, there was talk of some kind of radiation that doesn’t abide by the laws of physics that…” it was obvious that Celestia was lost in what I just said. “I believe a short crash course in ‘physics’ would be useful.” “Well im not exactly an expert on them but basically they are the absolute laws that govern our universe. Radiation would be something like heat or light. It is energy with the ability to change things.” “I see, so this strange radiation what is it?” “I think they found residual amounts of magical energy. They think they can use it to create things like gold or…” Celestia stopped me. “Magic doesn’t work like that. Of any human you should know that.” “I know that but THEY don’t. They think if they come here they can take that ‘radiation and use it for there own purposes. Celestia, they will do whatever it takes to get ahold of it.” “I understand entirely. They want it for power and wealth, am I correct?” I nodded in agreement. “You know I cannot allow what I have seen to happen on earth to happen here. If what you are saying is true then you know I cannot let them in Equestria.” “You may be able to reason with them though. Humans can understand.” “I highly doubt they will listen to a pony.” There was a short pause. “But they may listen to a human.” She looked at me to emphasize a point. “You want me to talk to them?” she nodded. “Well I don’t know if you noticed but im not exactly human like right now.” “Honestly that is an easy fix. I can conjure an illusion spell that will make you appear human to them. While I cannot make you wholly human I can make you appear so.” “So then, im you emissary then?” “Yes, I would be honored if you would accept the position.” “Are you kidding me? I would be extremely happy to be your emissary, and finally get to talk to another person again.” “Good, in that case get some sleep. We will both need to be well rested for tomorrow when our guest or guests arrive wont we.” I nodded and headed up to my room. Celestia was on my side this whole time. She had me stay here because she was afraid and I got that. I was her connection to humans and now I was even more than another pony I was an ambassador. That was a cheery thought. Like Celestia said though tomorrow was going to be a big day and I would need as much sleep as I could get. Celestia and I were going to meet the first real human to set foot in Equestria. I say first ‘real’ human because a human in pony form isn’t quite the same. Then it hit me. I also had the choir to attend. All the excitement had detracted from what I already had planned. I figured I had plenty of time before I had to go with Celestia so I could likely attend the choir before I left. I arrived at my room and opened the doors, something was different. I raised an eye and stepped in looking around. It felt as though I was being watched by somepony. The air was very still though and there was a bit of a chill in the air. I kept feeling like something was off but I couldn’t put a hoof on it…until I saw the pencil writing a note without anypony holding it. Nearly as soon as I saw it the pencil dropped to the ground and the strange feeling disappeared and the room began getting considerably warmer. Cautiously I approached the paper and read what it had on it. There were only four words, each was in capitol letters and it was underlined heavily. YOU ARE A PONY! “Who wrote this?” I asked myself. Whoever did obviously didn’t know about me very well and my internal conflict. I crumpled up the note tossed it into the trash and told myself I would not think about it anymore. I lay down in my bed and closed my eyes and prepared for the calm embrace of sleep. This dream was quite different from anything I had seen before. I wasn’t in the place of myself in the past or future or anyone else for that matter. I stood in a marsh and was sinking down into it very fast, I was human. For every second that passed more of my body slipped beneath the marsh. And as it did I forgot about that part of me. One person was standing at the edge of the shore, he was my brother. He held a deep frown on his face but was holding out an arm as for me to reach for it and escape this black marsh. I attempted to reach for it, to try and escape what I was in but as I did my brother became the center point for a horrid display of death, fire and mayhem. In the background was Canterlot. It was burning, bombs were exploding in it. I pulled away from him and the images disappeared. He was now pleading for me to take his arm. I was paralyzed in fear. My eyes were darting around and at some point looked straight at the murky mud. In it I saw myself, as a pony, in my house in Ponyville. I was there, happy, and with Songjay. I was almost chest deep in the murk; everything below the surface was gone from me. To take the hand of my brother meant so much death and suffering. To be happy I had to die. In a panic I reached out and grabbed the hand of my brother. A white light blocked everything out and I was in a helicopter. I was human. “I cannot believe that this place exists.” My brother started. “You wouldn’t think a place like this could exist.” “I wish it wouldn’t have to come to this.” I responded. “This is war Cameron, and to be honest did you expect any less?” they were so different from us yes, but the humans couldn’t see the similarities. They were afraid of us just as we were of them and as such retaliated. So much death occurred on both sides, I suppose my brother saw this as retribution. He squeezed the trigger of a device and then before my eyes the sun disappeared and the horizon was filled with a white light. It took a while but I saw the result. A nuclear device, detonated over the center of Equestria. Cloudsdale was blown away, Ponyville was at ground zero. The shield that protected Canterlot didn’t hold from the blast and was down. “Strike force you are clear for assault on the capitol city. Terminate any who resist.” Over my head flew tens of bombers and helicopters. Equestria was gone, and everypony I knew was now dead. I was human but I had no one. What I had seen that night was the most horrid thing I could imagine. If my dreams truly did tell the future…then did Equestria have one? But the thing that I couldn’t get off my shoulders was this feeling of guilt. Throughout the entire dream something deep within me was saying ‘it’s my fault.’ But was there another option? If I took my brothers hand in the dream then Equestria would be destroyed but if I didn’t… I would be dead. I thought long and hard on it, I even wrote down in excruciating detail what I saw in an attempt to understand it. I could find no meaning. I had to either die, or be human on the worst level possible. someone newChapter 11 someone new Celestia and I were going to leave for Ponyville at 9 pm. We were to meet Twilight and the others and then go to meet our guest in the forest. By Celestia’s prediction he was going to arrive anywhere between 10 pm and 12 pm, which gave me plenty of time to see the choir perform. Celestia even decided to come watch it with me. Something told me that she was just trying to make sure I didn’t run off somewhere. The choir was performing at the hotel I had stayed at when I originally came to Canterlot. They had cleared up a large portion of the ground floor and even added a stand for them to sing from and a large group of chairs around it for the band. A lot of ponies had gathered for the event, but none of them had expected to see the princess herself. It was a little bit awkward for me to walk past all of the ponies that were bowing to her. Eventually all the people calmed down though and I was free from the crowd of ponies desperate to say hello to Celestia. After all of that though it became rather easy for me to go around and have some discussion with the other ponies. Apparently this event had been looked forward to by a lot of ponies in Canterlot and the coir was fairly well known. From the corner of my eye I could see the band taking their positions in front of the stands where the choir would be singing. As they began to tune I took my seat. Soon enough the choir arrived, Songjay was in the middle row she wore a plain golden dress and a beaded necklace. It fit her very well. The lights began to dim and the crowd got quiet. A spotlight shone on the singers and the orchestra started up. The music was a breed all its own. In no way had I ever heard anything like it before. Just hearing it made me feel elated and happy as if the orchastra was weaving magic into each note. Then came the choir. The sound was elegant, peaceful, and saddening all at the same time. Nothing I had ever heard on earth could even compare to what I heard that night. I wish it would have gone on longer. I was there for and hour but it felt like only half that, I had no complaints. Celestia though was telling me we were pressed for time and had only a few minutes until we had to leave. I was hoping to see Songjay after the show but I had to agree we didn’t have much time. So we made haiste to the chariot that would take us to Ponyville, which was apparently much faster than the train for whatever reason. To pegasi in armor waited for us at the chariot and as soon as we arrived and got on took off for Ponyville. Most of the ride to Ponyville was made in silence so I spent most of the time looking over towards the Everfree forest. The clouds above it were swirling around maddeningly fast, it easily resmbled that of a hurricane made of thunderheads. It spun around the forest in a tight and orderly manner. Far too orderly to be natural. Soon we had arrived at Ponyville. I jumped off the chariot to great my friends. They were quite happy to see me and me them. But the meeting didn’t last long and soon Celestia had us gathered together on the edge of the forest. “alright everypony we are about to be a part of a momentus occation. The first humans will be arriving in equestrian soon. We all need to be ready for the best and prepaired for the worst understood.” We all nodded in agreement, well besides fluttershy anyway. “fair enough then. Lets head out.” She guestured to the forest and we began walking. I noticed early on Fluttershy was lagging behind so I slowed my pace and caught up with her. “hey Fluttershy, whats wronge?” she held her head down, I could tell she was bugged about this whole thing. “Cameron, what are humans like?” I raised my eyes a bit. “well I mean…Celestia seems really apprehensive about all this. Are humans dangerous?” “hmm…im not going to lie. Humans can be well, violent.” That didn’t help Fluttershys case much. “but they are usually very nice. After all I was a human once and im not that bad right.” “well…no but Celestia said to be prepaired for the worst. What is the worse that could happen.” I remembered my dream. It wouldn’t help us or anypony, or anyone if they all knew what I saw. “just be cautious ok.” She nodded faintly. We soon arrived at the spot where I originally arrived. This was the suspected spot because if the humans were going to come here they would need a point of reference and the place where I arrived was likely lit up for them like a airport. Directly above us was the eye of the storm, it wasn’t at all natural. Purple energy swirled around in a chaotic manner and lightening struck around in the sky. Not only that but beyond it being unnatural it didn’t feel right. Magic felt correct, I had spells cast on me while I was here but this was just out of place. It felt like a halfway mix between both magic and technology, it didn’t fit. “Cameron, I want to know how are the humans doing this in the first place.” Twilight was yelling at me from close up, trying to get her voice over the wind. “what do you mean?” “humans cant use magic, so how are they doing this?” “I have no idea. If your nice enough to them they may tell you about it a bit but I can tell it has a technological feel to it.” Just then the winds picked up considerably. Where as before the heavy wind was moving at maybe 30 miles per hour now it had at least doubled. It kept getting stronger too, in a short time the gale had reached hurricane speed and we were, at times, almost flung off the ground. “everypony come to me!” Celestia called out. We all ran over to her vicinity then she covered us with a magical shield. “is everypony ok?” “yepity yep yep yep!” Pinky pie jumped in with. There was a calm for a moment but then… “WAIT!” pinky yelled out. “what is it Pinks?” Rainbow asked. Then Pinky’s tail twitched. From a distance I could hear the sound of a tree falling, it was a big one. “EVERYPONY SCATTER!” the tree fell with a surprisingly large amount of force on the shield and was able to shatter the spell. The wind was throwing around a lot of junk, including dirt and sticks which made it impossible to see. At least two of them had been thrown away by a sudden gust of wind and the others were struggling to stay upright. “this is crazy! Were in the eye of the storm shouldn’t it be calm!” Rainbow yelled from some direction. “its not natural Rainbowdash!” Twilight yelled. “you have to stay on the ground!” “easy for you to say!” rainbow was already being flung around like a ragdoll. She was trying to get some control but it was no use, and now she was flying right towards a tree, at hurricane speed. “I gotcha Rainbow!” Applejack tackled her out of the air not ten feet from the tree only to be caut up in the wind herself. She planted her hooves into the ground and managed to slow them down considerably “Tiligh vould mind elping us ou o’er ere.” She said as she help onto Rainbows tail with her teeth. “I gotcha!” twilight jumped right over to them and created a shield. Granted it wasn’t big but it did stop the wind. And where was I? I was hanging onto a tree for dear life with Rarity screaming her lungs out the whole time. Fluttershy was lucky though and managed to keep with Celestia who had gotten her shield back. Then the winds just stopped. Me and Rarity fell to the ground, we were flying a bit from the wind, and Tilight and Celestia dropped their shields. We gathered around the center of the clearing and looked up. The purple energy had coalest into what looked like a portal. “huh…so then…what now?” Applejack asked. “I guess we see if we truly have guests or not.” Rarity replied. Then, in the distant portal I was able to make out some figures. They were far away but I could tell that they were human. I looked over to Celestia. “I believe you should go and say hello.” I nodded and flew up. It wasn’t very high, maybe 30 meters or so. I was excited to see a human face again, it had been too long. Then right before I had reached the portal a streak of fire flew out of it. Smoke trailed a oddly shaped device that quickly made a turn and started observing the area. It was a UAV, the ponies bellow me were freaking out. They probably thought they were underattack. “its ok! It’s a reconnaissance device! It can’t hurt you!” I yelled down. They all eased up a bit, minus Fluttershy who ran into a bush the moment it came through. I continued flying upwards to the portal, I was almost there when a rope flew out of it. The portal itself was like looking through a thick fog. You could see what was there just not very clearly. One of the figures on the other side had fallen backwards when he, or she probably saw me. It pulled something from its side and pointed it at me. It was a gun! Right before I panicked and flew away though another figure stopped the one with the gun and slowly walked towards the portal. Then it stuck its head out, he was a human. “um…hello there. Thanks for stopping him from shooting me.” The man was stunned with silence. “um well anyway. Welcome to Equestria!” I gestured to what was behind me. “no…way.” His jaw dropped in shock. I nodded slowly. “I have to. Talk to some people. Ill be right back.” “alright then ill…” he pulled his head back through. “wait here then.” I finished.
AwakeningChapter 1 awakening the sound of metal and glass shattering pierced my ears and before i knew it i was out cold. the screaming that had filled the air along with the horn vanished out of the air. I was cold and wet, those were my first feelings. From my fingers to my toes it was almost all completely numb. Rain poured down from the sky which was covered in dark clouds. No stars were lit in the sky or even the moon to show my way. i was alone in a dark world with no idea of how i got here. In a spasm of pain I let out a short cough only to find that I was immensely thirsty. I opened my mouth to catch the rain but my muscles didn’t respond. My vision was hazy but I was able to make out the blurry images of trees towering over me along with their shapes. They were tall and seemed to reach all the way to the sky. Am…am I dreaming? I asked myself. I tried to look but I could not turn my head or even my eyes for that matter. Just then a distant sensation gripped me. It seemed to be coming from my arm. Left… or right. I couldn’t tell the difference I was so dreary. Then something strange happened, a voice clear as day and calm pierced my ears. Only I didn’t hear the voice it came from, well I don’t know. Are you ok? The voice asked. I tried to look and see what I was hearing but a force prevented it. Please, try not to move, you’re not well. The voice was very sincere, I happily obliged for I couldn’t move in the first place nor for that matter did I believe to have the ability to do so. What is your name? The voice asked. My name, wait what was my name? Furthermore who was this person talking to me? And why was I in a rainy forest. My thoughts began to race as to what was going on. Please calm yourself, getting hysterical will not help you. The voice said in a more frantic tone. It seemed rather afraid for me for some reason. Please you must speak to me if I am to help you. I didn’t know what to do. None of my muscles would respond to my call even my voice wouldn’t respond. All was silent, yet I could hear this voice. Why could I hear it and not the rain around me? I soon became aware of a presence by my arm but I couldn’t identify it nor could I tell which arm it was for that matter. The presence was sincere and calming, even from the seemingly infinite space I could feel the kindness. Where am I? I thought to myself. Then almost instantaneously the voice replied. You’re in the Everfree forest. The voice responded. Wait did it respond to my thoughts? And did it just say “Everfree forest?” if it did then does that mean I’m in… no! This must be some kind of prank, how else would this work. I mean ponies aren’t REAL, are they. What is your name? I asked intently with my mind open. My name is twilight sparkle. I didn’t think my condition could get worse, but it did. The mention of that name drove my mind in panic as to the possibilities. The better question is who are you, and what were you doing out here in the middle of a rain storm? Twilight asked. I didn’t know how to respond. I was already bewildered at the mention of her name. What was I supposed to say when I didn’t even know how I got here in the first place? My senses were beginning to return to me. Up until now I had been relying on this disembodied voice, now I was regaining my hearing. As if a mile away I was able to hear talking between two beings. One was frantic the other was trying to… focus? Focus on what? What are you talking about over there? I asked. My friend is trying to stabilize you. She is really worried for your health, and frankly so am I. I’m talking to you so you can stay conscious. Twilight replied. How bad is my condition? You’re losing a lot of blood, were trying to get you to the hospital in Ponyville. I’m losing blood, great. What happened to me that was so bad I was in a dangerous condition. Wait... what did happen? I couldn’t remember what happened. The entire day was a blur; I had no recollection of what happened at all. Did I hit my head or something? I could begin to hear and feel much better now but my vision was still very blurry. What scared me though is what I didn’t feel. It was as if my feet and hands were gone and all that remained were stumps. Oh god what did I do to myself, was I really in that bad of a condition. Where are my hands and feet! I asked desperately. At this point I didn’t care who I was talking to or where I was I just wanted help. In the distance I could hear voices; they had a confused tone to them as if they didn’t know how to reply. For a moment there was no response then twilight asked me a question. What are you talking about? Ponies don’t have hands, or feet really. My heart dropped like a stone as my senses began to return to me, And at the worst possible moment. I could now tell that not only were my hands and feet gone but I had gained some parts. I could feel my ears were different and, oh god did I have a tail! Am I a pony! I asked frantically. No response came, just a silence that told me I had asked a stupid question. In shock I blacked out and began to dream. In the dream I stood upright in my room, wait no it was an apartment. The crude unit consisted of a small kitchen complete with a run-down stove, a mini fringe and poor storage areas on the celling and floor, at least one was broken. Next to it was a table, oak or some kind of hardwood and a chair crafted fairly well. On top of the chair was what looked to be a gown of sorts? The gown was plain and black. I reached for it and walked over to a mirror. Although I couldn’t see my face I could tell I was ecstatic and happy. The gown looked vaguely familiar but I couldn’t put my finger on it. Then I began to dress myself in it. Soon it was on but I still didn’t have my answer. It came when I put on the cap, the graduation cap. I was graduating from college that day. Then through the door came a man and a women in an instant I could tell they were my parents. I still could not see any faces. My mom ran over and gave me a hug and said something. My father came over and gave me a pat on the back. “I am so proud of you.” He said. Then something weird happened. A flash of light cut me from the tender moment and I was filled with adrenaline. My body was rocking around like mad and I was screaming along with two other people. A blaring loud noise pierced my ears and I was thrown into a spiral. Thrown around like a ragdoll I hit myself on every perceivable surface. Then silence fell and the dream faded. I awoke to a bright white light above my head. I could see now but the feeling in my body was numbed out and I couldn’t move. I blinked and the haze that surrounded me began to filter away. I could turn my eyes enough to see what I was lying on and to make a general inference of where I was. It was some kind of hospital, and I was lying alone in a white bed, warm and as far as I could tell safe. I could hear voices outside my door; they seemed to be approaching steadily. I closed my eyes but kept listening. Soon the door opened and I could make out someone saying “shh, he’s still asleep.” A voice said softly as to not disturb me. Strangely I recognized the voice, it was familiar to me. “I can’t believe he’s still asleep. I mean really he’s been out cold for who knows how long.” Another voice commented. “It don’t surprise me much. He sure did lose a lot of blood from what I hear.” Another responded. “Well at least he made it out alive. Still I can’t imagine what he could have been doing in the Everfree forest.” The original voice said. I was very tempted to look to see who these people were now. Perhaps if I listen more I could determine what was going on. Then something I couldn’t ignore happened. MY TAIL TWITCHED. This in and of itself was enough to send a shiver down my spine. Adrenaline shot through my body in fear of what had just happened. All my senses immediately turned on and I began to perceive exactly what was going on. I could feel my tail under the covers. I could feel my ears, were too long for my comfort. But the thing that scared the daylights out of me and forced me to unintentionally open my eyes was that I had no hands or feet. “AHH!” I screamed. I don’t know who was shocked more me or them. It must have seemed to them I was awaking from a night mare or something. For me on the other hand it was like entering one. Around my bed stood PONIES! Six of them, looking AT ME in shock. If anyone was in shock I was. Apparently I had scared one; it had run off to the other side of the room. No wait it flew there? Then it hit me. Around me weren’t just ponies they were the ones from the cartoon I had watched. Directly to my left was a purple unicorn, twilight. Next to her was a light brown… earth pony, applejack. Then it was rainbow dash, rarity, pinky and that meant the one I scared off was… Fluttershy. “Hey you’re awake!” pinky exclaimed with the utmost excitement. “Oh geez it’s good to meet you john.” She shot out her hoof. All I did was give her a look of confusion. John? that wasnt my name. Guessing I moved out my hoof to…my…hoof. I froze looking at it in disbelief. “Um are you ok dude.” Rainbowdash asked. I was still stuck looking at MY HOOF. “wh…where am I?” I asked in a stammered tongue. “You’re in the hospital. You would have died If we hadn’t brought you here.” Raibowdash replied. “No I mean what country…what city?” “Why darling you’re in Ponyville of course.” Rarity stated. I took a big gulp and began to realize what was going on. something had happened to me and now for whatever reason. I was a pony, and i was in Ponyville.
getting to know myselfChapter 2 getting to know myself “perhaps you could answer some questions for us then?” twilight asked. “I… uh don’t know if ill be able to.” I stated. “Go ahead though might as well.” I faked a smile trying, unsuccessfully, to lighten my mood. “well first off can we have a name. as your probably well aware pinky over there called you john, as in john dough. We really have no idea who you are, care to tell us.” Twilight asked. That was a hard question in one way but easy in another. For one my name was Cameron but let’s be honest no pony is named ‘john’ or ‘Cameron’ I had to think of something fast. “Could you please give me some time to myself? I had… a long journey and I need to get things together first.” Maybe this will give me some time I thought. “Of course you can have a moment.” Twilight gestured to the door and they all left, Fluttershy first. One by one they left until the room was empty. Then the door closed and I hurried to find it. Each pony was named after their special talent, to an extent. That was my best bet for a name. I hurriedly scrambled to take a look at…my flank. On it was a depiction of a carpenter square. So my special talent was wood working. That helped to lighten my load a bit. At least I had a special talent. Now I just needed to come up with a name. I pondered for a moment and came up with something: hardwood. That ought to do it, now I just need a reason for why I was in the Everfree forest in the midst of a rain storm. Now that is a hard answer. Oh that’s it! I was out looking for rare trees when I got lost and…fell off a cliff! No that wouldn’t work I was in a clearing of sorts. That’s it! I was on a tree when a branch snapped and I fell to the ground. That should do it I thought. Soon enough they all returned to the room and graciously awaited my response. “So my name is Hardwood. I was out in the forest looking for a rare tree to fulfill a special order. I found the tree but the only way to tell if it was good was to climb it and test it from the top. Anyway that’s when the rain started, I slipped and the branch broke and I fell to the ground.” They all seemed to believe it. “Hardwood…hmm, for a Pegasus that’s an odd name.” Rainbowdash replied. Stunned I looked to my side, sure enough I had wings. Granted they were broken but I was still caught off guard by this. “Hey I didn’t choose my name that’s just what I got.” I replied. That seemed to work on Rainbowdash but the look on pinky pie was an inquisitive one. “Wait just a minute here.” Pinky jumped in. “where exactly do you live anyways. I mean it can’t be Ponyville because if it were I would have seen you or more likely had known you.” “Um…well actually I just moved into Ponyville just yesterday actually. Just my luck that I ended up unconscious in the Everfree forest.” I explained. Truth is that statement was about right because it was pretty obvious I would be here a while. “Wait so you’re new here then! Oh great now I need to make set up a party for you. Oo oo oo! Where do you live ill get it set up and everything! All you need to do is get better it will be great! There will be streamers and music and cake! Oh what kind of cake do you like anyway.” Pinky ranted. “Um…strawberry would be nice, but you really don’t need to do this for me.” I responded. “Are you kidding me I have to do this? After all you’re new here so you just gotta have a warm welcome right. So where do you live then.” She asked. Now that, I didn’t have an answer for. Of all my knowledge, likely simple as it is, I had no idea of where I could live. “As it turns out I just showed up last night I really don’t have a place to stay yet.” I figured this would bring on a storm of questions but to my surprise it didn’t. “Aww well that’s too bad I’m sure you’ll find a place though and when you do ill throw you the most super awesome party ever.” Pinky responded “oh by the way I’m pinky pie, thought you might want to know.” Now that was irony considering I already knew that. “Nice to meet you pinky.” I smiled and nodded. “So wait how bad were my injuries then.” Twilight stepped forward to answer that. “Well the injuries were pretty bad but the doctor was able to fix you up quite well. That is except for your wing.” Twilight gestured to it. I was reluctant to acknowledge I had one or two for that matter. “When you passed out I was afraid we were going to lose you, thanks to Rainbowdash though we got you here in time.” I looked over to Rainbowdash. “Yep that’s right hardwood I saved your flank there.” I didn’t know how to respond. “Well thank you rainbow dash I owe you my life I suppose then.” I added. Then it struck me, in my dream I was with other people. Could they be here too? “I don’t suppose anyone else was with me when you found me right.” they looked slightly confused at what I said; I asked a stupid question again didn’t me. “Well no, no one was with you. Did anyone accompany you to the forest?” twilight asked. “Apparently not.” I responded in a depressed tone. For a while the room was fairly quiet and I was left thinking about what was going on. They saw this and began to leave one by one out the door. Eventually it was just me in my room left to think. So I was a Pegasus now, with a tail, wings the whole shebang. I still couldn’t believe what was going on then I realized something that disturbed me deeply. They were all naked and so was I. almost instantly I began to feel really dizzy at the thought. That’s going to take some getting used to. I thought. Getting my mind off it though I began to contemplate what I should do next. If I told anyone, or anypony as it goes now, the truth they’d think I was crazy. I have to keep it a secret, for now at least, until I learn more. My best bet would be to find one of the people who were in the accident with me. Maybe they knew something. With I sigh I laid back into the bed and tried to calm down. I still couldn’t get over the tail thing. Also I apparently had wings, which I had to learn to use. I don’t know how I’m going to learn to fly. Wait… I can learn to fly! If anything were to cheer me up it was that thought. Now I at least had something to look forward to. It wasn’t enough though to quell the sadness in my heart. I was a pony; I didn’t really know anypony out there. In retrospect I was alone. That was a depressing thought, and because of it all I wanted to do was go to sleep. So I closed my eyes and waited for the darkness to take me. The dream was in a word slow. I was sitting in a sea of people all dressed in the same kind of robes as me. To my left and right everyone bore a large smile on their face. I was at my graduation. We were listening to someone give a speech. My instincts told me it was my friend Kyle. As I remembered that name a large chunk of my memory returned to me. He majored in physics and was regarded by his teacher to be the most mathematically inclined individual he had ever seen. He was a good friend of mine, which was obvious. My diploma was in my lap, it read ‘professorship in engineering.’ So that was where my talent came from I was an engineer. For a long time people came up and gave speeches. I was bored out of my mind, but I was in my mind? Anyway eventually they were all finished up and all the graduates stood up and threw their caps into the air. As I watched mine go up the feeling of happiness that I was gripped in began to change. It changed to dread and terror. The cap suddenly grew two headlights and the sky above me was replaced by that of a giant metal body. It was coming straight for me and directly before it hit me it let out the loudest scariest honk I had ever heard. My body was thrown back against the seat with tremendous force only to roll around like mad. I was in a car with two others one was Kyle the other was unidentifiable. We screamed as the car flipped over and began to spin uncontrollably. The glass shattered and cut me like a million razors then everything began to fall. In a cold sweat I threw myself from the bed panting at what I just saw. I was in a car crash. That explains the damage to my body but why on earth was I in equestrian. The question rolled around in my head for a while but I still couldn’t come up with a solution. Diverting my attention I looked outside my window to find it was night time. By now everypony would be asleep. I looked to my other side to find a small side table with a get well soon card laying on it. I reached over for it but soon realized I HAD NO HANDS. I looked back and forth between the card and my hoof trying to understand how to pick it up. Eventually I just started trying to grab it. It took me a lot of trial and error but I eventually got ahold of the not. Holding something with hooves was a lot different that with hands. By the way I was thinking about it I shouldn’t have been able to in the first place. I chose not to think about it much and instead opened it and began reading. Each of the ponies from earlier had signed it. Twilight, Rainbowdash, rarity, pinky, applejack and Fluttershy. I didn’t expect to see her name after I scared her so badly. I closed the card and sat up in the bed. Slowly I rose up my hoof to examine it. For what felt like an hour I simply stared at it still unable to accept what had happened to me. The bandages around my side were covering up my wings fairly well so I couldn’t get an idea as to what they looked like. I threw back the covers to take a look at myself. Before I could see though I smelt. How long was I out for anyway? I smelt as if I hadn’t taken a bath in weeks, and considering my injuries that may well have been the case. I began to wonder what if would be like to stand up and walk in this way. I turned my body away from the bed to find I could feel my wings, in a bad way. Rolling over onto the broken wing hurt bad but it didn’t stop me. Working through the pain I was able to step down from the bed and get my footing. My legs felt like Jell-O as I attempted to move forward. If that wasn’t hard enough it became obviously clear, rather fast that, that it was nothing like how I knew how to walk. So I thought about it for a minute and began to take a few steps forward. To my discontent it was a lot harder than I made it out to be. This time I didn’t think about it. I simply started walking forward and didn’t think about it, and surprisingly it worked. That made me feel better, at least now I could move around like a semi average pony. Again though from behind me my tail twitched, I turned and looked at it. That was going to take some getting used to. From that view I was able to spot a mirror directly behind me on the opposite side of the room. Reluctantly I walked towards it not sure of what to expect. As I approached it my reflection was of a light brown Pegasus with a kind of reddish hint. My…mane which disturbed me deeply to see was a darker shade of brown that fell over my head in a dirty fashion. Most of my features were gone but something about the reflection reminded me of myself. I sat down in front of it and looked deeply at the mirror. With a sigh I began to repeat to myself. This is who I am now. Over and over again I repeated those six words trying to find meaning in them. For the longest time I sat there and thought about what happened. Right now though all I wanted to know for sure was if any of the people…err I suppose by now ponies that were with me were here. I hoped for my sake they were but I hoped for theirs they weren’t.
looking for a friendChapter 3 looking a friend For about two weeks I was stuck in the Ponyville hospital with very limited connection to the outside world, save the newspaper which twilight brought me every few days. Also I was constantly visited by the others. They were very nice, but they were very inquisitive about my past. The only pony who didn’t was Fluttershy, who didn’t really talk much anyway. I did find Fluttershy the best in my time there as I didn’t want to talk much either. In my time there I discovered about what was going on outside, thanks to twilight who in fact found current events in the news somewhat interesting. Apparently the Queen Chrysalis incident was not to long ago. As it turns out some of the recent news was still of Shining Armor and princess Cadence. At least I had an idea of the timeframe I was in. During my last few days in the hospital I began to realize that I had no where to go and I started thinking about where I could find a home. Luckily for me Rainbowdash was the one who decided to chat with me that day. Apparently she was in quite the mood over Thunderlane who apparently didn’t show up for some kind of flight training and Rainbow had to cover for him. “So, what kind of flight team is this anyway?” I asked. “Well it doesn’t have a name yet but basically its Ponyvilles own competition team.” She began to explain. “Anyway that lazy brain decided not to show AGAIN and I had to cover for him.” “So why didn’t he show up then. He must had a reason,” “Pff if you call sleeping in a reason then I guess so.” She seemed rather upset about it and frankly I agreed why. “Hmm…I just had an idea!” “What kind of idea.” I asked “How good of a flier are you.” She asked intently. “Honestly I have no idea.” I mumbled but she seemed to have heard it. “Because I’ve been in here so long. I’m mean really; I’ve been in here for two weeks with a broken wing can’t say I got any better.” As to what Rainbow said next I regretted that choice of words. “Well you couldn’t have gotten any worse right. Hay I was in here for a while with a broken wing myself and I was flying again before I knew it.” Well played, I thought to myself. “So you want me to try out for your team if I’m not mistaken.” “Ya, why not, we have room for another flier anyway and with Thunderlane out so often we could use another pony.” She seemed rather intent on me flying with her team; I didn’t have the heart to say no. “I’ll try my best then.” I reassured her. “Great! Can’t wait to see you out there flying with us. Now uh the doc said you’ll be out ah here in a few days. He said not to work the wing to hard but you look like a tough colt you should be good to go in a while right?” she asked intently. “Oh I should be fine.” That statement didn’t help my position much. Rainbowdash found that wonderful news and left in a hurry, possibly to talk to her team. I was left inside trying to think of what I had just committed myself to. In about a week I would have to show Rainbow and her team what I could put on the table. Hay, I didn’t know what I could contribute. For a while it was just me alone in my room, I was even about to get some sleep but suddenly twilight ran in. she was carrying the latest newspaper, The Equestrian Times. This was about the time she showed up every few days so it didn’t come as a total surprise. Twilight seemed rather interested in one of the article and had ran over to show me as I apparently, according to her at least, had an interest in the news. “Hey hardwood check out the front page of the newspaper.” The article title read ‘Unknown Earth Pony To Begin Work At Canterlot University.’ I started reading the article and began to get rather intrigued about what was going on. “So what’s the big deal then, so a pony got a job there?” The look on twilights face was that of confusion. “Ever since the universities inception only unicorns have ever taught there. To have an earth pony teach, well that’s unheard of.” Interested I kept reading. Apparently this pony seemed to have come out of nowhere. He had no background information what so ever he was a nobody. Then I found a detail that came as both a shock and a pleasant surprise. The pony’s name was Kyle. I was shocked to see that name in a paper. Could that be one of the people who were in the accident with me? “That pony sure has a weird name doesn’t he?” Twilight started. “Ya, hey how far away is Canterlot?” I asked. “Not too far it’s only a few hours away by train. Are you thinking about talking to this pony?” “Ya his picture is that of an old friend of mine. We… got into an accident a while back and I never saw him again, until now that is.” “Hmm well the doctors did say you’re almost out of here. How about this when you get out you can accompany me and rarity to Canterlot. There is some work we need to get done there anyway.” This was it in a few days I would be out of here and possibly even able to see Kyle, and maybe get some answers. Two days passed before I was let out of the hospital in which time I was able to explain to Rainbowdash what I was doing. Although she wasn’t too into the idea of me leaving and not getting back into the hang of flying I was able to talk her into it on the condition that I put in some over time when I get flying. When it was time to get out of the hospital they warned me about strenuous flying and how if I fly too early I’ll be right back in the hospital. That didn’t bother me much as I didn’t even really know how to fly in the first place, of course Rainbow didn’t know that. Anyway what I wanted to do didn’t involve flying, as far as I was concerned. When I was finally let out though I was met by Rarity and Twilight who decided it would be a good change from hospital food if we went out for lunch. I happily obliged, as you probably know all too well hospital food is the worst. We crossed through the center of Ponyville on our way to the restraint they had decided to go to. I was stupefied at what I was seeing. Up until this point I had only seen glimpses of Ponyville through my window, it was far off in the distance and I was unable to get a good feel for what it was like. Now I was in it and it was far different from anything I had experienced prior. It took us a few minutes to get to the restaurant they had picked out. Strangely it was the epidemy of a ghost town. Confused I looked around for any customers at all. No one was in sight. “Hey Rarity you said this place is full of ponies. Its lunch and no one is here.” I found myself fairly confused. “Don’t worry about it darling, this restaurant is the friendliest place in Ponyville.” She reassured. “Ok then it’s just a little desolate looking is all.” We walked into the restaurant to find the lights were all off and the room was frozen in complete silence. Curiously I searched for the light switch so I could find my way. Reaching around I finally found what I only assumed was a switch and flipped it up. The next thing I knew the room was flooded by light, nearly blinding me and the combined yell of about 30 or so ponies screaming “surprise!’ “Oo oo oo did we surprise you!” pinky blurted from right in front of me. “It took me forever to book this place and then I had to get all these ponies here so are ya are ya are ya?” “I can’t say I’m not surprised that’s for sure.” I was fully expecting a nice meal but now I’m at a party, fair trade in my mind. “Thanks Pinky you defiantly got me good.” I said with the first real smile I’ve had my whole time here. “Oh great now if you don’t mind LETS PARTY!” she threw a mix tape of sorts at a player and somehow it landed and started playing. Anyway the party lasted for quite a while. As I asked Pinky had brought a strawberry cake from sugar cube corner. Hands down the best one I have ever had. The party started about 11 or so and ended at three PM or so. I was never a party person… or is it pony now? Anyway that was the most fun I had ever had in a while. I left filled to the brim with cake and plums, which I decided sounded a little more appetizing than the sound of hay fries. Apparently pinky had gotten my release date from the doctors about a week ago and had been planning it for just that long. I can’t say I was let down by it. Soon thereafter Twilight, Rarity and I departed to the train station. On our way though I realized I had no money. Apparently they had accounted for this and bought me a ticket. Which, I didn’t feel too good about. The train ride was fairly uneventful for me but Rarity and Twilight always seemed to have something to talk about. One subject they had decided to touch on was what kind of clothes I was into. Sadly for me fashion was never in my blood. Rarity on the other hand was constantly reassuring about how handsome I was, which gave me some hope for what I looked like now at least I’m not considered ugly I thought to myself. The ride took longer than I expected an even though I didn’t know the exact time we arrived the sun was clearly going down in the sky. That’s when I realized it wasn’t actually going down it was being moved down. Rarity had decided to take the initiative and started a conversation. “Quite the site isn’t it.” She started “I always liked the sunsets here they have a kind of splendor to them don’t they.” “Ya this is kind of the first sunset I’ve seen.” Rarity looked at me puzzled at that statement. “Here… in Canterlot I mean.” “So who is this friend of yours that is here?” she asked. “Well his name is Kyle.” His name was enough to puzzle Rarity a bit. “I know his name is unconventional but that’s why he changed it. He found his old name too unoriginal.” “Alright then I can understand that after all we all want to stand out a little don’t we.” She added. I nodded and continued. “Anyway a while ago we got into an accident and I haven’t seen him since.” Rarity seemed to understand and was intrigued with the story. “So anyway now were here and I finally get to meet him.” “Not exactly.” Twilight commented. Confused I looked over to her trying to understand exactly what she meant. “As it turns out we arrived a little late and the University is closed right now so well have to go there in the morning.” “Alright then where will we be staying?” I asked. “Well you’ll be staying in the hotel across from the university me and Rarity will be in the room just opposite yours.” “So how are you affording that then?” “I’m the princess student.” She said with a smile. “It helps to know people.” “I couldn’t agree more.” I commented. Our rooms in the hotel were on the top floor, which I was fully expecting to be great, until I learned they didn’t have elevators. About eight flights of stairs later, that I struggled not to trip on, we arrived at the top floor. The hall was fairly ornate and well styled; if I didn’t know better I would have said Rarity designed it. As it was we were all fairly tired from the trip here so we quickly departed to our rooms. Mine was molded after what I can only assume to be a Cloudsdale. Pillars of marble molded after cloud ones rose up around me and a fluffy bed made of feathers lay at the end. What I found interesting was the missing back wall, this room hadn’t been designed to mimic pegasi architecture it was. Curious I decided to look down, and as I did I remembered a distinct personality trait. I had irrational fear of heights. Great, I’m a Pegasus who is afraid of heights, now that’s a contradiction. Not giving up though I decided against flying out the building and just trying to hover slightly. It took quite a while but I was eventually able to get the idea of flying. My wing ached a bit but it wasn’t anything I couldn’t bear. It took me quite a while but I was eventually able to lift my entire body off the floor. The elation of feeling like weighing nothing almost completely covered for the sharp pain in my wing. I decided it would be against my better judgment to continue and break my wing again so I landed and went off to my bed. It didn’t take long for me to fall asleep. I had been partying, eating, train riding and stair climbing. I was beat. So I closed my eyes and started thinking about what tomaroe would be like and whether or not Kyle would recognize me. I and Kyle were out partying in some kind of club. The music, although distant was still pounding and strong. I was watching Kyle dance in the center of a crowd of people. I was sitting on at a booth drinking some kind of drink. It was a graduation party and all my friends and family were there. Although I couldn’t recognize any of them by name I was able to spot different people. My parents were there along with my aunt and uncle; they were all sitting in the background chatting about life. Most of my friends were out dancing, I was just sitting. I never was one for parties that is until I met Pinky. I was also looking through some of the presents I had received for graduation. Most of them were gift cards but some I held more interest in. for one I had received what appeared to be some kind of gift card for a free table saw, which was my favorite. Also was a kind of charm necklace given to me by an anonymous person? The notes inside said it was a good luck charm and would make my deepest desires come true. I studied the necklace, in the center was a small sapphire held on by a gold base and etched with figures I didn’t quite understand. The base was strapped to a silver chain that was large enough to be held carried around my neck. I began to look at the sapphire intrigued. Then the dark blue gem began to grow before my eyes and I was on a dark road in a car with two others. The head lights were out and we couldn’t see then before we knew it over the ill just ahead of us a truck appeared out of nowhere. We were in the wrong lane. Its headlights blinded us and the horn deafened our ears. Before we knew it the car was hit head on and began to spin uncontrollably throwing us around like rag dolls. The glass shattered and flew back at an alarming rate cutting us to ribbons. Then after what seemed like the third flip everything stopped and the car began to tilt backwards. Dazed I reached for the door in an attempt to escape. The others were uncononcious and didn’t respond to my call to run. Then as I was exiting the car the world began to rise around me and I was no longer standing I was falling. I screamed and then I the water at the same time the car crunched against the rocks. I awoke to a cold sweat and threw myself forwards. I could see outside, the sun was high in the sky already and the air warm. How long did I sleep in? Slowly I stood up and walked over to the door and pushed it open. Hung to the outside of the door was a note from Rarity and Twilight. The had apparently tried to wake me up but I was out cold. Rarity had some things she needed to do and so did Twilight so they were off. The note also held some instructions for finding Kyle along with a ‘good luck’ written on the bottom. Alright, then now I have some stairs to climb, again. I thought as I headed out. Chapter 3 looking a friend For about two weeks I was stuck in the Ponyville hospital with very limited connection to the outside world, save the newspaper which twilight brought me every few days. Also I was constantly visited by the others. They were very nice, but they were very inquisitive about my past. The only pony who didn’t was Fluttershy, who didn’t really talk much anyway. I did find Fluttershy the best in my time there as I didn’t want to talk much either. In my time there I discovered about what was going on outside, thanks to twilight who in fact found current events in the news somewhat interesting. Apparently the Queen Chrysalis incident was not to long ago. As it turns out some of the recent news was still of Shining Armor and princess Cadence. At least I had an idea of the timeframe I was in. During my last few days in the hospital I began to realize that I had no where to go and I started thinking about where I could find a home. Luckily for me Rainbowdash was the one who decided to chat with me that day. Apparently she was in quite the mood over Thunderlane who apparently didn’t show up for some kind of flight training and Rainbow had to cover for him. “So, what kind of flight team is this anyway?” I asked. “Well it doesn’t have a name yet but basically its Ponyvilles own competition team.” She began to explain. “Anyway that lazy brain decided not to show AGAIN and I had to cover for him.” “So why didn’t he show up then. He must had a reason,” “Pff if you call sleeping in a reason then I guess so.” She seemed rather upset about it and frankly I agreed why. “Hmm…I just had an idea!” “What kind of idea.” I asked “How good of a flier are you.” She asked intently. “Honestly I have no idea.” I mumbled but she seemed to have heard it. “Because I’ve been in here so long. I’m mean really; I’ve been in here for two weeks with a broken wing can’t say I got any better.” As to what Rainbow said next I regretted that choice of words. “Well you couldn’t have gotten any worse right. Hay I was in here for a while with a broken wing myself and I was flying again before I knew it.” Well played, I thought to myself. “So you want me to try out for your team if I’m not mistaken.” “Ya, why not, we have room for another flier anyway and with Thunderlane out so often we could use another pony.” She seemed rather intent on me flying with her team; I didn’t have the heart to say no. “I’ll try my best then.” I reassured her. “Great! Can’t wait to see you out there flying with us. Now uh the doc said you’ll be out ah here in a few days. He said not to work the wing to hard but you look like a tough colt you should be good to go in a while right?” she asked intently. “Oh I should be fine.” That statement didn’t help my position much. Rainbowdash found that wonderful news and left in a hurry, possibly to talk to her team. I was left inside trying to think of what I had just committed myself to. In about a week I would have to show Rainbow and her team what I could put on the table. Hay, I didn’t know what I could contribute. For a while it was just me alone in my room, I was even about to get some sleep but suddenly twilight ran in. she was carrying the latest newspaper, The Equestrian Times. This was about the time she showed up every few days so it didn’t come as a total surprise. Twilight seemed rather interested in one of the article and had ran over to show me as I apparently, according to her at least, had an interest in the news. “Hey hardwood check out the front page of the newspaper.” The article title read ‘Unknown Earth Pony To Begin Work At Canterlot University.’ I started reading the article and began to get rather intrigued about what was going on. “So what’s the big deal then, so a pony got a job there?” The look on twilights face was that of confusion. “Ever since the universities inception only unicorns have ever taught there. To have an earth pony teach, well that’s unheard of.” Interested I kept reading. Apparently this pony seemed to have come out of nowhere. He had no background information what so ever he was a nobody. Then I found a detail that came as both a shock and a pleasant surprise. The pony’s name was Kyle. I was shocked to see that name in a paper. Could that be one of the people who were in the accident with me? “That pony sure has a weird name doesn’t he?” Twilight started. “Ya, hey how far away is Canterlot?” I asked. “Not too far it’s only a few hours away by train. Are you thinking about talking to this pony?” “Ya his picture is that of an old friend of mine. We… got into an accident a while back and I never saw him again, until now that is.” “Hmm well the doctors did say you’re almost out of here. How about this when you get out you can accompany me and rarity to Canterlot. There is some work we need to get done there anyway.” This was it in a few days I would be out of here and possibly even able to see Kyle, and maybe get some answers. Two days passed before I was let out of the hospital in which time I was able to explain to Rainbowdash what I was doing. Although she wasn’t too into the idea of me leaving and not getting back into the hang of flying I was able to talk her into it on the condition that I put in some over time when I get flying. When it was time to get out of the hospital they warned me about strenuous flying and how if I fly too early I’ll be right back in the hospital. That didn’t bother me much as I didn’t even really know how to fly in the first place, of course Rainbow didn’t know that. Anyway what I wanted to do didn’t involve flying, as far as I was concerned. When I was finally let out though I was met by Rarity and Twilight who decided it would be a good change from hospital food if we went out for lunch. I happily obliged, as you probably know all too well hospital food is the worst. We crossed through the center of Ponyville on our way to the restraint they had decided to go to. I was stupefied at what I was seeing. Up until this point I had only seen glimpses of Ponyville through my window, it was far off in the distance and I was unable to get a good feel for what it was like. Now I was in it and it was far different from anything I had experienced prior. It took us a few minutes to get to the restaurant they had picked out. Strangely it was the epidemy of a ghost town. Confused I looked around for any customers at all. No one was in sight. “Hey Rarity you said this place is full of ponies. Its lunch and no one is here.” I found myself fairly confused. “Don’t worry about it darling, this restaurant is the friendliest place in Ponyville.” She reassured. “Ok then it’s just a little desolate looking is all.” We walked into the restaurant to find the lights were all off and the room was frozen in complete silence. Curiously I searched for the light switch so I could find my way. Reaching around I finally found what I only assumed was a switch and flipped it up. The next thing I knew the room was flooded by light, nearly blinding me and the combined yell of about 30 or so ponies screaming “surprise!’ “Oo oo oo did we surprise you!” pinky blurted from right in front of me. “It took me forever to book this place and then I had to get all these ponies here so are ya are ya are ya?” “I can’t say I’m not surprised that’s for sure.” I was fully expecting a nice meal but now I’m at a party, fair trade in my mind. “Thanks Pinky you defiantly got me good.” I said with the first real smile I’ve had my whole time here. “Oh great now if you don’t mind LETS PARTY!” she threw a mix tape of sorts at a player and somehow it landed and started playing. Anyway the party lasted for quite a while. As I asked Pinky had brought a strawberry cake from sugar cube corner. Hands down the best one I have ever had. The party started about 11 or so and ended at three PM or so. I was never a party person… or is it pony now? Anyway that was the most fun I had ever had in a while. I left filled to the brim with cake and plums, which I decided sounded a little more appetizing than the sound of hay fries. Apparently pinky had gotten my release date from the doctors about a week ago and had been planning it for just that long. I can’t say I was let down by it. Soon thereafter Twilight, Rarity and I departed to the train station. On our way though I realized I had no money. Apparently they had accounted for this and bought me a ticket. Which, I didn’t feel too good about. The train ride was fairly uneventful for me but Rarity and Twilight always seemed to have something to talk about. One subject they had decided to touch on was what kind of clothes I was into. Sadly for me fashion was never in my blood. Rarity on the other hand was constantly reassuring about how handsome I was, which gave me some hope for what I looked like now at least I’m not considered ugly I thought to myself. The ride took longer than I expected an even though I didn’t know the exact time we arrived the sun was clearly going down in the sky. That’s when I realized it wasn’t actually going down it was being moved down. Rarity had decided to take the initiative and started a conversation. “Quite the site isn’t it.” She started “I always liked the sunsets here they have a kind of splendor to them don’t they.” “Ya this is kind of the first sunset I’ve seen.” Rarity looked at me puzzled at that statement. “Here… in Canterlot I mean.” “So who is this friend of yours that is here?” she asked. “Well his name is Kyle.” His name was enough to puzzle Rarity a bit. “I know his name is unconventional but that’s why he changed it. He found his old name too unoriginal.” “Alright then I can understand that after all we all want to stand out a little don’t we.” She added. I nodded and continued. “Anyway a while ago we got into an accident and I haven’t seen him since.” Rarity seemed to understand and was intrigued with the story. “So anyway now were here and I finally get to meet him.” “Not exactly.” Twilight commented. Confused I looked over to her trying to understand exactly what she meant. “As it turns out we arrived a little late and the University is closed right now so well have to go there in the morning.” “Alright then where will we be staying?” I asked. “Well you’ll be staying in the hotel across from the university me and Rarity will be in the room just opposite yours.” “So how are you affording that then?” “I’m the princess student.” She said with a smile. “It helps to know people.” “I couldn’t agree more.” I commented. Our rooms in the hotel were on the top floor, which I was fully expecting to be great, until I learned they didn’t have elevators. About eight flights of stairs later, that I struggled not to trip on, we arrived at the top floor. The hall was fairly ornate and well styled; if I didn’t know better I would have said Rarity designed it. As it was we were all fairly tired from the trip here so we quickly departed to our rooms. Mine was molded after what I can only assume to be a Cloudsdale. Pillars of marble molded after cloud ones rose up around me and a fluffy bed made of feathers lay at the end. What I found interesting was the missing back wall, this room hadn’t been designed to mimic pegasi architecture it was. Curious I decided to look down, and as I did I remembered a distinct personality trait. I had irrational fear of heights. Great, I’m a Pegasus who is afraid of heights, now that’s a contradiction. Not giving up though I decided against flying out the building and just trying to hover slightly. It took quite a while but I was eventually able to get the idea of flying. My wing ached a bit but it wasn’t anything I couldn’t bear. It took me quite a while but I was eventually able to lift my entire body off the floor. The elation of feeling like weighing nothing almost completely covered for the sharp pain in my wing. I decided it would be against my better judgment to continue and break my wing again so I landed and went off to my bed. It didn’t take long for me to fall asleep. I had been partying, eating, train riding and stair climbing. I was beat. So I closed my eyes and started thinking about what tomaroe would be like and whether or not Kyle would recognize me. I and Kyle were out partying in some kind of club. The music, although distant was still pounding and strong. I was watching Kyle dance in the center of a crowd of people. I was sitting on at a booth drinking some kind of drink. It was a graduation party and all my friends and family were there. Although I couldn’t recognize any of them by name I was able to spot different people. My parents were there along with my aunt and uncle; they were all sitting in the background chatting about life. Most of my friends were out dancing, I was just sitting. I never was one for parties that is until I met Pinky. I was also looking through some of the presents I had received for graduation. Most of them were gift cards but some I held more interest in. for one I had received what appeared to be some kind of gift card for a free table saw, which was my favorite. Also was a kind of charm necklace given to me by an anonymous person? The notes inside said it was a good luck charm and would make my deepest desires come true. I studied the necklace, in the center was a small sapphire held on by a gold base and etched with figures I didn’t quite understand. The base was strapped to a silver chain that was large enough to be held carried around my neck. I began to look at the sapphire intrigued. Then the dark blue gem began to grow before my eyes and I was on a dark road in a car with two others. The head lights were out and we couldn’t see then before we knew it over the ill just ahead of us a truck appeared out of nowhere. We were in the wrong lane. Its headlights blinded us and the horn deafened our ears. Before we knew it the car was hit head on and began to spin uncontrollably throwing us around like rag dolls. The glass shattered and flew back at an alarming rate cutting us to ribbons. Then after what seemed like the third flip everything stopped and the car began to tilt backwards. Dazed I reached for the door in an attempt to escape. The others were uncononcious and didn’t respond to my call to run. Then as I was exiting the car the world began to rise around me and I was no longer standing I was falling. I screamed and then I the water at the same time the car crunched against the rocks. I awoke to a cold sweat and threw myself forwards. I could see outside, the sun was high in the sky already and the air warm. How long did I sleep in? Slowly I stood up and walked over to the door and pushed it open. Hung to the outside of the door was a note from Rarity and Twilight. The had apparently tried to wake me up but I was out cold. Rarity had some things she needed to do and so did Twilight so they were off. The note also held some instructions for finding Kyle along with a ‘good luck’ written on the bottom. Alright, then now I have some stairs to climb, again. I thought as I headed out.
unexpected developmentsChapter 4 unexpected developments “Of all the things I had to break my wings! Why cant ponies have elevators, it would make life so much easier!” I mumbled as I walked down the stairs to the ground floor. I found as I went down the stairs the apparent ‘sleep’ I had last night wasn’t very good and I was becoming drowsy, and a little irritable to boot. At one point I had passed a few ponies talking while I was having my rant. They were looking at me like I was crazy or something. If I were them I would think I was crazy too. As I continued my fast paced walk, I suppose you could classify it as a canter. As I began to approach the bottom I began to hear talking coming from bellow. It wasn’t normal talking though it had a certain, negative ring to it. I was afraid someone had gotten in trouble with the law but then I faintly heard my name. “We're looking for a Pegasus named Hardwood maam. We have reason to believe he is with two unicorns do you have any information?” the pony asking the question was a white stallion clad in amour. He was one of the princess’s royal guards, and he wasn’t alone. From my vantage point on top of the stairs I could see at least two more with him possibly more. “As a matter of fact a group matching your description did rent rooms here for the night. The unicorns are gone but I didn’t see this Hardwood leave.” The counter maid responded. “Which room is he in?” he asked “On the top floor room 104. May I ask, what did he do?” the maid inquired politely. “The princess wants to talk to him personally on an important matter. I myself do not know what the exact circumstances of her reasons are.” He said Ya right, why do you need three armed guards to escort a guest. Obviously something was up and I wasn’t about to get myself involved intentionally. The guards turned to go up the stairs. I swear their leader saw me. Quickly I ducked into one of the rooms adjacent to me so as to avoid detection. It was a broom closet of sorts. The guards passed me by without a second thought. It was a good choice for me to hide as I had only seen three of them at least six must have passed me by. Why does Celestia want me that badly? Cautiously I left the safety of the closet and went down the stairs. The counter maid turned to look at me, her smile slowly turned to a frown. I continued walking trying not to notice her. To my discontent though she began to move slowly towards the stairs I had left behind. I was about halfway through the room when I heard her calm walk turn into a fast paced gallop. Immediately I too broke out into a sprint. “Guards! Turn around he’s back here!” I could hear her yell. The sound of galloping increased considerably as I noticed the guards were only a floor above me and had turned around and began to gallop towards my position. By now I was clear out the door, instead of being safe the streets were flooded with guards. I was scared out of my mind, were they all looking for me? I dint care; I broke out into a gallop trying to make a break for the market where I hoped to loose them. Before I knew it the sounds of running filled my ears. I turned around for a split second to see the guards who were in the hotel burst out. They yelled something at the others and then suddenly it was me against Canterlot. I had made it about 40 yards before I noticed the guards were not tiring like me and they were faster. In panic I immediately turned a right and jumped into the crowd in an attempt to loose their trail. Unfortunately the crowd was onto me and moved to make a whole for the guards. They were almost at me now. Then I noticed that they didn’t have wings! If I could just get in the air then maybe I could escape. They were mere feet from me now I had to do it. U gave an enormous flap of my wings and I shot into the air. At the same time it felt as if I was hit by a sledgehammer on my side. I couldn’t keep it up so instead of trying to keep going I landed on a roof and fell over in pain. From below I could hear them yelling my name trying to get me to come down. Yes, I’m going to come down and get caught. As long as I was up here I was safe. Then something I didn’t at all se coming happened. A burst of energy not three feet from me blinded and deafened my ears. It only took whoever it was to quickly get a hold of me and pin me to the roof. Then I was swallowed by the same light, next thing I knew I was on the ground again surrounded by the guards. “Nice try, whatever you did the princess knows. You have a special meeting to attend with Celestia herself.” He said in a halfway threatening manner. “Hmm, alright then lead on.” I gestured and the group of guards walked off with me in the center. I was captured and now I was going to see the princess for who know what reason. I could only guess it wasn’t a good one. Under other circumstances I would have enjoyed a visit to the Canterlot castle but his was not a good time. Me and the group of guards stopped at the entrance. They moved out of the way and their leader pointed to the door. “She is expecting you.” He stepped out of the way and opened the doors. Slowly I stepped into the large room. As soon as I was in they slammed the door behind me, I was stuck. At the other end was what I could only assume to be the princesses throne. Large marble pillars rose up around me as I progressed down the velvet carpet towards it. As far as I could tell though the princess wasn’t in the room. I was alone at the moment, me and the pillars. I walked around for a moment gathering in what I could for this, possibly last, moment. Then from behind me I could hear a door open and the sound of hoof steps coming from it. I turned to see princess Celestia herself approaching me. She seemed radiated a veil of happiness around her and as she approached I began to feel more relaxed. More being relative though, as I was still scared out of my mind as to what was going on. Then she stopped in my general area and waited. Smiling she said “I bet your wondering what the guards were for.” I didn’t know how to react, I had been arrested right then. Was this some kind of interrogation? She shook her head. “There is no need to worry, the guards were meant as a precaution. I don’t intend to hurt you or arrest you. After all Cameron you didn’t do anything.” My jaw dropped. “How do you know my name?” I asked flabbergasted. “There are a lot of things I know, but a lot that I don’t. After all I find it very interesting how a human got to equestrian.” I didn’t know how to respond. “You know about humans, wait first off how do you know my name?” “Don’t think that your appearance in equestrian was quiet. There were a lot of signs before you came here.” She stated with interest. “What kind of signs are you talking about?” I asked. “Nothing a regular pony would have seen, in fact I doubt you were able to recognize them when you were a human.” She stopped expecting a response but I didn’t reply so she just continued. “The clouds over the Everfree forest had been acting strangely for quite a while before your arrival. They had been swirling around in the same place for nearly a week, granted it was discreet but some noticed it. Also were the stars, they themselves had moved out of their normal pattern centering on the forest.” Clouds and stars? What did that have to do with me coming here? And more importantly how did Celestia know who I was, or what humans were for that matter. I didn’t know and frankly I didn’t know if I wanted to. “So how do you know who I am, and how do you know about humans?” “Well, humans know about us don’t they.” She said with a smile. I couldn’t argue that. “Anyway as it turns out while these events were going on I began to have dreams. Very real dreams. I saw your world and what has happed in it and truthfully I thought many times I was loosing my mind. Never has any pony ever even thought of such acts.” “So you saw, everything.” She nodded. I could only imagine what that had done to her. If she saw what I think she was implying then she not only viewed our present, but also our past. That includes the bad parts. “I’m… sorry you saw that. Not all humans are like that though. Most of us are…” Celestia interrupted me. “Decent, yes I know it is the acts of the few in your world that change it for the worst.” The room grew quiet for a moment until I broke it. “Then how do you know my name? Was that in your dream too?” I asked reluctantly. “You were in the dream too. I followed you a lot; you were a beacon of hope in that world. A true friend, perhaps that is what, drew my mind to you.” She explained. “Fair enough but I still have one more question for you, how did I get here?” this subject was apparently very tender. I could tell because of how Celestia had to gather her thoughts before it. “That is a good question.” She turned and looked away for a moment and took in a breath. “I brought you here.” “wh…why! Why would you take me here! You abducted me!” I was in a rage. Celestia didn’t try to calm me. She only said three words, for they were all that needed to be said. “Cameron, you died.”
coping with realityChapter 5 coping with reality My life was shattered. I was dead, I died. I couldn’t think anything else. Was Celestia lying? But if she was what could she have gained? I hadn’t noticed it but I had begun to cry just at the thought of it. “What… about the…*sniff* others who were in the car.” I said between the tears I was trying to hold back. “They were very good people. I tried my best to save them but they didn’t make it. One had made it to equestria, he died on the way to the Canterlot hospital. The other was so badly mangled we couldn’t help him.” The look on Celestia’s face was grim. I kept looking for something in her expression to suggest she was lying, a joke something anything! “But Kyle made it! He’s teaching at the Canterlot University.” Celestia didn’t respond. “It was in the newspaper!” I pleaded. “I’m so sorry but that article was false. I made it to get you to come here so I could talk to you myself. I’m so sorry.” She said with the care and sadness only a friend could possess. I could hold back the flood gates anymore. I had lost everything; I dropped to the floor and sobbed like never before. It was too much for me accepted. I had died and now I was alone in equestrian. Everyone I had ever known, gone to me I would never see them again. I curled up in a corner and tried to make sense of what I had just been told. I tried to spot a lie, a fib anything from anywhere in her speech. I couldn’t find anything, no matter how hard I strived to deny it. I knew the truth, I had died and now I was alone. Gently Celestia laid her hoof on my shoulder. I could feel her sincerity. It soothed me but it wasn’t enough to end the infinite sadness that consumed me from inside. I could feel her sadness without even looking at her. “You need not hide yourself from anypony here in equestrian. Your safe here now.” Her words were empty to me. I was to far gone, no matter how I put it in my mind I was dead and if that weren’t enough I had been removed from my life. Did I even have a purpose anymore. “I’m so sorry for your loss. I couldn’t watch you die, you didn’t deserve it. Ill arrange a place for you to live. Anywhere in equestrian, anything you want to do its yours.” I couldn’t say anything even if I had wanted to. My life was destroyed, no killed by the cruel tendrils of fate. I was stripped of my home and family and thrown here. Then came bliss. A faint tap on my head from what I could only determine was Celestia’s horn made the tears stop. My eyes closed and my mind drifted to a vast dream scape that filled me with an artificial happiness. As I drifted more I could hear a faint voice call to me from what seemed miles away. Please sleep, your friends will be with you soon. I dreamt again. I was leaving the club with Kyle, I believe I was drunk. Kyle was out of his mind tired but was going to drive us home. Then we saw him. On the side of the street was a man he had a cut in his side and was bleeding. In what I can only describe as a burst of sanity I turned to Kyle and dragged him over to help me with the man. We put the man in the car and Kyle drove us away at easily double the freeway limit. The hospital was next to the ocean and we had to take a snaking road to get there. It took us very little time to get into view of it. All that stood between us and it was a small hill. Then in what can only be described as the worst burst of bad luck our head lights went out. Then came the truck, a monolith of death that rose from the hill as a zombie would a grave. Its lights burned my eyes and its horn pierced my ears. Kyle had drifted to the wrong lane because of his drowsiness. Before I knew it the car was filled with the screams of people as the truck crashed into us and sent us spiraling. The car flipped once, twice, three times. During which the broken glass were thrown like knives against our flesh. Then the car stopped, we were over a cliff and the car was tilting back slowly. My fiend was unconscious and so was the other. I reached for the door and threw myself out, but not before the car began to fall. Bellow me was a fifty foot fall to the dark ocean and its spiky rocks. Then I began to feel lighter, the world slowed down and in the worst possible way I saw the car, with the man in the back seat, crash into the rocks. The sound of shredding metal and shattering glass filled my ears. Then white, a thud, and finally a rainy night sky in a forest. I awoke in a soft bed. It wasn’t in the hotel at Canterlot. A window was in the wall to my right. Remorsefully I looked out. I was in Ponyville. The events that occurred with Celestia were still as clear as day, as if they had only happened a moment ago. Intense grief filled my soul as I lay back and tried to process what happened. I rolled over and saw the room I was in. it was nothing from what I had ever seen before. I wasn’t in any building I had ever seen before. The view itself was from an angle never pictured. The room was fairly and made of solid oak with mahogany trim. The furniture was masterfully crafted, there was a chair that was on the opposite side next to a book shelf that was empty. A small table was to my left, on it was a large assortment of gifts and cards along with fresh flowers in water. Slowly, and with little energy or enthusiasm I reached for it and picked up one of the cards. This one was from Twilight, apparently Celestia had told her everything. By the words on the paper I could tell she was very sad for me. There were letters from all kinds of ponies here. Rainbow, Pinky, all of them had sent me something. Rarity had sent me a large gift bag filled with some really exotic foods and some teas. I found that one fairly comforting, a cup of tea would be really nice right now. I mumbled under my breath. I got out of the bed and onto the floor. My emotional state was very feeble, it would be comparable to a thin sheet of ice that I was standing on that over looked a pool of sadness that I could not even begin to fathom. The floor, which was made of solid wood felt good to walk on and somehow was able to lift my spirits slightly. I always did like oak. Slowly I walked to the door. I pushed it open and looked on the other side. It was a combined kitchen and living room that was lit well by windows from the ceiling and walls. The kitchen had a stove large enough to cook with four burners. One of them had a tea pot on it which I filled with water and set to boil. The counter was a fine stone that was smoothed and sealed. It was pristine and didn’t have a single smudge on it. I looked up and saw another card lying on the table. It wasn’t large or special in any way. On top of it was an empty frame, the card was from Celestia. As I opened it a small picture fell out onto the table. It fell face down so I could see it. I chose to read the card before examining the picture. Dear Cameron I cannot express in words how sorry I am for you nor can I begin to understand your pain. I would ask of you though that you try to make friends here. You were a shining beacon of what good was in your world and I am so sorry you are now lost to it. The ponies here though will make good friends I can promise you that. As you have likely noticed this card contains a picture. It took me a considerable amount of time to retrieve only this from your world but I felt you needed something. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me for what I did to you, but it was the only way. My sincerest apologies Celestia I placed the card on the table and picked up the picture. I turned it around to find it was a picture of me and my family from when I was human, when I was on earth, when I was alive. This was my only connection to myself now, I had nothing else. A bell rang, a pony was standing outside. I walked over to a window and looked outside. Fluttershy was standing outside, waiting patiently. Slowly I walked to the door and pushed it open. “hello.” I said drearily. “Oh you’re awake.” Fluttershy said, there was a pause. “Please come in.” I opened the door. She entered slowly, I could tell she was trying not to disturb me. She knew how bad I was. “You don’t know how glad I am to see you of all ponies.” I said. “I heard about what happened to you. I can’t imagine what you’re going through.” She said weakly. “It’s uh nothing I can’t handle.” I said trying to be brave. “You don’t need to be brave now. You’re hurt and I can tell, is there anything I can get you?” she asked “If I could just talk that would be nice.” Fluttershy nodded and walked towards the kitchen table. The next hour or so remains a blur to me. All I assume though was that it was filled with grief. I was so lucky to have Fluttershy with me though. If she hadn’t been the one at my door I don’t know what I would have done. I have her to thank for helping me get out of this pit of sadness, I owe her my life.
starting a new lifeChapter 6 starting a new life You know how it feels when someone dies. Bad huh, sadly it doesn’t go away fast and in my case it felt like everyone had just died. Needless to say I was out of it for quite a while. It took me at least a week to work through it all, thanks to Fluttershy’s kindness that is. I also had a lot to thank the princess for. If it wasn’t for her I would have been dead, for real. I didn’t know it at the time but she was also responsible for building me a home in Ponyville. It had a nice rustic feel to it. I was soon able to make it the center of my work, which I decided after a lot of thought to be contracting. I was soon making designs for buildings, homes, bridges and many other things. It would often help take my mind off what happened. There was one other thing that I found rather liberating though. As of about 4 or so days ago I was able to fly around to an extent. Granted it wasn’t anything special but when Rainbow caught wind of it she showed up rather fast. *knock* *knock* *knock* “hey Cameron I know your in there! Open up.” The ponies had graciously decided to use my human name a while ago. I felt more at ease with it and I believe they understood. “Oh, hey Rainbow give me a second I’ll let you in.” I trotted over to the door and opened it up for her. “So, I heard you were finally flying… I guess for the first time huh.” “I suppose it is the first time isn’t it.” I said with a half smile on my face. “You know what that means right?” I looked at her puzzled. “It means you’re going to try out for the team.” I had completely forgotten about that. “Geez time flies, huh. Well I try to be a man err pony of my word. So when are you holding tryouts?” I asked. “For you, right now.” She said with a grin. She took me out to the Ponyville track where two others were. One of which was Thunderlane, I didn’t recognize the other though. As far as I could tell Thunderlane wasn’t impressed with my presence, in fact he seemed a little nonchalant about the whole thing. “Alright Cameron I would like you to meet the team thus far. That there is Thunderlane.” He nodded, I waved. “And this is speedy.” She stepped forward. “Nice to meet you.” she was a dark blue Pegasus with a gold hinted mane. She was slightly more bulky than Rainbow but her wing span was also larger. Her cutie mark was that of a bird and some notes. She put out her hoof. “Nice to meet you too.” Politely I shook it. “Anyway everyone this is Cameron he is going to be trying out for the team!” at least Speedy was somewhat enthusiastic, Thunderlane didn’t really seem to care much. “So how exactly do I try out for the team?” “There are three parts to it.” Rainbow began. “First off is a test of endurance. Then we need to see how fast you, which in your case I’m willing to put off for now on account of your wing still not being fully healed. Then finally is an altitude test where we are going to see how high your limit is. Simple enough huh.” Up until she said Altitude it was simple, now I might fail from fear of heights. “Well I guess we should get started then huh.” The endurance test was simple enough; all I had to do was keep in the air at an altitude of 50 meters for as long as possible. I found that getting to the altitude was easy, staying there was harder. In equestrian the clouds are lower than on earth and there is a reason for that. In equestrian air density follows different principles, in other words the air gets thinner faster. I had never been this high up before but it wasn’t too bad. Flying gave me a liberating feeling that helped with my fears, not only that but the view was amazing. Simply put you haven’t seen Ponyville until you have flown. When I reached the altitude I needed to reach the air was fairly thin and I had to beat my wings extra hard to keep up, which reinvigorated some of the pain in them. I was able to work through it though and I kept flying, that was the easy part though. I began to have some difficulty breathing at that high and I got exasperated fairly quickly. What was only a few minutes felt like hours of hard work? After what I assumed was at least four minutes I couldn’t hold myself up anymore and I descended to the land. I could breathe again which helped and the better air density made it easy for me to fly so the pain settled away. The other pegasi seemed impressed with what I had done. “Cameron, you made it longer than I expected.” Rainbow began. “I expected you to last about two or three minutes with that wing, couldn’t have felt that good.” “Ah nothing I can’t handle.” I looked over to the others. “So how long did they stay up then?” “Well they each made it about six minutes, which I’m sure you could do if you were in better condition.” Fair enough, I suppose I could have stayed up longer if I was feeling better. “So then next is altitude, I’ll save speed for later.” This was a very straight forward test; all I had to do was get up as high as I could. I began flapping my wings and slowly I ascended. It took me very little time to pass up the 50 meter mark. The air only got thinner from there. As I approached about 80 meters it had took me about the same time to get from 0 to 50. Not only that but it got considerably harder for me to breath. I had seen on the TV on earth how people climbing Mount Everest were very short of breath when getting near the top. I knew how they felt now. My breaths became heavy panting and I wasn’t gaining any altitude. I was at what I assumed to be close to 100 meters, I had to at least get that far. With a burst of energy I threw myself up to the top of my limit at which for a split moment I was able to see all of equestrian. It was truly a sight to behold. Then I looked down, only I wasn’t afraid. I was flying high above equestrian and I was free. I felt liberated, I was so happy I was able to completely ignore my wings pain. I went down to the ground to meet Rainbow and the others. Apparently I had done something to impress them as they were all shocked when I got down. “What’s wrong? Did I do something wrong?” I asked. “no.” speedy started excitedly. “It’s just we never expected you to get past 80 meters. You made it to 100 that’s impressive.” She said with a lot of energy. “So did I pass?” I asked Rainbow. “Heck ya you did. You went far beyond what I was expecting you to pull off.” She gave me a pat on the back. “In fact what do you think about trying the speed test?” I had impressed them that was for sure, and something inside me told me to keep going. I don’t know if it was the adrenaline but I was really happy for the first time in a while. Flying was great and I wanted to do more. “What’s the test?” The speed test was a two part test, for one they had to test my wing power. I had to exceed at least 8.0 to pass that. Then I had to race one of the pegasi, obviously Rainbow was out of the question for that one. I lined up on the tracks straight away and got ready to fly as fast as possible. At the other end was an odometer, which I assume was the same one that Twilight had used earlier for when they were testing wing power. They were all waiting at the other side for me to start. I threw myself forward with a large flap of my wings. Again both adrenaline and pain filled me. I was able to work through it in order to make at least ten heavy flaps. I flew past them incredibly fast and the odometer began to spin. Rainbow looked over with a big grin on her face. “You are really amazing you know that right.” I looked over at the gauge it read 8.9. Even Thunderlane was amazed at what he saw. “I think you’re going to be a great flyer for this team. So who do you want to race?” I looked around at the other two. Speedy had really big wings so racing her would be a bad choice and I already knew I couldn’t beat Rainbow dash even if I wanted to. That left Thunderlane, who was shocked by my flight speed. Perhaps I could beat him. We lined up at the starting line and got ready. Thunderlane was stretching his wings and setting himself up in a racing stance. I was just getting ready the only way I knew, clearing my mind and relaxing my muscles. Then from down the track I heard the loud ring of a whistle. My nerves jumped and I threw myself forward. Thunderlane was already in front of me! I had to pick up the pace. I pumped my wings as hard as I could; it was enough for me to pass him up. Then we got to the turn. Thunderlane slowed down but I decided I could get it if I made a hard enough angle on it. I turned my body 90 degrees so I was adjacent to the ground and arched my back. The G’s were something I had never felt before. My body was being forced through my chest and my stomach fell into my gut. It was the most amazing feeling I had ever felt. By now I was already on the straight away Thunderlane had just made it about three quarters around the turn. I threw my wings down and received another burst of speed that propelled me faster than ever before. I didn’t slow down at the next turn. The G’s at this turn were far greater than the previous one and I thought I could hold it. If it weren’t for my wing I would have too. When I was half way through the turn my wing popped and my adrenaline rush disappeared. I dropped to the ground and rolled violently into a bush not far from the edge. I was covered in scraped and some minor cuts but that didn’t hurt. My wing was paralyzing me in pain, the muscle had cramped up and I was experiencing a Charlie horse, ironic I know. I could fly anymore, not today at least. Thunderlane had stopped and ran over to help me out. Soon enough Rainbow and speedy were there too. “Nice crash kid.” Thunderlane said half-jokingly. I couldn’t force out a smile. “Alright what happened Cameron?” Rainbow asked. “I had a muscle spasm, my wing is out of operation right now.” I tried to move it only to have a sharp pain run through it. “Well I gotta say that was gutsy.” She smiled “welcome to the team.” “But I didn’t win.” “We didn’t expect you to win we just wanted to see how you compared with us. The fact that you were BEATING him is enough for me to say I want you in the team.” Speedy nodded in agreement and by the look on Thunderlane’s face I could tell he agreed too. Under other circumstances I assume I would be happy but right now I was hurting a little much for that. Seeing this Rainbow let me leave after telling me that practice is every Monday when the sun rises. That gave me a good three days to get rested. I set out to my home and gradually developed a smile on my face. I was getting a life back. I was on a sports team now; I had a job and a house. Best of all though I had friends again. I felt free and happy, Equestria was my home now and I was going to make the best I could of it.
bad omensChapter 7 bad omens My decision to join Rainbows flight team was, in my mind, a good one. It gave me a level of relief from my job designing and over viewing construction in Ponyville, which by now had taken off. By now Ponies from all over Equestria were sending letters to me to design all kinds of things from houses, to barns and everything in between. Needless to say it took up a lot of my time. It involved some travel, which wasn’t all bad, and A LOT of desk work. Rainbow’s team helped with that. Every Monday I got to wake up early and go out and fly around. Although it was hard work, and it often left me exhausted, something inside of me compelled me to pursue it. Hay I made a lot of friends too. Both Thunderlane and Speedy were pretty cool and were very supportive, even if a little talkative. Practice was from sunrise to about three with a break in the middle. Up until now we were learning simple formations and a few stunts every now and then. One day that was changed up when Rainbow showed up looking pretty antsy about something. We were all hanging out under a peach tree near the southern end of Ponyville where we had decided to make our training grounds. If you got up early enough you could see the sun rise through the valley directly ahead of you. Yes that’s right the sun rises in the south in Equestria, I never questioned it. Anyway we were hanging out doing our usual routine when Rainbow showed up surprisingly late. She carried two pieces of parchment, one of which had already been opened. “Alright everypony we’ve got some work to get done.” She folded opened up the parchment and showed it to us. “Our team has been asked to participate in a competition in Cloudsdale.” Thunderlane and Speedy seemed really into this. “So then were finally being recognized, so when is it then?” Speedy asked. “Well if you take a look.” Rainbow pointed to the bottom part of the parchment. It read ‘August 17th’ which was only a month away. “You really think were ready for this? I mean we have been putting in a lot of work but lets be honest this is a big event how many teams are going?” I asked. “Well it doesn’t really matter how many it matters which teams.” “I don’t follow.” Thunderlane said. Smiling and with a lot of enthusiasm she went and said it “we will be competing, among others, against the Wonderbolts!” she started laughing with enthusiasm. The others developed a smile across their faces. I didn’t know what to think after all the Wonderbolts were professionals. “Rainbow do you actually think we can beet them?” I started. “Well maybe not, but if we do good we’ll be getting some rep this is a big competition so a lot of ponies will be there.” I had to say that’s a good point, but I could see what was to come next. “Even if we are be there though we need to qualify first.” “What do you mean we have to qualify?” Thunderlane asked. “They only actually let ten teams compete in the competition. We have to qualify in the top ten to get in, and that means we have to pick up the pace to get in.” here it comes I thought. “Which means we need to work hard on practice, we only have a good month to get some really good moves down. If your all for it then I’m sure we could pull this off.” “Count me in, this sounds fun.” Speedy said. “Ill go, it’ll be a lot of work but I’m game.” Thunderlane stated. Then they turned to me for an answer. “I haven’t given up yet, and I don’t plan to either. I guess that means well need to get working wont we.” That got Rainbow happy. The road ahead of us was to be a hard one but I assume it would be pretty awesome to be one of the top ten teams in Equestria. “Oh and before we get to work Twilight wanted me to give this to you Cameron.” She handed me a piece of parchment. “She said it came from Celestia, when you finish up join up with us k.” I nodded her off and the flew out to the field. Celestia hadn’t tried to contact me in nearly a month now. The sudden appearance of this letter was quite the surprise to me. I opened it up and began to read the letter. Dear Cameron Its nice writing to you for the first time in a while. I regret to inform you though that this isn’t a social call. I have recently received information of strange happening within the Everfree forest. Under normal circumstances I would disregard these happenings but these are different. I do not feel comfortable talking to you about the information I have received immediately. To do so would be of bad judgment on my part as such I would like to invite you to meet me at Canterlot. I would ask you come as soon as possible to discuss what is happening. Sincerely Celestia. Whatever Celestia wanted to talk about was urgent. If she needed me I could only assume it had something to do with humans. That thought was slightly confusing to me, why would humans want with Equestria. Sure I could imagine some would want to come here with good intentions but something told me that whatever was going on wasn’t a good thing. Taking it into consideration I decided to leave to Canterlot tomorrow as both a break from my work and a trip for Rarity and Twilights sake. After all I did owe them a lot for giving me a ride there in the first place, even if the trip was less than intended. I flew over to the others and we began training. I didn’t really know what to expect from this more intense training Rainbow was talking about, that was until we started it. From here on out we were meeting on Fridays and Mondays and the days were going to be longer, and if the training we got that day was anything to represent the future it was going to be a lot more strenuous. We were flying faster, longer, and higher than ever before. We threw half of our day into formations and another into some more complex tricks. By the end of it I was fully expecting to back in the hospital again. This was going to be a long three weeks. I arrived home much latter than I was expecting. We had lost track of time and had kept flying for a lot longer than we had planned. I could barely hold myself up and I immediately fell onto the couch not even caring to close the door of my house. That night my dreams returned. I was in a car, or was it a truck? I couldn’t tell because it was completely enclosed. Inside of it were about five others, the enclosed space was lit by a dim orange light. Each of the people carried a rifle. I put two and two together and began to understand this was a military vehicle. Suddenly a voice rang out from a speaker positioned near the rear of the vehicle. The soldiers were now getting ready for something and were loading their rifles and side arms. Then the back opened up. The light of the sun dissipated the orange light of the truck and the soldiers ran out. They were on a chunk of highway next to the ocean. It was the same place the truck had hit us and sent me and my friend away. Specifically it was the cliff where it all happened. The highway was closed off on both sides and military figures were redirecting traffic away. From a distance I could see the place where the car had fallen over the ledge. People in has mat suites were walking around with machines that I could only assume were for measuring radiation. I approached the ledge where they were working and looked down. I was surprised to see no machine parts or even a sign of an accident. People were down there though and had somehow gated off the ocean and were scanning around for something. Then as if out of nowhere a hand landed on my shoulder and I turned to see a Mexican American man looking directly at me. “Don’t worry Michael, where ever he went well find them.” He said as he walked off to help with traffic. Strangely that named was familiar to me, I couldn’t put my finger on it but I felt like whomever that was I knew him. Then came the most disturbing image I have ever seen. For only a split second I saw Canterlot, from the distance. It was in ruins and burning. An explosion annihilated one of the towers and it collapsed to the ground. I was crying, I was a pony and I was restrained. I awoke latter than normal but I wasn’t at all drowsy. That dream was very real to me and if it was I needed to tell the princess. I quickly gathered my things and ran out the door only to be blocked by Twilight. “Oh gees Twilight this is a bad time I’m in a hurry can it wait?” I asked. “Oh uh sure mite I ask where your going in such a hurry?” she inquired. “I kinda need to get to Canterlot as fast as possible. Celestia wants to see me and I think I have some information she would need.” “Really well I was just going to give you something anyway.” She took out a letter of sorts from her saddle pack and handed it to me. “Zecora found it in the forest where we found you. It was in the middle of a clearing after some kind of freak lightening strike.” I took the letter and opened it up. It was a very simple note addressed to me. The paper was burnt slightly and was beaten up heavily from some kind of unknown force. I began to read it, the hand writing was not hand written. The letter was typed as if by a computer. It simply read: I’m coming fro you Cameron.
strange hapeningsChapter 8 strange happenings Wherever that letter had come from didn’t bode well for what I had seen. If I had learnt anything from my time in Equestria it was that my dreams were pretty accurate. Not just that but Celestia had something to talk with me about that wasn’t safe to be spoken about to any other pony. It didn’t bode well. I didn’t spare any time getting to the train station. I flew there at my maximum speed in an effort to catch the train as fast as I could. I quickly bought a ticket and climbed aboard. As I took my seat I turned my head to and to my surprise outside was Speedy. She too was getting on the train. As she came down the car I stuck my head out and called her over. She looked surprised enough to see me here and she trotted over to me. “Hey what are you doing on the train to Canterlot?” She asked. “Oh nothing much, i’m going out for business.” It was the truth after all. Plus I didn’t want to tell anypony about what was going on in fear of what they mite think. “Oh cool, what are ya working on over there?” She asked as she took her seat across from me. “It’s a special order from the princess. She wants me there first hand.” She looked impressed by that. “Geez I knew you were a popular architect but the princess. You are defiantly good at what you do.” “Speaking of which I was meaning to ask you what is your job. I figure it has something to do with singing.” I gestured to her cutie mark. “Good guess, I’m a singer in the Ponyville choir. That’s actually why im going to Canterlot, we have a show over there in a few days.” “Really, ill have to go see that.” We continued our conversation all the way to Canterlot. The trip usually takes a good two hours but it felt more like only one. Apparently Speedy was just her nick name that she stuck with at practice. Her real name was Songjay, which I thought was a pretty name but she disagreed and said she didn’t like it much. I also asked about her opinion on the contest in Cloudsdale that Rainbowdash was so worked up about. She was really into it; apparently she considered herself quite the adrenaline junky and was really into competitions. As we continued the conversation it started to get a little more personal. Eventually we were touching on subjects I hadn’t ever even considered talking to anypony about. We soon arrived at the Canterlot train station. We exited off and I waved her off as she left into the crowd and I headed off towards the castle. I was halfway there when I became severely disturbed at what happened. I didn’t think much of it earlier on the train but now when I was thinking I noticed it. I felt like I well liked her, and I didn’t know what to think of that. She was a pony after all and I was… a pony? So was that alright, or was it somehow wronge. She was a nice pony and all and was very social. I had no idea about how to process that. I decided to sit down for a minute to get my thoughts straight. It was a restaurant that Twilight had recommended before I left. It was written in French, had never thought of it before but ponies did share a lot of human culture. Hay if you put one in a human body one could pass for a person. I suppose it works the other way too. So did that make it alright, for me to like a pony? No matter how I looked at it there were reasons it was ok and reasons it was bad but my gut told me it was wronge? I decided not to think about it any more and was going to strive for a nice lunch. I had ordered a quiche and a side of hay. I was about used to pony food now and found that it was actually pretty good, just as long as you like the idea of eating hay. As Twilight had said the restaurant was very good and the waiters were very courteous. Before I could leave to the palace something disturbing happened. It was slight but I could feel it. As if reality itself convulsed for less than a second. I looked over to the waiter. “Did you feel that?” “Feel what sir?” he apparently didn’t notice whatever it was. “Nothing just thought I felt something. Thank you for the food.” I tossed ten bits on the table and an extra two as a tip and went out. As far as I could tell no one else had felt it and if they did they didn’t show it. The trip to the palace didn’t take too long from where I was. A few guards stood around the entrance but moved out of my way. The princess had informed them I was coming. I was inside the main thrown room again. Some level of redecorating had gone on but nothing too much. There were a few new paintings on the walls also some vines were now growing on the pillars. “I have been waiting for you Cameron.” Celestia called out from up ahead. “Honestly I don’t know what to think of this meeting. The last time I was here you kinda dropped a bomb on me.” I said. she seemed to understand. “So what kind of strange occurrences are you seeing?” I inquired. “They aren’t what im seeing, they are what im feeling.” I think I know what she meant. “It’s as if reality is convulsing, it’s the same feeling I was having when you came here but there is a difference to it.” “What kind of difference?” “It’s not magical or pure like yours felt like. This one has an artificial feel to it.” She began. “Tell me do humans have the ability to travel between realities?” “no.” I said bluntly “that is science fiction at most theoretical. There is no way we have that capability.” “Well what if they did? If humans had that ability what would they do with it.” She asked. Something in her voice made me understand this was serious. “I don’t know what we would do. I would hope we would use it for peaceful exploration…” Celestia interrupted me. “But what would they do?” she was serious. “If history does truly repeat itself.” I began slowly. “All I can tell you is that it won’t be good.” What I told her seemed to solidify what ever she already believed. I was still withholding information though. I decided to tell her about my dream. “There is something I would like to tell you though.” Celestia turned to me. “I had a dream last night, not a normal one in fact it was more of a vision.” “What happened in this vision?” she asked with a certain flare of anger in her voice. “It was of Canterlot, it was in ruins.” Celestia was quiet. “Then when I got out of my house to come here Twilight gave me this.” I handed it to Celestia. “I assume that this isn’t by any ponies hoof is it.” “No it was written on a computer and printed up. Celestia if the humans that were in my dream come here…bad things are going to happen to Equestria.” Celestia turned around and started pacing around the room to gather her thoughts. “I want you to stay here in Canterlot for a few days. I will arrange for you to stay in the palace as a guest. If you get anymore of these dreams you will tell me immediately.” I nodded in compliance. Celestia showed me up to my room in the palace. It was a lot larger than any room in my house and a lot more ornate. A letter was to be sent to Ponyville for somepony to watch over my home. By now it was late and Celestia was required to meet her sister. She left in a hurry after wishing me a good night’s sleep. I was left to ponder what I had just learned with Celestia. If it were true that humans were trying to come to Equestria I didn’t know what I was going to do. Is that why Celestia was keeping me here, was I a possible enemy for when or if the humans ever arrived. Truth be told I didn’t know where my loyalties would lie if something like that happens. Then there was the matter of that Michael character from my dream that I somehow knew. And what was worse my thoughts of Songjay returned which only deepened my confusion. Were my feeling for her fine and acceptable and if they were and I did have feelings for her would I turn on my own kind? I decided to abandon the subject and strive for sleep instead. I lay on the bed and closed my eyes. The bed was much more comfortable than any I had slept on before and I began to drift into sleep. Unluckily for me I had a dream, and it was as bad as I suspected.
RevelationsChapter 9 revelations I stood silently in a crowd clad in a black suite. The sun was high in the sky and the day was nice, except for the unbearable sadness that seemed to fill everyone. To my left were my parents who were crying. So many people were gathered in this area, all of which I recognized and I could only assume they were family. Each person carried flowers and a grim face. Even the children that stood in the crowd held a deep sadness in their faces and those who didn’t were completely silent. I was at a funeral, and if past experience had anything to say I was at my funeral. Just then down the center of the crowd came a coffin. As it passed the person I was viewing this from dropped his head as if in shame. As the coffin passed down the crowd the solemn feeling began to turn to sadness and crying became apparent soon later. It wasn’t long before I began to hear the Canticle Benediction begin. Slowly the coffin was lowered into the ground and the priest began the Lord’s Prayer. Time began to fly as I myself became increasingly sad at what I was seeing. Eventually it was over and the coffin was fully buried beneath the earth. People walked forward and began placing flowers on the grave and left in silence. Whoever I was watching this from didn’t leave though. He remained at the grave in silence and simply watched it. Then from behind him came another entity, he placed his hand on the one watching the grave and he turned slowly to face him. “I assume you are Michael then.” The man began in a solemn tone. He was wearing a fine suite and bore a medallion that showed he was part of the C.I.A. Michael nodded and turned away. “What do you want?” Michael asked. “I am here to express my greatest condolences for your brother.” What! The thought shocked me so much I nearly awoke from my sleep. “Aron I mean no offence but this is hardly the time for you to be here.” Michael started. “The last time you saw Cameron you two weren’t on very good terms, and now no amount of apologies will fix this.” What did Michael mean by that, I didn’t even recognize Aron? “I know you feel it’s my fault that this happened to him.” Michael kept staring away. “That’s why I came here, we have reason to believe Cameron isn’t actually dead.” If I wasn’t caught off guard before I had been now. Did they actually think I was alive? “What do you mean?” Michael asked as he turned around. “You saw where the accident happened didn’t you?” Michael didn’t respond, his silence signaled a yes to Aron though. “As you know a body was never found for Cameron or Kyle. For a long time we believed they were simply lost to sea but then we found a witness. He was driving just a short range away from them when he saw what he described as ‘a brilliant light that pulled them away.’” “You’re crazy, do you honestly believe this claim.” “I must say that at first this claim was ridiculous to us too but then we investigated. It took us a while but we eventually found something interesting. A kind of radiation that doesn’t abide by the laws of physics.” Michael turned, that had peaked his interest. “So what does this have to do with Cameron?” “Basically what we have determined is that it is possible, in sufficient quantities, for this radiation to tear wholes in reality.” “You’re saying Cameron is in another dimension. He may be alive!” Aron nodded in response. “So why are you telling me this then?” “We want you on the team.” Michael was shocked. “Which means what exactly?” “It means you’ll get a team again, well wipe your record clean. You can return to your old life again.” Aron put out his hand. “All you have to do is shake my hand.” Reluctantly Michael did. Right then a brilliant light enveloped my vision. Now, instead of standing at a funeral and feeling sad, I was at my home in Ponyville and I was happy. There was light and the air was warm and happy. What was surprising though was the clarity of it all. It felt as if I were actually in the room working as if it were any other day. There was one difference though; I was a pony yes but not just physically. In the dream I was a pony. It was as though I had accepted that fact when I knew that out of my dream I was not. Then without any warning the door to my room opened up. There at the entrance stood Songjay. When I saw her in the dream though, it was in a completely new light. I knew her far more deeply somehow than ever before. I smiled toward her and turned back to my desk to continue working. From behind me though I could hear hoof steps approaching the desk. She hadn’t said anything since she entered; in fact she didn’t have to. One moment later something I couldn’t have expected at all happened. She leaned over and kissed me on the cheek. I did not tell Celestia about the dream I had that night. I could find no meaning in it and I certainly didn’t want her to know I had a human brother. And then there was that other dream which disturbed me deeply. I did notice earlier that I had some kind of feelings for Songjay but it didn’t feel right at all. I wasn’t a pony; I was a human in pony form. I even had a brother on earth. That was another thing I couldn’t understand, what had happened to my brother and then why couldn’t I remember him. It was all very confusing. For me it was too much to think about on an empty stomach so I set out to find a restaurant. More than anything though, I was walking around aimlessly trying to clear my mind. I had lived in Equestria for more than two months now and I was dead on earth for that long as well. I had no family here but even if I returned to earth I would be leaving behind all these friends. The worst part though was the rollercoaster of thoughts that threw me between questions of my morality about liking a pony. Then there was who I should be loyal to, my family and my brother or Celestia the one who saved my life. It only got worse when I say Songjay in the crowd ahead of me; she had seen me too and was waving to get my attention. I waved back and walked forward. “Good mourning Cameron, nice day don’t ya think?” she asked in a very happy bright tone. “Ya, it’s nice.” I responded in a fairly saddened tone. “What’s wrong with you? Are you feeling ok?” “I feel fine. I just…didn’t sleep well last night. Im looking for a place to get some food.” “Well I know just the place then follow me.” She trotted off happily and I followed right behind her. We soon arrived at a small eatery near the market. It had a few tables on the outside with umbrellas at each table. Songjay sat down and gestured for me to sit across from her. “So, what’s on your mind then?” I tried to look confused. “Don’t mess with me I can tell something is going on.” “I had a really disturbing dream last night.” She nodded as the waiter came by and placed the menu on the table. “I saw myself at my own funeral. My family was there and so was my brother.” “So you have a brother then.” “Ya it would seem so.” “Well im sorry your dream was so grim then.” I didn’t respond. “Tell you what this meal is on me. Order whatever you want so you can get your mind off this ok.” Breakfast was eaten in almost absolute silence I didn’t talk much but to respond to Songjay. The meal did help though, by the end of it I felt much better. I hadn’t told her about the part of the dream with her though; it probably wouldn’t help me much if I did. We were finishing up when Songjay pulled something out of her saddle bag and handed it to me. “What is this?” “Earlier on the train you said you wanted to come see the choir performs. Well I pulled some strings and got you a ticket.” I smiled “thank you very much. Ill see you tomaroe then?” “Defiantly, oh and try to get some sleep tonight I would like you to have a semi decent time there.” She nodded and began to walk off. I had to admit the meal made me feel better. It felt a lot more comfortable than being held in the palace. I wasn’t asked too many questions or anything and I was able to get part of the dream off of my chest. I was still highly reluctant to tell Celestia about it though as I couldn’t gauge what her reaction would be. I kept having this feeling that she was afraid of me or humans or something and that was why she was keeping me here. The idea made me assume Celestia thought of me as an enemy but I knew ponies weren’t like that. Something was going on and that was for sure. I sat around for a minute or two and was about ready to leave when a strange feeling over took me. It felt very familiar to me. It wasn’t normal though it was a strange feeling of elation and a tingliness I couldn’t put my hoof on. Almost as mysteriously as it started though it went away. I didn’t pay any mind to it and decided to go and take part in my own personal tour of Canterlot. Some of the places I visited were quite amazing. I visited some of the art exhibits to find that equestrian art was a lot like what humans would call ‘modern art’ which basically meant I don’t get it. As it turns out a lot of equestrian culture almost mirrored human. My personal tour was cut short at the entrance to the wall though. A large crowd had gathered outside of it and seemed rather bent out of shape about something. I worked myself up to the front only to be stopped by a guard. “I am sorry sir but no pony is allowed past this point for a while.” “What’s going on? Did something happen to somepony?” “No nothing like that, the princess has asked that no pony disturb her while she performs important work.” “Really… well have a good day then.” I made my way out of the crowd and began sprinting to an opening so I could take off and get a look for myself. That section of wall looks directly at Ponyville, and more importantly the Everfree forest. I had a hunch that something was going on. Directly ahead of me was a medium sized park which would suit my needs fairly well. Some pegasi were flying around as it was so I wouldn’t draw any suspicion. When I reached the park I took off and turned towards Ponyville and the Everfree forest. Directly over the Everfree forest was a large grey cloud spiraling in a very odd manner. Then I remembered what Celestia had told me when she first met me how the clouds were acting very strangely even for the forest. Then there was that feeling I felt after breakfast, could someone have come to Equestria?
a choiceChapter 10 a choice I patiently paced around in circles in the palace, waiting for Celestia to return. What I had seen over the Everfree forest not ten minutes ago matched her description of what had happened when I first arrived. Not only that but she was there watching it for herself. I had to know what was happening. It took nearly an hour for Celestia to arrive. She carried a grim frown on her face and the site of me did not help it either. She slowly paced over to me and waited for me to begin. “I assume this isn’t the first time clouds like that have been over the forest.” “So you did see them.” I nodded. “No this isn’t the first time. As I am sure you have already assumed those are the same kind as when you first arrived.” “So another human is here?” I asked halfway excitedly. “No, not yet. When you arrived it took an entire day before you arrived. He or she will be arriving tomorrow late at night.” “So what are you going to do with this person when they come?” “I honestly have no idea. I was hoping you could help me with that subject.” I hesitated a bit. “I am almost entirely sure that you are hiding something from me. You had a dream last night didn’t you?” I was trying to avoid this discussion all day. Apparently by coming here in order to get answers I would be the one giving them though. When I tell Celestia though, it could possibly bring some negative results upon myself. “I did have a dream last night.” Celestia raised an eyebrow. “In it I was at my funeral. I watched the entire thing from the perspective of…my brother.” “Why didn’t you tell this to me earlier?” she asked in a semi sharp tone. “I was afraid of how you would react. I am a human and if you knew I had a brother I couldn’t even begin to understand how that would make you feel.” “Well you have no reason to fear. I brought you here and you are a citizen of Equestria, you are an amazing pony.” She noticed how that stung a bit. “You are obviously a very good human as well. Come now finish telling me about your dream.” “Ya, well as it turns out…they know I am here.” “How could they know that?” Celestia said franticly. “I don’t know how they know but they do. What is more important is why they are coming here though, there was talk of some kind of radiation that doesn’t abide by the laws of physics that…” it was obvious that Celestia was lost in what I just said. “I believe a short crash course in ‘physics’ would be useful.” “Well im not exactly an expert on them but basically they are the absolute laws that govern our universe. Radiation would be something like heat or light. It is energy with the ability to change things.” “I see, so this strange radiation what is it?” “I think they found residual amounts of magical energy. They think they can use it to create things like gold or…” Celestia stopped me. “Magic doesn’t work like that. Of any human you should know that.” “I know that but THEY don’t. They think if they come here they can take that ‘radiation and use it for there own purposes. Celestia, they will do whatever it takes to get ahold of it.” “I understand entirely. They want it for power and wealth, am I correct?” I nodded in agreement. “You know I cannot allow what I have seen to happen on earth to happen here. If what you are saying is true then you know I cannot let them in Equestria.” “You may be able to reason with them though. Humans can understand.” “I highly doubt they will listen to a pony.” There was a short pause. “But they may listen to a human.” She looked at me to emphasize a point. “You want me to talk to them?” she nodded. “Well I don’t know if you noticed but im not exactly human like right now.” “Honestly that is an easy fix. I can conjure an illusion spell that will make you appear human to them. While I cannot make you wholly human I can make you appear so.” “So then, im you emissary then?” “Yes, I would be honored if you would accept the position.” “Are you kidding me? I would be extremely happy to be your emissary, and finally get to talk to another person again.” “Good, in that case get some sleep. We will both need to be well rested for tomorrow when our guest or guests arrive wont we.” I nodded and headed up to my room. Celestia was on my side this whole time. She had me stay here because she was afraid and I got that. I was her connection to humans and now I was even more than another pony I was an ambassador. That was a cheery thought. Like Celestia said though tomorrow was going to be a big day and I would need as much sleep as I could get. Celestia and I were going to meet the first real human to set foot in Equestria. I say first ‘real’ human because a human in pony form isn’t quite the same. Then it hit me. I also had the choir to attend. All the excitement had detracted from what I already had planned. I figured I had plenty of time before I had to go with Celestia so I could likely attend the choir before I left. I arrived at my room and opened the doors, something was different. I raised an eye and stepped in looking around. It felt as though I was being watched by somepony. The air was very still though and there was a bit of a chill in the air. I kept feeling like something was off but I couldn’t put a hoof on it…until I saw the pencil writing a note without anypony holding it. Nearly as soon as I saw it the pencil dropped to the ground and the strange feeling disappeared and the room began getting considerably warmer. Cautiously I approached the paper and read what it had on it. There were only four words, each was in capitol letters and it was underlined heavily. YOU ARE A PONY! “Who wrote this?” I asked myself. Whoever did obviously didn’t know about me very well and my internal conflict. I crumpled up the note tossed it into the trash and told myself I would not think about it anymore. I lay down in my bed and closed my eyes and prepared for the calm embrace of sleep. This dream was quite different from anything I had seen before. I wasn’t in the place of myself in the past or future or anyone else for that matter. I stood in a marsh and was sinking down into it very fast, I was human. For every second that passed more of my body slipped beneath the marsh. And as it did I forgot about that part of me. One person was standing at the edge of the shore, he was my brother. He held a deep frown on his face but was holding out an arm as for me to reach for it and escape this black marsh. I attempted to reach for it, to try and escape what I was in but as I did my brother became the center point for a horrid display of death, fire and mayhem. In the background was Canterlot. It was burning, bombs were exploding in it. I pulled away from him and the images disappeared. He was now pleading for me to take his arm. I was paralyzed in fear. My eyes were darting around and at some point looked straight at the murky mud. In it I saw myself, as a pony, in my house in Ponyville. I was there, happy, and with Songjay. I was almost chest deep in the murk; everything below the surface was gone from me. To take the hand of my brother meant so much death and suffering. To be happy I had to die. In a panic I reached out and grabbed the hand of my brother. A white light blocked everything out and I was in a helicopter. I was human. “I cannot believe that this place exists.” My brother started. “You wouldn’t think a place like this could exist.” “I wish it wouldn’t have to come to this.” I responded. “This is war Cameron, and to be honest did you expect any less?” they were so different from us yes, but the humans couldn’t see the similarities. They were afraid of us just as we were of them and as such retaliated. So much death occurred on both sides, I suppose my brother saw this as retribution. He squeezed the trigger of a device and then before my eyes the sun disappeared and the horizon was filled with a white light. It took a while but I saw the result. A nuclear device, detonated over the center of Equestria. Cloudsdale was blown away, Ponyville was at ground zero. The shield that protected Canterlot didn’t hold from the blast and was down. “Strike force you are clear for assault on the capitol city. Terminate any who resist.” Over my head flew tens of bombers and helicopters. Equestria was gone, and everypony I knew was now dead. I was human but I had no one. What I had seen that night was the most horrid thing I could imagine. If my dreams truly did tell the future…then did Equestria have one? But the thing that I couldn’t get off my shoulders was this feeling of guilt. Throughout the entire dream something deep within me was saying ‘it’s my fault.’ But was there another option? If I took my brothers hand in the dream then Equestria would be destroyed but if I didn’t… I would be dead. I thought long and hard on it, I even wrote down in excruciating detail what I saw in an attempt to understand it. I could find no meaning. I had to either die, or be human on the worst level possible.
someone newChapter 11 someone new Celestia and I were going to leave for Ponyville at 9 pm. We were to meet Twilight and the others and then go to meet our guest in the forest. By Celestia’s prediction he was going to arrive anywhere between 10 pm and 12 pm, which gave me plenty of time to see the choir perform. Celestia even decided to come watch it with me. Something told me that she was just trying to make sure I didn’t run off somewhere. The choir was performing at the hotel I had stayed at when I originally came to Canterlot. They had cleared up a large portion of the ground floor and even added a stand for them to sing from and a large group of chairs around it for the band. A lot of ponies had gathered for the event, but none of them had expected to see the princess herself. It was a little bit awkward for me to walk past all of the ponies that were bowing to her. Eventually all the people calmed down though and I was free from the crowd of ponies desperate to say hello to Celestia. After all of that though it became rather easy for me to go around and have some discussion with the other ponies. Apparently this event had been looked forward to by a lot of ponies in Canterlot and the coir was fairly well known. From the corner of my eye I could see the band taking their positions in front of the stands where the choir would be singing. As they began to tune I took my seat. Soon enough the choir arrived, Songjay was in the middle row she wore a plain golden dress and a beaded necklace. It fit her very well. The lights began to dim and the crowd got quiet. A spotlight shone on the singers and the orchestra started up. The music was a breed all its own. In no way had I ever heard anything like it before. Just hearing it made me feel elated and happy as if the orchastra was weaving magic into each note. Then came the choir. The sound was elegant, peaceful, and saddening all at the same time. Nothing I had ever heard on earth could even compare to what I heard that night. I wish it would have gone on longer. I was there for and hour but it felt like only half that, I had no complaints. Celestia though was telling me we were pressed for time and had only a few minutes until we had to leave. I was hoping to see Songjay after the show but I had to agree we didn’t have much time. So we made haiste to the chariot that would take us to Ponyville, which was apparently much faster than the train for whatever reason. To pegasi in armor waited for us at the chariot and as soon as we arrived and got on took off for Ponyville. Most of the ride to Ponyville was made in silence so I spent most of the time looking over towards the Everfree forest. The clouds above it were swirling around maddeningly fast, it easily resmbled that of a hurricane made of thunderheads. It spun around the forest in a tight and orderly manner. Far too orderly to be natural. Soon we had arrived at Ponyville. I jumped off the chariot to great my friends. They were quite happy to see me and me them. But the meeting didn’t last long and soon Celestia had us gathered together on the edge of the forest. “alright everypony we are about to be a part of a momentus occation. The first humans will be arriving in equestrian soon. We all need to be ready for the best and prepaired for the worst understood.” We all nodded in agreement, well besides fluttershy anyway. “fair enough then. Lets head out.” She guestured to the forest and we began walking. I noticed early on Fluttershy was lagging behind so I slowed my pace and caught up with her. “hey Fluttershy, whats wronge?” she held her head down, I could tell she was bugged about this whole thing. “Cameron, what are humans like?” I raised my eyes a bit. “well I mean…Celestia seems really apprehensive about all this. Are humans dangerous?” “hmm…im not going to lie. Humans can be well, violent.” That didn’t help Fluttershys case much. “but they are usually very nice. After all I was a human once and im not that bad right.” “well…no but Celestia said to be prepaired for the worst. What is the worse that could happen.” I remembered my dream. It wouldn’t help us or anypony, or anyone if they all knew what I saw. “just be cautious ok.” She nodded faintly. We soon arrived at the spot where I originally arrived. This was the suspected spot because if the humans were going to come here they would need a point of reference and the place where I arrived was likely lit up for them like a airport. Directly above us was the eye of the storm, it wasn’t at all natural. Purple energy swirled around in a chaotic manner and lightening struck around in the sky. Not only that but beyond it being unnatural it didn’t feel right. Magic felt correct, I had spells cast on me while I was here but this was just out of place. It felt like a halfway mix between both magic and technology, it didn’t fit. “Cameron, I want to know how are the humans doing this in the first place.” Twilight was yelling at me from close up, trying to get her voice over the wind. “what do you mean?” “humans cant use magic, so how are they doing this?” “I have no idea. If your nice enough to them they may tell you about it a bit but I can tell it has a technological feel to it.” Just then the winds picked up considerably. Where as before the heavy wind was moving at maybe 30 miles per hour now it had at least doubled. It kept getting stronger too, in a short time the gale had reached hurricane speed and we were, at times, almost flung off the ground. “everypony come to me!” Celestia called out. We all ran over to her vicinity then she covered us with a magical shield. “is everypony ok?” “yepity yep yep yep!” Pinky pie jumped in with. There was a calm for a moment but then… “WAIT!” pinky yelled out. “what is it Pinks?” Rainbow asked. Then Pinky’s tail twitched. From a distance I could hear the sound of a tree falling, it was a big one. “EVERYPONY SCATTER!” the tree fell with a surprisingly large amount of force on the shield and was able to shatter the spell. The wind was throwing around a lot of junk, including dirt and sticks which made it impossible to see. At least two of them had been thrown away by a sudden gust of wind and the others were struggling to stay upright. “this is crazy! Were in the eye of the storm shouldn’t it be calm!” Rainbow yelled from some direction. “its not natural Rainbowdash!” Twilight yelled. “you have to stay on the ground!” “easy for you to say!” rainbow was already being flung around like a ragdoll. She was trying to get some control but it was no use, and now she was flying right towards a tree, at hurricane speed. “I gotcha Rainbow!” Applejack tackled her out of the air not ten feet from the tree only to be caut up in the wind herself. She planted her hooves into the ground and managed to slow them down considerably “Tiligh vould mind elping us ou o’er ere.” She said as she help onto Rainbows tail with her teeth. “I gotcha!” twilight jumped right over to them and created a shield. Granted it wasn’t big but it did stop the wind. And where was I? I was hanging onto a tree for dear life with Rarity screaming her lungs out the whole time. Fluttershy was lucky though and managed to keep with Celestia who had gotten her shield back. Then the winds just stopped. Me and Rarity fell to the ground, we were flying a bit from the wind, and Tilight and Celestia dropped their shields. We gathered around the center of the clearing and looked up. The purple energy had coalest into what looked like a portal. “huh…so then…what now?” Applejack asked. “I guess we see if we truly have guests or not.” Rarity replied. Then, in the distant portal I was able to make out some figures. They were far away but I could tell that they were human. I looked over to Celestia. “I believe you should go and say hello.” I nodded and flew up. It wasn’t very high, maybe 30 meters or so. I was excited to see a human face again, it had been too long. Then right before I had reached the portal a streak of fire flew out of it. Smoke trailed a oddly shaped device that quickly made a turn and started observing the area. It was a UAV, the ponies bellow me were freaking out. They probably thought they were underattack. “its ok! It’s a reconnaissance device! It can’t hurt you!” I yelled down. They all eased up a bit, minus Fluttershy who ran into a bush the moment it came through. I continued flying upwards to the portal, I was almost there when a rope flew out of it. The portal itself was like looking through a thick fog. You could see what was there just not very clearly. One of the figures on the other side had fallen backwards when he, or she probably saw me. It pulled something from its side and pointed it at me. It was a gun! Right before I panicked and flew away though another figure stopped the one with the gun and slowly walked towards the portal. Then it stuck its head out, he was a human. “um…hello there. Thanks for stopping him from shooting me.” The man was stunned with silence. “um well anyway. Welcome to Equestria!” I gestured to what was behind me. “no…way.” His jaw dropped in shock. I nodded slowly. “I have to. Talk to some people. Ill be right back.” “alright then ill…” he pulled his head back through. “wait here then.” I finished.
