~Narrator's POV~
"Hey! Are you okay? Wake up!"
I woke up with a small moan to the feeling of someone, or something, shaking my shoulder. I opened my eyes, my vision was blurry. I moaned again and waved my hand to stop the shaking.
"Okay. Okay. I'm awake." I answered groggily, as I picked myself up from my bed.
Wait a minute! My bed feels flat and covered in soft and light grass. That's not right. I looked again, as my blurry vision cleared, and found that I was laying on a patch of soft grass. What happened to my bed? Where am I?
I started looking around to find myself just outside of a beautiful forest of trees, houses and crystals. This isn't right... I wasn't here when I went to bed. This isn't home, or Canada. But there was something familiar about this place...
"Where... Where am I?" I wondered, looking around the forest.
"You're in Bridlewood." The bubbly voice from before answered, "Home of the Unicorns of Equestria!"
My ears perked at the sound of the voice. I turned to the source of the voice to find that I wasn't alone. Standing behind me was a young Unicorn mare. Her fur coat was a pale pink color and her long mane and tail were cerulean blue that faded to a cobalt blue ombre. Her eyes were orchid purple and upon her flank was a mark of a purple heart overlapped by a blue button and pins.
I stared at the mare for a second, then I recollected on what she has just told me. "Equestria?" I gasped, "I'm in Equestria?! But that's impossible! Wishes are just for fun and childish dreams!" I placed my hand over my forehead, "I- I don't understand..."
I looked at my hand and noticed it was replaced by a green hoof. I looked myself over and found that I've transformed into a pony! My body was covered in a pastel green color with white underbelly. My dark ginger hair was now pale blue with white streaks, as well as a matching tail. I felt around my face and found a horn protruding from my forehead. And upon my flank was a mark of three snowflakes. I've transformed into a Unicorn!
Panic began to build up, putting ice in my veins and my breathing went hollow and short. My heart was beating out of my chest. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't think rationally. I felt like I was going to scream, but nothing wanted to come out. How is this possible?! I'm a Unicorn in Equestria! This shouldn't be happening, but it is happening! There must be a scientific explanation for all of this! I must be dreaming!
Yes, that's right. I'm dreaming. I'm still asleep in my bed. This is just a nightmare I'm having. I have to wake myself up.
I turned to the Unicorn, "Can you do me a favor?"
The Unicorn smiled, "Sure."
"I need you to hit me." I told her.
The Unicorn tilted her head, "Say again?"
"It's the only way to know if I'm dreaming or not." I explained, "You don't experience pain while dreaming."
The Unicorn nodded. I closed my eyes and braced myself. With her right hoof, she punched me in the chest, hard. I took a step back, leaned over and started coughing. Pain! I've just experienced pain. I'm not dreaming this up! Now I know.
The Unicorn gave me a look of concern, "Sorry. Did I hit you too hard?"
I waved my hoof to assure her, "No, no. You did good. Now I know I'm not dreaming this up. Have one heck of a punch, I'll give you that."
The Unicorn tilted her head slightly and raised a brow at me, "You're not from around here, are you?"
I took a deep breath, recovered from the pain in my chest and looked at her, "What gave that away?"
She rubbed her chin in thought, "Well... You just asked me to punch you, to see if you're dreaming. Your surprise when I mentioned Equestria. And the fact that you started panicking when you found out you're a Unicorn. So I figured that you're not from this world."
I lowered my head in thought. She was right, those are dead giveaways that I'm not from Equestria. I suppose I could lie and tell her I'm from across the sea, but what if she catches it? She has a good head on her shoulders, so I could tell her the truth, but what if she thinks I'm lying? And I hate being called a liar!
I nodded and looked at the Unicorn, "You're right. I'm not from around here. I'm from a world where the dominant species are hairless, ape-like creatures, called 'humans'. Animals don't talk and there's no such thing as ma-"
The Unicorn quickly covered my mouth and we froze on the spot. The passing Unicorns froze with shocked expressions on their faces. After a moment, everything calmed and the Unicorns went on with their business.
The Unicorn looked at me and whispered, "Follow me."
With that, she lead me to a hollowed out tree cottage, just outside of Bridlewood and lead me inside. The cottage was very cozy and full of arts and crafts. This Unicorn kinda reminded me of Pinkie Pie with her skills with arts, crafts and baked goods. The Unicorn closed the door and smiled at me.
"What was that about?" I asked, tilting my head in concern.
"You were about to say 'magic'." She whispered, "We, Unicorns, are a very superstitious tribe. We have words that are taboo against the tribe, or we get jinxed."
"And one of those words is 'magic'?" I guessed, raising a brow.
She nodded with a smile, "Now you're getting it." Then she gasped, "Oh! I just realized, you never got my name!" She extended her hoof to me, "Pleased to meet you, new friend. My name's Izzy Moonbow. But you can call me Izzy."
I looked at her hoof and hesitated for a moment. With uncertainty, I shook her hoof gently, "Pleasure to meet you, Izzy. I'm..."
Izzy raised her hoof to silence me, "Since you're not from Equestria, we need to find you a new Pony Name. So nopony else knows of your origins." Then she started examining me, "Let's see... Green fur... Snow-like mane and tail... Snowflake Cutie Mark..." She finished her examination and smiled, "Little Snowflake!"
I raised a brow, "Little Snowflake?"
Izzy nodded, "Yeah. That'll be your new Pony Name. We'll call you 'Lil' Snow' for short."
I smiled, "I like it. Thank you, Izzy."
Izzy smiled and grabbed hold of my hoof, "Well, Lil' Snow. Let's get you acquainted with the other residents of Bridlewood, and get you some new friends."
With that, Izzy and I left the cottage and entered Bridlewood. Izzy introduced me to most of the Unicorns that were nice enough to get to know me. Izzy explained that I was from out of town and the other Unicorns bought her story. I even got a job at the tea tavern as a server and beverage maker, since I had a talent with herbal teas.
Alphabrittle, a large Unicorn stallion and the leader of the Unicorn tribe, was most impressed with my talents with teas and beverages and said I could stay, but since Izzy was the one who found me, she was responsible for me. So I promised to try and stay out of trouble as much as I can. Heh heh...
~Lil' Snowflake's POV~
*Phew* It's warm today. Summer is definitely here, despite all the trees and crystals in Bridlewood. Good thing I know a thing or two on making good refreshing smoothies for the weary Unicorn. Fruity and delicious.
It's been a couple of months since I woke up in a future setting of Equestria and adopted the form of a tall green Unicorn. I became best friends with a bubbly and eccentric Unicorn named Izzy Moonbow and got a job at the local tea tavern in Bridlewood as a barista.
Today, I was working my afternoon shift in the tavern, serving one of my famous smoothies to a Unicorn poet named Onyx, when Alphabrittle walked behind the counter and toward me.
"Well done at keeping up with the pace, Lil' Snow." He praised me, "Summer is a very busy season for the tavern."
"Just doing what I can to help." I answered with a humble smile.
Alphabrittle shook his head, "Don't be so humble. You're a great barista and smoothie maker." Then he leaned over and whispered, "Tell me, what is your secret of those mango smoothies? They really are a hit."
I let out a small giggle, then looked around to see if anypony was listening. The coast seemed to be clear. I leaned closer to Alphabrittle and whispered into his ear, "Ripe mangos."
Alphabrittle stood there dumbfounded. He recovered and looked at me with a raised brow, "That's it? Just ripe mangos, vanilla yogurt and ice?"
I nodded with a smile, "That's it."
Alphabrittle scratched the back of his neck with a sheepish expression, "Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle."
I chuckled at his expression. At the corner of my eye, I noticed the time was reaching evening time. My shift in the tavern was over. I gasped and removed my apron to hang it over the hanger at the back and grabbed my saddlebag. I waved good-bye to everypony in the tavern and left it in Alphabrittle's care.
I quietly giggled, as I closed the door and made my way through Bridlewood to Izzy's home. Like I was gonna tell Alphabrittle that my true secret to my mango smoothies is ripe mangos, vanilla ice cream, orange juice, and frozen strawberries. (Don't tell him I told you that)
I reached mine and Izzy's cottage and knocked on the door. "Izzy. I'm home." I called.
The door unlocked and the door opened with a soft creak. I entered the cottage to find Izzy sitting on her makeshift tea table, sipping tea and looking over a small piece of paper. She looked a little sad as she let out a heavy sigh.
I placed my saddlebag next to the door and looked at the bubbly orchid Unicorn. I've never seen this side of her. She's usually very cheerful and always with a smile on her face. Something must have really downed her spirits today.
"Hey." I greeted nicely, "Is something wrong, Izzy?"
Izzy glanced at me for a moment, then back at her paper. She tapped the table with her hoof, beckoning me to sit beside her. I tilted my head slightly, and accepted her invitation to sit next to her. Izzy let out another sigh, but this one wasn't as heavy.
"Bits for your thoughts, Izzy?" I asked.
Izzy passed the paper to me, "What do you see, Snow?"
I looked over the piece of paper. It was a folded piece of paper. I opened the paper and found it was a child's drawing of an Earth Pony, a Pegasus and a Unicorn joined together with a picnic and a rainbow. Crayon writing said 'Dear Unicorns and Pegasi. Yu have friends in Maretime Bay. Come visit us!' It felt warm just to touch the paper.
I looked at my friend, "How long have you had this?"
"Since I was a filly." Izzy answered, "I found it outside of the wood. I wanna go find out if there are others outside of Bridlewood, but I was too scared to leave. I still am today."
"You... You still wanna go?" I asked the orchid Unicorn.
Izzy shook her head, "No way! Earth Ponies and Pegasi are dumb brutes that could cause trouble where they don't belong." She looked at me, "I want to, but what if Unicorns are seen that way too?"
I place my hoof over her shoulder, "Izzy. I'm pretty sure that all that is just a bunch of rumors, gossip and nonsense." I placed my other hoof over my heart, "Trust me, whomever wrote this card really wants to make friends, no matter if you're an Earth Pony, Pegasus or Unicorn." I smiled kindly, "Would you rather stay here and never know, or go to Maretime Bay and find out?"
Izzy looked at the card, then at me. Her face brighten and her smile came back. She took the card and put it in her mane. Izzy looked at me and asked, "Would you like to come with me? You're the closest and best-est friend I have, and I could really use the support."
I smiled at Izzy and nodded, "Of course I'll come with you. I've always wanted to see the rest of Equestria and go on an adventure! Things around Bridlewood are getting boring and depressing."
Izzy smiled and threw her front legs around me. That evening, Izzy and I left the cottage and Bridlewood to travel to Maretime Bay and find whomever wrote the card and make new friends. I have to admit, I'm excited to travel around this new Equestria. See how much has changed and see some old landmarks.
