Side Effectsby Blue InsomniacChapters1.1 Bifrost... Is That You?1.2 I Woke Up... And The World Wasn't There1.3 New Life... Yet The Same Old Problems1.4 Surprising Developments... The Party Kind That Is1.1 Bifrost... Is That You?"Hello!? Help! Anyone!?" My voice echoed among what little space there was as I took a deep breath from my spontaneous screaming session. I waited in place for a while to see if anything reacted to my cry for aid before shaking my head and walking towards another random location once more. This was my life for the past hours, days, what have you. Walking among the trees of the most ominous forest I ever had the displeasure of traveling through while screaming for anyone to fucking help me. While occasionally stopping to rest and sleep. What even was my situation at this point? I had no idea where I was, no idea what I was , and the only thing I had resembling an answer was a flash of light, then a massive rainbow washing over my form as I stood frozen in my room. As an added bonus I couldn't even see through most of the foliage present on the forest floor, that meaning I had no hope of spotting civilization if it wasn't within a twenty feet radius around me. Then there was the other problem I was dealing with... Pushing another bush of unknown origin away as best as I could. I didn't see a partially uncovered root in my path, and unfortunately, one of my legs was caught in its wooden grasp as I tumbled down into a painful fall directly on to my face. I was gonna feel that one in the morning. If there was going to be morning in the future for me. 'Fucking stupid root. Stupid tree. Stupid forest. Stupid... everything.' I couldn't help but think this was all a very bad dream, despite the fact I had multiple wounds and scratches on my body. Quite soundly proving this was all placed solely in plain old reality. Picking myself up, I slowly dragged myself into the most natural sitting position I could manage. I could lie to myself and say I was merely crouching, but that wouldn't solve the problem I was having in the slightest. Heh, right... the other problem. I didn't have any answers or explanations, and any guesses I may have had would so undoubtedly be wrong I didn't even try. What I did have was what I was seeing with my own two eyes, and I didn't like what I saw. Instead of seeing normal human skin, I instead saw pure white fur covering every inch of my body. Instead of the two arms and legs of a human, I had the forelegs and hind legs of an animal. More specifically the forelegs and hind legs of a miniature horse, if the hooves I see are to be believed. In between my eyes, I could see a muzzle covered in the same pure white fur as the rest of my body. At the top of my vision, I could barely see the start of pale blue hair (mane?) and I could feel it end just above the start of my back (withers?). I could also see something completely alien to me, wings. Smack dab on the sides of my body (barrel?) covered with pure white feathers. I couldn't really feel them all that much, I could move them with some focus of course. But it felt alien and strange, much like if an arm that was asleep woke up with full functionality and senses, but lesser... somehow. They also felt like I could use them as makeshift hands with what control I had felt nearly like how I moved my arms in my old body. Shifting my position, I carefully spread them to their full length and touched them with my hooves. Almost immediately I could tell what was important and what needed removing. Moving with this alien instinct, I preened and cared for my wings. Picking out feathers that were damaged and not needed, while at the same time straightening unruly ones into the correct formation. It almost felt like treating my hair, but except for using a comb or similar tool, It was my teeth and hooves. It felt... strangely familiar, like riding a bike after ten years of doing the opposite without even thinking about it. Once it felt like everything was in order, I shook them off and made to close them near my body. The same position they've been in the whole time I've been in this forest, before unfurling them again. 'Most animals with wings can fly, right?' I took a few tentative flaps as the displaced wind blew away some leaves from beneath me. The motion caught me off guard, not due to it feeling alien or strange, but of how... natural it was. With more confidence, I started to flap a bit faster. With more displaced air throwing random junk found on the forest floor everywhere. However, I stopped after a short while. I could barely walk with this new body. Never mind doing something impossible like flying. Plus it felt as though I was missing something as if I was a plane with no fuel. No need to hurt myself while doing something with them. Sighing, I (carefully) stood up on all fours and started my trek into the forest once again. The sound of hooves hitting dirt the only sound I heard for miles. Which once again brought my mind back to the new body I was inhabiting. With my mind's focus set I couldn't help but think back to some hours ago. Back to when I first realized how fundamentally changed, I was from my original self, the alien feeling of having six limbs instead of four, the shame and humiliation of not being able to stand up, the constant reminders from my subconscious that this wasn't right. Eventually, I just couldn't take it anymore and simply started screaming my frustrations into the unfeeling forest surrounding my now tiny form. I... wasn't over it. I don't think I ever will be, but screaming out my frustration for a bit was better than just sitting there, frozen. Thinking 'this isn't happening.' over and over again like some broken machine. I liked to believe I was better than that, I could have a full-on panic attack later. Right now I just needed to get out of this forest before nightfall. Finding another small clearing, I prepared myself for another dose of screaming for help in hopes of anybody hearing me. My throat was already killing me with how often I was doing this. Sadly, however, this was my best shot of having a chance of being rescued, short of magically learning how to fly. I'm just hoping whoever comes to rescue me doesn't run away after realizing I was indeed a taking miniature horse pegasus thing. Although I guess a miniature horse was called a pony. Not that I think ponies can talk but it was my best guess of what I was. "He- Ack!" My voice cut out after a sharp pain ran across my throat. Ow. Ok, no more screaming I guess. I could barely even whisper with how much my throat was burning. *Snap* My ears, now capable of moving by themselves, quickly shifted towards the sharp sound that echoed across the clearing. Adrenaline shot through my body, making it active and alert as I turned to face whatever the hell made that sound. My wings unconsciously spread as far as they could go to make myself look bigger. All that I could see as I turned was leaves and foliage, what little light that passed the canopy above revealing little else. I scanned the area as thoroughly as I could. While my body may no longer be human, my mind sure as hell was, and it was working overtime as I looked for anything within the undergrowth. I looked for a good while as I slowly started to calm myself down. 'It was probably a small animal passing through, like a bunny or something. Yeah, that's it. No need to worr-' I cut my train of thought as I managed to catch a bit of movement a little way to my right. It didn't look like much, just some twigs that could have been moved by the wind. But I wanted to be sure. Focusing on that patch of space, it occurred to me that the so-called 'twigs' where shaped in a weird pattern. They way they were placed made it look like small triangles running in a mostly straight line, while at the ends curving inwards and out of sight. They almost looked like teeth. Making my actions look as casual as I possibly could. I turned around while tucking my wings away, facing directly away from what I saw. Then with all my might, I jumped to the left. At the same time, I heard a rustling of a bush being vacated and a loud crash of what sounded like wood and leaves. Getting to my feet as fast as I could. I heard howls that we're far too close and all around me as the snaps of wood and bushes rang out for all to hear. Growls and yelps echoed in my ears, as the breath of whatever I dodged with my pathetic sidestep turned to face me. I ran. I don't know how long I've been running, the sun was now a bloody red as the sounds of wolves grew ever closer. My own labored breaths accompanying the sounds of my demise. My legs felt like lead as I pushed them, even more, to keep running. To stop was to die, and I didn't want that. Not now, and not ever. I heard a growl from my right, I quickly raised my wings and used them to turn sharply to my left. I saw a glimpse of a wooden wolf barely miss its mark as the stench of rot and decay filled my mouth and nose. Almost as if whatever they eat just sat in there wooden stomachs after catching and eating their prey. The main pack that was behind me lost some speed due to my unexpected left turn. They howled in what I could only guess was frustration as they started to pursue me once again, their large strides eating up what little distance I managed to make with my maneuver. Pain flared up in my legs as again I pushed them to run even faster than before. I trampled over plant and dirt alike as I was chased by death in the form of putrid wooden wolves. My hoofsteps being trumped by the deafening sounds of timber splintering and breaking upon the forest floor. In the distance, all I saw was more forest and greenery, tears were freely running from my eyes as I desperately searched for anything to help me. With my blurry vision, I saw something that gave me the tiniest bit of hope. A clearing, with no trees behind it. In other words my only way out. I steered myself towards it while making a mad dash to what I prayed to be a promise of safety. I was risking it all here, the wolves were faster than me in a dead sprint. My destination didn't look far but the wolves were already gaining. The noises they made growing louder and more frenzied, sensing that the kill was near. I could feel their hot breath on the back of my legs as I neared the clearing. My heart was pounding in my ears as I felt my blood rush through me. I was almost there, I was almost nearly there! Suddenly I heard the pack slow down as I neared the light of the clearing, their baying sounding like horrid laughter to my ears. I soon realized why. The clearing was no clearing at all, just an open space leading to the edge of a cliff. I barely caught myself before I ran off the edge, wildly flapping my wings to help me bleed off some of my speed. Rocks and dirt sprayed from under me, with them falling down the cliff side. My eyes scanned the valley below, with me tracing a monsterous river filled with rushing rapids filled to the brim with jagged rocks just begging for someone to fall in to their death's. I was stuck. I stood still, shuddering as my legs could barely carry my own weight. The wind ran through my mane and outstretched wings as behind me stood the wolves from hell. Turning, I saw them make a perimeter around the overhang I was standing on, effectively cutting off any hope of escape. "So. That's it then?" I couldn't help but say with shuddering breath. "Was this your plan all along you fucking dogs!? Lead me with false hope then crush it without m-mercy!?" My voice cracking near the end. They merely stood in silence, what I assume was drool dripping from their wooden mouths. "ANSWER ME!" I yelled. But none did. We stood at an impasse, neither of us stepping forward. Eventually, however, a lone wolf parted with its pack. Its giant paws scratching the floor. It opened its massive maw, baring its teeth at me. I stared it down with all my will as It got closer and closer, it's growling growing ever louder. I was petrified with fear, sweat poured off from me as I got an eyeful of the teeth of a true predator. Each fang longer than my own arm as its steps shook the ground beneath us. The smell was the worst though, blood and rot were aptly present as I swore that I could see chunks of meat hanging from its mouth. My whole body was shaking as the looming figure of my death drew ever closer. I felt my tears run down my eyes as I grew more and more panicked. Was this the end? I get teleported to who knows where by who knows what, for reasons unknown? What did I do to deserve this? I didn't want to die, I didn't want to be torn apart limb from limb like a fucking animal! So I screamed, I yelled and I cursed at the creature responsable for my woes with all my might. "You think I'm scared of you, you ugly excuse of an art project!? What's with the wood you shit stain of a wolf!? Didn't have the guts to be made of meat you sack of sawdust!?" It could have been a trick of the light but I swore that it flinched a bit at that. "What!? You think you're so tough because you're about to eat a fucking pegasus pony!? If I had a fucking match stick I would have killed you a fucking hour ago!" This time I knew it had flinched, as its eerie green eyes darted away from my gaze. What was going on? "Yeah that's right, run away you fucking poser of a wolf! Don't make me beat your ass you fucking coward!" As soon as I stopped scream for a moment, I knew something changed from within the hell wolf. I just knew something had happened, which was proven as I saw tears run down its eyes. The wolf ran from the overhang, with the other wolves looking on in confusion as they slowly backed away from my position. I took this opportunity to give them a final push. I didn't know what I was doing, but it was saving my goddamned life and I wasn't stopping now. "What, you think I don't see you there!? What? Too scared to come towards me? Come on! Don't have the guts to fight a fucking pony!?" I felt myself get braver as I shouted, it was like I was taking control of my own fate. Like I could do whatever I wanted if I just shouted hard enough. The hell wolves looked teriffied. I smiled as I took a single step forward, with my wings outstretched. A cruel glare etched on my face "Come oooonn then! You wanted me so bad, well. HERE I AM!" Erupted from my throat, glaring at the beasts all the while. Whatever I did, whatever was happening. It made the rest of the hell wolves break ranks, with most of them fleeing back into that cursed forest. Those who weren't scared off retreated when their pack mates left. With me laughing in glee right behind them. 'I-I was finally safe...' What little false bravo I had cracked and shattered as cruel reality crashed back into my mind. My laughter morphing into the pitiful cries of a child as my whole body shook with stress and exhaustion. My legs gave out from under me as the last of my strength finally left me. I sat there for a while, in disbelief of what I had done. My chest shook with long seeded exhaustion, my sitting position to much for my overtaxed body. I let myself fall down into the rocky floor. The most I could do after that was to turn my head towards the setting sun, the golden-red sunset illuminating my cliff and the valley below. The warm rays of the sun slowly luring me to sleep as the wind rushed through the trees. As my eyes closed, I heard a quiet gasp from somewhere out in front of me. I didn't react as I was entirely out of fucks to give. Merely grunting at the intruder to go away, couldn't they see I was tired? As my consciousness slipped away, I felt something grab me by my neck. With whatever it was placing me on their back. I felt myself being carried away by whatever had found me. With near silent flaps of wings the last thing I heard, before I finally fell into blissful unconsciousness. Author's Note Have a nice day! - Blue Insomniac 1.2 I Woke Up... And The World Wasn't There"... Okay, now I need you to stick this under your tongue. Don't give me that look, your medical scan said you haven't been vaccinated in who knows how long. So we're checking for everything right now." I merely grunted in annoyance as I grabbed the thermometer with both hooves and stuck it in my mouth to the best of my ability. I couldn't help but sigh in my mind as I waited for the damn thing to take my temperature, then for Nurse Redheart to write it down once again to see if anything had changed. This was my life from the moment I woke up in the hospital till now, and wasn't that a fun way to find out I was very much far away from home. I couldn't really remember the first time I woke up, but I do remember having feelings of being safe and warm. But that wasn't the point, the point was that wherever that fucking rainbow beam thing transported me was no where near to where I started. At the very least, I don't remember talking technicolored ponies being the dominant species on Earth. "Okay, that should do it for today. Remember to come back next week for another check up alright?" Was said by the mare as she smiled before turning towards the back of the room and started speaking to the other pony in the room. And wasn't that a nice twist to all the shit I was already dealing with. It turns out that I was younger than what I originally was back on Earth, and with that came all the legal baggage that being a minor in this world would mean for me. Essentially, they needed an adult to consent for me and all that jazz, so who better than have 'my savoir' be the acting guardian for me. Ah yes, when I passed out back in the cliff face I did in fact not hallucinate the quiet gasp that I heard. It actually came from a pegasus who was traveling near the edge of the forest I was in. She just so happened to be traveling there for her job or whatever, and she heard me screaming at the (what I now know as) Timber wolves to fuck off. Yada yada yada she rushed me to the nearest hospital located in Ponyville (what kind of name was that?) And here I was. Being tested for every kind of disease known to man. Her name was Fluttershy, and is my temporary caretaker. Or at least until whatever counted as their government here decided what to do with my furry ass. But until that happens I was under her (extraordinarily shy) care. Honesty if I hadn't seen the sheer determination in her face at the thought that I was gonna be sent away to who knows where if she didn't take me in, I would have felt bad for the mare. Instead I just kinda felt awkward as she mumbled her way through what the nurse was saying and signing the needed paperwork to legally be my guardian. That also meant that today was the day that I was to go with her and finally leave the hospital. 'Why are you just agreeing to go with a total stranger and be treated like a kid?' Is what I would be asking myself right about now. But what choice did I have. I still had no idea where I was, had no way to prove that I wasn't the kid (colt?) they saw me as, and I almost didn't believe it myself. And I fucking lived through it! There was also the fact that I wasn't a pony at all, but that was an entirely different can of worms that would never be believed at the best of times. No. Better to just lay low and then think about what I could do about it later. That didn't really make me feel better about my situation, but at least it was a start. But my plan also meant that I had to blend in as best as I could in this strange new land I was in. In fact I nearly blew it when the many, many medical staff first asked me what my name was. I very nearly said my true name before I realized how... alien... it would sound to these ponies. The name Jacob Herbert didn't really fit in with what I heard thought my extended stay in the hospital. They had names like 'Flowery Scent' and 'Yellow Bell', never mind Jacob Herbert. So what did I go for my new name while I was stuck here? "Aerial Ace? Are you ready to go now? I-if that's alright with you." Was whispered by Fluttershy. "Yeah, let's go" Was whispered by me in turn. Yeah, I named myself after a Pokemon move. Not the best choice I had but it fit in the moment, so why not? That reminds me, "How far away is your home by the way?" I asked, once again as a whisper. She seemed to be expecting me to ask this question, as when she responded it was without a single stutter, though still in a whisper. "Oh. It's not far, just a little down the road." "Okay, thanks." I said, once again in a whisper. I learned the hard way that my guardian was extraordinarily panicky and shy. The one two combo in terms of being introverted to the extreme, not that I minded though. I was also a quiet person, at least till I got angry and scared. But isn't that everybody? It also meant that she most likely wouldn't ask any uncomfortable questions. I already felt bad enough lying to the hard working medical staff back at the hospital. I fear it would break my heart to lie to the pony who saved me from certain death from within the forest. It also didn't help that these ponies were hitting my 'ohmygoshsocute' buttons like there was no tommorow. As I stood still while being tied up in my thoughts, Fluttershy stood to her full hight and started to slowly fly away from the hospital towards what I assumed was her home. Shaking my head to dislodge my thoughts I quickly faced towards Nurse Redheart and gave her a smile and a hand wave (hoof?) of goodbye, no need to be rude after all. Before following Fluttershy's slow flying pace with my own walking. If you had told me that these wings I had on my back would let me fly, I wouldn't have believed you. But now after having been living here for a few days. I couldn't help but feel at least a little bit excited about learning now that I knew that not only was it possible to fly with my too tiny wings, but that I could reach incredible speeds that I had never had the chance to experience. At least, that's what Fluttershy's friend Rainbow Dash claims. The few times she visited alongside Fluttershy were invaluable for me to learn about this new world and how things worked. It was through her that I learned that magic was real in this world, not just some fancy parlor tricks and slight of hand. But the real, you need to study and manipulate Mana, version. Unfortunately you needed to be a unicorn to do any of that. So no sorcerer supreme Aerial Ace the terrible I'm afraid. Still, wings were a nice substitute for hands and would (eventually) let me fly. You win some and you lose some. Though now that I was out of the hospital, it was time to find out how (or maybe why) I was brought to this alien world. And hopefully find a way to get back home. I don't remember much after my vision was overwhelmed by the strange rainbow light back home, but I do remember that the world stood still as though time itself had stopped. And for now, I would choose to believe that was still the case. So I'll keep looking for a way back home, but for now... For now, my name is Aerial Ace. I truly don't know how I got into those woods, and lied about not knowing anything else. In this body I had no parents and refused to say anything else due to past trauma. Now how far did Fluttershy say her home was again? Cause 'a little down the road' looked like a good hours walk from here... Author's Note So most chapters will probably be 1k to 2k on average but an occasional 3k may pop out every now and again. Sorry if you wanted longer chapters but I don't nearly have that level of dedication. Though I will update often so there is that. Have a nice day! - Blue Insomniac 1.3 New Life... Yet The Same Old Problems"... So I made the guest room look as best as I could, but what if he doesn't like it? Maybe I should have brought a bigger bed? But that's way too many Bits though. But what if his back hurts from that old thing? Oh Celestia! Why is this so hard!?..." I sigh as I tuned out the soft mutterings of Fluttershy who flew a few paces in front of me. She's been doing this since the hospital and has enlightened me to a few key things about this new world I was in. That mostly being that their form of currency was called 'Bits' and that this 'Celestia' was some form of God or deity. At least with the way she uses them that's what I had managed to puzzle out. It also made the churning guilt in my guts even worse. As I now realize that of course Fluttershy had to spend a significant amount of money to be able to take me in. Hell, back on Earth this sort of thing would have been hellishly complicated and put a decent dent in a couples wallet. So I could only imagine how this would effect a single person. Er... Pony. So I tried my best to keep up with her on the way back to her home. She was stressed enough as is, and a little bit of walking didn't hurt anyone. Plus, it let me practice walking on all fours. Not that I needed much after the amount of physical evaluation they made me do back at the hospital, but a little more never hurt. With all this walking that I was doing also got me to appreciate just how clean the air was here. Back on Earth I lived in the city, and a running joke that many of my friends had was to take a deep breath and immediately choke on the bad air. It wasn't truly that bad, but when compared to here. It would be like the difference between eating five day old sushi and eating the professional made sushi in Japan. One was clearly better than the other. While in this grand journey of mine I also got to see most of the town of Ponyville (still a stupid name). Most of the buildings I saw were what one would typically expect from medieval times. What with their wooden supports and cobblestone walls. However, there were plenty of exceptions. The top contenders being a building that looked (and smelled) like a gingerbread house, a carousel that had mannequins displaying different assortments of fancy clothes and outfits (ponies wear clothes!?), and I believe that I saw a house in the distance that looked like it was made out of solid cloud. I like to think that I merely saw these outrageous designs and simply accepted them for the insanity that they were. But I couldn't help but gawk at how... different they were compared to earth. From what I could tell these buildings were mostly for shops or restaurants. So I could assume that the unique designs these buildings had were for marketing purposes. That didn't make them any less silly in my eyes though. It gave me the image of a fantasy village, almost like the starting town for one's own grand adventure. Plus, with magic being real here I could easily see this being the starting point for a hero and their group of friends to save the world or whatever. Maybe they could even find me a way back home... As Fluttershy kept mumbling her doubts about taking in so much responsibility and me politely ignoring her. I happened to catch a dash a pink near the corner of my vision. Immediately after I heard a gasp of surprise from behind me and before I could even turn around whatever it was had already left. At least, if the pony shaped puff of smoke I saw meant anything. What. I shook my head. 'Whatever, magic is real here. Just ignore it.' I thought. Heh, for a world so much more different from my own. The people (or should I say ponies?) here acted like if they were just humans in pony form. Or at least that's what I got from listening to the occasional pony who strayed close enough for me to eavesdrop on their conversations. I didn't really know what to expect from the average pony on the streets as I had spent most of my time here listening to professional medical staff who just so happened to look like ponies. It didn't really give me much of an idea for what the social norms were, or what was okay to ask or to talk about. And while Fluttershy did her best, she didn't really seem to be the most social. Rainbow Dash helped a bit more in that regard, however... her stye of talking tended to be about her being the best in the room. Not exactly what I wanted, but it gave me a few more clues on how to act like a pony, so there was that. I guess? But what really surprised me was just how normal most of their conversations were. They talked about the weather or what they had eaten today. A few of them talked about work and if it was a good or bad day. The few children (foals?) that ran past me were screaming and laughing in joy with whatever game they were playing at the time. And the occasional loner who either walked to wherever they were going in total silence or hummed something under their breath. It comforted me how similar it was to just walking down the street back on Earth. But all good things come to an end I'm afraid, as Fluttershy made a slight correction in her flight path as we headed into a secluded road up a small hill. It shook me a bit on how abandoned it was. Yeah sure there were a few branching paths that led back into town and not too far away I saw a group of ponies in the distance. But other than that we were alone. The constant mumbling coming from Fluttershy finally ceased as we traveled further up the hill to what I could only guess was her home. As the hill evened out I started to hear running water from a stream, and the pleasant singing of birds all around me. The dirt path we were traveling on slowly transformed into a well traveled field of grass and flowers. The sounds of Ponyville seemed to completely disappear as a peaceful silence seemed to dominant the area. What little trees I saw seemed to be well taken care of and had multiple bird houses nestled between their many branches. Eventually the well worn path terminated into an almost natural bridge over a stream of water that was lively with all sorts of fish. And behind it stood a two story cottage that almost looked like part of the hill itself with its roof covered with grass and it's walls nearly hidden behind the amount of planted fauna. All around it stood bird houses of all shapes and sizes and many animals traveled through the expensive field that was the backyard of the cottage. And behind that stood a towering forest with its many trees and wildlife. It was beautiful sight to look at. Before I could even speak animals started to run towards us, with their squeaks and chirps they seemed to almost welcome me and Fluttershy as if they could speak. And to my surprise, Fluttershy responded back. "Oh my. Hello everypony, I hope you were behaving while I was gone." She said, and for once not a whisper. From within the group of animals, a single rabbit hopped forward and started to wave and point towards me. The carrot it was holding whipping randomly throughout the air as it did so. "Oh, um. This is Aerial Ace, you remember? The colt I saved near mister beaver's dam? Well he's going to be staying here for a while. Is that okay with everypony?" Fluttershy said. Every other animal stared in silence. Well, except for the rabbit, who seemed to strongly disagree with my presence here. At least from what I could tell from it's body language as crazy as that sounded. Oddly enough however, Fluttershy simply ignored him in favor of the other animals. Fluttershy smiled. "Great!" She said, before turning around to face me. "Well, here we are. Home sweet home." She said bashfully to my dumbfounded face. "You... You can talk to animals!?" I asked in disbelief. "Oh, no. Not really, I just sort of understand what they are trying to say." She responded, digging one of her hooves into the floor. "Oh. Cool." Was all that I could say. Apparently I lived with a Disney princess now. All that was missing was that she was a great singer and we were golden. As I stood there thinking about stupid crap, Fluttershy turned around and reached for the door. She immediately stopped after she glanced into the tiny window she had near the top of the wooden door. She fidgeted in place for a bit before calling out my name. "Um, Aerial Ace. Do you want to go inside before me? I live here after all, so do you want to see it by yourself for a bit? If that's okay with you..." She said, her words growing quieter as she kept talking. I grew confused until I realized that she wanted me to go in first. Most likely because she wanted me to get used to the fact that I was going to be living here for the foreseeable future. Taking the hint I walked towards and pushed the wooden door open. The inside was dark, as most of the windows that I saw outside seemed to be closed from within and let very little natural light to enter. Before I could even ask Fluttershy where the light switch was or if she could open a window, I heard a very distinct snort. Whipping around I stared into the pitch black room, looking for anything that could have been amiss. As I walked forward, I was suddenly hit with many smells. Smells like fresh grass, a lemony sent and... cake? Before I could react the lights suddenly turned on and a massive shout of "SURPRISE" was echoed throughout the room. . . . I didn't scream, and I will fight anyone who says otherwise. Author's Note Have a nice day! - Blue Insomniac 1.4 Surprising Developments... The Party Kind That IsI decided that surprise parties weren't that bad. Yeah sure, this one in particular most definitely shaved off some years from my total life span but it was worth it. So, so worth it. "...Were you surprised? Were ya? Were ya? Huh huh huh?" Was not quite yelled by the most hyper being I've ever seen. She was also decidedly the most pink thing I have ever seen, with both her coat and mane being (different) shades of pink. I mostly ignored her as she hopped in place for a bit as I slowly chewed the most delicious and delectable cake I had the absolute pleasure of eating. It was a pure chocolate cake with many layers of different types of chocolate within it. Even the frosting was made of chocolate and had little flakes of chocolate sprinkled atop it just in case if it didn't have enough already. In my personal opinion, it didn't have enough chocolate. But that was probably just me. Sipping a bit of hot chocolate from the mug so kindly provided by one of the surprisingly few adult ponies present, I couldn't help but think back to the bland hospital food and how desperate I was to get literally anything else. That was a very embarrassing day, and as such I will never speak of it again. As I munched happily I couldn't help but feel grateful to Fluttershy and the other mare who made all of this. Even if the latter was being an annoyance that was happily bouncing right next to me. As such I continued to politly ignore the kind mare who set this whole thing up in favor of eating my holy slice of cake and look around at the many decorations plastered across the room. The first thing that came to mind was the sheer amount of streamers scattered around the place. I also couldn't help but notice that all of them were distinctly colored white and blue. In fact, the whole place seemed to be themed around the colors of my new body. The table cloths, napkins, party hats, hell even the balloons that were tied to several chairs laying about had the theme of white and blue. I guess she wasn't kidding when she said she was Ponyville's number one party pony, everything to the food and the entertainment seemed professional and of extremely high quality. Even the damn banner stating 'Welcome to Ponyville Aerial Ace!' just oozed a welcoming vibe. Though I still couldn't help but question how she did all of this in such a short amount of time. I have now long realized that she was the pink blur I saw while walking to Fluttershy's house. So that meant she set up and did everything that needed doing in under the eight or so minutes it took to get here. Then again Fluttershy could have told her earlier and this was set up way beforehand, but it didn't really matter. The party was great, even if all that I was doing was eating cake. I turned my attention back towards the bubblegum pony as she kept talking about why she threw this welcome party for me. "...And if you just got out of the hospital, that meant you haven't met anypony yet, and if you haven't met anypony yet, you must not have any friends, and if you don't have any friends then you must be lonely, and that made me so sad, but you might also not want to be crowded by too many ponies! You live with Fluttershy after all," I paused my chewing for a bit as she kept talking. "So then I had an idea. what if instead of throwing a great big ginormous super-duper spectacular welcome party and invite everypony in Ponyville, I just bring some of my friends and they bring their sisters. See? And now you have some friends! And they're also your age! Isn't that great!" She finished, then she finally took the first breath I heard throughout all the time she had been talking to me. I started at her ear to ear smile for a bit before simply nodding in agreement. "Great! Have fun!" She exclaimed, before running off to a different location in the building. She seemed nice for a pony, even if she had just started talking to me out of the blue. Picking up my fork with my completely flat hoof (don't think about, don't think about) I started eating again with gusto before noticing someone else had walked up to my table. It was then that I noticed who exactly was the one to walk -or should I say bounce- up to me. Then I proceeded to ignore them entirely as I simply kept eating my little slice of heaven. From the angry squeaks that caused, I'll say it was a success. At least before the little jerk gave out a final squeak of anger before jumping up to the table, then proceeding to use my head as a nest. I merely sighed as I adjusted my seating position to account for his weight before going back to eating my welcome cake. He'll get bored eventually and hop off in a few minutes anyway. Until then I could bear the weight of a single bunny rabbit. Unfortunately, the little devil kept up his hat impression for far longer than I thought. If I hadn't heard his mocking snorts and squeaks every now and again I would have thought he had fallen asleep up there just to spite me. I shook my head a bit. "So you just gonna move soon?" My only answer was some shuffling and a louder than necessary yawn, before a single squeak rang about my ears. For the life of me I could have sworn I heard 'make me' but that was probably me just putting meaning behind his annoying sounds. Although he had most likely said that anyway, not that I was going to Fluttershy to make sure. Speaking of my Disney princess of a guardian, where was she? Picking up a napkin and wiping away any excess chocolate that might have been stuck on my face. I got up from my chair and started exploring around the house. Seeing as my chosen location was stuffing myself in a corner to eat my cake in peace, I had no problem staying near the sides of the party that was going on. Of course almost immediately after I got stopped by one of the fillies that the pink mare had said come with some of her friends. "Hiya there!" She yelled. "Uh, hi." Was my genius reply. We stood there for an uncomfortably long amount of time. With us awkwardly staring at each other waiting for one of us to say something. Just before I could try to break the awful silence we had going on, the red and cream fully abruptly said, "My names Applebloom!" She flushed before hastily adding, "What's yours?" Well, that's one way to break the ice I suppose. Putting on what I hoped was a smile on my face I stuck out my hoof in greeting. "My name's Aerial Ace." I didn't realize my mistake as she took my hoof and began to shake like a demented jackhammer as she further introduced herself. "Nice ta meetcha Aerial Ace. How's yer day goin'?" She didn't stop shaking my hoof as I answered her. "I'm DoInG wElL tHaNkS." Make the pain stop make the pain stop! Mercifully she let go of my hoof as she smiled at me. I rubbed my shoulder as she just sat there like she didn't just flail me around like a pair of nunchucks. "You're quite strong." Was all that I said after I was able to recover. She nodded as she kept talking. "Yup. My folks own a farm near the edge of town, I help out sometimes with the harvesting and all that." "A warning would have been nice." Dear God my shoulder was killing me! "Huh?" Oh shit did I say that out loud? "Nothing." I then added, "Hey. You know anyone else here?" She gave me a weird look for a second before answering. "Not... not really. The only pony I kinda know is Sweetie Belle, she goes to my class at school. Everypony else is somepony my big sister knows, her name's Applejack. She's standing near Twilight over there." She pointed her hoof towards the far side of the room where another mare stood in the ponyfied stance of a traditional cowboy. Well, cowgirl in this instance. She was similar in color to Applebloom, but instead of having a red mane she had a blond one. She also wore a cowboy hat on top of that. Well, if you lived and worked at a farm might as well look the part no? Looking back at Applebloom I saw her wave at her sister before she too looked back towards me. She then glanced at me head as she finally saw my passenger. "Is that a rabbit on your head?" I almost nodded before I remembered what was on top of my head at the moment. "E'yup" She giggled at my response. "Heh, that's what my big brother always says." "Really? How big is your family anyways?" "Oh. Well, first there's Granny Smith. She's my grandma, she's not here though. She's back looking after the farm with Big Mac, uh. That's my big brother. Then there's..." We talked quite a bit after that, she told me all about her extended family all around Equestria. Especially the family located in some area called Appleloosa, and some fellow called Braeburn. Although she did avoid talking about her parents and based on what I could glean from what she said. It sounded like she never knew them. Not that it was my business to pry, but it was sad that a child didn't know her own parents. Eventually, after she told me all about her family she invited me to play some games that (Now that I knew her name after Applebloom told me) Pinkie Pie had set up for the party. I took it upon myself to invite the other filly that Applebloom talked about to... play...with us. All in all. Despite the childish nature of the games and me having to deal with all the arguments that children have while playing said games, I had a lot of fun. At least, as much fun as one could have while playing the pony version of monopoly. I'm never playing that again, not with Applebloom at least. Her stubbornness alongside surprisingly good business skills made it almost impossible to even gain the two hundred when I passed go. And the less said about the rage of Sweetie Belle the better. I've never seen a plastic toy embedded itself against solid wood. But after everyone had left and the welcome party was well and done, I couldn't help but think back to everything that had happened so far. One solid month. One month since I had woken up in a forest from hell, found myself transformed into a species not my own, nearly got eaten by hounds from hell, stayed far too long inside a hospital, and finally somehow made my way into the home of a pegasus named Fluttershy. It was almost too much to take in at once, but I'll manage somehow. As I laid down upon the new bed Fluttershy had set out from me I let myself be immersed within the insanity that has been my life for the past month. At least I was safe now, and I could finally start to find a way back home. As my eyes slowly closed and my consciousness faded away, I heard a quiet squeak from above my head. Instantly I jumped up as high as I could and swung my head forward as hard as I possibly could. The panicked cries of one Angel rabbit were music to my ears as his small frame smashed into the soft cloth of my new bed. "AND GET OFF OF MY HEAD!" Author's Note I hate this quarantine. I also hate poorly made online classes. And I hate the joke of AP testing I had this year. That is all. Have a nice day! - Blue Insomniac
1.1 Bifrost... Is That You?"Hello!? Help! Anyone!?" My voice echoed among what little space there was as I took a deep breath from my spontaneous screaming session. I waited in place for a while to see if anything reacted to my cry for aid before shaking my head and walking towards another random location once more. This was my life for the past hours, days, what have you. Walking among the trees of the most ominous forest I ever had the displeasure of traveling through while screaming for anyone to fucking help me. While occasionally stopping to rest and sleep. What even was my situation at this point? I had no idea where I was, no idea what I was , and the only thing I had resembling an answer was a flash of light, then a massive rainbow washing over my form as I stood frozen in my room. As an added bonus I couldn't even see through most of the foliage present on the forest floor, that meaning I had no hope of spotting civilization if it wasn't within a twenty feet radius around me. Then there was the other problem I was dealing with... Pushing another bush of unknown origin away as best as I could. I didn't see a partially uncovered root in my path, and unfortunately, one of my legs was caught in its wooden grasp as I tumbled down into a painful fall directly on to my face. I was gonna feel that one in the morning. If there was going to be morning in the future for me. 'Fucking stupid root. Stupid tree. Stupid forest. Stupid... everything.' I couldn't help but think this was all a very bad dream, despite the fact I had multiple wounds and scratches on my body. Quite soundly proving this was all placed solely in plain old reality. Picking myself up, I slowly dragged myself into the most natural sitting position I could manage. I could lie to myself and say I was merely crouching, but that wouldn't solve the problem I was having in the slightest. Heh, right... the other problem. I didn't have any answers or explanations, and any guesses I may have had would so undoubtedly be wrong I didn't even try. What I did have was what I was seeing with my own two eyes, and I didn't like what I saw. Instead of seeing normal human skin, I instead saw pure white fur covering every inch of my body. Instead of the two arms and legs of a human, I had the forelegs and hind legs of an animal. More specifically the forelegs and hind legs of a miniature horse, if the hooves I see are to be believed. In between my eyes, I could see a muzzle covered in the same pure white fur as the rest of my body. At the top of my vision, I could barely see the start of pale blue hair (mane?) and I could feel it end just above the start of my back (withers?). I could also see something completely alien to me, wings. Smack dab on the sides of my body (barrel?) covered with pure white feathers. I couldn't really feel them all that much, I could move them with some focus of course. But it felt alien and strange, much like if an arm that was asleep woke up with full functionality and senses, but lesser... somehow. They also felt like I could use them as makeshift hands with what control I had felt nearly like how I moved my arms in my old body. Shifting my position, I carefully spread them to their full length and touched them with my hooves. Almost immediately I could tell what was important and what needed removing. Moving with this alien instinct, I preened and cared for my wings. Picking out feathers that were damaged and not needed, while at the same time straightening unruly ones into the correct formation. It almost felt like treating my hair, but except for using a comb or similar tool, It was my teeth and hooves. It felt... strangely familiar, like riding a bike after ten years of doing the opposite without even thinking about it. Once it felt like everything was in order, I shook them off and made to close them near my body. The same position they've been in the whole time I've been in this forest, before unfurling them again. 'Most animals with wings can fly, right?' I took a few tentative flaps as the displaced wind blew away some leaves from beneath me. The motion caught me off guard, not due to it feeling alien or strange, but of how... natural it was. With more confidence, I started to flap a bit faster. With more displaced air throwing random junk found on the forest floor everywhere. However, I stopped after a short while. I could barely walk with this new body. Never mind doing something impossible like flying. Plus it felt as though I was missing something as if I was a plane with no fuel. No need to hurt myself while doing something with them. Sighing, I (carefully) stood up on all fours and started my trek into the forest once again. The sound of hooves hitting dirt the only sound I heard for miles. Which once again brought my mind back to the new body I was inhabiting. With my mind's focus set I couldn't help but think back to some hours ago. Back to when I first realized how fundamentally changed, I was from my original self, the alien feeling of having six limbs instead of four, the shame and humiliation of not being able to stand up, the constant reminders from my subconscious that this wasn't right. Eventually, I just couldn't take it anymore and simply started screaming my frustrations into the unfeeling forest surrounding my now tiny form. I... wasn't over it. I don't think I ever will be, but screaming out my frustration for a bit was better than just sitting there, frozen. Thinking 'this isn't happening.' over and over again like some broken machine. I liked to believe I was better than that, I could have a full-on panic attack later. Right now I just needed to get out of this forest before nightfall. Finding another small clearing, I prepared myself for another dose of screaming for help in hopes of anybody hearing me. My throat was already killing me with how often I was doing this. Sadly, however, this was my best shot of having a chance of being rescued, short of magically learning how to fly. I'm just hoping whoever comes to rescue me doesn't run away after realizing I was indeed a taking miniature horse pegasus thing. Although I guess a miniature horse was called a pony. Not that I think ponies can talk but it was my best guess of what I was. "He- Ack!" My voice cut out after a sharp pain ran across my throat. Ow. Ok, no more screaming I guess. I could barely even whisper with how much my throat was burning. *Snap* My ears, now capable of moving by themselves, quickly shifted towards the sharp sound that echoed across the clearing. Adrenaline shot through my body, making it active and alert as I turned to face whatever the hell made that sound. My wings unconsciously spread as far as they could go to make myself look bigger. All that I could see as I turned was leaves and foliage, what little light that passed the canopy above revealing little else. I scanned the area as thoroughly as I could. While my body may no longer be human, my mind sure as hell was, and it was working overtime as I looked for anything within the undergrowth. I looked for a good while as I slowly started to calm myself down. 'It was probably a small animal passing through, like a bunny or something. Yeah, that's it. No need to worr-' I cut my train of thought as I managed to catch a bit of movement a little way to my right. It didn't look like much, just some twigs that could have been moved by the wind. But I wanted to be sure. Focusing on that patch of space, it occurred to me that the so-called 'twigs' where shaped in a weird pattern. They way they were placed made it look like small triangles running in a mostly straight line, while at the ends curving inwards and out of sight. They almost looked like teeth. Making my actions look as casual as I possibly could. I turned around while tucking my wings away, facing directly away from what I saw. Then with all my might, I jumped to the left. At the same time, I heard a rustling of a bush being vacated and a loud crash of what sounded like wood and leaves. Getting to my feet as fast as I could. I heard howls that we're far too close and all around me as the snaps of wood and bushes rang out for all to hear. Growls and yelps echoed in my ears, as the breath of whatever I dodged with my pathetic sidestep turned to face me. I ran. I don't know how long I've been running, the sun was now a bloody red as the sounds of wolves grew ever closer. My own labored breaths accompanying the sounds of my demise. My legs felt like lead as I pushed them, even more, to keep running. To stop was to die, and I didn't want that. Not now, and not ever. I heard a growl from my right, I quickly raised my wings and used them to turn sharply to my left. I saw a glimpse of a wooden wolf barely miss its mark as the stench of rot and decay filled my mouth and nose. Almost as if whatever they eat just sat in there wooden stomachs after catching and eating their prey. The main pack that was behind me lost some speed due to my unexpected left turn. They howled in what I could only guess was frustration as they started to pursue me once again, their large strides eating up what little distance I managed to make with my maneuver. Pain flared up in my legs as again I pushed them to run even faster than before. I trampled over plant and dirt alike as I was chased by death in the form of putrid wooden wolves. My hoofsteps being trumped by the deafening sounds of timber splintering and breaking upon the forest floor. In the distance, all I saw was more forest and greenery, tears were freely running from my eyes as I desperately searched for anything to help me. With my blurry vision, I saw something that gave me the tiniest bit of hope. A clearing, with no trees behind it. In other words my only way out. I steered myself towards it while making a mad dash to what I prayed to be a promise of safety. I was risking it all here, the wolves were faster than me in a dead sprint. My destination didn't look far but the wolves were already gaining. The noises they made growing louder and more frenzied, sensing that the kill was near. I could feel their hot breath on the back of my legs as I neared the clearing. My heart was pounding in my ears as I felt my blood rush through me. I was almost there, I was almost nearly there! Suddenly I heard the pack slow down as I neared the light of the clearing, their baying sounding like horrid laughter to my ears. I soon realized why. The clearing was no clearing at all, just an open space leading to the edge of a cliff. I barely caught myself before I ran off the edge, wildly flapping my wings to help me bleed off some of my speed. Rocks and dirt sprayed from under me, with them falling down the cliff side. My eyes scanned the valley below, with me tracing a monsterous river filled with rushing rapids filled to the brim with jagged rocks just begging for someone to fall in to their death's. I was stuck. I stood still, shuddering as my legs could barely carry my own weight. The wind ran through my mane and outstretched wings as behind me stood the wolves from hell. Turning, I saw them make a perimeter around the overhang I was standing on, effectively cutting off any hope of escape. "So. That's it then?" I couldn't help but say with shuddering breath. "Was this your plan all along you fucking dogs!? Lead me with false hope then crush it without m-mercy!?" My voice cracking near the end. They merely stood in silence, what I assume was drool dripping from their wooden mouths. "ANSWER ME!" I yelled. But none did. We stood at an impasse, neither of us stepping forward. Eventually, however, a lone wolf parted with its pack. Its giant paws scratching the floor. It opened its massive maw, baring its teeth at me. I stared it down with all my will as It got closer and closer, it's growling growing ever louder. I was petrified with fear, sweat poured off from me as I got an eyeful of the teeth of a true predator. Each fang longer than my own arm as its steps shook the ground beneath us. The smell was the worst though, blood and rot were aptly present as I swore that I could see chunks of meat hanging from its mouth. My whole body was shaking as the looming figure of my death drew ever closer. I felt my tears run down my eyes as I grew more and more panicked. Was this the end? I get teleported to who knows where by who knows what, for reasons unknown? What did I do to deserve this? I didn't want to die, I didn't want to be torn apart limb from limb like a fucking animal! So I screamed, I yelled and I cursed at the creature responsable for my woes with all my might. "You think I'm scared of you, you ugly excuse of an art project!? What's with the wood you shit stain of a wolf!? Didn't have the guts to be made of meat you sack of sawdust!?" It could have been a trick of the light but I swore that it flinched a bit at that. "What!? You think you're so tough because you're about to eat a fucking pegasus pony!? If I had a fucking match stick I would have killed you a fucking hour ago!" This time I knew it had flinched, as its eerie green eyes darted away from my gaze. What was going on? "Yeah that's right, run away you fucking poser of a wolf! Don't make me beat your ass you fucking coward!" As soon as I stopped scream for a moment, I knew something changed from within the hell wolf. I just knew something had happened, which was proven as I saw tears run down its eyes. The wolf ran from the overhang, with the other wolves looking on in confusion as they slowly backed away from my position. I took this opportunity to give them a final push. I didn't know what I was doing, but it was saving my goddamned life and I wasn't stopping now. "What, you think I don't see you there!? What? Too scared to come towards me? Come on! Don't have the guts to fight a fucking pony!?" I felt myself get braver as I shouted, it was like I was taking control of my own fate. Like I could do whatever I wanted if I just shouted hard enough. The hell wolves looked teriffied. I smiled as I took a single step forward, with my wings outstretched. A cruel glare etched on my face "Come oooonn then! You wanted me so bad, well. HERE I AM!" Erupted from my throat, glaring at the beasts all the while. Whatever I did, whatever was happening. It made the rest of the hell wolves break ranks, with most of them fleeing back into that cursed forest. Those who weren't scared off retreated when their pack mates left. With me laughing in glee right behind them. 'I-I was finally safe...' What little false bravo I had cracked and shattered as cruel reality crashed back into my mind. My laughter morphing into the pitiful cries of a child as my whole body shook with stress and exhaustion. My legs gave out from under me as the last of my strength finally left me. I sat there for a while, in disbelief of what I had done. My chest shook with long seeded exhaustion, my sitting position to much for my overtaxed body. I let myself fall down into the rocky floor. The most I could do after that was to turn my head towards the setting sun, the golden-red sunset illuminating my cliff and the valley below. The warm rays of the sun slowly luring me to sleep as the wind rushed through the trees. As my eyes closed, I heard a quiet gasp from somewhere out in front of me. I didn't react as I was entirely out of fucks to give. Merely grunting at the intruder to go away, couldn't they see I was tired? As my consciousness slipped away, I felt something grab me by my neck. With whatever it was placing me on their back. I felt myself being carried away by whatever had found me. With near silent flaps of wings the last thing I heard, before I finally fell into blissful unconsciousness. Author's Note Have a nice day! - Blue Insomniac
1.2 I Woke Up... And The World Wasn't There"... Okay, now I need you to stick this under your tongue. Don't give me that look, your medical scan said you haven't been vaccinated in who knows how long. So we're checking for everything right now." I merely grunted in annoyance as I grabbed the thermometer with both hooves and stuck it in my mouth to the best of my ability. I couldn't help but sigh in my mind as I waited for the damn thing to take my temperature, then for Nurse Redheart to write it down once again to see if anything had changed. This was my life from the moment I woke up in the hospital till now, and wasn't that a fun way to find out I was very much far away from home. I couldn't really remember the first time I woke up, but I do remember having feelings of being safe and warm. But that wasn't the point, the point was that wherever that fucking rainbow beam thing transported me was no where near to where I started. At the very least, I don't remember talking technicolored ponies being the dominant species on Earth. "Okay, that should do it for today. Remember to come back next week for another check up alright?" Was said by the mare as she smiled before turning towards the back of the room and started speaking to the other pony in the room. And wasn't that a nice twist to all the shit I was already dealing with. It turns out that I was younger than what I originally was back on Earth, and with that came all the legal baggage that being a minor in this world would mean for me. Essentially, they needed an adult to consent for me and all that jazz, so who better than have 'my savoir' be the acting guardian for me. Ah yes, when I passed out back in the cliff face I did in fact not hallucinate the quiet gasp that I heard. It actually came from a pegasus who was traveling near the edge of the forest I was in. She just so happened to be traveling there for her job or whatever, and she heard me screaming at the (what I now know as) Timber wolves to fuck off. Yada yada yada she rushed me to the nearest hospital located in Ponyville (what kind of name was that?) And here I was. Being tested for every kind of disease known to man. Her name was Fluttershy, and is my temporary caretaker. Or at least until whatever counted as their government here decided what to do with my furry ass. But until that happens I was under her (extraordinarily shy) care. Honesty if I hadn't seen the sheer determination in her face at the thought that I was gonna be sent away to who knows where if she didn't take me in, I would have felt bad for the mare. Instead I just kinda felt awkward as she mumbled her way through what the nurse was saying and signing the needed paperwork to legally be my guardian. That also meant that today was the day that I was to go with her and finally leave the hospital. 'Why are you just agreeing to go with a total stranger and be treated like a kid?' Is what I would be asking myself right about now. But what choice did I have. I still had no idea where I was, had no way to prove that I wasn't the kid (colt?) they saw me as, and I almost didn't believe it myself. And I fucking lived through it! There was also the fact that I wasn't a pony at all, but that was an entirely different can of worms that would never be believed at the best of times. No. Better to just lay low and then think about what I could do about it later. That didn't really make me feel better about my situation, but at least it was a start. But my plan also meant that I had to blend in as best as I could in this strange new land I was in. In fact I nearly blew it when the many, many medical staff first asked me what my name was. I very nearly said my true name before I realized how... alien... it would sound to these ponies. The name Jacob Herbert didn't really fit in with what I heard thought my extended stay in the hospital. They had names like 'Flowery Scent' and 'Yellow Bell', never mind Jacob Herbert. So what did I go for my new name while I was stuck here? "Aerial Ace? Are you ready to go now? I-if that's alright with you." Was whispered by Fluttershy. "Yeah, let's go" Was whispered by me in turn. Yeah, I named myself after a Pokemon move. Not the best choice I had but it fit in the moment, so why not? That reminds me, "How far away is your home by the way?" I asked, once again as a whisper. She seemed to be expecting me to ask this question, as when she responded it was without a single stutter, though still in a whisper. "Oh. It's not far, just a little down the road." "Okay, thanks." I said, once again in a whisper. I learned the hard way that my guardian was extraordinarily panicky and shy. The one two combo in terms of being introverted to the extreme, not that I minded though. I was also a quiet person, at least till I got angry and scared. But isn't that everybody? It also meant that she most likely wouldn't ask any uncomfortable questions. I already felt bad enough lying to the hard working medical staff back at the hospital. I fear it would break my heart to lie to the pony who saved me from certain death from within the forest. It also didn't help that these ponies were hitting my 'ohmygoshsocute' buttons like there was no tommorow. As I stood still while being tied up in my thoughts, Fluttershy stood to her full hight and started to slowly fly away from the hospital towards what I assumed was her home. Shaking my head to dislodge my thoughts I quickly faced towards Nurse Redheart and gave her a smile and a hand wave (hoof?) of goodbye, no need to be rude after all. Before following Fluttershy's slow flying pace with my own walking. If you had told me that these wings I had on my back would let me fly, I wouldn't have believed you. But now after having been living here for a few days. I couldn't help but feel at least a little bit excited about learning now that I knew that not only was it possible to fly with my too tiny wings, but that I could reach incredible speeds that I had never had the chance to experience. At least, that's what Fluttershy's friend Rainbow Dash claims. The few times she visited alongside Fluttershy were invaluable for me to learn about this new world and how things worked. It was through her that I learned that magic was real in this world, not just some fancy parlor tricks and slight of hand. But the real, you need to study and manipulate Mana, version. Unfortunately you needed to be a unicorn to do any of that. So no sorcerer supreme Aerial Ace the terrible I'm afraid. Still, wings were a nice substitute for hands and would (eventually) let me fly. You win some and you lose some. Though now that I was out of the hospital, it was time to find out how (or maybe why) I was brought to this alien world. And hopefully find a way to get back home. I don't remember much after my vision was overwhelmed by the strange rainbow light back home, but I do remember that the world stood still as though time itself had stopped. And for now, I would choose to believe that was still the case. So I'll keep looking for a way back home, but for now... For now, my name is Aerial Ace. I truly don't know how I got into those woods, and lied about not knowing anything else. In this body I had no parents and refused to say anything else due to past trauma. Now how far did Fluttershy say her home was again? Cause 'a little down the road' looked like a good hours walk from here... Author's Note So most chapters will probably be 1k to 2k on average but an occasional 3k may pop out every now and again. Sorry if you wanted longer chapters but I don't nearly have that level of dedication. Though I will update often so there is that. Have a nice day! - Blue Insomniac
1.3 New Life... Yet The Same Old Problems"... So I made the guest room look as best as I could, but what if he doesn't like it? Maybe I should have brought a bigger bed? But that's way too many Bits though. But what if his back hurts from that old thing? Oh Celestia! Why is this so hard!?..." I sigh as I tuned out the soft mutterings of Fluttershy who flew a few paces in front of me. She's been doing this since the hospital and has enlightened me to a few key things about this new world I was in. That mostly being that their form of currency was called 'Bits' and that this 'Celestia' was some form of God or deity. At least with the way she uses them that's what I had managed to puzzle out. It also made the churning guilt in my guts even worse. As I now realize that of course Fluttershy had to spend a significant amount of money to be able to take me in. Hell, back on Earth this sort of thing would have been hellishly complicated and put a decent dent in a couples wallet. So I could only imagine how this would effect a single person. Er... Pony. So I tried my best to keep up with her on the way back to her home. She was stressed enough as is, and a little bit of walking didn't hurt anyone. Plus, it let me practice walking on all fours. Not that I needed much after the amount of physical evaluation they made me do back at the hospital, but a little more never hurt. With all this walking that I was doing also got me to appreciate just how clean the air was here. Back on Earth I lived in the city, and a running joke that many of my friends had was to take a deep breath and immediately choke on the bad air. It wasn't truly that bad, but when compared to here. It would be like the difference between eating five day old sushi and eating the professional made sushi in Japan. One was clearly better than the other. While in this grand journey of mine I also got to see most of the town of Ponyville (still a stupid name). Most of the buildings I saw were what one would typically expect from medieval times. What with their wooden supports and cobblestone walls. However, there were plenty of exceptions. The top contenders being a building that looked (and smelled) like a gingerbread house, a carousel that had mannequins displaying different assortments of fancy clothes and outfits (ponies wear clothes!?), and I believe that I saw a house in the distance that looked like it was made out of solid cloud. I like to think that I merely saw these outrageous designs and simply accepted them for the insanity that they were. But I couldn't help but gawk at how... different they were compared to earth. From what I could tell these buildings were mostly for shops or restaurants. So I could assume that the unique designs these buildings had were for marketing purposes. That didn't make them any less silly in my eyes though. It gave me the image of a fantasy village, almost like the starting town for one's own grand adventure. Plus, with magic being real here I could easily see this being the starting point for a hero and their group of friends to save the world or whatever. Maybe they could even find me a way back home... As Fluttershy kept mumbling her doubts about taking in so much responsibility and me politely ignoring her. I happened to catch a dash a pink near the corner of my vision. Immediately after I heard a gasp of surprise from behind me and before I could even turn around whatever it was had already left. At least, if the pony shaped puff of smoke I saw meant anything. What. I shook my head. 'Whatever, magic is real here. Just ignore it.' I thought. Heh, for a world so much more different from my own. The people (or should I say ponies?) here acted like if they were just humans in pony form. Or at least that's what I got from listening to the occasional pony who strayed close enough for me to eavesdrop on their conversations. I didn't really know what to expect from the average pony on the streets as I had spent most of my time here listening to professional medical staff who just so happened to look like ponies. It didn't really give me much of an idea for what the social norms were, or what was okay to ask or to talk about. And while Fluttershy did her best, she didn't really seem to be the most social. Rainbow Dash helped a bit more in that regard, however... her stye of talking tended to be about her being the best in the room. Not exactly what I wanted, but it gave me a few more clues on how to act like a pony, so there was that. I guess? But what really surprised me was just how normal most of their conversations were. They talked about the weather or what they had eaten today. A few of them talked about work and if it was a good or bad day. The few children (foals?) that ran past me were screaming and laughing in joy with whatever game they were playing at the time. And the occasional loner who either walked to wherever they were going in total silence or hummed something under their breath. It comforted me how similar it was to just walking down the street back on Earth. But all good things come to an end I'm afraid, as Fluttershy made a slight correction in her flight path as we headed into a secluded road up a small hill. It shook me a bit on how abandoned it was. Yeah sure there were a few branching paths that led back into town and not too far away I saw a group of ponies in the distance. But other than that we were alone. The constant mumbling coming from Fluttershy finally ceased as we traveled further up the hill to what I could only guess was her home. As the hill evened out I started to hear running water from a stream, and the pleasant singing of birds all around me. The dirt path we were traveling on slowly transformed into a well traveled field of grass and flowers. The sounds of Ponyville seemed to completely disappear as a peaceful silence seemed to dominant the area. What little trees I saw seemed to be well taken care of and had multiple bird houses nestled between their many branches. Eventually the well worn path terminated into an almost natural bridge over a stream of water that was lively with all sorts of fish. And behind it stood a two story cottage that almost looked like part of the hill itself with its roof covered with grass and it's walls nearly hidden behind the amount of planted fauna. All around it stood bird houses of all shapes and sizes and many animals traveled through the expensive field that was the backyard of the cottage. And behind that stood a towering forest with its many trees and wildlife. It was beautiful sight to look at. Before I could even speak animals started to run towards us, with their squeaks and chirps they seemed to almost welcome me and Fluttershy as if they could speak. And to my surprise, Fluttershy responded back. "Oh my. Hello everypony, I hope you were behaving while I was gone." She said, and for once not a whisper. From within the group of animals, a single rabbit hopped forward and started to wave and point towards me. The carrot it was holding whipping randomly throughout the air as it did so. "Oh, um. This is Aerial Ace, you remember? The colt I saved near mister beaver's dam? Well he's going to be staying here for a while. Is that okay with everypony?" Fluttershy said. Every other animal stared in silence. Well, except for the rabbit, who seemed to strongly disagree with my presence here. At least from what I could tell from it's body language as crazy as that sounded. Oddly enough however, Fluttershy simply ignored him in favor of the other animals. Fluttershy smiled. "Great!" She said, before turning around to face me. "Well, here we are. Home sweet home." She said bashfully to my dumbfounded face. "You... You can talk to animals!?" I asked in disbelief. "Oh, no. Not really, I just sort of understand what they are trying to say." She responded, digging one of her hooves into the floor. "Oh. Cool." Was all that I could say. Apparently I lived with a Disney princess now. All that was missing was that she was a great singer and we were golden. As I stood there thinking about stupid crap, Fluttershy turned around and reached for the door. She immediately stopped after she glanced into the tiny window she had near the top of the wooden door. She fidgeted in place for a bit before calling out my name. "Um, Aerial Ace. Do you want to go inside before me? I live here after all, so do you want to see it by yourself for a bit? If that's okay with you..." She said, her words growing quieter as she kept talking. I grew confused until I realized that she wanted me to go in first. Most likely because she wanted me to get used to the fact that I was going to be living here for the foreseeable future. Taking the hint I walked towards and pushed the wooden door open. The inside was dark, as most of the windows that I saw outside seemed to be closed from within and let very little natural light to enter. Before I could even ask Fluttershy where the light switch was or if she could open a window, I heard a very distinct snort. Whipping around I stared into the pitch black room, looking for anything that could have been amiss. As I walked forward, I was suddenly hit with many smells. Smells like fresh grass, a lemony sent and... cake? Before I could react the lights suddenly turned on and a massive shout of "SURPRISE" was echoed throughout the room. . . . I didn't scream, and I will fight anyone who says otherwise. Author's Note Have a nice day! - Blue Insomniac
1.4 Surprising Developments... The Party Kind That IsI decided that surprise parties weren't that bad. Yeah sure, this one in particular most definitely shaved off some years from my total life span but it was worth it. So, so worth it. "...Were you surprised? Were ya? Were ya? Huh huh huh?" Was not quite yelled by the most hyper being I've ever seen. She was also decidedly the most pink thing I have ever seen, with both her coat and mane being (different) shades of pink. I mostly ignored her as she hopped in place for a bit as I slowly chewed the most delicious and delectable cake I had the absolute pleasure of eating. It was a pure chocolate cake with many layers of different types of chocolate within it. Even the frosting was made of chocolate and had little flakes of chocolate sprinkled atop it just in case if it didn't have enough already. In my personal opinion, it didn't have enough chocolate. But that was probably just me. Sipping a bit of hot chocolate from the mug so kindly provided by one of the surprisingly few adult ponies present, I couldn't help but think back to the bland hospital food and how desperate I was to get literally anything else. That was a very embarrassing day, and as such I will never speak of it again. As I munched happily I couldn't help but feel grateful to Fluttershy and the other mare who made all of this. Even if the latter was being an annoyance that was happily bouncing right next to me. As such I continued to politly ignore the kind mare who set this whole thing up in favor of eating my holy slice of cake and look around at the many decorations plastered across the room. The first thing that came to mind was the sheer amount of streamers scattered around the place. I also couldn't help but notice that all of them were distinctly colored white and blue. In fact, the whole place seemed to be themed around the colors of my new body. The table cloths, napkins, party hats, hell even the balloons that were tied to several chairs laying about had the theme of white and blue. I guess she wasn't kidding when she said she was Ponyville's number one party pony, everything to the food and the entertainment seemed professional and of extremely high quality. Even the damn banner stating 'Welcome to Ponyville Aerial Ace!' just oozed a welcoming vibe. Though I still couldn't help but question how she did all of this in such a short amount of time. I have now long realized that she was the pink blur I saw while walking to Fluttershy's house. So that meant she set up and did everything that needed doing in under the eight or so minutes it took to get here. Then again Fluttershy could have told her earlier and this was set up way beforehand, but it didn't really matter. The party was great, even if all that I was doing was eating cake. I turned my attention back towards the bubblegum pony as she kept talking about why she threw this welcome party for me. "...And if you just got out of the hospital, that meant you haven't met anypony yet, and if you haven't met anypony yet, you must not have any friends, and if you don't have any friends then you must be lonely, and that made me so sad, but you might also not want to be crowded by too many ponies! You live with Fluttershy after all," I paused my chewing for a bit as she kept talking. "So then I had an idea. what if instead of throwing a great big ginormous super-duper spectacular welcome party and invite everypony in Ponyville, I just bring some of my friends and they bring their sisters. See? And now you have some friends! And they're also your age! Isn't that great!" She finished, then she finally took the first breath I heard throughout all the time she had been talking to me. I started at her ear to ear smile for a bit before simply nodding in agreement. "Great! Have fun!" She exclaimed, before running off to a different location in the building. She seemed nice for a pony, even if she had just started talking to me out of the blue. Picking up my fork with my completely flat hoof (don't think about, don't think about) I started eating again with gusto before noticing someone else had walked up to my table. It was then that I noticed who exactly was the one to walk -or should I say bounce- up to me. Then I proceeded to ignore them entirely as I simply kept eating my little slice of heaven. From the angry squeaks that caused, I'll say it was a success. At least before the little jerk gave out a final squeak of anger before jumping up to the table, then proceeding to use my head as a nest. I merely sighed as I adjusted my seating position to account for his weight before going back to eating my welcome cake. He'll get bored eventually and hop off in a few minutes anyway. Until then I could bear the weight of a single bunny rabbit. Unfortunately, the little devil kept up his hat impression for far longer than I thought. If I hadn't heard his mocking snorts and squeaks every now and again I would have thought he had fallen asleep up there just to spite me. I shook my head a bit. "So you just gonna move soon?" My only answer was some shuffling and a louder than necessary yawn, before a single squeak rang about my ears. For the life of me I could have sworn I heard 'make me' but that was probably me just putting meaning behind his annoying sounds. Although he had most likely said that anyway, not that I was going to Fluttershy to make sure. Speaking of my Disney princess of a guardian, where was she? Picking up a napkin and wiping away any excess chocolate that might have been stuck on my face. I got up from my chair and started exploring around the house. Seeing as my chosen location was stuffing myself in a corner to eat my cake in peace, I had no problem staying near the sides of the party that was going on. Of course almost immediately after I got stopped by one of the fillies that the pink mare had said come with some of her friends. "Hiya there!" She yelled. "Uh, hi." Was my genius reply. We stood there for an uncomfortably long amount of time. With us awkwardly staring at each other waiting for one of us to say something. Just before I could try to break the awful silence we had going on, the red and cream fully abruptly said, "My names Applebloom!" She flushed before hastily adding, "What's yours?" Well, that's one way to break the ice I suppose. Putting on what I hoped was a smile on my face I stuck out my hoof in greeting. "My name's Aerial Ace." I didn't realize my mistake as she took my hoof and began to shake like a demented jackhammer as she further introduced herself. "Nice ta meetcha Aerial Ace. How's yer day goin'?" She didn't stop shaking my hoof as I answered her. "I'm DoInG wElL tHaNkS." Make the pain stop make the pain stop! Mercifully she let go of my hoof as she smiled at me. I rubbed my shoulder as she just sat there like she didn't just flail me around like a pair of nunchucks. "You're quite strong." Was all that I said after I was able to recover. She nodded as she kept talking. "Yup. My folks own a farm near the edge of town, I help out sometimes with the harvesting and all that." "A warning would have been nice." Dear God my shoulder was killing me! "Huh?" Oh shit did I say that out loud? "Nothing." I then added, "Hey. You know anyone else here?" She gave me a weird look for a second before answering. "Not... not really. The only pony I kinda know is Sweetie Belle, she goes to my class at school. Everypony else is somepony my big sister knows, her name's Applejack. She's standing near Twilight over there." She pointed her hoof towards the far side of the room where another mare stood in the ponyfied stance of a traditional cowboy. Well, cowgirl in this instance. She was similar in color to Applebloom, but instead of having a red mane she had a blond one. She also wore a cowboy hat on top of that. Well, if you lived and worked at a farm might as well look the part no? Looking back at Applebloom I saw her wave at her sister before she too looked back towards me. She then glanced at me head as she finally saw my passenger. "Is that a rabbit on your head?" I almost nodded before I remembered what was on top of my head at the moment. "E'yup" She giggled at my response. "Heh, that's what my big brother always says." "Really? How big is your family anyways?" "Oh. Well, first there's Granny Smith. She's my grandma, she's not here though. She's back looking after the farm with Big Mac, uh. That's my big brother. Then there's..." We talked quite a bit after that, she told me all about her extended family all around Equestria. Especially the family located in some area called Appleloosa, and some fellow called Braeburn. Although she did avoid talking about her parents and based on what I could glean from what she said. It sounded like she never knew them. Not that it was my business to pry, but it was sad that a child didn't know her own parents. Eventually, after she told me all about her family she invited me to play some games that (Now that I knew her name after Applebloom told me) Pinkie Pie had set up for the party. I took it upon myself to invite the other filly that Applebloom talked about to... play...with us. All in all. Despite the childish nature of the games and me having to deal with all the arguments that children have while playing said games, I had a lot of fun. At least, as much fun as one could have while playing the pony version of monopoly. I'm never playing that again, not with Applebloom at least. Her stubbornness alongside surprisingly good business skills made it almost impossible to even gain the two hundred when I passed go. And the less said about the rage of Sweetie Belle the better. I've never seen a plastic toy embedded itself against solid wood. But after everyone had left and the welcome party was well and done, I couldn't help but think back to everything that had happened so far. One solid month. One month since I had woken up in a forest from hell, found myself transformed into a species not my own, nearly got eaten by hounds from hell, stayed far too long inside a hospital, and finally somehow made my way into the home of a pegasus named Fluttershy. It was almost too much to take in at once, but I'll manage somehow. As I laid down upon the new bed Fluttershy had set out from me I let myself be immersed within the insanity that has been my life for the past month. At least I was safe now, and I could finally start to find a way back home. As my eyes slowly closed and my consciousness faded away, I heard a quiet squeak from above my head. Instantly I jumped up as high as I could and swung my head forward as hard as I possibly could. The panicked cries of one Angel rabbit were music to my ears as his small frame smashed into the soft cloth of my new bed. "AND GET OFF OF MY HEAD!" Author's Note I hate this quarantine. I also hate poorly made online classes. And I hate the joke of AP testing I had this year. That is all. Have a nice day! - Blue Insomniac
