Act 1 - Chapter 4
Introduction, Part One

I gasp as I shoot up from my bedroll, looking at the door to my room to hear 3 light knocks. I get up and stretch before going to my bag, grabbing my hood and putting it on before trotting to the door and opening it. I was met with white fur so I look up to see Celestia with an unreadable face. We look into each other's eyes for a few seconds before I broke the awkward silence "Can I help you?"

Celestia smiled softly before asking "May I come in? I want to have a little chat." Her intentions seemed friendly so I nod and step aside to let her in. Celestia walks in and looks around a little before sitting next to a withered fireplace, patting the stone floor as she said "Come sit, We have much to discuss"

I walk to the fireplace and sit in front of her, a few feet between us as we make eye contact and I question "What do you wish to talk about?"

Celestia hummed softly before asking "Your name is Demitri Petrov, Correct? and where do you come from?"

I nod and sit back as I answer "Russia, Nizhny Novgorod..."

Celestia looked taken back as I pronounce my place of origin "I have not heard of this bizarre-sounding place. Is it even on this planet?"

She giggled at her small joke which made me smirk a bit but I say "It is not on this planet, the planet I am from is called Earth"

Her pupils shrunk to pinpricks and her words stumbled a little before she composed herself and asked: "W-Were you pony before?" I shake my head, my eyes stayed locked with her as she continued "Well, What were you b-before?"

"A human..." I answer quietly as a tense silence fills the room.

The Princess shakes her head before asking "How old are you?"

My head lowers in thought to do the math because, in all honesty, I forgot. I took a few seconds to count up the years before telling her "25, I arrived in this world when I was 16"

I could see her mind spin as she tried to figure out something before she questioned: "When is your birthday?"

I shrug and say "November 30th, 1993"

Celestia nodded and shifted her wings awkwardly before she squints her eyes at me "How do you know Fluttershy?"

I smirk and chuckle before telling her "She was the first pony I met when I woke up in this forest."

My stomach rumbles so I get up and head to my bag to grab an apple with my magic as Celestia asks "Why did you stay in this forest for so long? It is very dangerous here..." Her eyes fell upon my bag made from manticore skin and fur.

"My terrible Equish, It isn't my first language. English is a fucking hard language" I chuckle as Celestia's head tilts to the side in confusion before I continued "And I'm not used to civilization and being around so many people that seem so friendly" I take a bite of the apple and chew it before swallowing.

Her face got a little serious as she asked sternly "Why do you know how to make such lethal weapons?"

I sigh and lean against the window sill as I say "It was needed back where I'm from to survive, outsmart the enemy before the enemy outsmarts you..."

She nods and looks down before saying to me "It must've been hard to live on your home planet, were your people not civilized?"

I hesitated again, wanting to not answer but her calm aura and warming smile made me feel safe to tell her "They used to be but we had a third world war and we wiped out most of the population. There was no government anymore, no laws, no civilization. Just bandits and people who will do anything to survive..." I say before I take another bite of my apple.

Celestia smiles as if she got an idea before exclaiming "Maybe I could get my student to help you back into a civilized life?"

I look at her and tilt my head in confusion "Who is your student?"

Celestia responds "Twilight Sparkle, she is the lavender unicorn that you spoke to last night..."

I nod and finish up my apple before taking the seeds out and throwing the core out the window "Should we go meet her?"

Celestia nods "Yes, let us go" Her horn faintly glowed before everything flashed white, my body feeling like it was being torn apart but not in a painful way. The blinding white caused many unwanted thoughts to enter my head but I suppressed them and close my eyes. I feel my hooves touch grass so I open my eyes to see that I'm in the middle of the nearby town

I look around to see a lot of people staring at me so I tighten the brown hood around my head to hide my mangled eye. I look up at Celestia and ask "C-Can we hurry inside?" She nods and begins to walk to a large tree that's been turned into a house of some sort. I follow her as she opens the front door and enters. I look around the house to see that it is a library with a flite of stairs leading up.

I heard a familiar voice from the upstairs call out "Hello?"

Celestia lightly yelled back "It is me, Twilight!"

A light gasp came from the girl before a thumping came down the stairs and the purple unicorn from last night came into view, running up to the alicorn and hugging her tightly. after their small hug, Celestia turned to me and introduced me "Twilight, this is the pony you met last night during the fight with Nightmare Moon"

I push my hood back and wave as I said "Privyet"

Twilight smiled and waved back while saying "Hello there, nice to meet you on better terms!"

I chuckle and nod before turning to Celestia so that she could explain the situation which she did "Our friend here has been separated from society for a long time and I'm tasking you with integrating him back into normal life"

Twilight smiled with glee at her new objective as she responded "Thank you, Princess Celestia. I won't let you down!"

Celestia smiles back as she says "I know you won't. Now that you two have been introduced, I must take my leave to attend to my duties" Once she said that, her horn glowed yellow and the room flashed white and I closed my eyes to not get blinded.

...

When the bright glow died down, I opened my eyes to an orange sky and a ruined city. My eyes wandered from the destroyed buildings to the large mushroom cloud on the horizon, the fireball of the explosion still visible as high winds blew across my face and radioactive ash fell upon my fur. I tried to move but I was frozen in place as I was forced to watch the cloud bloom and listen to the whistle of the breeze as an old metal fence creaked from the winds. I began to shake roughly before I was able to close my eyes.

...

I opened my eyes to a worried Twilight shaking me and saying my name out loud "D-Dimitri? Are you okay?"

I shake my head a little and get a little dizzy for replying "Yeah... I'm okay."

Twilight let out a sigh of relief "What happened?"

I shrug as the visions I see were normal to me so I just said "My people call it bomb shock. I've been getting visions of my past life whenever I see or hear something that reminds me of it."

Twilight raised an eyebrow before looking down and bringing a hoof to her chin. she turned around and walked up to a bookshelf, looking around before grabbing a book with her magic and pulling to her. I didn't get to look at the title as she opened it and flipped a few pages before digging her nose into the book.

She took a minute to read something before she reads out loud "PTSD symptoms are generally grouped into four types: intrusive memories, avoidance, negative changes in thinking and mood, and changes in physical and emotional reactions. Symptoms can vary over time or vary from person to person. The most common symptoms include Recurrent, unwanted distressing memories of the traumatic event, reliving the traumatic event as if it were happening again, upsetting dreams or nightmares about the traumatic event, negative thoughts about yourself or the world, hopelessness about the future."

I tilt my head in confusion at the paragraph she read before asking "PTSD?"

She turns to me and answers "Post-traumatic stress disorder, happens when something happens that really scares someone and scars them for life... Did you have something happen"

I pause for a second, not really wanting to spill any beans to her just yet as I just met her. I then look her in the eye and say "A different time"

Her eyes fold back before nodding "I understand" An awkward silence took over the room before Twilight speaks up again "How about we introduce you to my friends?"

I look at her with a somewhat fake smile and nod.

Twilight nodded back and walked to the door as she said "Let's go visit Pinkie Pie first, she's in the big gingerbread house called the Sugarcube Corner"

I follow behind the lavender mare as she opens the door and walks out. I flip my hood up as I exit the tree and look around to quite a few ponies roaming around, doing their daily business. I try not to stare at other ponies as I stay right behind Twilight, looking around for the gingerbread house she said we were going to. And like she said, there was a large gingerbread house, covered in most-likely fake sweets and icing.

Twilight walked up to the door and opened it, letting me trot in first so I did, Twilight coming in right after me. The insides were as bright of the outside: beiges walls with pink and brown wooden support beams, pink booths with cupcake-themed tables. Twilight walks up beside me and says "Go take a seat, I'll fetch Pinkie and get us something to eat, you must be starving after all"

I nod and walk over to an empty booth, sitting down on the comfy cushions as I sat back a little. I began to reflect on the past two days, could I have done it another way? Should I have done it at all?

Leave while you can... Disappear...

I ignore the voice of my subconscious, staying focused on the questions that lingered in my head until Twilight came a few minutes later. She sat down next to me as she said "She'll be out with our lunch in a minute" I nod again and sit silently, the number of ponies around making me anxious. Twilight seemed to notice this as she places a hoof on my shoulder "Hey, it's okay. After Pinkie we can go see Fluttershy if you want, she lives in a more secluded place"

I shook my head no and said "I want to see her last..."

Twilight seemed a bit surprised before nodding "Alright..." She looked up and smiled as she exclaimed: "There she is!"

I look up to see a pink pony hopping toward us, a trey of 3 muffins balanced perfectly on her back "Hey there friendos!" She sits across from us after setting down the muffins. I shift in my seat uncomfortably as the pink pony practically oozing crackhead energy, I even thought I could hear my Geiger meter tick for a second but I dismissed that as just hearing things.

Pinkie and Twilight began to chat about me but I didn't really listen as I was the one who told it, I feel a tap on my shoulder from Twilight so I look to her "You want a muffin, Dimitri?"

I nod and reach over with my magic and grab one of them, looking at it to see blueberries baked into the muffin so I shrug and take a bite. my eyebrows as I look wt the muffin again, contemplating the explosion of flavor in my mouth before humming softly in approval and taking another bite.

Pinkie then tilts her head before asking "Isn't much of a talker... Is he?"

Twilight shrugs "I think he talks only when necessary..."

I nod once again before speaking out "I am... O-Overwhelmed, I'm not used to being around lots of people."

Pinkie Pie giggles and says "Don't worry silly! No one will hurt you around here!"

I look at Pinkie, her ears going back against her head as I retort "I'm not scared of anyone trying to hurt me, I don't want to scare other people" I finish my muffin and stretch out before noticing I scared Pinkie Pie. I sigh before continuing "Thank you for the muffin but I believe we should get going."

Twilight smiles nervously as I flip my hood back up and get up, scooting past Twilight before saying to her "I'll meet you outside, you can finish up here..." I then walk to the door and go outside.

I wait beside the door, looking around at everypony. Another minute passes and the Lavender pony finally exit the bakery, walking up to me and asking "What was up with that!?!" quite mad that I left abruptly.

I sigh and respond "I was making her uncomfortable so I thought it best that I would leave"

"Well, maybe you shouldn't be so dark all the time!" Twilight argued

I sigh and rub my forehead with a hoof "Maybe you should walk in my shoes, Bitch. You would understand why". Twilight tilts her head at the foreign swear as she chokes on her words. She then sighs and drops her head down. I bite my lip in frustration before continuing "Let's just go to your next friend..."

Twilight straightens her neck up and nods before starting to walk off in a direction, so I follow.

Can this day get any worse?

Author's Note

Hello, sorry for the really long delay, been having bad writer's block for a while. I'm splitting up this chapter so you guys wouldn't have to wait any longer. Anyways, stay safe out in the collapsing world